I tested three popular vaporizer pens to break down the real difference between cannabis distillate, live resin, and live rosin—and which ones are actually worth it.
MICHIGAN—Vape pens are booming in Michigan.
Walk into any dispensary in the state and you’ll find dozens of them stacked behind the counter. Walk down any random sidewalk and you’ll probably find one there, too. And for the last several months, they’ve officially been outselling actual weed at dispensaries statewide.
But with so many options—and so many price points—it raises a simple question: What are you actually getting when you buy one of these things?
So, I did the dirty work.
I went to Pure Options in Lansing and picked up three disposable vape pens at three different price points to figure out what actually differentiates them. Because once you understand what’s inside these things, you start to realize they’re not all even playing the same game.
The lineup
All three of these vapes looked nearly identical at first glance.
But the prices—and what’s inside them—is a completely different story.
Here’s what I tested:
- Batch (2g distillate) — $20
- Pro Gro (1g live resin) — $25
- Element (0.5g live rosin) — $40
Distillate does the job (and not much else)
Let’s start at the bottom.
The Batch disposable is exactly what you’d expect from a $20, 2-gram vape: simple, functional, and aggressively basic. The hardware is cheap plastic, square-shaped, with a little viewing window on the side. Nothing fancy—but it worked. No clogging, no issues, no drama.
And honestly, that might be the best thing I can say about it.
The flavor was generic. The strain was labeled as Runtz. But with distillate, that doesn’t always mean much. It tasted fine. A little sweet, a little vague; nothing offensive, nothing memorable.
And the high? Clean, light, almost sterile.
Distillate strips cannabis down to just THC, then adds flavor back in later. That means you get the main effect but none of the nuance that actually comes with smoking high-quality weed.
This is the frozen pizza of the weed world.
It’s like drinking light beer when you want a craft IPA.
Like watching a movie on mute.
It works. But it’s just not what the cannabis experience was meant to be.
Live resin starts to feel like weed again
Next up: Pro Gro’s live resin disposable.
This one immediately felt like a step up.
The hardware was sleeker, with colorful artwork on the side and a more polished feel overall.
The strain was Watermelon Grease Trap, which—full transparency—I’ve never heard of before.
But here’s the key difference: It actually tasted like weed.
This pen was fruity, funky and a little skunky in a good way. None of that artificial cotton candy nonsense. No weird aftertaste. Just a clean, flavorful hit that felt closer to the real plant.
And the high followed suit.
Live resin is made from fresh-frozen cannabis, which preserves more of the plant’s natural compounds—especially terpenes. That translates into a fuller, more dynamic experience.
It’s not overwhelming but it’s noticeably better than cheap distillate.
Live rosin is the real deal
The live rosin pen was easily the best of the bunch. It wasn’t even close.
Element uses the exact same hardware as Pro Gro, just stripped down to plain black. The strain was RS11—also known as Rainbow Sherbet #11. And this is where things got interesting. Because this was the only pen I bought that actually delivered on the strain.
RS11 is known for a sweet, fruity flavor and a smooth, euphoric high that leans relaxing without totally knocking you out. It’s one of my favorites. And this pen pretty much nailed it.
The flavor was rich, layered, and unmistakably cannabis-forward. Not candy. Not artificial. Just straight-up, good cannabis oil. The high was full-bodied, balanced, and lasted for hours.
This is the difference with live rosin. It’s made without solvents, using only heat and pressure to extract everything directly from the plant. Nothing is stripped out. Nothing is added back in. It’s just the whole cannabis experience, exactly as your local cannabis farmer intended it to be.
The bottom line
Disposable vape pens might all look the same behind the counter.
But once you hit them, the differences are obvious.
The $20 distillate pen works. It’ll get you high. And if you want something cheap and convenient, it does the job. The live resin pen is a clear upgrade that’s still relatively affordable. The live rosin, however, is the only type of disposable vape pen that actually feels worth it.
It’s usually much more expensive and you usually get far less oil. But it’s the only one of the three that delivered a high—and a flavor—that felt true to the plant.
And once you notice that difference, it’s pretty hard to go back to anything else.
READ MORE: Two Michigan strains that reminded me what good weed is supposed to be
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