Vaporizer

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A Volcano forced-air Vaporizer

A vaporizer (or vapouriser) is a device used to sublimate the active ingredients of plant material, commonly cannabis, tobacco, or any of many other herbs or blends (phyto-inhalation; see also: aromatherapy). Vaporization is an alternative to smoking. Rather than burning the herb, which produces irritating, toxic, and carcinogenic by-products, a vaporizer heats the material in a partial vacuum so that the active compounds contained in the plant boil off into a vapor. No combustion occurs, so no smoke or taste of smoke is evident. The vapor ideally contains virtually zero particulate matter or tar, and significantly lower concentrations of noxious gases such as carbon monoxide. The vapor is then inhaled directly through a hose or pipe for highest activity, or stored for subsequent inhalations in a container such as a bag or jar. With little to no smoke produced, cooler temperatures, and less material required to achieve a given level of effect, the irritating/harmful effects of smoking are greatly reduced or eliminated,^{[1][2][3][4][5]} along with second hand smoke, by using a vaporizer. This makes vaporizers useful in places where there are public bans on smoking and under circumstances in which a more medically justifiable delivery medium is preferred.

[edit] Medical implications

Several scientific studies have been done showing that vaporization is a means of cannabis delivery less injurious to health than smoking. When using high-end vaporizers along with high grade cannabis (containing elevated levels of THC), almost all undesired compounds are found to be eliminated (depending on the precise heat of the mechanism along with the method of inhalation), in a manner consistent enough for clinical trials.^{[citation needed]} In comparison to other THC delivery methods such as ingestion, vaporization offers the advantages of rapid onset of pharmacological effect, direct delivery into the bloodstream (via the lungs), and more precise titration such that the desired level is reached and not exceeded, enabling consistent and appropriate dosage.

Vaporizers are available in many varieties and price ranges.

Precise vaporizers use an electric heating element, often featuring thermostatic temperature control. High-end models may cost several hundred U.S. dollars.

Broadly, vaporizers may be classified by how they heat the substance:

• By thermal conduction
• By convection
• By thermal radiation

In conduction heating, the substance is placed on a metal plate that is then heated to release the active constituents. Conduction vaporizers were the first type to appear on the market, and are still in production.

In convection heating, the substance itself never touches a heating element. Instead, hot air passes through it, heating it rapidly, and allowing the release of the active constituents. This method of heating releases more active constituents than conduction heating.^{[citation needed]}

• Many convection vaporizers use a tube (called a "whip") through which the user inhales the vapors. Some vaporizers have a bag or balloon attachment; vapor is blown into the bag, and the user detaches the bag and inhales the contents. Attachments can be placed between the vaporizer or bag and the user's mouth to cool the vapor with water or ice.
• Convection vaporizers are either forced air types which actively blow air through the heating element and herbs, or passive types, where the user inhales the air without help of a fan or pump. Most vaporizers today use the convection principle, including heat guns, "wood box" types, and nearly every higher end vaporizer on the market today.

In radiation heating, the substance is subjected to bright light. The substance absorbs radiant energy and its temperature rises. Radiation vaporizers are rare, but capable of duplicating the performance of convection vaporizers. A pipe and a magnifying glass on a bright, sunny day can, with care and practice, act as an adequate radiation vaporizer.

A conduction-style vaporizer

[edit] Vapor quality

Few vaporizer studies/reviews have really addressed the quality of the vapor extracted and delivered. Most studies/reviews have tended to focus on the mode of usage of the vaporizers and not the quality of the vapor extracted and delivered. When one considers that there are at least 60 pharmacologically-active compounds in cannabis and that the aromatic terpenoids begin to vaporize at 126 °C, but the more bio-active cannabidiol (CBD), Cannabinol (CBN), and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) do not vaporize until near their respective flash points: CBD 206.3 °C^[6], CBN 212.7 °C^[7], THC 149.3 °C)^[8] then it becomes apparent that the only way to get a full spectrum vapor inhalation is to extract and deliver rapidly from a small sample at a time. Because most commercial vaporizers are slow in extraction and delivery, the vapor inhaled is first aromatic, but only minimally active; and then as the apparent temperature rises, the vapor becomes increasingly bio-active, but minimally aromatic as most of the aromatics already released.

Most vaporizers deliver dry, warm vapor that can irritate the throat and upper tracheo bronchial tree. It must be remembered that at least in terms of Cannabis, heat is the primary culprit leading to damage of the tracheo-bronchial tree whether smoking or vaporizing. Cannabis smoke contains tars and noxious gases known to be harmful not present in accurately extracted vapor; however, THC is a powerful expectorant and will cause the tars consumed to be subsequently coughed up (unlike nicotine which does not have a medicinal expectorant quality). Vaporizers or vaporization systems that feature rapid extraction and delivery combined with water or ice cooling and conditioning of the vapor deliver the best of all: clean, concentrated, cool, and moisturized vapor for maximized bio-activity and minimized impact.

[edit] Health and medical use

Cannabis female flowers closeup with trichomes, white. These plant parts contain the highest concentration of medicinal compounds. After vaporization, the trichomes are flattened, having released their contents as vapor.

Regardless of the benefits of medical cannabis, the widely perceived health risks of smoking as a route of administration have been viewed as a major obstacle for the legal approval of cannabis for medical uses, though some studies indicate that the expectorant activity of THC may help the lungs remove much of the inhaled tar through coughing.^[9] In response to the concerns, several studies have aimed to establish whether or not vaporizers could offer a clinically reliable and safe route of administration for cannabis. Though vaporizers show great variations in performance, such studies have consistently found vaporization superior to smoking and with best case (high-end vaporizers used with potent cannabis) results showing an elimination of undesired compounds suitable for clinical trials.^{[citation needed]} In comparison to other routes of administering cannabis such as eating, vaporization offers the advantages of inhalation - immediate delivery into the bloodstream, rapid onset of effect, and more precise titration,^{[citation needed]} the ability to more accurately control the dosage to produce a desired effect.

[edit] Scientific studies

All Studies have found the release of harmful constituents dramatically reduced^[10] or completely eliminated.^[11] Substantial reductions were also found for the M1-volatizer.^[12] However, a 1996 study^[13] including two simple vaporizers still found ten times more tar in the vapor than THC, although this was nevertheless up to a 30% improvement compared to the best alternative smoking method.

The most recent study, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in May 2008,^[14] investigated the acceptability and usefulness of intrapulmonary THC administration using a Volcano Vaporizer and pure THC instead of cannabis. Rising doses of THC (2, 4, 6 and 8 mg) were administered with 90 minutes intervals to twelve healthy males. Very low between-subject variability was observed in THC plasma concentrations, characterising the vaporizer as a suitable method for the administration of THC.

In 2007, a study by University of California, San Francisco published in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Neurology^[15] examined the effectiveness of a vaporizer that heats cannabis to a temperature between 180°C (356°F) and 200°C (392°F) degrees and found:

In 2006, a study performed by researchers at Leiden University, tested a vaporizer with preparations of pure THC and found that:^[11]

When using plant material (crude flower tops), besides THC, several other cannabinoids as well as a range of other plant components including terpenoids were detected in the plant material. However, using pure THC in the Volcano vaporizer, no degradation products (delta-8-THC (D8-THC), cannabinol (CBN), or unknown compounds) were detected by HPLC analysis. Also, a substantially larger fraction of the THC was delivered to the vapor by using pure THC.

Analysis of the vapor from the vaporizer found that using multiple passes it delivered 36% - 61% of the THC in the sample.^[10] A more recent study using pure cannabinoid preparations achieved a maximum of 54%.^[11] For comparison, studies of cannabis cigarettes smoked via a smoking machine under varying conditions of puff duration and air speed found very similar efficiencies of 34% to 61%. Consequently, users can achieve the desired effect with a similar amount of material as when smoking.

In a 2001 study testing a device called the M1 Volatizer,^[12] the researchers found that "it is possible to vaporize medically active THC by heating marijuana to a temperature short of the point of combustion, thereby eliminating or substantially reducing harmful smoke toxins that are normally present in marijuana smoke." The M1 Volatizer, produced THC at a temperature of 185°C (365°F), while eliminating three measured combustion products, benzene, toluene and naphthalene. Carbon monoxide and smoke tars were also reduced, but not quantified.

These positive results are in contrast to MAPS/NORML's previous studies into vaporizers which found less encouraging results, leading one to the conclusion that the effectiveness of vaporization varies greatly from vaporizer to vaporizer. See Factors affecting vaporizer output for possible causes of variation.

A 1996 MAPS study^[13] tested two simple vaporizer models against water pipes and filtered and unfiltered cannabis cigarettes (joints). The smoke produced by each was analyzed for solid particulates (tars) and 3 major cannabinoids. The various smoking methods were then rated based on their cannabinoid-to-tar ratio. The two tested vaporizers performed up to 25% better than unfiltered cannabis cigarettes (second best) in terms of tar delivery. However, both vaporizers produced more than ten times more tars than cannabinoids, which may partly be attributable to the low potency (2.3%) of the NIDA-supplied cannabis used in the study. Surprisingly, the same study found that water pipes (bongs) and filtered cigarettes performed 30% worse than regular, unfiltered joints. The reason was that waterpipes and filters filter out psychoactive THC with the tars, thereby requiring users to smoke more to reach their desired effect. The study did not, however, rule out the possibility that waterpipes could have other benefits, such as filtering out harmful gases such as carbon monoxide.

These studies have not measured the presence of toxic gases, such as ammonia, hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide, though previous studies have indicated unquantified decreases in carbon monoxide with vaporization.

Although vaporizers produce cleaner vapors than smoking, they do not completely eliminate respiratory irritation. A large puff of potent vaporized cannabis will often cause severe coughing. This is likely due to the THC itself, which is known to have a strong expectorant effect.

[edit] Efficacy

The wide range of results from tests of different vaporizers suggest that the choice of vaporizer is a major factor in determining extraction and delivery efficacy as well as the amount of harmful byproducts produced. In Cannabis and many other medicinal plants, the components responsible for the aromatic nature of the plant will often vaporize at a low-end temperature in the range of extraction temperature values for all the bioactive components. In Cannabis, the temperature range across which the actives will vaporize is at least 56°C (132°F) starting at around 127°C (260°F) where only aromatic compounds of minimal bioactivity will release and going all the way up to 200°C (392°F) with the higher end of this range representing where the cannabinoids of higher bioactivity appear to be released. It is believed^[who?] that both the total amount of actives delivered as well as the breadth of spectrum delivered per inhalation is critical in determining the value of the delivered dose and, in turn, systems that deliver the highest amount of actives and broadest spectrum of actives per inhalation are believed to be the most effective for medicinal applications: i.e. venturi enhanced extraction / convection based systems.

Proposed factors affecting output include:^[10][11]

• Temperature
• Specimen density
• Weight, content of water and essential oils
• Consistency of material in the filling chamber
• Variety and potency of cannabis used
• Different preparations such as crude flower tops, hashish, hash oil, etc.
• Storage time of the vapor
• Proportion of THC exhaled (breathing technique)

Not all those have been scientifically tested. Research using the vaporizer found the delivery efficiency highest at around 226°C (439°F), falling to about half efficiency at 150°C (302°F) to 180°C (356°F) degrees depending on material.^[11] The purest preparations produced the highest efficiencies, about 54% for pure THC versus 29% for plant material (female flower tops) with 12% THCA content. Besides THC, several other cannabinoids as well as a range of other plant components including terpenoids were detected in the plant material. Using pure THC in the vaporizer, no degradation products (delta-8-THC (D8-THC), cannabinol (CBN), or unknown compounds were detected by HPLC analysis.^[11] The longer vapor is stored, the more of the THC is lost as it condenses on the surface of the vaporizer or the balloon. This loss may be negligible over a few minutes but may exceed 50% after 90 minutes.^[11] The Leiden Univsersity study^[11] found that as much as 30%–40% of inhaled THC was not absorbed by the lungs and simply exhaled. However, they did not find large individual differences in the amounts exhaled.

[edit] Byproducts of vaporized cannabis

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Cannabis after vaporization

Unlike the black ashes produced by burning plants, the byproducts of vaporization are usually brown. Cannabis trichomes containing very high concentrations of active compounds burst during vaporization and appear flattened afterwards under a microscope. The vaporized remains of cannabis may still contain THC or any number of the other 60 cannabinoids found in the plant. It is possible to extract these cannabinoids using a number of methods, including cooking, making a tincture, or revaporizing. The left-over cannabis after vaporization can be prepared using high proof ethyl alcohol (such as everclear) to create a potent tincture, or green dragon.

[edit] Use in the restaurant industry

A bit of vapor is sometimes used by chefs as a method of applying controlled heat to herbs and spices to release flavors that are otherwise difficult to titrate or apply, or that might be spoiled by overheating during cooking.^[16][17][18] "Chicago's Achatz uses the aroma-filled bags as place-mats, punctured when plates are placed in front of the customer."^[16]

[edit] Table of vaporization temperatures

Plant common name	Scientific name	Part utilized	Temperature
Aloe Vera	Aloe Vera	Gelatinous fluid from leaves	183°C (362°F)
Eucalyptus	Eucalyptus globulus	Leaves	130°C (266°F)
Hops	Humulus lupulus	Cones	154°C (309°F)
Chamomile	Chamomilla recutita	Flowers	190°C (374°F)
Clove	Syzygium aromaticum	Dried flower buds	123°C (254°F)
Gingko	Ginkgo Biloba	Leaves, seeds	140°C(285°F)
Lavender	Lavandula angustifolia	Leaves	130°C (266°F)
Lemon balm	Melissa officinalis	Leaves	142°C (288°F)
Sage	Salvia officinalis	Leaves	190°C (374°F)
Thyme	Thymus vulgaris	Herb	190°C (374°F)
Cannabis	Cannabis sativa	Flowers	180-200°C (356-392°F)
Tobacco	Nicotiana tabacum	Leaf	140-200°C (284-392°F)[19]

[edit] See also

• Aromatherapy
• Eagle Bill

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Two Medical Studies Find Vaporized Medical Marijuana is Safe and Effective
• NORML/MAPS Study Shows Vaporizer Can Drastically Reduce Toxins in Marijuana Smoke