Heat Not Burn vs. Vaping vs. Smoking: What’s Best For Tasting Flower?

By Harriet Clark

Let’s cut to the chase. Smoking and wellness are strange bedfellows. Decades of scientific reports have shown smoking to be harmful to respiratory and cardiovascular health. Yet today we are witnessing a booming industry promoting cbd and wellness as allies in the holy grail of wellbeing.

What’s caused the shift in thinking? Obviously a main reason is a result of hemp cbd legalization. With increased legalization, more research and innovation has led to cleaner and healthier devices for cbd delivery. While data is still lacking on how hemp cbd affects our lungs, vaporizing hemp cbd is considered to be less harmful to the function of our lungs as compared to tobacco. The FDA reported in 2019 that Heat not burn products (HNB) are ‘modified risk,’ compared to traditional combusted cigarettes. 

Vaporizers and heat not burn devices have been developed to help plug the gap for smokers of medicinal cbd, to provide a cleaner method for the respiratory system. 

Smoking hemp cbd is a lifestyle choice and the delivery method you choose may be influenced by many things such as age, gender, health, budget, portability and more. A 2016 ‘Online survey characterization vaporization use among cbd users,’ was carried out by researchers in Dartmouth, UK to explore the largely unknown health implications of vaporizers. The results of the survey revealed,

“Those that preferred vaping reported it to be healthier, better tasting, produced better effects, and more satisfying.” 

In this blog post we will look at some of the best options for tasting flower.

Tasting Flower - What’s Better for Indoors? Heat Not Burn Vs. Smoking

Hemp CBD may be legal across the US, but it’s best not to assume it is legal to smoke cbd indoors in a public place, in a discreet way or not.  

Vaporizers may be discreet in that they emit odorless vapor, however many of them are highly conspicuous because of the clouds of vapor they emit. If you are looking to smoke indoors Heat not burn or vaporizers that emit little vapor are probably your best bet. Some oil vaporizers are known to release nickel and chromium into the vapor path, and this can occur when the coils start to degrade, so good to bear this in mind for your own health, and others around you in a public place.

Omura’s Series 1 and Series X have been designed for those who enjoy the social ritual of smoking indoors amongst friends. The heat not burn convection oven inside the Omura vaporizers results in vapor that has a great tasting flower, or dry herb and minimal lingering odor that sticks to skin, hair and clothes. The barely there vapor is smooth and great to inhale and you are not exposing others sitting nearby in a room to dangerous smoke that is emitted when you combust whole flower. In this way Omura vaporizers have been specifically designed to be discreet, making them ideal for indoor use. 

Which delivery methods are best for tasting flower?

Heat not burn devices are not only discreet, they are considered to be cleaner on your lungs. This is because when you heat whole flower to a lower temperature the essential CBD molecules are released with fewer of the unwanted byproducts emitted from combustion. 

A research study by California NORML and MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), showed that vaporizers are able to convert roughly 46 percent of available CBD into vapor, compared to a joint which on average converts less than 25 percent of CBD. The vaporizer is a more efficient delivery method, giving a cleaner, healthier high. 

Heat Not Burn vs. Vaping vs. Smoking: How do the effects differ? 

Smoking hemp rich in CBD in a joint can lead to

• Far fewer CBD molecules reaching your bloodstream due to burning your herb
• Pulmonary discomfort, including coughing and irritation 
• The smoke causes irritation and potential issues to those around you

Enter vapes. Get more from your herb with fewer unwanted side effects

• Smoke-free due to heating your herb to lower temperatures 
• Fewer toxicants emitted due to lower heating temperatures and no combustion

• Temperature control presets allow you to get the most out of your herb’s flavor and effects with less quantity needed

Do Omura vaporizers truly have less odor?

One of the advantages of the Omura vaporizer is that the vapor has very minimal odor. Yet the terpenes inside the hemp plant are released allowing you to taste the amazing whole flower, which is afterall what you want. An important part of the hemp plant are the terpenes, (the oils released in the trichomes of the cannabis plant). Like enjoying a glass of craft wine, the experience of hemp flower is a sensory experience and will involve an appreciation of the terpenes as well as the taste of the flower. Omura vaporizers give you the full entourage effect. 

Simply put, the entourage effect means that the CBD molecules and many others in the hemp plant work better in combination with terpenes than in isolation through extraction. 

What Methods of Hemp CBD Consumption are best for Bioavailability?

The Bioavailability of a substance is essentially what percentage a substance is actually absorbed into the bloodstream, and the rate of absorption. The higher the bioavailability, the more your body is able to absorb the benefits of CBD into the blood and make it available to the body. 

Consumption methods all affect the bioavailability of CBD, but the golden rule is “less is more.” Edibles are the least bioavailable. As little as 6% of the dose is absorbed and the rate of absorption is slow! This is because the gummies have to reach the liver and be metabolized. This can take several hours to kick in, but then last much longer than is desired. In other words edibles, although the easiest to consume, are the least effective delivery method. 

Heat not burn or vaporizing hemp cbd is the most bioavailable and quickest method to absorb cbd. The vapor molecules pass directly into the bloodstream, via the lungs and so avoid metabolization via the liver. 

We are gradually losing the stigma that smoking hemp CBD has had, as more and more research will continue to reveal the medicinal capacities of the incredible hemp plant. Technology will also help to further remove the stigma by continuing to develop new, clean methods to best absorb the medicinal parts of the hemp plant.