![Ganja Smoking - Gangasagar Fair Transit Camp - Kolkata 2013-01-12 2646](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Ganja_Smoking_-_Gangasagar_Fair_Transit_Camp_-_Kolkata_2013-01-12_2646.JPG)
Cannabis smoking (or
colloquially
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conversa ...
smoking pot) is the inhalation of smoke or vapor released by heating the flowers, leaves, or extracts of
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
and releasing the main
psychoactive chemical, Δ
9-
tetrahydrocannabinol
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis and one of at least 113 total cannabinoids identified on the plant. Although the chemical formula for THC (C21H30O2) describes multiple isomers, the term ''THC' ...
(THC), which is absorbed into the
bloodstream
The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, tha ...
via the
lungs
The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side ...
. Archaeological evidence indicates cannabis with high levels of THC was being
smoked at least 2,500 years ago.
In addition to being smoked and
vaporized
Vaporization (or vaporisation) of an element or compound is a phase transition from the liquid phase to vapor. There are two types of vaporization: evaporation and boiling. Evaporation is a surface phenomenon, whereas boiling is a bulk phenom ...
, cannabis and its active
cannabinoid
Cannabinoids () are several structural classes of compounds found in the cannabis plant primarily and most animal organisms (although insects lack such receptors) or as synthetic compounds. The most notable cannabinoid is the phytocannabinoid tet ...
s may be
ingested,
placed under the tongue, or applied to the skin. The
bioavailability
In pharmacology, bioavailability is a subcategory of absorption and is the fraction (%) of an administered drug that reaches the systemic circulation.
By definition, when a medication is administered intravenously, its bioavailability is 100%. Ho ...
characteristics and effects of smoking and vaporizing cannabis differ from other
cannabis consumption methods in having a more rapid and predictable onset of effect.
Methods
![Sebse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Sebse.jpg)
Cannabis (marijuana) can be smoked in a variety of
pipe-like implements made in different shapes and of different materials including hand pipes (
"bowls"),
water pipes ("bongs"),
cigarettes ("joints"), or
blunts.
Solar puffing (also called ''solar toking'', ''taking solar hits”, or “solar bowls” ) is the act of using the
sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
's rays with a
magnifying lens
A magnifying glass is a convex lens that is used to produce a magnified image of an object. The lens is usually mounted in a frame with a handle. A magnifying glass can be used to focus light, such as to concentrate the sun's radiation to cre ...
or
burning glass to heat
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
for
consumption
Consumption may refer to:
*Resource consumption
*Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically
* Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms
* Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...
.
Hotboxing involves multiple persons smoking cannabis in an enclosed space, such as a car, with no way for smoke to escape. In addition to the primary smoke from the chosen smoking devices,
second hand smoke
Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke, called secondhand smoke (SHS), or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), by persons other than the intended "active" smoker. It occurs when tobacco smoke enters an environment, causing its inhalat ...
is repeatedly inhaled and exhaled. A single user breathing in and out of a breathbonnet (breadbag) can achieve this effect.
Vaporization
Vaporizers (vape pens and/or stationary platform) are devices used to extract the active ingredients of cannabis,
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
(E-cigarettes), or any plant material at lower than burning temperature, eliminating carbon monoxide and carcinogenic "tars" found hazardous in smoke. 197 °C / 385 °F is frequently mentioned as a good vaporizing temperature for favored cannabinoids. Utensils usually thought of as smoking pipes can be used to vaporize if the receptacle, or "bowl", is narrow enough to permit controlling the inward flow of heated air from a source such as a lighter which is held far enough below the opening.
According to the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, vaporizing cannabis is a safe and more effective way (than smoking) of delivering THC to patients for medical uses.
The feasibility of vaporization of THC has been demonstrated in a series of laboratory studies involving different vaporizer designs. An electric vaporizer was shown to release substantial amounts of the THC while producing no measurable amounts of benzene, toluene, and naphthalene, which are generated when marijuana is smoked.
Smoking
Health effects of smoking
Some data on the correlation of an increase in the incidence of lung cancer and cannabis smoking are conflicting. A systematic review evaluating 19 studies from 1966 to 2006 found no significant tobacco-adjusted association between cannabis smoking and lung cancer development despite evidence of precancerous histopathologic changes of the respiratory mucosa.
Cannabis smoke was listed as a cancer agent in California in 2009. Cannabis smoke contains many of the same
carcinogen
A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive subs ...
s as
tar
Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...
from
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
smoke.
A 2012 literature survey by the
British Lung Foundation
The British Lung Foundation (BLF) is a British charity that promotes lung health and supports those affected by lung disease.
History
The British Lung Foundation was established by Professor Sir Malcolm Green and a group of United Kingdom lun ...
identified cannabis smoke as a carcinogen and also found awareness of the danger was low, with 40% of under 35s thinking that cannabis (when smoked) was not harmful. Other observations include lack of research on the effect of cannabis smoke alone due to common mixing of cannabis and tobacco and frequent cigarette smoking by cannabis users; low rate of addiction compared to tobacco; and episodic nature of cannabis use compared to steady frequent smoking of tobacco.
A 2013 literature review said that exposure to cannabis had biologically based physical, mental, behavioral and social health consequences and was "associated with diseases of the liver (particularly with co-existing hepatitis C), lungs, heart, and vasculature". The authors cautioned that "evidence is needed, and further research should be considered, to prove causal associations of marijuana with many physical health conditions".
Materials
Disposable materials
Disposable materials are often used in places where cannabis is illegal.
A roach is the remains of a
joint
A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...
,
blunt
Blunt may refer to:
* Blunt (surname), a surname (and list of people with the name)
* Blunt (cigar), a term used in the cigar industry to designate blunt-tipped, usually factory-rolled cigars
* Blunt (cannabis), a slang term used in cannabis cult ...
or
roll up cigarette
A roll-your-own (RYO) cigarette, also called a handrolled cigarette, is a cigarette made from loose tobacco (usually a ''shag'' cut) and rolling paper. Factory-made cigarettes are called industrial cigarettes.
Rolling tobacco
Rolling tobac ...
after most of it has been smoked.
Joint
Joint is a
slang term
Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...
for a
cigarette filled with cannabis instead of tobacco. Alternatively, mainly in Europe, joints may contain tobacco (commonly dubbed "a
spliff
A joint (), also commonly referred to as a "doobie" or "doob", is a rolled cannabis cigarette. Unlike commercial tobacco cigarettes, the user ordinarily hand-rolls joints with rolling papers, though in some cases they are machine-rolled ...
", but not to be confused with the Jamaican term Spliff, which refers to a large joint) or various non-addictive herbs. Sometimes a joint will contain
kief
Kief (from Moroccan Arabic كيف ''kīf'', "Joy, pleasure"), sometimes transliterated as keef, also known as ‘’Dust’’ and "Chief" a.k.a cannabis crystals among other names, refers to the pure and clean collection of loose cannabis trich ...
or
hashish; hashish can be heated and made to crumble before placement within the joint. Specially manufactured
rolling paper
Rolling paper is a specialty paper used for making cigarettes (commercially manufactured filter cigarettes and individually made roll-your-own cigarettes). Rolling papers are packs of several cigarette-size sheets, often folded inside a cardbo ...
s are most often used in industrialized countries; however, recycled brown paper and newspaper are commonly used in the
developing world.
Modern papers are now made from a wide variety of materials including rice, hemp, soy, and flax. A joint typically contains 250–750
mg net weight of cannabis and/or fillers.
Blunt
A blunt is
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
rolled with a
cigar wrapper (usually tobacco leaf, which contains nicotine). Blunts are often made with blunt wraps: tobacco-based wraps — often flavored — that are related to the wraps used on a blunt cigar and are often used to roll cannabis
Blunts can also now be rolled with Hemp wraps that do not contain Nicotine. There are several types available in varying flavors as an alternative to using a cigar wrapper, for those people who don't desire the nicotine.
Reusable materials
Pipe or bowl
![Marijuana and pipe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Marijuana_and_pipe.jpg)
Pipes made for smoking cannabis, sometimes called ''pieces'' or ''
bowls'', are made of a variety of materials, including metal fittings, ceramic,
borosilicate glass
Borosilicate glass is a type of glass with silica and boron trioxide as the main glass-forming constituents. Borosilicate glasses are known for having very low coefficients of thermal expansion (≈3 × 10−6 K−1 at 20 °C), m ...
, stone, wood, bamboo among other materials. Subtypes include
one-hitters, bubblers,
chillums, glass blunts, corn cob pipes, and standard hand pipes.
Pipes vary greatly in shape and materials, and most are handmade. The common thread between them is having a narrow screened receptacle ("
bowl
A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve. This makes ...
"), a "stem" (which may be a long flexible tube as on
hookahs and
vaporizers), and a "mouthpiece". The smoking material is placed in the receptacle and affected with a heat source while air is drawn through the bowl and stem to the user.
Blown-glass pipes and
bong
A bong (also known as a water pipe) is a filtration device generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco, or other herbal substances. In the bong shown in the photo, the gas flows from the lower port on the left to the upper port on the right.
...
s are often intricately and colorfully designed. In India and Jamaica, the most commonly used pipe is the
''chillum''.; in the UAE, ''
midwakh
A midwakh' ( ar, مدواخ, also spelled medwakh) is a small smoking pipe of Arabian origin, in which dokha (), a sifted Iranian tobacco product mixed with aromatic leaf and bark herbs, is smoked. The bowl of a midwakh pipe is typically sma ...
''; in Morocco, ''
sebsi
A sebsi or sibsi ( Berber: ⵙⴱⵙⵉ) is a traditional Moroccan cannabis pipe with a narrow clay bowl called a ''skuff'' (or ''shkaff''), with a fine metal screen. To this a hardwood stem is attached, which may be up to long.
The sebsi has ...
''.
* A
One-hitter is a device used for a single serving (usually 25 mg).
*
Chalice
A chalice (from Latin 'mug', borrowed from Ancient Greek () 'cup') or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning.
R ...
is a cannabis smoking pipe used most often by members of the Jamaican
Rastafari movement
Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of ...
.
Bubbler
A bubbler is a mix of a bong and a pipe. They tend to look like small bongs and are another way to smoke cannabis. A bubbler contains a chamber for water, commonly with a down stem directly connected to the bowl of the piece. A bubbler normally has a dedicated carburetor, a hole which is usually covered with the finger then opened for mixing clean air with the smoke to make inhaling easier. Because of the carburetor there is no need to pull the stem as you would with a bong.
Bong
![Bong pipe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Bong_pipe.jpg)
A bong is similar to a pipe, only it has a water-chamber through which cannabis smoke passes prior to inhalation. Users fill the bong with
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
, sometimes also adding ice in order to cool the smoke. This cooling effect reduces the discomfort caused by the heat of the smoke. The bowl and stem assembly of most bongs is removed briefly after the cannabis is burned, allowing clean air to circulate and clear the smoke chamber, ensuring no smoke dissipates without being properly consumed.
Types of bongs:
* Classical
bong
A bong (also known as a water pipe) is a filtration device generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco, or other herbal substances. In the bong shown in the photo, the gas flows from the lower port on the left to the upper port on the right.
...
s.
*
Gravity bong
A gravity bong, also known as a GB, geebie, bucket bong, grav, geeb, yoin, jib, buckie or ghetto bong, is a method of consuming smokable substances such as cannabis. The term describes both a bucket bong and a waterfall bong, since both use air ...
(also known as a grav, bucket, bucky (in New Zealand), submarine, geeb, or GB) is a
hydropneumatic device used for smoking cannabis. A typical variant consists of a bucket of water in which is typically placed a bottle with the bottom cut off, such as a 2-litre
PET
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence ...
soft drink bottle. However, commercial gravity bongs made of boroslilicate glass exist too. Some kind of cap or screen is rigged over the mouth of the bottle and filled with hash or cannabis. A flame is then held near enough to heat the drug while the bottle is slowly raised out of the water, creating a
negative gauge pressure inside the bottle, drawing smoke from the heated cannabis—along with air—into the vacuum. The cap or screen is removed once the bottle is almost full, the user's mouth is placed over the mouth of the bottle and the bottle pushed back down into the water, causing the pressure to rise and forcing the smoke into the lungs. There are many variants on this basic premise, such as using a large water cooler tank in lieu of a soft drink bottle.
* Waterfall bong: Similar to a gravity bong, a waterfall bong utilizes both a bottle and a cap or screen rigged over the bottle's mouth to hold cannabis. In this case, however, the bottle—which has one or several holes drilled near or at the bottom—is either filled with water or placed in a larger container filled with water before the cannabis is packed. The holes are then uncovered, or the bottle is simply raised from the container, evacuating the water either onto the ground or back into the container. When heat is applied to the drug, the resultant smoke is forced into the bottle with negative gauge pressure, as with the gravity bong. Once the water is evacuated, the smoke can be inhaled from the bottle. Variations on this concept are also used. Commercial gravity bongs made of boroslilicate glass exist too.
Spots
![Glassblades](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Glassblades.jpg)
Spotting refers to a method of smoking
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
. In this method, small pieces of cannabis are rolled (or simply torn from a larger bud) to form the "spot". Generally, the tips of two knife blades are heated, the spot is compressed between the two blades, and the subsequent smoke is inhaled through the nose or mouth. This method of smoking is also referred to as "hot knives" because of the heated blades. Another means is specially made glass presses heated with a
propane or
butane torch. In order to facilitate this process, a "spottle" (also referred to as a "bowser", "hooter" or "toker") is often, but not always, used to funnel the smoke and maximize the amount inhaled. A spottle is generally made from a funnel or cone-shaped container, such as the top (or neck) of a plastic or glass bottle or a gallon of milk/water.
["Understanding street drugs: a handbook of substance misuse for parents, teachers and other professionals", Emmett D. & Nice G. 2006, Pg 41]["James Bong's Ultimate SpyGuide to Marijuana", Arooka, Pg 186]
See also
*
Cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
*
Cannabis consumption
Cannabis consumption refers to the variety of ways cannabis is consumed, among which inhalation ( smoking and vaporizing) and ingestion are most common. All consumption methods involve heating the plant's THCA to decarboxylate it into THC, e ...
*
Electronic cigarette
*
Hashish
*
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice of burning tobacco and ingesting the resulting smoke. The smoke may be inhaled, as is done with cigarettes, or simply released from the mouth, as is generally done with pipes and cigars. The practice is believed ...
*
Legality of cannabis
The legality of cannabis for medical and recreational use varies by country, in terms of its possession, distribution, and cultivation, and (in regards to medical) how it can be consumed and what medical conditions it can be used for. These ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cannabis Smoking