While inhale and exhale sounds simple enough, knowing how to vape correctly can improve your vaping experience. Here we cover the two most popular vaping techniques.
So you’ve heard about the benefits of using a vaporizer and how vaping is a clean, lung-friendly method for consumers to inhale medical marijuana. Now you’re ready to try it out. But, how do you do it?
While it may seem silly to offer a tutorial on how to inhale and exhale vapor, the process can take a little adapting for those new to vaping. Knowing how to properly draw and inhale from a vaporizer can improve your overall vaping experience.
What Happens When You Vape
Medical marijuana contains more than 100 different cannabinoids, a class of active compounds that interact with our body’s native systems to produce various effects. The most well known cannabinoids are cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound with natural benefits, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the widely recognized compound that causes a high. The concentration of these cannabinoids vary by cannabis strain.
Vaporizers heat up the medical marijuana cannabinoids material, usually in the form of dry herb, concentrate waxes, or CBD vape oil, to their boiling point, releasing its cannabinoids in the form of a pure vapor that’s designed for inhaling.
Once you draw and inhale the cannabinoid-rich vapor, the active compounds are absorbed by your lung’s alveoli. These tiny air sacs located at the ends of the respiratory tree are responsible for sending oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from your bloodstream.
From the alveoli, the cannabinoids are transferred to your bloodstream. This is where they can move about the body and interact with cannabinoid receptors to elicit their effects.
Cannabinoid receptors are part of your body’s endocannabinoid system, a regulatory network that is responsible for keeping most of body’s functions in balance. By interacting with the cannabinoid receptors, cannabinoids like CBD and THC stimulate the endocannabinoid system and encourage its efforts.
Compared to many other methods of consuming cannabis, vaping offers quickest effects. The pathway the active compounds travel from the lungs to the bloodstream happens nearly instantaneously.
How to Inhale and Exhale Vapor
In general, there are two main methods of vaping you can use: the “mouth to lung” technique or the “direct lung” technique.
The mouth to lung method involves taking the vapor into your mouth first and then inhaling it into your lungs. In the direct lung technique, you draw the vapor straight into your lungs as if breathing in deeply.
Let’s take a look at each of these methods in more detail:
Mouth to Lung
Most popular for vaping beginners, the mouth to lung method closely mimics the inhalation technique used when smoking. It’s similar to sucking on a straw in that you pull the vapor into your mouth and hold it there momentarily. Then, once your mouth is filled with vapor, you suck the vapor into your lungs by taking a slow and deliberate inhale.
Because the vapor is exposed to your taste buds longer, the mouth to lung method is ideal for those who prefer the flavor of cannabis. It uses up less vaporizer battery powder and less of the cannabis material with each pull. As a result, the effects experienced from the mouth to lung method aren’t as powerful or intense.
Direct Lung
Known for providing a more intense “hit,” the direct lung technique involves pulling the vapor directly into the lungs rather than letting it first fill up in your mouth. It requires a deep inhale, as if you were sucking air from a balloon. The vapor fills or “inflates” the lungs and delivers large amounts of active compounds to the alveoli.
The direct lung technique is ideal for those more experienced with vaping or who are looking for more powerful effects. This technique can cause the vaporizer and subsequently the vapor to get hot, so it’s best to inhale deeply as quickly as possible.
Regardless of which inhale technique you choose, allow the vapor to remain in your lungs for at least a few seconds before exhaling with purpose. Most people choose to exhale through the mouth, although some opt to exhale through the nose to better experience the smell of cannabis.
Tips for Those New to Vaping
As you first start vaping, it is recommended that you begin slow and gradually increase your intake over time. Take one draw at a time and wait a few minutes to see how you feel before taking another one. Cautious experimentation is the best way to find out the proper amount of cannabinoids that works best for you.
Expect that you may cough or experience an itch in your throat after vaping. It’s completely normal and any pinch or itchy sensation you feel should dissipate relatively quickly.
Learn More about Vaping Cannabis
You can learn even more about vaping, including how to find the right vaporizer for you, and vaping’s cousin, dabbing (using shatter) by visiting our Cannabis 101 Page.
The vape products and vaping advice featured in Medical Marijuana, Inc. posts are specifically for people looking to support their health with legal natural botanicals and are not created with nicotine or tobacco users in mind.
