Well yes, there perfect rod exists. But, contrary to popular belief, it does not depend on the concentration of cannabinoids, but on how it is designed.
To find out is Markus Roggen, president and chief science officer of Delic Labs, a cannabis and psilocybin research facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, who along with his colleagues conducted research to understand whether cannabinoid concentration was the most important factor in determining theintoxicating effect and what other things contributed to an enjoyable experience.
Science has revealed how to roll the perfect joint
Presented at the Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition in Vancouver in June and told from Scientific American, the study wants to understand "what happens during inhalation from a chemical point of view".
We start from a certainty: the rod is a simple device, composed of a paper that contains ground cannabis and channels the smoke from the brazier to the consumer's mouth.
Then combustion releases the cannabinoids in gaseous form, thus allowing smokers to consume them. To simplify, imagine that gaseous compounds were extracted and delivered from one end of a pipe to the other. Therefore, according to Roggen, "the problem to be studied is the transmission via aerosol from the barrel to the mouth".
Aerosols rich in active ingredients, including THC and CBD. The first responsible for the psychoactive effects of cannabis and the second known for its important therapeutic properties.
The perfect joint: the importance of ground bud size
To find the perfect joint design, Roggen and his team, equipped with a coffee grinder and a sieve, ground the cannabis into different grain sizes, obtaining crumbled flowers of 1.3 and 5 millimeters in diameter.
Then they realized joint without tobacco of 0.5 of cannabis each, pouring the mixture into pre-rolled paper cones. Joints that were connected to a "smoke cycle simulator" machine that uniformly "inhaled" six times for three seconds each, and then "exhaled."
The filters collected aerosols from the machine's 3D printed mouthpiece, and the researchers used analytical chemistry techniques to measure the aerosol levels from shots taken at the beginning, middle and end of each joint.
The amount of THC and CBD provided by each joint suggested that the size of crumbled cannabis is important for intensity.
For both cannabis strains, the size of the cannabis of 1 mm provided the greater quantity of cannabinoids per puff, while the 5mm size was less intense but resulted in longer-lasting joints.
It therefore follows that the more the cannabis is crumbled more intense will be the session, for faster and more efficient combustion.
It has also been recorded that, regardless of the size of the cannabis, the highest concentration of cannabinoids per puff it always came towards the end of the joint. I terpenes instead they were hired in greater quantities at the beginning.
This suggests that a rod will guarantee the best flavor at first and the higher concentration of cannabinoids at the end.
CBD provided 200-400% more than THC
What surprised the researchers, however, was that, while the THC-dominant joints provided a total of 19-28 milligrams of THC each, the CBD-dominant versions each provided as many as 90-100 mg of CBD, which is 200-400% more than the dominant cannabinoid. "The amount of cannabinoid that reaches the mouth is greater for CBD than for THC - exclaimed Roggen - I can't explain it, but I'm very intrigued."
Cannabidiol which abounds in light cannabis inflorescences with high CBD.
Second Amber Wise, scientific director of the Medicine Creek Analytics cannabis analysis laboratory in Fife, Washington, the pre-rolled market is constantly growing and that: “Roggen's data supports the argument that the percentage of THC is less important of the size of cannabis, and pre-roll manufacturers will find it useful.”
Finally Robert Strongin, professor of organic chemistry at Portland State University, said that “this information could be particularly useful for patients and doctors for whom control and consistency of dosing are a significant issue.”
