The Dotleaf 1.0. “A fine example of a premium e-cig company trying their hand at a dry herb vape.” -somebody smarter than me. Unfortunately I was not the original owner, so I can not comment on the packaging, inclusions with the device, or the unboxing experience. All that said, I was quite surprised when I opened the package to a well put together, solid, quality device.

The magnetic side plates work quite well and quickly snap in and out of place revealing the slot for the single 18650 cell, or the small oven on the other side. The button is crispy as it clicks, and the design on the button itself was a welcome bit of flare on an otherwise flat and boxy device. This is a well put together unit, and something I wouldn’t fear dropping or having bang about in a bag while out and about. If you are like me, you may worry about scratching up the covers, but ultimately this thing should be quite durable day in and day out!

The Dotleaf definitely shows its e-cig roots with a small ultem oven that slots in and out of the device for loading your herb sitting on a contact point once installed. The oven has a small screen at the bottom to allow air through the herb chamber and up to the mouth piece. At the top of the oven is a proprietary, built in o-ring  that seals the herb chamber / oven to the top of the inside of the device and up against the opening that the mouthpiece screws into. Yea, you heard that part right, the mouth piece is also proprietary and threads into the body of the Dotleaf. Fortunately, it is also a 14mm WPA, so you can use this on your favorite glass 14mm glass pieces as well as natively.

Using the Dotleaf is quite straightforward. Once your battery is in place and the oven is loaded and slotted back in, just double click your single button. No screens or other buttons or settings to mess around with. Double click and the last used pre-set temp is remembered and the oven begins heating. The LED lights around the button will start pulsing and will start with just ¼ of the button lit, and it will add ¼ lights as it goes up from preset temp to preset temp. Heatup time was a non issue. Using a single Molicel p28a 18650 battery I felt the heat up time was on par with my old YLL AE as well as only slightly behind the Firewood X. Once it reached the desired setting the device will buzz and you are good to go! Start with a light draw as to not overwhelm the heater. This brings me to my next point.

For me, I started immediately at temp level 3 of 4. On glass, I was a 4/4. This was enough for a nice slow draw to really fill in my small piece of glass. On larger glass, or with a longer draw, or a faster draw, the Dotleaf heater will absolutely get overwhelmed and cool, needing time to rebound between hits. Temp 2 was ok native for a decently wispy and terpy hit, but if you are used to the likes of a Firewood, TM2, or something along those lines you will find you are outrunning the heater on the Dotleaf. Of course, those mentioned devices come at a much higher price tag. Airflow is nice and open. There is very little resistance when inhaling so overwhelming the heater is that much easier. For overall ease of use, the Dotleaf is pretty straight forward. Packing the oven is as simple as taking off the side cover, popping out the oven, taking the top off the oven, loading herb, then putting it all back. A single button to mess with makes getting it turned on and the temp set easy as well. 

One battery is plenty and keeps the overall package size down. Battery life was also solid with a single battery getting me 6-8 full bowls at the higher temp before the heating time really started to grow noticeably. Honestly, I am surprised we don’t see more talk about this little vape and believe it has a place in the right price bracket. 

Unfortunately, it is priced right between the cheaper options like the POTV Lobo, and the more expensive options like the Solo 3, which actually often goes on sale for the same retail price as the Dotleaf. This is a smaller package though for sure, and I could see it rattling around in a backpack and or in your pocket out at a concert without fear of it getting dropped or banged about. It is certainly a well built hunk of metal that looks like it could bounce around with ease and have no issues. The proprietary bits and pieces are a bit of a turn off for me as well. I bring that up as some of the parts just don’t break down as far as I would like to clean things. I enjoy being able to remove o-rings for both cleaning and replacement. I also like to be able to dunk my parts to let them soak. 

Cleaning the Dotleaf is more about manual labor. ISO soaked cotton swabs will be your friend as you scrub around all the little nooks and crannies in the oven, where it meets the body of the vaporizer itself, and then the air path of the mouthpiece. This isn’t one I would let anything build up in, and personally would clean between every battery to keep things looking new. 

Would I buy one at $165? No. Probably not. Would I buy it at $100-120, yea, I think I would. It’s built to last, and gets the job done, just in a way I am not used to or really aligned with. I would much prefer more user serviceable parts, but appreciate the durability that comes with the design they chose.