How Much CBD should I Vape?

Vaping CBD is one of the most effective, potent, and the quickest way to administer this substance. Inhaling CBD oil or juice through a vaporizer ensures that it travels through the alveoli of the lungs directly into the bloodstream within merely a few minutes. 

This is also the most popular method of delivering CBD and is only second to intravenous injection as far as its reaction time is concerned. 

This method also has the highest retention power of CBD, i.e. there is far less waste of CBD compared to other delivery methods. Besides, its dosage can also be measured pretty accurately, thanks to the different vaporizing devices available in the market that are designed to administer an exact dosage each time. If you have a tincture, please visit CBD tincture dosage guide.

How much CBD should I vape

No matter whichever method of delivery you choose, your body chemistry is always an important factor. 

There is indeed much less waste and higher bioavailability of CBD in vape juices, as it reaches the bloodstream much faster than other types of products that go through the digestive system or sublingual system. 

However, an individual body’s requirement is a very specific and unique factor. While people can feel its effects at work with only a dose of 3mg, others may need at least 30mg. Average users require somewhere around 10 – 100mg to experience any perceivable change in their symptoms. 

There are a few factors that determine how much you need to take in a single dose or a single day. They are: 

  • CBD Product’s Concentration & Quality: While low concentration product will have slow or almost no effect, too high concentration may lead to adverse effects, besides pinching your pocket. Again, low-quality products can create other complications, both in the absorption process, and your health. Products of poor quality have some contaminants like heavy metals and potential allergens, due depending on where the cannabis extract is sourced. 
  • Power of Vape Device used: The wattage of the vaping device or vaporizer determines the volume of vapor created, and in turn, the volume of vapor inhaled. For instance, a 9-watt vape pen will produce much less vapor than a 200-watt vape tank. This ultimately determines how many puffs you need to have an impact. So, you’ll have to read the manual carefully to find out the wattage and average volume of puff rendered by the devise and measure accordingly. 
  • The user’s Body Weight: People with more body mass require more of the substance to take effect, while the opposite is true for lower body mass. 
  • Body Chemistry, including individual chemical balance and properties of the endocannabinoid system of the person: Vaping CBD may have different effects, of varied extent and intensity than you friend, who may be of the same age, weight, height, etc. That is because we are all born with an endocannabinoid system that is absolutely unique to each individual. How this system chemically reacts to different signals determines the effects substances that interact with the system, like CBD, have on our body. 
  • Extent & Intensity of the Health Condition: Your physical condition, the issues that trouble you and their severity determine how much you should vape. The more severe the condition, the higher dose of CBD you require. If you want to calm yourself down before giving a public speech, you may not need more than 40 – 50mg. However, if your anxiety issues are more intense and serious, you may need at least up to 300 – 400mg. However, this is what you may need for CBD taken orally. In the case of vaping, these doses come down by at least 40-45%.

The bottom line is that with CBD there is no ‘one-amount-suits-all’ kind of dosage. Everyone requires a dosage that’s unique to her or him. 

If you’re new to CBD vaping, you should read our New to Vaping CBD Guide to understand the basics.

Recommended Dosage for CBD Vape Juice

If you are opting to inhale CBD, 2.5mg – 20mg of CBD is generally considered as a good enough dosage for chronic pain. But, you may need around 40mg – 160mg to overcome insomnia. However, if you’re vaping it, the concentration of CBD required would be much less. Find out how much.

Then, is there a clear-cut, universal Vaping CBD Dosage for each ailment, or condition among humans? 

No, there isn’t. No matter what, though, the rule of thumb in case of using CBD in any form is “start low, go slow”. It’s best to start with 10mg per day. 

Remember what we discussed earlier about the different factors that determine our dosage? Here, we need to look back at those factors, keeping in mind that we are looking for the right dosage for vape juices/oils.  

You need to measure the right dose for your specific condition, as per your weight, the severity of the problem, the concentration of CBD vape juice used, etc., to get the right CBD vape oil dose.  

Generally speaking, if you were to start from a safe dose, as per your body weight, you can follow these approximate doses. nevertheless, we must remind you, body weight isn’t the only variable in this equation. 

Starting CBD Vape Dosage: Chart for Adults

BodyweightApproximate starting dosage
Less than 25lbs4.5 mg
26-45 lbs6 mg
46-85 lbs9 mg
86-150 lbs12 mg
151-240 lbs18 mg
More than 241 lbs22.5 mg

How much CBD is too much? 

CBD is not psychoactive, i.e., it doesn’t make you addicted to it; neither can you overdose on it. So much so, the human body doesn’t develop a tolerance towards this substance. On the contrary, the more you use and the consistent you are with your doses, the less you will need in the long run. 

If you’re taking pure CBD, there is hardly any fear of having any substantial side effects. However, in the case of full-spectrum compositions, the levels of THC that goes into your body increases with each dose. This could have an adverse reaction on your body, like hallucinations, intoxication, etc. This is, of course, besides the possibility of you failing a drug test. 

Besides, very high amounts of CBD don’t really have any added benefit. Hence, there is no point in upping your doses. Good quality CBD isn’t cheap!

Although high doses may have mild difference in reaction, like sleepiness, or, in some cases, reversal of the beneficial properties, too high levels of CBD, like around 20,000mg taken at one go [1], may have some very undesirable effects, like lightheadedness, drowsiness, low blood pressure, dryness of mouth, etc. 

However mild these side effects may be, it makes no sense in turning a potentially beneficial substance into a nuisance! 

Figuring out the CBD dosage on your vaporizer

This is a bit of an approximation. Let’s say the CBD vape oil you purchased is a 30ml bottle, containing a total of 500mg. This means the oil’s per ml dose is approximately 16.7mg. 

So, if your vaping device holds only 1ml at a time, the dose you’ll be administering yourself with is 16.7mg. If your device holds more than 1ml, say 2ml or 3ml, multiply the device capacity with the CBD power/ml of the CBD bottle you bought. 

For instance, a 2ml vaporizer will hold 33.4mg (approx.) and a 3ml device will hold 50.1mg (approx.). So, now that you know how much CBD the tank holds, you need to find out how many puffs you need to fulfill your dosage.   

Calculating CBD per puff

Calculating your CBD-content in a single puff is yet another game of approximation. Apart from the power of your vaping device, the CBD content of each puff is different for different people. One person may take a long puff, while others (usually new users) may take smaller puffs.  

If you are using a new vaping device, of let’s say 100mg capacity, and you get 100 puffs out of it, the approximate dose per puff is 1mg. So, if your required dosage is, say 20mg, then you need 20 puffs to administer a proper dose. 

How often to vape CBD?

Vaping products are not used like other CBD supplements (oral, sublingual, etc.). Vaping CBD provides instant relief and lasts for not more than 4 – 6 hours. So you may need to supplement your vaping dosage with an alternative CBD product if you’re looking for a long-term effect. 

While it’s best to start with a 10mg dose/day, you can take it up to 10mg per dose, taking two sessions per day. Continue your dosage consistently every day to get your body acclimatized to the new substance (if you’re a new user). 

Adjust and titrate your dosage as per needed every few weeks to make sure you don’t experience any side effects.

Bioavailability & How it Matters

Inhaling CBD through a vape pen, mod or cartridge offers higher effectiveness, i.e. higher bioavailability. This is because the substance reaches almost instantly into your bloodstream, without getting wasted along the way as it goes through different organs or being broken down by different enzymes. 

This is why the bioavailability of CBD Vape Juices or Oils is estimated at 34-56%, while that of edibles at only 4-20% and sublingual tinctures at 12 – 35%. For all practical purposes, it means that if you’re using a vaping product of 1000mg, your body can make use of at least 34 – 56 mg of the total product. However, your body can only utilize a maximum of 20mg of a CBD product that is consumed through edibles or capsules. 

If a dose contains 10mg of CBD, your body absorbs an approximate of 3.4 – 5.6 mg of the substance at one go. 

Parting Thoughts:

Even if you have the right dosage, you also need to make sure the composition of your vape juice or oil is right.  

A 60:40 PG/VG blend is best for making CBD vape oil. PG or Propylene Glycol is a thin, tasteless, alcoholic liquid, while VG leaves a sweet residual taste in the mouth. You can choose to use vape oils or juices of any flavor; a lot of companies offer a variety of wonderful flavors and aroma. But stick to CBD oils that are mixed in PG/VG blend and not MCT oil.  

MCT oil (medium-chain triglyceride) is no good for being used in vape oils, because MCT, unlike PG, is an actual oil, and when heated, it produces a nasty smoke, which doesn’t happen in the case of alcohol (PG).

The other factors that you need to consider are the spectrum of the CBD product and quality tests. 

If you’re not comfortable with full-spectrum or even broad-spectrum vape oils, stick to CBD isolates, which some companies use to make their vape juices. Besides, make sure the product you’re buying is tested by a third-party lab for potency, quality, and purity. Otherwise, you may end up paying more for a low-grade vape juice that won’t have the desired effect even after using the right dosage, or worse – encounter other health issues due to the presence of metal contaminants, chemical contaminants, or possible allergens. These may be present in extracts that have been sourced from plants produced in unregulated farms. 

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Research

  1. Safety and Side Effects of Cannabidiol, a Cannabis sativa Constituent; Current Drug Safety; 2011; Bentham Science Publishers; Mateus Machado Bergamaschi, Regina Helena Costa Queiroz, José Alexandre S. Crippa, and Antonio Waldo Zuardi; https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5851ba50e3df288425168ceb/t/59963bb4f5e231b4a273e072/1503017917224/Safety+and+Side+Effects+of+Cannabidiol%2C+a+Cannabis+sativa+Constituent.pdf 
Author Details
Senior Editor & Researcher , Greenthevoteok
Matt Hansel is a Medical Practitioner, who has been writing and researching about cannabis since 2014.  His popular quotes which we like are: \"Don\'t use CBD oil for a cure, use it as a precaution\"  \"CBD should be considered as any other vitamin supplement and your body needs it!\"