My experience with vaping and chest congestion.

[Profit]

Hello fellows!

To cut a long story very short, I went through many years of abusing my lungs with joints and cigs. So after many failed attempts at quitting I finally bought a PLENTY VAPE which I'm really happy with! It gives me great vapor and I believe it has a really consistent effect on the bud in terms of no combustion.

I've not been smoking now for eleven months and I've only had the odd VAPE session because it was causing massive amounts of paranoia because the bud I got used to smoking was much stonger when vaped.

Anyway I'm here because I have a question and I want some advice. I've started vaping regularly on my days off from work because I find it helps me focus on a task and learn more and I'm trying to better myself. I also obviously enjoy it ! When I first quit smoking I was coughing up loads of dark coloured mucus and sometimes even had to force the mucus out. It was not a great time in my life and really put me off even vaping for a little while.

Last week I vaped every day twice a day and started to really enjoy the feeling again, getting control of my paranoid thoughts I was able to enjoy my favorite past time. For some reason though I could feel mucus in my lungs again, like a really shallow vibrating feeling in the top part of my lung almost like the mucus was hanging off of the lung walls. I've been symptom free for months and now suddenly I'm feeling this again, It's starting to make me concerned about weather I'm doing the right thing for my health. I've even started to cough up Dark coloured mucus again.

I've read around that cannabis use in general can have the effect of widening the tubes in our lungs to allow for the lungs to clear out more efficiently?
I've also read that this could be because my vapor is dry and it is perhaps irritating my lungs?

As i write this I can feel this mucus very slightly now and I've taken a break from vaping for four days.
I hoped and assumed that community this large may have came across a similar experience and can explain this to me. Any sources to validate your responses would be great.

Also If you think it might be a good idea to use a water pipe/bubbler with my vape to stop this or help with this then can you suggest a good product to attach to my plenty vaporizer?

Hope this is in the right place, I understand that some of you have much more taxing problems than I and I wish you all the best of luck with them!

 

[Hippie Dickie]

i found it took about 4 weeks of regular and exclusive vaping to clean out the lungs. my vape doesn't use water filtration/moisturizing but i drink water when i feel dry. i never smoked cigarettes, however, it may take longer in your case.

 

[max]

Like HD says, it takes a while. Just stick with it and you'll be better off than with smoke. I've been vaping for years, but until I discovered it, smoking was bothering my lungs to the point where I was seriously considering giving it up, and I'm a decades long user. I vaped for a couple of years before ever using water filtration, so I don't think that's necessary, even though I now enjoy it.

 

[cawshook]

Anyone can help me try to get a cheap good tobacco vaporizer? Anyone try ploom modelTwo?

 

[vorrange]

I think what is happening is your lungs aren't clean yet. THC is an expectorant, so when you vape exclusively you are using a substance that helps the lungs cough the dirt you have inside.

If you vaped a lot, i would say that could also be the reason, and for that water filtration and drinking a glass of water in a vaping session will take care of it.

Long walks and sprints are also good to clean the lungs. Better yet, a long walk with a few sprints in the middle.


About the paranoid feelings... i suggest you change to strains with a high cbd content, like Indica strains and in a lesser degree, Hybrid strains.

 

[shadyonedeath]

I would dry my lungs when I used to vape heavily. What I found best was to have some Ice water and as your about to sip, breathe into the cup, creating moisture/water vapor, and then breathe in the water vapor. Drinking it helped the throat, of course.

Just a lil experimenting.

 

[Pipes]

The human body has some remarkable defence mechanisms built in. The lungs know when it has something in them that is not suppose to be there. They build up mucus to encapsulate foreign stuff. The mucus is constantly building and working it's way from the small chambers to the larger ones and then coughed out and swallowed.
What happens with smoking tobacco is that there is something in that smoke (nic?) which prohibits this natural defence mechanism from doing it's job. This is the reason smokers have the morning cough (not smoking all night) until they have their first smoke. Since this lack of defence has let the smoke debris build up over the years, it will take a while to clear.
IMO, vaping gets this defence mechanism going instantly thus causing immediate coughing. Actually cleaning your lungs in a natural way.
I'm wondering if this has something to do with what your experiencing..?

 

[cawshook]

You should really try mango juice when vaping its thick so it coats ur throat. Drink it from an insulated beverage container to keep it cool.

 

[weedemon]

Hello fellows!

To cut a long story very short, I went through many years of abusing my lungs with joints and cigs.

I've not been smoking now for eleven months and I've only had the odd VAPE session because it was causing massive amounts of paranoia because the bud I got used to smoking was much stonger when vaped.

I've even started to cough up Dark coloured mucus again.

I've read around that cannabis use in general can have the effect of widening the tubes in our lungs to allow for the lungs to clear out more efficiently?
I've also read that this could be because my vapor is dry and it is perhaps irritating my lungs?

Also If you think it might be a good idea to use a water pipe/bubbler with my vape to stop this or help with this then can you suggest a good product to attach to my plenty vaporizer?

Vapor can seem stronger for sure! this debate normally goes 2 ways, but I will try to explain your situation if i may be so bold. vapor is one sneaky mother fucker! you take a hit and you generally don't realize how big of a hit you took until you are exhaling. there is less visual feedback when you are taking your hit. and as a result it's easy to take massive rips. the plenty lives up to that name too I am sure. back when i first started vaping I tried to use up the same amount of herbs I would normally use and ended up too vaped very often. I use about half of what i'd use if i smoked.

Firstly, Welcome to the board and I would love to touch on many things you have mentioned. parts of this message are nostalgic to me and bring me back to my own transition from a smoker to vaporization.

that black shit you were coughing up in the beginning, is the shit that was stuck in your lungs from when you were a smoker. I totally remember this. It doesn't happen anymore, and if i ever have to hock a loogie, it's a normal clear/white/yellow colour these days. never black anymore. this puzzles me about your situation. I was a smoker(weed only) for nearly 10 years before i quite and went vape only. It must not be all out of you from the past yet. cigs are pretty darn horrible things. all that tar and particulate...

2ndly I still also notice congestion when I vape but let me try to break it down for you.

when we vaporize, we are still inhaling a foreign substance into our lungs. so that's part one.

part 2 is what is vapor? well it's the oils, terpenes, and cannabinoids of course! no tar, no burnt material, just what I consider to be a more pure essence of what this wonderful plant really is all about.

this vapor we are inhaling is sticky. just look at condensed vapor in your devices. thats also happening in your lungs! why wouldn't it be? that's where we are putting it.

however, I think in this form it's far far less dangerous. (who know's, maybe it's even good for us! this plant is pretty amazing!)

but that said, when I vape I notice a temporary congestion that's happens in my nasal airways and my lungs both. I try not to breathe through my nose even when I vape... this is gone after about 30-60 min after i stop vaping and I feel fit as a horse again! btw I LOVE to get vaped and then go workout! OMG!!! so awesome push myself to the limit cause i'm high and pumped up by the music! give your lungs a workout!

Marijuana has an expectorant (makes you wanna exhale and "be rid" of things in your airways) effect yes. and I find vapor warmer and drier than smoke typically is. to solve this consider 2 things. 1: water filtration. 2. a different vape thats produces cooler vapor.

Keep at it m8! the benefits of vapor far outweigh the alternative of smoking!


hope you enjoy to forum too btw. this place rocks!

 

[420GanjX]

I too experience bad congestion from vaporizing, & I've been purely on vapor for over 6 months now.

Water filtration & a drink do help, but sadly that is not enough for me, bc of this I can not vape as heavily as I would like to.

Cutting back seemed to help so I can only vape once or twice a day now to minimize my chest/throat/sinus phlegm

Weedemon summed up my hypothesis perfectly, most likely just due to the dryness (& oils) of the vapor causing irritation

 

[Profit]

Vapor can seem stronger for sure! this debate normally goes 2 ways, but I will try to explain your situation if i may be so bold. vapor is one sneaky mother fucker! you take a hit and you generally don't realize how big of a hit you took until you are exhaling. there is less visual feedback when you are taking your hit. and as a result it's easy to take massive rips. the plenty lives up to that name too I am sure. back when i first started vaping I tried to use up the same amount of herbs I would normally use and ended up too vaped very often. I use about half of what i'd use if i smoked.

Firstly, Welcome to the board and I would love to touch on many things you have mentioned. parts of this message are nostalgic to me and bring me back to my own transition from a smoker to vaporization.

that black shit you were coughing up in the beginning, is the shit that was stuck in your lungs from when you were a smoker. I totally remember this. It doesn't happen anymore, and if i ever have to hock a loogie, it's a normal clear/white/yellow colour these days. never black anymore. this puzzles me about your situation. I was a smoker(weed only) for nearly 10 years before i quite and went vape only. It must not be all out of you from the past yet. cigs are pretty darn horrible things. all that tar and particulate...

2ndly I still also notice congestion when I vape but let me try to break it down for you.

when we vaporize, we are still inhaling a foreign substance into our lungs. so that's part one.

part 2 is what is vapor? well it's the oils, terpenes, and cannabinoids of course! no tar, no burnt material, just what I consider to be a more pure essence of what this wonderful plant really is all about.

this vapor we are inhaling is sticky. just look at condensed vapor in your devices. thats also happening in your lungs! why wouldn't it be? that's where we are putting it.

however, I think in this form it's far far less dangerous. (who know's, maybe it's even good for us! this plant is pretty amazing!)

but that said, when I vape I notice a temporary congestion that's happens in my nasal airways and my lungs both. I try not to breathe through my nose even when I vape... this is gone after about 30-60 min after i stop vaping and I feel fit as a horse again! btw I LOVE to get vaped and then go workout! OMG!!! so awesome push myself to the limit cause i'm high and pumped up by the music! give your lungs a workout!

Marijuana has an expectorant (makes you wanna exhale and "be rid" of things in your airways) effect yes. and I find vapor warmer and drier than smoke typically is. to solve this consider 2 things. 1: water filtration. 2. a different vape thats produces cooler vapor.

Keep at it m8! the benefits of vapor far outweigh the alternative of smoking!


hope you enjoy to forum too btw. this place rocks!

Thanks for all the great replies, I was concerned that my small problems might get torn to shreds alongside all these people with actual chronic conditions (pardon the pun).

Its a few weeks later as I'm writing this and I'm still experiencing a strange sort of congestion. I'm back to bringing up yellow phlem with dark specs, like back when I was a smoker. To give you some history I was doing this when I was smoking MJ and funny enough I had a similar feeling to what I have now. Almost like a dryness in my upper airways, probably from the coughing in the morning.

I like to think that vaping MJ is actually aiding my lungs and making the process of cleaning them out faster whilst having the dryness that most of you say is going to happen.

But in the back of my mind I have this itching question "is this really beneficial". I know it's more beneficial than smoking, I quit smoking because I want to live longer. Perhaps I've done so much damage to my lungs that they're suffering even from vapor. Or like most of you say perhaps this is just a by product of the cleansing effect MJ has when vaped. I guess only time will tell. I'm starting to question if MJ is actually worth it, am I taking a risk.

That being said you all raise some interesting points. Drinking water before my vape hits has been absolute number 1 priority. Whislt it has helped with my throat it hasn't completely got rid of the dryness I experience in my upper airways and throat in the mornings.

Water filtration I think is the next step for me, but I'm not really quite sure how to do this with my plenty. Electronics and water do not mix well So i need to do it correctly. Anyone have any suggestions?

As for doing bigger hits than I expect, I actually never fill the plenty chamber and really do monitor my MJ intake, partly because of this and partly because I feel like the small amount I am using gets me high enough.

Cheers for the welcome.
Peace!

 

[Profit]

I think what is happening is your lungs aren't clean yet. THC is an expectorant, so when you vape exclusively you are using a substance that helps the lungs cough the dirt you have inside.

If you vaped a lot, i would say that could also be the reason, and for that water filtration and drinking a glass of water in a vaping session will take care of it.

Long walks and sprints are also good to clean the lungs. Better yet, a long walk with a few sprints in the middle.


About the paranoid feelings... i suggest you change to strains with a high cbd content, like Indica strains and in a lesser degree, Hybrid strains.

Your post interested me alot. First of what you say is what I hope, I hope that this is just a by product of the cleansing effect that MJ has. Wouldn't that be fantastic, years of smoking abuse helped by getting high.

I'm interested in what you say about strains, I live in a place where MJ isn't quite legal yet and so it's not easy to pick strains. But if I ever did get the chance to pick a strain, which ones are likely to cause less paranoia?

 

[vorrange]

Indicas are likely to cause less paranoia because they have higher CBD content which balances the paranoia effects from the THC.

Hybrids are better than Sativas as well, but not as much as Indicas.

Cannabis has a cleansing effect on the lungs, one of the reasons why joint smokers have less incidence of cancer than tobacco smokers.

Exercise goes a LONG way too.

Indicas are likely to cause less paranoia because they have higher CBD content which balances the paranoia effects from the THC.

Hybrids are better than Sativas as well, but not as much as Indicas.

Cannabis has a cleansing effect on the lungs, one of the reasons why joint smokers have less incidence of cancer than tobacco smokers.

Exercise goes a LONG way too.

 

[Unconnected]

Three weeks combustion free, cig smoker on the weekends for 5 years, daily from jan this year till 3 weeks ago, and smoking tobacco and bud cones all fucking day long for the last 2 years.

My lungs feel better than ever, no more do i feel sticky bong tar burning holes in my throat after i cough up. No longer to i cough up grey, black and yellow foul smelling shit all day long.

The vape cleans you out man, that THC getting deeeeeep into my lungs and bringing the shit out. One day they (the MAN) will realise just what weed can do when vaped.

 

[weedemon]

to connect your plenty to a bong, I would figure out a way to get some tubing connected to it that fits in your downstem nicely. the size of tubing that they sell with the ssv (I forget the size atm) is about perfect I think. but buy a better quality tube than what they sell there is a thread about what types of tubing you want on here somewhere too!

with that you would be able to filter your vapor through water. and it does smooth a hit out very nicely. but as a side effect I feel you lose a little of the flavour too. worth it, if it makes it more comfortable though right?

 

[Profit]

Ok guys thanks for your advice. I've been doing as much research as I could into this. I think that perhaps the chest congestion I was feeling was a result of my throat being irritated. I've been experiencing this off and on ever since I started vaping again so I decided something wasn't right about the way im vaping. I'm willing to assume that some damage can be done by vaping but I'm not willing to assume as much as I've been feeling.

It was the plenty and it's fantastic range of heat that was causing some of the less potent bud I've been buying to almost vape to combustion. I've also found a new way to hold the plenty so that the heat travels towards the roof of my mouth rather than the back of my throat.

I feel that the plenty really has a large learning curve to get a nice smooth painless vape.
First off, I was vaping my bud at around about 8 or 9. The reason i was doing that is that i couldn't get vapor to naturally occur without considerable effort without going all the way up to 8 or 9. After some research on this forum I noticed some people talking about how you can slowly drag a vape for a more productive effect.

So now I put a small amount of bud in the chaimber, crank the heat to 4 instead of 8 or 9, and slowly draw a full lung of air the moment the vape hits the temp I set it at (around 200c). This seems to get a really smooth vapor draw which not only seems to have stopped the lung congestion I was experiencing but also seems to have stopped my throat suffering further damage. That being said my throat seems to be inflamed at the moment, but I think that's a result of misuse of the vape.

 

[Bunless]

to connect your plenty to a bong, I would figure out a way to get some tubing connected to it that fits in your downstem nicely. the size of tubing that they sell with the ssv (I forget the size atm) is about perfect I think. but buy a better quality tube than what they sell there is a thread about what types of tubing you want on here somewhere too!

with that you would be able to filter your vapor through water. and it does smooth a hit out very nicely. but as a side effect I feel you lose a little of the flavour too. worth it, if it makes it more comfortable though right?

You can use a bong with the plenty by removing the cooling coil and piece of plastic tubing, and putting a layer of tape around the nozzle in order to fit a 19mm joint. I think it hits a lot better this way than using conventionally. Tape it, turn the plenty upside down and stick it in the joint. If you use too much tape though, the seal will be too tight and it'll be difficult to pull it out of the joint when clearing a hit. I prefered without water filtration, so I would use the bong without the downstem. I didn't like the air flow though with that empty space in the bottom, so I'd put water up to a level just below the joint. This way the air flows more directly.

You could use it with the glass that comes with the cloud evo too.

 

[pakalolo]

Anyone can help me try to get a cheap good tobacco vaporizer? Anyone try ploom modelTwo?

Please don't hijack someone else's thread, start your own. This has nothing to do with the original question.

 

[His_Highness]

Hello fellows!

To cut a long story very short, I went through many years of abusing my lungs with joints and cigs. So after many failed attempts at quitting I finally bought a PLENTY VAPE which I'm really happy with! It gives me great vapor and I believe it has a really consistent effect on the bud in terms of no combustion.

I've not been smoking now for eleven months and I've only had the odd VAPE session because it was causing massive amounts of paranoia because the bud I got used to smoking was much stonger when vaped.

I gave up cigs after 20 years and took up running over 15 years ago. One of the first things that surprised me was how sensitive my lungs became after giving up the cigs. Took several years after giving up the smokes before my lungs gave up the hyper-sensitivity. Even after a year or two away from cigs I would get these bouts of coughing and mucous and even ashma from what was a minor irritant when I smoked but became a major irritant now that my lungs were so much cleaner. I never had serious ashma till I gave up the cigs so imagine my surprise that giving up smokes was having the opposite affect.

It's all good now but my guess is that smoking was desensitizing my lungs and that after giving them up my lungs had to build up some immunity to irritation that was masked by the cigs coating my lungs with tar and other crap. Maybe your lungs are having a similar reaction to being 'newly clear' and once your lungs adjust to irritants hitting clean lungs it may subside.

 

[drfe3]

lavender has been found to help with asthma patients, try mixing some lavendar in with your herb (get it from a local tea shop). The temperature of vapor tends to dry out the lungs, your lungs will have an increase in inflammation and mucus production as a response to the dry vapor. While this is not extremely harmful, if you are noticing a lot of discomfort then your lungs may not be strong enough to be vaporizing . You could also try sucking on an ice cube when you vape (cheaper than buying a bubbler)

I have had asthma for my entire life so trust me I know the feeling, try strengthening your lungs with exercise. start gradually at first (walking or light weight training) then progress to running (even if it is 10 minutes a day).

pce