Veil vs. Ozium: Is Ozium Safe? 

For decades, there’s been one product that old school stoners swear by to get rid of the smell of weed: Ozium. But if you’ve ever Googled the product, you’ll see the same question consistently pop up across the internet about this air freshener spray: is Ozium safe? The short answer: probably not how you’re using it.

The longer answer: possibly safe, as long as you’re prepared to only use Ozium outdoors or in a well-ventilated area while wearing proper face and hand protection, wash your skin thoroughly after handling, and remove any contaminated clothing from your space, according to Ozium’s own safety information. If you’re anything like us, then you probably aren’t prepared to take all these precautions, especially not after smoking weed.

Ozium as a weed air freshener

According to their marketing materials, Ozium was originally created over 50 years ago for use in hospitals (there are lots of things we used to use in hospitals that we now consider horribly outdated and dangerous, so kind of a weird flex…?). Eventually, the air freshener was marketed to drivers for eliminating odors in their cars and could be found in the checkout aisle at auto parts stores, repair shops, gas stations, etc.  So how did Ozium go from mid-19th century hospitals and tow truck shops to becoming the standby scent eliminator for old heads? 

As long as folks have been getting high, they’ve also been trying to eliminate marijuana smells. And stoners are a resourceful and social bunch! When they discover something that solves a shared problem, the grassroots dissemination of that knowledge happens quickly (how else would every high school in America have a kid who knew how to fashion a bong out of an apple?). So it’s not surprising that Ozium became popular with the canna-crowd once it was discovered that it was a good smoke odor eliminator — and that’s the thing: it is really good at getting rid of the smell of weed! But the question remains: is Ozium safe?

Ozium safety info

We teased it up top already, but the answer to the question ‘is Ozium safe?’ is no unless you take the proper precautions as instructed by Ozium’s own safety information below:

• Keep (Ozium) away from heat/sparks/open flames/hot surfaces. 
• Do not spray on an open flame or other ignition source. 
• Pressurized container: Do not pierce or burn, even after use. 
• Avoid breathing dust / fume / gas / mist / vapours / spray. 
• Wash skin thoroughly after handling. 
• Use only outdoors or in a well-ventilated area. 
• Contaminated work clothing should not be allowed out of the workplace. 
• Wear protective gloves / eye protection / face protection.
  
  

We don’t know about you, but we rarely find ourselves in a situation in which we can check off all of the above — and certainly not when we’re smoking. Even the simplest and most straightforward of those safety precautions for Ozium, “Avoid breathing”, is puzzling given the brand’s slogan (taken directly from their own website): OZIUM® Cleans the Air You Breathe®

Even if you follow the litany of safety precautions above, the warnings associated with Ozium are downright scary. Thanks to the state of California’s Proposition 65, companies selling products to California residents are required to provide warnings about significant exposures to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. This state law has informally become a national requirement, as most businesses want to sell their products to the massive California market. Because of the ubiquity of Prop 65, Americans on the whole now have a lot more transparency about the products they bring into their home. Unsurprisingly, Ozium is required to provide the following warning:

WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals which is [are] known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.

Veil vs. Ozium

Before creating Veil, we tried practically every odor eliminator on the market to get rid of the smell of weed. As considerate cannabis consumers, we just could not find a weed air freshener that was up to our (high) standards. Most of the odor eliminators specifically geared towards marijuana smells just straight-up didn’t work. Ozium, on the other hand, worked great… until we read the safety warnings and precautions on the back of the bottle. 

So, we set out to create Veil: a non-aerosol smoke odor eliminator that is both effective against marijuana smells and safe to use in your home, on your clothing, in your car, around pets, etc.

Veil is comprised of 3 parts: water + organic essential oils + our odor-eliminating formula

The water essentially acts as a delivery mechanism for the other 2 parts, and the essential oils provide Veil with its signature scent. Last but certainly not least, the odor-eliminating formula: a unique, non-toxic cationic surfactant that neutralizes the odor released when burning cannabis terpenes (colloquially, smoking weed). It does so by complexing specific molecules and reducing their concentration in the vapor phase.

The only safety precaution you need to keep in mind while using Veil is to avoid getting the spray in your eyes. If you do happen to get some in your eyes, remove contact lenses (if wearing) and rinse your eyes with water for several minutes. Beyond that, Veil is safe to breathe in, to get on your skin, to get on your clothing, and to spray around kiddos, pets, etc. 

Conclusion

We won’t bullshit you about Ozium, it’s a very effective smoke odor eliminator. But for us at least, it’s not realistic to take all of the precautions Ozium recommends to use their product safely. The last thing we want to worry about when we’re relaxing with a joint is if the weed air freshener we’re using is going to give us cancer. Using Ozium to get rid of weed smell is like killing a fly with mustard gas

Veil is a super-effective, non-toxic, non-aerosol air freshener for marijuana smells that comes without the safety and health concerns associated with Ozium. No need for ventilation or PPE, you can breathe easy when you spray Veil.