Why You Should Vape Your CBD For Maximum Effect
So you’ve discovered CBD. Congratulations, you’re on the path to being more chill and better focused. But let’s face it, CBD ain’t cheap, ranging in price from $90 to $120 a gram or more. At that price, you’re going to want to get the most bang for your buck. But not all consumption methods are created equal. How you consume your CBD determines how much of it actually gets put to use by your body.
In scientific terms, I’m talking about something called “bioavailability” - the percentage of a supplement that actually enters your systemic circulation and produces active effects. It would be nice if every drop went to good use, but that’s not the case. If you just straight up chow down on pure CBD crystal, it has a bioavailability of 15%. That means for every 100 milligrams of CBD that you eat, only 15 milligrams will reach your bloodstream. If you’re paying, say, $100 a gram, you’re getting $15 worth of benefit and totally wasting the other $85 bucks.
How you ingest CBD can drastically alter dosage.
But why?
First off, CBD is not water soluble, and your blood is mostly water. So any CBD that’s running around in your system will tend to hide in your fatty tissues where it’s welcome. The more CBD that holes up in your fat, the less CBD makes it to vital organs such as your brain, skin, intestines, etc. (Well, at least your fat will be healthy.)
Second, CBD has to make it past your liver before it can enter your bloodstream. The liver’s job is to filter blood by absorbing impurities, breaking them down with enzymes. Doctors call this the “first pass effect.”
Is there any way to get your money’s worth?
One trick for increasing bioavailability is to reduce the amount of CBD that dissolves out of your bloodstream by converting CBD into a form that is water-soluble by chemical means. It’s not a cheap process, however, so it adds cost to the product. For the average person, it’s not worth the tradeoff. It may be worth it, however, if you’ve got a potentially life-threatening illness.
Another solution is to heat the CBD to activate it (a process called decarboxylation), and then dissolve it in an oil, such as hemp seed oil, coconut oil, etc. and then consume it orally. This helps to increase bioavailability, but again, it adds cost to the product. It’s not 100% effective, but it will double the bioavailability. Some of the CBD will still get stranded where it's not doing much good, and it still has to get by your liver. But a dose of some good edibles containing 500 mg of CBD will give you the same benefits as you would get by downing 1,000 mg of pure CBD. That not bad. But it still adds cost to the product.
Still not enough for you?
Maximizing CBD bioavailability
If you want to get the most bang for your buck while having more flexibility in dosing, a better solution is to bypass the first-pass effect altogether by vaping your CBD. Once vaporized, CBD enters your lungs and diffuses directly into your bloodstream, bypassing your gut and liver, allowing nearly four times as much CBD to enter your circulation, producing a bioavailability of roughly 50 to 60 percent. Much better! Now all you need to get the same results as swallowing 1,000 mg of pure crystal, is to vape 250 mg of CBD.
So, whether you're interested in using CBD to treat pain, anxiety, insomnia, or stress, all of which have shown to potentially be responsive to CBD, or just using CBD to relax, vaping is an excellent choice.
(Plus, it's really fun to exhale huge clouds of vapor. You can pretend you're a dragon and help your health at the same time.)
What exactly is vaping?
Vaping is one of the most popular ways to consume CBD, and it can be as simple as using a preloaded disposable vape pen. Concentrated hemp extract and pure CBD crystals are dissolved in oil to produce vape liquid. CBD vape additive is also available, and meant to be added to non-CBD infused vape liquids.
Vaping is not smoking. With smoking, the leaves or flowers of the plant are burned and the smoke inhaled. No matter what you’re smoking, inhaling hot, dry, burning matter is never a good idea. (At least use a water pipe.)
CBD vapes heat cannabis oil at a much lower temperature, creating a smooth vapor steam rather than a harsh smoke, which is far gentler on your throat and lungs. The vapor is readily absorbed into the body. Because vape liquid is a purified extraction, and nothing is being burned, vaping allows much more control over what you are putting in your body.
Many communities around the country are cracking down on smoking in public. CBD vape pens neatly circumvent that issue because they don’t actually produce smoke. The vapor creates very little odor, so you don’t have to worry about the smell of smoke bothering other people. (However, many places still lump vaping in with smoking, so be cautious.)
Vaporizers are often as small as a pencil, making them extremely discreet and easy to carry. Can’t smoke weed during working hours? Got to keep your wits about you? CBD vapor, being totally non-psychoactive, is an excellent daytime alternative.
CBD vapes are also a great for chill-on-demand, helping you stay at ease and level headed in stressful or uncomfortable situations. Unlike taking a capsule or pill, vaporizers make it easy to inhale small doses of CBD, allowing you to steadily access the cannabinoids when you need them to help you get through the day. The calming and focusing effects of CBD kick in almost immediately, and can last a couple hours.
Other than the cost, vaping “too much” CBD can only hurt your wallet. You can’t really overdose on CBD. You’d have to vape like 15 pounds of the stuff to get sick.
Perhaps the best thing about hemp-derived CBD is that it is available no matter where you live. You can purchase full-extract CBD pens online and have them shipped right to your door, no medical cannabis recommendation required.
There are scores of brands out there to choose from. Need a recommendation? Diamond CBD carries a line of high-quality CBD pre-filled vape pens and tanks as well as vape additives and refills in a wide variety of flavors at a reasonable price, plus they offer free shipping in the US.
Rick Schettino is the publisher/editor of CannabizNews.com. He also writes on the topic of hemp, CBD, and the cannabis business in general for numerous industry publications. If you’ve got questions about CBD that you’d like answered send him a private message.
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