Why Vaporization Is Better Than Combustion

Organic, fibrous, carbon-based material will be classified as “herbs” for the purpose of this blog. Herb is composed of liquid (moisture or oils), leaves and stem (and in some cases bark, trunk and root). Vaporization is a process by which liquid becomes vapor, The liquid undergoes a phase shift — it turns from liquid into vapor. Colloquially, combustion means burning something. Combustion technically means creating noxious gasses, such as carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2), through a chemical reaction. These noxious gasses do not naturally occur in any herb, are not intended by nature, and generally are harmful to the human body. Visually, carbon often appears as blackened remnants. 

This write up is the best we’ve found about combustion (go to the section “Why and How Wood Burns”). Herbalizer testing leads to the same conclusions drawn in that write-up.

For more details about the systemic harms that can result from carbon dioxide toxicity, click here .

For a recent scientific article about combustion by-products and their health effects, see here.

Vaporization has no chemical by-products.  Nothing has been added, nothing has been removed; the material in question has simply changed form.

It is possible to combust without burning. It depends on temperature and whether there is moisture in the herb. In practical application, at temperatures below 450ºF, herbs will not combust. Above 451°F, even if you are vaping, some parts of your herb are drier than others and once dry (no moisture to vaporize), they will instantly enter phase I combustion, and the resulting gasses mix with the vapor. At first it will be 99% vapor and 1% combustion gasses, then it will be 80% vapor and 20% combustion gasses (your senses won’t notice at first, but your liver and your lungs certainly will). At 50%/50% you will start to notice, and eventually all the moisture will be gone and there will be just combustion gasses. At 451°F it is incredibly subtle – but once the moisture is evaporated the herb begins to combust.

Vaporization does not have the adverse health effects of combustion. If you care about your body (especially your lungs and liver), vaporization is the best means by which to consume liquid (or oils) present in herbs.