Puffco has long led the market with innovative cannabis vaporizers. The Puffco Peak Pro is easily one of the best e-rigs available, and the company just unveiled a new vape called the Proxy. It offers the best of the Peak Pro and can be built into various form factors.

Don’t be distracted by the lovely pipe. That’s just a piece of glass. The Proxy slides into the glass piece. Think of the Proxy as a modular dabbing rig, able to fit into any form factor made for the unit. Bubbler? Sure. Glass beaker? Yep. Pipe? Obviously.

The $299 self-contained rig is about the size of a taller D-cell battery. Inside is the same heating element found in the company’s other flagship product, the Peak Pro. USB-C recharges the battery, and the unit comes pre-programmed with four different heat levels.

Puffco ships the Proxy with the pipe shown here, along with a travel case that holds cables, a cleaning kit and a concentrate container spot.

It’s simple to use: Open the carb cap at the top, drop in your favorite concentrate (resin, shatter, hash, etc.), and hit the button twice to activate the oven. Then, a couple of seconds later, blast off. I found the glass pipe smooth and comfortable, but I would also love to try it with a water piece.

[gallery ids="2336757,2336758,2336759"]

“This looks like a vaporizer, just in a pipe form,” Puffco founder Roger Volodarsky said to TechCrunch. “But it’s the first truly modular vaporizer that’s been made to work in any design you want. And [Puffco] will release different accessories in other form factors that the Proxy can drop into.”

And the company is looking to makers to build other unique accessories for the Proxy.

Puffco has long had an active community that built accessories for the company’s flagship product, the Puffco Peak and the Peak Pro. Puffco sells a few on its site, and Etsy and eBay are full of custom glass pieces and utility accessories. However, the Peak’s design is limiting and requires makers to build glass pieces to a specific form factor.

Volodarsky hopes makers will find it easier to build around the self-contained Proxy.

“It takes much less work to build for the Proxy,” Volodarsky said. “If an artist is going to make a top for a Peak, it’s going to take them eight to 16 hours … unless it’s really, really cheap. [The Proxy] takes much less effort, so artists can get the value for their time. If it takes four hours to make a piece, they can charge way less for it. We think there will be much more affordable options in our community.”

The Proxy is available today at Puffco.com and several retailers for $299. In addition, the company expects new form factors and accessories to be available in the next couple of months.

Volodarsky founded Puffco in 2013 and has bootstrapped the company since. Roger doesn’t want to take venture capital money.

“I have a big problem with having to serve investors,” he told TechCrunch. “Everything has to be deeply profitable, and usually that means you’re paying employees as little as you could. It means you’re cutting corners to drive profitability. We’re here to grow and professionalize the space, and that doesn’t align with the returns I think shareholders would want. So yeah, I’m avoiding having any investors for as long as I can, and it doesn’t look like that need is coming up in the future. The only people that have any ownership interest in Puffco are early-stage employees.”

Volodarsky says the company has experienced exponential growth from 2016 to 2021, consistently doubling its revenue yearly. The chip shortage affected the company, though. The Proxy was supposed to be released in 2021, but the company had to push it back until now, when it could acquire enough inventory to launch the product.

The Puffco Proxy is hitting the market at a pivotal time. Cannabis is now legal in various forms throughout the United States, with Europe showing signs of turning on the lights. With the explosion in domestic markets, more consumers are discovering the plant, and some are looking for high-end experiences and equipment — that’s where Puffco’s products play.

I’ve long been a fan of Puffco’s products, and the Proxy carries the best of the company into new form factors. I had a few days with the Proxy, and it’s much easier to clean than other Puffco products, and it’s a joy to use. It’s easy to take the Proxy out of the glass pipe and imagine it fitting into all sorts of glass pieces. I can’t wait to see what people build for this thing.

Cannabis was a big winner from the results of the United States’ election, and industry stocks are soaring on both the voting results and recent earnings. Companies such as Canopy Growth Corporation, Tilray, and Aurora Cannabis are seeing their valuations pop in pre-market trading as good news for the industry adds up.

Some companies are seeing double digital gains before markets officially open. Aurora Cannabis is up over 50% as of writing. This comes as stock market indexes worldwide are exploding on the news of a viable Covid-19 vaccine.

Recent earnings reports from Aurora Cannabis, Tilway, and Canopy Growth Corporation paint a picture of a reforming industry. Over the pandemic, these companies saw interest in cannabis soar while taking painful steps in reducing human labor costs. Some companies even reported a loss over the last financial quarter, but investors clearly see a bright future.

For example, Canopy Growth is up 10% in pre-market, and Tilway is up 25% in pre-market action. If these levels hold when the market opens, they would set 2020 levels and match the pop cannabis stocks received after going public in 2018.

Most cannabis companies are located in Canada, and America’s federal classification of cannabis hampers the Canadian companies’ ability to fully interact with the American consumer. That could change. Last week, cannabis legalization was on five state ballots and won each election. On Saturday, Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election, and he previously stated that he would seek to reform cannabis legislation.

Legal cannabis has never looked more likely in the United States. Investors are clearly hopeful with a Democrat in the White House.

Over the coming months, Congress is set to take on several key cannabis issues, including allowing banks to interact with cannabis companies without fear of federal actions (SAFE Banking Act). Another bill (The STATES Act) would allow states to legalize cannabis without risk of federal interaction. And The MORE Act would remove cannabis from the federal Controlled Substance Act. Some in Washington expect the lame-duck congress to take up these issues before the end of the session.

 As we move towards a 420 future, hydroponic systems for a bit of homegrown foliage will be in great demand. The folks at 3Dponics are ready. They’ve announced a sort of modular hydroponic garden that snaps together like stoner LEGO and feature little pots, shields, and filters for your wee buds. The 3Dponics folks are planning to release more information later this week but… Read More

 When you think of Parrot, chances are you are thinking about the A.R. Drone or it’s recently launched Bebop drone. But as the company’s CEO Henri Seydoux told me in an interview earlier today, drones are only one area of interest for the company. Parrot is interested in everything that connects to the smartphone and these days, that includes your house plants. The company… Read More