If you’re new to cannabis use or consider yourself an OG weed person – there’s info here for you!
Okay, we’ve all been to the party or someone’s house where there was this older head, wearing a baja and flip-flops, who would do this dance after taking a hit. The thought at the time was that to get the full extraction of THC, you had to keep the smoke in as long as possible. So they would hold the hit, and dance, and hold and dance, and then have this earth shattering cough on exhale.
This is incorrect and wrong and please stop doing this.
What you are actually doing is allowing the smoke to cool inside of you and inside your lungs. This is bad for a few reasons. The cannabinoid absorption process is almost instantaneous, but you don’t want tar and other things in the smoke to cool and coat the inside of your lungs. So inhale, count to two and exhale. It’s really that easy for use on flower, dabs, or really anything inhaled. Okay, I will put away my soapbox, but the 2 second exhale is important.
For this next part, I kinda feel like Will Arnett in The Office episode Search Committee, “I’ll give you part three of part two, I’m not going to give you a whole part.”
It’s not that it’s really that confusing, it’s just that a lot of the names and label designations are arbitrary and given by enthusiasts, artists and people with a stake in the cannabis industry. There are lots of different technological advances now-a-days when it comes to cannabis consumption. The choice, as always it seems, is analog or digital? Fire or battery? For flower, there are lots of options, from more traditional ‘bongs’ or water pipes – to Recyclers, Incyclers (short for internal recycler) and steam rollers.
The traditional way of smoking cannabis was either a rolled joint ‘marihuana cigarette,’ or water filtration. This is pulling the smoke through water to use the water as a filter. The perk of using water is that you can also use cool water and in some devices, use ice cubes to cool the smoke. Other than a rudimentary smoke filtration device – the devices that cool the smoke the most are often the most enjoyed.
“The cooler the smoke, the gentler the cough!” – Mayor Wando
When it comes to glass pipes and pieces, the sky’s the limit as far as cost and design go – for the high-end “heady” glassheads – you can have pieces starting in the thousands and go up from there. Custom incyclers and recyclers, meaning that the water and smoke mix, making the smoke break up into its smallest particles has an amazing effect on the quality, taste and after-effect of consumption.
To recap – the main difference between glass and heady glass is that heady glass is a higher quality design, custom creations by artisans who continue to push new designs and move the notch higher when it comes to artistic creations. Regular glass is, well, regular and bulk; or machine made.
A question I get asked often: “Can I share my flower rig and swap out the bowl for a dab nail?”
Can you, yes you can. So long as you buy everything in the correct millimeter attachment size. For many glass pieces, there’s a standard of 14 mm in width. Most of the time, you would also want a male, 90 degree attachment. There’s a fine chart here that gives lots of info in sizing.
Should you, nah bruh. The catch with sharing a rig, is that most people aren’t committed to the daily cleaning that would need to happen. Remember, the whole reason why we consume fresh cured cannabis flower and expertly prepared concentrates like rosin and live hash resin is for the flavor. It’s the terpenes and attention to lineage and detail. Are you cleaning everyday to every other day? No, you should be!
My current setup for dabs and concentrates is a cold-start dab rig. I have transitioned to using distilled water in all my glass pieces because of the ease of use. When there’s no minerals or particles for the rez and reclaim to attach to – it is much easier to clean. When we talk about glass, we have to talk about cleanliness and we have to talk about solvents. Depending on how much you consume on a daily basis will dictate how often you need to clean, so for comparison here’s my cleaning routine.
After every concentrate session, I clean the quartz while warm with a dry Q-tip, to remove the excess oils and residue. After the dab quartz is cool, I use a small amount of IPA – isopropyl alcohol at 99 percent to clean and wipe the inside and outside of the quartz. Use IPA 99 with caution and don’t allow for it to absorb into your skin. Don’t leave it sitting around so store it safely.
Once or twice a week I replace the water, then once a week I allow the IPA 99 to soak in the glass for about 15 minutes. I then pour the used IPA into another container and use that over the next month or so. What you don’t want to do is allow the same ‘bong water’ to be in your pipe for months. Bad flavor, bad taste, bad time.
There can be lots of rez and reclaim buildup on your flower pieces, so it’s best to warm/hot water rinse them once a week. If you do this, then you shouldn’t have to use IPA/ISO and salt. Research what salt does to glass in the sense of micro-abraisons and you won’t want to be using salt on your glass.
As always, this is a journey and not a destination.
The ins-and-outs of cannabis consumption differ from person to person, can change over time and for the casual consumer, need to be stair-stepped into for the best experience. As always, cannabis use is a person-by-person experience, so not everyone’s experience is the same. Take your time, enjoy the ride. Email me: leo@leoweekly.com
Remember, we’re not telling you to use cannabis, but if you do, be informed.