Smoking vs. Vaping Cannabis: Why Choose Vaporization Over Smoking

The majority of people are aware that smoking is a far cry from being healthy. Research clearly shows that cannabis smoke can cause damage to airways in the lungs over time.

Yet, smoking weed is still among the most popular ways to consume weed.

While we cannot deny the beauty of inhaling the smoke from a beautifully rolled joint or a generously packed bong, it’s actually not the most effective ways to deliver cannabinoids to your system.

It may be fast, but it’s nowhere near the efficacy of vaping.

Speaking of which, the popularity of vaping cannabis has skyrocketed over the course of the last few years. People are starting to appreciate the benefits of vaporization, mainly due to the health benefits and the aforementioned efficacy it provides.

Thinking about giving up on the old habits and make your inhalation worth the effort?

Here’s everything you need to know about smoking vs. vaping cannabis and why you should choose the latter.

Smoking vs. Vaping Cannabis: Why Does Weed Feel Better When Vaped?

While researchers have yet to find hard evidence that marijuana smoke can cause respiratory diseases like bronchitis or lung cancer, smoking anything is just basically bad for your health.

The cannabis smoke can be harmful for the delicate tissues of the mouths, throat, and lungs.

This irritation is caused by too much heat produced by combustion. It’s often accompanied by burning tar and embers which are inhaled directly into your lungs.

Vaporization helps you avoid these issues while providing you with some significant perks.

Below you will find X key differences between smoking vs. vaping cannabis.

1. Greater Cannabinoid Efficiency

Ask any weed user and they will tell you right away that they hate wasting their stash.

Yet, most of them still chose combustion over vaporization, which is simply cost-prohibitive.

50% of the cannabinoids get destroyed upon combustion; another 15-20 percent is wasted due to smoke burn off.

So, in the best-case scenario, you will end up with only 35% of the cannabinoid content in your bloodstream.

Vaporization, on the other hand, can save over 80% of the cannabinoids and terpenes; this allows you to fully draw upon the benefits of cannabis.

 

2. No Smoke

When you treat your plant material with a direct flame, you combust it to produce smoke.

Vaporization doesn’t produce any smoke at all.

Vaporizers are devices that heat cannabis products to certain temperatures that are low enough to release the active compounds from the plant material without burning it.

Once released, these compounds form a type of steam, most of the times referred to as vapor.

However, when choosing your vaporizer, it’s important to look for a device that allows for temperature customization. Some top-notch vaporizers come with dedicated apps, making the unit accurate to one degree.

The standard temperature range for vaping cannabis is between 330 to 370 F (165 – 187 C). Anything above 445 F (229 C) will burn the weed; when set at such a high temperature, your vape is no different than a high-end smoking device.

3. Fewer Carcinogens

Another significant advantage of vaping weed over smoking it lies in the amount of potentially toxic compounds.

According to a 2001 study, vaporization eliminates creation of carcinogenic compounds found in the cannabis smoke. The study examined vaporized cannabis products that were heated to 365 F (185 C).

Smoking cannabis, in turn, can produce carcinogens such as benzene, naphthalene, and toluene. The short-term side effects of inhaling these substances to your lungs include nausea, fatigue, headache, and sleepiness.

Bottom line? If you don’t want to trigger any unwanted reactions or increase the risk of cancer, stick to a high-quality vaporizer.

 

4. Better Sensory Experience

For all the flavor-chasers out there, a vaporizer or vape pen will be the perfect choice to spice up their cannabis experience.

When exposed to different temperatures, the herb releases their unique fragrant molecules called terpenes.

Terpenes are natural chemicals found in plant and fruit resins. Aside from providing a user with a range of therapeutic effects, they are also responsible for how weed smells and tastes.

Using a vaporizer will help you enjoy the flavor and aroma profile of your cannabis buds to the fullest. On top of that, terpenes have different boiling points. In other words, some flavors and aromas are more likely to be released when heated to low temperatures, while others will require greater heat.

Long story short, vaporization can allow you to experience a more diverse range of aromas and flavors from your weed buds, oils, and concentrates.

5. More Customizable High

Just as terpenes, cannabinoids are also affected by different temperatures.

That being said, the amount of heat can help you modulate the potency of the psychoactive effects of your weed.

Here’s how you can experiment with different temperature ranges when vaping cannabis:

• 290 to 330 F (143 to 166 C): mild and mellow
• 330 to 370 F (166 to 187 C): fun and uplifting
• 370 to 445 F (187 to 229 C): strong and heavy

Sticking to low temperatures will also protect the mouth, throat, and lungs against potential irritation.

Potential Cons of Vaping Cannabis

While vaporization is hands down the healthiest method to inhale cannabis, it comes with a few downsides, most of which isn’t directly linked to health risks.

• It takes a while to learn the technology behind vaping.
• Vaporization requires high initial costs, not to mention that weed products for vaping are not the cheapest ones.
• Scientists are still hesitant whether vaping is entirely safe for one’s health
• Some people are particularly sensitive to the THC vapor created by marijuana buds, and thus, they don’t handle vaping very well.

Other than that, we don’t see any major roadblocks that could make you give up on the idea of trying to inhale weed from a vaporizer.

What Cannabis Products Can I Vape?

Simply put, if it can be smoked, it can be vaped. You can use a vaporizer to inhale the steam from:

• Dried flowers
• Concentrates
• Isolate-based products
• E-Juices
• Cannabis vape pods

Summarizing the Smoking vs. Vaping Clash

Given the above, it’s quite obvious that vaping cannabis is way more beneficial than smoking the plant.

Not only does vaporization allow you to maximize the efficacy of your weed, but it also eliminates a whole range of health risks associated with smoking.

While the technology learning curve might look difficult at first glance, vaping is actually a straightforward process; you don’t need scientific equipment or some secret knowledge to successfully vaporize marijuana flowers.

What you DO need is more money on the start, but you can take it as a long-term investment.

After all, your well-being is worth the extra spendings.