How The Highs Differ: The Science Behind Vaping vs. Smoking Marijuana – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

This article was originally published on Leafly and appears here with permission.

Physics & Chemistry Of Vaping vs. Smoking

Vaping and smoking both involve applying high temperatures to a material in order to cause it to transform from a solid or liquid into an aerosol, allowing it to be inhaled. The difference between vaping and smoking lies in how high the temperature is. At relatively low temperatures, molecules simply vaporize–changing from solid or liquid into an aerosol. If things are hot enough, combustion occurs. This causes the same molecules to not only vaporize but convert into other things (e.g. THCA → THC). It can also cause them to degrade into potentially harmful byproducts. When you smoke something by applying a flame or very hot heating element to marijuana, you’re inhaling a mixture of what you want (vaporized cannabinoids, terpenes, etc.) together with degradation byproducts.

The vaporization temperature needed to make something inhalable depends on the specific molecule you’re talking about as well as the physical substrate it’s in. For example, the vaporization temperature for THC is different for dried flower compared to concentrated oil, and will also vary somewhat between different types of concentrates. In general, the temperature needed to vaporize THC and other cannabinoids in flower is lower, roughly 200 Celsius (392 Fahrenheit). Many vaporization devices for concentrates use temperatures ranging from ~220 Celsius at the low end up to…