| Cannabis Business Times contributor and owner of Trichome Technologies, a cannabis research and development company, Kenneth Morrow, breaks down the most common ingredients and processes used to produce vape cartridges today in his article “What's in Your Vape Cartridge Now?”
Morrow wrote a similar article for CBT in 2019. That year, there were several reported deaths and lung injuries associated with vape products.
I can speak to this issue firsthand, as a family member of mine, who would often purchase and consume vape cartridges from the illicit market, paid a visit to the emergency room due to pneumonia. After a series of questions from the nurse, the medical professionals expected the pneumonia to result from vape products.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) later determined that vitamin E acetate, which is “used both as a cutting agent and a viscosity adjuster, was responsible for the illnesses,” and the CDC dubbed it as an “E-cigarette or Vaping Use-Associated Lung Injury,” or EVALI, Morrow wrote.
The CDC reported 2,800 cases and 68 deaths related to vape products from the illicit market, which, in turn, caused legal sales of tested products to dwindle, too.
In Morrow’s 2022 article, he wrote that despite product recalls and the “EVALI crisis,” the vape cartridge market share has rebounded and increased steadily. He referred to a report from cannabis data and research company Headset, which found that the “market share has increased from 18.9% in April 2021 to 22.1% in April 2022” in the U.S.—representing the second largest category behind flower.
Despite the positive market turnaround and strict testing, Morrow indicated that questions still remain regarding what is in regulated vape products. “The answer is not straightforward,” he wrote. “And there are myriad cannabis oil extraction methods and associated extraction equipment.”
Here, Morrow breaks down the most common extraction methods used today.
- Andriana Ruscitto, Associate Editor | 