They're massively more convenient. Dry herb vaporizers require me to reload the device every few hits and carry a supply of dry ground cannabis with me everywhere I go. The wet capsules last for hundreds of hits, and produce less scent both when in use and when inactive.

I've also found good capsule vaporizers to be more reliable than any of the four dry vaporizers I've purchased. But I have personally stopped buying black market vapes after I lost my supplier and the next few I was able to purchase immediately destroyed my lungs... :/

But — after reading the article - do you believe the benefits outweigh the risks?

Yes. This is resolvable via packaging, regulation & enforcement changes. We have these same issues in pet food, baby formula, and ammunition.

Black market flower can also be unsafe if treated with the same chemicals. The risk with oils is that they bio-accumulate toxins during the extraction process, meaning the toxic PPM radically climbs as the non-cannabinoid organic material is blasted away by the CO2.

The issue with both flower & oil is that black market producers cannot afford to lose a crop, so if it gets mold or pests then unscrupulous manufacturers will do whatever they have to do to salvage the season.

Currently, no, because I don't have any legal options where I am currently living, and my own experience and stories like this have pushed me away from black market products.

But I believe that these are a much better product, when manufactured by accountable, regulated, legal companies.

I hope we'll have more safe products available going forward, instead of a ban that helps sustain unsafe black market products.

Even the most expensive portable dry herb vaporizer on the market today has a terrible user experience compared to the cheapest cartridge pens.

The herb compartments are very small, which means that you have to refill them literally every couple hits, which also means that they're not very portable and that sharing is basically impossible

The heating elements have to be much larger, which means that they heat up slowly and the batteries have to be recharged every other use.

They start to taste bad quickly unless you disassemble and clean them every other use.

The devices themselves are wicked expensive (hundreds of dollars vs tens), and equivalent quantities of dry herb also costs more than liquid concentrates.

Compare that to a cartridge pen where:

The battery can last for months of regular use without needing to be recharged because the element is tiny and heats instantly.

The cartridges similarly last for months of regular use without needing to repack constantly.

As far as I know, they never need to be cleaned.

A decent pen body costs like $35 vs like $200 for a dry herb vape, and a $50 pre-filled concentrate cartridge can last literally months of regular use.

Its all about portability. You can easily use these oil carts at theme parks, concerts, walking through your neighborhood without stinking of weed. Not only that, but they were getting real cheap (which could also be because they are black market). Dank Vapes carts were being sold for $25 to the end user (not wholesale). No way you are selling at that price without cutting corners in production.

So young kids see $25, no pipe/papers, ease of transport and hard to get caught.

> I'm failing to understand why someone would choose these "wet" cartridges that are mixed with other compounds, compared to just get a dry-herb vaporizer that you just put the marijuana in. Could some enligheten me?

Dry herb vaporizers are likely much more fragrant than their oil alternatives.

Ease of use. The idea of the cartridge is that you use it once and throw it away. A full vaporizer requires cleaning + can be very expensive. At the worst a new vape pen is $20-$40. It also fits in your pocket easily and looks like an e-cig / regular vape, many full THC vaporizers do not meet these criteria.

I actually have an expensive portable vaporizer, but much preferred using vape pens + carts.

Way more convenient. Before I moved, I had a friend who made them. I knew they were safe, since they were pure cannabis oil. No solvents.

Now I don’t have access, so I do opt for herb vapes. But I can’t understand why some would use carts, as you can bring them literally anywhere and use them. You really can’t do that otherwise.

This particular chemical is linked to a pesticide, and could be on dry herb as well.

I don't think dry herb vapes produce an effect that is very much like smoking, so that could be one concern. I basically don't like the effects of my Pax 3 at all. I'm pretty much done with all of it except an occasional edible though.

A decent dry-herb vape pen will run a few hundred dollars. Many dispensaries will give a 510 cart battery for free, and it is easier to use and more discrete.

I think you can get much higher ratios of CBD to THC in this format. This is what people with chronic pain and anxiety are looking for.

You can get low THC/high CBD ratios in any format. In Switzerland for example, products with CBD is legal, and up to 1% of THC. So you end up with lots of different products, including dry herb, that has 0-1% THC.

It may be harder to get in places where higher THC content is legal (since most users want more THC), but it's definitely not limited to just wet cartridges.

You COULD get much higher ratios of CBD and THC in this format if the product is not chopped to hell in back. The issue with black market carts is that it is hard to tell whether it is the genuine article with a visual inspection or by tasting the product. It's much easier with the actual flower. In theory the liquid is more potent, in practice without regulation not so much

You can buy high-CBD flower though.

The benefit of "Wet" is that its concentrated. The THC % in vape carts are typically around the 75-85% range. Opposed to vaping dry herb which has THC content of 10-25%. Another benefit is that "wet" has far less smell compared to dry herb vapes when not in use making them easier to carry around and conceal.

You can also use concentrate vapes that do not use carts. Load them with shatter, rosin, distalate, QWET...no need for any cutting agents.

Downside is you need to reload after 5-10 hits.

I've been trying that lately. I've found transferring the wax around is tricky because it's so sticky. and i have to clean the thing and the heaters wear out. but the convenience/stealth is virtually the same as THC carts. you just have to hope your wax/shatter was distilled properly.