The evolution of marijuana has progressed over the years, as the once illegal drug has now been reformed into a legalized medicinal treatment in many states in the U.S., along with the legalization of recreational marijuana use in a handful of states. With the mainstreaming of the drug, there has been an increasing need for odor control laws and mitigation for this potent smelling marijuana and the smoke that it produces into the air.
Weed has many positive, beneficial impacts but it can also elicit some significant drawbacks, particularly to the environment and the overall air quality. The chemicals and compounds found within the construction of weed and the smoke that is produced from this plant can contain pollutants that can alter the quality of the air in the environment and have a negative effect on the health of those exposed that inhale or ingest the pollutants in the air. Fortunately, there are ways to help to remove the pollutants formed by weed smoke from the air of your personal indoor environment.
We are going to go further into what exactly weed is and how you can remove the smell of weed from out of your indoor air.
Weed vs Tobacco
The smoke that is released from both weed and tobacco vary significantly and contain a different amalgam of chemicals in its construction. Although these two smokes produce a similar structure, there are differences to each of these that make them uniquely different.
Tobacco smoke is a widely known type of smoke that is used and produced into the environment regularly. This smoke is known to contain over 7,000 different chemicals, and about 70 of these chemicals are categorized as carcinogens. Carcinogens are hazardous chemical substances that are known to produce great harm in the human body such as causing cancer in living tissues. This makes smoking tobacco potentially dangerous to humans as the inhalation of this smoke can result in cancer-causing chemicals, and overtime with exposure to these chemicals it will eventually take a drastic impact to your health.
When it comes to marijuana smoke, it also contains carcinogenic chemicals that can be harmful to human health, with at least 50 of these hazardous chemicals present in marijuana smoke. However, the comparison between the two different types of smoke showed differences, particularly in its effects toward human health upon exposure. A study that was conducted in 2006 comparing the differences between tobacco smoke and marijuana smoke found that marijuana does alter the lungs in a way that would suggest cancer-causing potential, but it did not uncover a strong link to this deadly health condition.
Why Does Weed Smell Like Skunk?
The smell of weed/cannabis is a very strong and distinctive odor that will permeate throughout an entire environment and invade the air space completely. This odor that is emitted from marijuana and the smoke it produces is composed of a mix of different chemicals that give the smoke its recognizable, skunk-like odor.
The weed is filled with terpenes, an organic compound that is found in a variety of plants, and within the cannabis plant there are hundreds of terpenes present that emit the skunk smell from the smoke of the weed. There are different types of terpenes, some that produce a stronger odor than others, which is why the smell of cannabis strains can vary in odor. These terpenes can emit an odor similar to thiols, the chemical that produces the skunk odor found in skunk spray and that is why the weed smoke can sometimes release the unwanted odor of skunk into the air after smoking.
Is Weed Smoke Bad for Your Lungs?
Any type of smoke inhalation is potentially dangerous and a risk to human health, as it can reach down into the lungs and impact the function of the lungs overtime. The American Lung Association has raised concerns about marijuana smoke in relation to its potentially damaging effects it places on the lungs of those smoking and inhaling the smoke. The potential adverse health effects from marijuana and the marijuana smoke is dependent on the amount in which is consumed within the body. The most popular methods for smoking marijuana include using pipes, bongs, paper-wrapped joints, blunts, and vapes. The smoke that is produced from these items will contain toxic chemicals and carcinogens that can significantly impact the individual(s) exposed to the smoke, particularly the person who is inhaling the smoke into their body.
When an individual smokes weed, the process of smoking the weed is usually different than that of tobacco, as people will inhale the weed more deeply and hold their breath longer than that of tobacco smoke – this can lead to greater exposure to the potentially hazardous smoke. Research has shown that smoking weed can result in chronic bronchitis and will damage the cell lining of the large airway, which is why the persisting cough, phlegm production, and bronchitis will occur in the body.
What Pollutants Are Found in Marijuana
There are several different pollutants that can be found in weed smoke, and these pollutants will take two different forms, either a particulate or a volatile organic compound (VOCs). Smoke will contain an array of particulate matter the can be both solid and liquid, and these particles are very fine, small pieces of matter in the air. That makes particulate matter fairly hazardous, as the particulates can enter into the body and trigger a variety of health effects. Whereas the VOCs that are produced from weed smoke will contain chemicals such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, benzene, and formaldehyde that can be very toxic to human health upon exposure.
How to Remove Weed Smell
When it comes to the odor that is emitted from marijuana and its smoke, it will be something that many people will try desperately to hide and conceal. Whether it be someone smoking recreationally in a home, an employee that is trying to disguise the odor, or a grow plant that is trying to control the emission of the odor from their facility, the smell will need to be controlled and mitigated – and hopefully quickly! What is the best way to remove the smell of weed from the air, is it through the use of promised air fresheners that will disguise the odor, through an effective HVAC filter for odor elimination, or maybe by implementing an air purifier for cannabis odors inside your environment?
Weed Smoke Filter
Something that is not often considered when trying to combat odors within an indoor environment, particularly the odor of weed, is that an HVAC filter with odor neutralizing capabilities could work well to expel the smell from the air. Air filters are designed to filter the air in the indoor space that passes through the filter, capturing and eliminating the pollutants, particulates, and in some cases depending on the filter technology it will neutralize the unwanted odors that are in your air. These filters, in comparison to standard HVAC filters, will cost more money but it will only last for longer and provide complete odor neutralizing capabilities within the filter to aid in the removal of weed smoke odor.
Air Purifier for Weed Smoke
The best way to clean the air within your home and strip the air of any noxious odors that need to be neutralized is through the use of an effective air purifier for weed smoke removal. There are so many different varieties of air purifiers and different technologies that they each utilize that only some of them will actually be effective at removing the potent, strong odor of weed. Some air purifiers are cable of handling both particulate and gaseous pollutants, but the likelihood of these air purifiers also containing odor neutralization capabilities is rare.
However, the EnviroKlenz Air Purifier is the ultimate air purifier to remove a wide variety of contaminants including particulates, chemicals, and noxious odors. The EnviroKlenz technology is a patented earth mineral technology that works by coming into contact with the contaminants and breaking them down and/or neutralizing them completely from the air. The chemicals found in marijuana such as formaldehyde, benzenes, and other VOCs will be easily captured and neutralized in the air leaving you with both better indoor air quality and no trace of the strong odor of weed.
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