Smoke Buddy isn’t a vaporizer. It’s a personal air filter, a little plastic tube packed with activated carbon that you exhale your smoke or vapour through. Breathe in as normal, then breathe out through the Smoke Buddy instead of into the room, and most of the smell goes with it. That’s the whole idea, and it’s been the same idea since the mid 2000s.
People in Australia found them for the obvious reason. Renting, sharing walls, a partner who doesn’t love the smell, a landlord who’d love it even less. A Smoke Buddy doesn’t stop the smell of something actually burning, but it knocks out the exhale, which for a lot of people is the part that lingers and gets you pinged. Cheap, no power, nothing to learn. That combination is why a fairly basic bit of kit stayed popular for years.
A quick honesty note before the rundown. These are disposable. There’s no cleaning a Smoke Buddy back to life and no refilling the carbon, whatever you read online. When it’s spent, it’s spent. The three sizes are really just three amounts of filter.
Smokebuddy Original
The one most people picture. It’s a chunky cylinder that sits comfortably in your hand, packed with enough carbon to handle around 300 exhales before it tires out. It comes with a little cap for the mouthpiece end and a keychain, which sounds gimmicky until you’ve lost one down the side of the couch.
Suits the everyday user who wants smell control without thinking about it. The trick is technique. Slow, steady exhale, lips sealed around the mouthpiece, and don’t try to force a huge cloud through it in one go or some will sneak out the sides of your mouth. Done properly the output is faint to none.
Smokebuddy Junior
Same concept in a smaller body. Less carbon inside, so it doesn’t last as long, but it’s lighter, cheaper and easier to palm or pocket. If you only use it now and then, the Junior makes more sense than paying for capacity you’ll never reach before it ages out anyway.
The catch is exactly that smaller capacity. Heavy users burn through a Junior quickly and end up annoyed they didn’t just get the Original. It’s the right pick for the occasional smoker or someone who wants one to keep in a bag for when they’re out.
Smokebuddy Mega
The big one. More carbon, more exhales, a longer life before it gives up. If you go through filters fast, the Mega works out better value than replacing Originals back to back, and the bigger barrel can take a slightly bigger breath without spilling smell.
Downside is it’s the least pocketable of the three. It’s a handful, literally, so it lives at home rather than coming out with you. For a regular user who mostly uses it in one spot, that’s no great loss.
Living with one
There’s no maintenance, which is the appeal, but there is a knack and an end date. Keep the supplied cap on the mouthpiece between uses so the carbon isn’t pulling in humidity and household smells while it sits, which quietly shortens its life. Exhale gently rather than blasting it. And watch for the tell-tale signs it’s done: airflow gets stiff, and smell starts coming through instead of being caught. That’s your cue to bin it and start a fresh one. No vaporiser to scrub here, just a part you use up and replace, a bit like a filter in anything else.
One more thing worth saying. Fakes are common with something this cheap and this copied, and a dud one leaks smell from new, which defeats the entire point. The genuine article does what it claims. The lookalikes are a coin toss.
Which one suits you
Short version. Everyday use and you want the safe choice: Original. Light or on-the-go use where size and price matter more than longevity: Junior. Heavy use in one spot and you’d rather replace less often: Mega.
Want to see what else pairs with your setup? Have a look at our accessories range. And if you’re sorting out the rest of your kit, RYOT and Ooze cover storage, grinders and the bits that go with them.