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Researcher First Name: Paulo
Researcher Last Name: Sgarbi
Department: Chemistry
Other Department:
Department Head's Email: yyang@langara.ca

Project Title: Effects of compaction and flower type in the
smoking behavkiour of cannabis pre-rolls
Start semester: 1/6/2025
End Semester: 4/30/2025
Introduction - Please introduce yourself and include
pertinent background information as it relates to your
project's research area. My name is Dr. Paulo Sgarbi,
from the Department of Chemistry. I hold a B.Sc. in
Chemical Engineering and a master and a doctorate in
Organic Chemistry, with specialization in synthesis and
medicinal chemistry. I had 10 years of industry
experience (pharmaceutical) prior to joining Langara
College as faculty in 2006. Prior to this project, I carried
out research on the effects of ozonation on Cannabis
flowers, along two Langara students. In this prior study
my team studied whether ozone - used for disinfection of
the buds - could (a) affect the potency (THC/THCA
content) of the biomass and (b) eliminate harmful yeasts
and bacteria.
Please discuss your educational background and your
work experience as it relates to this project. If possible,
include a quote that helps define your interest in the
project. I have a BSc in Chemical Engineering
(UNICAMP, SP, Brazil), a masters degree in organic
chemistry with emphasis in organic synthesis (USP, SP,
Brazil), PhD in organic synthesis (U. of A., AB, Canada)
and a post-doctorate in medicinal chemistry (Université
de Montréal, QC, Canada). Part of my academic training
and industrial experience in medicinal chemistry involves
what is often referred to "structure activity relationship" or
"structure property relationship": the methodical change
of some features of the object of study (the "structure")
and probing how this change affects its activity or
properties. In this project, the team attempted to relate
pre-roll specifications (the "structure") with its smoking
behaviour (the "property"). This work was a natural
extension of my initial involvement with Cannabis
research through the ozonation project.
Please summarize your project in plain language that
others not in your field could understand. Consumer
experience involves the interaction and engagement of
consumers with a specific product, and it influences
decision-making processes and outcomes (satisfaction,
perceived benefits, and even brand loyalty). Customers
response often include sensory aspects, and uniformity is
a big party of the sensory experience! Our partner,
PureSun Farms, wanted to find a correlation between the

joint's structure and its "smokability" as a means to
quickly identify defective or inconsistent batches of preroll before they left the factory floor. We collect the data
using a "smoking machine" that smoked the joints for
us...
Identify the project goals and objectives. Explain how the
results may be used to solve a problem or inform further
research in the field. Goal: correlate Cannabis pre-roll
parameters such as particle size, flower characteristics
(sticky vs. dusty) and compaction (loose vs. compact)
with smoking characteristics of the pre-roll: backpressure (easy vs. difficulty to "suck" prior to inhaling by
breathing), the amount of Cannabinoids produced per
breath, the behaviour of the joint during the combustion
time (uniform vs. uneven burning, and the masses of
intact joint and the ashes after smoking. Objective:
Establish a relationship between the above properties
and the quality of the pre-roll, so that a consistent product
is obtained.
Briefly explain the steps taken (methods used) to conduct
the research, and describe the key findings. I am not
sure. At this time I do not know whether this project
continues to be of interest to the community partner
(SPF). Attention: the final reportts were produced as
excel files, which are not accepted by this system. Please
see Dr. Nathan Jones for the final data reports.
Who was involved in this project (eg. faculty, students,
community partners)? How did their involvement
contribute to the project’s success? Were there any
challenges to overcome? The following personal was
involved in this project: Dr. Paulo Sgarbi (Dept of
Chemistry, Langara College); Dr. Markus Roggen
(Consultant: Complex Biotech AG, Zurich; and Controlled
Chemistry, UBC); Kelina Schinkarik, Benjamin Judkowicz
and Raahim Adil (students, Langara College); PureSun
Farms or "PSF" (community partner, the interested party
on this research. PSF provided the pre-rolls for testing).
In this project, I assigned and supervised the work of the
students and worked on the data collection end; Dr
Roggen has many years of experience on gthe Cannabis
research field, and designed the pre-rolls profiles and
transferred his previous experience with the smoking
machine to the team; our students took turns weighing
samples and filter pads, using the smoking machine to
smoke the pre-rolls, and monitored the back pressure to
ensure the filter pads were changed at the correct time.
There were a few challenges: (a) the PC that controlled
the smoking machine remained lock for a while, and we
required on-site physical support form SPF's IT to gain
access; (b) the smoking machine was poorly calibrated
and quite dirty inside with Cannabis oils, requiring a

thorough set-up before the work started; (c) the samples
from SPF were not available right away and two
rehydrated set of pre-rolls were never sent to us, adding
to delays and an incomplete data-set; and (d) the filter
pads were consumed quite rapidly due to the number of
replicates. The first refill came quickly, but subsequent
refills took very long time, causing more delays and a bit
of frustration. For example, the last refill set arrived only
on June 9th, and remain unused.
Please share any personal stories that made this
research experience memorable/valuable.
Some of the students had their first up-close experience
with Cannabis joints, and so there was a lot of excitement
about lighting the joint and observing it being consumed,
while registering events like canoeing, having to re-lit the
joint, and being exposed to a bit of the smells associated
with the volatile terpenes (experiments were carried out
in the fume hood, but the weighing was done on the
bench top). Students had the opportunity to operate a
piece of equipment (the smoke simulator), which not
many people had seen, let alone used it.
What are the next steps for this project and for you as a
researcher?
Method: The pre-rolls were weighed and labeled;
experiments were carried in 5 replicates. Pre-rolls were
hold using an adaptor attached to the smoking machine,
with a numbered glass microfiber filter pad sandwiched
between the adapter and the machine. The joint is lit and
subjected to a smoking cycle. The back pressure was
monitored in real time; When the smoking machine's
"sucking" action became difficult (i.e., high back
pressure), the filter pad was changed. Once the pre-roll
had ben consumed, ashes, roach and pads were all
weighed. The key findings have been summarized in the
report produced by our colleague and consultant Dr.
Markus Roggen, and involves the statistical analysis of
the data collected. Differences between the several preroll construction were easily detected. One particular set
produced reasonably consistent smoking data. I refer the
reader to this report for further information.
Please upload any images that will help to showcase
your project.
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report to the Langara Institutional Repository (The
LaIR). True
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