HoneyStick Ripper E-Rig Review: A Dual-Use Powerhouse

Design & Build Quality

HoneyStick’s Ripper is marketed as a high-quality e-rig, and it definitely feels durable and solid. It looks a lot like the Puffco Peak Pro, with similarly good build quality, but the price is way more budget-friendly.

As far as size goes, the Ripper is 164mm tall with a diameter of 57mm. It is fairly small and portable for an e-rig, and in my opinion, it’s just small enough to take with you on the go. However, the weight isn’t very pocket-friendly, so you’ll need a bag of some sort to carry it. There’s also the issue of protecting it.

Unlike the Puffco Peak Pro, which comes with a travel case, the Ripper does not. This left me with a problem: there were times when I wanted to take it out of the house, but because it didn’t have a protective case, I couldn’t.

With the above in mind, although the Ripper can be used on the go, it’s probably best left at home and used as a desktop device.

The metal base fits comfortably in the hand and has a rubberized coating that provides excellent grip. The rubberized coating is printed with the brand’s signature honeycomb pattern, which looks really great. Just above the power button, you’ll find a small yellow HoneyStick logo embedded into the rubber’s pattern.

On one side of the base, you will find the power button. This device has only one button. To turn the device on or off, press the button five times. To activate a session and start a preheat cycle, press the power button twice. Finally, to cycle through the four heat settings, press the button once.

On the opposite side of the power button, you will find the heating chamber. The Ripper conveniently comes with both a dry herb atomizer and a wax atomizer, and these can easily be switched out by unscrewing one and screwing the other one on. Below the heating chamber, you will find the Type-C charging port.

The glass bubbler is crafted from borosilicate glass and can be filled with water for smoother draws. It can be easily detached from the base for cleaning and reattached just as easily.

LED Lighting

HoneyStick’s Ripper features lights on the top of the base that light up through the glass when the device is in use. There is also an LED ring around the power button that illuminates to indicate the battery life. The colors represent the following:

Temperature Setting

Blue: Low
Green: Medium
Red: High
White: Max

Battery Indicator

Green: 100%-60%
Blue: 60%-30%
Red: 30%-0%

The Ripper comes with a 4000mAh battery that, quite frankly, seems to last forever. For reference, the Peak Pro comes with a 1400mAh battery. You can get a ton of sessions with both dry herb and concentrates before needing to recharge your device.

While the Ripper has a three-color battery life indicator, the battery life range for each one is quite large (30-40%). The addition of a fourth color to give a more precise representation would have been better. For example, if the red light signified the final 10% of charge remaining, it would give more of an accurate heads-up to allow you to recharge before the device is completely dead.

Heat Settings

The Ripper includes a unique feature that you don’t often see on other e-rigs, especially not on ones priced this affordably. It can detect whether you have a dry herb or wax atomizer installed and automatically adjusts the heating settings accordingly. 

Other devices are typically designed in one of two ways: dry herb vaporizers with an optional concentrate mode, or concentrate vaporizers with an optional dry herb mode. They’re usually designed to do only one of the two effectively, while being passable for the other. Because of this, the temperature settings are ideal only for dry herb or concentrates (depending on the device), which limits the experience when using the ‘secondary’ material.

This is not the case with the Ripper. The dry herb temperature settings are ideal for use with dry herb, and the wax settings are ideal for use with concentrates; there’s no need to compromise or use only one or the other. The heat settings for the Ripper are:

Heat Settings for Wax Concentrates

Blue (Low): 437°F / 225°C
Green (Med): 445°F / 235°C
Red (High): 473°F / 245°C
White (Max): 509°F / 265°C

Heat Settings for Dry Herb

Blue (Low): 374°F / 190°C
Green (Med): 392°F / 200°C
Red (High): 410°F / 210°C
White (Max): 428°F / 220°C

Features

The Ripper has one button for controlling the device, and it’s very straightforward and intuitive to use. To change the temperature settings, turn on the device by pressing the power button five times, then cycle through the heat settings by pressing the power button once. The device will light up blue for the lowest heat setting, green for the medium heat setting, red for the high heat setting, and white for the max heat setting.

The session heating setting is another feature that makes using the device really convenient. If you have the wax atomizer installed and click the power button twice, you will enter into a 60-second dab session. After ten seconds, the device will vibrate and let you know you have reached your desired temperature. The heating cycle will then continue for another 50 seconds.

If you have the dry herb atomizer installed and click the power button twice, you will enter into a 4 minute dry herb session. The device will vibrate and let you know when it reaches the desired temperature, and it will remain on for the entire four minutes. If you do not want to complete the entire session, you can end it by pressing the power button twice.

Wax Atomizer

The Ripper comes with a quartz wax atomizer that heats up material in just ten seconds. Also included is a handy carb cap with a small cutout in the glass that allows you to brew your concentrates.

Switching between atomizers or just removing it because it is time to clean is really easy. Simply unscrew the atomizer, then screw it back on. Be careful to not over-tighten the atomizer; when I did this, the device flashed red due to a short. If this happens to you, just loosen the atomizer a bit by slightly unscrewing it.

Dry Herb Atomizer

The Ripper also comes with a dry-herb quartz atomizer that delivers pure, clean vapor with excellent flavor. It comes with a screw-on cap to enclose and evenly heat the herb inside, but the cap also allows you to pre-load and take the atomizer with you on the go.

Much like the wax atomizer, the dry herb atomizer is easy to remove by unscrewing the atomizer. To replace it, simply screw it back on. Again, do not over-tighten it, or you will get a flashing red light indicating there is something wrong, and the device won’t function. 

Getting Started with Ripper

Before you start using your device, make sure it is fully charged. Once it’s fully charged, you’re ready to get started.

First you’ll want to fill the bubbler, and to do that, you have to remove it. To remove the glass bubbler, pull away and lift at the same time. The easiest way to remove the glass is to wrap your hand around the glass, firmly holding so you don’t accidentally drop it. Then, pull and lift away towards the front of the device where the power button is located. Fill the glass to just above the holes (about 18mm of water), and be careful not to overfill as water will get into the lower section and onto the actual device.

When replacing the glass back onto the device, take care to align the inlet hole on the glass with the hole on the device (close to the atomizer side of the device). Carefully press the glass into place until it’s evenly and fully seated on the device.

Depending on whether you would like to have a dry herb session or a dab session, you are going to want to install your preferred atomizer. Then, using your dual tool, you can load the appropriate material into the atomizer.

If you are using the wax atomizer, you can replace the carb cap. If you have opted for a dry herb session, you can replace the metal twist-on cap.

Now that you are ready to use the device, the real fun begins.

Using the Device

Ripper is an incredibly easy-to-use e-rig that even first-timers can figure out. It is straightforward and to the point. As it comes with the two atomizers, I will include separate instructions for how to use the device with each one so that there’s no confusion. Usage is pretty similar, but there are some slight differences.

Dab Session Instructions

1. Press the power button 5 times to turn the device on.
2. Press the power button once to toggle through the four heating profiles.
3. To initiate a session, press the power button two times. This will begin a 60-second session.
4. After 10 seconds, the device will light up and vibrate to let you know the device is up to temperature. You can begin inhaling on the mouthpiece and use the carb cap to brew your concentrates.
5. Each session will last another 50 seconds, then stop.
6. You can end the session at any time by pressing the power button twice.
7. When you are done, turn off the device by pressing the power button 5 times.

Dry Herb Session Instructions

1. Press the power button 5 times to turn the device on.
2. Press the power button once to toggle through the heating profiles. There are four heating profiles to choose from, blue-low, green-medium, red-high, and white-max.
3. To initiate the session, press the power button two times. This will begin a 4-minute session.
4. After 10 seconds the device will light up and vibrate to let you know the device is at its desired heat setting.
5. Each session will continue on for the entire 4 minutes and then stop.
6. You can end the session at any time by pressing the power button twice.
7. When you are done, clean up any remaining material from your atomizer and turn off the device by pressing the power button 5 times.

Cleaning Ripper

To get the best flavor and maintain performance, you’ll need to keep your device clean. If you do not clean your device regularly, you are more likely to experience clogging or the device just not working altogether. Cleaning Ripper is super simple, though.

To start, you’ll need to remove the glass bubbler from the base. Then you are going to take a Q-tip dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol and clean the base of the device as well as any connection pins. Then, take the Q-tip and clean the airpath on the base.

To clean the glass bubbler, you can fill it with 99% isopropyl alcohol and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then rinse it with water multiple times to remove any remaining alcohol.

If you find that your atomizer is really dirty and needs a deeper clean, submerging the entire thing in 99% isopropyl alcohol will do the trick. Fill up a container with the alcohol and fully submerge the atomizer. Allow it to soak for 30 minutes, then ensure it is completely dry before reinstalling and using it again.

Battery Life & Charging

HoneyStick’s Ripper comes with a whopping 4000mAh battery, which is massive for an e-rig. One of the best e-rigs I own only houses a 1400mAh battery.

Battery life will greatly depend on how you use the device, as well as what temperature you use it at. While sessions with concentrates are only 60 seconds long, the temperature settings are much higher than with the dry herb atomizer, which has 4-minute sessions.

Personally, from an even mix of dry herb and concentrate usage, I’m getting multiple days from a single charge with moderate use.

Battery life is indicated by a small LED ring around the power button. The light is easy to see, even mid-session. You are also notified any time you power on or off the device, indicating the battery level.

As the battery is a high-capacity battery, it takes around 2 hours to recharge the device. While lengthy, the amount of usage time that you get out of it is a fair trade-off.

Performance

The Ripper performs as a high-end device that is sold at a budget-friendly price. Its portability and durability make it a great device to use at home or even on the go. But how does it perform?

I absolutely love that there are two completely different heating profiles depending on which atomizer is installed, as this allows you to utilize all temperature profiles without under-heating or burning your material.

Both atomizers are made with quartz that allow the material, no matter what you are using, to heat up in 10 seconds. There is little downtime when waiting for the device to heat up, which I really like.

I found the 60-second dab session to be the perfect length. The four-minute session for the dry herb seems a little long, but it allows you to take your time and enjoy without feeling rushed. You can always end the session early if the four minutes are too long for you.

The glass bubbler helps to deliver warm, but not hot, vapor that doesn’t hit the throat too hard. The bubbler design does an excellent job of cooling and smoothing out the vapor. I didn’t experience any water getting into my mouth during sessions either. If you find yourself getting a mouthful of water, then you likely have the water level too high.

Verdict

HoneyStick’s Ripper is the perfect desktop device for at-home use, while still portable enough to take with you on the go. It does not come with a travel case, though, so you’ll have to find something that you can store it in while traveling if you want to keep it from getting broken.

Both atomizers, dry herb and concentrate, work very well and without issue. The device is overall super user-friendly and is a great starter device for those looking to get into dabbing while also wanting a solid dry herb device as well.

I didn’t encounter any issues while testing Ripper. The 4000mAh battery, dual atomizer (dry herb and wax), and the durability of the device make it almost too good to be true for the price point.

At just $150, it’s a perfect beginner e-rig that delivers an experience that is more similar to expensive rigs than to cheap ones. Highly recommended.