How long do you hold your vapor in?

TboneToker

Well-Known Member
I've realized that Vapor is a lot more potent than smoke.

My dogs do not get high off smoke, but Vapor will get them really good. Especially if the room is full of it.


This makes me feel like holding it in longer will produce a bigger effect, what does FC think?

I know that since most of it is active, when we exhale, isn't much of it active?
 

Squiby

Well-Known Member
I read somewhere on this forum that the active cannabinoids are absorbed almost instantly upon inhalation and that holding in the vapor is unnecessary. I switched from holding in the vapor to just inhaling and exhaling normally. I get just as high without holding my breath.
 

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
I vape and my husband is always in the house. He doesn't get high off the vapor. He also takes regular drug test because of his job. When I smoked cannabis years ago, he never was effected by the smoke either. He took regular drug tests then too. He has never had a positive drug test.

We have several threads that pertain to how long to hold your vapor. Maybe we can combine the two or three threads.

I just hold for 5 seconds or so. My draw is probably 15 or 20'seconds. I would pass out if I held in any further than that. I've heard folks holding in a long time, like almost a minute. I get plenty medicated doing it way way I've been doing it. I think it's a fairy tale holding your vapor in longer makes you more medicated.

Edit
Do what works for you. Having primo cannabis is the key to a good vaporizing experience.
 
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iVapeTooMuch

Oh I Member
I don't have a set time but I just do what feels natural. With my log vape, I'll use about 75% of my lung capacity to draw in vapor then deeply inhale to fill them with fresh air. Hold for a fraction of a second, let out a small breath, sharply inhale, and repeat that once or twice until I completely exhale.
 

Seek

Apprentice Daydreamer
I'm mostly hearing 2 explanations why holding the breaths will not get you higher, only more lightheaded from oxygen deprivation:

1) THC gets absorded within seconds, so after that you're only holding inactives (then what exactly is the exhale composed of then?)
2) Lungs can only absord so much in one inhale and then stop absorbing until you exhale and inhale again. In this case letting only little out and breathing some oxygen back in repeatedly could make you higher.

But I don't know how the truth actually is, and measuring is the latter is true is hard. I mean, it seems to me that maybe I get i little higher if I do rebreathe, but can't be sure about that, never noticed it significantly enough.
 

Baron23

Well-Known Member
Lungs can only absord so much in one inhale and then stop absorbing until you exhale and inhale again. In this case letting only little out and breathing some oxygen back in repeatedly could make you higher.

This is what I do. I'm an old guy (64) and have been using cannabis since I was 14. Back in the day the guidance was to hold a toke as long as you could. Probably only contributed to the amount of resin and tar coating our lungs.

With vapor and my understanding of the current state of the research, I hold maybe two to three seconds but often (when I want to get really baked) I will draw in then shallowly breath in and out a bit to get more oxygen into my lungs and hence more absorption.

Could all be just mind games but that's what I do.

Cheers
 

Farid

Well-Known Member
I hold my hits in for as long as I can. I think the reason a lot of people get just as high holding their hits for 2 seconds versus 20 seconds is because of the way cannabis effects us, and has a sort of diminishing returns with increased use.

What I mean is that the more vapor in your system, the higher your tolerance. So the same way I feel just as high if I vape 1 gram or if I have 2 in a day, if I hold my hits in for less time I will get just as high as if I held them a long time.

If I hold the hits in longer I get a stronger "stoned" feeling than if I hold them in for a short time, and I associate a stronger "stoned" feeling with a high tolerance, versus the soaring "high" feeling I get when I have a lower tolerance.

The other evidence I have which makes me believe this is that when people shotgun hits to others they both get stoned.

I'd believe that THC is absorbed quickly, but THC is just one of many chemicals which contribute to the effects we get from cannabis.
 

VapeHeadz

Well-Known Member
vaping-vs-smoking.jpg
 

TboneToker

Well-Known Member
I've always thought and taught that you hold it until you can't see any vapor upon exhale. I honestly have no clue, though.
Definitely have had the same thought because wouldn't that seem logical?

I mean if 95% is active, then I feel even if @CarolKing 's love isn't getting high from her exhales, wouldn't some of it still be active, perhaps not thc but other actives, hence your husband not getting high?

I guess it's a question that will go on until we have some serious science done with vapes..

I always felt like holding in vapor was worth it more than smoke..

SLIGHTLY OFFTOPIC - - -
Smoke to me, seems almost like it coats your lungs and stops much of the absorption which is why I find using a carbon filter if I do smoke gets me higher, and I think it's again because the smoke itself coats the lungs causing a lower amount of absorption, so the carbon filter in my opinion makes smoking that much closer to vaping, though it's of course not the same, it's a lot better and feels closer to vaping in the way it medicates.
 
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Diggy Smalls

Notorious
I just did a bowl of short inhales in a row and then just exhaled. It got me just as high as a long draw held in a long time. But it was like a cloud of vapor I have never seen from my own vape! And without any water involved. I don't know the answer to the question.
 
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TboneToker

Well-Known Member
I just did a bowl of short inhales in a row and then just exhaled. It got me just as high as a long draw held in a long time. But it was like a cloud of vapor I have never seen from my own vape! And without any water involved. I don't know the answer to the question.


Haha, isn't it great when our vapes surprise us, then it's like WOAH now I just need to dial in the skill to make it work that way every time!
 

HighSeasSailor

Well-Known Member
I take my hit, fill my lungs all the way up with air, pause for maybe a second, then slowly exhale. No more, no less. Works like a charm.

I seriously doubt that 95% of visible vapor is active ingredients in gas form. I imagine most of it is merely water vapor (steam), as most biomass of plant matter is water and cannabis is cured but definitely not dehydrated, and vapes bring temps well above boiling. Holding a hit in until you see no visible vapor if you're normally seeing clouds most likely means you're just forcing that steam to condense in your lungs, which I'd say is probably not all that good for you.

Bear in mind that unless you're inhaling from a bag, most of your hit will have already sat in your lungs for several seconds while you continued inhaling. I've heard it said that most/all THC and other actives are absorbed from vapor within ~4 seconds. That sounds pretty reasonable to me, my experiments have led me to believe that any additional "high" from holding your breath for extended periods is actually just mild oxygen deprivation such as you'd expect to get from holding your breath with something that isn't entirely air in your lungs.
 
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TboneToker

Well-Known Member
I take my hit, fill my lungs all the way up with air, pause for maybe a second, then slowly exhale. No more, no less. Works like a charm.

I seriously doubt that 95% of visible vapor is active ingredients in gas form. I imagine most of it is merely water vapor (steam), as most biomass of plant matter is water and cannabis is cured but definitely not dehydrated, and vapes definitely bring temps well above boiling. Holding a hit in until you see no visible vapor if you're normally seeing clouds most likely means you're just forcing that steam to condense in your lungs, which I'd say is probably not all that good for you.

Bear in mind that unless you're inhaling from a bag, most of your hit will have already sat in your lungs for several seconds while you continued inhaling. I've heard it said that most/all THC and other actives are absorbed from vapor within ~4 seconds. That sounds pretty reasonable to me, my experiments have led me to believe that any additional "high" from holding your breath for extended periods is actually just mild oxygen deprivation such as you'd expect to get from holding your breath with something that isn't entirely air in your lungs.


Feel like you hit the nail on the head here with the steam/water vapor. Discussion over! thanks FC!
 

flotntoke

thoroughly vaped
I hold my hits in for as long as I can. I think the reason a lot of people get just as high holding their hits for 2 seconds versus 20 seconds is because of the way cannabis effects us, and has a sort of diminishing returns with increased use.

What I mean is that the more vapor in your system, the higher your tolerance. So the same way I feel just as high if I vape 1 gram or if I have 2 in a day, if I hold my hits in for less time I will get just as high as if I held them a long time.

If I hold the hits in longer I get a stronger "stoned" feeling than if I hold them in for a short time, and I associate a stronger "stoned" feeling with a high tolerance, versus the soaring "high" feeling I get when I have a lower tolerance.

The other evidence I have which makes me believe this is that when people shotgun hits to others they both get stoned.

I'd believe that THC is absorbed quickly, but THC is just one of many chemicals which contribute to the effects we get from cannabis.

I dunno about this. I'd guess that if you take a big breath and hold it in like that, you're going to start getting a buzz with vapor or not. Vapor of course enhances it, but sounds like a waste of vapor to me. Your lungs will stop absorbing when there isn't oxygen left in whatever is in them.

I'm also a disciple of the @lwien technique. Best way to go if you're trying to get the most out of your hits, and not too difficult after a little practice. Adding fresh air makes your lungs absorb again, while taking more actives from the vapor still in them.
 

kellya86

Herb gardener...
I believe it is the act of the vapour (cannabinoids) passing over the cilia, that gets you high...

So breathing in and out with short, repeated breaths, while you contain vapour, may be the most efficient way to absorb the goodies....

How true this is, I don't know...
I don't obsess about this stuff....
If I want to get higher, I'll load another elb.....

Luckily I have more herb than one man can vape....

One thing I have wondered though, if I take a huge cloud from my evo, then exhale into an eq bag, would the contents of that bag, be enough to get someone else high....????

Unfortunately I'm a lone vaper, so I can never really test this theory....
 
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latulipe999

Well-Known Member
One thing I have wondered though, if I take a huge cloud from my evo, then exhale into an eq bag, would the contents of that bag,be enough to get someone else high....????

I don't know anyone who will accept to take exhaled vapor. But i already asked myself this question. I'm sure this's potent.

I have met a guy who affirmed me that he get high with passiv vapor from his friend who had vape next to him.
 
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latulipe999,

Diggy Smalls

Notorious
We used to shotgun hits from dbv back in the day. Maybe exhaling all that vapor doesn't affect your high, but it CAN and will get someone else high.
 
Diggy Smalls,

YungLeaner

Well-Known Member
One of my favorite things to do is take short clips of me exhaling huge, huge clouds out of my vaporizers in the sun, as a way to get back at my friends who make fun of me for consuming like a nerd/weirdo/obsessive/(insert name that friends call me for owning a ton of vapes).

There's a lot of pop science BS over on Reddit from users that feel as though you are wasting actives if you exhale ANY visible vapor.

What is the relevance to this conversation?

I'm not sure, I come on FC to ramble and free-associate my thoughts among like minded people.

From personal experience the difference in high between holding it in and instantly exhaling is noticeable but not huge by any means.

I usually do a second inhale, but a slight one, and I'm not able to if the hit is too cloudy.

My general reasoning--which is more emotional than scientific--is that holding hits in while smoking is really bad because I'm forcing harsh heat and carcinogens onto my lungs, and not allowing it to leave. I don't really know how realistic this is, but I just imagine little grimy smoke molecules clinging to everything and never leaving. Ugh.

But vapor is such a pure and beautiful gas that an extra inhale is an extra inhale of goodness, and the steam that is vapor is benign to our lungs as far as I know.

Do lungs have anything to do with absorption of THC?

Is Dualism Dead?

Because I'm too high to know if I'm a Cartesian Zombie or not. Maybe @ataxian would know.
 
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