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Not All Cannabis Vapes Are Built The Same

510 cartridges with attacheable battery is still the most popular way to consume cannabis oil

High Quality Cannabis Vape Hardware to Help Your Brand Flourish

We all remember the “popcorn lung” panic from a few years back. Illicit cannabis vape carts being cut with vitamin E as a thickening agent caused serious lung illnesses in people across the country, mostly in non legal states. 

The media hype machine made the issue a condemnation of all cannabis vape products instead of a larger discussion about federal legalization like it should have been. Some of the fear people have is obviously warranted. We should all be aware of what we put in our body, and nobody should have to worry about serious medical issues when using consumer products. But blaming the entire cannabis market for harm caused by bootleg products cut with vitamin E is sort of like blaming Anheuser Busch for Jimbob’s bathtub moonshine causing blindness. 

In reality very few consumer products are held to as high standards as cannabis extracts and rightfully so. In a medicinal plant based industry the wellbeing of the consumer is of the utmost importance for any reputable cannabis company. Every batch tracked from seed to sale and independently lab tested to ensure purity and quality. It’s no wonder the only ingredients you’ll see in most real vape products are cannabis oils and natural terpenes.

Cannabis vape products generally consist of two basic components. The cannabis oil that companies go through rigorous processes to extract from the plant and the vape hardware, which are the devices that transforms the oil to vapor. The most common hardware found in the market today are 510 vape carts, all-in-one disposables, and Pod Systems. When compared to other methods of intaking cannabis that require combustion, one could argue that vaping cannabis oil is a cleaner alternative to joints, pipes, or bongs (Please save your hate mail, I enjoy flower too).

With so much effort (and money) being put behind extracting clean pure cannabis oils, it’s surprising the same level of scrutiny doesn’t go into the vape hardware itself. The market continues to face the challenge of cheap knock off hardware, often made with low quality metals and plastics that have the potential to leach into the oil over time. This raises the concern that the next potential “popcorn lung” could be a possibility, not because of vitamin E but because of cheap shoddy hardware.

The solution to combat the rise in questionable vape carts may already be here in the form of U.S based companies providing GMP certified hardware like µKERA USA, a vape hardware manufacturer based outside of LA. Making products in clean rooms and utilizing medical grade materials isn’t easy or cheap, but it goes a long way in preventing the metal leeching mentioned earlier. For an industry whose reach goes deep into a consumer’s lungs, that difference in quality can be crucial in avoiding another illness scare.
Don’t believe all the hype about the dangers of vaping cannabis, but make sure you’re aware of what you put in your body. If your friend Chuck offers you vape carts he fills in his garage, it’s okay to say no. Trust the professional growers, extractors, testing labs, reputable retailers, and certified hardware manufacturers when considering cannabis vape products.