Vapor vs. Smoke: Health Disucssion

[phantomcosmonaut]

Mods may move this to an appropriate category; wasn't entirely sure myself(?)

Over the past couple years I've been convinced that vapor is healthier than smoke. I began to vaporize marijuana concentrates and buds, along with switching from cigarettes to handheld mod vapes. Over time I began to get phlegm build up in my throat. I thought I was just sick and all of my friends were also sick since it was the time of the season. Some of us stopped vaporizing wax (I also stopped vaping nicotine completely) and noticed the phlegm stopped, the cough was gone. I notice a day of heavy vaping theres a bunch of shit in my throat I need to cough up. I spoke to many other people about it and usually get the same consensus.

So I began to think about it... Why is that happening? Well the answer seemed obvious to me. When you smoke, the material is heated to combustion; smoke stays as smoke. When you vaporize something, it is heated to a vapor at whatever temperature, it is then inhaled and cools to your body temperature which is by default lower than that of the vapor, so the vapor must then cool back down to a liquid/solid in your lungs. Does anyone have anything to refute this; I'd like some other thoughts?

And finally, what do you guys think the long term effects of that could be? Smoke vs Vapor. Having so much phlegm in my lungs from vaping certainly feels unhealthier than smoking.

 

[femaletrouble]

i only smoke golden virginia rolling tobbacca ive never had any phelm. never tryed vapes so carnt comment on those

 

[pasha]

Basic -> Other Drugs

 

[sekio]

When you smoke, the material is heated to combustion; smoke stays as smoke.

"Smoke" and "vapor" are actually roughly the same thing: the technical term is an aerosol. They are a suspension of fine droplets of solids/liquids dispersed in air and other hot gases. The major difference is smoke from combustion contains a lot more impurities, CO and CO2, ammonia, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, tars etc.

"Vapor" from a vaporizer is not actually THC in the gas phase either. Gasified THC would need to be several hundred degrees C and would be like inhaling superheated steam: your lungs would blister and you'd die.

Both smoke from combustion and vapor from a vaporizer will condense/stick to the surface of your lungs when you inhale them. Some of it does, at least - most people generally exhale a good portion. That's how the THC gets to your blood, it diffuses through the alveoli into the blood and rushes off to the brain.

Not everything that is created in combustion can diffuse through the lungs into the blood, though - that's where you get the infamous tarry black smokers' lungs from. However in the case of vaporized cannabis, most of the volatiles are fat-soluble and your body can deal with them because they are sucked into your blood and whisked away. There's actually a lot less nasty shit deposited in your lungs from vaporizing.

The best explanation for this I've read is that THC is an expectorant, it increases mucus production in the lung and makes people cough it up. (Sort of like some ingredients in cough medications.) The more THC you deliver to the lungs, the stronger this effect is. So if you're hitting an efficient vape all day, your lungs and throat will probably want a break!

I can tell you for sure that hitting a vape all day is more doable then smoking an equivalent amount of weed... your throat would get pretty sore.