this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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So I need some realtalk by Lemmie's resident stoners and possibly medical professionals on the benefits and risks/harms of vaping cannabis refill things on the respiratory system (using a rechargeable vape pen/battery thingy at the lowest heat setting).

Give it to me straight docs, whats up and how long do I have to live if I use it infrequently but potentially daily in small amounts?

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[–] grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I have been using cartridges lately for my once per night before bed sess. It's extremely convenient and affordable.

Here's the thing. When I use dry herb vaping, I tend to have the same amount every night and it's fine. I don't want to get baked, I just want to sleep.

When I have a cartridge, I end up taking more drags from it. This leads to consuming now which increases your tolerance. It's just so easy to have a little more. When I use dry herb reloading the vape is just enough effort that I think "I'm good" and wander off to bed. Plus you have ABV to make edibles.

Edit - no noticeable effect on breathing or whatever that differs from dry herb vaping.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Love ur username! Ya, I'm moderating quite well actually. I def can't big boy smoke shit and I can't even really tolerate a water bong etc. vapint is the only thing that "works" but I wanna make sure Im not fucking up my lungs and predisposing myself to any COPD bullshit

Edit1: say hi to yamotherskeys for me

[–] suckaduck@feddit.nl 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hi, addict here. I've smoked dry flower with a vaporizer daily for years and quit entirely about three months ago. In the past i almost exclusively smoked using a bong daily. Quitting was much easier coming from the vaporizer, i coughed up almost no gunk, just some phlegm. When i attempted quitting coming from the bong, the withdrawal was intense plus i coughed up Satan's entire asshole. If you're going to smoke, a vaporizer with a dry product is going to be the 'healthier' option for sure.

[–] Kcs8v6@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

This is anecdotal, so keep that in mind when making your decision. I have had 2 friends develop lung issues from smoking the oil in vape pens. Several years ago one of my friends switched to flower only and he has since recovered. My other friend who still smokes the oil has developed worse lung problems. I think that our lungs have evolved to be able to clear particulates out of them with relative ease. Oil, however, has never been something that we breathe in. The oil vapor enters the lungs and then reliquifies. This liquid is thick amd sticky and goes into the fine tube of your lungs. The normal process your lungs use to clear debris is not very effective at clearing this sticky oil and can take much longer.

[–] spaduf@slrpnk.net 10 points 1 year ago

I refuse carts anymore but have never felt the same level of worry with dry herb vaping.

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I would recommend strongly against inhaling any oil containing product. Your lungs do not have much surfactant and they cannot deal with it.

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[–] its_prolly_fine@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Inhalants in general are not good for you. Vaping introduces water, smoking introduces ash/smoke. There are no benefits to vaping or smoking. Unless you are being prescribed it by a doctor. I mean drugs are not good for you. But if you are going to, your body can usually deal with it well with moderation. Edibles are better than inhalants.

[–] Dr_Cog@mander.xyz 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nothing you inhale is good for you, but vaping is significantly better than smoking. It's not even a comparison.

If you are going to inhale something, make it a vape

[–] its_prolly_fine@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I haven't seen any studies on that for cannabis. For tobacco I agree that is absolutely true.

[–] Dr_Cog@mander.xyz 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Any inhaled particulate matter from combustion is bad for you. Tobacco products add extra chemicals that make them worse, but just smoke from a regular fire can cause health problems. Cannabis is no exception, despite how much we want the opposite to be true.

I'll edit this post to add a study when I get to my desk

Edit: Here's a pdf

[–] henrikx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

These answers are so unhelpful Imo. It just states the obvious and doesn't answer OPs question. Everyone knows drugs or inhaling stuff is not the healthy optimum. OP is just looking for the least harmful way.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Least harmful way for cannabis is probably edibles

Which is what I said, lol :) agreed

I did. Edibles in moderation. They wanted it straight, and that's what I said.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (9 children)

I really wish there was like an asthma puffer delivery system where it is aerosolized rather than heated and burned. I dunno if thats possible but it would be amazing to simply have a puffer, like how there's inhaled versions of narcotic painkillers like fentanyl with legitimate medical indications and usage.

[–] mactheknife@aussie.zone 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What you’re describing does exist. Google β€œTHC inhaler” and you’ll see a few examples of it.

I don’t use an inhaler like that, but I do use a dry herb vaporiser. You put your ground bud into it (like packing a pipe or bong), and it heats the flower to somewhere around 170-200 degrees Celsius. Since the temp is so low, the flower doesn’t burn it at all, so no smoke or ash is produced, only vapor. It’s so much better for you than combustion, relatively speaking, that my country’s rules for medical cannabis prescriptions say that prescribed flower should never be smoked, only vaporised.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is that or how is that distinct conceptually from vaping?

[–] Sethayy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Tbh its not if you only cape pure stuff, but the extraction process, and even more so the additives companies legally can add after definitely are.

A lot takes advice from nic gaping, which is pretty much just making a chemical soup solely to making smoking quicker and simpler.

Stick to good extraction methods, and a concentrate vape instead of mixed then you should be good (CO2 instead of butane, diamonds, distillates are all good)

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[–] ViciousTurducken@lemmy.one 6 points 1 year ago

Have you considered vaping flower instead of oil?

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I can't speak as to much from personal experience. However, I do know of an extended family member that had a negative respiratory reaction to a weed vape he got online. He survived, but ended up in a coma for a while and suffered serious brain damage from lack of oxygen. He was a talented athlete, and now he will be lucky to walk and feed himself again.

Don't know if it was tainted product, an allergic reaction, or what, but... I would make sure you can trust the safety of the product itself, ease into use checking to see if you might have a reaction, and maybe be prepared with an epipen or something in case you have a negative allergic reaction.

Just to be clear, I'm not one of those fear mongering "weed kills" types. I'm not a smoker myself, but very much support legalization and responsible recreational use. But I do not trust all of the sketchy companies producing vape products in general, let alone products that are illegal in much of the world.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Holy shit, yeah, I heard there were lottsa sketch places and products fudging the THC numbers with Vitamin E like how they contaminated baby milk in China with bullshit "protein". I really should get the brand names and read some reviews but I doubt that would be sold in the upscale weed store (it really is, like an Apple weed store pree much)

[–] fubo@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

fudging the THC numbers with Vitamin E

It was a specific product ("Honey Cut", a brand of vitamin E acetate) that was sold to black-market cartridge makers by a company based in Los Angeles. It was used as a diluent ("cut") that is thick enough to fool users into thinking they're getting pure cannabis extract. It doesn't affect measurement of THC concentration; unlike lab-tested legal extracts, black-marketeers just lie.

https://www.leafly.com/news/health/toxic-vaping-vapi-evali-lung-injury-rise-and-fall-of-vitamin-e-oil-honey-cut

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Motherfuckers

[–] guyrocket@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Seems to me that edibles are safer than vaping or smoking.

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[–] TheKrunkedJuan@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

A friend and I have developed some popcorn lung from cartridge vaping too much, but it was unusually heavy usage at an entire gram in a week. Most people can make a gram last more than a month and never encounter issues.

Heating element seems to have something to do with it. Most of those cartridges are cotton heating elements, but occasionally ceramic ones do exist. Ceramic or a quartz dish on a proper dab rig have never given me trouble.

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

More likely to be lipid pneumonia than popcorn lung. That's a very specific flavoring that causes that.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Ooh, I don't like that. Yikes!

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[–] C4d@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Wikipedia has this article on vaping-associated lung injury.

[–] fubo@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The outbreak was caused by vitamin E acetate used as "cut" in black-market cartridges. Legal regulated cartridges do not contain any "cut" at all.

[–] C4d@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yes and no; for reasons that are beyond me the door has been left somewhat open on that one:

β€œVitamin-E acetate (VEA) is found in counterfeit cartridges and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of EVALI patients. Other reports implicated the presence of aromatic/volatile hydrocarbons and oils consisting of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT oil), including terpenes and mineral oil in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) containing counterfeit vaping products. These compounds are involved in oxidative stress and inflammatory responses in the lung. Here, we provide the perspectives on the recent case reports on EVALI, etiology, and discuss pulmonary toxicity as well as the mechanisms underlying EVALI susceptibility and lung pathophysiology.”

But the cutting agent certainly seems to have been pretty bad.

Thanks for posting this.

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[–] burgersc12@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Just do your research, know the difference between CBD, delta 8/9 THC, HHC, etc and i would recommend filling up your own cartridge if you want to be sure you know what is going into it, most places have lab tests so you know theres nothing bad in it. I've been filling an NRG-S with ceramic coils and carts with HHC from highlyconcentr8ed, never had any issues after several months of vaping it as much as possible.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Skip inhalants altogether. Long term lung damage isn't worth it, even if it's not as carcinogenic as normal smoking.

Just go with edibles.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I figured as much. Shit

[–] Uncle_Bagel@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago

I've stipped using dab pens in favor of a one hitter and making my own edibles. I live in a medical state with a recreational state less only an hour away so i'm not worried about my carts being sketchy, but they make it way too easy to get way too baked.

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