Delta 9 THC is the version anyone consuming most Cannabis products (flower, hash, extracts) is used to. Apparently there is also Delta 8 THC that is starting to gain popularity. Apparently it is fairly simple to convert CBD extract to Delta 8 THC, so lots of retailers are popping up to sell Delta 8 concentrates. Here is an article that explains a little about Delta 8 THC compared to Delta 9 THC. https://mjnewsnetwork.co...ner-what-is-delta-8-thc/

So, has anyone tried Delta 8 THC yet? I'm curious about user reviews and reports. How does it compare to Delta 9 THC and what are the major differences? In the article, some people seem to have less felt anxiety and paranoia with D8 than D9 THC.

I'm curious, so please post your experiences if you have tried Delta 8 THC. Thanks.

I had a few experiences puffing on a d8-THC vape cartridge. Unfortunately, I learned soon after that the vendor they came from was using an older style cartridge, which are partly composed of a of a leaded alloy. Supposedly the vendor re-tested a cart and it did have lead, but was supposedly below the California legal limit. So I tossed mine after just a couple uses, not too disappointed since it wasn't too pricey.

It did have the distinct cannabis vibe, very different from the synthetic cannabinoids. As I understand delta-8 is synthesized in small quantities by Cannabis, and only differs chemically by the placement of a double bond.

It seemed weaker in mental effects compared to d9-THC, less psychedelic, less anxious, more rounded emotionally. I never tried too large of a dose, but there are reports on reddit of people taking hundreds of milligrams and having an unpleasantly intense time.

Delta 8 seems friendly to me, the main thing that's concerning is possible contaminants in the product. The good vendors have lab tests for potency, heavy metals, and solvents. I'm not really knowledgeable about qualitative chemical analysis, but pretty much all of the product is less than 99% cannabinoid. Some claims to be 98% cannabinoid, others closer to 80% total cannabinoids. Nobody's really sure what these other chemicals in the batches are yet, I don't think, but people claim the 80% cannabinoid stuff is stronger than the 98% delta-8 sauce.

delta8-THC is only a trace natural cannabinoid, as far as I know there aren't any plants that can produce it in proportions that would be significant to the THC and CBD content of a plant.

delta8THC however is very easily produced as the major product during the acid catalyzed alkene isomerization of CBD. In the early days when researchers were trying to synthesize delta-9-THC, this isomerization to delta-8 was something that was trying to be avoided.

CBD molecule has two parts, the terpene unit attached to a phenol, it is actually just a bond between Limonene and Olivetol.

When CBD is treated with a strong acid, it's double bonds can be protonated to form an intermediate carbocation, when the terminal alkene forms this cation, it immediately is captured by the phenol oxygen and forms THC. When the other alkene protonates, it has nothing to be captured by so it just reforms the alkene by elimination. The lower energy product alkene appears to be delta-8, and it appears to be happening in CBD before the conversion to THC, since I don't believe that delta-9-THC is converted to delta-8 in the presence of acid.

So understanding that , it is possible to convert CBD into delta-9, if the right conditions (acid , concentratino, temperature) are used, you can try and control the chemoselectivity. Some other isomers are possible too, such as so-THC, when the oxygen instead cyclizes with the internal double bond. This cannabinoid is non-natural and inactive however.

So delta-9 is harder to make than delta-8, and delta-8 is a rare trace cannabinoid in nature.

So the real reason you have a surge in popularity in delta-8-THC, is because you have distilleries and other industries trying to find a way to sell people more CBD and THC derived products. CBD is converted to delta-8-THC with treatment of catalyic pTsOH in hot toluene, in near almost quantitative yield, without the need of chromatographic separation. This is what organic chemists like to call bucket chemistry, because its so operationally simple and scalable it can be carried out in a bucket. Big pharma and any industry that can sell that product also love bucket chemistry because its profitable.

So if you read you will see how they market, they will avoid as much as possible to tell you its synthetic, and instead focus on terms like cannabinoid, anti-anxiety, and they will probably keep saying that it is a naturally occurring trace cannabinoid, because they don't want to scare people away by saying they made it in a lab. Instead they will say "advanced distillation, separation conversion isolation process" or some other buzzwordy bullshit to keep you interested. But to be fair, calling it a synthetic cannabinoid is wrong as well, since it isn't purely synthetic. And synthetic cannabinoid research chemicals, are completely unrelated class of chemicals, are far more dangerous and the people marketing those as safe or similar to THC, are far more dishonest.

I have nothing against synthetic THC vs the natural thing, but just be aware of what it really is, don't fall for the hype or be misled by the buzzwords. there is nothing too special about delta-8-THC. Research shows that it is significantly more effective as an anti-nauseant. It is weaker in the binding profile than THC, but it maintains some of the CB1 activity of CBD. So you could think of it as a hybrid between THC and CBD. It is about 50% as potent psychoactive as delta-9-THC.

In my experience I tried some, I got stoned, not much more to say about it. I do like to always have large portion of CBD with THC, it definitely takes away some of the anxiety I get. Delta-8 acts in a similar way. So there is nothing that delta-8 does, that isn't already accomplished by just adding a bit of CBD. The only good reason is curiosity and novelty, it's fun to have a custom cannabinoid mix of delta9-THC, Delta-8-THC, CBD. But that's really what it comes down to.

I was a daily Cannabis smoker for 10 years until i quit January of last year. I had recognized the need to quit smoking for years, but i wasn't ready to let it go and even though i was getting more and more in the way of negatives compared to positives, anxiety and paranoia became a regular thing, i felt awkward in general but especially in social situations/in public, it felt like i was always tripping (probably because of all my Aya experimentation and THC being able to bring some of that back), overall it just wasn't doing me any good and imo caused me some issues. Then in late December of 2019/early January 2020, i was really sick with what i can only assume was covid, lasted a few good weeks, and smoking Cannabis during that was really weird and made me aware that i really needed to quit smoking, so i did.

Then around August of last year, i heard about D8 over at the Shroomery, i was curious so i looked into it and decided to get me some to try out. At first i was a little hesitant and cautious, not about the D8 itself or how it's made/produced but because i didn't know how similar to D9 it'd be and i didn't wanna "get high" and start feeling all weird again, but had read that it's lower on the anxiety and paranoia risk than D9. At first it was pretty nice but there was some mild paranoid thoughts but it was just the headspace i was in lol. After a couple or so months i started using it daily like i did with Cannabis, and i'm still using the D8 on a daily basis but so far so good, and it definitely gets me high/stoned, but way more clearheaded and less psychoactive.

I must say, i really prefer D8 over D9, i mean D9 has it's place for sure, especially if i wanna go deep because of it's Psychedelic potential, but D8 overall is better for more regular/casual use imo. It gives me all the good of D9, takes me to the same places as D9, minus the bad that D9 gives me. If i overdo it, there can be some mild anxiety or paranoid thoughts, but it's nowhere near what i get from D9 and can more easily brush it off and get myself into a good headspace, so i really don't get much in the way of anxiety or paranoia or awkwardness or self-critical thinking or random fearing of things like i do with D9. I can function a lot better on D8.

Personally, if it came down to me only being able to use D8 or D9, i'd most certainly go for D8. Yeah it sucks that at least currently there's no Cannabis/Hemp strains that can produce D8 in larger/usable quantities, but i don't fear chemistry so long as it's done rightly and safely so i don't have an issue with using lab made chemicals. I follow the D8 subreddit and i see people obsessing over lab results and such, which on one hand is a good thing because vendors should get their products thoroughly tested, but on the other hand compared to what most people usually consume, i don't think lab made D8 would be anywhere near as bad as some of the things we consume, it's good to know either way though.

As an aside though, another thing that irritates me about people on the D8 subreddit is that a lot of them think terpenes are just for taste and aroma and have absolutely no effects of their own or synergy with THC in the way of altering how THC feels, when in reality terpenes DO have their own effects, and DO alter how THC feels. People seem to think that because most terpenes do not have any effect on Cannabinoid receptors, they think terpenes don't have any effect/impact at all, outside of taste and aroma.

I have personal extensive experience with orally consuming essential oils and some individual terpenes, and now that i've gotten into D8 i've gained some experience with vaping different isolated terpenes mixed with the D8 distillate, and it's pretty obvious to me they have their own effects and can synergize with each other to give you certain differences in effects, even without THC being in the mix. It's just like with Ayahuasca and admixture plants for example, using admixture plants to add things to the experience/effects or reduce certain side-effects or to otherwise just flavor the experience/medicine in different ways.

Pinene's for example, have Acetylcholinesterase inhibiting properties which is certainly noticeable when it comes to the increase in and potentiation of Acetylcholine/Cholinergic receptor stimulation.

Limonene as another example, has Serotonin 1A agonism, Adenosine A2A agonism (which also crosstalks with other receptor systems including the CB1 receptor, the D2 receptor, Metabotropic Glutamate 5 receptor), and it seems to be the only thing i've come across that actually blocks out the nausea/vomiting of Harmalas, even of consumed Rue seed powder capsules, whereas Ginger, Peppermint, and Zofran didn't work, my thinking is that Limonene also acts as a kind of pro-kinetic agent which not only helps with nausea/vomiting, but also heartburn, as now Limonene is the main thing i use for heartburn, no longer need H2 blockers or PPI's or antacids, every now and then i'll get a heartburn flareup where i need to take a tums but compared to how much heartburn i was still getting when taking all other anti-heartburn remedies, the Limonene by far has helped the most.

Then there's Linalool, which gives me a Lavenderish feel and has a Lavenderish smell, and does seem to have some relaxant/anxiolytic properties. Myrcene also, has some properties but i haven't worked with it or looked into it enough to know what's going on there.

Another thing the reddit community doesn't understand, is the Cannabis-derived terpenes vs Botanical-derived terpenes thing. Yes, CDT's apparently come from the actual strain and will have tepenes that may not be in BDT mixes, but it doesn't matter if say you get Limonene from another herb vs Limonene from Cannabis, it's the same compound, it's still Limonene. So there's no difference between BDT's and CDT's except that CDT's may have a few other Cannabis-related terpenes that may not be in BDT mixes, but also i would think since the CDT's are Cannabis-derived, it would likely take on more of a Cannabis aroma/taste/effect, it would take on the essence of Cannabis, much like other essential oils take on the essence of the plants they come from, like when i've tried Lemon EO, Lime EO, Orange EO, the Lemon felt like Lemons, the Lime felt like Limes, the Orange felt like Oranges, and any other EO i've tried, even with the same or similar terpene content, would feel different according to the plant source it came from. Some of that probably comes down to the ratio of certain terpenes as well, like if i add pure Limonene to my Lemon EO and raise the amount of Limonene, it definitely feels a good bit different. So it's pretty obvious that terpenes in and of themselves are active in some ways, and can have medicinal properties, and can alter how other things feel. The entourage effect definitely involves terpenes, and not just other Cannabinoids.

Thank you, Mindlusion, for the explanation of D8 synthesis, and emphasizing the product people are buying is partially synthesized, not simply extracted.

I'm curious if you have any idea if the isomerization could form toxic compounds when reacted with CBD distillate, which is for example 80% cbd and 20% non-cannabinoid?

I will say that it's much less expensive than buying black market cannabis in many areas, which is worthwhile. I actually just got some supposedly 98% material because prices here are absurd.

I'm curious if it will remain federally legal, since it does produce a pleasant psychoactivity


I'm glad you've had some positive experiences with it, ShamensStamen. I've been kind of confused with the less intense mental effects, it requires a little more material than I'm used to.

I take CBD every day but have a very low tolerance for 9 THC. Saw this thread, acquired some Delta 8 THC Vape and tried it last night. It seemed to work exactly as described. It was relaxing, mildly intoxicating and I experienced no paranoia at all, paranoia being why I can't tolerate weed in general.

Hopefully it will augment the health benefits I've found with the CBD Oil, but even if it doesn't I may keep using it.

That's a good question, certainly the acid will promote isomerization of double bonds in any of the terpenes present, many of them however will return back to their original form. Whether or not the double bond isomers of other simple terpenes are toxic relative to the natural ones, I have no idea. It does sound like something that must have been researched before though, give it a quick search in Google scholar, ill take a look too and let you know if I find anything.

Tried a couple times. Nothing special, another complication, hard to handle , especially if rolling a spliff (sticky goey mess) , much less interesting flavorwise compare to any weed. Sure i got stone. Won't buy it.

Got hold of some D8 concentrate recently. Super sticky and hard to deal with, and I say this as someone who has played around with Delta9 THC honey oil for decades. The high was pretty good, but it smelled and tasted synthetic. Could have been the terpenes added to it. Was harsher on the lungs through the Puffco vape than any of the D9 concentrates I regularly use are.

Is anyone using D8 in edibles? I wonder if there is any difference in the high or not. Aside from being a novelty and possibly 'legal' to sell and ship in some places, I don't really have a place in my Cannabis use for this stuff. Unless there is some amazing new use of this stuff that I have not yet learned about, I think the 2 grams of D8 concentrate I just bought is a 'lifetime supply' for me.

Thanks for everyone sharing their experiences. Keep sharing, maybe there is some incredible use of this stuff that we are overlooking. ;-)

It's like diet weed for me. The edibles are nice to have around.

I just bought one of the 900mg chill d8 sour diesel carts online. I’m hoping it’s worth the money. Most people I’ve talked to say it works, I am a little concerned though because I’m already a huge pot head so I don’t really know how the effects are gonna compare to what I’m already smoking. If this cart really does give you a mild buzz and won’t get you bothered by the law it’ll be worth the money IMO. Anyways I’ll let you guys know how I like the one I get one it arrives.

I cannot seem to post on the other thread on 'Delta 8 THC' perhaps the mods can fold the two threads together?

Having used Cannabis (Delta 9 THC [smoked/vaped] and Delta 11 THC [edibles/oral]) for literally decades, I like it more than the few Delta 8 THC experiences I have had. Since this stuff is so new I have not yet really drawn many conclusions. D8 is a similar 'high' to D9 but seems to have subtle differences. I got a very pure very sticky honey oil consistency to play with. COA claims it is 80% Delta 8 THC with around 800mg/g of material. Since I am very sensitive (aka a lightweight) to Cannabis products a tiny amount around the size of 1/4 - 1/2 a grain of rice in the vape is enough to get me blazing high or either D8 or D9 concentrate. The D8 seems to be harsher on my lungs than the D9 and also tastes slightly synthetic, although that might be the terpenes added to it to give it the smell and flavor of a particular strain like Pineapple Express or in my case OG Kush. I think I am going to try and make a tincture with it and play around with D8 orally to see if there are any differences or similarities to D9/D11 THC. I mention Delta 11 THC because that is apparently what your body turns decarbed Delta 9 THC into when you eat it and THAT is what gets you high from edibles. Interesting stuff. Glad it is available for experimentation.

Would love to hear more people's experiences with it, both vaped and edibles. Is there any difference in the high betweeen vaped and edibles? If so what differences? How does it compare with edible D9/D11?

Mine came in and I’ve loved it... I give it 2 👍👍

There seems to be some sort of glitch since i moved the other thread to cannabis. Maybe because they're named the same.

Finally got hold of some Delta 8 shatter with no terpenes. It has no smell and lab results claim 90% Delta 8 THC, so 900MG per gram. It has no smell on its own and looks golden yellow see through. The consistency is super, super sticky. Hard to work with actually and I have been playing with THC extracts for a long time. It tasted OK when vaped and I do get a bit of a Cannabis flavor, but it is too harsh on the lungs and left a sticky film on my teeth and those who vapes with me. They also thought it was too harsh through the vape. We vaped some Master Kush shatter that I concentrated with ethanol from some amazing flowers that clocked in at around 29% THC and that stuff was smooth and tasty though the same vape rig. The high was OK but felt very one dimensional and synthetic. Like it was lacking the fullness of the head and body feeling that full spectrum Delta 9 THC from flower has. Overall none of us wanted to vape any more of this Delta 8 shatter stuff. I think I will make tincture out of it and try it as an edible to see if it feels any better. I might also try combining it 50/50 with some high quality Delta 9 THC and try the vape thing one last time and/or use it 50/50 as an edible. So far I am not a fan of Delta 8 THC. I hope the edibles work well, otherwise it is just a waste of money. Just my $.02. YMMV.

I wouldn't look foreword to the edibles too much. My buddy eats a gram of the stuff without even batting an eye and I know for a fact if he tried to do the same with DELTA 9 he'd be knocked out flat.

I went through a large bottle (over 50 grams) of rather pure Δ-8-THC with a friend over several weeks.

It was used orally, with a dab rig and by mixing it with CBD and putting it into carts. It was effective but made a poor substitute for Δ-9-THC and lacked many of the qualities that I seek in Δ9.

It was ineffective at treating insomnia and weakly effective at promoting hunger. None of the people who tried it in our circle (6-8 young adults at least) were impressed by it or expressed any interest in repeat use after their initial experimentation.

To work with the material I used hot water baths, warm syringes and stainless steel rods.
It was a highly viscous and sticky transparent light amber non-newtonian liquid.

Δ-8-THC is a pass for me.

I have found even fairly pure Δ-9-THC seems to lack the same therapeutic effects that good flower can have.

Have you perhaps tried HHC yet? And yes, pure noids seem to be "cleaner" in effect compared to full spectrum, the pure compounds seem to lack some of the benefits of the terps and flavonoids and such, and personally, i've consumed terpenes primarily orally for almost 7 years now, they are definitely effective and work pretty well and have their own benefits, heck i even quit smoking Cannabis back in 2020 and was taking Lemon EO orally at the time and it gave me the benefits from the terps and aside from the "high" feeling i didn't even miss the Cannabis when i stopped, i still got the main benefits i was getting (from the terps) minus the "high" from the D9 so that was good for me at the time, then a few months or so later i found D8 and ever since got into a few other noids, though i tend to prefer and stick with D8 or HHC now.

I did the common acidic isomerization of cbd, made popular in a 70's zine, I forget the name..anywho, I ran HPLC-FLD, and confirmed a conversion occurred; the data suggested a mixture of d8 and d9, and vaping certainly packs more of a buzz than d8 alone.

Noted, I will check that out if and when I get a chance.
Thanks!