Quitting vaping coz of throat irritation

[organic weed]

Hey Folk
This is more of a good bye post. I have been vaping for about 1.5 years. I started in October of 2014 and today I made the decision to quit vaping because I keep having throat irritation. I have tried it to all: different types of vapes, water perc, water tools, low temperatures, different strains, etc... but it doesn't help. I passed a period of serious throat irritation almost every time I vaped, and I was vaping maybe 2/3 times a week at most, vaping on average 0.4 gr and maybe twice a month 1 gr/day. Overall in this 1.5 years I must have vaped 50 grams, very little amount also in my opinion.
Still my throat got irritated. I took in the 1.5 years several breaks, sometimes even larger than 1 month. Over time my through developed irritation much easier.
I think if I continued vaping I would definitely lower drastically my quality of life. MJ is suppose to enhance it and not to lower it...
Life is the most precious thing we have. It doesn't make sense in my opinion to jeopardise your health just because of getting high... If I could go back in time, I would have quit much earlier, maybe after the few occasions I noticed it was not doing it really for me. I tried to experiment different things, but nothing really served.
I am sure that vaping is much healthier than smoking because of way less toxins but in my opinion it is much harsher on the throat than smoking in my experience, and overall maybe it could lead to some health conditions.
The science is also not there yet to tell us possible side effect of long-term vaping compared to smoking... Again, we know the carcinogen are much lower in vaping or maybe not even existing but what about the physical irritation? Over a long time it would be definitely not good for me...
I hoped I could develop a healthy relation with cannabis through vaping, but I was not be able to do so... so I must say "Good Buy Marijuana"... I loved you, I loved to get high and relaxed, but I love my health, my wife and my kid much more than I love you. Probably you not really made for me...

I have already been 1 month vape-free, tried the last time 3 days ago, 3 hits and got irritated again. That was the end of it.

Thank you forum, I learnt a lot. Maybe in a few years, if I will still be in this world and when MJ will be eventually legalised all over, we will have better tools, better assumption mechanism... then I could come back and learn again.

 

[herbivore21]

Hey Folk
This is more of a good bye post. I have been vaping for about 1.5 years. I started in October of 2014 and today I made the decision to quit vaping because I keep having throat irritation. I have tried it to all: different types of vapes, water perc, water tools, low temperatures, different strains, etc... but it doesn't help. I passed a period of serious throat irritation almost every time I vaped, and I was vaping maybe 2/3 times a week at most, vaping on average 0.4 gr and maybe twice a month 1 gr/day. Overall in this 1.5 years I must have vaped 50 grams, very little amount also in my opinion.
Still my throat got irritated. I took in the 1.5 years several breaks, sometimes even larger than 1 month. Over time my through developed irritation much easier.
I think if I continued vaping I would definitely lower drastically my quality of life. MJ is suppose to enhance it and not to lower it...
Life is the most precious thing we have. It doesn't make sense in my opinion to jeopardise your health just because of getting high... If I could go back in time, I would have quit much earlier, maybe after the few occasions I noticed it was not doing it really for me. I tried to experiment different things, but nothing really served.
I am sure that vaping is much healthier than smoking because of way less toxins but in my opinion it is much harsher on the throat than smoking in my experience, and overall maybe it could lead to some health conditions.
The science is also not there yet to tell us possible side effect of long-term vaping compared to smoking... Again, we know the carcinogen are much lower in vaping or maybe not even existing but what about the physical irritation? Over a long time it would be definitely not good for me...
I hoped I could develop a healthy relation with cannabis through vaping, but I was not be able to do so... so I must say "Good Buy Marijuana"... I loved you, I loved to get high and relaxed, but I love my health, my wife and my kid much more than I love you. Probably you not really made for me...

I have already been 1 month vape-free, tried the last time 3 days ago, 3 hits and got irritated again. That was the end of it.

Thank you forum, I learnt a lot. Maybe in a few years, if I will still be in this world and when MJ will be eventually legalised all over, we will have better tools, better assumption mechanism... then I could come back and learn again.

Damn man, I'm sorry to hear of this irritation but to be honest, I do understand what you are saying.

I find that especially convection vapes but even conduction vapes with flowers are very harsh on my throat too. For me, dabbing instead of vaping has kept me able to consume my medicine via inhalation, otherwise I probably would have sought to get more creative already and avoid inhalation. I did find I actually got more irritation in my throat from convection vapes than smoking when I vaped flowers in this fashion regularly.

Conduction had less of this problem, but these vapes just didn't taste as nice. I used to have access to very melty but not dabbable traditional hashes before I started making concentrates, and vaping these in the vapman through water definitely took some of the edge off of the harshness on the throat that vaping flowers gave because of all that slowly decomposing plant material. Still, accidentally torching the vapman too much would not cause combustion, but definitely caused noteworthy throat irritation. Dabbing with a torch and fully melting concentrates had me feeling much more comfortable again - but every now and then I'd dab too hot and I would still be able to feel the effects in my throat the next day.

Nowadays, solventless fully melting extracts on a low temp sapphire or SiC (@ 540f or 520f respectively) enail are all I will usually use (yeah I do occasionally vape flowers a very little bit with friends who have flower vapes). The hit does not feel anywhere near as harsh on the throat and so long as I remember to drink fluids regularly (dabbing really helps me remember to do this, I have conditions that make me forget/or e unable to take care of myself in these kinds of basic ways sometimes), I feel much better when I wake up in the morning. My throat is good and the only risk is that I might wake up dabbed out still lol. That is not a problem in my context

Especially dewaxed concentrates, winterized or if you can find a dispensary that does it, c6 hydrocarbon dewaxing (which I am given to understand is a much better dewaxing method - no I won't outline it here, none of you guys nor myself should have these sorts of solvents in the house) will really take the edge off of the throat harshness. Some of the more advanced technologies currently being honed in labs around the world right now to take out isolates and then recombine concentrates made up of only those compounds that are not so irritating for inhalation will no doubt provide an inhalation based last refuge for those who find conventional vaping or even dabbing too harsh on the throat.

I look forward to this day - this stuff is the next frontier in cannabis technology IMO.

I'm sure this was a tough decision for you to make man, I know it would be for me! I sure do hope that some new method of consuming cannabis is just around the corner to allow you to again partake without feeling like you're paying such a price

 

[CarolKing]

It sounds like you made a wise decision stopping vaporizing. I would assume smoking would irritate your throat too. Maybe cannabis isn't for you. Using an edible might be something you could try sometime if you feel like it.

We are all made different, you must have an extremely sensitive throat. If you have any more problems with your throat living your everyday life, you should get it checked out.

Good luck and good times.

 

[organic weed]

Thank you @herbivore21 yes it was a difficult and painful decision but after 1 month clear, things start looking better and I can see there is a future without weed... Anyway as the business progresses I am sure in a few years we will have a completely new approach to weed as you are nailing it out... I look really forward to that day coz it could mean I could enjoy again one thing that I like doing...
@CarolKing I have allergies, so that's the point. No vape, no pain, only some itching and occasional mucus if I get exposed to my allergens
Thank you for the support guys, I need that somehow although things started looking better after this first vape-free month..

 

[woolspinner]

I am sure that vaping is much healthier than smoking because of way less toxins but in my opinion it is much harsher on the throat than smoking in my experience, and overall maybe it could lead to some health conditions.
The science is also not there yet to tell us possible side effect of long-term vaping compared to smoking....

Sorry to hear about your irritation. Interesting thoughts, though. For it to be more irritating than smoking would have to imply that something in the smoke (which is hotter and filled with more crap that doesn't actually get you high) was, in fact, soothing to your throat, which is not something I have ever heard, but maybe a comparison study does need to be done. We know vaporizing can cause respiratory issues (as can smoking), but it is an interesting thought that smoke might have something in it that soothes the throat. Logically, that does not make sense to me, but if you say you did not have throat irritation from smoking...

Of course, it could be that you had other negative side effects from smoking that bothered you more, and you simply did not notice the throat irritation because it paled in comparison.

We will not know until more studies can be done, which will not be until cannabis is legal. I am beginning to think it will only be legalized when big tobacco is poised to take over all grow operations and the gov't can make it legal to smoke what you can buy pre-packaged, but illegal to grow - thus their friends benefit more than the people.

Definitely give edibles a shot, maybe tinctures. Sublingual is supposed to hit relatively quickly. I am not a big fan of edibles or the edible high, but from a purely medical standpoint, it can be a lifesaver for those who cannot inhale.

 

[herbivore21]

Sorry to hear about your irritation. Interesting thoughts, though. For it to be more irritating than smoking would have to imply that something in the smoke (which is hotter and filled with more crap that doesn't actually get you high) was, in fact, soothing to your throat, which is not something I have ever heard, but maybe a comparison study does need to be done. We know vaporizing can cause respiratory issues (as can smoking), but it is an interesting thought that smoke might have something in it that soothes the throat. Logically, that does not make sense to me, but if you say you did not have throat irritation from smoking...

Of course, it could be that you had other negative side effects from smoking that bothered you more, and you simply did not notice the throat irritation because it paled in comparison.

We will not know until more studies can be done, which will not be until cannabis is legal. I am beginning to think it will only be legalized when big tobacco is poised to take over all grow operations and the gov't can make it legal to smoke what you can buy pre-packaged, but illegal to grow - thus their friends benefit more than the people.

Definitely give edibles a shot, maybe tinctures. Sublingual is supposed to hit relatively quickly. I am not a big fan of edibles or the edible high, but from a purely medical standpoint, it can be a lifesaver for those who cannot inhale.

It is actually not unheard of for plant compounds when inhaled after smouldering combustion to cause a numbing effect on the throat, reducing the harshness experienced by the smoker.

This phenomenon is well known in clove cigarettes. A compound called eugenol is released which suppresses gag reflex and numbs the throat. This is really something as many of the popular Indonesian brands of clove cigarettes (these are a huge phenomenon in Indonesia) contain up to 80-90mg of tar - a whole hell of a lot more than even the strongest typical Western cigarettes. I have smoked 30mg tar containing clove cigarettes that felt smoother to inhale than vaping cannabis flowers without a doubt, despite the insane amounts of nasty shit coming off that high-tar clove cigarette!

I wonder if some functionally similar mechanism may be at play?

 

[EverythingsHazy]

If you don't want to quit cannabis but can't comfortably vape, why not try edibles or tinctures? It's not exactly the same, but it'll get you stoned with no irritation.

 

[organic weed]

Yes maybe eventually I'll try that. I have still a lot of high grade home made greens and I've downloaded receipts for sublingual tinctures using 95% Evergreen... Unfortunately tinctures apparently don't dissolve much terpenes so I may not experience such a big difference between strains but it could be a way out... I've baked Edibles and work well but it's kind of complicated sometimes coz last too long sometimes and tritation is tuff... Even if I'll go these ways probably I'll definitely use way less herb coz nothing compares inhalation... As @herbivore21 said before, concentrates and rspeciallynrosin-type-of-stuff could be eventually the future but I still think we are at "phase 2" vaporizers... Phase 1 was the very initial models... Phase 3 will be more convenient inhalation mechanisms coz many people do develop irritation and the reason for this is not clearly understood: hot air or some compounds in the vape that cause it? Nobody will never really know this until when MJ will be reclassified

 

[darkrom]

The one thing I like better about smoke is less dry/scratchy throat for me personally. I don't have it too bad though, water filters seem to fix the issue. Plus I can't stand the other aspects of smoking.

I'd say you can still enjoy edibles, and probably dabbing as well, but thats a call for you to make.

Has the irritation gone away COMPLETELY when you stop vaping? I'm just wondering if there is some root cause and vaping just flares it up. If its 100% gone that is a pretty clear sign it is not working for you I guess.

 

[Jaydubya710]

I'm having a small issue with irritation. I'm only on my 2nd week without combusting, so I was thinking it was just something that would lessen over time, guess that's not exactly the case. Luckily it's not too bad and is manageable with with staying hydrated in general, but I find having ice water when I vape helps to numb it a slight bit, just enough to not be a concern. Gonna try a water tool to see if that helps as well. I kinda feel like I'm just inhaling to much hot air. I came from bowls and bongs and never took very long pulls. I'm still hoping it goes away with time.

 

[lwien]

Which vaporizer/s were you using and............did ya ever try running your vapor through warm water?

 

[organic weed]

Of I do not vape in a week my throat goes back to normal... As I said I tried everything: perc, water tools, low and high temp, micro and large dosage... Plenty, Mighty, Pax, Volcano, Vrip, plus other... All of them have affected me sooner or later

 

[lwien]

Bummer.......

Sounds like giving it up is the best thing to do. Not everything is right for everybody, eh?

 

[stickstones]

I've had sore throats several times and it's no fun. Made me wonder if I was doing long term damage. But it's only occasionally for me, and then only with high heat vapes etc.

Happy trails... @organic weed ...We'll miss ya!

 

[Fat Freddy]

Hmmmmm.... maybe have your tonsils checked out, particularly during a flare up?

Or try some soothing tea and honey after you vape, perhaps?

Maybe use a singer's throat spray BEFORE vaping?

Best of luck!


.

 

[Tony Timeless]

Hi @organic weed

Let me chime in here.

I am really feeling with you, since I've been going through the same kind of issues like you have described.
I've found one thing that really helped me here like nothing else .

It's called "Emser Salz " , a product from Germany.
This is salt from a mineral source in Bad Ems , Germany .

They are offering various products from this salt - spray for the throat, nose sprays, pastilles, etc.
It's purpose is mainly in moisturing the mucous membranes. It's a natural expectorant and as I said. This salt really changed everything for me.


I have to admit, my throat / respiratory feels irritated from time to time though, mostly it's a combination of several things - dry vapor, hay fever / pollen in the air / even very hot food can cause mz throat to be irritated.

I try to vape a little less on these days and treat my throat with the spray, drink a lot of water/ tea, etc.

Maybe you want to give it a try, for me , this is the best product so far when it comes to treat throat / membranes issues .

Best of luck!


Edit: I know that MY throat is not like yours and only because this has helped me doesn't mean that it will for you as well. I am aware , but at least I think it shouldn't be left unmentioned here ;-)

 

[zor]

Thanks for that info on the Emser Salz, @Tony Timeless! I will definitely check this out.

FWIW, I've had a cough since before Thanksgiving, a combination of allergies, post nasal drip, a cold, and vaping. My throat was getting extremely irritated and vaping seemed to exacerbate it UNTIL I lowered my temp. I use an SSV and lower the heat to the point that my ABV was a light brown still medicated me the way I needed it to and induced far, far less irritation to my throat.

 

[shredder]

Hi @organic weed

Let me chime in here.

I am really feeling with you, since I've been going through the same kind of issues like you have described.
I've found one thing that really helped me here like nothing else .

It's called "Emser Salz " , a product from Germany.
This is salt from a mineral source in Bad Ems , Germany .

They are offering various products from this salt - spray for the throat, nose sprays, pastilles, etc.
It's purpose is mainly in moisturing the mucous membranes. It's a natural expectorant and as I said. This salt really changed everything for me.


I have to admit, my throat / respiratory feels irritated from time to time though, mostly it's a combination of several things - dry vapor, hay fever / pollen in the air / even very hot food can cause mz throat to be irritated.

I try to vape a little less on these days and treat my throat with the spray, drink a lot of water/ tea, etc.

Maybe you want to give it a try, for me , this is the best product so far when it comes to treat throat / membranes issues .

Best of luck!


Edit: I know that MY throat is not like yours and only because this has helped me doesn't mean that it will for you as well. I am aware , but at least I think it shouldn't be left unmentioned here ;-)

Thanks for this post!

I found this salt on German Amazon and ordered some. I'm currently on a 3+ week vape break due to lung issues. Shipping will take a while but I'll try it in nasal spray and I might try some in my water tools.

Most of the reviews seem positive. I have hay fever and allergy issues and use nasal spray anyway so it's worth a try.

 

[Vapenvy]

I also tend to find vaping irritates or dries me out and like @herbivore21 noted, convection vapes seem to moreso. I assume it is the longer draws generally required for convection.

I seem to get very dry around the eyes, funnily enough, as well as a dry throat and lungs sometimes, but am not sure if it is dryness or iritation or both. I have an allergy to couch grass (people who know me well would be highly amused to find out i am allergic to grass...), so it may be that it is simply the same terpenes or pollens or whatever in both.

I think i also get similar feeling when i smoke, but less so, and hard to tell as i hardly ever combust anymore.

The point of this? I have found putting a cotton filter in all my vapes seems to have lessened this, so possibly the particulates were the culprit?

@organic weed ,I know none of this will help in your situation and sorry to hear of your difficult situation and decision, but this is a very interesting topic you have unfortunately stumbled upon, and seems to make a lot of us ponder.

I hope i don't face a similar situation down the track.

Edited for clarity

 

[sickmanfraud]

I would like to add my 2 cents.

I found a whip (Extreme Q) vape to lessen my throat irritation compared to my Solo.

What I did with the Q was to suck the vapor into my cheek, not directly down my throat.

I broke the elbow part of the whip, or I would be only using the Q.

Also, the Q allowed me to medicate in one or two draws what takes 10 or more minutes in the Solo.

The combination of less draws, the cooling of the whip and the sucking into my cheek made my throat feel ok.

 

[biohacker]

Which vaporizer/s were you using and............did ya ever try running your vapor through warm water?

Of I do not vape in a week my throat goes back to normal... As I said I tried everything: perc, water tools, low and high temp, micro and large dosage

Have you really tried hot/warm water? Your statement refers to low and high temp (vapour) but did you actually try warm water in your water tool? I echo @lwien, this can make or break an experience if you are sensitive.

I also think that pure convection is NOT the way to go....too much heat and air. But from our PM it sounds like the Vrip was the best for you, so I guess that's out the window. Everyone is different, I just can't handle the hot air from convection and much prefer a hybrid tech.

 

[TboneToker]

Hey Folk
This is more of a good bye post. I have been vaping for about 1.5 years. I started in October of 2014 and today I made the decision to quit vaping because I keep having throat irritation. I have tried it to all: different types of vapes, water perc, water tools, low temperatures, different strains, etc... but it doesn't help. I passed a period of serious throat irritation almost every time I vaped, and I was vaping maybe 2/3 times a week at most, vaping on average 0.4 gr and maybe twice a month 1 gr/day. Overall in this 1.5 years I must have vaped 50 grams, very little amount also in my opinion.
Still my throat got irritated. I took in the 1.5 years several breaks, sometimes even larger than 1 month. Over time my through developed irritation much easier.
I think if I continued vaping I would definitely lower drastically my quality of life. MJ is suppose to enhance it and not to lower it...
Life is the most precious thing we have. It doesn't make sense in my opinion to jeopardise your health just because of getting high... If I could go back in time, I would have quit much earlier, maybe after the few occasions I noticed it was not doing it really for me. I tried to experiment different things, but nothing really served.
I am sure that vaping is much healthier than smoking because of way less toxins but in my opinion it is much harsher on the throat than smoking in my experience, and overall maybe it could lead to some health conditions.
The science is also not there yet to tell us possible side effect of long-term vaping compared to smoking... Again, we know the carcinogen are much lower in vaping or maybe not even existing but what about the physical irritation? Over a long time it would be definitely not good for me...
I hoped I could develop a healthy relation with cannabis through vaping, but I was not be able to do so... so I must say "Good Buy Marijuana"... I loved you, I loved to get high and relaxed, but I love my health, my wife and my kid much more than I love you. Probably you not really made for me...

I have already been 1 month vape-free, tried the last time 3 days ago, 3 hits and got irritated again. That was the end of it.

Thank you forum, I learnt a lot. Maybe in a few years, if I will still be in this world and when MJ will be eventually legalised all over, we will have better tools, better assumption mechanism... then I could come back and learn again.

I wish you could try my aromed.

The aromed is the only vape I can use nonstop where I never will get this throat issue.

Even my arizer extreme q through water gives me the throat tickle.

I don't know why the aromed isnt irritating like the other vapes but I think it might be because it doesn't use a fan to blow air towards you. It only uses your lung power. I have a feeling that air being pushed into your body will almost always cause irritation over time.

The aromed was my last ditch effort on vaporizers to try because i had heard it's remarkably smooth, and when 8 read that it didn't have a fan at all my interest peaked. When I finally got it in 2014 I was not totally impressed but I still loved it, after a month or so I had mastered the aromed and now I love it, but the thing that I love most is that it doesn't give me the throat tickle ever!

I don't want you to spend 420$ on another vaporizer because it may not work for you, but I hope you'll have a chance to try the Aromed 4.0 sometime, because I think it could be just what you need OP!

 

[Monsoon]

I've baked Edibles and work well but it's kind of complicated sometimes coz last too long sometimes and tritation is tuff..

To aid with tritration I suggest either making capsules or putting the oil in a dropper bottle for measured dosing. It allows you to go a lot lower on the dose to the point that it might feel like a mild buzz.

Also if you medicate for skin issues or pain I suggest looking into topical lotions. Those won't even get you high, they'll just lessen or take the pain away.

 

[HomeFree]

I prefer the effect from edibles overall but they are not instant. You can always make a mild solution of a tincture or butter for use in edibles. And you could continue to scale up in size once you get an idea for potency with a load of trim so it is basically the same all the time, and make a large batch. Don't go huge off the bat though.

I used to do 12 (bare minimum) or usually 16-24 sticks of butter at once, would last me a while and I wouldn't all of a sudden have a batch way more potent than the last since it should all be the same. I could also wash the butter in water several times as well to remove the bad tastes and the particulates as well and overall takes less time than numerous small amounts. Then I would mix real well while melted and pour into tupperwares in half stick amounts and freeze for later use.

I usually do around 3/8-1/2 oz of trim per stick of butter so I can just eat one or two cookies. But 1/4 oz of trim per stick could be enough based on tolerance. I would use half that for tincture if your tolerance is super low. With flower it would be a lot less (I would start with 1/3 the amount used for trim), but I wouldn't waste flower on it. Around double that with fan leaf.

use a large pan so you can toss a bunch of water in there with the butter. Make sure there is enough thickness in butter so you don't lose too much when you pull it out from it breaking up into tiny pieces, and feeling slushy. I accept that I lose a %, and the smaller the batch the more I lose.

Would be cleaner with less loss to just toss in concentrate with butter and be done with it. Maybe more accurate as well. I have done it with hash before, and it is convenient if you get some cheap hash.

 

[C No Ego]

Yes maybe eventually I'll try that. I have still a lot of high grade home made greens and I've downloaded receipts for sublingual tinctures using 95% Evergreen... Unfortunately tinctures apparently don't dissolve much terpenes so I may not experience such a big difference between strains but it could be a way out... I've baked Edibles and work well but it's kind of complicated sometimes coz last too long sometimes and tritation is tuff... Even if I'll go these ways probably I'll definitely use way less herb coz nothing compares inhalation... As @herbivore21 said before, concentrates and rspeciallynrosin-type-of-stuff could be eventually the future but I still think we are at "phase 2" vaporizers... Phase 1 was the very initial models... Phase 3 will be more convenient inhalation mechanisms coz many people do develop irritation and the reason for this is not clearly understood: hot air or some compounds in the vape that cause it? Nobody will never really know this until when MJ will be reclassified

check out leafscience web site and article on making an asthma inhaler using cannabis molecules. they found out that the size of the cannabis molecule irritates the throats of users( even the decarboxylyzed form of the molecule). it is a known problem....