thc content of vapor?

Kofa

Well-Known Member
I've always thought of vaporizing as the act of extracting and inhaling the hash oil out of buds in one simple step.

Have any 'studies' been done on the thc content of vapor. I've been reading a lot lately of the high thc contents of oils, waxes, budders-like 60-80% thc...now I'm just wondering what the percentage would be of the vapor of average buds-say 15% thc content. Leaving all the plant matter behind, certainly the percentage would be much higher than 15% in the vapor.

Would it be as high as the content of unsmoked/vaporized oils?
 
Kofa,

High Sigh

SG addict
Even if you could measure the THC content of vapor, the content would most likely change with every rip (temp rising, THC boiling before CBN and CBD, strain, etc.)
I'd say it would be the same as the oil of that strain IF you somehow only heat what is extracted by butane, nothing less, nothing more, oh and take the whole bowl in one hit somehow
 
High Sigh,

weedemon

enthusiast
it wouldn't be 15% like the percentage of the bud. we are vaporizing the goodies off the plant matter so we are essentially doing the same thing. the difference between a dab and vaping though is the dab is a larger dose than what you get from a pull on a vape using buds.
 
weedemon,

HighlyEducatedScholar

Student of Vapor
Vapor content is relative to the MJ being used. theoretically, under standard conditions, the amount of THC in vapor should be about the same due to vaporization temperature of the compound. What should differ is the amount/volume of hits because of the potency, in this situation the amount of THC found in a specific strain. Why you may find different effects from various strains would due toto the the varying levels of several psychoactive cannabinoinds.

The difference in oils and such is that they're concentrates. Think of this like a mixed drink vs straight vodka. A cup of a mixed drink might get you buzzed while a cup of straight vodka can lead to you puking all night.
 
HighlyEducatedScholar,

High Sigh

SG addict
I think he understands that. He was looking for more of a number I think. Itll be in the ballpark of 80%.
As the bowl goes that will drop (when unwanted plant materials start to vaporize)
 
High Sigh,

djonkoman

Well-Known Member
HighlyEducatedScholar said:
Vapor content is relative to the MJ being used. theoretically, under standard conditions, the amount of THC in vapor should be about the same due to vaporization temperature of the compound. What should differ is the amount/volume of hits because of the potency, in this situation the amount of THC found in a specific strain. Why you may find different effects from various strains would due toto the the varying levels of several psychoactive cannabinoinds.

The difference in oils and such is that they're concentrates. Think of this like a mixed drink vs straight vodka. A cup of a mixed drink might get you buzzed while a cup of straight vodka can lead to you puking all night.

I think smoking would more be like a mixdrink or a beer, oil more like taking a shot and vaporizing like slowly sipping liquor
you get less vapor per hit, but it's not diluted with anything except air, smoking a lot more, and looks thicker/more, but with a lot of other stuff
 
djonkoman,

VaporNation

Vaporizer Superstore
Retailer
I must that that no matter what the content may be, it is much nicer to be cleaning a golden color resin off the glass than the black junk that always builds up in my bong... but now as far as what is in there, you've got me vape-curious.
 
VaporNation,

Qbit

cannabanana
djonkoman said:
I think smoking would more be like a mixdrink or a beer

Actually I think it would be more like drinking a shot of vodka mixed into a glass of bongwater. :/
 
Qbit,

OO

Technical Skeptical
percent of what?
what exactly are you talking about?
 
OO,

PurpleDazed

Well-Known Member
Ok whats in Vapor is all the goodness of the herb your using without the carcinogins produced by combustion. As to vaping strains with higher thc content what I have noticed is I get many more hits.

I use a log vape with stems or roasting tubes in which a tiny amount goes in the tip like a dougout bat tip, and when I use regs i get 4-6 hits b4 its bleh. when i use hydro(as they call medicinal grade where I am at) I get 10 -15 hits off a stem.

Due to the higher thc content it seems to take longer to extract. I have heard it compared to boiling water.
When you boil a cup of water it takes 10 minutes b4 its all gone. if you boil a pint of water it would take 20 minutes. well regs are a cup and hydro is a pint. and I see it as this, why doesnt all the water go poof up in vapor once it reaches 212F? well that same theory could apply to herb. once you reach the target temps its starts to boil the thc and the higher the thc content the longer or more hits you get till bleh.

Make sense? or is it all in my head? :ninja:
 
PurpleDazed,

chernn

Member
According to this study it's around 54% (not sure at what temperature as I don't have access to the full paper). Similar results were reported in another study, which I do have access to. They conclude that the best vaporizing temperature is 446f, as decided by the efficiency of the cannabinoid extraction and the ratio of cannabinoids to other byproducts in the smoke. Here are a few relevant excerpts: 1, 2.
 
chernn,

MarcellusWiley

Dab Trotter
chernn said:
According to this study it's around 54% (not sure at what temperature as I don't have access to the full paper). Similar results were reported in another study, which I do have access to. They conclude that the best vaporizing temperature is 446f, as decided by the efficiency of the cannabinoid extraction and the ratio of cannabinoids to other byproducts in the smoke. Here are a few relevant excerpts: 1, 2.


Interesting to hear! I use my EQ at around 420-430 vapor-bonging for most optimal hits so far. Obviously the temperature gauge isn't perfect but I've had a lot more success at this temp than what many people have said they use (a lot of people say 360-400f).
 
MarcellusWiley,

WatTyler

Revolting Peasant
wow, that's looks like an interesting study.

The cannabinoids:by-products ratio in the vapor obtained at 200C and 230C was significantly higher than in the cigarette smoke. The worst ratio of cannabinoids:by-products was obtained from the vaporized cannabis sample at 170C

Kind of goes against the folk wisdom where many people advocate low temp, thin, bluish vapor as 'healthier'.

It's a shame the paper isn't available to the public- I'd love to read more than the abstract. Unfortunately I live hundreds of miles from any suitable library. In fact I'd like to do a review of all the academic/medical literature relating to vapor- there are a few contradictions around- but the availability of the research doesn't help.

There's also some study/research/data that found that the 4th bag fill on a volcano actually had the highest amount of THC in the vapour. I've not actually found the piece of research yet, so don't know what temp, grind or load size that relates to, but it's mentioned in this thread and comes from a credible source.
 
WatTyler,

ktx49

New Member
as someone who just recently bought their first vaporizer and smokes many different qualities of herb all the way from mexi-brick to top notch KBs....

i can say 100% that the more potent the herb is, the more HITS i will get from approx the same amount....i know this since I use the little spoon that came with my NO2 to fill each chamber....also i grind up a few grams at a time and leave it in the middle chamber of my grinder so all of the herb has similar water content by the time i'm vaping.

so i'm not sure if that helps with your question....i havent vaped oils or concentrates yet and i'm not sure the NO2 can do that anyways.


also i'm not sure who said it, but a poster above was talking about the difference between the "resin" that builds up on a normal combustion glass pipe/bong and pieces used for vaporizing....
of course the black nasty combustion resin is mostly bad stuff....however the golden-amber resin building up in our vape whips and stems is another story!!

judging from the consistency, the way it behaves when heated, the smell and taste....it has to be near pure THC/cannabanoids....i'm not saying there isnt other terpenes, etc stuff in there but judging from those characteristics + how amazingly POTENT the stuff is when smoked.....its near pure IMO, up there with the best hash, concentrates and oils.

if you havent tried it already, do NOT throw out the amber colored resin....although its very difficult to handle, even a little bit of this stuff is effective i recommend adding it to some dried and ground bud/herbs and leave it out for a bit so that it kinda absorbs and dries into the plant matter....then smoke or vaporizer as normal and prepare for your face to melt!
 
ktx49,

Smokey

Cloud Master
I confirm that the number of hits increases with the increase of the bud's quality.

As for the resin buildups from vaping, there are plenty of infos here on FC that explain how to collect it and use it the best ways :D
 
Smokey,

ktx49

New Member
Smokey said:
As for the resin buildups from vaping, there are plenty of infos here on FC that explain how to collect it and use it the best ways :D


can you point me to these?? ive search a bit and looked in the cooking forum, im not sure where to find these type of threads, but ya like i said i just recently discovered the amber goodness so if you or anyone else can help me figure out the best possible ways to harvest and use this stuff i'd appreciate it...thanks
 
ktx49,

Polmol

Member
MarcellusWiley said:
Interesting to hear! I use my EQ at around 420-430 vapor-bonging for most optimal hits so far. Obviously the temperature gauge isn't perfect but I've had a lot more success at this temp than what many people have said they use (a lot of people say 360-400f).

When i vaporize with the whip I use it at 428 and it's fabulous, but somehow the herb almost gets burned if I use the bag at that temp. For the bag I use 392 tops.
 
Polmol,

luchiano

Well-Known Member
Thanks for that post panasonic. It just proves my point that blowing clouds is not the best for getting the most thc into your body. The paper showed only 6-8mg being absorbed out of 20mg, which is small. The reason is how we view inhaling vapor, and extracting it. We still use cannabis the same way we did when we smoked, but this shouldn't be done for maximum effect, especially for medical patients. The best way is to load a small bowl, let the heat extract the cannabinoids properly(this is best done with a slow, consistent inhale with most vaporizers), inhale the vapor first, then inhale fresh air for at least 20 seconds(You want more fresh air in your lungs then vapor) that will thin out the vapor as much as possible to allow the alveoli to absorb as much vapor as it can, while also making use of it in the body, due to high oxygen activating the parasympathetic nervous system which process nutrients you take in, builds up the body, and heal it. High oxygen intake allows this to happen. You may not blow a thick cloud, but you will get a potent effect off of a small bowl. People forget that vaporizing is so concentrated, you need less herb then you would need if you smoked to get a stronger effect.

I wonder how they loaded the bowl of the volcano as this can effect temperature accuracy big time. Herb not ground up well , and tightly packed, will lower the heat inside the bowl, needing time to get the temperature up to the set temperature. If they used liquids or oils this will effect it even bigger because the bigger the oil, the more heat is needed as it congeals when heated up. I also wonder how many times d you use certain bags.id they fill the bag, as multiple fillings are needed to extract all of the thc if

I also liked how it showed thca still being in the vapor. This goes against what many people are saying as far as heat is all that is needed to convert thca to thc. The best way to do this conversion is to start low then go high, this gives the conversion time to to take place. By the time you get to the high temperatures to extract thc, you will be boiling off all of the thc, and not just some of it, with the rest being thca. If you use flower the taste will be gone when you get to the high temperature, and may taste bad, but all you have to do to combat this is to put in just a little amount of fresh herb to cover up the bad taste. If you use a clean concentrate this doesn't need to be done as the concentrate doesn't have any plant fibers that will give a bad taste, and thc is tasteless, so going higher up will not give a bad taste.


Anyway, this is much needed info for the vaporizing community. We can make smoker tools look like childs play once we use vaporizers at their fullest potential, but we will have to be willing to change the way we do things.
 
luchiano,
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hoptimum

Well-Known Member
Thank you both for the informative posts. They both confirm what i have found with experience. Vape slowly and pull lightly from low to high (i start at 363f on my volcano and finish at 395f) and dont worry about too much visible clouds. For me, the effects speak for themselves. During the study, they say, "The balloon, connected to the filling chamber, was then immediately placed onto the Volcano and the ventilation was started."
I prefer to let the air run for about 10 seconds before attaching the bag.
 
hoptimum,
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Hippie Dickie

The Herbal Cube
Manufacturer
my favorite part ...

The target temperature of the Volcano was found to be not completely accurate and stable. Possibly this is a contributing factor to the relative variability in the delivery of THC, which was about 15% at setting 9. However, this is reasonable when compared to the variability that has been previously found in smoking studies of cannabis plant material. Accuracy of temperature control therefore does not seem to be of crucial importance under these conditions, although a more accurate temperature control might result in an even lower variability in THC delivery.

i have discovered that temperature control and stability is, really, pretty trivial.
 
Hippie Dickie,
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