Flavorful, potent, and compact, vape cartridges have become some of the most popular items on dispensary menus in recent years. It’s not hard to see why they’re so well-loved, so if you’re new to this popular product, you’ve come to the right place.
Before purchasing your first vape cart, you might have a few questions you want answered. We’ve got you covered—follow us as we explain everything you need to know, from what makes a vape cartridge work to where you can find the highest-quality carts on the market. Ready? Let’s roll!
What Is a Cart?
Vaping tobacco and the surge of electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) has been going on since the early 2000s, and as cannabis started to be legalized across the country, vaping cannabis from oil-filled cartridges—or “carts”—has become one of the top consumption methods among many recreational fans and cannabis patients.
Vape carts are devices designed to help people consume concentrated cannabis products such as distillate and live resin. The most common types of vape carts are 510-thread cartridges, which earned their name thanks to the 510 threading that appears on one end. They come with ten metal threads of stainless steel, copper, or even gold plating at 0.5 mm intervals.
510-thread cartridges have been around for over two decades, and it doesn’t appear they will disappear anytime soon—they’ve become the standard among most handheld vaporizers.
How Carts Are Made: Key Components
Although vape carts are quite simple in design, they include a handful of important parts that keep them functioning and deliver your vapor smoothly. The average vape cartridge has three main parts:
Mouthpiece
The top part of the cartridge that allows the vapor to flow upwards and out of the chamber and into the mouth and lungs. The mouthpiece is usually screwed onto the chamber to seal it, and it’s sometimes reinforced with a little glue to keep it secure. Cartridge mouthpieces are made from either plastic, metal, or ceramic material.
Chamber
The central and largest part of the cartridge. The chamber sits in the middle of the cartridge, tying the whole thing together. It’s also where the concentrated oil that is vaped goes. Cartridge chambers are often made from see-through plastic or glass. They’re typically sealed at the top by the mouthpiece and at the bottom by the atomizer.
Atomizer
Last but not least is the atomizer. It’s effectively a heating element that is powered by the battery underneath it. It works to heat the oil inside the chamber, turning it into vapor and allowing it to move through the mouthpiece. The battery heats some atomizers through the press of a button. For pens that work without a button, the atomizer heats up when the built-in sensor detects the upward airflow of an inhale. Atomizers are typically made from either metal or ceramic material.
How can you tell if a cannabis cartridge is made from grade-A materials? High-quality cannabis cartridges are usually made from premium materials like ceramic, metal, or glass. Additionally, well-made cartridges have properly fitted O-rings that prevent leaks from happening or air from entering a cartridge.
How Does a Vape Cartridge Work?
Though you may be able to point out the different parts of a vape cartridge, you may still be wondering, “How exactly does a vape cartridge work?” The beauty of vape carts is that their operation is easy to understand. The 510 threading on the male end of a vape cartridge makes it simple to attach to the female threading on a vape pen. Once you put these pieces together, the atomizer and battery do the heavy lifting.
If you have a button on a vape pen, you can push it to let the atomizer know that it needs to activate the battery and begin heating the oil or other concentrate. If you don’t have a button on a vape pen, you can achieve this by simply inhaling through the mouthpiece to trigger the atomizer. Either way, the atomizer will respond by getting warmer and vaporizing the oil. You can continue to do this until the oil is used up or the battery runs out of power.
What’s Inside Different Types of Carts?
Nowadays, many different types of vape cartridges are available to the average dispensary shopper. Cartridges can be loaded up with one of several kinds of extracted oils that feature cannabinoids, terpenes, and other cannabis plant compounds. Here are a few popular types of carts:
- Distillate: A purified cannabis oil that’s made by stripping away and dividing all the contents of an extract, leaving behind just pure THC. Many distillate oils can reach as high as 99% THC, giving you the best bang for your buck if THC is what you’re after. However, this often results in a bland and odd-tasting oil, so most distillate oils are topped off with a few terpenes for extra flavor.
- Live Resin: A gooey yet solid concentrate, live resin can be converted into an oil and placed into a cartridge. Since live resin is extracted from fresh frozen flower, these kinds of THC cartridges tend to have more terpenes than other kinds of carts but fewer cannabinoids than something like distillate. Don’t expect to see the same THC percentage as you would with a distillate or even a CO2 oil cartridge—but it’s definitely tastier and more flavorful than other options.
- CO2 Oil: Made using a supercritical CO2 extraction method, many people prefer CO2 oils because they are extracted using CO2 instead of potentially dangerous solvents like butane. Like live resin oil, CO2 oils contain all the natural cannabinoids and terpenes that are in the plant they were extracted from. While usually not as flavorful as live resin cartridges, they tend to be more potent.
Significant differences exist between vape oils, even differences in the same concentrate type, so you should be aware of them when shopping for a new cartridge. For example, some distillate carts are made with strain-specific terpenes from the plant used to make the extract. Others contain botanical terpenes sourced from other cultivars or plants other than cannabis.
Head to Green Goods and Shop for Premium Vape Cartridges
Vape carts are a convenient, easy-to-use way of enjoying cannabis, and vape pens have become one of the most popular products we sell at our dispensaries in Maryland and Minnesota. If you’re itching to try a new vape cartridge, head to your nearest Green Goods for high-quality vapes filled with lab-tested oils—you’ll find all your favorite strains, or we can recommend you our current go-tos.
In Maryland, check out our unbeatable selection from top brands like Hi*AF, 1937, and Kings & Queens. Or if you’re in Minnesota, don’t miss the selection of quality options from Boundary Waters and Vireo. Stop by today, say hello, or browse our online menus and enjoy convenient pickup options.
Want to dive even deeper into cannabis vape cartridges? Read through our informative blog and learn how to properly store your new vape pens and cartridges. More inquiries? We’re here for you! Just reach out or ask our friendly budtenders for more.
