Have you noticed Delta-8 flower when searching online for Delta-8 vaping products? It sounds like a lot of fun on the surface. They’re actual herbs that you can grind and smoke or vape in a dry herb vaporizer like the Auxo Calent. They’re federally legal, though, and you don’t have to pay inflated dispensary prices for them. Seems great, right?
There’s just one problem: “Delta-8 flower” isn’t actually something that exists in nature. Delta-8 flower can definitely be very enjoyable to smoke or vape, but it’s important for you to understand what you’re actually getting when you buy it. Otherwise, you could end up feeling like you’ve been scammed because the experience isn’t all that different from what you’d get with other types of Delta-8 products.
So, is Delta-8 bud something that you should consider adding to your must-buy list? You might enjoy it as long as you know what to expect – and we’re going to help you get a handle on that in this overview.
What Is Delta-8 Flower?
As we mentioned above, “Delta-8 THC flower” isn’t actually something that exists in nature. Delta-8 is just one of the many dozens of different cannabinoids that have been discovered in cannabis, and it doesn’t actually occur naturally in high concentrations.
In the United States, federal law recognizes two different types of cannabis. There’s industrial hemp – which has a Delta-9 THC concentration below 0.3 percent – and there’s marijuana, which contains more than 0.3 percent Delta-9. Delta-8 THC flower comes from industrial hemp, which is what makes it federally legal.
Here’s the part where you might be experiencing a bit of confusion. After all, you might have tried smoking hemp flowers – also known as CBD flowers – before. Industrial hemp is rich in CBD, but it doesn’t contain a large amount of any form of THC. Naturally, you didn’t get high. So, what’s the difference between CBD flowers and Delta-8 hemp flowers?
As it turns out, there’s almost no difference at all – except for what’s added to the flower before it’s sold. That’s what we’ll discuss next.
How Is Delta-8 Flower Made?
Delta-8 flower is simply industrial hemp flower that’s been sprayed with Delta-8 distillate – that’s the only difference between Delta-8 flower and CBD flower. Underneath, they’re exactly the same.
How is it possible, you might ask, to spray CBD flower with pure Delta-8 distillate if Delta-8 doesn’t naturally occur in high concentrations in cannabis? The answer is that Delta-8 actually comes from purified CBD. The CBD is combined with an acid, which triggers a molecular realignment called isomerization. The CBD becomes Delta-8 THC, and the conversion process is so efficient that the resulting Delta-8 distillate has a purity of around 85 percent.
Delta-8 distillate is the basis of all Delta-8 products, including disposable vapes, vape cartridges and more. In other words, the thing that makes Delta-8 flower what it is doesn’t really differ from what’s in any other Delta-8 product. So, what does that mean for you?
Does Delta-8 Flower Get You High?
Now that you understand what Delta-8 flower is, you’re probably wondering whether it actually works. Does Delta-8 flower get you high, or is it just a scam? Delta-8 THC is only about half as potent as Delta-9, which means that you won’t experience quite the same effect as with Delta-9 unless you use more. The short answer, though, is yes – Delta-8 flower will definitely have an effect that you’ll notice.
The thing you need to understand about Delta-8 flower, however, is that the experience of smoking or vaping it may not be particularly different from that of using any other vaped or oral Delta-8 product. It’s far more convenient to use a vape cartridge and a 510 battery since you don’t have to worry about storing and grinding your herbs or about disposing of remnants after your session is over. Delta-8 cartridges are also much more discreet since they have virtually no smell.
The fact that the primary active ingredient is the same, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t bother trying Delta-8 flower. After all, Delta-8 distillate contains just one cannabinoid. Although the sprayed-on Delta-8 distillate is almost all of the THC content in Delta-8 flower, the flower is also rich in CBD and other non-psychoactive cannabinoids and terpenes. You may find the experience slightly different for that reason – and other cannabinoids have benefits of their own.
Another benefit of Delta-8 flower is that it gives you an opportunity to enjoy the taste and smell of cannabis legally even if you live in a state without a dispensary program. If you want to have an elevating experience that involves smoking or vaping cannabis in the traditional way but doesn’t require you to go through informal channels, Delta-8 flower is definitely the way to do it.
How Do You Use Delta-8 Flower?
If you’re an experienced cannabis user, you already know how to use Delta-8 flower because it’s exactly the same as any other form of cannabis that you’ve used in the past. You can vape it or smoke it. If you’re not an experienced user, dry herb vaporizers like the Auxo Calent make it very easy. All that you need is an herb grinder and the vaporizer of your choice. Here’s what you need to do.
- Break up a few Delta-8 buds with your fingers and place the pieces between the teeth of your herb grinder.
- Close the grinder and turn the lid a few times to reduce the Delta-8 flower to a fluffy, powdery consistency.
- Open your dry herb vaporizer and place the ground Delta-8 flower in the device’s oven. Most dry herb vaporizers work best if you pack the herbs fairly tightly, but you shouldn’t pack the oven so tightly that you end up blocking the vaporizer’s airflow. With experience, you’ll learn how to pack your device for the best cloud production.
- Close your vaporizer and turn it on. After a few seconds, the oven will be hot and ready to use. Inhale the vapor from your device’s mouthpiece and enjoy.
- Turn the vaporizer off and allow it to cool when your herbs lose their flavor and begin to taste like burnt popcorn. At that point, you’ve extracted all of the useful compounds. When the vaporizer is completely cool, you can remove the spent herbs and throw them away.