Today’s modern cannabis consumer is evolving far past the average 510 cart of yesterday, towards the premium live resins, rosins, and high-terp distillates of today. That means operators across the US are now tasked with maintaining efficiency to protect their bottom lines while upholding the quality standards that consumers demand.
One solution that supports the efficiency and quality of operations is nitrogen vape cart filling. Nitrogen-assisted vape cartridge filling is the future of the industry, enabling terpene preservation in high-throughput environments, whether using semi-automatic or fully automatic filling machines.
So, is it time for your facility to consider vape cartridge nitrogen strategies? Then this is the guide to start with. Here, we’ll cover all the basics of smoother vape fills with nitrogen, from how it helps to the leading equipment manufacturers with the best technology. Keep reading to upgrade your filling processes while preserving your precious oils.
The Role of Nitrogen in Vape Cartridge Production
Automated vape cart fillers with nitrogen pressurized fluid paths not only reduce oxidation but also support low operating temperatures. Why does this matter? Oxidation (exposure to oxygen) and temperature are two environmental factors that can degrade the natural compounds and cannabinoids found in cannabis oils.
This means that when exposed to high heat or oxygen, the natural cannabinoid and terpene profiles of the material can degrade, resulting in a loss of overall quality and a compromised true-to-strain experience, particularly for rosins or single-origin oils. However, nitrogen doesn’t just preserve the material’s integrity; it also results in a higher-quality experience and a longer shelf life.
While other equipment and systems rely on higher temperatures to maintain oil flow for optimal filling, nitrogen-assisted vape cartridge filling allows operators to keep the materials cool, to maintain consistent fills. On the consumer side, smoother vape fills with nitrogen also lend themselves to smoother, more flavorful hits, versus harsh and burnt draws, which can occur when material is run through high heats.
How Vape-Jet Leverages Nitrogen for Superior Fills
The Vape-Jet’s fully and semi-automated vape cart fillers, with nitrogen-pressurized paths, offer operators the highest level of product preservation. By minimizing oxidation throughout the fill cycle, nitrogen helps maintain terpene integrity, potency, and color, three key markers of quality for discerning consumers.
Beyond these paths that reduce oxidation, they support the Vape-Jet equipment’s ability to operate its three independently programmable heat zones. These features utilize proportional-integral-derivative (PID) algorithms to eliminate temperature variations and maintain the overall quality of your products.
Last but not least, smoother vape fills with nitrogen also help support the reduction of evaporation throughout the process, resulting in overall reduced product loss. All in all, leveraging nitrogen with Vape-Jet equipment offers operators more consistent fills, higher throughput, and preserved material quality from reservoir to cart.
Common Filling Problems Solved by Nitrogen
If you’re already in the vape filling space, you’re likely already all too familiar with common filling problems associated with subpar equipment or manual processes. As higher consumer demand for premium products like live resin and live rosin, which have thicker consistencies, emerges, operators face a whole new set of challenges.
That’s where nitrogen vape cart filling comes into the conversation, to improve workflows as well as product quality and consistency. Meaning the best automated vape cart filler with nitrogen can help operators overcome common challenges such as:
- Product degradation: Nitrogen helps preserve product potency and integrity by reducing the exposure to oxygen while filling.
- Product consistency: Nitrogen also supports more consistent fill volumes, as heat and other processes can affect the fluctuating viscosity of oil.
- Product loss: Using lower temperatures and filling products more consistently helps operators reduce not only product loss but also evaporation, resulting in higher quality. With smoother workflows, you’ll also avoid waste from rejected or underfilled carts.
- Product quality: Non-pressurized systems can also lead to turbulence during the process, resulting in air bubbles in the final product, which reduces overall quality and damages the reputation with consumers.
Tips for Maximizing Fill Quality
Now that you know more about smoother vape fills with nitrogen, what are some more insider tips for maximizing fill quality? Even with advanced equipment, achieving quality results depends on proper setup, operation, and meticulous attention to detail. To maximize the benefits of nitrogen-assisted vape filling, consider the following final tips to enhance fill quality, minimize product loss, and preserve oil integrity, particularly when working with high-terpene or temperature-sensitive extracts.
- Dial in temperature zones: Regardless of the equipment or process you use, heat is a significant factor in degrading the quality and consistency of the end product. That means having strict protocols in place to set heat zones based on your oil’s viscosity, and use just enough heat to maintain flow.
- Use PID controls: Find equipment (like Vape-Jet) that uses PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) algorithms to maintain consistent temperatures and avoid thermal spikes during operation. Even though you may face a higher upfront investment, you’ll gain increased ROI from higher-quality products, along with reduced labor costs, resulting in an improved profit margin.
- Regulate nitrogen pressure: Even when using an automated vape filler with nitrogen, be sure to monitor and adjust nitrogen pressure to ensure smooth flow. Any fluctuation in pressure can lead to equipment turbulence, increasing the possibility of uneven fills and air bubbles in the final product.
- Maintain clean environments: Clean fluid paths, nozzles, and reservoirs between batches to prevent cross-contamination and ensure consistent operation. Alternatively, consider equipment with automatic clean-in-place features for seamless cleaning procedures and reduced downtime.
- Track and analyze batch data: Leverage available reporting tools to review fill logs, catch anomalies, and continuously optimize performance, is especially useful in higher-volume operations.
Upgrade Your Fills, Preserve Your Oil
All in all, investing in your operation’s filling processes isn’t just a way to increase efficiency and throughput, while cutting labor costs… It’s a way to preserve your oil, reduce product waste, and improve customer satisfaction and retention. While the upfront cost of investing in nitrogen vape cart filling might be a shock, don’t forget to consider its return on investment. Vape-Jet operations often see an ROI within 6-12 months, depending on their size and output.
As you’ve learned here, nitrogen-assisted vape cartridge filling is the future for leading operations, including those of your potential competitors. Ready to scale and compete with the best in the industry? Then, start considering automated vape cart fillers with nitrogen, such as the fleet of equipment from Vape-Jet.
Begin exploring our semi-automatic and fully-automatic solutions for smoother vape fills with nitrogen, to protect your brand’s reputation, and improve its efficiency and throughput. From side-by-side comparisons to direct contact with our team, we’re here to help revolutionize the future of concentrate filling and packaging, one company at a time.
