I’m fairly new to the world of Cannabis Culture. I’ve been around marijuana enough, but it wasn’t really until last year that I started actively getting into it. I knew all kinds of devices existed for its use, but I never really realized just how much was out there.
Late last year Cloudius9 provided us with their Tectonic9 grinder and Atomic9 dry herb vape pen, which you can see in our unboxing over on our Twitch channel. That was my first real experience using these kind of products. After that, I’ve been doing a lot more research into them and seeing what else is out there. It can be kind of daunting trying to navigate all of the different products that are available, so when they offered me the Hydrology9, I couldn’t pass that up.
As I receive and buy new things, I’ll keep writing up my reviews and talking about them on our streams. If like me, you’re also kind of new to this world, you can learn along with me and hopefully my learning process will help some of you as well. The most recent product I’ve gotten is the Hydology9 from the same company that sent us the previously mentioned grinder and vape. You can check out Elle’s unboxing of it here.
For someone new to all of this, some of these devices out there can be appear to be a little confusing right off the bat, but the Hydrology9 is actually surprisingly easy to use. I’ve been using it for a little over 2 weeks now and am quite happy with it. Before starting to use this, I had been using the Arizer Air II, which is also a great product, and I’ll continue to use it when I want to carry something with me, but for home use (or at a hotel when I’m traveling), the Hydrology9 is my new device.
Using the Hydrology9
As I mentioned above, it’s really easy to use. The bottom unscrews to reveal the chamber where you deposit your product of choice. The cap also has a little tool on it that lets you mix your product to heat it more evenly. I don’t usually pack my product too tightly and with this device, that’s probably a good thing.
In my last use, I dumped out a bit more than I had wanted to from the grinder and just packed it all in. While I was able to close it, I did have to force it a bit, I didn’t notice any issues, but the effectiveness of the mixer is probably greatly reduced since there’s not as much room in the chamber for it to properly move the material inside around.
Ideally for it to function as intended, it would need to be able to move product from the middle of the chamber to the edge, if all it’s doing is spinning the product in a circle, it’s not going to be effective in giving you a more even burn.
The mouthpiece is actually 3 pieces, not just the two you see in this image. There’s the cap, which magnetically attaches itself to the center of the mouthpiece to block water from leaking out if you tip the device. The base of the mouthpiece which is what unscrews to allow you to fill the device, and the actual glass mouthpiece itself which can be pulled off from that bottom piece for cleaning.
While you can turn the whole thing upside down while it’s full of water without it leaking, it’s not a good idea to shake it or repeatedly flip it as it could leak. I haven’t run into any issues with leaking yet, but I did have a semi unpleasant experience with the water that I’ll get into in the next section.
Unscrewing that mouthpiece unit gives you access to fill the Hydrology9 with water. They recommend filling it about 70% of the way, but I’d suggest putting in a bit less. . . or at least a bit less than what I had thought was 70%. One of my first times using it I filled it a little too high and ended up pulling water up through the mouthpiece and into my mouth.
First I was taken by surprise by the water shooting up into my mouth and then came the taste. It is not good. Not good at all. In fact it’s very, very gross. . . and after doing some research drinking bong water doesn’t even get you high, so not only does it taste disgusting, there’s absolutely no good side effects either, so. . . yeah, be careful.
On the bright side, I’ve only made that mistake once, so once you’ve figured out a good amount, you should be good to go. I aim to fill it to just about halfway through the first ‘U’ in the Cloudius9 logo on the center column inside the tube.
Once you’ve got your product and water in there it’s good to go. Turning it on and setting the heat is all done with the same button. To turn it on, just press it 3 times quickly and you’ll see the light inside the tube flash on.
To start heating the device, press the button once more. each subsequent press will cycle through the 5 temperature settings, indicated by the color of the LED.
Once your chosen temperature is reached, the light will turn a solid green and it will stay on for two minutes before going into standby mode.
The pulls from this device are seriously smooth, I haven’t yet noticed the ashy taste I get from smoking joints or with some of the other dry herb vapes I’ve used.
Cleaning
The Hydrology9 is incredibly easy to take apart and clean for the most part. As you can see in the image above, it breaks down into 6 pieces and you can do so with relative ease. The hardest part to clean here so far has been the chamber, but even that’s not really too hard, it would just be easier if there was some way for it to detach from the unit, but, as compact as this device is, that’s not really feasible and I haven’t seen other devices yet where you can do that, so I’m not even sure if design-wise it would be possible.
As seen in our unboxing video, it comes with a number of cleaning products including 2 different sized pipe cleaners. Between those two I was able to get the chamber relatively clean. As material builds up in there though, I could see it becoming increasingly difficult, so I would definitely recommend cleaning the chamber on a fairly regular basis. As for the rest of the device, I’d follow the instructions in the handbook and it should be a cakewalk to keep the device in good condition.
Charging/Battery Life
The Hydrology9 charges just like any other product, it comes with a usb block and 2 different length cables to use depending on your needs. Just a couple notes on that though, I tried plugging it in with a USB cable I had sitting on my desk from another product and it didn’t work. I know the cable was fine because I had just been using it with a different product, so I’m not sure why it didn’t work here.
Hydrology9 Overall Thoughts
Overall, I’m extremely happy with this product. As I said at the top, this is my new “daily driver”. I wouldn’t bring this with me if I was going out, my Air II is perfect for that, but if I’m travelling and living out of a hotel or even going over to a friends house to chill, this device is definitely small enough to make it easy to transport. You can even buy a dope leather case made specifically for it from Cloudius9, it’s currently on sale for $25, that’s 50% off of it’s regular price. The device itself runs $169 which, based on the price of other similar devices, seems fair, I spent $180 on the Air II.
You can also get a bundle that includes all 3 of their products, the Hydrology9, the Atomic9, and the Tectonic9 Grinder. The bundle is currently on sale for $249, $70 less than it’s regular price of $319. The grinder by itself is $59, so with the current sale, You’d be saving about $60 vs buying everything separately. I’m a big fan of the grinder, so if you’re in the market for a new grinder too, the bundle might be worthwhile for you, at least while it’s on sale.
Bottom line. The Hydrology9 is absolutely worth it. If you’re in the market for a portable bong/vape, as a noob with this kinda stuff, I’d definitely recommend this one.
