Apex Ancillary's Iso Station XL is a Must Have for Serious Dabbers

Even though it’s a simple product overall, Apex’s Iso Station XL, which is their larger sized version, is pretty darn well constructed. It’s easy to tell when glass is being done poorly, which isn’t the case here. Granted, if you dropped it from your countertop it probably wouldn’t survive, but we’re talking about something that complements other relatively delicate items, so let’s not tempt gravity on this one. The handful of units we’ve used among the team have good glass welds, minimal to zero internal bubbling, are smooth on the surface with no rough spots despite its octopus-like shape, and are solid in the build department. Because it’s such an uncomplicated product, we don’t want to inflate the rating here, but it’s hard to see how it could be made much better without costing a lot more or having features you don’t really need.

The great thing about this particular iso station is that it has a couple extra “functions” that your basic 1-2 one doesn’t, which is mainly the actual stainless steel iso pump that’s built into one of its extremities. It has 4 total chambers: one for all your swabs (it fits a full pack of 300x Glob Mops), one for the iso and pump, another for your dab tool, and finally one for your carb cap, which is also a handy place to soak terp pearls or other slurper rod. We always suggest actually using 99% iso which isn’t always available at the grocery store for the best post-dab cleaning action too. Anyway, it gets the job done and has everything you need in one place for yourself or the entire sesh crew if friends are over.

Before we got our hands on these iso stations, team members usually had a variety of products scattered around the rig. Some Glob Mops in their box, a container of isopropyl alcohol, possibly a tool rack, and the glass or e-rig setup itself. Now though that’s all been streamlined into this one compact product that is easy to replenish and is also a lot more stylish on your counter or in your dabber’s nook. It also makes the entire dabbing experience a little more minimalistic and cleaner. Scoop, heat, dab, clean, repeat. Just being able to quickly dip a Glob Mop into some iso without having to unscrew a container, tilt it, and try to get it right is maybe worth the cost alone over the course of hundreds or thousands of dabs. It’s not the kind of thing we think someone will build a better mousetrap for.

The Apex Ancillary Iso Station XL is pretty large and clocks in at $99.95, or one Benjamin Franklin if you’re counting bills. At first glance or having never used one, that might seem a little on the high side, but trust us, it’s worth the one time expenditure if you’re taking dabs regularly because once you have it, it’s going to last forever basically. While there are cheaper options out there that are typically made of silicone or don’t have all of the bells and whistles, we suggest springing for this extra large glass version both for aesthetics and long term use.

Straight up if you dab all the time and want better cleanliness for your rig, tools, and accessories the Apex Ancillary Iso Station XL is in fact worth the money. If you don’t care if the sesh is messy, then by all means, skip it. Even if you don’t chain smoke dabs though, it does make for a much more enjoyable experience when consuming concentrates out of a glass rig and is even pretty useful for sitting next to an e-rig too.

If $100 sounds pretty steep, we still strongly recommend grabbing the smaller sized Apex Ancillary Iso Station instead, which has all the same features but just holds less iso and less swabs. It’s only $49.95 and is pretty much always on sale. No matter which way you go, it’s worth the purchase to pick one of these up.