No, don’t expect to find a 1-quart carton of CBD juice next to the O.J. at your local supermarket. Even though it may sound like it, but CBD juice isn’t your daily beverage infused with CBD. This post will explain all there is to know about it and why it’s quickly becoming a favored source among vape pen users.
CBD Juice Defined
It is also known by several other names, such as vape juice, e-juice, and e-liquids. The terms are more or less interchangeable, and this post will swap between the terms throughout. These items all describe liquids that users put in their vape pen for producing the vapor. The liquid is easy to use; just place a few drops in your pen and let it heat up between 200 and 400 degrees. This creates the vapor you can inhale.
In case you’re wondering, you don’t ingest the juice. You can, but that greatly diminishes the bioavailability, and that’s not what the manufacturer intended the product for.
CBD juice is simply the liquid with infused CBD extracts.
Beyond the base ingredients, vape juices come in diverse formulas.
What’s in a Typical E-Juice?
So, what’s in that concoction of CBD vape juice? Let’s start with the base ingredients. In almost every product, you will find vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, food-grade flavoring, and plain H2O. Some variants also contain nicotine. If you don’t want to become addicted, then we strongly caution you to read the label to verify that a product doesn’t contain this ingredient. With this in mind, though, nicotine without tobacco doesn’t have the same degree of addictiveness1.
If you purchase CBD juice specifically, then of course there will be some form of CBD extract, either CBD isolate or full spectrum.
Vegetable Glycerin or Propylene Glycol?
In any case, either vegetable glycerin or propylene glycol will be the main ingredient, constituting about 90% of the formula. Which is better? It ultimately comes down to personal preference. Users typically prefer propylene glycol due to the stronger punch it delivers when the vapor reaches their throat. On the other hand, others prefer vegetable glycerin due to its ability to produce more pronounced vape clouds.
Is E-Juice Safe?
There are still a lot of concerns over the safety of vaping. Some people think it’s not much safer or even as dangerous as cigarette smoke. To alleviate concerns, consider that cigarettes contain over 4,000 chemicals, 43 of which are known to cause cancer. E-liquids, by contrast, contain no such ingredients beyond what we just listed. In fact, the only ingredient it has in common with cigarettes is nicotine, which not all CBD vape juices even have.
The same goes for CBD juice. Cannabinoid extracts do not contain any chemicals found in tobacco.
If vaping and vape juice is safe, then that also means concerns about secondhand vaping are unwarranted. A 2014 study at Drexel University that was published in PMC Public Health yielded this following conclusion:
“Exposures of bystanders are likely to be orders of magnitude less, and thus pose no apparent concern.”
The above conclusion comes courtesy of the study’s lead researcher Igor Burstyn.
Here’s another astonishing fact: CBD vape juice is not only not dangerous, but studies show that it may actually improve lung function and reduce asthma symptoms associated with cigarette smoke2.
Don’t Vape Juices and Vapor Still Contain Toxins?
It’s true that there are various studies that reveal vapor to contain some form of known toxins, carcinogens, and endocrine disruptors. While we don’t deny the findings of these studies, it’s also true that subsequent studies revealed the toxin traces to be at a negligible level.
If even the most minute traces of harmful chemicals concern you, then you might as well also avoid fruits and vegetables, which contain hint traces of residual pesticides. This is true, by the way, of even organic produce.
Only Purchase CBD Juice From A Reputable Source
We must emphasize that you should never buy it in the black market or attempt any DIY concoctions. Why is this? E-liquids are not homogenous. “Homogenous” in this sense means the different ingredients do not separate into individual layers from the base ingredient.
Due to the laws of chemistry, CBD extracts may not homogenize with the base ingredient. It’s much the same way oil in general doesn’t mix well with vinegar. This explains why separation is apparent in a bottle of vinegar salad dressing. Due to the separation, you may not get an even dose of CBD with each use.
This is why we recommend only buying from a trustworthy site. Cheap manufacturing processes don’t take the element of separation into consideration. In any case, always give the e-juice bottle a good shake before use.
The whole homogeneity problem poses another issue. If the juice is not homogenous, the oily CBD may separate from the liquid, causing the former to dry and cause damage to the vaporizer tank on a vape pen. When the oil hardens on the wick, it renders the entire tank unusable.
We recommend visiting the Where to Buy section on our site for a list of reputable suppliers.
Is Vaping Beneficial?
Vaping CBD juice is more beneficial than CBD administration by oral ingestion. The former has a higher bioavailability since the vapor doesn’t have to pass through your digestive tracts and liver where the majority of the chemical breakdown occurs.
Using CBD in general, though, has been shown to have a number of benefits, many of which are similar to the proven benefits of certain foods and supplementation. Select foods, for instance, have been shown to lower the cortisol stress hormone. Natural supplements like Cortigon have the same effect, as does CBD use, which has been shown to lower cortisol levels significantly compared to a placebo3.
Experiment with the Different Vape Juices
There are just as many CBD juices out there as there are CBD oils, waxes, and other extracts. We encourage you to experiment with different variants (i.e. vegetable glycerin vs. propylene glycol) to discover which brand or flavoring you find most agreeable. Just remember, though, to stick to products from a reputable site.
