THE VOLCANO: 20 YEARS OF HISTORY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, VOLCANO!

The VOLCANO was the first product developed by STORZ & BICKEL.

Today, the VOLCANO is the flagship product and one of the best-known vaporisers on the market. The first VOLCANO was launched in 2000 and 10 years later the first VOLCANO MEDIC was released. The VOLCANO MEDIC 2 is the only medical desktop vaporiser in Australia included on the ARTG.

In 1996, Markus Storz came across an article suggesting that herbs do not necessarily have to be burned, but can also be inhaled in a more gentle way, by means of vaporisation. He was immediately captivated by the idea and built himself a vaporiser using a glass pipe and a hot air gun. The mode of operation convinced him immediately, but the handling of the heat gun construction was very laborious in the long run. So… Markus decided to build a device that would simplify the usage.

1996: The first version of the original VOLCANO. At that time Markus had constructed a housing around a heat gun.

However, since the heat guns emitted carbon particles into the air, Markus had to come up with a clean method of vaporisation.

1998: The second version of the original VOLCANO with Heating Element, Air Pump and Bimetallic Regulator.

From the very beginning, Markus' vision was to produce vaporisers for medical purposes.

In 2000 Markus assembled the first 100 VOLCANOs in his basement. At that time, these were sold under the brand name VAPOTEC Inhalatoren.

The technology developed by Markus Storz for the VOLCANO later continued to be developed and improved, but its basic principles are still in use today.

In 2002 Markus’ friend Jürgen came back from a construction project for sewage technology in Peru and was looking for work.

Since Markus needed support in expanding his small business, Jürgen helped him out for several months. In 2002 the two joined forces and founded STORZ & BICKEL GmbH & Co. KG with headquarters in the Ehrenbergstraße in Tuttlingen.

The two entrepreneurs quickly recognised the potential of the US market and began manufacturing devices for the North American market in 2003.

This gave the small company an upswing. In order to be able to serve the market there even better, STORZ & BICKEL America Inc. was founded in 2005, with headquarters in Oakland, California.

The VOLCANO was further developed and a digital VOLCANO derived from its purely electromechanical predecessor. 2007 sees the launch of the VOLCANO DIGIT.

STORZ & BICKEL was the first company worldwide to certify a vaporiser for medical use and launched the VOLCANO MEDIC in 2010.