According to a recent study, vaporizing marijuana produces far fewer toxic chemicals than smoking joint.
“These results demonstrate that combustion—not cannabis itself—is the primary driver of harmful inhalation byproducts, and that controlled vaporization can significantly reduce exposure to these compounds,” the study conducted and self-published by the vape device company PAX found.
Lighting marijuana on fire through smoking releases a number of harmful or potentially harmful compounds (HPHCs)—including benzene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. Vaporization, in contrast, heats cannabis to below the point of combustion while still releasing cannabinoids and terpenes.
The research—conducted by Richard Rucker, who serves as PAX’s director of product integrity, and Derek Shiokari, a senior chemist and data scientist at the company—compared aerosol generated by PAX’s dry herb vaporization device (FLOW) and its oil vaporization device (TRIP) with smoke from combusted marijuana joints.
They compared 16 HPHCs in the cannabis using different consumption methods, but all the samples were the same.
The researchers concluded, “Across all analytes measured, vaporization reduces harmful byproducts as much as 99% when compared to smoking in a joint.”
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“Combustion produces harmful byproducts—whether it’s tobacco, wood or cannabis,” Rucker said in a press release. Vaporization reduces toxic compounds by heating the cannabis but without burning it. The same plant is exposed to a completely different environment. The research quantifies the differences, providing consumers with clearer information on how their choices affect exposure.”
The components of cannabis, such as cannabinoids and terpenes are affected by heat and undergo oxidation. This leads to the creation of particles and additional compounds including volatile organics compounds, aromatic hydrocarbons or nitrogen-containing substances, according to the study.
The combustion of cannabis plants produces an aerosol complex containing many harmful products that are produced through pyrolysis or oxidation. In a controlled puffing environment, the vaporization cannabis flower significantly reduced these toxic compounds’ exposure by up to 99 percent compared to smoking joint. The findings show that combustion of cannabis flower is the main source of chemical toxic exposure when smoking it, and that vapourization technology can reduce this by-product formation substantially.”
This paper concluded that “vapor aerosols had up to 99 percent lower concentrations of HPHCs than smoke from joints.” These results show dramatic reductions of key combustion markers such as aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes and other compounds.
Mike Latimer is the photographer.
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