How Much CBD Should I Vape?

The global interest in the food supplement Cannabidiol (CBD) is at an all time high, and while sublingual oils are the most common way to take CBD, vaping it is also becoming more commonplace with more users flocking to this method to consume CBD.

So why are vapes proving a popular way to use CBD?

Cannabinoids such as CBD have different absorption rates dependent on the way they are used. Vaping CBD offers the highest bioavailability (absorption rate) of all widely available methods and the shortest onset to feel the effects.

Using CBD hemp in a vape can be done in a few ways. You can either use vape e liquids (also called e-juice) or concentrates such as shatter/wax/crumble. 

Should you be starting out with CBD vapes and looking to learn more about how much to take, keep on reading!

There is no pre-defined dosage when it comes to vaping CBD oil. Everyone is different when it comes to how much works for them.

However, the most common way to work this out is to start low and go slow. 

Meaning, you begin with a small amount and increase the dose incrementally across time until you find your sweet spot, and this way you can work out if you are subject to any of the common side effects of CBD too. 

In the simplest terms, you can inhale a puff, and wait 5 mins to assess how you feel and continue until you find what how much CBD works for you.

But before diving in head first you might have another specific question:

How does vaping CBD make you feel?

If you are thinking about trying a CBD vapouriser device for the first time, you probably wonder what the difference is between using CBD vape oil and CBD drops.

Regardless of consumption method most people find CBD feels lightly stimulating in small doses and relaxing in larger doses.

There are a few specific advantages should you decide to use a CBD vaporiser over sublingual drops:

• Effects are felt near immediately, peaking within a minute or so.
• Stealthy. If you use a pure CBD concentrate there is no smell (assuming no terpenes) and often little vapour.
• Useful if you already vape as it’s a matter of changing cartridge or using a CBD additive.

Now if you’ve decided starting to use a CBD vapouriser is for you, it’s useful to work out how much CBD is in your vape and per puff. This way you can easily track dosage and should be able to quickly figure out how long a bottle of juice will last you.

You need to work backwards to do this, let’s run through an example below:

Working backward

To do this, you need to work backwards to find out how much CBD will be in a millilitre (ml). Let’s start with CBD e-liquid as this is the most popular format of CBD vapes at the moment.

Look at your CBD vape oil bottle and read the ml in the bottle; usually these are between 10ml to 30ml. Once you have the bottle size, look at the amount of CBD in the container; given in mg (milligrams).

Now we have the two essential elements to figure out how much CBD is in each ml; this is helpful as vape pens, cartridges and tanks all hold different amounts of juice. For simplicity, we are going to assume the cartridge size is 1ml.

Let’s assume our vape juice is 30ml and contains 1000mg CBD. Doing some quick maths indicates we have 33.3mg CBD per ml (1000/30 = 33.3).

Can I vape CBD oil?

On the whole, no you cannot vapourise CBD oil used under your tongue. Most CBD oils used sublingually are not suitable for vapourisers due to the diluent used. Instead, there a specific CBD products developed for vaping such as concentrates, CBD e-liquid or a CBD vape pen.

Be careful as CBD oil could clog up your vape pen or worse damage your health, but any CBD products suitable for multi-use will state this quite clearly and will contain the same type of diluent found in CBD e-liquid such as propylene glycol (PG) or vegetable glycerin (VG).

Bioequivalence

Bioequivalence refers to the dose you would need for the same amount of CBD to enter your bloodstream for a different way to consume CBD than you are currently/have previously used. This makes it easy to figure out how much CBD you should take when first trying CBD e-liquid or concentrates.

If you are brand new to CBD and have no benchmarked dose to compare against, instead you can skip to the next step and look directly at how much CBD is in each puff, and use this information to work out your bioequivalent dose when you find your ‘sweet spot’.

Comparing absorption rates of 33.3mg vaped vs 33.3mg used in tinctures can give some pre-emptive guidance, especially if you already use CBD oils and are looking to try a vape pen. 

On average, vaping is thought to have 56% bioavailability, whereas oils are assumed to be around between the 15%-30% mark. Using these figures it’s easy to work out the equivalent absorption rate (the equal amount absorbed in the bloodstream given an adjustment in consumption method).

33.3mg vaped gives 18.6mg absorbed into the bloodstream assuming 56% bioavailability.

33.3mg used sublingually gives 9.99mg absorbed into the bloodstream assuming 30% bioavailability. 

1 – (18.6/9.99) = 0.86. Meaning on average, 86% more CBD is absorbed when vaped vs when used sublingually. Thus, you would need 62mg CBD sublingually to have a similar absorption rate as when vaped (33.3*1.83 = 62).

If you are already using CBD oils, checking much you dose can given quick insight into calibrating your ‘sweet spot’ for vaping! You can use the same method as described earlier to work out the CBD mg per ml in an oil bottle too for comparison if needed. All Nature & Bloom products have this information listed on the product detail pages.

To learn more check out our post on CBD bioavailability.

CBD per puff

The answer to this depends on what sort of vape device you are using. Innovations in the sector have meant an explosion in the variety of vape pens, components and mods. Wattage also plays a part, as larger vape clouds require more juice which in turn means fewer puffs per cartridge.

If you are using a more advanced vape, with a mod attachment, these usually have puff counters so you can work this out by using your device.

However, if you don’t, then don’t worry. Instead, you can do a rough calculation by using the vape, monitoring puffs yourself and visually checking how much of your juice is left in the tank. 

For example, if you have a 1ml tank with 33.3mg CBD in and you took 50 puffs for half a tank you can estimate that each puff contains roughly 0.33mg CBD (33.3/100).

CBD Concentrates

CBD concentrates are highly pure forms of CBD and can often contain other cannabinoids, along with terpenes derived from natural food sources or cannabis for flavour and effect.

Outside of terpenes, concentrates don’t have any diluents and as such they are preferred by canna-connoisseurs by a mile.

The use of concentrates in dabbing or vape pens has skyrocketed in the states, and we are seeing a similar trend start here.

If you are using a CBD dab pen or generally using products like CBD crumble, then working out how much CBD is in the vape is simple. 

Although you do need an accurate scale to do so, given the potency of concentrates, we recommend one with an accuracy up to 0.01g at the very least.

Weigh out the concentrate to fit your device, and multiply by the concentration e.g 97% CBD crumble 0.1g = 97mg CBD as it is 97% CBD (1*0.97).

However, to work out CBD per puff you are going to have to consume the whole amount you put into your device whilst noting the number of puffs. If you use a device with an inhalation counter, then it’s just a matter of looking at the number.

CBD vape pen dosing

Remember to start low and go slow.

Finding what works for you is more or less trial and error in the first instance, but once you have found it use the guide to switch up consumption methods as you want to.

It can take some time to find your perfect dose, so stick with it and give it some time – more than a few days, a few weeks perhaps. Try to ensure you use a full or broad spectrum CBD product to ensure you obtain the benefits of the entourage effect.

Once you have found what your dose is via a vapouriser, you can use the equivalency assumptions earlier in this to work out other methods or visa versa.

If you need more info on  dosing in general check out our CBD dosage guide.