Vaporizers vs Smoking Flower

Vaping vs smoking cannabis is a question of hardware and format: a vaporizer heats cannabis oil or flower until it gives off a vapor, while smoking burns dried flower. New York's rules on where cannabis can be used make no distinction between the two, so neither is allowed in a motor vehicle or anywhere smoking tobacco is prohibited.

New York's packaging rules also count both as inhalable cannabis products, so their labels read much the same way. Here is where the two formats do differ.

What is the difference between vaping and smoking cannabis?

Smoking burns dried cannabis flower, either loose from a package or in a pre-roll, which is flower a licensed processor has already ground and rolled. Vaping heats cannabis in a vaporizer until it gives off a vapor rather than burning it, and a vaporizer can be built for cannabis oil or for dried flower.

Oil vaporizers generally take one of these forms:

• 510 cartridges. A cartridge holds cannabis oil and attaches to a separate rechargeable battery by a threaded fitting known as 510.
• All-in-one vapes. The oil and battery are built into one device, also called a disposable. When the oil cannot be separated from its device, New York's regulations set hardware rules: the device needs temperature controls that prevent combustion, and its heating element has to be an inert material, glass, ceramic or stainless steel for example.
• Pods. A pod is a cartridge made for a matching battery from the same system instead of a 510 thread.

Our guide to pre-rolls covers the ready-made flower format, and the vaporizers menu shows the hardware each store has right now.

Oil or flower: what are you buying?

New York's adult-use regulations list "vaporization cartridges or single-use pens" and cannabis flower products, "including, but not limited to, whole flower, ground flower, shake and pre-rolls," as separate product types a licensed processor may make. Both fall under one ingredient rule: unless the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) approves otherwise, an inhaled cannabis product can contain nothing beyond cannabis, cannabis concentrate, terpenes, rolling paper, pre-roll filter tips and the ingredients the U.S. Food and Drug Administration permits as inactive ingredients for inhalation. Processors may not make any cannabis product that contains tobacco or nicotine.

The package measures the two differently. New York's labeling rules state the net quantity of whole flower as a weight in grams, or milligrams under one gram, and a pre-roll's net weight counts all of its cannabis, including any added concentrate, but not the paper or filter tip. For a vaporization cartridge or single-use pen, the net quantity is the cannabis oil or concentrate, measured before it goes into the device and stated in grams.

The format also decides which possession limit a product counts toward. OCM says adults 21 and older can possess 3 ounces of cannabis and 24 grams of cannabis concentrate, and it gives edibles and oil as examples of concentrate, so the oil in a cartridge and the buds in a jar count toward different limits.

How does flavor compare between a vape and flower?

In flower, the aroma belongs to the plant. OCM's testing limits say terpenes are primarily responsible for the aroma of cannabis, and every cannabis product must be tested for terpene content, so a batch's lab report includes its terpene results. Our terpenes guide covers the common ones.

In a vape, the flavor depends on what went into the oil. New York bans synthetic terpenes in vaporized or inhaled products, requires licensees to keep records of the source of any botanically derived terpenes, cannabis-derived ones included, and caps those products at 10 percent total terpenes.

"Flavored" also has a legal meaning. New York's regulations define a flavored cannabis product as one with "a distinguishable taste or aroma, other than the taste or aroma of cannabis," and a product is not presumed flavored solely because of the cultivar used, so a fruit-named strain is not flavored for its name alone.

For anything vaporized or inhaled, some flavors are banned outright: menthol or any type of mint, cotton candy, bubble gum, candy, clove, vanilla, chocolate, ice cream or gelato, soda, cereal, dessert, a concept flavor, or another flavor OCM determines is attractive to people under 21. If a package markets its terpenes, its label must include a terpene profile.

What does each label have to show?

New York's packaging rules count vapes, flower and pre-rolls as inhalable cannabis products, so the panel meant to face you at the store answers the same three questions on each: what brand it is, how much is inside (the net quantity), and how much total THC it holds, stated as a percentage of weight or volume along with any other cannabinoid the package markets. OCM's packaging guidance says inhalable products do not need to list a number of servings, unlike edibles, whose front panel shows milligrams of total THC per serving and per package.

The rest of the package, or its outer marketing layer, lists the same details for both formats:

• every ingredient, in descending order by weight, even for whole flower
• any solvent used to produce the product, if one was used
• the expiration date of the unopened product and proper storage conditions
• the name, location, license number and contact details of the processor
• a lot number, and a QR code or bar code linked to the Certificate of Analysis
• New York's universal symbol and the required warnings, including one for products intended to be smoked, inhaled or vaporized

OCM's label fact sheet adds that inhalables like pre-rolls or flower will typically list the cultivar, or strain, inside. Our guide to reading a Certificate of Analysis walks through the lab report.

Discretion, and where New York allows neither

On the shelf, OCM's packaging guidance allows flower and pre-rolls to come in clear containers, and every retail package, whatever the format, has to be child-resistant, tamper-evident and fully enclose the product. Off the shelf, the device makes no difference to where cannabis can be used. OCM's adult-use page puts it plainly: "It is illegal to use cannabis in a motor vehicle, a private business, or any place that smoking tobacco is prohibited (like restaurant patios or public parks)." New York's regulations define consuming to include inhalation, "which includes but is not limited to smoking and vaping."

OCM also notes that landlords, property owners and rental companies can ban the smoking or vaporizing of cannabis on their premises, and that hotel owners can do the same on their properties. Licensed dispensaries may not allow smoking or vaping anywhere on their licensed premises except a consumption facility.

In a car, both formats stay sealed. OCM advises that cannabis in a vehicle should always be securely stored in a closed container, and New York bans open containers of cannabis in a vehicle: neither the driver nor any passenger can open cannabis packaging, and it is illegal for the driver or any passenger to smoke cannabis in a vehicle, moving or parked. Whatever you buy stays sealed until you are home, and OCM's safe storage advice is the same for a cartridge and a jar: keep cannabis locked, out of sight and out of reach, in its original child-resistant packaging.

Choosing between a vape and flower at Farmers Choice

Compare a vape label and a flower label side by side, and scan the QR code on each for its lab report. The live vaporizers menu and flower menu show what each store has right now.

Farmers Choice Fishkill, 18 Westage Drive, is just off Route 9 near the I-84 interchange; its hours are 8AM to 10PM Sunday to Wednesday, with later closing, 8AM to 11PM, Thursday to Saturday. Farmers Choice New Paltz (1 Old Route 299, at NYS Thruway Exit 18) runs 8AM to 10PM every day. A valid government-issued photo ID confirming you are 21 or older is required on every visit, and most orders are ready inside an hour when you order ahead.

Explore Your Options on the Fishkill menu.