When I realized some folks have never used cannabis and have never been high, I was shocked. Sitting in awkward silence, I thought to myself: How can you not know how to smoke weed?
I take a deep breath in a while pressing my lips to the mouthpiece of my vaporizer, and I think. It dawned on me: some people actually don’t know what to expect when using cannabis.
This is upsetting to me. Everyone should know how to take a toke, get high, twist one, have a puff, smoke one, hit a bowl, do a dab, or any phrase you choose to use to get baked.
“Not knowing how to blaze, is like not knowing how to love.”- My sad stoner heart.
You should be able to use cannabis with confidence and without any hesitation. Why? You ask. Well, because smoking pot lets you see yourself in an honestly objective light (sometimes unflattering light). Realism.
Using cannabis may be all fun and games to some, and to others, it’s a form of taking medicine, And, to the real unique others, it’s a form of art.
There are so many ways to smoke cannabis, and there are many other methods of consuming marijuana like topicals, capsules, and edibles.
There are crafty ways to smoke cannabis. You can smoke without a lighter. A vaporizer is the cleanest way to take. There are many options to smoke weed if you don’t have a pipe, you just need to be creative.
Ways to Smoke Weed
This article would be a novel if I listed every single way to smoke cannabis. You can smoke weed from just about everything (if you get creative enough).
There are common ways to blaze, which are rolling cannabis into a joint or blunt, smoking your herb in a pipe, using a bong with water, dabbing, and vaporizing.
That being said, there are some unique methods that you can utilize even if you’re in a pinch.
Using cannabis is known to enhance your creativity, attention to detail, and your ability to focus. Do not hesitate to channel your inner Macgyver and build your own toking contraption. There is something to be said about a person who can create a cannabis smoking device.
Joints & Blunts
A joint (otherwise known is a doobie) is the most classic and convenient way to smoke cannabis. Sure, it’s old-school, and the technology is nothing compared to vaping, but doobs are what we use for both social smoke sessions as well as medicating.
A joint purchased from a dispensary is typically called a pre-roll. A blunt is a big fat doobie, often rolled in cigar papers. Factors like why you are rolling and how many people you are smoking with, you can squeeze anywhere from 0.5 (half a gram) up to 3.5 grams (an eighth) of cannabis in a joint or blunt.
Rolling papers can be made from many materials such as hemp, cellulose, rice, flax, and other synthetic substances.
If carcinogens from smoking are a concern for you, then opt for a rolling paper that is organic.
Because I care, here are step-by-step instructions on how to twist one up.
How to Roll a Joint
- Pick a rolling paper (rollie)
- Hold the rollie, glue side upright and facing you, and use your thumbs to fold the bottom of the paper right below the line of glue.
- Now unfold it and make a second fold from the bottom of the paper to the first crease you made.
- Using a grinder, scissors, or your fingertips, bust up (grind) your cannabis.
- Take the fluffy ground cannabis and put it in the paper. Be sure you have an even layer of cannabis in your fold.
- Using your thumbs, roll the weed out so it’s nice and tubular (not pregnant- a lump in the middle)
- Now roll the paper up and over the weed, and tuck it into the top of the paper.
- Lick the glue strip and roll it downward over the side of the paper that’s tucked in. run your index finger over the edge ensuring it adheres to the paper.
- Spark’er up!
Glass Pipe
A pipe has been used for thousands of years by many cultures to smoke weed. It is one of the easiest methods of smoking. However, if you don’t know how to pack a bowl, the only thing that’ll happen is you will burn up your cannabis, and you’ll be standing there unbaked thinking: what the actual heck? You most definitely will not receive the beneficial effects of your marijuana. Not to worry though, most pipes are straightforward and easy to use.
Pipes can be made from materials derived from nature like wood and clay. Some pipes are made from metal. A glass pipe is the best way to go. All you have to do is choose a pipe you like, pack the bowl with your favorite cannabis strain, and lighter up!
Smoking Cannabis from A Glass Pipe
- Bust your bud
- Take a pinch of your some ground cannabis and pack your bowl (tight, but not too tight).
- Cover the hole on the side (also known as the carb or choke.) As the saying goes: if you don’t cover the choke, you won’t get any smoke
- Fire that bowl up!
- Inhale, count to three, and exhale. Repeat.
There you have it! You’re now a cannabis smoking machine! Using a bong is very much like using a pipe.
Bongs
Just like Cheech and Chong and Cypress Hill proclaim, there is something to be said about taking hits from the bong. Before the dawn of the dab rig (a fancy bong for cannabis concentrates), I had an extensive collection of bongs. The most significant difference between a pipe and a bong is the size, and the fact you add water to your bong. You also have clear the smoke a little differently.
Bongs come at all sizes, shapes, materials, and prices just like pipes. If you consider yourself a modern-day Picasso, you can create your own piece of art that is also a functioning bong.
Some bongs have a choke like pipes, and other bongs you have to pull the bowl out to clear the chamber. Bong rips get you higher much faster than lazily puffing a joint, or smoking a pinner (stoner lingo for small) bowl.
How To Smoke weed in a Bong
- Put water in your bong
- Bust your cannabis up and pack your bowl
- Light the bowl and slowly start to inhale from the mouthpiece until you fill the bong with smoke
- Either remove your finger from the choke or pull the bowl, and using the rest of your lung capacity, swiftly inhale
Vaporizer
Vaping (using a vaporizer) is the newest most innovative way of receiving the benefits of cannabis in a high-quality clean way. The quality of the vapor you are inhaling is better than typical toking methods.
THC is the cannabinoid in cannabis that has psychoactive properties and produces the high we feel. CBD is a cannabinoid that is non-psychoactive and is known to be very beneficial. Vaping cannabinoids are the most efficient method of consumption.
Vaporizers burn away the plant material, leaving you with only the purest CBD, THC, and other cannabinoids for you to enjoy.
Vaping is a new age way of smoking cannabis. Let me tell you, the real effects of your weed are not unlocked until you have used a vaporizer. Ignighting herb without a lighter produces a different aroma than smoking cannabis. Vaporizing gives you the mobility to indulge in your marijuana anywhere discreetly.
The reason vaping is better than smoking is that vaping reduces the temperature at which the cannabinoids incinerate (or combust.)
In lamen’s terms: the beneficial cannabinoids are preserved and not obliterated. If you light your cannabis with a lighter (fire), it incinerates everything, and when you vaporize it, beneficial cannabinoids are preserved and saved from literally going up in smoke.
Using a lighter will overcook your cannabis and all the cannabinoids (CBD, and THC-the good stuff).
How to Smoke Weed out of a Vaporizer
- Turn your vape on and let it get heated to the right temp
- Finely grind your cannabis and fill the chamber
- If necessary, adjust your temp settings. A lower temp is much more flavorful
- Slowly inhale. Remember to start low and go slow to achieve ideal effects
- Re-load: Add more cannabis flower when the herb in your chamber looks brown
Dab Rig
What is the h-e-double hockey sticks a dab rig? Don’t worry You’re not alone. A dab rig is fancy term meaning: bong for cannabis concentrates. They are used to smoke shatter, BHO (butane hash oil), rosin, CO2 oil, and any other cannabis concentrate you can get your hands on.
It is a specially designed bong that is made from glass. The nail has to be made from a durable material like glass, quartz, or titanium to withstand the excessive temperatures needed to vaporize cannabis concentrates.
A dab rig is heated with a torch, the concentrate then placed in the nail, and you inhale the vapor (like you would a bong hit).
Cannabis concentrates do not combust when you dab because the temperatures, although quite high 550-800℉, are just below the point of combustion and instead vaporize.
How to Smoke Cannabis Concentrates Using a Dab Rig
- Grab a blowtorch or an e-nail (electric nail) and heat the nail on your rig until it’s glowing hot.
- Using a dabbing tool (made from titanium, or other high-grade material, place your cannabis concentrate on the tool.
- After the nail has cooled for roughly 30 seconds (some people set a timer on their phone) dab your concentrate on the nail (the bowl) and inhale.
- Exhale, and enjoy the welcoming and therapeutically beneficial effects of cannabis cannabinoids.
Common Considerations and Concerns of Smoking Weed
We are in the infant stage of understanding the possible long-term health risks of smoking cannabis.
While we are light years ahead of medical research today than we were two decades ago, we still have a long way to go before we can conclusively say smoking weed is entirely safe, or it is dangerous.
When you smoke cannabis common side effects can include dry mouth, short term memory impairment, fast heart rate, and the infamous bloodshot eyes.
You need to source high-quality cannabis that is grown without herbicides, pesticides and heavy metals. Otherwise, the cannabis (or cannabis concentrates) you’re puffin’ on may contain harmful chemicals.
Also, if you are using cannabis extracts like shatter, the method in which the cannabinoids were extracted from the plant material play a role in how safe the final product may be for your health.
Butane is a common solvent used to extract cannabis compounds. However if not adequately purged (removing the harmful residual toxins), you can end up smoking carcinogens that are very unhealthy.
In a Nutshell
It’s 2019 people! Gone are the days of sneaking away from school and walking as a gaggle of teens in dark hoodies and backpacks. We no longer need to link up in the alley or meet in the woods just to enjoy a sesh. I always dreamed of having a place to have a hoot and a sandwich, and now that’s a reality. Or there is nothing better than getting home after a long day of work, getting baked in the comfort of ugly sweatpants binge-watching the latest viral Netflix series.
If you use cannabis solely to treat a medical condition, ailment, or symptom, it is best to invest in a high-quality vaporizer from a reputable manufacturer. You will feel the effects ease your pain nearly instantly, and vaping reduces your exposure to carcinogens commonly associated with smoking.
If you take one thing away from this article, it’s this: you can use cannabis in any setting, and any method that suits your needs.
Thank goodness for the change in times. We can smoke wherever we want and whenever we want. Freedom is ours.
Now more than ever do we have options. With these options, however, may come to some confusion.
The best way to enjoy your cannabis experience is to do your part, educate yourself, and stay informed. It is a great time to be a cannabis user, friends. Remember, stay lifted!
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