How Weed Tech Companies Are Letting Smokers Control Their High

From the medical community into the recreational market, tech companies are tackling an age-old marijuana problem: How can cannabis users get the consistent high they want?

The Gofire vaporizer looks like a walkie-talkie with a mouth groove on top. Hardly as sleek as other, more discreet weed vapes, it packs weight, literally: It’s over half a pound, about five inches tall, and nearly an inch thick. And at $349 (a preorder special deal) it carries a much heavier price tag than many other devices. But the result, the company believes, is worth the cost. Not only does it tell you exactly what’s in the cartridge — information that’s especially important as the industry grapples with a wave of mysterious illnesses that have led to at least three deaths — it’s designed to give you accurate dosing, so you know exactly what you’re getting every time.

With the Gofire, consumers load a cartridge of oil into the side of the inhaler, under a dial wheel. Inside the device, a spin of the wheel triggers the release of oil concentrate or cannabis flower into a heating chamber, turning product into 2.5 milligrams of THC vapor. According to the company’s CEO, Peter Calfee, the flavor is quite nice.

The key here, Calfee says, is the dose. Just as drinkers know how much alcohol is in a jigger — and, after some trial and error, how such an amount of liquor will affect them — Calfee hopes to standardize pot dosing.

For years, brands like Dosist, LucidMood, and Sunday Goods have marketed pens loaded with specific oil formulas designed to inspire feelings of calm, relief, or passion. But now, companies are taking the mood formula mindset one step further, using lab testing and app-driven databases to give consumers an accurate look at the composition of what they’re ingesting — and how each specific chemical compound will make them feel. [Read More @ Rolling Stone]