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MICHIGAN—I’m a joint guy.
I like the ritual. I like rolling them, licking them, and lighting them. And I like knowing that what I’m smoking came off a plant somebody in this state actually grew, cured, and trimmed by hand.
Vape pens have always struck me as the instant coffee of cannabis—fine in a pinch, never the thing you actually wanted. But a few weeks ago I polled MichiGanja Report readers on what I should review next in this series, and it wasn’t even close. Vape pens won by a landslide.
So, I did what you told me to do.
Last week, I went to the dispensary, bought three different pens, put my flower away in a drawer, and vaped nothing but live rosin for three full days to see what I’ve been missing.
I already learned that cheap distillate should be avoided, so I skipped the bottom shelf entirely. Instead I picked three different pens from three brands—all live rosin and all for $30 apiece.
The setup
I did my shopping at Green Acres in Ann Arbor, a new dispensary that opened this summer and is still running deals to lure in new customers that could drop these prices even lower.
Everything came off the same shelf. Three half-gram disposables from three different brands, all filled with high-grade solventless rosin. Same format, same price, same grade of oil. The only real variables here were the brand, the strain, and the hardware.
Then, I spread them out. I had one pen on Thursday, another one on Friday, and the last one on Saturday—with no other cannabis products in between to muddy the flavor or the effects. For a guy who smokes joints every single day, that was an adjustment. More on that at the end.
Superb Cannabis Co. — Breadstix #5
This was the Thursday pen, and it was the easiest one to use by a mile.
The tip is glass, which almost always means a smoother, more reliable pull than the cheap plastic hardware you find on most disposables. I’ve written about this before. Glass just feels cleaner. The tradeoff is fragility. You can’t toss this thing in your glovebox and forget about it.
There’s also no button. You inhale, it fires. That’s the whole interface, and I loved it.
The flavor is exactly what the name promises.
Sweet, nutty, doughy, and unmistakably garlicky. There’s real GMO-style funk in here—oniony, grassy, dank—but it’s wrapped in enough sweetness to keep it from getting too ugly. If this is a breadstick, it’s like one of those honey butter rolls they bring out at Texas Roadhouse.
It’s worth noting: This is my kind of flavor profile. I’ll take that weird funk over candy every time, though I recognize that’s a personal preference and plenty of folks want the opposite.
The effects were chatty and energizing—which makes sense, because the label branded this one as a sativa strain. It’s definitely not a pen to hit before bed. I spent the evening watching the news, chatting with my wife, and eventually making a serious dent in my book before bedtime.
As for the company behind this pen, I wish I could tell you more. State records show Superb holds processing and growing licenses in Lake Orion. But its website and Instagram page are offline—which is a little funny, considering they made the best-engineered pen in this review.
Made by a Farmer — Tropic Taffy
Friday’s pen was the only all-plastic unit of the three, and it was by far the most complicated: Five clicks to power on. Two clicks to preheat. Three clicks to cycle through the temperature settings. All of that is printed on the backside of the label, but it takes a minute to figure out.
Eventually, though, I came to appreciate the settings. Being able to dial in the temperature is a genuine advantage; it’s just not the first disposable pen I’d pick to hand off to a beginner.
This strain ran best on the lowest setting, which preserved the most plant flavor and gave the smoothest pull without costing me anything in effect. The next level up was decent, too.
My only real criticism? The flavor really undersold the packaging. The bag is bright and colorful with tropical fruit printed all over it. But what I got was mild—candy and creamy dessert with maybe some berry way in the back. Mostly it was just smooth, fairly neutral vapor.
Still, the effects were impossible to ignore. Two or three hits in, and I was properly stoned. Cerebral and spacy, with that Headband-style pressure that wraps around your forehead before it slowly works its way down into your body. Luckily, I had nothing critical to accomplish.
I ended up riding shotgun to dinner, then Costco, where I bought a pile of things nobody needs in bulk. Chick-fil-A has never tasted better. The store was busier than a Friday night has any right to be and I could not have cared less. Then I came home, ate through a disturbing portion of those Costco purchases, tidied up the house, and finished the night at the park with my dogs.
The word “sativa” is printed right on the bag in big, bright letters. I concur.
According to the website, Made by a Farmer started as a Southeast Michigan hemp farm and transitioned to the licensed THC market in 2022 with rosin vapes, pre-rolls, gummies, and more. They’re USDA Organic certified and say they grow without herbicides, pesticides, or fungicides.
Uplyfted Cannabis Co. — Coup Junky
Saturday’s pen had the same glass tip as the Superb, and the same smooth pull to go with it. The only difference is the button, which you have to hold down the entire time you’re hitting it.
I grabbed this one because I like Cap Junky and completely missed the small print that said “Coup.” The official genetics are unlisted, but I presume it has some Cap Junky parentage.
Ultimately, it was the best tasting pen of the bunch. Ripe fruit, cracked pepper, fuel, and a low, skunky hum underneath. Of everything I tried this week, this was the one that tasted most authentically like actual cannabis. And as a joint smoker, that matters a lot to me.
It was billed as a “sativa hybrid.” Thankfully, I already know those labels can be misleading so it wasn’t a total shock to find myself locked to the couch after my post-lunch smoke session.
My head stayed clear, but I felt this one in my body more than anywhere else. I’d taken a long bike ride earlier that morning, made myself a sandwich, then sat down to sample the pen. The rest of the day was just me, my dogs, and a slow afternoon of doing absolutely nothing.
I usually like to do yardwork, clean the house, or cook something elaborate on weekends when I’ve actually got the time. This pen reduced me to doomscrolling and DoorDash. Still, no regrets.
Uplyfted Cannabis Co. has been operating out of Warren since 2021. According to the website, everything there is grown and hand-trimmed in-house, with no shake or trim in any of their products—including their pre-rolls, which I buy regularly and recommend without reservation.
The bottom line
The honest verdict is that all three of these pens are worth your money.
That’s not something I get to write often, and it’s a direct result of shopping from the top shelf.
Live rosin is made with nothing but heat and pressure. Unlike cheap distillate, nothing gets stripped out and nothing gets added back in with rosin. It’s the closest a vape pen gets to the plant itself, and it remains the only category of vape I’d tell anyone to buy at the dispensary.
What separated these three wasn’t quality. It was personality and hardware.
- If you want the easiest, most functional pen, buy the Superb Breadstix #5. Glass tip, no buttons, no menu to memorize. Just inhale. It’s also the funkiest flavor of the bunch and the one I’d reach for on a weeknight when I still want to read a book afterward.
- If you want to tinker, the Made by a Farmer Tropic Taffy is the only one that allows for it. The flavor is mild and the interface is a puzzle, but the temperature control is nifty and the high is potent. Maybe just save it for a night with nothing on the calendar.
- If you want flavor, go with the Uplyfted Coup Junky. It tasted more like real weed than anything else. Just know it might take a whole Saturday afternoon away from you.
There’s one big catch, though—and it’s got nothing to do with any of these pens: Three days of vaping irritated my throat and lungs noticeably more than smoking joints.
I’d chalk that up to conditioning more than anything else. I’ve been smoking weed just about every day for more than a decade. My body must know what to expect, and this wasn’t it.
So, I’m going back to joints, but I’m not tossing these in the trash. A vape pen still works for a road trip, a hotel room, or any afternoon where I’d rather not walk around smelling like a grow room. But for me, they’ll always be more of a supplement to the joint—not a substitute.
READ MORE: Two Lansing budtenders picked my weed and it cost me twice as much
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