Vaping Compared to other ingestion methods, vaping often delivers much faster results for you. However, this can be a two-edged sword. The heightened efficacy level will mean you need to be careful about how much CBD you’re ingesting while vaping. Vaping more than you expected can lead to:
- Nausea
- Feeling drowsy or fatigued
- Lower blood pressure
- Headache
Some studies have looked specifically at the potency of vaping CBD oil compared with taking it orally (for example in capsule or tincture form). What they found was that vaping CBD is around four times as potent! It’s no surprise that you should pay attention to how much CBD you are vaping if you decide to ingest in with this delivery method.
Overall, vaping CBD oil is more dangerous than any other CBD delivery method. Not only can it be easy to go overboard and vape away, not realizing how much you have ingested, there are other risks as well. For instance, there is the issue of the quality of the vape pens themselves.
If you are using low-quality vape pens, they will likely have toxic heavy metals like chromium and nickel. A Johns Hopkins University study found that vape coils made with these metals will produce vapours that have small trace amounts of them. This can be dangerous if these metals accumulate over time.
Also, another risk comes from using low-quality CBD. Some of the shadier CBD manufacturers out there will have contaminated CBD oil that contains flavouring agents like diacetyl, which pose health risks. While this flavouring agent can be safely ingested orally, when it is inhaled it’s a whole different story. In fact, it can actually damage your lungs!
The bottom line is to make sure the CBD you’re using in a vape pen is of the highest quality without this flavouring agent.
There is something else you should know when it comes to vaping CBD oil. It involves something called cuticle wax. This is the outside layer of lipids, which cover cannabis plants. Vaping doesn’t reach temperatures high enough to burn cuticle wax. This means that it can end up in your lungs, which may lead to unwanted respiratory issues.
Certain CBD vape oils also contain thinning agents, which can be a major cause for concern. Some of the chemicals used include propylene glycol and polyethylene glycol. They are introduced into the CBD vape oil due to their ability to reduce its viscosity.
While this could be a plus, there are alarming health consequences to it, given that the chemicals are cancer-causing agents once they break down into their residues.
Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde are what you will end up with, and you don’t want those in your body. Even though propylene glycol is considered safe by the FDA as a food additive, they didn’t look at what happens when you expose it to extreme heat. You should err on the side of caution and opt for taking CBD using other delivery methods. Vaping isn’t a good method, but if you absolutely feel like it’s the best way for you, here’s what you need to do to stay safe.