Vape Carts Health Crisis Megathread

[nicknock]

Silver solder has been (and possibly still is) used in some dry herb vapes too.

Does it mean vapes that basically have an airflow area that draws air into the internals/circuitry could have future impacts even if "Silver solder" was used - or even wasn't used, as I have an open Arizer Solo V1 here and obviously there's circuitry soldering on the board, but for the pos/neg cables, there also seems to be a kind of glue of some sort, which has darkened over time - along with that brown dried herb is spilled on the internals so obviously the top isn't segregated from below on this model in a way. (At the same time it's possible dried/used flower was spilled in through the top cover when it was loaded/unloaded)

and as I said in my 1st post, the original Arizer Solo I had, after approx 5 years it died, pulled it apart and found melted plastic underneath the heating element, so obviously if the 2 were not segregated I would of tasted plastic right? never did.

That being said, I have a pax2 and don't even see the need to pull it apart and check due to the fact that the chamber is pretty much a 1 way to the top, so the only concern would be what this is made of (SS?) and overtime could that impact health.

Probably questions nobody has answers to in the first place. I think someone mentioned above about this is maybe a factor on why some of his friends would rather a straight glass bong to smoke it over vaping. It's a literal case of "yeah the THC vapor from the plant isn't harmful, it's more the bloody device you hit 10 times a day over a period of 10 years and on thinking all is well."

Really shocking and I damn well feel for the people involved in US with the cart issues, along with that I just have on and off anxiety last few weeks and I don't even use e-pens or carts! Most of it was BS media caused but nobody knew at the time, people just report rubbish as they need to be paid.

 

[Alex3oe]

Does it mean vapes that basically have an airflow area that draws air into the internals/circuitry could have future impacts even if "Silver solder" was used - or even wasn't used, as I have an open Arizer Solo V1 here and obviously there's circuitry soldering on the board, but for the pos/neg cables, there also seems to be a kind of glue of some sort, which has darkened over time - along with that brown dried herb is spilled on the internals so obviously the top isn't segregated from below on this model in a way. (At the same time it's possible dried/used flower was spilled in through the top cover when it was loaded/unloaded)

and as I said in my 1st post, the original Arizer Solo I had, after approx 5 years it died, pulled it apart and found melted plastic underneath the heating element, so obviously if the 2 were not segregated I would of tasted plastic right? never did.

Damn, this was my only vape for years, literally sucked days if not weeks on it

Sadly it's wrecked by LE meanwhile, would be very interested in opening up and having a look.

 

[KeroZen]

One need to distinguish between lead-free solder with silver content, and silver solder that is technically silver brazing from what I understand. And there are also vapes with silver-plated wires. I own one device for each three possible cases, respectively the iHeat 510, the Nomad and the Milaana, every time with the silver directly exposed to the air path.

So that would be nice to know if there is any concern or not.

 

[Tranquility]

Looks like we won't have the Chinese to kick around any more. At least the vape/tariff issue is resolved...at least a bit.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...les-e-cigarette-components-United-States.html

Alibaba has said it will stop selling e-cigarette components in the US following a slew of vaping-related lung illnesses and deaths.

The Chinese e-commerce firm announced on Wednesday that listings for products such as box mods, vape pens, herbal vapors and empty pod cartridges would not be displayed for American users.

Alibaba added that it already had a long-standing policy in place to not sell complete e-cigarette products in the US.

The move follows announcements by companies such as Kroger Co and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc this week that they would stop selling e-cigarettes at their stores....​

 

[invertedisdead]

Alibaba has said it will stop selling e-cigarette components in the US following a slew of vaping-related lung illnesses and deaths.

Now that's interesting.

 

[notoriousLrg]

Yet another study that talks about Mustard Gas.... https://www.wweek.com/news/state/20...-a-specific-chemical-used-in-cheap-vape-pens/

I stopped using ccells awhile ago b/c the ceramic was too soft and brittle. I could lightly scratch it with an awl and watch the dust fly. I wonder now about the wiring on 510 devices like a ccell - specifically the wiring to the pin. I've seen this wiring be of two different colors once it leaves the ceramic core as it makes its way to the pin. I guess this is to keep it from arcing but hope its not silver solder.

 

[nicknock]

Most of the people involved in this US thing would of been on carts/pens though, as some were teens like 17yo, not like they were using only dry-herbs (if at all) but it still does concern me GREATLY and also has been a thought more the past few years just thought "eh, doubt anyone could elaborate on it" as it would take a death/disease related to / linked to a person that only uses dry-herb vapes. Kinda pissed off and annoyed now. Don't even know anymore an off and on situation...

 

[C No Ego]

Most of the people involved in this US thing would of been on carts/pens though, as some were teens like 17yo, not like they were using only dry-herbs (if at all) but it still does concern me GREATLY and also has been a thought more the past few years just thought "eh, doubt anyone could elaborate on it" as it would take a death/disease related to / linked to a person that only uses dry-herb vapes. Kinda pissed off and annoyed now. Don't even know anymore an off and on situation...

dry herb vapes are safe... do not try and vape e-juice with synthetic vitamin E in a dry herb vape

 

[Tranquility]

I stopped using ccells awhile ago b/c the ceramic was too soft and brittle. I could lightly scratch it with an awl and watch the dust fly. I wonder now about the wiring on 510 devices like a ccell - specifically the wiring to the pin. I've seen this wiring be of two different colors once it leaves the ceramic core as it makes its way to the pin. I guess this is to keep it from arcing but hope its not silver solder.

I wrote a CA based manufacturer of cartridges, Raw Garden (www.RawGarden.farm), and asked "Do the cartridges you fill use silver in the soldering?" and then linked to the article regarding silver solder in this thread. Their answer was not from a spokeshole as he used clear English:

"No, they don't."

Of course, that's a legal manufacturer in CA. But, they use CCell tech for the cart.

 

[mephisto]

Having used silver bearing solder, and silver solder for my trade, I am interested to hear the potential
risks. What other type of solder would be used in this situation? I personally would trust the higher melt
point of silver solder, (not so much silver-bearing solder) from a health standpoint, when compared to the garbage given off by lead based solder.

There may be no solder at all, but it would be nice to know what the " industry standard " claims to be.
Sorry to derail into materials, happy to continue in DMs.

 

[Planck]

I wrote a CA based manufacturer of cartridges, Raw Garden (www.RawGarden.farm), and asked "Do the cartridges you fill use silver in the soldering?" and then linked to the article regarding silver solder in this thread. Their answer was not from a spokeshole as he used clear English:

"No, they don't."

Of course, that's a legal manufacturer in CA. But, they use CCell tech for the cart.

Interesting but I think the question is "Does your device contain solder alloyed with cadmium?"

Without diving down the rabbit hole I doubt metallic silver would pose a health risk. AIR silver is a very inert heavy metal bested only by gold. Silver compounds like silver nitrate, may be more of a concern but I am unaware of any that merit special concern though we know a high enough dose of anything can kill one dead. I would love to hear some unbiased expert expound further.

I admire your initiative @OldNewbie !

 

[notoriousLrg]

relative to the possibility of the solder being at issue here, do you guys think the possibility is related to the fused metal & solder coming in contact with the eliquid/oil being vaped, or let alone present in the power delivery to the atomizer?

my recollection of how the ccell operates is that one of the leads is wrapped inside the cotton sleeve as it runs to the pin, so the wiring does come in contact with oil.

 

[invertedisdead]

do you guys think the possibility is related to the fused metal & solder coming in contact with the eliquid/oil being vaped

Thats what was happening a few months back with the knock off Ccells that were leaching lead and failing Cat 3 testing.

 

[hafalump]

I know nothing of these pen things but a friend uses a device with a cheapo vape battery and a small dome under where there is a heat coil. He only uses pressed rosin ,thinking it is super clean. Is he still getting poison from this cheap pen thing? It is not a cart or liquid, just one dab ot a time......

 

[invertedisdead]

I know nothing of these pen things but a friend uses a device with a cheapo vape battery and a small dome under where there is a heat coil. He only uses pressed rosin ,thinking it is super clean. Is he still getting poison from this cheap pen thing? It is not a cart or liquid, just one dab ot a time......

He's probably fine, the coil material is probably nichrome though, those dome pens are pretty outdated.

 

[hafalump]

He may give me some, I ll run it through my e nano in a bud sandwich.

 

[Planck]

Thats what was happening a few months back with the knock off Ccells that were leaching lead and failing Cat 3 testing.

This isn’t to say that the Chinese factories are willingly putting people at risk of lead contamination; Chinese metal foundries follow some of the toughest lead laws in the world, which cap the levels of lead allowed in electronics to 4%, or 40,000 parts per million. However, this standard does not gel with the new controls put in place in California, where detectable lead levels must be under 0.5 parts per million.

And this is where an important distinction must be made — just because the metal used in vape carts contains 40,000 parts per million of lead, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the cannabis oil inside the cart will be contaminated.

Josh Wurzer, the president and co-founder of SC Labs, says that approximately 0.5% of the vape carts being tested at his lab have failed lead contamination tests. He believes that the failed heavy metal tests are likely the result of the acidic cannabis oil leeching lead out of the metal components, but equally, different testing methods being used in different laboratories might be contaminating previously uncontaminated cannabis oil during testing.

“Maybe some oil is picking up some of the lead and failing there,” explains Wurzer to Leafly. “We have tested actual empty cartridges and confirmed a number of ‘over the limit’ hits for lead.”

He continues, “The lab has to be very careful to make sure they’re not actually contaminating the concentrate with lead.”

 

[CANtalk]

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/how-mainstream-media-botched-the-vape-lung-story

 

[hafalump]

Here is another good article https://news.google.com/articles/CA...CAowzdp7ML-3CTDMyxU?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

 

[hafalump]

Mods, please combine if u see fit, double post and all.....
F you NYT! (except part about being illegal to research)
No clarity, apparently vape pens are the same as a volcano! Another category is needed for herb vapes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/health/marijuana-and-vaping-shadowy-past-dangerous-present.html

 

[mitchgo61]

Mods, please combine if u see fit, double post and all.....
F you NYT! (except part about being illegal to research)
No clarity, apparently vape pens are the same as a volcano! Another category is needed for herb vapes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/health/marijuana-and-vaping-shadowy-past-dangerous-present.html

I just read this. Another typically misleading article on the subject....NYT are experts at misleading on a wide variety of topics. Also as usual, if you read the piece, it’s not nearly as specious as the absurd headline.

Meanwhile the last line says it all:

He summed up what little is known about vaping THC oil: “All we know is that there weren’t many problems until recently.”

Exactly. Something changed. Fucking figure it out already and stop tarring all cannibis vaping with the same brush.

 

[hafalump]

there weren’t problems until recently, but the head line is “shadowy past”
NYT is getting as bad as faux news...... or the enquirer

 

[TommyDee]

Did I just read something that may be significant about synthetic THC oils in relation to this issue?

 

[darbarikanada]

Did I just read something that may be significant about synthetic THC oils in relation to this issue?

from what I've read, grey/black market producers were mixing in non-THC oil (i.e. not synthetic THC oil so much as oil that resembles THC oil as far as color and viscosity) in their carts to make more money (THC oil is expensive). one suspect oil is 'vitamin E acetate'.

 

[TommyDee]

No, this is new to me...
https://nypost.com/2019/09/17/russi...ucts-spiked-with-illegal-synthetic-marijuana/

The story on Yolo and laced CBD carts goes back to last year.

This is the one that caught my eye today;
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...e85d1e-f3c0-11e9-b2d2-1f37c9d82dbb_story.html

The takeaway from this article basically states the fact that synthetic THC cannot and should not be vaped. Or did I miss something?