Smoking is the oldest means of consuming weed and remains one of the most popular methods to date. Nothing compares to taking one or two puffs of weed and passing a joint around to a group of friends in your house. It’s like a ritual.
If you live in Washington, D.C., you’re allowed to smoke cannabis in your home as long as you are aged 21 and above. But smoking cannabis anywhere else in public spaces or on federal property is prohibited.
So, how can you make the most out of these newly legal at-home smoking sessions? Let’s dive in to find out how to smoke cannabis at home.
Roll a Joint
Joints are one of the most common ways to smoke weed in your house. They are sometimes called “pre-rolls” or “cannabis cigarettes.” Joints are made up of tightly packed cannabis wrapped in rolling paper. To minimize your risk of chemical exposure, opt for rolling papers that are unflavored, unbleached, and unrefined. Here’s how to roll and light a joint on your own:
- Grind marijuana using an herb grinder. Eliminate any stems or seeds from the crushed weed. Grinders allow you to crush your weed to the ideal rolling, filling, and burning consistency.
- You might prefer to use a filter if you don’t want your fingers to get burnt while smoking. So, cut out a piece of cardboard and fold it to resemble a tip.
- Pack the rolling paper with the crushed weed. Single-wide rolling paper or 11/4 rolling paper are ideal rolling paper sizes.
- Remember to position your filter on one of the ends.
- Now, roll the joint into a tube or cone shape.
- Finally, light the joint end and take puffs from the filter end.
What if you don’t have the skills to roll a joint? Well, the advent of pre-rolls has simplified everything. These are marijuana cigarettes that come already rolled. You don’t have to do the messy job of grinding and rolling the joint. Just order a pack of pre-rolls from a D.C. dispensary. Your only job will be to light the joint and enjoy the smoke.
Light Up a Blunt
Unlike joints, blunts are larger and burn longer. They are created in a similar fashion as joints but using hollowed-out cigars or blunt wrappers. Follow the following steps to roll up a blunt:
- Grind marijuana using an herb grinder. Eliminate any stems or seeds from the crushed weed.
- Cut open the cigar or unroll the cigar wrap using your fingers.
- Dampen the wrap a bit with wet fingers, and then fill the blunt wrap with crushed cannabis.
- Roll and tuck the packed wrap into a tube shape.
To best enjoy the blunt smoking experience, you need to light it up well. The trick is to light the blunt like a cigar. This means hitting the blunt 2-3 times at first to make sure it is well lit.
Pipes
If you don’t fancy the chemical exposure associated with joints and blunts, you can adopt this paper-free smoking method. Cannabis pipes are one of the easiest ways to smoke weed at home.
Pipes comprise the following parts:
- A hollow bowl
- A stem
- A mouthpiece
Here are the steps to smoking weed from a pipe:
- Grind marijuana using an herb grinder. Eliminate any stems or seeds from the crushed weed.
- Fill the bowl with crushed marijuana up to the halfway point. You don’t want to fill the bowl too snugly, or else it may be difficult to take a hit.
- Use a lighter to light the bowl and use the mouthpiece to inhale.
- If the bowl features a carb hole, enclose it with your fingers while lighting it and take a few puffs. This allows for the buildup of smoke in the pipe. Then, take off your finger from the hole to release the smoke and inhale it into your lungs.
Remember, if you’re sharing the pipe’s mouthpiece with a bunch of your friends, you must be careful about the spread of bacteria and germs. Use rubbing alcohol to clean the mouthpiece before each use. This might seem like a monotonous task, but it can reduce the risk of the spread of infectious diseases.
Bongs
Bongs, also called water pipes, can also be used to smoke weed. As the name implies, a bong uses water to cool and filter marijuana smoke. The cooling of the smoke makes it cleaner and smoother when it reaches the lungs during inhalation. Thus, you might end up taking larger hits than usual compared to smoking blunts, joints, or bowls.
Bongs are generally considered a healthier smoking method compared to using blunts, joints, and bowls. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and hues.
Bongs feature a bowl and a cylinder glass piece known as a “downstem.” When you take a hit, the smoke moves down the bong’s downstem to the water-filled bowl where it is filtered. It then travels up the neck to the mouthpiece, where you inhale it.
Here are the steps to smoking cannabis from a bong:
- First, decant water into the water chamber to flood the underside of the downstem.
- Grind the marijuana using an herb grinder. Eliminate any stems or seeds from the crushed weed.
- Loosely fill the bowl to the halfway point with flower.
- Put the bong’s mouthpiece in your mouth, and then light the bowl while you inhale the smoke into your lungs.
- When smoke fills up the water chamber, remove the bowl from the downstem and puff in to clear the smoke.
Stay Hydrated
Regardless of your cannabis smoking method, you need to hydrate well. You don’t want to experience the cottonmouth struggle. Weed intoxication causes the receptors inside your mouth to momentarily stop making saliva. That is why you should chug water to avoid your whole mouth drying up after a smoking session.
The Bottom Line
Cannabis is fun. It has numerous benefits and comes with aromatic flavor profiles. That said, smoking weed can irritate your lungs and throat. If you’re suffering from any respiratory condition, consider consuming weed orally via edibles, pills, or oil tinctures.
On top of all that, when you smoke cannabis at home, make sure you don’t inhale the smoke too deeply. And remember to stay properly hydrated to avoid cottonmouth.