Health of portable vaporizers

[haarlemmer]

Hi everyone, I'm new to vaporizing but I've found it a great alternative to smoking. Here's my question.

When I inhale and blow out a big cloud of vapor, I've been told that what I see is water vapor... a result of the heat and the water being evaporated/boiled off. So I assume that when you take a big hit from a vaporizer, you're inhaling THC as well as lots of water vapor.

With portable vaporizers, the heating element is often very close to the mouthpiece, resulting in this water vapor being very hot. In fact, sometimes there is less than 15cm between the mouthpiece and the heating element. So the air is heated and then immediately drawn into the lungs.

This image: http://www.accuratebuilding.com/images/services/charts/hot_water_burn_scalding.gif

shows that water heated to 100 C will cause scalding on human tissue. I am often setting my vape to 185 C which is like inhaling boiling mist, isn't it?

Is there lung damage being caused by inhaling this boiling water vapor?

Thanks and I look forward to understanding better.

 

[Shit Snacks]

welcome! this a post for the ask fc thread though, I'm sure mods will move it.

I cant really answer your question, but there is much more than THC being vaporized too (and many vapes have longer vapor paths to cool the vapor, also water filtration helps too)

 

[Wahiker]

Good question. I can't speak to the risk of lung damage, but what I can say is that on at least two occasions, the next day it felt like my throat was raw and sore, and then I found myself getting a several-days long sore throat afterwards. I suspect what happened is that my inflamed throat became susceptible to becoming infected with germs of some kind, which led to the sore throat.

I think the lesson may be to "sip" the vapor so the throat has a chance to cool back down in between sips -or- as Shit Snacks says, to add some water filtration for the cooling effect.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

So I assume that when you take a big hit from a vaporizer, you're inhaling THC as well as lots of water vapor.

well, imo that's not what is happening, the "lots of water vapor" thing, that is ... if the herb is dry enough to vape, there is very little, actually virtually no, water in the vapor. Because the water vaporizes at half the temp that releases the thc, the H2O is mostly gone.

when i am vaporizing fresh picked herb, i won't get any thc until the water (plant cell water content) is gone, since the evaporating water will keep the temp around 100C until gone ... in my experience it takes about 5 minutes before the herb starts producing usable vapor - this is for around .12g in the vial.

re: heat of inhale ... my draw tube is 150mm, and larger diameter than the vial, so expansive cooling as well as distance keeps the temp acceptable.

and clouds ... mostly exhaled thc vapor plus moisture from the lungs (?) - hotter than ambient air - warm air into a colder space ... i try to keep the exhale waste to a minimum ... i prefer personal clouds - i can feel 'em and see 'em, but they aren't as wasteful as some of the videos i see.

 

[fft]

Its a good question. My instinct is to say that if the vapor was entering your mouth at a temperature hot enough to scald, then you would feel it on your lips and mouth since the contact time during a hit on the inside of your mouth is longer than in your lungs. I can only guess that most vapes have enough cooling in the path to get to a safe temp before it gets there. Yes, there are a few who like to cool using water filtration to add moisture and sometimes cool things down. A little more with concentrates where the temps are higher and you are effectively pulling small droplets of hot oil into your lungs. But its hard to see how the vapor could be that hot without noticing it.

well, imo that's not what is happening, the "lots of water vapor" thing, that is ... if the herb is dry enough to vape, there is very little, actually virtually no, water in the vapor. Because the water vaporizes at half the temp that releases the thc, the H2O is mostly gone.

I get what you are saying, but I had also aways assumed that the "big clouds" were primarily water vapor. So if the vapor is dry then the visible clouds on the exale have to be another component, like THC. I had always thought that stuff was colorless. Huh.

 

[max]

I get what you are saying, but I had also aways assumed that the "big clouds" were primarily water vapor. So if the vapor is dry then the visible clouds on the exale have to be another component, like THC. I had always thought that stuff was colorless. Huh.

There area more than 400 chemicals in cannabis and you're heating them all.

 

[C No Ego]

Hi everyone, I'm new to vaporizing but I've found it a great alternative to smoking. Here's my question.

When I inhale and blow out a big cloud of vapor, I've been told that what I see is water vapor... a result of the heat and the water being evaporated/boiled off. So I assume that when you take a big hit from a vaporizer, you're inhaling THC as well as lots of water vapor.

With portable vaporizers, the heating element is often very close to the mouthpiece, resulting in this water vapor being very hot. In fact, sometimes there is less than 15cm between the mouthpiece and the heating element. So the air is heated and then immediately drawn into the lungs.

This image: http://www.accuratebuilding.com/images/services/charts/hot_water_burn_scalding.gif

shows that water heated to 100 C will cause scalding on human tissue. I am often setting my vape to 185 C which is like inhaling boiling mist, isn't it?

Is there lung damage being caused by inhaling this boiling water vapor?

Thanks and I look forward to understanding better.
I get what you are saying, but I had also aways assumed that the "big clouds" were primarily water vapor. So if the vapor is dry then the visible clouds on the exale have to be another component, like THC. I had always thought that stuff was colorless. Huh.

I learned years back that one of the only dangers associated with vaporizing is compared to a fireman going into a hot building and breathing in the hot air. they have masks to protect them and we use water tools or a longer draw tube to use with the vape. if it feels hot going in then do something to get the heat down, you will know if it is to hot.

really good cured out herb is dried out in the cure with a teeny tiny amount of moisture remaining. what you see in the vapor is all of the compounds that make up the structure of the plant being drawn into a heated air stream. you are dismantling the plant piece by piece( compound by compound) by air drawn heat extraction. obviously not all of the plant is dismantled because of the abv remains.

I dump my bubbler water into a clear bottle and the water is a light greenish hue so chlorophyll particles get drawn into the vapor stream too.