Vaporizers as precision instruments

In recent years, more and more people have been turning to vaporizers as an alternative way to consume cannabis products. Vaporizers should be clearly distinguished from vape pens. Vaporizers are usually more powerful devices with precisely adjustable temperatures of about 180 to 220 °C that gently vaporize dried cannabis flowers or concentrates in a special heating chamber, whereas vape pens are compact devices designed mainly for pre-filled oil or liquid cartridges.

Vaporizers use convection, conduction or both. Conduction means the plant material is heated through contact with a hot surface. This heats up quickly and produces dense clouds of vapour, but carries the risk of uneven heating and possible combustion. Convection, on the other hand, uses a stream of hot air: the air is heated inside the device and then passed through the plant material. The active compounds and aromas are released by the flowing air and carried off as vapour. This method heats more evenly and gently and gives a more intense aroma. For comparison: when you draw on a joint, the ember reaches temperatures of 800 to 1100 °C.

Decarboxylation: conversion through heat

Besides cannabinoids such as THCa and CBDa, which are present in the fresh cannabis plant and only become decarboxylated into their active forms THC and CBD when heated, this process also affects other important plant compounds such as further cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids. Terpenes, which are partly responsible for the aroma and also the effect of cannabis, are particularly sensitive to heat: they vaporize and change depending on the temperature, and temperatures that are too high can break them down.

Flavonoids, which provide colour, taste and possibly additional effects, are also transformed by heat and each have their own vaporization points. That is why gentle, temperature-controlled heating helps preserve as many of the cannabis plant's compounds as possible.

Different substances vaporize at different temperatures

Thanks to variable temperature settings, vaporizer users can also influence the effect profile of flowers or full-spectrum extracts with their many compounds. The various cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids and other substances each vaporize at different temperatures under normal pressure in a vaporizer. So with the same strain of cannabis flowers or with specific extracts, different temperature ranges release quite different combinations of compounds and therefore produce different effects.

Many cannabis users around the world have been taking advantage of this for years, varying the temperature when they vaporize medical or other cannabis products to achieve particular effects. Opinions differ, however, on how much the choice of temperature really affects the outcome.

To dig a little deeper, we should first look at how different temperatures affect the release of different plant substances.

Temperature-controlled release: scientific data

Many sources provide boiling point tables for individual cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids as a guide, often listing, for example, boiling temperatures of 157 °C for THC and 180 °C for CBD. While this is correct, it is also misleading, because these figures refer to vacuum conditions. Vaporizers, however, operate at normal pressure, unless we want to describe what it is like when astronauts vaporize on the moon. At normal air pressure at sea level, the boiling points are 400 °C for THC and 463 °C for CBD. In vaporizers, though, compounds already vaporize at lower temperatures through evaporation or sublimation, not by boiling.

So cannabinoids and terpenes do not vaporize at specific “boiling points”, as is often claimed, but through sublimation or evaporation across a temperature range, depending on pressure and ambient conditions. What often goes unmentioned is that certain compounds break down at higher temperatures, for example delta-9-THC or CBD, which from 200 °C break down into cannabinol (CBN), among other things. Here is a table summarising these insights for THC:

Based on these considerations, here is a more meaningful table for some cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids: when they start to evaporate under normal pressure in a vaporizer, when their release peaks and at what temperature they begin to break down:

Strategies for vaporizing THC and CBD flowers

So what can we actually say about how a vaporizer can influence the effect profiles of different cannabis products? Many users report that old cannabis, in which THC has broken down into CBN (cannabinol) among other things, tended to have more sedating effects. Since higher vaporizer temperatures also lead to higher CBN levels and to the chemical conversion of other natural substances, higher temperatures might indeed be better suited for sedating purposes.

With strains high in a terpene that may have a more calming effect in synergy with THC, such as linalool, it could also be that it is only released at its maximum at higher temperatures (from 198 °C for linalool) and then has a sedating effect in synergy with other substances such as THC. Unfortunately, there is so far very little scientific evidence supporting the idea of sedation at higher temperatures or with old cannabis.

Can we influence other effects through our choice of temperature? Many online sources rely on relatively weak evidence, for example on individual terpenes, and derive effects from how much of them enters the body. Given how complex the synergy effects are, I consider many of these claims largely speculative, even if some may well be correct. Some claims are already supported as hypotheses by limited preclinical data and user reports, for example that the terpene myrcene may have a sedating effect in synergy with THC.

Conclusion

With vaporizers, you can control which mix of compounds you take in from cannabis and so modulate the effect. However, I recommend looking critically at information from many cannabis portals and not letting hasty marketing claims guide you too much.

Cannabis is like a tool, a bit like a surfboard: only if I acquire knowledge and skills in using this tool can I make better use of its potential. I need a certain persistence to find out through mindful experimentation how I can influence different factors (choice of strain, method of consumption, dose, vaporizer temperature and setting) to achieve particular effect profiles. In my book ELEVATED I call this the PERMIS approach (Persistent Mindful Surfer).

It is important to observe yourself in many ways: how does my mood change, do I get tired, do I stay mentally clear or feel confused, does my perception of pain change? Does the effect feel energising or relaxing, is it strongly physical, are there aphrodisiac effects? Users who learn to observe themselves on many levels will be better able to minimise risks and get more out of their cannabis use.

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