…And when is it safe for me to start vaping cannabis again?
Vaporizers have been in the news a lot lately, and not for the best reason: the CDC has been actively investigating an “outbreak of lung injury associated with e-cigarette use, or vaping,” since the Summer of 2019.
What is That?
First of all: What is “vaping?”
A vaporizer is comprised of three main parts: a battery, coil, and cartridge full of an oil-based extraction of…whatever it is you want to vape (nicotine, THC, CBD, etc). The battery heats the coil, which in turn heats the oil, liquefying it and freeing the chemicals for inhalation. What you’re inhaling is not smoke, but steam. To create smoke, you need to burn something — and that requires waaay more heat than what’s needed to vaporize an oil.
That means that vaporizing cannabis eliminates the dangerous particulate matter that’s naturally mixed into smoke. Cannabis users have also been “dabbing” for years, and vaporizers promise an on-the-go method of discrete inhaling. And they’re insanely popular — in 2018, Forbes proclaimed: “Vaping Propels Cannabis Concentrates Market To $3 Billion“.
So how come in October 2019, Forbes ran this headline: “Top Cannabis Companies Have Lost Almost $10 Billion In Market Value Since Vaping Crisis Began?”
What Happened?
Vitamin Acetate E happened.
But let’s start from the beginning.
In July of 2019, doctors from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and the Illinois Department of Public Health first received reports of “pulmonary disease associated with the use of e-cigarettes (also called vaping)” and launched a coordinated public health investigation. They submitted findings to The New England Journal of Medicine, and what they found was bad.
As of November 20, 2019, “2,290* cases of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI) [had] been reported to CDC from 49 states (all except Alaska), the District of Columbia, and 2 U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands)” with 47 confirmed deaths in 25 states and the District of Columbia.
What’s Causing It?
The CDC currently places the blame on vitamin E acetate — a thickening agent used by low-grade vape manufacturers. (When distillate oil is cut with other substances, it gets extremely liquid-y, and this would seem to be the dangerous new solve for that problem).
To avoid one shoddy product, unsafe and unregulated vape manufacturers have unleashed a deadly one on their customers.
Why Does This Matter To Us?
Cannabis is a vulnerable industry: we’ve fought long and hard to be where we are today. So it’s disheartening when bad actors spoil it for everyone by ignoring safety in the name of profit. At Nuvata, we believe that it’s on us to step up and be the best we can each personally be.
We want to make it clear that we do not use Vitamin E acetate in any of our products.
Let us say that again: We DO NOT use Vitamin E acetate in ANY of our products.
All of our weed is pure cannabis distillate. No fillers, no thickeners, no additives. Just the plant, your pen, and you.