Vaping has grown to be one of the most popular ways of consuming both tobacco and weed. It’s like smoking a cigarette, except that you’re heating small particles of your favorite substance out of the vape juice. Some medical experts also say that vaping is less harsh on the throat than smoking.
Read on to find out why hemp oil is one of the substances you can’t put in your vape. We’ve also thrown in some safe vaping alternatives to help you make healthier choices.
Hemp oil is basically CBD-rich oil that’s been extracted from hemp flowers and stalks. It’s legal according to federal law and has plenty of wellness benefits. You can consume it sublingually or ingest it as a food or drink additive. But you can’t vape it.
Hemp oils are usually suspended in food-grade oils like coconut oil, grapeseed oil, and olive oil to make them digestible. That makes them highly viscous or overly thick and a bad fit for vaporization in vaping devices.
That being said, heating hemp oil in your vape pen may not produce the cloud of vapor that you’re accustomed to. Instead, what you get are harmful byproducts of combusting fatty acids, which may clog up your vaporizer and render it defective.
So if you want to avoid falling sick or sending your vape pen straight to the trash can, then you should not vape hemp oils. You can only use hemp oil as a food additive, topically, sublingually, or infused in a capsule or tablet.
Vaping appeals to many users because it delivers cannabinoids better to the body compared to any other method of consumption. CBD has a low bioavailability rate when taken orally. This means that a lot of the good stuff doesn’t get absorbed in the body and instead gets lost in the digestion process.
But inhaling it takes the top spot for bioavailability. It’s reported that up to 56% of inhaled CBD will reach your bloodstream quickly, compared to just 4% to 20% if consumed orally.
On the flip side, vaping could have some adverse health effects, especially on regular users. That’s because manufacturers often use potentially harmful additives on e-juices to achieve the desired viscosity.
Just because you can’t vape hemp oil doesn’t mean that you should forget about vaping CBD altogether. There are several specialist vape liquids designed for vaping, including:
E-liquids or vape juices are specifically designed for vaping. They contain, at the bare minimum, four basic ingredients:
The solvents used in vape juices are vegetable glycerin (VG) and propylene glycol (PG). They dissolve the hemp-derived compounds so they can be inhaled. Unlike food-grade oils, vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol don’t have any fatty acids in them. As a result, they are less viscous and produce a visible cloud of vapor when vaping.
The ratio of PG to VG in your vape juice will determine your overall vape experience. Here are the main types of vape juices:
These vape cartridges come pre-filled with hemp oil, which produces the vapor when heated. It consists of the following parts:
Isolate crystals are a crystalline form of pure CBD. They may be light-colored or sometimes milky and often look like a lump of salt or sugar.
The crystals turn into an aqueous state when heated and produce a strong cloud of vapor because the cannabinoid is highly concentrated. They don’t contain any carrier liquids or added sugars.
To vape hemp flower, you’ll need to load your hemp buds into the dry herb vaporizer. Then turn on the vaporizer and choose the ideal temperature setting as per your liking.
When heated, the hemp buds produce a delicious and mild vapor that you’ll inhale via the mouthpiece.
Some Reminders about Vaping CBD
While it may come in handy, there are some things you must keep in mind when using CBD with your vape pen.
Hemp oil is usually suspended in food-grade oils such as olive oil and coconut oil. This makes it fit for use orally as sublingual drops or as a food additive.
However, the oil is too viscous and can’t vaporize when put on the vaporizer’s coil, which means vaping hemp oil could hurt your lungs.
The alternative is to use vape-compatible liquids like vape E-liquids, pre-loaded CBD carts, isolate crystals, or hemp flowers. These substances are specifically designed for use in vaporizers. But make sure to only buy products that come with a COA (certificate of analysis) just to be sure of their safety and quality.
