Vaporizer negative respiratory effects

[trainerjohn]

Has anyone else noticed any negative respiratory effects associated with daily vaporizer use?

I am well aware that vaporization is much much healthier than smoking. However, I still cough a lot while vaping and I usually experience significant chest tightness afterward. Other symptoms include coughing, sneezing, general chest congestion, and slight wheezing.

I have a Vaporbros box vape which I run through a large water bong. It has a clock-style temperature dial. I never turn the temperature up more than half-way (12 o clock). Usually I have the temperature set at 25% (9 o-clock). I clean both the vape and the bong regularly and I only use quality herb.

Do you think there are still some lung irritants in the vapor? Or is the dry air just irritating my lungs? Or could I be having an allergic response to the inhaled herb?

When I stop vaping for a few weeks and switch to edibles only, I feel great. The only problem is that edibles are expensive and somewhat inconvenient. But whenever I pull out the vape, my lungs seem to get all fucked up again.

Please discuss

 

[Rick]

Sounds simple enough.
Stop Vaping.
Everybody is different.

 

[sessnet]

There's a few threads like this already.

I was in the same boat as you. I was a heavy combuster, and wondered why vaporizing was becoming torture to me and my lungs. I would choke heavily, and my girlfriend would wonder if I needed medical attention :/ My lungs would hurt, as well. This was mostly from the MFLB, then I switched to the Solo.

I tried a bunch of different water pipes, filters, coolers, air path extensions, but not as far as charcoal filtering.

After trying nearly everything - I found the right water diffusion nearly removed the problem of choking. It seemed my Mobius Matrix works as a thrid lung for me. Now I barely have any problems and don't choke much at all anymore.

I hope you can figure out your problem! I would search on here, and read some more threads, there is more stories about this, other than just mine.

 

[likevaping]

i also got pains in my chest only from my extreme q vaporizer when i use with bags...
with iolite no pains....and that is very strange
Something wrong with bag or what? Maybe acid reflux from that huge bag?
Anybody here got chest pains from vaping? Sorry for my bad english.

 

[AGBeer]

I dont necessarily get chest pain, but it still does irritate my throat to hell.

Keep a drink nearby

 

[Suneku]

I have a vaporbrothers as well. I suggest you get a water attachment it greatly improved my experience. Without it too much plant matter makes it through the screen. It wasn't so much the vapor that was irritating it was the plant particles.

Also check out this post from the vaporbrothers thread
http://www.fuckcombustion.com/threads/vaporbrothers-vaporizer.411/page-12#post-206466

If you have a newer vaporbrothers they run a little hotter. An adjustment screw on the bottom lets you reduce the minimum temperature. I was finding with my that even with the dial at 25% I could scorch the herb too easily.

 

[weedemon]

yep, if you experience irritation from vapor water filtration helps greatly!

 

[vape4life]

Temp dependent for me....too high temp and i'll cough like crazy. I think i've been in denial for years about vapour affecting my lungs... i don't think it does too much, however now that i'm on a 5 day break so far I can DEFINITELY notice a difference in my lungs. I don't know how to describe it, just that I can like "breathe more effortlessly"... and once the sleep starts working again I feel like a new person. Then again that's coming from alot of abuse, like 3g's/day kinda thing.

I also am allergic to grass, and for some reason some strains make me sneeze like crazy and water/itch my eyes. I have to be very diligent with hand washing, etc.

Try the cooler temps or water/ice or a different vape, or take smaller hits.

 

[Nycdeisel]

I got this same shit right around the time that my Vapor Bros crapped out for good, I realized its the contaminated air path that causes this, it just does not have what is considered a clean airpath so if you like the whips look into the DBV or SSV, the fresh air is pulled in through a hole in a glass heater cover, and doesnt go through electronics and who-knows-whats like with the VB.

The LSV is a nice choice too and doesnt have any plastic tubing

The cleanest hit I have gotten to date though though, has been from my RockZap.


Oh yea, and I always put it through a GonG water pipe

 

[Barrelroll]

I don't know guys, I personally enjoy coughing and all that junk that's accumulated in my lungs...much more satisfying. and it opens up your lungs

 

[Nycdeisel]

I don't know guys, I personally enjoy coughing and all that junk that's accumulated in my lungs...much more satisfying. and it opens up your lungs

thats all good and well, but you still want to be sure the unit you use has a clean airpath that is not contaminated by things like dust, particles, electrical wire, etc because that can surely be irritating. I actually experienced something similar with this unit. it pretty much just disappeared when I upgraded from the VB to a DBV.

 

[vorrange]

Barrelroll, i don't think you read the OP with enough atention.. He complains about several symptoms, one of them is cough. And i don't think he is enjoying it..

If you want to open your lungs, it is better to run or do some kind of aerobic exercise. Coughing is a mechanism the body uses to expel unwanted junk. The point here being junk as in something not so healthy.

 

[Ganjafly]

I think whith high temperatures vaporizers can create a toast effect that produces some half-combusted irritating products.this substances also can be founded in smoke but in different composition because the combustion itself reburn this substances into CO and carginogens.
I think that vaporizing is healtest than smoking but to temperature up tu 190 is very unhealty almost like smoking.

 

[vape4life]

I've been starting to think about this vapour/smoke hybrid as well at higher temps. Not sure though if i'd say that after 190 it's "very unhealthy almost like smoking" though. I still think smoking is BY FAR worse for you...all that carbon and tar can't compare to a higher temp vapour.

 

[vorrange]

From 200C it starts to form some residue of tars, and you clearly see a less blue vapor, and more whitish so, it is safe to assume the vapor is not so pure.

Although i am confident that, if you don't vape too much, the body won't have a trouble with that. If you do, perhaps it gets easier to get a slight sore throat..

Never had cough fits or other problems in quite a while, only when i was starting the vaporizer only experience did i feel more unconfortable sensations in my mouth, throat and lungs which i gathered is common in recent converts from combustion, especially when it involves mainly joint smoking.

For the more sensitive, water filtration seems to solve the majority of the problems.

 

[vape4life]

I always assumed the whiter vapour meant more plant matter was being vaporized, and the blue vapour was more the trichomes/kif, but i'm sure i'm wrong lol I vape too much (or at least used to lol) and never had problems with sore throat or anything...typically would use the EQ between 200-200C or the Solo at temp 4-5. Any higher and the coughing fits would start which i'm certain water/ice would take care of. You're right, if you don't vape too much it's not an issue, but if you do i'm even starting to think it affects your SPo2 (blood oxygen concentration) which i've been monitoring for quite some time. For me it's around 95-96% being a vape head... would really like to know if it would shoot up to 98-100% if I was vapour free for many months. Ofcourse anything over 90ish is "normal" and there probably is a genetic component. But I have heard that chronic low o2 levels could potentially lead to cancer (no proof/studies etc).

 

[SalamiCity]

It's possible, basically anything you inhale that isn't air will cause irritation and your body will think of it as an attack and try to defend against it. I noticed this more with oil that bud vapor, but if you do too much it could effect you. The vapors wont have any crazy effects like smoking tars or anything, but again anything besides air will have a negative effect.

 

[stonedwarman]

Are you slightly asthmatic? It could be that the vapor is irritating that.

 

[drumwizard]

I can vouch that after years of using a Volcano on a daily basis, I got bronchitis, strep throat, and pneumonia which I had never had before vaping. I can't 100% contribite vaping to those problems but to this day, even after 3 months clean I cant go a day without coughing up a lot of phlem/mucus, however its a hell of a lot less than when I used to just smoke my greens.

 

[max]

even after 3 months clean I cant go a day without coughing up a lot of phlem/mucus

Switching to vapor from smoke usually causes you to hack up some stuff, but it soon passes. This is the normal process when you give up smoke for vapor. Your experience isn't the norm.

I had asthmatic bronchitis when I was young, but vaporizing for many years hasn't caused me any issues with my lungs, not even colds that go to my chest, which used to be a common problem for me with colds. And while I ended up not being able to tolerate smoke anymore, I've been vaping ever since with no ill effects.

 

[vape4life]

I'd have to agree with the above post. Been combustion free for many, many years and I never cough anything up, ever. When I take tolerance breaks I do cough somewhat here and there, but it's never productive. On the other hand when I used to combust, i'd have a chronic small cough like all the time. The only ill effects i've had from vaping are withdrawls when I stop that cause severe insomnia/night sweats, but that's because I get dependant on its sedative effects, much like being habituated to sleeping pills. For this reason I have to closely monitor my intake, moderate, and take frequent t-breaks.

 

[jeffp]

I am prone to the same symptoms regardless of what vape I use and I have a few different ones. I find that my first few hits can cause this, but then it stops. It's hard to pinpoint what the cause is. I have hay fever so possibly "weed" vapor inhaled could irritate in that respect. Maybe it's the horrible pesticides sprayed on the plant and we get to inhale it in a purer form as vapor. Maybe it's the vaporizer air path. Maybe it's the fact that I was a 2 pack a day cigarette smoker up until almost two years ago and the vapor is a natural healthy expectorant. I don't know.

There are two things that work for me that I rely upon. One is a bong and especially with warm or actually hot water. Makes a BIG difference. Of course the only problem with that is that through a session the bong water becomes room temperature and unless I'm willing to replace the water several times through a session this is just a fact of life.

The other thing that works for me is a glass "tooty" with a carb hole. I know carb holes have a degree of controversy but trust me - that could solve your problem. Sometimes I sort of tap on it while I'm inhaling so I'm getting a mix of cool air in spurts through the hit and it goes down nice and easy - so easy that you can actually swallow the inhalation with no discomfort. Without it there's a good chance I'd be coughing and sneezing also.

 

[drumwizard]

Switching to vapor from smoke usually causes you to hack up some stuff, but it soon passes. This is the normal process when you give up smoke for vapor. Your experience isn't the norm.

I had asthmatic bronchitis when I was young, but vaporizing for many years hasn't caused me any issues with my lungs, not even colds that go to my chest, which used to be a common problem for me with colds. And while I ended up not being able to tolerate smoke anymore, I've been vaping ever since with no ill effects.

I agree with you about switching from smoke to vapor but I switched to vapor about 4 or 5 years ago so I'm long past that phase. I've used only my Volcano Digit until 3 months ago when I decided to take a tolerance break. I'm going to have my first vapor session this weekend with my new SSV. I will use the SSV only for a while to see what effects it has on me in comparison to the Volcano for all these years.

 

[max]

Well the SSV can give you denser hits, and they'll be fresher, but you can't get any more predictable than bag hits. I used the SSV along with bagged vapor from the herbalAire for a good while, and much prefer whip hits (aside from the ease of use with bags). IMO the SSV gives you as much control over your hits as any vape on the market, but there is a learning curve, even compared to the DBV. Good luck with it.

 

[jeffp]

I didn't find the need for any learning curve with my SSV and that was the first real vape I bought a few years ago. In fact the only challenge I had was to figure out where to put the bowl - it took me a minute to figure to turn the unit around and mate it with the heater, as I look back and laugh.
I find the SSV to be very forgiving, so much so that I can tell you that back then I didn't have a grinder, didn't know anything about preparing bud for vaping, etc., didn't even know about FC. I just saw Tokin's videos and that got me into it. Even without basic knowledge I was still blown away by what the SSV did. I didn't dry or grind; I would just rip off a piece and put it in the bowl and it was amazing.

I think I'm going to dig out my SSV tonight - it's been a few months since it saw any use...I'm also going to see if there's any coughing etc., using it without a bong... with some newly acquired pineapple kush.