Is combustion a less efficient way of vaping?

[tgvp]

As I'm waiting for a friend, while slightly high, I got lost once again in of those existential reflections.
Is smoking basically a less efficient way of vaping?

Let me explain why. Vaping is the act of extracting the active chemicals from your plant material by heating it (turning the solid cannabinoids and terpenes into their gaseous form) and mixing it with atmospheric gases that you then inhale, thus transferring said chemicals in your bloodstream and allowing you to dive in endless and pointless, but usually satisfying train of thoughts.

In "orthodox" vaping, the heating is done using a hot surface and/or hot air (conduction VS convection) at an appropriate temperature and the carrying gases is normal air.
In "heretic" vaping, the heat is provided by the combustion of the ember on the tip of the joint that will heat the air that is drawn through it but contaminating at the same time with nasty stuff, like toxic gases (co, co2), tar, dust... Last but not least, the temperature provided by the combustion is way too high to extract the chemicals without destroying it.

So, same chemical process, but less precisely done, more contaminated and less efficient?

 

[GoldenBud]

yes, combustion occurs at very high temps (400c-600c~ vs 220c vaporizing~) hence some compounds will be gone before you can inhale them..

 

[Haze Mister]

Yeah, that is why joints can taste better than pipes, because you get more vapor from the stuff that's behind the burning tip.

The person that discovered rolling leaves into a tube, sticking one end into their mouth, setting the other end on fire and inhaling was really some clown!

 

[GoldenBud]

boiling point of THC is around 156c
smoking is around 400c-600c
vaporizing is from 160c-240c~

the higher you go it's becoming faster and compounds are getting lost sooner

 

[Cheebsy]

It just shows to go how many critical thinkers we have on this board! This comes up every now and again, and usually starts with, "I had a thought while I was high"....

Here's the most recent discussion about it...

Combustion=vaping (sort of)

I was vaping a couple of days ago and had a high thought - that combusting while smoking a joint is also partly vaporising. Now I haven’t done any scientific testing but I was thinking that while the tip is burning and you draw from the joint, there will be hot air passing through and vaporising...

fuckcombustion.com

yes, combustion occurs at very high temps (400c-600c~ vs 220c vaporizing~) hence some compounds will be gone before you can inhale them..

Wouldn't you strip those contents out of the part of the joint that's getting warm but not burning, before it ever gets to confusion temps?

 

[Farid]

"Vapor" is certainly present in smoke - in different concentrations depending on the style of smoking.

But I wouldn't classify most smoking as a form of vaporization because I think vaporization must exclude smoke to fit the definition of vaporization.

That said, imo smoking full melt hash or using a hookah is closer to vaping than smoking because the quantity of smoke is so miniscule if not practically absent.

 

[GoldenBud]

Wouldn't you strip those contents out of the part of the joint that's getting warm but not burning, before it ever gets to confusion temps?

also because combustion brings THCA into H2O + CO2 + CO so you get less THC
vaporization coverts THCA to THC
combusting will bring H2O, CO2, CO and another products

 

[tgvp]

Yeah, that is why joints can taste better than pipes, because you get more vapor from the stuff that's behind the burning tip.

I never thought of that, I once bought a pipe but never managed to do the switch as I preferred the taste of the joint... Well, at least before discovering better

Here's the most recent discussion about it...

Ok, I confess, I could have done a little more research Seemed a really novel and good idea at the time, like always

"Vapor" is certainly present in smoke - in different concentrations depending on the style of smoking.

But I wouldn't classify most smoking as a form of vaporization because I think vaporization must exclude smoke to fit the definition of vaporization.

That said, imo smoking full melt hash or using a hookah is closer to vaping than smoking because the quantity of smoke is so miniscule if not practically absent.

Well, it's a mix of vapor (of cannabinoids, terpenes, some water, as those compounds are solids at room temp and change phase when heated) with the nasty stuff. Can we get halfway by calling it dirty vapor?

 

[CANtalk]

Is smoking basically a less efficient way of vaping?

I've previously linked a study that found vaping cannabis to be much more efficient than combustion / smoking. With smoking / combustion, they measured a >50% loss of THC from pyrolytic destruction & sidestream smoke (and the results should be similar for other cannabinoids). While vaping isn't lossless either, it's a lot more efficient than combustion / smoking.

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewd...94EE170?doi=10.1.1.517.3186&rep=rep1&type=pdf

 

[GoldenBud]

I've previously linked a study that found vaping cannabis to be much more efficient than combustion / smoking. They found a >50% loss of THC in smoking, and coming from pyrolytic destruction & sidestream smoke.

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewd...94EE170?doi=10.1.1.517.3186&rep=rep1&type=pdf

interesing!
"CONCLUSION Although smoking is a practical method for the delivery of marijuana’s active principle (THC), many factors inherent in the smoking process decrease the drug’s bioavailability. For example, whether marijuana is smoked in pipe or cigarette form, 23 to 30 percent of its THC content is destroyed by pyrolysis; if marijuana is smoked in cigarette form, as much as 40 to 50 percent of THC can be lost in sidestream smoke."