There are some significant differences between CBD edibles and CBD vapes. To learn more, check out this article.
It has been over two years since the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 legalized CBD and medical marijuana products. After that, markets have been flooded with a variety of CBD-infused products such as edibles, oils, tinctures, and vapes. You can even find CBD-infused pet shampoos.
This sudden popularity is not just a phase. CBD has quite a lot of health benefits that have been tested and proved.
What Is CBD?
CBD or cannabidiol is a phytocannabinoid, which was discovered in 1940. It is extracted from cannabis or hemp plants. Most cannabis plants have a high amount of THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, which is why they are illegal. But CBD extracted from hemp plants contains a very low amount of THC.
For a CBD product to be legal, it must contain THC lower than 0.3%. CBD can be extracted using winterization and short path distillation. Both of these processes are safe and easy to conduct in labs.
This is why CBD products have become extremely popular among people as it does not disrupt everyday perception or make people hallucinate. Instead, it offers a relaxing sensation. A lot of doctors even prescribe CBD products to patients who suffer from anxiety, stress, or insomnia.
Types of CBD Products
Some CBD products include CBD oil, CBD edibles, CBD lotion, CBD vapes, CBD isolate, and more. The two most popular types of CBD products are CBD edibles and CBD vapes.
What Are CBD Edibles?
CBD edibles are products that you can eat. There is an array of CBD edibles, from foods to drinks and pills. You can find CBD edibles in the form of brownies, gummies, chocolates, peanut butter, candies, cookies, coffee, and even beer.
These are similar to space cakes and marijuana brownies. The term “edibles” is very common in the world of marijuana; however, these edibles maintain the same low levels of THC and do not cause any psychoactive effects.
How to Consume CBD Edibles
You can consume CBD edibles like any other food. The taste may vary a little because CBD has a certain earthy flavor to it. It goes into your digestive system where the CBD in the edible gets digested.
You can even make CBD edibles at home. CBD oil and cooking oil mix nicely so you can prepare various edibles with them.
You can use CBD butter as well to prepare various dishes. If you wish to create homemade CBD gummies, you need CBD oil, grass-fed collagen, gelatin, raw honey or any other sweetener, and gummy molds.
Pros and Cons of CBD Edibles
The Pros
1. They Stay in Your Body Longer
When you consume CBD edibles, they go into your digestive system. It gets digested and all the ingredients enter your bloodstream, including the CBD.
Since digestion is a slow process, CBD stays in your body for a long period. This is very helpful for people who want to enjoy the relaxing sensation of CBD for a long time. This is especially helpful for those suffering from insomnia.
2. There Are Many Variants
CBD edibles come in all sizes and flavors. As mentioned before, you can enjoy CBD as gummies, brownies, candies, or drinks. This makes it a versatile option for many people. The flavor changes with every type. You can have sweet, sour, or even spicy edibles.
3. You Can Eat Wherever You Want
A big benefit of CBD edibles is that you can consume them without anyone noticing. If you want to consume CBD in public as a vape or smoke, you will have to find a safe spot to smoke. Even in places where CBD is legal, you still might get fined for smoking in a public place.
But with CBD edibles, for instance, if you have CBD gummies, you can simply pop one open and eat it whenever and wherever you want.
4. The Amount of CBD Is Changeable
You can change the amount of CBD in your edibles, which will impact your CBD consumption. For example, an average CBD gummy contains 5mg of CBD, which is great for beginners.
But if you want to consume more CBD, you can just increase the amount of CBD oil used to make the gummy. Or simply buy edibles with higher dosages. Gummies come in 5, 20, and 25 mg, as well as plenty of other amounts.
The Cons
1. It Takes Longer to Take Effect
CBD edibles need to be completely digested to cause any effects and digestion can be a slow process. If you want a faster effect from edibles, eat them with an empty stomach.
But if you just had a heavy lunch or dinner, then it can take about an hour or two to cause any effects.
2. Low Bioavailability
This relates to the previous point. Bioavailability means the absorption rate of the product. Even if you have a high dosage of CBD in your edible and take it on an empty stomach, you still might not get the full amount of CBD contained in the edible.
Edibles are considered to have the lowest bioavailability compared to CBD oils and vape juices.
What Are CBD Vapes?
Vaping is a popular alternative to smoking where people can use e-cigarettes or vape pens to smoke nicotine. Here, instead of nicotine, we can use CBD vape juice that has become quite popular over the years.
Many people who are chain smokers consume CBD as a healthy alternative to smoking and even attempt to quit smoking nicotine by vaping CBD.
How to Vape CBD?
For vaping CBD, you need to use a vaporizer. These vaporizers are also known as vape pens. You have to put CBD oil in the cartridge compartment. When you switch on the vape pen, it will heat using a coil and vaporize the CBD juice slowly.
The temperature can go up to 204°C so it is wise not to touch the front part of the vape pen. As it heats, it will create smoke that you can inhale from the pen. This will give you the raw flavor of CBD.
But, if you want to enjoy CBD vape with some flavor, you can buy flavored CBD vape cartridges and attach them to the vape pen.
Pros and Cons of CBD Vapes
The Pros
1. Great Alternative to Cigarettes
We all know how harmful nicotine cigarettes are for our health. Despite that, we get hooked on nicotine because of its addictive components.
Quitting smoking can be a difficult and stressful task. This is why a lot of people try a gradual process where they first shift to cigarettes with less nicotine and slowly reduce their consumption. This still is a long process, and they still consume nicotine regularly, even if it is a small amount.
This is why vaping CBD is the perfect alternative. The process of vaping is similar to smoking cigarettes but instead of a life-threatening chemical, you will be inhaling something that is healthy and has been medically proven to have no psychoactive or addictive effects.
2. It Takes Effect Faster
When you inhale CBD by vaping, you are directly sending the CBD to your lungs which are directly connected to your blood vessels.
So when you inhale CBD, it can get into your bloodstream easily. This helps the CBD take effect at a faster rate. Vaping also has a high bioavailability, meaning you will be able to consume more CBD at a faster rate.
3. Easier to Control Dosage
Most of the time, CBD edibles do not have the amount of CBD listed on their packaging. But CBD vape cartridges always have the amount labeled. This makes it very easy to control your CBD intake.
Most CBD cartridges contain 30 ml of CBD oil, which contains 100mg CBD. From this, you will easily be able to tell how much you need to inhale. Even though the THC is below 0.3%, it is still advised to monitor your CBD consumption and increase or decrease the amount based on your tolerance level.
The Cons
1. The Effect Wears Off Fast
Our lungs can filter blood quickly. As it filters the blood, it also removes all the CBD ingredients present in the blood. Because it is an alien element, the lungs remove it to purify the blood.
As the CBD components get removed, so does its effect on our body and mind.
2. You Need to Maintain a Vape Pen
Beginners cannot properly use a vape pen or understand all its features. Since there are so many types of pens, it requires a bit of time to learn how to use them.
People need to learn how long they need to keep the vape pen switched on to heat up the CBD oil inside and when they need to turn it off. They also need to know how to control their CBD intake, as vaping a controlled amount can get difficult.
You also need to keep your vape pens clean. Not to mention, some vape pens and cartridges can be really expensive.
Final Verdict
From the discussion above, we can clearly see both CBD edibles and vapes have their own perks. You can take CBD edibles when you want a slow and long-lasting effect and you can use CBD vapes to enjoy the effects immediately. These two products are completely situational and mostly depend on personal preference.
But if we were to give our verdict, we believe CBD edibles are much better than CBD vapes. This is mostly because CBD edibles have better health benefits. They have plenty of varieties, are cheaper compared to vapes, and you can basically eat them anywhere you want.
