Yes, aerosol testing. I think the biggest issue in our industry is the fact we test our products all day for common pesticides and solvents but it’s still virtually impossible to know what’s actually being inhaled by the user. Which is what’s most important.
Bootleg aerosol study idea:
Attach a short PTFE tube with one end attached to the mouthpiece of a cartridge. Put the other end on a 10ML glass syringe where the needle would normally thread in. With the cartridge on an autodraw battery, you can then pull a vacuum to fill the syringe chamber with a “hit” of vapor (gravity bong style). Maintain a slight vacuum in the syringe and remove the PTFE tube and cap it off at the port with a PTFE luer lock cap. Collecting the vapor is the easy part.
The question is what to do once you have your vapor contained. Would it be best to add a solvent, freeze as-is, etc? How long do you have to run the sample before the results are totally skewed by degradation?
I don’t think the technology is the issue for this type of testing. Getting the contents of the aerosol is attainable, preserving and testing that sample on the spot is the problem. If you’ve seen the system that the CDC was using over the winter, it was basically just a vape mod attached to a collection tank. As for what they are doing to condense and preserve the aerosol, I do not know, but obviously given the instability of these byproducts it’s something the labs would need to do in-house. I just think the industry should be making this type of testing more available. If anyone knows of labs capable of doing this I’d be very interested in getting in touch with them.
Agreed. That definitely would be ideal which is why I think it’s a test that would be best done right in the testing facility unlike concentrates/flower that are sent in as a prepared sample. With the amount of hoops the cannabis industry is forced to jump through I don’t understand why this of all things is basically impossible to do. There’s a never ending list of cannabis testing labs that are in it to make money turning over easy flower/edible samples all day but very few are trying to do more than that.
Most consumer products are tested for how they are consumed as is. With inhalation products we’re testing it before it goes through an entire chemical reaction. I just wish it was something that was more widely available and affordable. I’ve been looking and looking, it exists to some extent for nicotine products but the labs capable of it want nothing to do with cannabis related or even hemp products. I understand not legally being able to handle THC but there shouldn’t be such a barrier for hemp derived products.
I’m not sure I’d blame the labs exactly; what’s the point in developing the method if nobody is ever going to pay you for the analysis? I know the labs we work with would be happy to develop a method if we paid them to. I feel like the responsibility belongs to the manufacturers and regulators.
It’s also worth noting that setting up a method to quantify known compounds is a lot easier than identifying a bunch of unknowns (many of which are probably unidentified outright). There’s been a lot of discussion about identifying “the other shit” with these isomerizations which is also important, but in similar a similar fashion these both seem to be topics that have been deemed too challenging to bother and “fuck it they’re gonna smoke it anyways”
And people wonder why FDA doesn’t want anything to do with these products
Aside from weight, what’s the addition cost to make diamonds versus disty? I haven’t run the exact numbers but I can bet it’s not “economically” viable vs the 12.3% weight gain, in addition to that, customers coming back with complaints with sugared carts definitely isn’t going to help those numbers - should one have this additional issue that is.
Also not hating, legitimately would like to know if you’ve sat down to run the numbers
I’m not sure about the economic math producing diamonds vs disty, as I haven’t run the numbers either. If you are starting with an oil that is mostly THCA to begin with though, like a winterized BHO, it makes more sense to decarb the oil the minimum amount necessary to ensure no sugaring, and try reduce the mass loss from the process. Loss of mass is a loss of product. I can justify a loss in mass for an increase in concentration, but I don’t think that’s the case here. This is, of course, if the final product you’re looking for is a broad/full spectrum winterized oil cart. I haven’t gone through the process of mining THCA only to add it to a decarbed oil or distillate myself, but I think it was @murphymurri and @sanogardens who were making high purity delta-9 cartridges from decarbing crystalline THCA.
Right now I’m seeing disty 36% cheaper than the equivalent in % with thca.
I’m seeing 90% thca around $6.25 a gram and cat 3 90% thc disty at around $4 a g.
The price difference isn’t really a factor when really breaking down the cost. The problem is why use thca in the first place and why decarb diamonds to get thc when there are cheaper methods.
If your decarbing. Your losing the terp fraction. The whole point to live resin pens is the terps. I think mixing disty with centrifuged live resin terps gives the ability to have the terps with a cheap thc source. The centifuge heats up the terps while spinning decarbing it lightly which prevents further crystallization.
Would a nmr be a good route, as @DrMark explained in another thread - I should add that this was regarding the analysis of d8 in crystalline form, I believe, and not vapours:
My friend showed me this recently. Looks like another weird janky attempt at making carts new and revolutionary. Reminds me of the “twist and lock” design someone was pushing on here (that was pre production but apparently still revolutionary) Also a good way to put less oil in a bigger cart. I do not understand how this could be advantageous in any way.
Mondo sent me those when they were still using the black material for the center post. Very interesting, I can’t wait to see what improvements can be made!!!
Naw I came across it creeping someones post history for their cart recommendations, didnt even check out the OP. Just looking at the cart not the contents!
