MarijuanaMarijuana ConsumptionSmoking, Eating, And Drinking MarijuanaThis is an exposition on the consumption of marijuana, or weed, pot, reefer, smoke, cannabis, whatever you call it, for its psychoactive effects. Covered will be the two primary methods used in America today, smoking and eating/drinking, with smoking being the most common method. There are a whole lot of lies, half-truths, myths, and supposition about the consumption of marijuana this is an attempt to clear things up as much as possible. --- Mike Joints------- Joints, marijuana cigarettes, are the perennial favorite of most marijuana smokers. Joints are made from marijuana powder prepared in an herb grinder with the stems and seeds removed (hopefully). The marijuana powder is put inside a fold of rolling paper and then rolled into a cylinder. This is the singularly most portable method to smoke grass once the joint has been rolled. When a joint has been smoked down to the point that it is difficult to hold it is called a "roach" and wide variety of paraphernalia exists which are designed to hold the roach without burning oneself. Collectively known as "roach clips" they include tweezers, alligator clips, forceps, needle nose pliers, and ceramic pieces with holes through them. There are a number of devices available to facilitate rolling a joint. Absolutely essential is a cleaning tray to remove the stems and seeds from the lose marijuana. You need not buy one. Anything flat and solid (like a book) will do. If it allows you to separate stems and seeds from mj powder, even a table top will work. There are a number of papers available with which to roll ones joint, varying in color, pattern, size, and presence of gummed edges. There are rolling "machines" which make the process of rolling a joint much less ticklish, but with practice and skill at rolling joints these tend to hinder more than help. One of the more intriguing techniques of smoking a joint is taking what is known as a powerhit. This is accomplished by having an accomplice surround the burning end of the joint with their mouth, taking care not to allow their skin to come into contact with the glowing end, and blowing while one takes a hit from the other end. This can be somewhat dicey, but is one of the more intimate ways of sharing a joint. Etiquette requires one to pass the joint in a circular fashion through those present. No one is required to take a toke if they do not care to, but they are expected to pass it on if it comes to them. "Bogartting", hoarding the joint when it comes to you, is a serious breach of protocol. The guilty party should not be allowed to participate in any further sessions. People too stoned to smoke the joint let alone pass it are expected to be skipped over and a joint can (politely) be removed from someone if they do not seem to be sharing the consensus reality. If there is any problem with people like this, gang up on them and beat them severely. Preferably with weapons, so you don't hurt your hands. Bongs------- Bongs (or waterpipes), the smoke passes through water to cool and filter it. Marijuana is placed into a bowl on the end of a tube whose other end is in a sealed container partially filled with water. The end of the tube attached to the bowl is below the level of the water so that as the smoke exits the pipe it travels through a layer of water. The air pressure in the chamber is lowered through another tube that stays above the water level in the chamber. When the air pressure inside the chamber is lowered, air from outside the chamber passes through the bowl and its tube and bubbles through the water.  Bongs are not particularly portable, as they tend to be awkward, delicate, and heavy. Sizes range from the size of a small pill container to eight foot tall escapees from a mad scientist laboratory. Principally made from glass, plastic, ceramic, and metal they can be an art form unto themselves. The principal benefit of smoking marijuana through a bong is that the smoke is cooled. One can put any number of liquids in the chamber to filter the smoke, and beer or other forms of alcohol are often used, but this is not recommended. The active ingredients in marijuana are fat and alcohol soluble and when filtered through such substances the active ingredients go into the solution. In addition the carcinogens in marijuana smoke are water soluble so that when smoke passes through some liquid other than water one loses active ingredients and gains carcinogens in the smoke entering your lungs. One method is to put ice water in the chamber, the cooled water is not quite as effective at removing the carcinogens but the additional cooling is favored among smokers. Carburetors are small openings in the chamber that are covered during the hit and towards the end opened to allow all the smoke to escape the chamber. Occasionally one finds a bong designed so that carboration is accomplished by lifting the bowl slightly and allowing the air to enter the bowl tube. Pipes ------- Pipes, are the simplest devices used to smoke marijuana. For the most part they are similar to pipes used to smoke tobacco but marijuana pipes should be made of heat resistant materials such as stone, ivory, metal, glass, and occasionally harder woods.  Grass does not tend to stay lit in pipe so flame constantly has to be applied to bowl which heats it up more than pipes with tobacco in them typically are heated. A common variant of pipe is the stash pipe, a pipe where one may store a small amount of grass. Some stash pipes are constructed in such a manner that the smoke passes through the stash area so that the grass inside is bathed in the smoke and acquires a coating of resin which contains THC thus making it more potent when it is turn is smoked. There are glass hash pipes which are used to smoke hashish and hashish oil, the materiel is placed in the bowl as with other pipes but instead of heat being applied to the top of the substance it is applied to the bottom of the pipe. Smoking from a pipe can be very hard on the lungs. If you use a pipe and have a persistent cough, try smoking marijuana in a joint, water pipe, or with a vaporizer. One-Hits------- One-hits, or dugouts as they are sometimes called, are a highly portable method of smoking grass for someone who does not want to smoke an entire joint at one time. A one-hit is a small metal tube that has a small cavity at one end and a mouthpiece at the other. One presses the cavity into a small container of cleaned marijuana to fill it. Then it is lit somewhat like a cigarette and inhaled steadily until the grass is gone. One only gets one inhalation or "hit" per filling thus it is called a one hit. A dugout is small wooden container which has a space for the cleaned grass and another space for the one-hit itself. Gas Pipes------- Gas Pipes are open ended tubes with a small bowl mounted near one end perpendicular to the main axis of the tube. The end near the bowl is covered with your hand and the smoke is drawn into the tube until the bowl is burned out then the hand is removed and all the smoke in the tube rushes into your lungs. These are usually made from glass, though occasionally one will find plastic pipes. Gravity Bongs------- Gravity bongs are more a style of smoking than a particular apparatus for the consumption of marijuana. With a gravity bong one uses water pressure to create the vacuum in a chamber rather then one's lungs as with water pipes and gas pipes. A gravity bong is made by placing a cylinder that is open at one end and closed (except for a place for a bowl) at the other. The open end is placed in a large container of water until the chamber of the cylinder is filled with water. The filled bowl is then attached and a flame is applied to the marijuana in it. The cylinder is lifted slowly up. As the cylinder is lifted up the water trapped inside will seek to escape out the open end into the container due to the force of gravity. This creates a vacuum at the top of the chamber near the bowl, this vacuum sucks the smoke from the burning marijuana into the chamber (replacing the water). A tube may reach from the bowl to near the base of the cylinder making it a true bong or the end may not actually enter the water so that is similar to a gas pipe. After the material in the bowl has been burned and the smoke has filled the chamber the bowl is removed and the cylinder is pushed back down into the container. As the water re-enter the chamber it forces the smoke out where and hopefully into an expectant individual. This is the most common form of a water bong but any number of similar schemes exist which can use the vacuum created by the exiting water to draw the smoke, and then use that water again to force it out of the chamber. Vaporizers------- The first vaporizers (also called tilt pipes) were introduced in the 1970's. Vaporizers have a heating element built into them, the element heats the marijuana to a lower temperature than a flame would. At these lower temperatures, the psychoactive ingredients (cannabinoids) are release from the plant material but some of the other harmful chemicals are not. Because of the lower (sub-flammable) temperature, a vapor is released, rather than smoke. See this for more info. Most smoking methods use a flame to heat the marijuana. This high temperature breaks down many cannabinoids before they can be consumed, wasting some of the active ingredients in the marijuana. Medical marijuana users who find marijuana smoked through a joint or pipe hard on their throat, lungs, and respiratory system should use a vaporizer. Using a vaporizer will not irritate the respiratory system anywhere near as much because of the lower temperature and the fact that you are inhaling vapor, rather than smoke. Anyone concerned about respiratory hazards when smoking marijuana, hashish, or other materials should think about using a vaporizer. Heating the marijuana (or other material) in a vaporizer is done in one of two ways, conduction and convection. Of these methods, convection is the preferred method. Always buy and use a convection type of vaporizer, if you have the opportunity. Conduction is when heat is transmitted to the smoking material through direct contact with heat. Fixed And Variable Temperature: There are fixed temperature and variable temperature vaporizers. Fixed temperature vaporizers usually have a heating element with a fixed temperature somewhere between 320-400 F. Variable temperature vaporizers usually allow you to adjust the temperature up to about 400 F. Fixed temperature models will do a good job with marijuana and other substances that have similar vaporization temperatures. But a variable temperature will allow you to optimize the temperature for marijuana, hashish, hash oil, opium, as well as other substances. Many herbs are psychoactive when smoked, most of these can also be consumed with a vaporizer. Vaporizers range in price from about $50 to $600 US. A good convection unit will cost $150 or more. Any vaporizer that sells for under $100 is probably a conduction type of vaporizer with a fixed temperature heating element (not recommended). You can save money by making a conduction vaporizer yourself with instructions that can be found here. If you can afford $150 or more, consider buying a convection type of vaporizer. Some of the better convection vaporizers available in the $150-$200 price rage include: If you can afford $300 to $400, the VaporMatic Deluxe is recommended. It is a convection type vaporizer with a variable temperature heat source. Made out of solid stainless steel with a lifetime warranty, this is a very good vaporizer that will last a long time. This is the model I chose for my personal use. If you can afford $500 to $600, a volcano vaporizer is probably the best model on the market. It is a convection type vaporizer with a variable temperature heat source. Made out of solid stainless steel with a 3 year warranty. If you want to convert a water pipe into a vaporizer, there are heatgun kits that will allow you to do so. If you own a heatgun and a waterpipe, a bowl made for vaporizing will allow you to make a vaporizer for much less money. For proper vaporization always break up marijuana into small particles prior to using it. An herb grinder is the recommended tool but you can break it into particles with scissors. If the particles are small enough to roll a joint with, they should work in a vaporizer. You can smoke marijuana, hashish, opium, or other types of natural medicine with a vaporizer. However, different material must be broken down to different size particles to be vaporized properly. Dense material has to be a smaller size than less dense material. The optimal temperature for vaporizing marijuana is somewhere between 340 F to 375 F. For materials other than marijuana you can experiment to see what works best. Because different materials will have different optimal vaporizing temperatures, many of the better quality vaporizers being sold have a way to adjust the temperature. If there is no way to adjust the temperature, materials other than marijuana may not vaporize properly. The taste of marijuana vapor is different than the taste of marijuana smoke. This can take some getting used to for someone used to any other method of smoking marijuana. Eating And Drinking Marijuana------- The active ingredients in cannabis are fat and alcohol soluble so they can be extracted and added to foodstuff entering the system through the digestive tract rather than through the lungs. This type of consumption of marijuana tend to be both slower and more efficient than smoking it. Further the noxious effects of consuming heated smoke are completely eliminated. For these reasons this is the favored method of marijuana consumption by some people. Eating------- Marijuana must be heated before being consumed, one can not simply eat raw marijuana. The traditional method of eating it is to cook it in a brownie, though it can be used in any number of recipes. The recommended method of preparation is to reduce marijuana to a powder and mixed it with butter. The mixture is placed in a double boiler over low heat for 24 hours (making sure it doesn't dry out or burn). You can find a double boiler The result is strained, to remove the remaining solids out, and the butter is used to cook with. One can use this marijuana butter to make brownies, cook vegetables, or by any method one might use butter to cook with. Many people will mix the residual solids in with whatever they are cooking in hopes of making use of whatever cannabinoids might still be in them. But if done properly this in not generally needed because all the valuable compounds have been extracted, and the plant material tastes bad. A typical ratio for making the marijuana butter is one pound of butter to one ounce of marijuana, heated for 24 hours. This works out to one stick of butter to one quarter of an ounce of marijuana. A stick of butter weighs 4 ounces (a quarter pound) or approximately 125 grams. More butter can be added if the marijuana seems to dry out. It is best to use 1 ounce (or more) of marijuana at a time. Stir the mixture at least once every 30 to 60 minutes (if you can). You can use waste weed like stems and leaves (no seeds) but good marijuana buds are much more potent. Dose size will vary depending on the potency of the original product and how well the active ingredients were extracted. If you don't want any remaining leaves in the butter, you can strain it through some muslin. A problem concerning this is that you will lose some butter in the muslin. A simpler and stronger version of cannabis butter (or ghee) is made by mixing melted butter with hashish or hashish oil instead of marijuana. It is not necessary to heat this as long as it is when using marijuana. Just warm it up on low heat and mix it until the hashish (2-3 grams per person) or hashish oil (1/4-1/2 gram per person) is dissolved in the butter for 5 minutes or more. You can put as much hashish (or hashish oil) into it as you want. A plus is that there are no remaining leaves mixed in with THC to worry about when using hashish or hash oil. No need to strain, just add directly to a recipe that requires butter. Drinking-------- One may extract the active ingredients from marijuana using alcohol and then use this tincture to make a potent drink. The highest proof alcohol available should be used, preferably 190 proof grain alcohol, since the water in the alcohol will dissolve other chemicals in the marijuana that one wishes to avoid. Some suggest soaking the grass in warm water for a period to remove those chemicals but that presents a whole host of other problems, and is not recommended. Simply grind marijuana to a powder and place it into an airtight container with some grain alcohol. You only have to use enough alcohol to keep the marijuana submerged but you can use larger amounts. A tall container works better than a wide one. Put the cap on the container you are using and place in a dark area with a temperature of 60-80 degrees F. The cannabinoids leach out in about 2-4 weeks of time. The container must be airtight or the alcohol will evaporate. Strain the liquid to remove any plant matter. Place the strained liquid in a clean container with an airtight top and store in a cool dark location until needed. A quarter ounce of good (or better) marijuana will produce enough liquid for 2-3 people to enjoy. The resulting tincture (often called green dragon) is a light to emerald green liquid. It can be consumed straight, but this is not recommended. Try 3 parts lemon-lime soda, 1 part green dragon, and a drop of honey served over ice. Hash and alcohol can be combined by crumpling up some hash (2-3 grams per person) so that it is reduced to sand grain size pieces. Add some vodka (1-4 ounces) to a pan and heat it on low (100 degrees F) for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. After the vodka has heated for 5 minutes, add the crumpled hashish and mix together by stirring. When the ingredients have blended together, pour into a glass and either drink straight or mix with a soft drink that contains sugar. If you drink it straight, have 1 or 2 cookies that contain sugar. Books Ask Ed: |
in the housewares section of most department stores.