How To Outsmart Illicit Vape Oil/Illicit Vape Hardware & Keep Your Brand Real

Los Angeles, California

Written by: Jessi Cox

Over the past few years, I have heard the words vape and vaporizer used in many different contexts, typically in a negative way.

In 50 articles that cover vaping written in the past year, none have compelling evidence that would sway me away from vaping compliant cannabis oil housed inside of a compliant cannabis cartridge.

The word "compliance" is found abundantly in heavily regulated markets like the cannabis industry and is rooted in the word comply, which means to fulfill or complete.

My time in the cannabis industry is nearing a decade. During that time, I have owned and operated a cannabis staffing and executive search agency, a cannabis trimming company, a cannabis marketing company, a cannabis seed-to-sale software startup and a cannabis vaporization company.

Needless to say, I have extensive experience inside of the legal cannabis industry and the operational elements and daily workings therein including the opportunities and risks that are found within this dichotomy.

The biggest risk for consumers when they vape cannabis oil is the risk that they are vaping a cartridge that has not undergone proper state testing and that the cartridge is not what the lab says it is...which has been a compliance issue for some time.

Certain labs have been known to accept bribes to push certain results, to pass... if you will. In an effort to educate my base about vaping safety and standards, I thought this would be a great place to start.

Any cannabis vape not tested by a licensed state lab, is at risk of having contaminants. Most cannabis consumers look for potency only when looking at their cannabis lab results.

Here is the short list of what you want to check before you puff on that cannabis vape:

1. Mycotoxins
2. Regulations & Testing
3. Risidual Solvents
4. Microbes
5. Pesticides
6. Concentrates
7. Heavy Metals
8. Compliant Cannabis Vape Hardware
9. Cannabinoid & Terpenoid Profiling

What are Mycotoxins?

While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been dealing with mycotoxin contamination for years, new state regulations in California have only recently started to require that all cannabis products be tested for mycotoxins.

You might not be familiar with mycotoxins, but they represent a major source of contamination for cannabis flower and other cannabis products.

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolite compounds produced by mold or fungi. Mold can infect cannabis flower as well as the compounds that go into the production of edibles and other cannabis products. Under the right conditions, mold can grow before plant harvest, during storage, or even directly on food items.

Improper storage conditions create the perfect warm, humid environment for mold to flourish.

As mold grows and replicates, it naturally produces mycotoxins as metabolic byproducts.

Unfortunately, many mycotoxins are relatively stable. This means they can remain chemically intact and toxic even after the harsh treatment of food processing.

Aflatoxins are a family of compounds and represent one of the most noxious classes of mycotoxins.

They’re produced by molds like Aspergillus that grow in soil and on grains. Ochratoxin A, another mycotoxin, is produced by multiple species of Aspergillus and Penicillin.

This is one of the most common food-contaminating mycotoxins.

Mycotoxins are known to be dangerous and severely toxic to humans, especially when exposure is chronic. Low chronic doses of aflatoxins are known causes of damage to the liver and suppression of the immune system.

Very rare high levels of aflatoxin exposure can lead to an acute, fatal reaction.

Aflatoxins, specifically are known to be carcinogenic and prolonged exposure can lead to an increased risk for liver cancer.

Ochratoxin A has been known to cause kidney damage and compromise the immune system.

These risks underscore the challenges medical cannabis consumers face who have pre-existing liver or kidney damage or are undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

Regulations and Testing

The FDA requires mycotoxin testing for our food supply, but until recently, there was no mycotoxin testing requirement for cannabis.

With the enactment of a new set of regulations in January 2019, all cannabis products sold by licensed distributors in the state of California must be tested for mycotoxins.

These new regulations for mycotoxins establish maximum acceptable levels for several Aflatoxin variants and Ochratoxin A.

Compliant companies look to partner with a trusted lab that uses Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectroscopy to test for mycotoxins. Using this type of instrument can detect even trace levels of mycotoxins in a wide variety of cannabis products.

Residual Solvents

Residual Solvents are the leftover chemicals used to make various cannabinoid extracts. This testing method allows a lab to identify the extraction process and subsequent quality of any cannabis extract.

Residual Solvents are tested for by using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, along with a headspace auto-sampler to quantitate N-butane and other residual solvents in manufactured cannabis products. Current methodology and instrumentation screen for many solvents including: acetone, butane, ethanol, isobutane, isopropanol, methane, propane, pentane, and hexane PPM values.

Microbes

Microbes are molds and bacteria that may pose a high risk to consumers (especially with suppressed immune systems). The higher the concentration of these organisms, the greater the risk to consumers.

A good lab will provide a microbiological screening program which ensures the safety of cannabis by identifying the type and level of microorganisms present in each sample. Molds are ubiquitous, and small amounts are found in almost every sample.

Exposure to high levels of microorganisms such as molds and bacteria are known to cause health problems and can be particularly dangerous to patients that have existing medical conditions. Cannabis that contains known bacteria should always be destroyed.

Most states have established tolerance limits for microbiological contamination in cannabis.

Pesticides

Pesticides are common in most agricultural settings and cannabis is no different. Testing for residues help protect consumers from consuming hazardous chemicals like abamectin, bifenazate, and bifenthrin.

Proper testing allows us to know exactly how much pesticide is present, down to the part per million.

Always look for the levels of: abamectin, bifenazate, bifenthrin, daminozide, etoxazole, fenoxycarb, imazazil, imidacloprid, myclobutanil, paclobutrazol, pyrethrins, spinosad, spiromesifen, spirotetramat, and trifloxystrobin.

Concentrates

Concentrates are created using solvents like supercritical CO2 or nitrogen to extract cannabinoids from the cannabis plant into a substance with substantially higher concentrations. While most raw flowers test below 20% THC, some concentrates contain over 80% THC.

Concentrates contain cannabinoids (in their acid and decarboxylated forms) as well as some terpenes, depending on the type of extraction method used.

Heavy Metals

Cannabis loves soaking up heavy metals. It absorbs them from the soil, water and air. The cannabis plant is an excellent bio-remediator, and takes up a large majority of whatever the roots come in contact with.

Even at extremely low levels, heavy metals such as lead and cadmium can be extremely hazardous to one’s health.

Without uniform regulations for heavy metal testing, medical cannabis patients have no way of knowing whether their products are laced with cadmium, lead, arsenic or mercury – all of which pose serious health risks.

Not all regulators require heavy metals testing at the moment. Where applicable, and depending on specific state regulatory requirements, labs are able to test for concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, barium, chromium, selenium and silver.

A good cannabis lab like Abstrax Tech can detect heavy metals at concentrations as low as one part per billion, giving patients, caregivers and retail consumers an accurate profile of their purchases.

Additionally, it is tantamount that compliant cannabis oil is only put into vape hardware cartridges made by manufacturer, like Vessel Brand that is also heavy metal compliant in all states.

Compliant Cannabis Vape Hardware

The majority of today's cannabis vape hardware is created and designed for tobacco and e-juice products.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Although the viscosity of liquid as well as compliance standards between the two industries is completely different, most cannabis technology used today was improperly standardized from tobacco products with no regard to the differences therein.

The most innovative companies currently are ones that are designing technology for cannabis liquids specifically. They design products that help to ensure proper vaporization of the liquids with leak free, heavy metal compliant cartridges.

The best ones also offer tamper-free cartridges that ensure that the end consumer is receiving the same product as is stated on the label.

Vessel? Brand Vape Hardware Platform is designed by engineers who are also cannabis consumers, everything our engineers design have cannabis consumers in mind.

One cannabis hardware manufacturer that I have partnered with as their VP of Brand Partnerships we are building our platform in cannabis vape hardware industry from a risk mitigation and compliance standpoint is Vessel Brand, found right here in Carlsbad, California.

Every Vessel? Brand vape hardware product has laser etch batch coding as a standard, most products are already HMC/CR (heavy metal compliant, child resistant) and can be designed to fit your brand standard.

Cannabinoid & Terpenoid Profiling

High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) or Gas Chromatography (GC) is used to analyze active compounds found in cannabis flowers, concentrates and infused products.

A quality lab like Abstrax Tech based in California can provide one of the most comprehensive cannabinoid and terpenoid profiles available.

They employ premium instruments and qualified methodologies to quantify up to 20 cannabinoids, as many as 42 terpenes, microbiological/ pesticide contaminants, and residual solvents.

Max and Kevin Koby have enlightened much of the cannabis industry with their innovative terpene knowledge and ability to go to market quickly with almost every brand they work with.

The Cannabis industry is just getting started. Be careful not to limit your brand by thinking too small and rigid. Build a cannabis vape platform that delivers more than a way to vaporize, give your customers an experience they won't forget nor trade away for another.

Working with strategic partners and helping cannabis businesses understand the value of differentiation is only a small part of what we do at Vessel?.

We are a close knit team that cares deeply for cannabis brands that want to scale and enhance their cannabis hardware platform in a meaningful and intentional way.

Reach out to our Vessel? Brand design and development lab today.