A Quick Guide to Smoke-free Cannabis Alternatives
When it comes to cannabis, everyone knows that you can smoke it--it’s probably the most common and popular way to do it, after all. But, smoking is not your only option.
At Armstrong Block Cannabis, we’ve got a menu full of cannabis goodies that truly reflect the amazing versatility of this wonderful plant. As one of the go-to pot shops in Edmonton, we want cannabis to be accessible to everyone, and so we put together this list of smoke-free cannabis alternatives for the times when you just don’t feel like smoking.
vaping (flower)
Vaping is a great option if you love flower, and we get it because there’s something magical about cracking open a fresh jar of cannabis and being hit with the tantalizing aromas of those delicious terpenes. For the true connoisseurs, it’s one of the best things about cannabis.
The great thing about vaping is you get to retain all of the flavours of cannabis without the harmful smoke. That’s because the temperature for vaping cannabis is much lower than what you’d need to smoke it.
The sweet spot for vaping flower is usually between 160°-220° Celsius, versus the 1000° (or over) that it gets to when you smoke it. In fact, when you’re vaping weed, there isn’t any combustion happening at all because the vape temperatures are far below cannabis’ burning point. Instead, the lower temps are able to vaporize the cannabinoids and terpenes without burning any of the plant matter.
The end result is you get a nice vapor that isn’t anywhere near as irritating to the lungs or throat as pot smoke, and as an added bonus, vaping weed is often much more economical, too. The cannabis you use to roll a 1-gram joint will last you multiple sessions in a vape and it will still get you super stoned. There’s also less smell when you’re vaping which makes vaping much more discreet as well.
Another huge reason why people love vaping flower is that you’ll often get even more of the terpenes (and therefore flavour) from vaping than if you’d simply just smoked it because the lower temperature of vaping preserves the terpenes much better than combustion, which often destroys the more delicate terpenes. As an added bonus, the cannabis left over from a vaping session can be used for making edibles! Its potency is much lower after the vapourizing, but it is already decarboxylated and so can be used in the edible making process - and you can easily store it up in glass jars, bags, and in the freezer!
The only thing about vaping flower is that you’ll need a grinder (unless you want to bust up the cannabis buds with your fingers) and a vaporizer.
There are so many different kinds of flower vaporizers out there. Portable flower vapes are great for on-the-go, but there are also amazing desktop vapes, although these ones can get expensive. Either way, we highly recommend that everyone new to cannabis should try vaping flower at least once to see if they like it.
vape pens (oil and cartridges)
Vape pens are another smoke-free method of enjoying cannabis, but these are much lower maintenance than flower vapes and many people love them because of this. They’re also extremely portable--fitting in your pocket as easily as a pen (hence the name)--and vape pens are straightforward to use. They’re basically grab-and-go!
Most vape pens are made up of two parts: a battery and a cartridge. The cartridges come pre-loaded with cannabis oil, and are also known as “vape carts” or simply, “carts”. Most batteries are chargeable with a USB and use the industry-standard 510-threading, which means you can swap out your used carts and keep using the same battery. When you put the battery and vape cart together, the battery powers the atomizer in the vape cart, vaporizing the oil for inhalation.
Some vape pens are button-activated while others are draw-activated (all you need to do is inhale!), and some vape pens even have temperature controls that allow you to set how thick you want the vapor!
edibles
Edibles, as the name implies, are a form of cannabis that you eat. Edibles come in a wide variety of forms and flavours, from delicious chocolates, caramels, gummies, fruit chews, and even infused fruit. No matter your taste, you’ve got your options, especially if you’ve got a sweet tooth.
They are popular because not only are they better on your lungs than smoking, edibles are much more discreet as you won’t even smell like weed afterwards. Most people won’t even realize you’re taking an edible unless you tell them what it is or they see the packaging, so you don’t have to worry about the cannabis stigma or anyone judging you. This makes them ideal for situations where you want to be lowkey with your cannabis use--say at a family dinner or anywhere that doesn’t allow smoking.
Something you should keep in mind when trying edibles is that, unlike smoking (which can kick in within a few minutes), edibles can take anywhere from thirty minutes to a few hours before you feel anything! That’s because the THC in an edible gets metabolized in the liver, which means it needs to get digested in your stomach first, and this process takes time.
If it’s your first time trying an edible, we highly recommend that you start low and go slow, and make sure to wait at least an hour before taking more. One of the most common rookie mistakes with edibles is being too impatient and taking more, thinking that it’s not working, only to have a double dose of edibles to kick in, leaving you feeling way higher than may have wanted or expected. You want to avoid that because there’s no way of going back once you get to this point. But, if it does happen to you, just keep calm, stay well hydrated, and know that the feeling will pass after a few hours. You’ll be fine!
Edibles also have a limit of 10 mg THC per package, which is actually on the lower end of the spectrum. It also means that if you buy a pack of edibles with 5 gummies inside, each piece would have 2 mg THC, which makes them ideal for low dosing. If that’s still too much for you, you can always cut up your edibles as well.
If you’re someone looking for a stronger dose than 10 mg THC, then we’d like to recommend...
capsules and oils
Capsules and oils are similar to edibles in the sense that they are metabolized the same way, but one of the biggest differences between edibles and capsules is the lack of sugar or flavouring in capsules and oils (although oils can have a fairly distinct taste). Capsules come in a wide variety of strengths, and package quantities, and oils are typically either ‘droppers’ (e.g. you can drop them onto your food) or sprays (e.g. you can spray into your cheek). With capsules and oils, it’s just the cannabinoids like THC or CBD without all of the bells and whistles, making them ideal for those who need to watch their sugar intake (ie. diabetics and those on a diet) or someone wanting a low maintenance way to dose.
Also, capsules and oils generally have a faster onset time than your standard edibles, because as soon as the outer capsule has been dissolved, the cannabinoids can be absorbed by the lining of your digestive system. Cannabis capsules can also feel a bit more medicinal than eating a THC-infused chocolate bar, too, since it’s just like taking any other pill.
Another plus of capsules is that they aren’t subject to the same TC limits as edibles, either. As mentioned earlier, edibles are restricted to a THC limit of 10 mg per package, while there’s a 10 mg THC limit per capsule, which means capsules give you way more bang for your buck, as some capsule containers can contain more than 100 mg THC in total!
With capsules, you don’t have to get eat 4 packages worth of edibles to get a nice 40 mg THC high which can add up fast in the sense of both calories and on your wallet (not to mention all of the packaging waste).
beverages
Similar to edibles, cannabis beverages are limited to 10 mg THC per bottle or can, but one big advantage is that cannabis beverages usually kick in much faster than edibles--sometimes within twenty or thirty minutes! But please keep in mind that this isn’t a guarantee, and the drinks may even take a few hours to kick in (just like edibles) although in general, cannabis drinks are more consistent and faster.
The reason why you’ll feel the effects of cannabis beverages faster is that they are water-soluble, which means you start absorbing the THC the moment you drink the beverage via the tissues in your mouth, throat, and stomach. Compare that to edibles where you have to wait for them to be broken down by your stomach and get metabolized by your liver first.
Much like edibles, you want to start low and go slow with cannabis beverages, but keep in mind that beverages can be harder to dose accurately if you don’t want to drink the whole thing because it’s a liquid. For example, if you only wanted a 5 mg dose but your drink contains 10 mg overall, you’d have to eyeball it and do your best to drink half.
concentrates (dabs)
Concentrates are a large category of cannabis products and comprise everything from shatter, live resin, diamonds, distillate, wax, full-spectrum cannabis oils, and even hash. You may also hear concentrates referred to as ‘extracts’, and while there are some differences in the nomenclature if you want to get specific, for most intents and purposes, ‘concentrates’ and ‘extracts’ are treated as the same thing.
What all of these different cannabis concentrates have in common is their main method of consumption--dabbing (with the possible exception of hash, which is usually smoked, although it can be dabbed as well).
what is dabbing
At its essence, dabbing is basically vaporizing for concentrates.
To dab, you’ll need a dab rig, which sort of looks like a modified bong (aka ‘water pipe’), but instead of the bowl to pack your flower as you’d see on a bong, a dab rig has what’s called a ‘nail’ or ‘banger’ instead.
This nail or banger then gets heated up (some nails are electronic, but many nails and all bangers need to be manually heated with a butane torch), and then you scoop up a small piece of the concentrate using a dabber (a long metal tool that usually looks kind of like a chopstick with a flat end) and apply the concentrate directly to the nail or banger, vaporizing it instantly. You then inhale the vapor.
things to consider when dabbing
As dabbing requires specialized tools, there’s usually a greater initial start-up cost than some of the other smoke-free cannabis methods mentioned. A basic dab kit consists of a dab rig, a dabbing tool, a nail (or banger), a carb cap, and a torch lighter. With so much equipment to work with, it makes sense that there’s also a bit of a learning curve as well. Nowadays, there are also ‘e-rigs’ and specialized vaporizers can be used for concentrates which make things a lot easier, and they also come in all shapes and sizes!
Also, as the name implies, concentrates are much stronger than other forms of cannabis. In fact, some concentrates can be as high as over 90% THC! That’s why we don’t normally recommend concentrates for beginners as they can be too much to handle. For comparison, think of concentrates as the hard liquor of the cannabis world-- much like you wouldn’t give someone who’s never had a drink before 151 proof rum, you probably wouldn’t want to give a cannabis newbie a dab for their first experience.
topicals
Topicals include any kind of cannabis products that go on your skin--you’re not supposed to ingest them. A good way to remember this is to think of topicals as going ‘on top’, not in. Topicals include things like cannabis creams, lotions, bath bombs, and skin patches, and are popular for their relaxing and pain-relieving properties.
While many people use cannabis to help with pain and inflammation, topicals produce a more localized effect. So if your hand is sore, you might rub a cannabis cream over the areas that are sore to experience some relief, versus doing something like a dab or vaping flower, which you’ll feel throughout your entire body.
Another thing—topicals won’t get you high unless they’re specifically designed to. This is because topicals normally get absorbed by the outer layers of your skin, which means the THC cannabinoid THC cannot be absorbed into your bloodstream. CBD, however, can! Which is why most topicals products focus on delivering a targeted CBD effect. The exception to this is transdermal patches, which are designed to penetrate the skin and deliver the cannabinoids into your bloodstream.
smoke-free cannabis: a whole new world
We all know that smoking anything can be harmful to your lungs, and that includes smoking weed. There are many people out there who’d want to avoid those risks altogether, whether for health reasons or simple preference.
Luckily, there are many different ways to enjoy the benefits of cannabis without having to smoke it and your favourite weed dispensary in Edmonton has them all. An added bonus of smoke-free cannabis alternatives is they’re much more discreet because they won’t stink up the room with the aroma of weed. This can be especially helpful during times of bad weather or Edmonton’s cold winter months when you don’t want to leave the house.
Some methods, like cannabis edibles, drinks, and topicals don’t have any smell at all, whereas vaping or dabbing can leave a bit of a scent that dissipates rapidly.
Whatever your reasons, we at Armstrong Block Cannabis encourage you to explore these non-smoking options because you never know, you just might find your new favourite way to enjoy cannabis. So have a look at the menu of one of Edmonton’s best weed shops and have fun exploring this whole new world!
