Is Vaping Marijuana a Healthier Option than Cigarette Smoking?

AOC-Vape pen and medical marijuana hemp bud

When researchers questioned 364 individuals about how they consume medicinal cannabis, 53% said they prefer to use a vaporizer. 80% said vaping was a healthier option than other techniques and 34.4% thought vaporizers relieved symptoms the best.

The usage of a weed vaporizer is on the rise, particularly among young people. Still, there are questions regarding whether these items are safe. The CDC and the FDA recommended against using THC-containing e-cigarettes or vaporizers in 2019, citing evidence that these products might contain dangerous substances and increase your chances of lung damage.

With so many cannabis products on the market, choosing the best one for you might be challenging. Before purchasing a vaporizer, consider the advantages and downsides of vaping marijuana.

How to Vape Marijuana

Vaporizers are not like traditional cigarettes, which burn leaves to produce smoke. Instead of using tobacco to heat the material, they use small metal coils and batteries to heat it until it evaporates. Then, it is inhaled. They are also known as vapes or vape pens. However, not all devices can vaporize in the same way. You will see three types of cannabis when you look at vaporizers: oil, wax, and herb.

Vaporizers for Herbs

These vaporizers have a chamber into which dried cannabis flower is placed. The potent medicinal ingredients in cannabis are supplied in a concentrated vapor as the gadget is heated.

The cannabis is appropriately heated to avoid burning, lowering the quantity of tar or carcinogens breathed when using a pipe. Many herb vaporizers also include temperature settings, allowing you to choose how much flavor and vapor you inhale.

Oil Pens

An oil concentrate is added to the oil pen instead of a dry herb. The cannabis oil is often mixed with other carrier oils during the oil extraction process. Vaporized oil is usually less potent than wax but much more potent than vaporized herbs.

Because they are easy to use and clean, oil pens are popular among first-time users. Either you choose a single-use oil pen, which can be thrown away when the oil runs out, or you can buy a reusable vape cigarette with attachments for oil cartridges. These attachments come in many flavors and strains. One oil cartridge can last for several weeks.

Wax Pencils

Wax is a semisolid substance derived from cannabis plants with high levels of active chemical compounds. Because it is not mixed with other carrier oils, wax is much more potent than oil or herb. The three most essential parts of wax vaporizers are the mouthpiece, battery, and atomizer.

The wax can be purchased separately and then placed in an atomizer, where it is heated and evaporated. While the wax is more costly and needs to be reloaded more often, some people believe that vaporizing wax produces the best therapeutic results.

The Advantages of Vaping

Depending on your preferences, medical cannabis can be ingested in various ways. It may be consumed through edibles or beverages, through a water pipe or rolling papers, as a tablet or nasal spray, and, of course, through a weed vaporizer.

Some of the purported advantages of vaping marijuana are as follows:

  • Less Bad Scent: Cannabis has a pungent and gritty odor that some people dislike. Vaporizers aren’t entirely odorless, but the aroma is reduced because the cannabis isn’t burned.
  • Simple to Use: Vaporizers are less dirty and need lower complexity to operate. All you need to do in general is maintain the vaporizer powered and supplied with oil, wax, or herb.
  • Less Marijuana Wasted: Vaporizers utilize less marijuana to deliver the intended effects, especially in comparison with pipes and joints. Because the doses are more substantial, you don’t need to consume as much.
  • Less Expensive: The initial cost of acquiring a vaporizer may be more, but cannabis concentrates last considerably longer than combusted plants.
  • Reduced Secondhand Smoke: THC vaporization reduces the number of carcinogens that people in the surrounding are exposed to. THC, on the other hand, may still be detectable in secondhand vapor.
  • Consistent Dosages: THC concentrations are frequently more stable from one vaporizer inhale to the next, and the effects are virtually immediate. In contrast, it might take up to three hours after consuming an edible to see any effects.
  • Cleaner Impact: Vaporizers may provide a more clean and robust impact than combusted cannabis, and the vapor may include fewer contaminants. To be sure, this is only true if the THC product is not tainted with something toxic.
  • Usable in Different Places: Vaporizers are frequently used in most public and recreational locations, such as parks, beaches, public squares, and other settings where the usual cigarette and cannabis smoke are not allowed.

Is Vaping Marijuana Bad?

Smoking anything, whether tobacco or marijuana leaves, is unquestionably harmful to your health. When you smoke, you inhale very heated material that irritates the delicate tissue in your lungs. Burning leaves can also produce chemical reactions that result in inhaling potentially hazardous chemicals, some of which have been related to cancer.

A weed vaporizer does not cause combustion. They instead heat THC-containing compounds until they are hot enough to produce an aerosol but not so hot that they combust. Compared to the hot, acrid smoke created by burning leaves, vaporizer aerosol can feel gentler on the lungs.

Dangers of Vaping Marijuana

Although vaping marijuana may seem less harmful than smoking, it is not entirely harmless. Vaping can pose a risk to your health and the health risks of THC.

People began to arrive at the hospital with severe respiratory illnesses that resulted in lung injuries. The use of THC-infused vaping products has been implicated in at least 80% of the cases. The CDC reports that 2,807 cases had been reported by February 2020; of those, 68 died. The disease is now known as EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury).

The exact cause of EVALI remains under investigation. Investigators suspect that EVALI may be connected to vitamin E acetate additives found in counterfeit THC products. They also found opioids, pesticides, poisons, heavy metals, and a fungicide that turns to hydrogen cyanide when it is combusted.

The CDC advises individuals to avoid using THC-containing vaping devices, particularly ones that have been modified or obtained on the street. Only use vaping items as directed by the manufacturer.

Alternative to Vaping Marijuana

Smoking and vaporizing cannabis have been linked to severe and fatal diseases. Thankfully, there are healthier methods of consuming cannabis that are not damaging your lungs.

  • Edibles: Oils extracted from Cannabis and butter may be used to make a variety of sweet and savory meals. There is no harm to your lungs because there is no smoking, but the dosage can be difficult. It might take up to two hours to detect the effects of an edible. Be patient, and don’t overeat while you wait.
  • Tinctures: These alcoholic cannabis extracts are frequently mixed with hemp oil or CBD (cannabidiol) oil. A tincture’s effects can be felt within 20 minutes of being consumed sublingually (under the tongue), and only a few drops under the tongue can be as substantial as an entire, THC-infused edible. The dropper on a tincture makes it easy to maintain dosages constant.
  • Sublinguals: Popular fast-acting and safe sublinguals include mouth sprays, dissolvable pills, and strips or films. They, like tinctures, do not have a strong taste that lingers on your tongue and are easier to disguise.
  • Suppositories: If you want to avoid the high effects of THC, you might use suppositories. Rectal suppositories are helpful therapies for IBS, hemorrhoids, constipation, and other digestive or urinary problems. Menstrual cramps and endometriosis can also be treated with vaginal suppositories.

The Bottom Line

Despite the fact that cannabis is considered a low-risk substance, there are nevertheless detrimental health impacts connected with its usage. Marijuana smoke, for instance, is harmful to the lungs, as is all smoke. Vaping, which uses an electronic device to evaporate marijuana is a popular alternative to smoking. The effect of smoke on the lungs is widely understood, but whether vaping offers a healthier alternative to smoking is unknown. Indeed, research on cannabis and its impact on our wellbeing is still in its early stages, and opposite results can be reached from the same body of study. However, it is important to understand what has been studied and what kind of assumption we can draw from them.

Altitude Organic Cannabis Can Give You a Quality Experience

The majority of people take drugs for pleasure. However, whether you want pleasure or therapeutic relief and treatment, the advantages usually come at a cost: some danger of injury or compromise of personal health and safety. And while physicians and scientists increasingly conclude that cannabis is typically a safer option than opioids, marijuana is no exception. The most dangerous aspect of smoking marijuana is the smoke itself, whether you use it medically or recreationally. That is why it is important to purchase high-quality products to minimize health risks and ensure a quality experience.

If you are in need of the best marijuana strains, let Altitude Organic Cannabis serve you. Our keystone dispensary has a wide array of high-quality strains. As cannabis specialists, we stay current on the newest cannabis industry developments in order to give top-notch services at all times. If you have any questions, our staff is happy to help. Come see us now!

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