In today’s crowded pedal market, it’s rare to see a product that truly reinvents the format – and even rarer to see one that gets banned before it ever hits shelves. But leave it to Robert Keeley, one of the most respected names in pedal design, to develop a stompbox that pushes boundaries most builders wouldn’t even consider crossing.
As Keeley reveals in a new Guitar World interview, he once built a fully functional overdrive pedal that doubles as a weed vape. It’s called the Vapor Drive, and while it delivers Keeley’s usual high-end sonic craftsmanship, it also happens to be the first guitar pedal you can literally take a hit from.
“It’s the first rechargeable pedal, and it produces the most amazing distortion,” Keeley explains. “It charges at 5 volts through USB or a standard 9V battery – but I can’t sell it on Amazon, eBay, or Reverb because it’s considered a tobacco or vaping product.”
That legal classification has effectively buried the Vapor Drive before it ever got the chance to make its mark. The issue isn’t with the pedal’s sonic capabilities, but with federal and marketplace regulations surrounding vaping hardware. “There’s lots of laws and barriers against me selling my invention,” he says. “So I scratch my head and take a toke from my cordless Vapor Drive pedal.”
For those unfamiliar, Robert Keeley is no stranger to pushing sonic boundaries. From the massively popular Keeley Compressor to experimental offerings like the Octa Psi, his catalog spans from classic tone tools to effects that live on the edge of genre and gear conventions. Still, nothing in the Keeley lineup comes close to the sheer audacity of the Vapor Drive.
Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that the Vapor Drive will ever reach full production… at least in its current form. Regulatory restrictions around devices that can deliver THC or nicotine make traditional retail impossible. Even popular online platforms refuse to list it due to its hybrid nature.
But that hasn’t stopped Keeley from dreaming big. “I don’t plan on selling my company,” he says. “There may have been a time in the past, but this is what I love doing. I like the idea of creating a manufacturing business that can sustain generations of employees. Martin, Gibson, Fender, Dunlop, and Electro-Harmonix have done it; maybe Keeley can.”
And while the Vapor Drive might never end up on your pedalboard, it remains a symbol of what Keeley represents: not just precise tone engineering, but genuine innovation. If nothing else, we’d love to see a hands-on demo. Purely for educational purposes, of course.
