Breathing trouble

So after 20+ years of combusting flowers, I've been concentrate-only for 3 months or so now. It seems to have brought on some breathing problems. I have developed a constant light wheezing when I breathe, and sometimes (like tonight) after a session I have trouble breathing, like it feels like I can't exhale fully, so I never really catch my breath.

Anyone else have this trouble from BHO? I'd like to stick with it instead of going back to flowers for several reasons, but it's just making breathing uncomfortable. I probably don't use all that much compared to a lot of folks here. A small dab before work, one at lunch, and one at dinner time. Then either one more sitting around home at night, or hits from the pen if I go out.

I tend to cough more when I use waxes and BHO, it seems to be more harsh for my lungs. I mix mine with herb and vape in my Solo or Nano. I sometimes use waxes in my Dabbler but have to watch how large of draw I use as not to make myself cough. If you vaporize flowers and just use waxes once and a while you can keep your tolerance down a bit. Waxes will shoot your tolerance through the roof.

I notice after using just waxes or BHO in my Dabbler my lungs feel almost like they did when I combusted flowers back in the day. I have been using cannabis many years too.

Are you confident in the quality of your concentrates? Are you sure they are fully purged?

While concentrates will sometimes cause a bit more irritation, what you are describing sounds more extreme.

I think ' How ' you're delivering your concentrates to your
lungs , may play a role . What are you using to do your dabs ?
You've mentioned pen for on the go , which one ?

I've found that the metallic taste I get off of coil attys ,
with my pen vapes . They tend to make me cough with
irritation hits at the end of the dab , but Not the 1st few .
I'm currently looking into ' ceramic cup ' attys with the
Ti coils seated beneath the cup to heat it up . ( Source terras )
I'm hoping that will resolve my coughing .

I do not get that when using the VXH glass nails , unless
I take in too much . Nor when mixing with herbs in my Solo .

Since you don't have any issues with doing herb vapors .
I'm only guessing that some other irritants is causing you to
cough with the concentrates .

So ya , start with the ' well purged ' theory as suggested .
Leftover solvents can give you a Nasty High also , when inhaled !!!
Did you get into a weird medicated state ?

Then look into your delivery system for concentrates .
The air path it travels before entering your lungs .
Is your apparatus clean ?

I'm not at all sure about the purging of the concentrates.

As for gear, I'm running a domeless Ti nail in a shower head bubbler. The pen is a Gentleman's Mega V2 cartridge.

If you're heating your nail red hot, thats the wrong way to dab. Just a 7-10 second heat up and you're good. Dab on the opposite side and use the carb cap with the hole at the heated side of the nail. Oils should 'pool' and not be all evaporated by the hot red nail which will combust and potentially ruin your lungs for a good while. To ease your difficulty breathing, use deslym or honey and the warm water followed by occasional luke warm water and salt gargling. This will help expel phelgm which is present to help ease the dryness of your throat which is being caused by irritation from incorrect dabbing.

CG420 said:

If you're heating your nail red hot, thats the wrong way to dab. Just a 7-10 second heat up and you're good. Dab on the opposite side and use the carb cap with the hole at the heated side of the nail. Oils should 'pool' and not be all evaporated by the hot red nail which will combust and potentially ruin your lungs for a good while. To ease your difficulty breathing, use deslym or honey and the warm water followed by occasional luke warm water and salt gargling. This will help expel phelgm which is present to help ease the dryness of your throat which is being caused by irritation from incorrect dabbing.

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Excellent, thanks for the details on this, will adjust my technique for sure.

If you're not sure of the quality of your oils purging then I would personally consider just vaping flowers. Inhaling butane soup could be far more detrimental to your health than vaping straight flowers surely?

The lifestyle of dabbing and correct dosage of dabbing at home is completely different. I can attest because I have a mindset to splurge on dabs when I'm out at an event but when I'm home I conserve and last longer through a dab session (oils are not cheap if you know what I mean.) I would like to set the differences apart. While dabbing constantly will get you high faster, it is definitely a wreck to the body's capabilities. It damages the natural works for our alveoli sacs by creating a different form of breathing which often includes trying to breathe while you're coughing. This can cause pain in your lungs and sometimes your chest if coughing occurs too rapidly or too often after every cough being expelled. You give very little time for oxygen to help your sacs out and recover. I usually tell my friends to breathe slowly. Reason for this is to relax and meditate through inhalation. If you go slow, you will find the timing to breathe better. If you inhale deep but slow you are in control of what your involuntary organ movements will be (in this case we are focusing on lung and also stomach inhalation.)

I bring that method of breathing up because it helps us not only give our body an understanding of how dabbing should take place but the routine saves me a bunch of ordeals like having to cough to remove phlegm. I can honestly say that dabbing for quite some time now, I haven't had negative effects unless I were to dab a little late (you will know because your throat will wheeze and it means your lungs were in a resting state and wants you to sleep.) I should buy medicated honey for those nights when I can't really dab late and need a liquid form of medicine to help me think less before sleeping.

If you want to correctly dab yourself, take your time. The vapors are not going anywhere. It all depends if you can handle the size of your dabs. Most times we don't absorb all the vapors from one dab, so even tiny dabs will do. You do not need to see plooms or clouds to know you will be high. It's your meds and the quality that will speak through the high. I imagine creating a vaporizer capable of doing micro hits but it is full of flavors like bubbleman would do with rosin. I watched an episode where they low temp dab and that is a must watch for all FC members especially if you could only afford herb and can do rosin like anybody else could.

rob555 said:

So after 20+ years of combusting flowers, I've been concentrate-only for 3 months or so now. It seems to have brought on some breathing problems. I have developed a constant light wheezing when I breathe, and sometimes (like tonight) after a session I have trouble breathing, like it feels like I can't exhale fully, so I never really catch my breath.

Anyone else have this trouble from BHO? I'd like to stick with it instead of going back to flowers for several reasons, but it's just making breathing uncomfortable. I probably don't use all that much compared to a lot of folks here. A small dab before work, one at lunch, and one at dinner time. Then either one more sitting around home at night, or hits from the pen if I go out.

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Cut the amount per session and add sessions. Point is same amount overall at a lower level of insult per session.

Look at some form of filtration. A high diffusion bubbler or even a carbon filter can make a difference.

Cleaner/better BHO. There is some stuff (not all) out there that just hurts to use.

There is also this, that after decades of life your lungs have just gotten beat up some and you may need to talk to a respiratory specialist. Good Luck

There was a point where I smoked a lot of very high quality bho (budtender gave me 70$gs for 30$) and bud over a short period of time and completely can relate to the issues you presented. Actually for about 4 days I lost my voice for the most part after that. I highly doubt that they are related to your age- more so they would be related to heavy dabbing as I have experienced similar situations as a 20something smoking high quality bho combined with smoking flower. If you are still smoking flower and dabbing- that could be your problem (I hadn't smoked flower in a number of months prior to that dab/smoke binge), I find that vaporizing really helps to clear out the clogged shit in your lungs even if you cough heavily, it always seems to feel better afterwards. But when I smoked flower + dabbed bho, it was extremely harsh on my lungs the following day. To be honest I just think some people are more prone to the wheezing than others when they dab due to the length that they hold the dabs in for- I definitely have difficulty catching my breath after a large dab when I use the typical method of doing slow exhaling puffs then inhaling in between until the vapor has been completely absorbed. (the doctor technique)

I too can't do bho or wax without that feeling you describe of not being able to exhale completely and being short of breath which lasts sometimes for days after using them. But I can still vape 1/8 oz of Herbs in an evening at higher temps with no problems so to answer your question of...

rob555 said:

Anyone else have this trouble from BHO?

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(I have to say;...) Yes I do, and I choose now to stick with Bud/kief/bubble hash, none of which cause this breathing problem for me.

perhaps de-waxed/winterized material would give less of this effect. more plant residue in the material means more residue build up in your lungs? theorizing here. we know how hard reclaim can be to clean off glass, so im betting that would have somewhat of a lasting effect in your lungs too, especially if dabbing a lot.

421 said:

perhaps de-waxed/winterized material would give less of this effect. more plant residue in the material means more residue build up in your lungs? theorizing here. we know how hard reclaim can be to clean off glass, so im betting that would have somewhat of a lasting effect in your lungs too, especially if dabbing a lot.

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That's the ticket!

If you're getting bad irritation from a given concentrate, time to try another one! I have been vaping a lot of bubble lately and actually find it harsher on the throat/lungs than my usual absolute shatters. I think I could do with laying off the hash a bit more actually. I find flowers unequivocally harsher on the throat than my shatters.

With this being said, I have gone to great pains to process just the right material in just the right way to have the purest possible product. I know that dispensaries and the black market can vary greatly in quality and you should definitely change to dabbing something else if you get significant irritation from a given concentrate!

Remember, purer = better. Less junk in your lungs for the same effect

To follow up on this, I think I have a respiratory infection causing my constant wheeze and am going to the doctor. It may be coincidental to the oil usage.

As for the acute breathing difficulty I experienced the night I posted this, I think I just overdid things, hitting the pen steadily over several hours until I'd had well more than both my brain and my lungs needed!

Thanks for all the responses.

rob555 "I think I just overdid things, hitting the pen steadily over several hours until I'd had well more than both my brain and my lungs needed!"

Dude you might have said that in your first post. I would have gotten you better answers much quicker.

howie105 said:

rob555 "I think I just overdid things, hitting the pen steadily over several hours until I'd had well more than both my brain and my lungs needed!"

Dude you might have said that in your first post. I would have gotten you better answers much quicker.

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I would have if I weren't wasted and insomnia-stricken at the time.

@howie105 ever heard hindsight is 20/20? I think that when rob555 originally posted, he was a little freaked out by how he felt. It can be hard to ask the 'right' questions when you're caught up in the moment. In retrospect, he realizes he overdid it. No big deal....and he may have learned something from all the responses whether they pertained or not.