By Noel Palmer, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, CBx Sciences & Evolab
Recently we’ve been discussing new and novel products that have been hitting the cannabis markets. This week we’re going to discuss something similar (but different), new technology and hardware that’s been emerging in the cannabis space.
As a matter of health concerns, discreet use, and general appeal – vaporization is becoming more and more common in the cannabis markets. More-so, concentrates have started to become more popular in the Colorado markets, according to the most recent market review by the Colorado MED.
When we talk about vaporizers, there are two major types – conductive and convective vaporizers. Most concentrate vaporizers are conductive, in which the cannabis oils come in direct contact with the heating element in the vaporizer. This is in contrast to convective vaporizers – in which hot air is used to vaporize the cannabinoids. While most people agree that convective vaporizers work best for cannabis flowers because of the even heating and the retained flavor – conductive technology is the baseline for most all concentrate vape products.
That being said, there are a few differences that you will start to see in these types of conductive vape products – and that’s the topic of this week’s subject.
Traditionally, cotton has been a wicking element used in vape pens in order to draw the cannabis oils to the heating element – allowing for conductive heating. In many cases, these types of vape pens are prone to increased leaking or oil coming through the mouthpiece – as the user draws for the first time.
Ceramic based vape pens are starting to hit the market, and these pens resolve many of the issues we’ve experienced with cotton based pens. By definition, ceramics are hardened clays (usually with the addition of heat) – and for the vape pens, these ceramics are made with a specific porosity so the cannabis oils can diffuse through the material. These clays allow for a more consistent product, better vapor streams, and the ability to refill and reuse the vape product for many uses. Ceramics now are made with high quality clays that do not introduce any unexpected contaminants into the product.
At Evolab, all of our cartridges now contain ceramic cores – which we encourage you all to try. We expect you will find they work better than our older hardware and generate a better cannabis experience.
