How Many Vape Cart Hits Do You Need to Get High?

What Influences How Hard a Weed Vape Hits?

When looking at the factors that can affect how many hits on a weed vape you might need, it’s important to remember that everyone is different. Not everything here will apply equally to every cannabis user, so always take your personal circumstances into consideration before acting on any examples or advice provided below. 

Tolerance and Metabolism

Individual tolerance to cannabinoids varies significantly, and so just because someone you know can hit their weed cart all day with no ill effects, that doesn’t mean you will be able to do the same. Not only do baseline tolerances vary, but they tend to build over time with repeated use, so a new cannabis user is unlikely to have the same level of tolerance as someone who has been using it for 10 years

Your metabolism and natural body chemistry also have parts to play in how weed carts hit. Some users metabolize the active compounds in cannabis quickly, while others find that it takes much longer for metabolism to take place. The faster your metabolism, the sooner you will feel the effects of the weed vape you use, and vice versa. 

Added to that, factors such as hydration level, body weight, and general health level are likely to contribute to how a cannabis hit affects you compared to the next person. Even your age and biological sex can have a bearing on how well your body handles cannabis. Studies suggest that women tend to build a tolerance faster than men, and the older you get the less tolerant your body will be to THC use. 

Frequency

As touched on above, how frequently you use weed carts and other cannabis products will affect how many hits you might need to experience a high. Just like any other psychoactive substances, including things like nicotine, your body becomes accustomed to them with prolonged use. 

The science behind this is a reduction in the sensitivity of the CB1 receptors in the brain due to being repeatedly stimulated by THC and other cannabinoids. This results in reduced release of the dopamine responsible for the pleasant, intoxicating effects of using cannabis. In simple terms: the more frequently you use cannabis, the quicker your body becomes accustomed to it and the more it needs to achieve the same effects. 

Ingredients

The specific ingredients in the weed cart you are using play a big part in how quickly or slowly you feel the high. Not all cannabinoids are equally potent, but not only that, their concentration within a THC e-liquid, weed cart, or disposable varies wildly between products. Just because a cart has Delta-9 listed as an ingredient, that doesn’t mean the cart will have potent effects if it’s at a low concentration. 

Equally, a high-concentration Delta-9 cart might not produce effects as quickly or strongly as a cart with a mixture of several less potent cannabinoids and terpenes working together, resulting in an amplified effect (this is often called the entourage effect). 

Reputable sellers will always provide a detailed breakdown of the ingredients in a cannabis product, no matter if that is a cart, disposable, or wax for dabbing. Understanding the relative potency of the main types of cannabinoids used in these products will help you work out which will provide the best effects from the fewest hits. 

• Delta 9 THC – The most plentiful cannabinoid in modern cannabis plants. Generally considered to be the most potent of all commonly used cannabinoids. 
• Delta 8 THC – Most studies and anecdotal reports suggest Delta 8 is about half as potent as Delta 9 THC. 
• Delta 10 THC – Far less common than Delta 8 and 9, Delta 10 is said to be less potent than both, with users often reporting a more energizing than intoxicating high. 
• HHC – Most commonly synthetically derived due to the low amounts found in cannabis plants, HHC sits somewhere between D-9 and D-8 THC in terms of potency. 
• THCV – Mild intoxicating effects. THCV is most commonly mixed with other cannabinoids when used in weed carts and disposables. 
• CBD – Often referred to as “non-psychoactive”, CBD does have some psychoactive effects but does not produce any of the intoxicating effects associated with other cannabinoids (it won’t get you high). 

However, if you are new to vaping cannabinoids, knowing exactly how well you might tolerate each will be difficult. At least some trial and error will be needed to make fully informed buying decisions. 

Vaping Technique

How you hit your THC vape will affect how many hits you need to feel the effects. Drawing slow and hard on the vape, inhaling deeply, and holding the inhale will get more of the active ingredients into your bloodstream (per puff) than taking short, shallow puffs and exhaling instantly. 

This might seem like common sense, and if you are new to vaping weed taking cautious puffs is not a terrible idea. Just bear in mind that, in general, someone vaping THC in this way will need to hit their weed pen more often than someone who draws deeply each time. 

Types of Weed Vapes: How Each Affects Hit Potency

Disposable THC Vapes

Disposable cannabinoid vapes are commonly aimed more at beginners than experienced cannabis users (although not always). They tend to be fairly low-powered and low to moderate-strength. The vapor output will be lower than from more powerful systems, meaning less of the active ingredients are available for absorption with each hit. Good for testing your tolerance to cannabinoids, but you’ll likely need to hit it more to achieve the desired effects. 

Refillable Vapes

Refillable weed vapes offer a much more variable strength range. You can choose to fill it with any strength THC liquid or concentrate, which will obviously play a huge part in determining how hard each puff hits. Refillable weed vapes also tend to be more powerful than disposables and often allow you to adjust wattage levels to increase vapor output to the density you require. 

Pod or Cart

Pre-filled weed pods or carts are available in low, moderate, and high strength and have the advantage (over disposables) of being available for devices with a range of power levels. So while weed carts are a great compromise between convenience and potential potency, how many hits you’ll need depends very much on the carts you choose to use. 

Dry Herb Vaporizers

Generally used by more experienced cannabis users, dry herb vaporizers are designed to heat and vaporize cannabis flower rather than oil. This produces a more gradual high that builds over time as the flower slowly releases the active compounds it contains. All else being equal (HTC concentration, cannabis strain used, etc) dry herb vaporizers would need to be hit more times than weed cart to feel the same effects. 

Dab Pens

Dab pens are likely to produce the fastest and most potent high of any type of weed vape. Dab pens are designed to use highly concentrated forms of cannabis like wax and shatter, which, when heated and vaporized, can hit hard if you’re not used to it. Although the concentrates that are available for dab pens vary in strength between brands, even long-time cannabis users might need just one or two hits to feel the effects strongly. 

How Many Hits Do You Need to Feel the Effects?

We’ll slip the disclaimer in here once again because while we can make estimates based on the general consensus and reports from weed vapers, results will vary, and any figures provided here will not be perfect for every cannabinoid user.  

Beginners

When you are very new to vaping cannabis products, something with a moderate concentration of THC could have you feeling the effects in less than three deep hits. Vapes containing high concentrations of THC could produce a high in just one or two hits. As a THC beginner, it is always best to start slowly rather than just hitting it hard and trusting luck that it won’t knock you on your behind. 

Moderate Users

 If you have used cannabis semi-regularly for even a short time, your tolerance is likely to be higher than a beginner. It might take five or six hits on a low or moderate-strength weed cart to feel the intoxicating effects and two or three hits on a stronger product. 

Experienced Users

Regular cannabis users might need to hit a low or moderate-strength THC vape eight or ten times before the desired effects can be felt. However, even experienced cannabis users are not likely to need more than five hits on a high-strength weed cart (in one go) to feel a high coming on. 

The Bottom Line

Despite the many variables, the number of hits of a weed cart or other type of cannabis vape needed by most users to feel the effects has a fairly fixed range. The average number is probably three, varying within a few hits more or less, depending on product potency and personal tolerance. Common sense needs to be applied, and new users should apply caution when using cannabis concentrates. But by taking the information here into account, working out how much THC is enough to feel the desired effects shouldn’t take very long.