[cedolad]

Well assuming we're talking about the same "interesting" things, it varies by the form. Traditional "interesting" things are a pain to smoke out of pens unless you buy a specific pen. I think it's called the Atmos or something, and it has a special adapter that you can buy for the dry stuff. Now if we're talking about the wax-ey "interesting" things, it makes the process way easier. Instead of spending loads on a decent nail or swing set and a torch; depending on your tank you can just load it on top of the coil. Or even if that, you can buy what's called a bubbledome and just as easily load it there. A normal rig with a torch and some butane can set you back from $150-$200 easily. With a pen you'd at most would have to spend $80. Even for the Atmos dry adapter plus the pen is only about $60-$70.

I find the process very different than doing it the traditional way. Of course combustion plays a huge role. A lot of the time when you take a hit, a bit of it contains butane. Without that your hit feels very different in my opinion. You get used to it though.

But to answer your question, traditional "interesting" things are best to be used in traditional "devices". The other stuff depends on budget/frequency/mobility etc.