Vaping Cannabis Extracts

E cigarettes and vape pens burst onto the market a few years ago as a healthier, safer way to satisfy one’s nicotine cravings without risking lung cancer. The jury is still out on the absolute safety of vaping nicotine e juice, especially because of the wide variety of flavorings out there and the possibility that certain flavor compounds may cause other lung problems. But for cannabis users, vaping is a great way to partake of the wonders of Mother Nature without exposing yourself to the carcinogenic products of combustion and smoke.

What is vaping?

Vaping is quickly superheating a substance so that all the moisture in it instantly turns to vapor. It is more akin to boiling than to burning. And like the steam that comes off a boiling pot, the vapor you get in a vape pen is pure and made up of only the volatile compounds in the substance you are vaping. The extracts or herbs are heated to just below the combustion point, so that they produce vapor rather than actual smoke.

Vaping cannabis extracts

You can vape all sorts of cannabis extracts. You can even vape the leaf directly, with the correct apparatus. Even if the substance you are vaping feels dry, it still has plenty of moisture in it to vape. All you need is a vape pen or mod that is made to handle dabs or herbs. You can also vape CBD oil that has been mixed with e juice in vape pens or e cigarettes that are made for e juice. This is an option that may be legal even in areas where other cannabis extracts are not legal, though you should always check your local laws before making a purchase of cannabis products.

Benefits of vaping cannabis extracts

There are two major benefits of vaping cannabis extracts instead of smoking cannabis: toxicity and efficiency. Combustion releases toxic substances such as carbon monoxide and tar, which you inhale when you smoke. Even if you are smoking the purest, highest quality marijuana, you are still going to be inhaling unhealthy substances into your lungs. Another huge problem with smoking marijuana is all the smoke that comes off the end. You only inhale about half of the smoke that is produced when you smoke. That’s a lot of goodness that is just burning away. When you vape, you are getting 100% of the vapor that is produced. You only press the button when you are ready to take a puff. And the vapor is free of carbon monoxide, tar, and the other toxic byproducts of combustion, while retaining the beneficial volatile compounds from the cannabis extracts.

Methods of vaping

There are multiple styles of vaporizer for your cannabis vaping pleasure. There are vape pens, portable vaporizers (often with rebuildable coils and adjustable temperatures), and even desktop vaporizers if you want a more hookah-like experience. There are heating elements that use convection heating to bring the herb or extract to a temperature that volatilizations the effective compounds, and there are heating elements that use infrared light to produce vapor at a slightly cooler temperature.

What can you vape?

You can vape herbs, extracts, or e juice. You do have to make sure you have a vaporizer that is made for the substance you are going to vape; an e juice vape pen is not going to be able to vape dry herbs.

Dry herb vaporizer

A dry herb vaporizer has a screen and a heating element. The heating element gets it up to the right temperature to release the volatile compounds, while the screen prevents the herbs from touching the heating element directly and catching fire. To get the most out of a dry herb vaporizer, crush your herbs up so that there is as much surface area as possible to heat up. You can use herbs other than marijuana in a dry herb vaporizer, as well.

Cannabis extract vaporizer

A “dabs” vaporizer is a vaporizer that lets you use cannabis extract. You can use waxes and oils, as well as BHO extracts such as shatters and crumbles. These extracts are very concentrated, so just a little bit will do the trick. A very pure cannabis extract will completely vaporize, leaving you with no residue to clean up. In contrast, if you vape dry herbs, you will always have to clean out the spent herb afterwards.

E juice vaporizer

E juice is best known as a nicotine delivery device, not a method of consuming cannabis. However, there are cannabis extracts, such as CBD, which can be dissolved into e juice. If you don’t particularly like the taste of cannabis, this can be a good way to get the medicinal effects of CBD while also getting to select your delicious e juice flavor of choice. If you’re not really into nicotine, you can get 0mg e juice (just the flavor) and mix your CBD into it.

Other ways to consume cannabis extracts

Vaping isn’t the only way to consume cannabis extracts. You can also ingest them, put them on your skin, or even place them under your tongue and absorb them more or less directly into your bloodstream via the large blood vessels there. Vaping is just one of several enjoyable and effective ways you can experience the benefits of Mother Nature’s gift to humanity.