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Reading time - 11 minutes - February 8, 2022
In our previous article we were discussing smoking weed and what the impacts it may have on your health as well as it’s efficiency, convenience and the flavour profile that you receive from that method. We were also using a rating system where we rated each method in those categories, which we will be continuing here. We will now be discussing all the different and wonderful ways there are to consume weed without smoking! So, hopefully by the end of this article you will find the best way that suits you – without further ado let’s start off by getting into Dabbing!
What is a dab? Dabs are concentrated forms of cannabis that come in a variety of textures. They are most commonly consumed in a dab rig, e-rig (electronic rig) or dab pen. The process of dabbing is extremely hot, they usually are anywhere between 285 – 300°C.
A typical dab rig looks similar to a bong. It has a mouthpiece connected to a chamber with water, except instead of a bowl for your bud, a rig has a nail for dabs. Because of the high temperatures needed to dab, the nail is usually heated with a torch lighter and allowed to cool to the right temperature before dropping in a dab, and then you inhale!
All dab concentrates are sticky and can be messy to work with. They come in a variety of colours: yellow, amber, brown, and even white. There are many different materials you can dab with, all of which are concentrates (e.g. shatter, badder, crumble, wax, oil, rosin, etc).
As mentioned in our previous article, dabs are extremely efficient! From a dab, it will be delivering about 75% of the THC – which is 300% more efficient than smoking joints / bongs. You will also receive a really intricate flavour profile from dabs as all the vapour will be cooled down slightly in the water, reducing the harshness allowing you to focus on the terps more. A great concentrate will carry the flavour and aroma of the original plant through the extraction process and into the final product when you dab.
Dabbing is also healthier for your body as extracts that have been properly made can also be cleaner, purer, and easier on the lungs. However, when smoking cannabis, burned plant matter produces resin and hot smoke, but extracts eliminate most of these unwanted materials while still delivering essential cannabinoids, terpenes, and other compounds.
The only downside to dabbing is that it isn’t always the most convenient method as you won’t be likely to carry a dab rig and torch lighter around with you – but that is why e-rigs are so convenient! Some are almost pocket sized and are very portable, they can be quite expensive though – yet there is definitely still a way for this to be a convenient method!
Convenience – 4/5
Health – 4/5
Flavour – 4/5
Efficiency – 5/5
Overall – 17/20
Another great method to consume cannabis without smoking is making edibles – in fact it’s actually the most popular method after smoking/vaping! The diversity of weed edibles is quickly and vastly expanding, you can now pretty much infuse anything that involves butter or oil – some even put their cannaoil/cannabutter in their drinks.
There’s a whole process on how to make edibles, however we have already discussed this in another article that you should definitely check out here… The process could be seen as inconvenient, but if you manage to do it just fine then you will find these edibles incredibly efficient as you can take them with you pretty much anywhere and no one will suspect a thing.
There are so many benefits to edibles with no health effects as long as you are making your edibles safely. The only downside to it, which others may not view as a downside, is the fact that the quantity is much more difficult to measure. This could be seen as inefficient as you may not always be able to measure how strong your edibles will be. So definitely be careful when eating your edibles – in other words, start with a low dose and be patient! Because edibles take much longer to kick in due to the digestive process however they can have intensely psychoactive effects!
Convenience – 4/5
Health – 5/5
Flavour – 2/5
Efficiency – 4/5
Overall – 15/20
The most popular alternative way to consume weed without smoking would have to be vaping. Dry herb vaporizers have become much more well known in recent years as it really is a much better option than smoking for a bunch of reasons.
If you aren’t sure what a dry herb vaporizer is or how they work they definitely check out this article here and also check out our own range of dry herb vaporizers here.
Vaporizing generally is much healthier than burning weed, not only does it also taste much better than smoking but it is much more economical as you use less flower, yet extract everything possible without wasting any THC as you would when combusting. Dry herb vaporizers are so developed now that you can have tabletop devices or just handheld devices making it the most portable and therefore convenient method that there is!
The vapor is much easier on the lungs as well as less harmful. There is research evidence that suggests vaping cannabis is less harmful to your respiratory system than smoking and it definitely isn’t hard to believe.
The potency of weed when vaped through a dry herb vaporizer is also reported to be much higher which backs up the efficiency of this method even more. From a report it was found that people who vaped weed experienced stronger effects, regardless of the amount of THC in the product, than they do when smoking weed. You also experience a much more intricate terp profile, as nothing is being burned and the flavours from the bud are much stronger than you would experience when combusting.
Convenience – 5/5
Health – 5/5
Flavour – 5/5
Efficiency – 5/5
Overall – 20/20
If you aren’t familiar with what this is, it is basically a method of consuming weed infused products through rectal administration. This is surprisingly the most effective way of consuming cannabis as it takes advantage of the high amount of blood vessels and capillaries in the rectum, which speed up the absorption process for faster, stronger intoxication.
Most of the suppositories on the market are CBD-infused and are usually used for therapeutic reasons, like pain or nausea relief, however some brands have upped their THC content for added effects.
In suppository form, the cannabinoid is diverted around the gastrointestinal tract and therefore not initially digested in the stomach (which is how the THC effects are usually reduced slightly). The active molecules (THC, CBD and other cannabinoids) can therefore find their way into the blood in a much higher concentration. The molecules take between 30 minutes and two hours to kick in and the effect lasts up to eight hours, which seems very efficient, the process is perhaps a little inconvenient to most though…
Convenience – 2/5
Health – 4/5
Flavour – 0/5
Efficiency – 5/5
Overall – 11/20
Tinctures are made of alcohol-based cannabis extracts that come in bottles with droppers, however many people make their own – they’re made by soaking the flowers and/or leaves in a solvent like alcohol. It’s very discreet, and it allows for precise dosing down to a single drop. You can add tinctures to drinks, but you can also get the effects faster by placing a few drops under your tongue.
By placing a couple of drops of the tincture under your tongue it will enter the bloodstream immediately, unlike ingestible oils and infused foods, allowing for fast-acting effects and better dose control. A variety of flavors, potencies, and cannabinoid profiles are often available, catering to your specific preferences or medical needs.
Tinctures are often compared to sublinguals which are things like tinctures, films, and dissolvable tablets, that are placed under the tongue for faster effects and aren’t ever actually swallowed.
Tinctures are usually very concentrated and will give the user much stronger effects than edibles if entering straight into the bloodstream, this makes them highly efficient as no THC goes to waste. Like edibles, tinctures tend to have an earthy taste, however you can mask this with flavouring if you like. The only issue is that due to the laws in the UK it will be difficult to get your hands on some ready-made tinctures, however you can always make them yourself!
Convenience – 3/5
Health – 5/5
Flavour – 0/5
Efficiency – 5/5
Overall – 13/20
THC Lean is a cannabis-infused syrup that is made by mixing decarbed cannabis or cannabis extract with syrup, which is then infused with the THC. Shatter, wax or budder work great for this as it dissolves smoothly without leaving any plant material or residue.
THC Lean is perfect for mixing with drinks – the effects of THC Lean are similar to edibles and can last longer than smoking or vaping. As the cannabinoids are delivered in liquid form, the effects occur faster than your average edibles. The flavour will most likely be very sweet from the syrup so you won’t be able to get a good terp profile, however, this can vary.
However, due to the fact that 99% of THC Lean being sold in the UK is manufactured under the radar and most likely without strict quality control, the dosage of these liquids varies. It is best to make it yourself to be sure that it is safe and also so that you can choose the amount of THC that you would like to put into your syrup.
Convenience – 2/5
Health – 5/5
Flavour – 0/5
Efficiency – 5/5
Overall – 12/20
Before we get into this conclusion, let’s see how our various methods ranked!
1st – Vaping
2nd – Dabbing
3rd – Edibles
4th – Tincture
5th – Lean
6th – Suppositories
So, vaping ranked the highest – this is due to the ease of the product, it is so straightforward to use, the portability too is very convenient while also being discreet. The health impact is much better than smoking and also the flavours that you can achieve through smoking are unmatched! It is also an incredibly efficient method due to the fact some vaporizers offer microdosing, and many users report feeling much higher from the same or less bud than what they would use when smoking.
Dabbing is also a great method, it has the highest efficiency when it comes to statistics, as it delivers 75% of THC. It also allows the user to experience a lot of the flavours, as well as taking huge bong like hit without the impact on your lungs that combusting would.
Edibles came in third place and this is due to the high efficiency of this method. As well as the fact is has no impact on your health at all as it doesn’t ever travel through your lungs. The only downside is that it can be a long process to make edibles and you can’t ever get a clear idea of how potent they will be.
There are of course many other methods that you may want to consider, such as pills, dab pens, topicals, ingestible oils and more. We didn’t go into detail on these methods as they are either difficult to get your hands on in the UK or they are very similar to other methods we discussed. Such as the dab pen – this is similar to dabbing – it is inbetween a dab and a vape, which can sometimes get confused with oil vapes – however it isn’t as safe as research has shown it can potentially cause Popcorn Lung which you can read more about in this article. Ingestible oils are also quite similar to edibles as it is just the cannaoil put into pill form so that you can ingest the pills without the added time and calories of making edibles.
We hope that this article has helped you to decide which method of consuming weed without smoking suits you best, if you decide to go with vaping then definitely check out our vaporizers here.
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