What You Should Know About Vaping Cannabis

What Are Vape Carts?

Vape cartridges or just "carts" are small vessels that contain cannabis oils with different concentrations of cannabinoids and terpenes. Cartridges are optimized for a particular recreational or medical need. They are the perfect option for those seeking specific and repeatable effects. 

What Are Vape Pens? 

Cartridges are used with vape pens that have a battery that works with the cart. The battery heats an atomizer in the cart, which in turn heats up and activates the combination of compounds in the oil. The battery device automatically controls the oil temperature, so all you have to do is sit back, press the button, inhale and enjoy. 

Different Types of Vape Products

All vaporizers achieve the same goal, but there are key differences between products, such as hardware and maintenance. 

510 thread

510 is the universal vape pen, a prime choice for the daily smoker. These are quickly assembled by screwing the cart to a battery that powers it. They are popular because the battery is reusable and there is a wide variety of product options on offer. If you are looking for ease of use and purchase, then the classic 510 is your best bet.

Disposables

Disposable vape pens are trendy and convenient because of their completeness, housing a battery, cartridge, and mouthpiece. They are a great choice when you want to try out a new strain or flavor and enjoy the vape without having to worry about maintenance. 

Device-specific 

With these, users have greater control over their vaping experience. Vape pens can regulate different temperature levels to cycle through different vapor experiences. For example, lower temperatures would mean less impact hit and more flavorsome smoke and vice versa. If you go for device-specific vapes, ensure that you purchase a pen that uses cartridges and flavors that you enjoy. And more importantly, make sure that you find a retailer who regularly stocks the specialized carts needed for that device.

Vape Pen Concentrates

A huge factor in deciding which vape pen to use is the type of concentrate available in the matching cartridge. Each vape brand has its own compound and terpene profile. Concentrates differ in texture, viscosity and stability vary widely, therefore not every concentrate that you know of can be used for vaping. Distillate, CO2 oil and full-spectrum oil are some of the common concentrates you will find in vape cartridges. 

Distillate Concentrates

Distillates are cannabis oils refined from almost any product, which means virtually any weed strain or flavor can be made into something smokable. One downside is that distillates lose nearly the entire original terpene content during the refining process. Plant-based terpenes is what give the viscosity in cannabis oils. In distillates, they have to be compensated with additives to achieve the proper viscosity. For example, 510 thread cartridges do use additives to thin the oil to a viscosity level appropriate for vaping. 

CO2 Oil Concentrates

CO2 oils can be used with a vape cartridge without any additions for it to vaporize properly in the atomizer. Unlike distillates, CO2 oils maintain their terpene content. The result is an almost intact plant-based flavor and a rich smoking experience. 

Full-Spectrum Oil Concentrates

These concentrates maintain the full experience of flower, replicating the original flavor profiles of the plant. Full-spectrum oil concentrates preserve all the major and minor cannabinoids as well as terpenes and other chemical compounds found in Cannabis. Basically, you are getting the much sought-after entourage effect. One thing to note is that these products are a bit more expensive to purchase because they also cost a lot more to manufacture. 

Live Resin

Cartridges can also contain live resin, which is butane hash oil (BHO), also known as wax, shatter, crumble, budder, etc. These are some of the most potent options for vaping. In order to preserve freshness, terpenes and cannabinoids are flash-frozen, then extracted to yield a very powerful and flavorful concentrate. Again, these are more costly products as live resin carts are regarded as premium quality vape. 

Are Vape Pens Safe to Use? 

A lot of people wonder whether vape pens are safe to use. One primary reason for this concern has been the type of vape pen additives used in certain vape products. Vape pen additives usually include polyethylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, and coconut oil, to mention three. But a cheap alternative thinning agent known as Vitamin E acetate led to an outbreak of lung illness a few years back. The disease has been called EVALIs, short for electronic vaporization-associated lung illness.

Since the removal of Vitamin E acetate from manufacture in late 2019, the number of infections has drastically fallen. The prevalence of this dubious thinning agent has been most common in illicit THC oils and vape pens. Therefore, it's crucial to choose reliable and trusted brand if you decide to vape. Today, a growing number of manufacturers are exploiting terpenes as a natural thinning agent to help balance the viscosity in cannabis oils rather than using any additive as a substitute. 

Overall, electronic vaporization is supposed to be safer than smoking weed. With vaping, the user is not exposed to carbon monoxide and hundreds of other toxins released with the combustion of dried flower. However, vaping can still impact lung health. It increases the risk of lung inflammation, airwaves blockage, infection, wheezing, and shortness of breath.