Vaporizers: Too Much Fun

Posted in Volcano Vaporizer by - May 02, 2013

Katt Williams lays it down about his experience with vaporizers. Vaporizers – How Much is Too Much? When soliciting feedback on user experience, at least 1 out of every 3 people in San Diego knows what an herbal vaporizer is. Most people we’ve spoken to indicated that vaporizing cannabis is an altogether different experience than smoking cannabis. Feedback ranges and we wanted to share some of our notes in order to help educate users on some best practices for vaping. Experiences vary from getting WAY too high from vaporizers: “I’m afraid to vape, because every time my buddy breaks out the Volcano, I get higher than Mt. Everest.” [See Katt Williams video - above] …To folks not feeling high enough…until it is too late: ” I was missing the ‘kick’ of inhaling smoke into the lungs when I get high – I like that punch, and I miss it when I vape…so I always vape WAY MORE THAN I NEED TO, and end up wasted.” “I didn’t feel anything at first, but after like 15 minutes and three bag fuls, I was so high I almost couldn’t move.” There is a difference in the experience, but the medicine is still the same. Inhaling vapor is just as potent as smoke except that the effects are not as intense right away. Our favorite quote: “Using a vaporizer is more medicating than intoxicating. It just feels less abusive on the body, and more like healing.” With controlled application of heat, vaporizers let you hit the ‘sweet spot’ for releasing the most active set of cannabinoids at a certain temperature range. The concentration of THC, CBD and CBN/CBL are the same as smoking, but the reduced number of compounds makes the experience more approachable. There is definitely a delay in feeling the effects (most users note a 5 – 10 minute lag time) as compared to smoking. The reduction of chemicals you are inhaling makes the initial high seem less f***ed up. All the additional by products from combustion may make the initial high more intense, but the effects do not last as long, and your body doesn’t absorb the same quantities of cannabinoids. Vaping leads to longer highs, of equal or greater intensity, just without that immediacy – more ‘feeling alllllriiiiggghhht‘ and less ‘damn, I’m too ripped to play video games.’ SFW Etiquette Gurl says: “SFW wants to know about YOUR experiences vaporizing and what effects you prefer. Sharing is caring. “ Share your stories with us on Facebook or Twitter:     Some folks prefer to less psychoactive effects, for whatever reason. Yeah, a real bummer of a side effect of this wonderful medicine…Weirdos. Vaporizers allow for this degree of tailoring the effects of cannabis. All cannabinoids have their specific boiling point, and you can target the less psychoactive compounds for muscle relaxation and sedation, or target the higher psychoactive compounds for an energetic, anti-spasmodic, anxiolitic effect. Cannabis is a wonderfully versatile medicine, and when smoked, while fun, may not be the fullest appreciation for [...]

Read More

Pot as Medicine: The Puff versus the Pill

Posted in Blog, Volcano Vaporizer by - Apr 23, 2013

How best to ingest your weed? A recent article featured in the Huffington Post shows that dronabinol (generic form of Marinol) is more effective at relieving pain. The study was conducted by the Substance Use Research Center of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and “pitted two strengths of smoked marijuana against two strengths of the drug dronabinol, which contains tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)” the primary active ingredient in cannabis. Pot versus the Pill (not that pill) The study showed that the smoked cannabis took effect more quickly (less than five minutes versus over 30 minutes), but the orally ingested pills lasted longer (2 hours versus 4.5 hours). The caution that has crept in to every feature covering the issue is that smoking is bad for you, and releases harmful chemicals that can damage your lungs. The study was featured in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. And written about for the Huffington Post. And posted to WebMD.com. And MyHealthNewsDaily.com. And so on. Well, this is just a custom tailored entry for vaporizers if ever I saw one… Vaporizer in shining armor Vaporizers all but eliminate toxins present in smoke. Inhaled vapor led to cannabinoids remaining in the bloodstream longer than from smoking. Both findings have been confirmed and validated by studies from CANORML and MAPS, as well as the University of California San Francisco’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. The vapor produced by both the early model M1 Volatizer and the branded leader of convection vaporizing (& our current favorite) the Volcano Classic vaporizer had little or no polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) or other carcinogenic by products present. According to the Osher Center study, vaporized constituents of cannabis were present in the bloodstream longer and in greater concentrations versus smoking. Check AND mate. I will personally appeal to the Substance Use Research Center of the New York Psychiatric Institute in using vaporizers for their next defense of this study. BUT, we now have further proof that marijuana is medicine. Marijuana has properties that HELP PEOPLE FEEL BETTER. The question is how best to administer the drug, but vaporizers are still in the shadows. It’s like comparing leeching to ritual bloodletting without considering the hypodermic needle… Can a brutha get a little SMOKE FREE love here?!? Vaporizers may yet hold the key to hyper-analyzing the cannabinoids and their effects on the human body.  For science, for recreation and for medicine, please, give vapes a chance.        

Read More

The Great Weed Conspiracy: Part 1

Posted in Blog by - Feb 01, 2013

The Great Weed Hypocrisy Clearly, I am missing the logic of the entire cannabis prohibition that exists in the United States. Outspoken members of the media, high profile celebrities, members of law enforcement, federal drug researchers, a few little businessmen like Warren Buffet and Richard Branson (BILLIONAIRE MOGULS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD – ONE OF WHOM ADVISED THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA) have all come out and said, in no uncertain terms, the laws we have against marijuana DO NOT MAKE SENSE. Oh, and not to mention 50% of the American people are in favor of legal marijuana for the first time in 40 years. The major claims against marijuana are becoming less and less credible. -       Two states voted for full legalization for consenting adults, with another introducing legislation within the next 12 – 18 months. -       22 states now have legal medical marijuana provisions for safe access. -       37 states have decriminalized possession of up to one ounce of marijuana. Obviously, the people have spoken. Then there is the medical side… The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) a Federal Government Agency of the United States of America claims that: “Under U.S. law since 1970, marijuana has been a Schedule I controlled substance. This means that the drug has no commonly accepted medical use.” In 1985, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a Federal Government Agency of the United States of America in charge of determining the medical value of a substance for widespread use, approved Marinol, a prescription pill of marijuana’s active ingredient, T.H.C. Uhm, what? NIDA co-sponsored a clinical trial with the University of California, San Francisco’s Osher Center in 2007 on the Vaporization of Cannabis as an effective delivery method of THC. Why? Marijuana has no accepted medical use, right? Not enough research or evidence among the medical community to support any benefits of cannabis. But wait… The Center for Medical Cannabis Research, an extension of the University of California, San Diego, spent 10 years researching the therapeutic value of cannabis, conducting seven completed clinical trials between 2002 and 2012. “Every one of the studies showed a benefit,” said Dr. Igor Grant, a neuropsychiatrist who served as director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research. “The convergence of evidence makes me convinced there is a medical benefit here, and there may be a niche for cannabis.” The research results suggest the U.S. government’s listing of marijuana as a Schedule I drug with no medical use – on par with heroin and LSD – “is completely at odds with the existing science. It is intellectually dishonest to say it has no value whatsoever, because it’s just not true,” said Grant © Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved. Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/12/4625608/california-pot-research-backs.html#storylink=cpy   We’ve all heard the stories, the rumors and the first hand accounts of how cannabis has genuinely helped people. But, it has no accepted medical use. Then, why does the United States have a Government filed Patent on cannabis for its therapeutic benefits? [...]

Read More

Healthier Weed

Posted in Blog, Vaporization, Volcano Vaporizer by - Jan 24, 2013

Colorado made landmark history with its introduction and passage of Amendment 64 last November. In the latest news, Hawaii is introducing legislation to legalize marijuana use for adults over the age of 21 years old. The nation is embracing legal marijuana for recreational use. We are only beginning to discover the scientific defensibility of marijuana’s medicinal potential through research. But how can we make it safer, healthier and more responsible in order to GET THE HATERS OFF OUR BACKS? Enter vaporizers…but we’ll get to that later.

Read More