For those who consume weed on a daily basis(such as myself), one of my main concerns is being discreet. Ever since my early highschool years that was what everyone wanted. A large part of that meant doing anything we could to hide the smell. Things like bringing an extra shirt for after you smoke, making a smoke filter out of a toilet paper roll and dryer sheets,
always carrying around eyedrops. You know, that high school shit. Since then I have learned about concentrates but they still managed to produce that lovely pugnent smell that my parents hated so much. Then the universe blessed(or cursed) me with the Vape Cartridge.
Vape carts are obviously the easiest and most discreet way to consume cannabis and still get a nice high. Most of them are reliable, odorless, and they last a while (depending on how often you smoke). So it’s a no-brainer why these are becoming so popular. BDS analystics stated that in December of 2018, vape carts had almost 40% of the market share with flower coming in 2nd at 33%. However, discreetness and booming sales doesn’t always mean safe. Thanks to the ruthless black market, people are putting their health in danger.
What’s inside your cart?
As someone who used to constantly buy street carts, I’m surprised I never got seriously sick or hospitalized from hitting them. These days you never know what’s inside them. That’s why new California regulations are requiring companies to do heavy metal testing on their oil and the results aren’t looking good.
Over the past few months labs are finding that many cartridges contain some amount of lead! You don’t have to be a fucking scientist to know any amount of lead can be detrimental to your health. Interestingly enough, the lead isn’t necessarily coming from the production of the oil, but from the cartridge itself. AnalyticalCannibis.com stated that “A significant proportion of the electronics used in vape carts are produced at metal foundries in China, where it is common to add small amounts of lead into the brass and copper feedstocks in order to make the metals more moldable when shaping all types of electronics.” And since these empty vape carts are so cheap and easily accessible, it makes sense why these street plugs just use them for their loyal “custies”. Cheaper on their end but more harmful to the consumer.
What else could be in your oil?
Lead isn’t even the biggest issue with vape cartridges these days. Many of these street cart “brands” don’t really exist. “Brands” such as Mario Carts, Exotic Carts, and Dank Vapes aren’t necessarily real. I feel like if you can buy Dank Vapes packaging online (in bulk) then it’s definitely not a real company. Many of these “brands” exist because of how easily you can buy the packaging online. What all these “custies” don’t know is that these street carts are being filled by some random hustler who has his own oil. And now a days people are adding unnecessary additives to their oil. Things such as Terpene Diluent.
Wait, I don’t think this is weed
You may have had one of these street plugs come up to you before, flipping their fucking carts upside down and saying something along the lines of, “Aye homie, you smoke? Yoo I got the fire on deck hit my line! I got that real shit look, the bubble don’t move!” That’s probably not thick distilate. Terpene Diluent is a cutting agent that can be used to cut distillate oil and make it thicker. Terpenes alone are not bad for you but adding cutters to distalllate isn’t necessarily what you want in your cartridges. Other cutters such as VG(Vegetable Glycerin), PEG(polyethylene glycol), and MCT (medium chain triglycerides) are also used in cartridges to make the concentrates less thick and easier to vaporize. Not only are these not something you want in your cartridges, they can potentially create hazardous vapor. Chief Scientist at EVOLAB(a lab that specifically focuses on making cannabis vapor products with only cannabis-derived cutting agents) Dr. Noel Palmer wrote that, “Research has shown that a variety of volatile carbonyls can be formed, including formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein. These specific carbonyl compounds are particularly notable because of their adverse health effects on humans. In fact, acrolein was used as a chemical warfare agent in World War I due to its toxicity.” I thought the point of vape cartridges was to get high not almost fucking die.
It’s up to you though…
At this point, if you aren’t buying from a reliable source, your vape cartridge can be filled with anything. As of recently, I had a friend who got Cookies cartridges from a Sesh near my house and said it didn’t get him high at all. I’ve even heard of people putting actual honey in a vape carts which is just fucked up.
When I say “reliable source” I don’t mean the local street plug that your homies have been hitting up for the past year. I mean a licensed shop or sesh that provides actual info(lab tests and ingredient lists) about what’s inside of it. Companies such as Brite labs are reliable and may charge a bit more but I think it’s worth it if you value your health. But if you don’t value your health, that’s cool too!
It’s all up to you though, what would you rather be smoking on?
J420N.NET 