Weight loss in ABV after vaporizing?

[sLug215]

Sooo, was chillin in the chat, had an idea. How much weight do you lose in ABV compared to green? I was weighing my ABV earlier and really felt like I had lost enough green to notice a difference between what I had vaped and what I had left. I shot a guess at about a 1/3 loss in weight, but I'm not sure. I'm getting a better scale, I can't do .01g but if you can, with the next 2 or so grams, can you weigh it before and after, and reply with your results, including vaporizer model, temp if your vape is a display(that is accurate), amount before and after, and any more details you can help provide.

Thanks!

 

[akwardsauce]

good experiment proposal...would be interesting to see how much stuff was extracted (weight-wise) by different models...

but i dont have a balance...

 

[StickyShisha2]

well, i know how much weight loss there is when i make BHO. some strains its almost 25%

but with vaping, you have some H2o weight also.
(and all the tiny bits of plant matter you see in your vape-honey)

 

[PhishCactus]

I actually made a post about this a while back, no one really gave helpful answers, they mostly said, "weigh a bowl, vape it, and then weight it again. But this wasn't really what I was looking for because theres a bunch of other variables to consider especially particle loss from transition to and from bowl etc. Plus I was just looking to see how much weed I actually went through by converting my abv into the original weight. I wish you luck and will definitely follow this thread.

 

[akwardsauce]

I actually made a post about this a while back, no one really gave helpful answers, they mostly said, "weigh a bowl, vape it, and then weight it again. But this wasn't really what I was looking for because theres a bunch of other variables to consider especially particle loss from transition to and from bowl etc. Plus I was just looking to see how much weed I actually went through by converting my abv into the original weight. I wish you luck and will definitely follow this thread.

not sure if this will help (cuz im actually not very sure what youre asking for), but what if you kept track of PRE & POST vape weights for like a week or a few days. then take the PRE weight - POST weight & divide it by the PRE weight...that will give you the amount of weight you "use" (or lose) for each sesssion. if youre percentages stay roughly the same, you have a consistent method.

of course, your scales should be calibrated & trustworthy for this to work (mine never are - theyre cheap).

not sure if that helps with anything...if you compare these percentages for different vaporizers, this may give you efficiency, but it also may be affected by particles that fly through your screen & dont get used or stuff that flies into your mouth, etc...these variables are not accounted for...

is that info worth anything to you? i cant really do these experiments myself, because i dont have a good balance (all of the ones in my lab are AWESOME, but i cant bring my PRE & POST vape ganja to lab...)

 

[Tuck]

It's pretty trivial to track this if your scale doesn't go to .01g but does go to .1g. Weigh out 1-2g. Weigh your ABV jar. Write it down. Vape the 1-2g. Weigh your ABV jar after. Write it down.

jarAfter - jarBefore = ABV

StartingWeight - ABV = your answer.

as far as particle loss and such, look into buying a stainless steel baby spoon or a 1/4 teaspoon and don't use your fingers to load your bowl.

For me, I lose about .2-.3g for every 1g I go through (pre-grind - which means I lose some to the kief jar but that amount is too small to register on my scale).

 

[akwardsauce]

as far as particle loss and such, look into buying a stainless steel baby spoon or a 1/4 teaspoon and don't use your fingers to load your bowl.

very good tip for accuracy...forgot about this.

 

[turtles]

actually the best way to test it would be to
freshly clean the bowl/wand/mmj holding part of your vape system
then weigh it, ready to go unloaded number x
load it, then weigh again number y
vape
weigh again number z

y-x-z = how much (if any) loss from vaping

 

[PhishCactus]

Sorry I wrote my response in haste. Yes, that is exactly what needs to be done, but I don't have the appropriate weighing device, nor do I have enough product to do so effectively. I mainly try to vape on weekends only anyway.

Thats exactly what I meant by unaccounted variables, theres definitely a ton of particle loss through the screen and such while vaping.

 

[turtles]

mine goes down to .1g, I will test later but presumably the change will be less than that unless the bud isn't well cured

 

[Frederick McGuire]

I've done some simple tests with my ssv, and I tend to get about a 20%ish reduction in weight by the time I'm done with a wand.
That was only weighing my herb, vapeing, and weighing the ABV, so I guess there is some particle loss in there, but not much in a single wand.
My scale does .01g, so I should be able to make some relatively accurate measurements.
I'll do another test over the next week or so, weighing the wand, my ashcatcher, how much I'm loading per wand, weight of the ABV, and the weight of the wand after vapeing.
I'm sure I'll still miss some to my tubing, but IMO it will be negligible, and too much of a hassle to try to weigh.
I don't vape heaps (1-2 ssv wands a day, maybe a bit more on the weekends), so it may take me a little while to get enough measurements down to get a decent average rate. I'll try to run through at least a gram, maybe 2 before I settle on the figures.
I might even use excel to make some unnecessary graphs lol.
Also, keep in mind that there are quite a few factors that I can see affecting this - herb strain, vapeing temp, which vape you are using, so I wouldn't necessarily assume that the figures I get are the same as what you will get, but I guess it should be similar.

 

[notmyrealUSERname]

http://www.fuckcombustion.com/viewtopic.php?pid=116852#p116852

http://www.fuckcombustion.com/viewtopic.php?pid=120447#p120447

i have found that 1 gram of fresh stuff will weigh approx. 60% of the original weight once vaped.

of course, there are numerous variables to try to eliminate to get consistent accurate results....

 

[Tuck]

If you start with clean equipment for your 1-2 gram experiment, you can reclaim your wandhash and include it's weight in your calculations.

If you vapor bong, you'll find that the water traps a lot of those lost particles. Strain the water and let it dry then throw what you find in your abv jar. You could even boil the water into a stick of butter and save that butter for when you want to make your abv into cannabutter.

I don't clean my tubing but some people do reclaim that buildup. Personally, I only use about a 3 inch piece of tubing to go from my SSV to my bong. I would love for a standard hc wand with about a 75 degree curve at the end going to a 19mm gong. I know a glass guy that I wanted to make this but his phone got turned off and I don't know how to contact him anymore. I guess I could call SSV and see if they can make such a beast.

 

[itriplots]

Ill try this thursday with a scale that is precise down to 0.001 grams. I work in a lab so its a fancy scale that gets calibrated weekly. I was thinking that I could just weigh my launch box before and after vaping. Then I dont have to attempt to transfer every bit of vaped weed into a weighing dish, it would just introduce error. I might even be able to get a decent weight per hit.

At work there also is a scale that goes down to 0.001 micrograms, but the weighing dish is incredibly small, and to be honest I've never had to use it for anything yet. If there is no measurable difference with the usual scale Ill figure out a way to use the super precise one.

 

[akwardsauce]

Ill try this thursday with a scale that is precise down to 0.001 grams. I work in a lab so its a fancy scale that gets calibrated weekly. I was thinking that I could just weigh my launch box before and after vaping. Then I dont have to attempt to transfer every bit of vaped weed into a weighing dish, it would just introduce error. I might even be able to get a decent weight per hit.

At work there also is a scale that goes down to 0.001 micrograms, but the weighing dish is incredibly small, and to be honest I've never had to use it for anything yet. If there is no measurable difference with the usual scale Ill figure out a way to use the super precise one.

man i wish i had the scale at my lab, too! i would never bring my stuff inside my lab, though...its in the basement of a huge office complex with clinics upstairs...so ALWAYS people walking around the halls, etc.

plus my wand & tubing are stinky...have to keep them in a separate plastic bag & i can still kind of smell it when walking by.

by the way, i hear everyone talking about burnt popcorn smells, but i NEVER think of popcorn during any time of a vape session (before, during, after, ABV...). am i crazy or do people really believe it smells like burnt popcorn? i always wondered about that...

 

[darkrom]

I've smelled the burnt popcorn smell a few times. Maybe you are going lighter or darker than other people? Burnt popcorn is the most accurate description I could ever think of personally.

 

[Frederick McGuire]

Just a little update on my tests:

I've measured 5 wand loads so far, between 0.11 & 0.17, there were a few different strains in there, all of it was done through my SSV with Ground Glass Heater Cover.

I have been Vapor Bonging, using the standard length of tube (1.5m i think), and an the ashcatcher from my bushmaster cyclone (its a waterless one, i just collect the ABV that accumulates in there and save it to use as a kif base when I don't want to use fresh herb).

I did not weigh the ashcatcher before I started, but my GG wand lets essentially no particles through.
After the 5 loads I could see maybe 5-10 little flakes of ABV, and it wouldnt surprise me if they came from the tubing...

I'll punch the figures through Excel tonight and see what I come up with.

 

[notmyrealUSERname]

i have used the ha in vapebong mode at 400f, and i put 0.15 inside the crucible. i have a very fine screen that for both the top and the bottom so no material can escape. i did this 7 times (0.95g in total fresh weight). each sessions crucible lost either 0.02g, or 0.03g - a total weightloss of 0.18g. therefore 0.95-0.18= 0.77g which = 19% loss.

 

[akwardsauce]

i have used the ha in vapebong mode at 400f, and i put 0.15 inside the crucible. i have a very fine screen that for both the top and the bottom so no material can escape. i did this 7 times (0.95g in total fresh weight). each sessions crucible lost either 0.02g, or 0.03g - a total weightloss of 0.18g. therefore 0.95-0.18= 0.77g which = 19% loss.

that would be awesome if you were vaping 19% thc ganja!

 

[notmyrealUSERname]

I never thought to compare the results against the concentration of the strain! That's a great idea!! If anyone can do this with a strain that has been documented you should be able to determine the efficiency of any vape! How many clouds does it take to extract all of the goodness?

 

[Frederick McGuire]

I just thought I would update everyone on my tests:
(Edited to add another test)


The table above shows the total weight of each load, The ABV that was left, and what was vaporized, along with the percentage vaporized.

Here are my actual numbers
Run Load Weight Finished Load Actual Use Efficiency
1 0.110 g 0.075 g 0.035 g 31.818%
2 0.140 g 0.090 g 0.050 g 35.714%
3 0.150 g 0.110 g 0.040 g 26.667%
4 0.140 g 0.115 g 0.025 g 17.857%
5 0.170 g 0.115 g 0.055 g 32.353%
Total 0.710 g 0.505 g 0.205 g 28.873%


I weighed my wand before & after each load, and there was a negligible change in weight (From blinking between 46.60g & 46.61g, to staying solid on 46.60g)

I also Weighed the wand + Load before & after Vaping, but the numbers looked a little weird, so they haven't been included...
I might average them with my other numbers when I add in my next batch of weights.

Its interesting that I got a higher number than the HA, I thought that was supposed to be one of the best at extracting goodies?
I suppose I could have been going at a higher temp?

 

[akwardsauce]

I just thought I would update everyone on my tests:

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/5129/ssvefficiency.jpg

The table above shows the total weight of each load, The ABV that was left, and what was vaporized, along with the percentage vaporised.

Here are my actual numbers
Run Load Weight Finished Load Actual Use Efficiency
1 0.110 g 0.075 g 0.035 g 31.818%
2 0.140 g 0.090 g 0.050 g 35.714%
3 0.150 g 0.110 g 0.040 g 26.667%
4 0.140 g 0.115 g 0.025 g 17.857%
5 0.170 g 0.115 g 0.055 g 32.353%
Total 0.710 g 0.505 g 0.205 g 28.873&


I weighed my wand before & after each load, and there was a negligible change in weight (From blinking between 46.60g & 46.61g, to staying solid on 46.60g)

I also Weighed the wand + Load before & after Vaping, but the numbers looked a little weird, so they haven't been included...
I might average them with my other numbers when I add in my next batch of weights.

whats with the 17 percent-er? did you just rush through that session or was it less potent or what? seems odd that one of your trials is about half as efficient as the others...?

when you say this: "Its interesting that I got a higher number than the HA, I thought that was supposed to be one of the best at extracting goodies?"

i assume you mean a higher extraction percentage?

nice work!

 

[Frederick McGuire]

Yeah, I meant Higher extraction percentage

That 17% was a bit of an oddity...
I do remember the grind of that load being a bit coarser than usual, but nothing particularly major...
I might have been a bit quick with that one

Also, Any weight that is X.XX5 means my scale was jumping between (random numbers for example) .06 and .07, so I used .065

With weights this small, that .005 can make quite a bit of difference,
(If I had just taken the lower weight of that run, it would have worked out to 21% - Still low, but within normal ranges.)
EDIT: I just checked what the efficiency would have been if I used the Wand weights: 20.883%
So I wouldn't worry too much about it...

I'm not particularly worried about a few outliers though, the more I measure, the more accurate data I will have.

I'm planning on doing some measurements with Kif soon as well, but that's a bit harder... I'm thinking .10 of fresh herb + .05 to .10 Kif per load, probably closer to 0.05

I lost about 4 measurements overall as they had gotten me vaked enough to spill the load before I could measure it...

 

[akwardsauce]

I lost about 4 measurements overall as they had gotten me vaked enough to spill the load before I could measure it...

damn 4 times!??!?!

science is fun

 

[notmyrealUSERname]

I just thought I would update everyone on my tests:

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/5129/ssvefficiency.jpg

The table above shows the total weight of each load, The ABV that was left, and what was vaporized, along with the percentage vaporised.

Here are my actual numbers
Run Load Weight Finished Load Actual Use Efficiency
1 0.110 g 0.075 g 0.035 g 31.818%
2 0.140 g 0.090 g 0.050 g 35.714%
3 0.150 g 0.110 g 0.040 g 26.667%
4 0.140 g 0.115 g 0.025 g 17.857%
5 0.170 g 0.115 g 0.055 g 32.353%
Total 0.710 g 0.505 g 0.205 g 28.873&


I weighed my wand before & after each load, and there was a negligible change in weight (From blinking between 46.60g & 46.61g, to staying solid on 46.60g)

I also Weighed the wand + Load before & after Vaping, but the numbers looked a little weird, so they haven't been included...
I might average them with my other numbers when I add in my next batch of weights.

whats with the 17 percent-er? did you just rush through that session or was it less potent or what? seems odd that one of your trials is about half as efficient as the others...?

when you say this: "Its interesting that I got a higher number than the HA, I thought that was supposed to be one of the best at extracting goodies?"

i assume you mean a higher extraction percentage?

nice work!

i think that there are a few reasons why our numbers are different;
1 different vapes
2 different vapes used at different temps
3 different scales - mines only good to 0.00g whereas yours goes to 0.000g
4 different stuff inside the vapes
5 i never stirred my crucible, did you?

i only measured the weight when both the crucible and stuff inside where cool, both before and after vapeing.


don't forget that there is some water weight that will be lost during vapeing, probably other stuff too. so i am not convinced that we can completely measure the effectiveness of a vape though weight measurements.