Smoking burns these away, but vaporizing does not, so experts like Steep Hill Lab’s Kymron deCesare have told me they worry about these waxes collecting in your lungs and forming granulomas that could later cause health problems. Next, some scientists told me they were worried about cannabis oil containing concentrated cuticle waxes – the shiny layer of lipids on the outside of most plants. It’s possible that vaping known carcinogens is totally fine! But the contents of vape cartridges are barely monitored in most states, and what we do know is pretty concerning. All of the health data we have regarding the potentially dangerous byproducts of vaping relate to eating these chemicals or being exposed to them in a factory-like setting – not to heating them up with an electrical coil and taking them directly to the face. Because cannabis is still federally illegal, and the only legal research that can happen with the plant must use low-quality pot from the University of Mississippi, there has been almost no solid research and no clinical trials about electronically vaping marijuana oil. That being said, we have no idea how bad or how serious any of these health threats might be. “These companies are doing their safety testing on the public and their loved ones.” “The market is flooded with substandard products that have questionable safety,” says Jahan Marcu, the Chief Scientific Officer at patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, and has a PhD in molecular pharmacology. But according to the handful of chemists who were familiar with the product, there were several reasons to be concerned. It felt easier on the lungs, at least, and seemed somehow less dangerous. So many of the sick people and stoners I knew who used vape pens were convinced that vaping was safer than smoking. When I started talking to scientists about what was actually in the concentrated marijuana that I was vaping, I quickly became alarmed. Some people had already started using advanced extraction equipment to make hash oil, but most self-styled “extract artists” were just doing this in their basements or backyards – a dangerous endeavor that’s led to hundreds of fires and explosions across the country in recent years. It had all been made in roughly the same way, though –by stuffing the pot that was too moldy or ugly or weak to sell into steel tubes or PVC pipe, fastening a filter to one end, and then releasing cans of lighter fluid to flow through the pipe, over the plant matter, in order to squeeze out every last drop of mind-altering THC. I learned that the majority of the vape pens on the market contained a type of concentrate known as butane hash oil (BHO), though stores were selling it under a variety of names. In this way, I initially spoke with over a dozen people who made cannabis oil for a living. While stoners waited in line for free dabs, I would make my way to the back of a booth and try to figure out who was in charge. What was in it? How was it made? It was almost impossible to find a working phone number or email address for any of the nascent companies making cannabis oil in California, so I went to weed festivals like Chalice and High Times cups to try to talk to the people who made and sold this stuff for a living. Vape pens felt like the future.Īt the same time, I felt suspicious about the stuff I was inhaling. I started carrying the thing with me everywhere I went. Suddenly, I could sneak a few hits in the bathroom during a concert or comedy show, or quietly get high in the back of a bar while the rest of my friends downed shots. Unlike pipes or blunts, a weed vape pen creates virtually no smell. It was just so darn convenient, and so discreet. I had tried marijuana concentrates before – a year before I got the pen, I “ dabbed” some hash oil and got so messed up that I had to flake on plans with a new boyfriend, thus essentially ending the relationship – but this was different. Each hit got me just as stoned as a puff off a joint, with none of the smoke. I had never liked the feeling of vaporizing actual pot – it wasn’t strong enough, and usually just left me lightheaded – but an oil cartridge attached to an electronic cigarette was different. It was elegant and silver, with a rechargeable battery that screwed into a transparent cartridge filled with amber-colored marijuana concentrate. In early 2014, I got my first weed-oil vape pen.
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