Vaping cannabis

List of contents

We can use cannabis in different ways: edibles, smoking or vaping. In this post we tell you more about vaporizing, which are its benefits and which Philosopher Seeds cannabis strains are ideal for a unique vaping experience. We’ll also check some of the most popular vaporizers among vapers worldwide.

What is cannabis vaporization?

Vaporization or vaping consists of heating the plant material below its combustion temperature (220-240ºC) and inhale the vapours released. The ideal vaping temperature of cannabis is 180-210ºC.

The first record of cannabis vaporization comes from ancient Egypt, where it was put over hot stones along with other aromatic herbs to release their fragance.

Why vaping marijuana?

The smoke produced from combustion contains plenty of harmful substances and carcinogenic compounds such as carbon monoxyde, tar, benzene or toluene among others.

When we burn cannabis, its structure goes from its 70 natural compounds to more than 400 substances derived from combustion. A study showed that when we vape cannabis, 90% of the vapour is composed of THC, while this proportion highly decreases when we smoke it, since we only find 12% cannabinoids in this case being the remaining 88% carcinogenic hydrocarbons.

People around us are also harmed in a higher degree if we smoke weed instead of vaping it, becoming passive smokers.

According to a study conducted in California by NORML about cannabis vaporization, there were no traces of benzene, toluene or naphtalene in vapours produced by heating buds at 185ºC, and tar and carbon monoxyde levels were also greatly decreased.

One of the main advantages of inhaling cannabis is its fast assimilation by the body, much faster than when we ingest it, thus being easier to find the correct dosage.

Moreover, we must not forget that vaping is one of the best ways to fully enjoy the complex blend of cannabis terpenes.

While we believe that we should vaporize all the compounds found in cannabis in order to get better absorption by the receptors, let's take a look now at two of the main cannabinoids found in marijuana plants.

THC vaporization

THC is the main psychoactive compound of cannabis. It has analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antiemetic properties, among others. It is commonly used in multiple sclerosis treatments, anorexia, fibromyalgia and many other diseases affecting the central nervous system, the immune system or the digestive system.

THC vaping temperature is from 157ºC, 315ºF. While we can find considerable amounts of THC in all Philosopher Seeds strains, Amnesika 2.0, Orange Candy / Naranchup and Easy Haze / K-13 Haze.

CBD vaporization

Today, we know of many therapeutical properties of Cannabidiol (CBD) - and are constantly finding new ones - suitable to treat nausea, convulsions or anxiety. Recently, some studies have extended this scope to include tumour shrinkage and relief of symptoms from schizophrenia.

The ideal temperature range for vaping CBD is from 160 to 180ºC (320-356ºF). We can find several CBD strains in Philosoper Seeds catalog, such as Fruity Jack / Jack el Frutero, Spicy CBD / Superjuani or the Sweet Love marijuana.

Types of vaporizers

We have plenty of options to find the vaporizer that best suits our needs, basically divided into portable and desktop vaporizers. Let's see some of the most popular models.

Portable vaporizers

Portable vaporizers operate with a rechargable battery that provides enough autonomy for standard daily use, being very easy to carry and discreet. Ascent DaVinci, Arizer, MiniVAP, Crafty, Mighty or Iolite are some of the most popular models.

The Arizer vaporizer - made in Canada - is compact and features a glass mouthpiece to cool down the vapour. The battery lasts for 2 hours, operating the ceramic heater that vaporizes the herb at 5 different preset temperatures, ranging from 180ºC to 210ºC.

MiniVAP features a silicone mouthpiece and operates by "heating on demand", heating the grinded plant material only when the user inhales through the mouthpiece, thus maintaining at most its organoleptic properties.

Our team has used the Ascent Da Vinci vaporizer on several occasions in different cannabis tasting sessions, and we believe it is a truly reliable and versatile portable vaping device. It has an autonomy of 3 hours, being perfect for a long vaping session with friends. You can adjust the temperature from 160ºC to 220ºC and enjoy at most the flavour and effect of your favourite marijuana.

In fact, writing this post was the ideal pretext to use it again and show it to you.

We can state that the vaporizer worked perfectly, and the weed was superb...

Desktop vaporizers

Desktop vaporizers are ideal for long home tasting sessions or for meetings with friends. We only need a power socket to connect it. They are usually bigger than portable devices, but they do not depend on batteries.

Since we needed more pictures for this post, we also used some desktop vaporizers...

There are many different models available, all with similar operating. One of the best and most reliable models is, doubtless, the Volcano vaporizer.

Volcano operates with a quality heating element which vaporizes the active compounds of cannabis and stores the vapour cloud inside a bag, thus being ready to be inhaled through a special mouthpiece that only releases vapour when pressed. In 2010 Volcano patented the first vaporizer for medicinal use, the Volcano Medic.