Canadian study examines potency and duration of joints

Researchers from DELIC Labs recently published a study analyzing how the size of the ground cannabis flowers in today’s cannabis joints can affect a smoker when smoking.

DELIC Labs was founded in 2018 by Dr. Markus Roggen and Professor Glenn Sammis as a licensed cannabis and psilocybin research laboratory that “aspires to bring fundamental scientific knowledge to the field of cannabis and mushroom production”.

The most recent study was titled “Hot Topics and Hotboxing: Latest Research on Cannabis Aerosols” and was produced in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, the Loyalist College, Via Innovations and Verdient Science.

According to Roggen, the purpose of the study is to better understand the science behind cannabis use. “There is a lack of quantitative research on joint smoking. I want to understand what happens on the chemical side with inhalation,” Roggen said in an interview with Scientific American.

DELIC Labs presented its findings in a PowerPoint presentation presented at the Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition in Vancouver, Canada in June. The presentation started at 4:20 p.m. and began with a light-hearted headline “Let’s light one for science” as an introduction before we delved deeper into the topic.

The presentation explained that more than 209 million people use cannabis worldwide and about 70% choose joints as their preferred method of consumption. Researchers wanted to study how particle size affects the amount of cannabinoids released through smoking.

The researchers used a coffee grinder to evenly grind cannabis flowers into sizes of one, three and five millimeters (mm) in diameter. The study used a Cambustion Smoke Cycle Simulator device that recorded the life cycle of a joint, measured as beginning, middle, and ending.

The researchers concluded that “the 1mm particle size results in stronger hits than the 3 and 5mm particle sizes.” However, they also found that “regardless of the flower used, the 5mm particle size resulted in a longer shelf life.” of the joints,” leading them to believe that “improving the joint architecture” would result in a better consumer experience.

The researchers found that consumption with THC joints ranged from 0.09mg to 0.88mg per puff. They found that 1mm joints delivered the highest levels of THC per hit at around 0.67mg on average, while 5mm joints delivered a slightly lower amount at 0.51mg.

However, with CBD joints, researchers found that they deliver a range of 2.3 mg to 6.1 mg per hit. According to Roggen, this study produced very interesting results. “The amount of cannabinoid that gets into the mouth is higher with CBD than with THC,” Roggen said. “I can’t explain it, but I’m very intrigued.”

Scientific American also spoke to Portland State University Professor Robert Strongin, who was not involved with the DELIC Labs research. According to Strongin, the results of this study could lead to more effective and accurate dosing methods for medical cannabis patients. “This information could be particularly useful for medical marijuana patients and physicians for whom control and consistency of dosing is an important issue,” Strongin said.

DELIC Labs concluded its presentation with a deeper dive into their findings and how they might differ from kief, oil, kief and oil rolled infused joints or terpene poppers and tobacco blended cannabis, which would require Strongin’s expertise.

Ultimately, DELIC Labs calls for further research into “sidestream, aerosol particle size, exhaust temperature, particulates” and things beyond cannabinoids and terpenes.

Not many studies have been conducted that compare to DELIC Labs and their latest findings, but these results may inspire investigations by other researchers. Back in January 2019, researchers at the Institute for Forensic Medicine at the University of Bern found that joints waste 300% more THC than dabs. In April 2019, the National Institute on Drug Abuse announced that it was accepting applications for a contractor to roll thousands of joints.