Before we launch into this Craft Panacea Live Resin vape cartridge review, we want to address the current controversy surrounding vape safety. As you likely know, there have been some reports of vape users getting sick and/or dying from using vape products. It’s important to note that in most, if not all of these cases, the vapes that may have caused these issues were black market vapes, ie they were purchased on the street (or car, or house, or illegal dispensary … wherever people are buying black market, non-regulated vapes) and likely contained cutting agents, like Vitamin E, that will wreck your lungs if inhaled.
But don’t take our word for it. We also spoke with Sayrah Sims from Prohibition Herb about the vape issues that are making the news, and here’s what she had to say about the issue:
“So far evidence is pointing to black market/counterfeit THC vape cartridges that are cut with unregulated thinning agents being the main cause of the lung issues we’re seeing in the media. There also may be links to flavored e-cig juices that are often made with unregulated cutting agents, flavors, and other substances that don’t have to undergo any testing or quality standards. Pair that with folks taking vaping to the maximum extreme and you have potential for negative health effects.
When you buy a THC cartridge from a legal dispensary in Colorado, you know that the product is being tested through the state’s rigorous testing standards. The carts we carry aren’t cut with any thinning agents, and most are pure cannabis oil. Some have cannabis-derived terpenes added back in to the purified oil, and some have natural flavors added into them. But again, they can’t add anything to the oil that isn’t approved by the state of Colorado, and every batch of oil has to be tested in its final form for potency and contaminants.
I can only speak for the Colorado market. In places like California that have a HUGE number of illegal dispensaries (so many, in fact, that illegal stores vastly outweigh the amount of legal dispensaries), I personally wouldn’t want to buy any cartridges from a new/unregulated market like California.
So, if you’re being smart and asking the right questions at your legal dispensary – is it state tested; is there a thinning agent used; is it flavored? – you shouldn’t have any issues.”
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the Craft Panacea Banana Kush vape cartridge we’re reviewing this week, shall we?
So, we picked up this cart from Prohibition late last week at basically the height of the vapes-will-off-you hype. I personally love vapes because I’m lazy and they’re so user friendly, but this one, which was filled with golden indica concentrate goodness, gave me a bit of trouble right off the bat. (This is going somewhere, I swear.) I screwed it into the battery I had laying around at home and went to imbibe. First inhale? Nothing. Second inhale? Nothing. Switched batteries, and you guessed it: nothing. It wasn’t working. Not a huge deal; sometimes that happens with this type of thing, in part because of the viscous nature of concentrates. Things get a little mucked up.
I messed with the cart a while longer but to no avail, so I decided to run back up to Prohibition, as a clogged cartridge was going to do, well, nothing for this review. They swapped it out with the quickness, and off I went. I’d taken the battery with me to make sure the new cartridge worked before I left (don’t worry; I wasn’t driving) so I quickly screwed the new cart in and tried it out. And … nothing. Gave it a few more clicks of the button … nothing. This went on for a few more tries, and before I gave in and took it back, I decided to try it one last time. All of a sudden, I had a huge lungful (or two) of vapor and I was choking like a damn fool.
Turns out you should probably let this thing warm up for a few seconds before you decide it’s broken, cause, uh … this Craft cartridge worked just fine. Maybe even more than fine. The hit I took was huge, and every hit after emitted clouds that floated up to the heavens. And yes, I sputtered and choked every time.
Just those huge couple of hits knocked me into outer space, and I was almost immediately giggle-bish stoned like I was back in high school. Everything was funny to me, up to and including the fact that the person who drove me to Prohibition lost their wallet somewhere in the depths of their car. By the time we pulled into the driveway, I was wreckt with a t – in such a very good way. My face felt like it was melting the hell off, my body high was epic, and I couldn’t stop laughing. I felt like the giggles lasted for hours, all while I was standing outside of my house.
Once I finally pulled myself together enough to go through the front door, I threw myself in front of some weird Netflix documentary and ate a bunch of pizza rolls like a G before passing the hell out and sleeping like a rock. (Please don’t be envious of my life. You too can have this productive ass path if you just smoke enough and eat enough carbs.)
I already liked the Banana Kush strain, and I especially liked it in this Craft Panacea vape cartridge. Was there a learning curve? Yes, but only because I’m dumb. Should I be careful of what I put into my body? Yes, but that doesn’t just go for vape cartridges. It also goes for beer, sugary stuff, and the massive amount of pizza rolls I ingested last week. Anything can wreak havoc on your body if you overindulge.
Here’s my (very unscientific) advice: Everything in moderation, and don’t be silly about your choices. If you wouldn’t buy pizza rolls some dude has hidden under his trench coat on the corner, don’t buy vape cartridges from that dude, either. Make sure you’re buying regulated products from a quality dispensary, and make sure you’re buying something as fun as these Banana Kush cartridges, and you should be all right indeed.
DGO Pufnstuf
