Flower vs Vapes in Summer: What Will Last Longer in the Heat?

It’s always the best time to make impromptu decisions – whether you want to go to the beach, festival, or hangout in the garden, you’re going to need some sort of cannabis to match your spontaneity.

Before we go through all the science behind each option, check out our vape selection and buds collection – so you know what you’ll be comparing when you decide which one holds up better.

What Heat Does to Both Formats

Whether you take your cannabis in vapor form or dried buds, the heat does the exact same thing. It causes THC to convert to CBN. This is much less potent than THC, and tends to give users a sedative feeling. Also, there’s the fact that the terpenes responsible for flavor and aroma tend to evaporate. As a result, you end up with a product that’s not as flavorful as it was when you first purchased it.

How Flower Lasts in Hot Weather

You could call dried flowers a type of sponge. If the flower is placed near anything warmer than 75 degrees Fahrenheit, then it has the potential to lose its potency.

Excessive heat will also dry out flowers faster than normal. Not only does this create a harsher smoking experience for you, it happens quickly. In addition to losing its overall effectiveness as a cannabis product, flowers can become dry enough to burn your mouth if smoked right after being heated excessively.

With that being said, the good news is that flowers can recover fairly easily if you store them correctly. It takes a little bit longer for a flower to be damaged compared to when it gets damaged by excessive heat. For example, if you leave a jar of flower in a warm room for an hour, the flower isn’t completely ruined. However, it will be slightly affected by the heat.

How Vapes Hold Up in Hot Weather

On the other hand, vape carts are quite a bit different than dried flowers. They consist of liquid oil and hardware made from metal. When a vape cart overheats, it can allow the oil to thin and leak onto parts of the cart. This can cause problems such as flooding the cart’s chamber or blocking off the mouthpiece. Additionally, extreme heat can cause a significant drop in THC content in vape carts. It’s estimated that up to 60-75 percent of THC can disappear due to extreme heat. On top of that, if you park your car on a sunny day, the THC can disappear rapidly.

But that’s not all bad news for vapes. Since vape carts are liquid-based products, they can retain their potency levels significantly longer than dried flowers when they remain unopened and stored in proper conditions.

Comparison Chart

Storage Tips — Regardless of Format

Regardless of which format you choose — there are some universal tips that should help maintain quality.

• Avoid placing your cannabis directly under sunlight — light is actually the largest contributor to cannabinoid loss;
• Do not place either format in your parked car — interior temps reach extremely high levels and cannot be sufficiently mitigated by opening a window.
• Store dried flowers in an opaque/airtight container and store vape carts in a hard case/padded sleeve.
• Remove vape battery connections when not using — idle battery heat contributes to slow degradation of the oil contained within.

Choosing the Right Format for Summer with Canna City

Both formats have their weaknesses during the summer months — but each fails in a unique way.

If you plan on spending an extended period outdoors this summer — a hard-shelled vape may be your safest travel partner. However, if you intend to spend more time indoors — flowers require more attention towards storing correctly at home.

Are you ready to stock-up for the new season? You can join our UK Telegram Cannabis Channel to discover new arrivals, fresh product drops, restocks and special promotions as soon as they go live.