Storz & Bickel Crafty+ Review: Brighton & Hove Albion in Your Pocket

The Hook: Brighton & Hove Albion Energy

Here's the thing about Brighton & Hove Albion.

They shouldn't be competing at this level. They're not a superclub. They don't have the budget of Manchester City or the legacy of Manchester United. But you watch them play and for 75 minutes they're dismantling teams with twice their resources. Precise passing, intelligent movement, punching well above their weight.

Then the 70th minute arrives. The legs go. The manager makes his substitutions. And you remember why they're not going to win the league.

The Crafty+ is that Brighton energy in your pocket.

It's got the same heater as the Mighty+. Same hybrid heating system. Same vapour path design. Same German engineering. For 4-5 bowls, it's delivering Champions League vapour from a device that actually fits in your jacket pocket. The extraction is thorough, the flavour is clean, and when it's working? You forget you're not using the bigger vape.

Then the battery icon starts flashing. And you remember.

I've owned my Crafty+ for eighteen months now. It sits alongside my Mighty+ and Venty in the S&B rotation. Each has its role: Mighty+ for home sessions and reliability, Venty for when I want the absolute best airflow, and Crafty+ for genuine portability without sacrificing vapour quality.

We stock the Crafty+ at HerbVape.co.uk — details and pricing below.

The Crafty+ has never pretended to be the complete package. But for what it does — premium vapour in a pocketable form — it's still one of the best in class.

Vapour Quality: 75 Minutes of Brilliance 9/10

The Crafty+ is the smallest device in the S&B portable lineup that delivers proper flagship-adjacent vapour. Same heater as the Mighty+. Same cooling unit design. Same extraction quality. For a device this size, the vapour is remarkable.

The Precision Advantage: Here's what separates the Crafty+ from simpler devices like the Veazy: 170 individual temperature degrees via the app. If you're the kind of person who notices the difference between 185°C and 190°C — and some of us genuinely are — that precision matters. The Mighty+ gives you an on-device display for this. The Crafty+ requires the app. Trade-off for the smaller size.

The vapour quality itself? Extremely close to the Mighty+. I've done blind tests with mates — most can't tell the difference. The cooling unit does excellent work, the hybrid heating extracts thoroughly, and clouds are thick from the first draw to the last. But I'm docking half a point from a 9.5 because the smaller cooling unit means vapour runs slightly warmer on extended draws, and the Venty's wide-open 20 lpm airflow genuinely outclasses it. At this size? Outstanding. Against the full S&B lineup? A shade behind the bigger siblings.

The Strain Test

The team sheet never changes: identical jars, identical grinder, identical running order, fixture after fixture. The flower is the constant and the machine is the only thing swapped in. The question for the Crafty+ is whether Brighton's squad-depth problem shows up in the flavour as well as the battery — whether a smaller bowl behind a smaller cooling unit holds what the Mighty+ holds.

Jack Herer — Sativa

The Flower: Same jar as every other device on this site. Haze × (Northern Lights #5 × Shiva Skunk), around 20% THC, terpinolene-led with caryophyllene and pinene behind it. Pale, spindly, hairy stuff that looks less impressive than it smokes — crack the jar and it's pine needles and lemon peel first, dry green herbs underneath, black pepper right at the back. Old-school in the way that means "aromatic", not "weak". It's the strain that shows you up: the top notes are fragile, and if a vaporiser can't hold them you find out in the first three seconds.

The Pack: 0.2g, medium grind, into a dosing capsule and dropped into the chamber. The capsule keeps the load identical between the two strains and turns the mid-test clean-out into a thirty-second job instead of a project.

Low Temp (180°C): Four draws, and the first two are the good ones. Pine needles and lemon peel arrive on schedule, but rounded — the cooling unit takes the needle-sharp edge off the way it does on the Mighty+, and you're tasting a warmer pine than the flower actually smells of. There's a cooling menthol edge on the exhale of draw two that I didn't expect from a chamber this small. By draw four the citrus lift has thinned to a suggestion.

Mid Temp (191°C): Three draws. Black pepper turns up properly here and it's well-defined — this is the durable heart of the strain and the Crafty+ renders it without argument. Woody haze underneath, dry earth behind that. The citrus echo is gone by the second of these three, which is earlier than the Mighty+ manages, and the reason is simply that there's less flower in the bowl to work through. Small squad.

High Temp (200°C): Two draws and the bowl is spent. Earth and leather, a bit of toasted herb, that old-school funk at the back. Correct behaviour for Jack up here, not a fault — but there's no third act, because there's nothing left.

The Verdict: Nine draws total, which is Brighton's whole matchday: bright, precise, over before you'd like. The Crafty+ gives you a genuinely good Jack Herer for the first four draws and an honest one for the rest, and the limitation is structural — a 0.25g chamber has a shorter window on fragile top notes than a bigger one does, no matter whose heater is underneath. It's not being outplayed on quality. It's being outlasted.

Wedding Cake — Indica-Leaning Hybrid

The Flower: Same jar as every other device on this site. Triangle Kush × Animal Mints, via Triangle Mints #23 — around 24% THC, caryophyllene first, then limonene and myrcene. Dense, squat, greasy nuggets that leave your fingers tacky and your grinder needing a wash. Nose is vanilla and cream over sweet raw dough, with a peppery earth underneath and a cherry-berry edge that turns up on the exhale more than the sniff. Modern dessert genetics doing exactly what it says on the tin. Where Jack exposes a device, this one flatters it.

The Pack: 0.2g again, fresh capsule, cooling unit stripped and swabbed while it was still warm so nothing from the Jack carried over. Slightly coarser grind — the dense, greasy stuff packs tight and this chamber doesn't have room to spare.

Low Temp (180°C): Vanilla and sweet cream straight off the first draw, thicker than anything Jack produced, with sweet raw dough sitting under it and a cherry edge on the exhale. This is what the small bowl is good for: the same 0.2g in a bigger chamber spreads thinner, and here it comes through concentrated. Four draws and none of them wasted.

Mid Temp (191°C): Three draws, and this is the stage that answers the resolution question. Butter arrives as a separate thing from the vanilla — you can taste the cake and the dairy apart, which is the whole test on this strain — and black pepper turns up on the third draw without stamping on either. Warm dough underneath the lot. The cooling unit is doing the smoothing here and it costs you a little top-end definition, but on a dessert profile that's a trade worth making.

High Temp (200°C): Two draws. Toasted and nutty, caramelised sugar just tipping toward burnt-edge on the last one, peppery pungency behind. The dessert has collapsed into general warmth, which is where it's supposed to end up.

The Verdict: Nine draws again, and this time nothing was cut short — Wedding Cake is heavy enough that it doesn't need the extra runway Jack wanted. By the third stage the two strains still read as two different plants, which is the thing I actually care about and the thing that justifies the 9 for vapour quality. Brighton don't beat you by having more players; they beat you by knowing what to do with the ones on the pitch. That's the Crafty+ with a dessert strain in it. The only genuine cost is that the two bowls I've just described are two of the four or five you get before the charger, which is a sentence I have to write in every section of this review.

Design & Build: The Sunday Roast Incident 8.5/10

Sunday roast at my mate's house. I'd been using the Crafty+ all morning, didn't check the battery before leaving. Pulled it out after dinner, clicked it on, watched the lights flash red and die.

Sarah's text when I told her: 'Why didn't you just bring the Mighty+?'

She's right. I should have. But I didn't, because the Crafty+ fits in my jacket pocket and the Mighty+ doesn't, and I'm an optimist about battery life despite years of evidence to the contrary.

That's the Crafty+ trade-off in one anecdote.

Build Quality Reality:

The build itself is properly solid. This is Mighty+ DNA in a smaller body — same materials, same cooling unit design, same German engineering confidence. The medical-grade PEEK plastic is high-quality, the buttons respond cleanly, and the thing feels like a serious tool. It's not trying to be cute. It's not available in coral or teal. It's a black brick that does a job.

At 135g, it's virtually identical to the Veazy in weight. But the form factor is different: the Crafty+ is shorter and wider (110mm × 57mm × 33mm), while the Veazy is taller and slimmer. The Crafty+ fits in a jacket pocket; the Veazy fits in jeans. Different trade-offs for different wardrobes.

What People Don't Mention:

• Ribbed exterior acts as a heat sink — the device stays comfortable even during extended sessions
• Swivel mouthpiece protects the unit during pocket carry
• Built-in stir tool hidden in the base (doubles as a fill aid)
• Chamber stands upright for easy loading — no awkward angles
• Ceramic-coated chamber (2021+ models) reduces sticking and makes cleaning easier

The cooling unit is the same proven design from the Mighty+, which means excellent vapour cooling and annoying cleaning sessions. Brighton energy — beautiful football, questionable bench depth.

Is Yours Real?

The Crafty+ is counterfeited, and the fakes have got better. If you're buying used, or from a marketplace listing that seems a bit too pleased with itself on price, five things to check:

1. The serial sticker. Semi-gloss finish, centred, crisply printed. Matte, off-centre or fuzzy is a bad sign.
2. The box. It says Made in Germany. If it doesn't, stop there.
3. The vibration. A genuine unit buzzes strongly and unmistakably on heat-up. Fakes manage a weak flutter, or nothing.
4. The °C/°F toggle in the app. Real devices pair properly and expose the full temperature interface, including the unit switch. Counterfeits either won't connect or give you a stripped-down version of it.
5. The hologram on the cooling unit's cap lock. It shifts in 3D as you tilt it. A flat black sticker means you've got a fake.

There's no official S&B serial lookup, so provenance is the real protection: buy from an authorised dealer and none of this comes up. eBay bargains on a device that retails at £186.99 are bargains for a reason.

Battery & Charging: The Tamagotchi Problem 6.5/10

This is where we need to be properly honest.

The Crafty+ gets 4-5 bowls per charge. That's real-world, tested, at normal temperatures. Some sessions you'll squeeze out 5. Some days you'll get 4. If you're running hot constantly, expect the lower end.

The Context:

• Venty: 10-14 bowls per charge
• Mighty+: 6-8 bowls per charge
• Veazy: 7-8 sessions per charge
• Crafty+: 4-5 bowls per charge

The Crafty+ is the battery runt of the S&B portable lineup, and it always has been. Brighton legs at the 70th minute.

The Specs:

• USB-C: Yes (the 2021 update finally killed the micro-USB nightmare)
• Pass-through charging: No — S&B don't support vaping while it's plugged in
• Replaceable battery: No (sealed unit)
• Charge time: ~90 minutes to full — roughly 80% in the first 30

The Tamagotchi Comparison:

Using a Crafty+ is like owning a Tamagotchi. You need to feed it regularly or it dies on you at the worst possible moment. This is partly an ADHD problem — my phone lives at 15%, I've let actual plants die from neglect — but it's also a genuine Crafty+ limitation. The battery capacity just isn't there.

My mate Tom's Crafty+ battery noticeably degraded after about 200 hours of use — roughly 18 months of regular use before you start feeling the capacity drop. Classic Tom luck with electronics, but sealed-battery degradation is a real concern. You can't just swap in a fresh cell. You're looking at warranty support or a new device when it finally goes.

No Saving Grace:

This is the bit people get wrong about the Crafty+, usually because they've read a spec sheet for a different S&B device. There is no pass-through. When the battery is flat you are not vaping through a cable — you are waiting about ninety minutes, or you are reaching for something else. Plan around it: charge it overnight, keep a couple of dosing capsules pre-loaded so the bowls you do get aren't wasted faffing with a grinder, and treat the last 20% as a warning rather than a resource.

Ease of Use 9/10

Once you get past the battery anxiety, the Crafty+ is genuinely excellent to use.

The Interface:

One button plus the app. Click to turn on, long-press to start heating. The LED lights show battery level and heating status. Double-click activates the Booster (+15°C). Triple-click activates the Superbooster (210°C). Simple enough to learn in one session.

The App Advantage:

This is where the Crafty+ separates from simpler devices. Full temperature control from 40-210°C in single-degree increments. Set your starting temp, programme boost temperatures, track usage statistics, even locate a lost device via Bluetooth (it vibrates and flashes).

If you're the kind of person who has opinions about optimal temperatures for different strains, this is your interface. The Veazy's 3-step system covers 90% of use cases, but the Crafty+ gives you that extra 10% of precision.

Loading:

Standard S&B process. Medium-fine grind, fill the oven, light tamp. 0.25g fits comfortably. The ceramic-coated chamber (2021+ models) makes loading and unloading easier — herb doesn't stick like it did on the original aluminium chamber.

Dosing capsules work perfectly — same ecosystem as the Mighty+, Venty, and Veazy. Pre-load capsules, swap them in, no mess. Essential for the 'I forgot to charge' crowd who need quick sessions.

Haptic Feedback:

The Crafty+ vibrates when it reaches temperature — brilliant for pocketing during heat-up. No need to stare at LED lights. Just feel the buzz and you're good to go.

Cleaning & Maintenance 6/10

The Crafty+ cooling unit is the same design as the Mighty+, which means the same cleaning reality.

The O-Ring Situation:

There are 8 O-rings. Eight. I've lost two down the sink drain during cleaning sessions. Ordered replacements, lost another one. They're small, they're slippery, and they will escape if you're not careful. Budget for spares.

Cleaning Timeline:

• After 10 bowls: Light residue, still fine
• After 20 bowls: Noticeable buildup, flavour starting to muddy
• After 30+ bowls: Proper teardown required, airflow restricted

The Process:

1. Remove cooling unit
2. Disassemble CU (carefully — those O-rings)
3. Soak everything in ISO for 20-30 minutes
4. Scrub the mesh screens with a brush
5. Rinse, dry completely, reassemble
6. Swear you'll do it more often

It's not the worst cleaning experience — but it's fiddlier than simpler devices. The trade-off for excellent vapour cooling is maintenance overhead. The Veazy's smaller, simpler CU is genuinely easier to maintain.

Full teardown order, O-ring reassembly and the bits I've learned the hard way are in the Crafty+ Owner's Guide →.

Portability 8/10

The Crafty+ was the most pocketable S&B portable until the Veazy arrived. It fits in a jacket pocket comfortably. Jeans are tighter — it works, but you know it's there.

Dimensions: 110mm × 57mm × 33mm at 135g

The Veazy is taller but slimmer — different pocket geometries for different people. The Crafty+ is the opposite: shorter but wider.

Stealth Factor: The matte black finish is stealthy enough. No bright colours, no obvious branding visible at a glance. It looks like a tech gadget, not explicitly a vaporiser — though anyone who knows will recognise it immediately.

The USB-C Advantage: Same charger as your phone. Charge from power banks, car chargers, laptop ports. No proprietary cable to forget at home.

For genuine everyday carry where you need S&B vapour quality, the Crafty+ remains a strong option. Just remember to charge it. Brighton energy — brilliant on the pitch, questionable fitness off it.

How I Actually Use This

Default Setup: App-controlled temperatures, starting at 180°C and stepping up in 5-10 degree increments through the session. Loose pack of roughly 0.2g — I find it vapes more evenly than fully packing the chamber. The whole ritual takes about 8 minutes from turn-on to spent chamber.

When I Reach For It: When I'm leaving the house and genuinely need portability. Jacket pocket carry for actual days out. Restaurant visits (back-garden sessions, not indoors — let's be clear). Days where the Mighty+ would feel like overkill but I still want S&B quality.

When I Don't: Home sessions belong to the Solo 3 v2 and the Mighty+. I'm not sitting on my sofa with the Crafty+ when I've got something bigger with better battery waiting. When the battery is below 20% I don't bother — those last 2-3 hits aren't worth the stress. And when I know I'll need more than 4-5 bowls, I leave it behind entirely.

Honest Cleaning Reality: Same cooling unit as the Mighty+, same resin buildup reality. I should clean every 20 bowls. I probably push 30 before I actually do it. The O-rings remain my nemesis.

Session Frequency: 2-3 times per week as a rotation piece, not a daily driver. It's my 'I need to leave the house and bring S&B quality' device. That frequency means battery management stays manageable — I'm not draining it daily, so the Tamagotchi problem stays theoretical rather than lived reality.

Medical Use Notes

For Pain Management: The Crafty+ serves specific medical needs when portable — same quality extraction as the Mighty+ in a device that fits in a pocket during appointments, errands, or days when leaving the house is the goal. The 170-degree temperature control matters for medical dosing. Not every strain responds the same at 180°C versus 190°C, and if you're managing symptoms rather than chasing novelty, that level of control becomes genuinely useful.

For ADHD/Focus: I use the Crafty+ for lower-temp microdose sessions with sativa-leaning strains when I need to be functional but away from home. The app remembers your last session temps, so consistency is built-in rather than guessed. The Veazy's 3-step system is simpler but less precise for dialling in ADHD-specific doses.

The Medical User's Concern: Battery reliability. If you depend on cannabis for pain management, a dead battery at an inconvenient moment isn't just annoying — it's a medical failure. And because there's no pass-through, a flat Crafty+ is a flat Crafty+ for the next ninety minutes. The Mighty+ or Venty solve this problem. The Crafty+ requires discipline: charge it every night, keep awareness of remaining capacity, have a backup plan. Doable, but requires thinking ahead more than other S&B portables.

Session Timing: From first draw to noticeable pain relief: about 3-5 minutes (faster than edibles, comparable to the Mighty+). Effects last 1-2 hours depending on strain and temperature. For a long pain-management evening, though, this isn't the device — you'll run the battery down before you're done, and you can't vape it on the cable while it recovers.

Value for Money 6.5/10

At £186.99, the Crafty+ sits in an uncomfortable position — squeezed from above and below.

The Mighty+ Problem: At £255.99, the Mighty+ costs £69 more and delivers dramatically better battery (6-8 bowls), an on-device screen, and the same vapour quality. If portability isn't essential, the Mighty+ is objectively better value.

The Venty Problem: At £304.99, the Venty solves every Crafty+ problem — 10-14 bowls, 20-second heat-up, best-in-class airflow — for £118 more.

What's Not in the Box: A case. At a shade under £190, for a device whose most fragile component is a cooling unit full of O-rings, S&B ship you the vaporiser, a cable and a filling aid — and expect you to buy protection separately. Every Crafty+ that lives in a bag needs a case, which means the real entry price is closer to £210 than £190. It's a small thing, but it's the sort of small thing that costs a point on value when the Veazy is £21 away.

So who's it for? The person who specifically needs S&B vapour quality, single-degree precision, and genuine pocket carry. That person exists — but the Veazy at £21 more has narrowed the window considerably.

Would I buy it again? Honestly, I'd probably stretch to the Venty. But I don't regret owning the Crafty+ — it's served its role perfectly as the 'S&B quality in a jacket pocket' device. Brighton didn't need to win the league to be worth watching.

The Verdict: 75 Minutes of Brilliance

The Brighton bookend.

Brighton will never win the Premier League. The Crafty+ will never be the Mighty+. But for 75 minutes — for 4-5 bowls, for a day out, for genuine pocket carry — it'll outplay anything in its class.

Eighteen months in, the Crafty+ still lives in my rotation. Not as my daily driver — those roles go to the Solo 3 v2 and the Mighty+ at home, and the Venty when I want that wide-open airflow. But when I need S&B vapour quality in a jacket pocket with single-degree precision? The Crafty+ is what I reach for. I'll be honest about the battery life and even more honest about why I still use it despite the battery life: Stockholm syndrome is real.

The battery anxiety is real, and with no pass-through there's no way to vape around it. The Veazy has narrowed this device's audience considerably — better battery, slimmer profile, £21 more. But the Crafty+ still makes vapour the Veazy can't match, from a solid metal heater the Veazy doesn't have, with 170 temperature degrees the Veazy can't offer. For the precision crowd, the trade-off is still worth it. You just need to be honest with yourself about whether you're that person — because for everyone else, the Veazy is the better buy.

Score Breakdown

Category	Score	One-Line Summary
Vapour Quality	9/10	Same heater as the Mighty+, slightly warmer draws from the smaller CU
Design & Build	8.5/10	Mighty+ DNA in a pocketable body — solid, functional, not pretty
Battery & Charging	6.5/10	The Achilles heel. 4-5 bowls. Sealed battery, no pass-through. Tamagotchi energy
Ease of Use	9/10	170-degree app precision, haptic feedback, dosing capsule ecosystem
Cleaning & Maintenance	6/10	8 O-rings. Resin trap CU. Budget 20 minutes every 20-30 bowls
Portability	8/10	Genuine jacket-pocket carry — wider than the Veazy, smaller than the Mighty+
Value for Money	6.5/10	The Veazy undercuts on battery for £21 more; the Venty solves every problem for £118 more
Overall	8.0/10	Brighton energy: brilliant when it's on the pitch, questionable fitness

Category average is 7.6. The 8.0 sits above it because the Crafty+ still makes fantastic vapour — same heater as the Mighty+, same extraction quality — and the 170-degree precision is unmatched at this size. But the battery holds it back, and the Veazy now beats it on real-world value: better battery life, slimmer profile, for £21 more. The Crafty+ is still the right device for precision temperature steppers who need pocket carry. For everyone else, the window has narrowed considerably.

Vs the Competition

The uncomfortable comparison. The Veazy costs £21 more, delivers better battery life (7-8 sessions vs 4-5 bowls), faster heat-up (40s vs 60s), and a slimmer profile. For most people, the Veazy wins. The Crafty+ only pulls ahead if you specifically want single-degree temperature control and slightly better vapour from the solid metal heater vs the Veazy's mesh. Established reliability data also favours the Crafty+ if you're risk-averse about newer devices. Full Veazy review → | Mighty+ vs Crafty+ →

Same vapour quality, same heater, same ecosystem — the Mighty+ is essentially the Crafty+ with a bigger battery and an on-device screen. At £186.99 versus £255.99, the Mighty+ costs £69 more and delivers 6-8 bowls per charge instead of 4-5. If portability isn't essential, the Mighty+ is objectively the better purchase. The Crafty+ only makes sense if you genuinely need the smaller size and are willing to live with battery anxiety. Full Mighty+ review → | Mighty+ vs Crafty+ →

The performance king. 10-14 bowls per charge, best-in-class airflow, narrower profile for pocket carry, full temperature control via built-in screen. There's almost no reason to buy a Crafty+ if you can stretch to a Venty, except price sensitivity. The Crafty+ is £118 cheaper and delivers adequate performance; the Venty delivers excellent performance. For daily users, the Venty's battery life solves the core Crafty+ problem. Full Venty review → | Mighty+ vs Venty →

Completely different philosophy. The TinyMight 2 is on-demand convection — near-instant heat, massive single hits, glass stem fragility — and it's £113 dearer. The Crafty+ is session-style hybrid heating — consistent, reliable, no technique required. The TinyMight 2 hits harder on individual draws; the Crafty+ delivers more even sessions. If you want raw power and don't mind learning a technique, TinyMight 2. If you want to press a button and get S&B consistency, Crafty+.

The one comparison people don't expect me to make, and the only one where the Crafty+ genuinely loses on flavour. The ArGo runs an all-glass vapour path — no plastic, no PEEK, nothing between the herb and your mouth but glass — and it tastes it. Terpenes come through purer and better separated than the Crafty+ manages, particularly on a fragile sativa like the Jack Herer. What it doesn't do is density: the ArGo's tiny bowl gives you concentrated espresso sips, not the thick, satisfying clouds the S&B heater produces. It's also far more technique-sensitive — draw too hard and you'll thin it out, where the Crafty+ forgives whatever you do to it. Battery goes to the ArGo too, because the 18650 cell is swappable, which is the whole problem the Crafty+ can't solve.

So: £63 cheaper, better flavour purity, longer effective battery life, more work. The Crafty+ gives you bigger clouds, single-degree control and a device you don't have to think about. If you're a flavour purist on a budget, the ArGo is the honest recommendation. If you want to press a button and get vapour, it's the Crafty+. Full ArGo review →