Iroha Zen Matcha textured mini-vibrator review

If you're a clitoris-​owner who's ever envied the tex­tures inside Tenga's penis-​strokers, you're in luck.

The Iroha Zen is a mini-​vibe that resem­bles a Tenga 3D Zen sleeve, but small­er, phal­lic, and non-​porous. You can rub the delight­ful­ly squishy, tea whisk-​like ridges against your cli­toris, inside your vagi­na, or on what­ev­er exter­nal junk you have.

The Iroha Zen's texture

Though the Iroha Zen isn't explic­it­ly mar­ket­ed as a penis toy, it still has a unique feel that my boyfriend appre­ci­ates against his penis's frenu­lum. When I prod­ded him for a more spe­cif­ic descrip­tion, he said, "You know how I some­times ask you to graze your teeth light­ly against my dick dur­ing blowjobs? The sharp­ness of the tex­ture is sim­i­lar to that."

I'm some­one who appre­ci­ates a pin­point vibe or fin­ger­nail through the hood of her cli­toris, but press­ing the Zen's pleats against the glans direct­ly is a new expe­ri­ence. The but­tery, mat­te sil­i­cone glides against glans. With a dol­lop of lube, it's hard­ly abra­sive, in part thanks to the squish.

Iroha's soft-touch silicone squish

The Iroha Zen's sil­i­cone is thin and pli­able, and the under­ly­ing lay­er feels like some­thing between a marsh­mal­low and a gum­my bear left in the sun. That's pret­ty much the best descrip­tion. Think of it as a 5" long, 1" diam­e­ter, and rigid bul­let stuck inside an elon­gat­ed marsh­mal­low— there's just enough of a squishy coat­ing to form a swelling head. You can smush the out­er lay­er and move it around, like a penis's fore­skin, and it's del­i­cate enough that I can feel the stiffer, under­ly­ing shaft and place some pressure.

Lately, my G‑spot has been too sen­si­tive for strong vibra­tions or a rigid and sharply jut­ting dil­do head. In those cas­es, the Zen's gen­tle­ness is per­fect. The mat­te sil­i­cone and ridges light­ly grab on to my G‑spot for trac­tion, while the force is well-cushioned.

Orgasms with the Iroha Zen

When I press the high­est speed's vibra­tions against my cli­toris through my under­wear, the Iroha Zen eas­i­ly gives me mel­low, drawn-​out orgasms that extend upon them­selves and blur into one trance-​like state. The orgasm is not a hard and fast one-​and-​done or an over­whelm­ing shock like the often-​endorsed pow­er­hous­es.

The Iroha Zen's vibrations

I'm sen­si­tive enough to vibra­tions that I wouldn't call the Zen's "use­less," but I under­stand any review­er who would. The Iroha Zen is not a vibra­tor for those who need pow­er. It's more for those who've tried oth­er toys with sep­a­rate bat­ter­ies but found many of them force­ful­ly high-​pitched.

The Iroha Zen's fre­quen­cy isn't any­where near irri­tat­ing or whiny enough to call "buzzy," but it sure as hell isn't rumbly, either. When I think of a rumbly vibra­tor, I think of a low-​frequency and high ampli­tude (big range of motion). This vibra­tor only fits the first cri­te­ri­on. It's not a boom­ing bass or a busy bee— just a refined and low-​pitched, medium-​low-​amplitude hum.

For com­par­i­son, the strength of the Zen's high­est speed is some­where between the low­est two on Fun Factory's Battery+ toys, though the Zen is not as rumbly. I think the price tags in both cas­es are jus­ti­fied. Fun Factory's Battery+ line is much prici­er than the Zen, while the Iroha Zen gives you a lighter taste of lux­u­ry at an afford­able cost.

One-​button control interface

One but­ton cycles through the set­tings. The inter­face is use­ful when there are only 4 set­tings. However, the Iroha Zen's speed range feels incom­plete. It's as if the mid­dle speed should have been the low­est, and the low­est shouldn't be a thing. The fourth set­ting, a fast and smooth wave pat­tern, does noth­ing for me.

Unusual color choices

Let's be real: vibra­tions aside, I would've been excit­ed to buy the Zen just because it's squishy sil­i­cone, tex­tured, and green, and cheap. Green and yel­low sex toys are rare out­side of custom-​made fan­ta­sy dil­dos. It's excit­ing to see a vibra­tor man­u­fac­tur­er mix such charm­ing swatches.

The Zen is also avail­able in pink, and even that's an uncon­ven­tion­al tint. It's not a Pepto-​Bismol or Barbie pink, but rather a peachy petal pink. Or a light straw­ber­ry milk pink. If Iroha had played it safe with the usu­al bub­blegum, fuch­sia, pur­ple, or black, the Zen vibra­tor wouldn't have stood out or fit the brand well.

Overall verdict on the Iroha Zen vibrator

I request­ed the Zen from SheVibe because I saw pos­i­tive reviews from peo­ple who want­ed a gen­tle vibra­tor. I can rec­og­nize and respect when vibra­tions feel like an earth­quake. However, I also appre­ci­ate the oth­er end of the spec­trum, as long as the price tag fits.

Despite its ten­der touch, the Zen's vibra­tions don't feel cheap. Nor do the mate­ri­als. The Iroha Zen is a unique expe­ri­ence for the price, regard­less of whether you turn on the vibrations.

Its con­sis­ten­cy and size make it opti­mal for shal­low pen­e­tra­tion (though it's not butt-​safe due to lack of a flared base!). I would espe­cial­ly rec­om­mend the Iroha Zen to peo­ple expe­ri­enc­ing pressure-​related pain dur­ing pen­e­tra­tion due to pelvic floor ten­sion, endometrio­sis, and sim­i­lar con­di­tions. However, my sug­ges­tion extends to those who don't like pow­er­ful vibra­tions or intense insertables.

As well, if you like fine sur­face tex­tures, teeth, or fin­ger­nails skim­ming against your exter­nal bits, the Iroha Zen is the phal­lic and non-​porous ana­log to the Tenga Zen. I don't know what the next step is for Iroha, but addi­tion­al, afford­able sil­i­cone toys with Tenga's tex­tures would get two thumbs up from me.

UPDATE: Iroha also released single-​use vul­va squishies made from sea­weed gel. You could also turn a tex­tured Tenga egg inside out to put on a sleeve. PLUS! Squishy sil­i­cone grinders are far more com­mon nowa­days, such as:

• Pelle Whim
• Bananapants b.cush
• Uberrime Rosae & Labae

Where to find the Iroha Zen

You can shop for the Iroha Zen in del­i­cate Matcha green at SheVibe.

Disclaimer

SheVibe sent me the Iroha Zen Matcha in exchange for my hon­est and freely-​given review. I use affil­i­ate links through­out this post, which bring me a com­mis­sion at no extra cost to you. None of this sways my opin­ion of the sex toy. If I don't love a toy or if I think it belongs in the trash, you'll know.

Super friend­ly peo­ple run SheVibe. So even if I bought the vibe myself, I still would have giv­en them a shout-​out in my review.