I formulated 40 carts to test new terpene flavors using CBD distillate. 7% terps. Homogenized very well. Poured into carts from small beaker and attached mouthpiece. The 40 carts were divided and evenly split between four individuals. Each of them had 10. Here’s where it gets interesting.
Something happened to the 10 carts of a single individual. There’s some sort of growth or buildup just below the mouthpiece on all 10 of them. Looks almost like frost. Never seen this before. I thought it could be CBD crystals but it’s only happening to 10 of them which I think rules that out. Next thought was plastic due to the fibrous character of the substance.
Something seems to have happened to these 10 carts in particular but it’s so strange and thought I would ask the community.
See attached photos.
Any ideas? Has anyone seen this before? I’m about to collect some and perform MP/BP tests and will update thread. After the MP/BP tests I plan to burn the substance and see what it smells like.
Possibilities I’ve considered are CBD crystal growth, plastic sheared from the o-ring/gasket, solvent contamination and mold. There are no crystals in the vape oil chamber.
The individual says he took them home to test them and then brought them back to the lab. First noticed the growth at home.
Ever distill a bunch of CBD and have one jar that crystallizes immediately but it’s brother on the shelf decides it doesn’t want to?
It’s kind of like that. No reason other than that cart may have experienced a swing in temp due to being in the outside of the box or in sunlight or many other reasons. Looks like it wasn’t capped properly too.
This post is going to save someone else from flipping out and assuming the worst. Great question, great pics, and a simple explanation should help the others from the future.
Your terpenes are escaping through the gasket and pulling a bit of CBD with them. Once outside the gasket, the terpenes evaporate to completion, leaving that bit of CBD behind. As those terpenes evaporate to completion, the CBD concentration outside the gasket increases to the point that it begins to crystallize.
It happened to those ten because they are blatantly overfilled. The oil came out like that because there was too much oil when the mouthpiece got threaded on and it was squeezed out. You can see the oil is being forced up to the gasket in the picture. 1 gram carts are designed to have a decent sized air bubble when you fill with exactly 1 gram.
The others probably just weren’t overfilled as badly. Simple.
I’ve had the same issue with mine but the culprit was the gasket, it wouldn’t fully seal, leaving a small gap for CBD to exit the chamber and crystalize easily at the base of the mouthpiece
i see what you’re saying and it makes sense, but how does it happen if the cart can hold 0.7g but is only filled to 0.5g, leaving a good amount of headspace ?
A tiny opening in the gasket when sealed would allow the CBD to escape.
I don’t know what you’re asking. The pictures from OP show the carts are badly overfilled. You might just be making a mess or the gasket isn’t lined up/fitted correctly. Couldn’t tell you
did you fully seal the cart? Looks like where the crystals are its coming out that top and I’ve had carts slowly oxidize over time due to it being slightly off on the seal.
I was waiting for someone to say “MOLD MOLD MOLD!!”
The carts were all sealed the same way. They snap on rather than twist. Given that the other carts don’t have issues but were made the same way, I’d say they’re properly sealed. However if they’re overfilled and there was a temperature fluctuation as others have suggested, it might not matter.
