Remember that next-gen desktop vaporizer called the Herbalizer? You know- the one designed by a couple of former NASA engineers. If you don’t know, the Herbie, as it’s known for short, is one of the most expensive herbal vaporizers ever sold. Upon release, it was selling for over $700, making it more expensive than the Digital Volcano Vaporizer (Digit) — that’s expensive. Ever wonder what happened to the company behind the Herbie? We did and so we took a look and guess what we found? They’re out of business.

This is the Herbalizer Vaporizer.

The Herbalizer company, which was based in San Diego while it was still in business, has closed its doors. And apparently, as a result, they no longer warranty their products. So those who bought one are basically out of luck if something goes wrong, which sounds like a real bummer considering how much it cost.

So what happened?

Well, as far as we know, there was a hostile takeover of the company that pushed out one of the company’s founders, who just so happened to be one of the engineers behind the design. Board of directors changed, founder gets fired, and then, according to the ousted founder, those behind the hostile takeover made him a cash offer to buyout his shares, which he turned down at the time. Next, according to the ousted founder, the company’s assets were sold to a new company, leaving him with shares in a company worth little to nothing. Crazy, right?

The straw that broke the camel’s back…

And then things really took a turn for the worse as Storz & Bickel — you know, the German vape manufacturer that makes those awesome Volcano vaporizers — hit the company with a patent infringement lawsuit in a California court. Ouch. A little while later: no more Herbalizer.

Apparently the company didn’t go around broadcasting their demise, leaving some retailers scratching their heads when the company suddenly closed its doors and disappeared. One day their website was accessible and the next: it was gone. And that is the story of the Herbalizer company’s demise, at least according to the ousted founder’s account, which he posted on a popular vaping forum.

What a wild ride.