Smoking cannabis is and historically has been the most common consumption method on the planet. It has been smoked for specific medical purposes, for spiritual and religious reasons, and for a good time. Cannabis smoke is the backbone of cannabis culture and the commercial cannabis industry.
Today, industry constituents and regulators are questioning things. There are many concerns about what we know, what we do not know, and what we need to know regarding what patients and consumers are putting in their bodies. The consensus appears to be that if there are unknowns, it automatically means there are safety concerns.
While this sounds reasonable, is it reasonable when a huge majority of revenue in regulated cannabis is from smoke? How much do we really know?
What is in what we are smoking? What are we actually consuming when we inhale? Do these same folks even care? The answer is not as simple as the process of sparking one up.
The Science of Smoke
Scientifically, smoking is a combination of transformational chemical processes like pyrolysis, thermal decomposition, and combustion. These happen at a wide range of temperatures from around 200 °C up to over 1000 °C and create a huge variety of different chemicals depending on several factors. Fun fact, a Bic lighter burns at over 1000 °C, and the ember on a joint can reach about 500 °C. Not to worry, the temperature of the smoke you inhale is nowhere close to that hot.
What is Pyrolysis, and Why Does it Matter?
The chemical decomposition of a compound caused by temperatures above 250- 300 °C is commonly known as pyrolysis. The decomposition takes place because chemical bonds have limited thermal stability and can break due to heat.
This type of decomposition usually leads to the formation of smaller molecules, although the resulting fragments may sometimes interact and further generate larger compounds compared to the starting molecule. Some molecules decompose due to heating at even lower temperatures than 250- 300 °C, but these processes are typically indicated as thermal decompositions and not as pyrolysis. For the curious minds, this includes decarboxylation and vaporizing.
Pyrolysis can be performed on pure compounds as well as on mixtures, and the resulting fragments may further react and generate many other compounds.
*Information from– Pyrolysis of Organic Molecules: Applications to Health and Environmental Issues, Serban C. Moldoveanu –Senior Principal Scientist– R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
The science of smoke is complex transformational chemistry. In fact, if we are transforming the chemical profile of what’s in our joint through chemical reactions, it’s fair to ask: are we synthesizing compounds? Are cannabis smokers a bunch of synthetic chemists?
There are several parameters that can impact the chemical profile that is consumed. If we only consider one variable like heat, smoking the same exact flower with different methods like a bong versus a joint versus a dry herb vape, we actually consume three different chemical profiles, AKA different effect profiles. The age-old debate of different smoking methods feeling different apparently has some legs to it!
What Do We Know About the Chemistry of Smoke?
There are hundreds of molecules in the plant, and there are thousands in the smoke we consume in our lungs. You may have guessed it: we know very little about these diverse mixtures that are actually being consumed. Even a 99% pure compound like CBD can transform into 20+ other molecules on contact with heat before inhalation into the lungs!
If you have ever wondered why smoking feels so much different than eating cannabis, it’s not just the onset or metabolism of THC in the liver. The difference is thousands of compounds inhaled versus just one or a few swallowed. Smoking and edibles are different, full stop.
It is important to note that very few compliance labs in the US have enough standards to accurately report what’s in the plant, let alone what’s in the smoke. Think about that rather large “other” section on a COA pie chart for flower, it’s even larger when analyzing the smoke.
What the Science of Smoke Research Says
Unfortunately, a lot of smoke research performed to date is about what is potentially harmful in smoke, and yes, there are compounds that you would probably want to avoid if you could, even in cannabis smoke. That said, thankfully, we do not see a huge, obvious correlation between cannabis smoking and lung cancer, even in all the years it has been celebrated and consumed.
In 2019, Real Isolates LLC set out on a mission to answer a different question. Rather than focus on what could be harmful in smoke or the total amount of compounds, which are difficult to dissect, our goal was to understand more about why so many people prefer smoke, why it feels so different, and what could be potentially therapeutic in cannabis smoke.
What is in the smoke–are we really just inhaling a bunch of THC? To enable this research, we invented and patented a selective capture method to focus on how target molecules like cannabinoids are transformed when smoked.
The Science of Smoke Through a Different Lens
We first presented this information using federally compliant hemp products at the International Cannabinoid Research Society’s conference in 2021. Based on our early research, we identified the presence of several cannabinoids that are not known to be in the plant, but are found in smoke. We have referred to these compounds as “pyrocannabinoids” in this presentation and in a paper awaiting peer review in the journal, In Silico Pharmacology.
“In silico exploration of pyrocannabinoid interactions with key protein targets”
Note: the trace of the cannabinoid profile being smoked is on the left, and what will be inhaled; the smoked profiles are to the right. A picture is worth a thousand words.
World-famous cannabis researcher Raphael Mechoulam encouraged us to continue our work:
Dear Mr Westerkamp,
You are welcome to quote me.
Both presentations address important cannabinoid topics.
Most analytical work has been done on extracts, not on the smoked material–which is of course more relevant. Hence your results should be significant.
The second topic is very complicated–as you point out. Results are badly needed. I understand that the talk will give novel data and I am looking forward to learn from it.
Looking at the pyrolysis of cannabinoids is important but there is very little work on this topic. Hence your research is very valuable. I hope that you will continue the identification of additional compounds formed.
Good luck
Best
R Mechoulam
Next time you spark one up, consider this: you are probably helping yourself more than you’re hurting yourself. Whatever you have in your joint, bong, rig, pipe, or vape is just the input material, which gets transformed into a completely different profile before it’s inhaled.
Plain and simple: that stuff you are packing up is not what you are consuming. At Real Isolates, we are uncovering the tip of an iceberg regarding cannabinoids and how they change from smoking, aka: a part of what we are actually consuming. We will have many new findings to share with you all soon and hope you will enjoy learning more about the most popular part of cannabis culture!
About the Author
We Smoked It For You ™
Andy Westerkamp is the co-founder of Real Isolates LLC, based in Beverly Massachusetts. Real Isolates LLC is a selective capture technology company with subsidiaries that enable cannabis and hemp products; Smokenol Inc and Smokenol Day Inc. The patented technology creates a new kind of extract, cannabis smoke extract aka Smokenol ™ which contains the cannabinoid profile found only in smoke.
