Are Vapes Bad For You?

The concept of vaping was first introduced in the modern era as the electronic cigarette. It was an attempt to help eliminate or reduce the negative health effects that smoking traditional, combustible cigarettes can expose one to. This has led the marijuana community to adopt this method in an attempt to provide a safe and effective alternative to smoking cannabis.

Several types of vaping devices exist and range from traditional desktop vaporizers, vape pens, and dab rigs. All of these devices heat up your cannabis product to a specific temperature, ideal for vaporization, but not combustion.

By vaporizing cannabis, it allows you to extract all of the psychoactive and medicinal ingredients, without the harms of inhaling smoke.

There are nearly 400 different chemicals found in marijuana. Of which, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the most sought after psychogenic; a type of cannabinoid. The smoke produced by burning plant matter holds approximately 88 percent of combusted smoke gases and contain non-cannabinoid elements, most of which exposes you to potential health risks. Vaping, on the other hand, produces gases that consist of approximately 95 percent cannabinoids and less of the other chemicals that pose some harm to the lungs.

Inhaling burned cannabis can expose you to lung irritants and potential carcinogens. The particulates found in smoke in general, such as carbon monoxide and tar, can lead to respiratory problems and even lung cancer.

A study from 2007 actually found that vaping cannabis was associated with fewer respiratory symptoms when compared to smoked cannabis. The researchers concluded that frequent cannabis users with respiratory symptoms might in effect decrease their symptoms; coughing, phlegm and chest tightness, by switching to a vaporizer.

However, this does not mean that vaping is entirely safe, as some cannabis oils commercially available or homemade may carry unwanted residual solvents such as butane and isopentane, posing a risk to health.