Pot Styles
June 11, 2010 1:54 PM   Subscribe

How do people in different nations (races? groups of people..) use/smoke weed differently?

Apparently Americans dont use tobacco and dont lick their skins, they just twist them...which explains why in family guy joints are always kind of swirly.

It just got me interested in the little and big differences between how we smoke marajuana. I tried to google but of course you end up getting alot of dross.

Im really interested in the difference between Europe, Uk and the US but anything else would sure be interesting too!

Anecdotal evidence is welcomed.
posted by Neonshock to Grab Bag (34 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 


huh, well i guess wiki disagrees with me. a friend of mine only refers to his tobacco-laced joints as "spliffs"
posted by Think_Long at 1:59 PM on June 11, 2010


uhh.. American's definitely do lick the papers. You can't find papers in America that don't have the strip of glue-like-stuff on one end.

One thing that I bet is definitely found more in America than elsewhere is the blunt (cigar with the tobacco removed and replaced with weed).
posted by ish__ at 1:59 PM on June 11, 2010


which explains why in family guy joints are always kind of swirly.

Consider that, in the U.S., hand-rolled cigarettes are an extreme minority ... except for joints. So, if you want to visually communicate the image of someone smoking a joint, you go with the "swirly," hand-rolled image.

Indeed, for a great many mainstream Americans, any other image (a bong, a vaporizer, a blunt, etc) would not have the same, instant visual effect. "What the hell is that pipe thingy he's holding supposed to be? And why does it have a picture of a demon clown on it?"
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:08 PM on June 11, 2010


From a friend who spent last summer in Quebec... apparently out there they almost always mix with tobacco, but here in the prairies it's almost unheard of.
posted by utsutsu at 2:16 PM on June 11, 2010


Pot is often taken as a beverage in Central and South Asia; Bhang is a drink made from cannabis simmered in butter or ghee, with almonds, spices, milk, and/or sugar. Sounds delicious even without the psychotropic effects! And it's been around since at least 3000 years now.
posted by Asparagirl at 2:28 PM on June 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


You mean for recreational purposes, right? Because that shit has a long history in some parts.

Here in South Canada amongst college students, tobacco is rarely seen in the mix from what I can tell. My roomate and his rolling friends usually produce joints almost exactly like the ones in the wiki pix. Although, it should be noted he and most I know learned to roll from YouTube...
posted by Throw away your common sense and get an afro! at 2:37 PM on June 11, 2010


Bhang is traditional during Holi, the spring festival. Also the reason why I flunked machine design thrice, it always showed up the day after holi.

also see bhang ki goli
posted by infini at 2:38 PM on June 11, 2010


interesting wikipedia link I'd never thought to look up, seems its most traditional in Mathura area, my father's side are called "mathurvaishya" i.e. merchants from Mathura.. 'splains a lot ;p
posted by infini at 2:41 PM on June 11, 2010


In Holland, it's fairly common for a person to smoke a king size joint all to themself. Because of this, I sometimes feel out of place when sharing a joint with friends in a coffeeshop. The ratio of tobacco to weed is also really high - like 4:1. Even with the fairly recent indoor tobacco ban, some places either turn a blind eye or they have a separate room where they allow tobacco (even though I don't think that's cool by Dutch law). Other places now offer a free herbal tobacco substitute which is pretty crap, and not many Europeans have taken to.
posted by gman at 2:42 PM on June 11, 2010


That will teach me to preview.....

Also, the locals refer to it as South Ontario, as opposed to what I said....
posted by Throw away your common sense and get an afro! at 2:43 PM on June 11, 2010


I'd like confirmation on this, but a Chinese national visiting the US, said upon smelling this pungent herbal aroma, "that smells like the herb we burn in bunches, and wave under the feet of women while they are giving birth."
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:17 PM on June 11, 2010 [2 favorites]


Friends of mine who grew up in northern Idaho USA were always fond of knife hits which I haven't seen elsewhere. Knife hits involve heating two butter knifes on the stove until they are glowing and then picking up a small nug and sucking the smoke through a funnel. Usually made from a 1 litter pop bottle with the bottom cut out a flipped over with ice shoved in the top.
posted by Uncle at 3:23 PM on June 11, 2010


Friends of mine who grew up in northern Idaho USA were always fond of knife hits which I haven't seen elsewhere.

They're called hot knives and they're fairly popular here in Toronto amongst economical smokers. Having said that, I've only ever seen hash being used for hot knives. Another way to stretch your smoke up here is a bottle toke (BT). Basically, you grab a small glass soda bottle and repeatedly scratch the same spot on the sidewalk in order to weaken it. Then you put a dime in the bottle and grab the neck of it with both hands before jerking it repeatedly in order to break a small hole near the bottom. Next you break out very small pieces of hash on a non-stick surface and use the cherry of a cigarette to pick one up. It's kind of like a quick tap of your finger just above the cherry. Place the smoke between your fingers facing in and wait for the smoke to go an opaque white before carefully placing it in the bottle. With the bottle horizontal, use your other hand to cap it. You'll know when to remove the cigarette from the bottle by the transparency of the smoke it's producing. Then all you do is tilt the bottle downwards and wait for the very white smoke to drop down. Inhale. Pause. Exhale. Repeat.
posted by gman at 3:49 PM on June 11, 2010


most people i've known in the us who smoke pot do it with a pipe. usually just a simple one made of metal, glass or wood. college students and hard core partiers will use a bong
posted by lester's sock puppet at 4:04 PM on June 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


A method from the USSR I heard about once was similar, involved a political button. Prep: get a straw and a drinking glass, and pry up the pin part of the button. Impale a nodule of hashish on the pin, then torch it with your lighter. After ignition blow it out, set the button on the table message-side down and swiftly upend the glass over it. Insert straw under slightly raised (and now smoke-filled glass and inhale.
posted by Rash at 4:13 PM on June 11, 2010


Some of my peers mix it with peanut butter and eat it from a spoon.
posted by coppermoss at 5:13 PM on June 11, 2010


I imagine it's widespread but I've only ever seen it done in the US: when nothing else is at hand, Americans will use a soda or beer can as an improvised pipe by poking holes in the side (which will serve as a bowl-part) and then crush it to limit the amount of air inside and inhale through the normal mouth-hole. This was, IIRC, demonstrated in the film Reality Bites ("Don't bogart that can....man!") and I imagine confined to people who don't mind inhaling the fumes of aluminum and paint.

People in the UK I've seen rolling soften up the hash, and then sprinkle it evenly across a prepared paper, and then add the tobacco (and then add a filter, twist an end, and shake it which I assume distorts the even sprinkling). The Italian person I knew best who smoked would sprinkle heated hash into the palm of their hand, then sprinkle tobacco on top, mix it all together in their hand, and dump that onto the paper. They swore everyone in Italy did it that way, and the British way was weird.

(These observations are over a decade old.)
posted by K.P. at 5:26 PM on June 11, 2010


I can't remember the name for this (water pipe?), but I've seen it done in Adelaide: get an empty 2 litre plastic soft drink bottle. Cut a small hole in the side near the base. Also cut a small hole in the lid and fit one of the little metal bits from a pipe (the part you put the weed in) into the lid, with foil or gum or similar around it to make it reasonably airtight.

Fill bottle with water, holding one finger over the hole in the bottle. Put lid on bottle. Place appropriate substance in metal thing, and light. As it burns, let the water drain out of the bottle (drawing air through the hole in the lid).

Result: 2 litres of smoke in convenient bottle packaging.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 5:46 PM on June 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


Also something often heard of but only occasionally seen, and only in America: the gravity bong. As a general observation, the late-teens/early-20's dedicated stoners I knew in the UK liked to try a wide variety of rolling styles and occasionally compete for the most extravagant (or at least the largest) and rarely brought out or even owned a bong or pipe. Dedicated smokers in the same age group in the US rolled the same 1-paper joint, but often had several pipes or bongs on hand. The more industrious would relish an opportunity to convert a random object into a bong (or at least talk about it). This was widespread enough to work its way into the routines of many American stand-up comedians.
posted by K.P. at 5:48 PM on June 11, 2010


When I lived in Vancouver I witnessed someone making a hole in an apple and smoking the rolled joint through the whole. I believe the premise was that you are inhaling the moisture from the apple which makes it easier on your throat and lungs.

I was in Calgary recently, and noticed that the group of people that were smoking pot were rolling it with, essentially, a cigarette roller. It was bought at a Hemp store. Also, they had a round thing that they crushed the leaves with to make to make it finer. Previously, I've only seen the leaves being cut with scissors. This round thing was also purchased at a Hemp store. They also had all different flavours of rolling paper...candy cane, mint etc.

And in both cities, I've never ever seen anyone mixing pot with tobacco. When I visited London for the first time, many moons ago, I discovered that this was what was the norm. I thought it was crazy personally, plus at the time I was living in Vancouver, and nothing beats BC weed!

Disclaimer: I haven't smoked pot in many years, but have friends that still partake on occasion. As I've gotten older I prefer a nice glass of wine to relax.
posted by cleo at 5:49 PM on June 11, 2010


Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, that the oil from the weed can be slowly cooked out of it, and then you can bake brownies from the oil.
posted by cleo at 5:57 PM on June 11, 2010


Hitting a gravity bong is like getting punched in the lung. It's not like inhaling anything on fire is ever really good for you, but a joint or a bowl is nowhere nearly as deleterious.

I mostly vaporize these days if I'm at home, thanks to the largesse of someone who left a sweet-ass machine at my house, although I'm still down for a bowl/spliff if that's what the occasion calls for. If I didn't smoke cigarettes though, then I'd probably just stick to the vapo (cause it's much easier to justify smoking anything if you're already smoking something).

I think the tendency to craft increasingly complex or bizarre smoking apparatuses is something that's primarily a suburban USian thing (well, I knew some Canadian kids who did this too). I used to enjoy building complicated devices almost as much as getting high (though the vapo constructed out of an old blender and a soldering iron couldn't hold a candle to this wonder of German efficiency [I stand by my story though. This isn't the sort of thing you think up when you're high. It's a wonder to behold.]).

I've definitely smoked a blunt with some Dutch kids who were pretty blown away (though I think blunts are pretty popular in England, and I imagine they'll spread East eventually).

All the Japanese stoners I met treated pot like it was a drug. I mean, of course it's a drug, but there's definitely not the same sort of attitude about it from where I sit (though Eugene, OR is a pretty pot-loving town). In any case, the way Japanese folks treated pot seemed more like the way Americans treat coke. Probably cause it costs just as much (for terrible, terrible weed) and will get you in just as much trouble. I've heard there's a different pot culture in Fukuoka.

I think because it's quasi-mainstream but still just the tiniest bit subversive, social norms around pot are much more locally based. Pot rituals and practices vary a lot from one community/social network to another, from town to town or state to state in the US.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 6:01 PM on June 11, 2010


When I lived in Vancouver I witnessed someone making a hole in an apple and smoking the rolled joint through the whole. I believe the premise was that you are inhaling the moisture from the apple which makes it easier on your throat and lungs.

You can also smoke it straight through the apple.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 6:01 PM on June 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


i love how europeans/south americans roll up a tiny bit of cardboard to make a filter for their joints. i rarely see that in the states.
posted by kimyo at 6:28 PM on June 11, 2010


Holland: multi-paper or king-paper conical joints, with tobacco as filler. Also with a small piece of cardboard to serve as a handle. Although I once tried to introduce the bucket (gravity) bong. Didn't go over so well, with the kind dutch fellow saying, "Why do this? Requires too much work."

France (what I saw at least): blond hash rolled into a little snake, then placed at the center of a hand-rolled cigarette. Never seen that anywhere else.

US: everybody uses bongs or pipes, including all sorts of concealable one-hitters and dugouts. Since practically nobody hand-rolls cigarettes here, not many people can produce even a reasonable facsimile of a joint.
posted by Netzapper at 6:44 PM on June 11, 2010


Joints 'round here are smooth bodied like a cigarette, with one end twisted close, and the other girded with a spiral of cardboard (usually from the rolling paper package) to keep the smoking end open.

Dank bud has so much volatiles, if you don't put the "filter" in, joints get gummy and close themselves up after a few hits so you have to keep ripping/biting the end off. Waste of good pot The cardboard spiral is a nice structural addition to a good joint, and a good place to grip roaches with a pair of locking forceps.

In highschool, we'd empty out 1/4 to 1/2 of a cigarette and load it up with weed. Fast way of smoking a large amount of weed. Then you have half a ciggy to enjoy.

Once, when I was in the presence of a large amount of shake (marijuana plants with the good "buds" removed - mostly leaves and small buds). The end product is a butane phase extract, probably most of the free lipids in the plant material, which is very rich in THC and other canabinoids. The setup was a PVC pipe, about 3" in diamter, one end capped but with holes drilled into it. The other end was capped and had an adaptor for large butane cartridges. Hole-y side down into a large ceramic bowl, butane cartridge(s) on the top, stuffed with the best of the shake. The slightly sticky darkish-yellow stuff went into making a huge batch of mind melting brownies.

When breaking down (a) cured plant(s), your hands end up being covered by sticky "sap" (hopefully lots of smaller trichomes amalgamated togather with the plant's other liquids); enough to roll out into a kinda blonde hash. We'd sprinkle joints with this stuff, or smoke it like hash.
posted by porpoise at 8:36 PM on June 11, 2010


To clear up some misconceptions. Gravity bong (US) = bucket bong (UK) and they are smoked both sides of the Atlantic (and down under apparently (as are hot knives). I've seen a the crushed can pipe used in the UK as well. I've find pipes, bongs etc everywhere I've been in the (developed) world but use patterns vary.

The big geographical difference you will find in in the use of tobacco and hash vs weed the latter being a European thing and the latter an American -- though this has changed significantly since the spread of indoor grown weed (aka skunk/niederweed/hydroponic etc). -- this impacts two things. Since mixing with tobacco is rare in the US there is a lot more use of pipes in general. it also affects how people role joints: apart from the obvious use or not of tobacco this also affects the shape. European/tobacco joints are commonly straight or conical, whereas joints in the US are thinner at the ends and fatter in the middle -- you will also find joints with out a cardboard roach or a smaller one). There is a northern/southern European split in the way joints are typically rolled. i.e. Mixing in in your hand a place the paper on top (in the south vs paper then tobacco then hash) though with European integration and migration the former has moved North as people have met Southern Europeans who do the mixing thing).

Outside of the developed world the Chillum is traditional in India. In Rastafarianism people talk about soking a chalice. this can refer to any sort of pipe but typically refers to a pipe with a elongated bowl, a gourd(-like) base and a long stem.
posted by tallus at 9:04 PM on June 11, 2010


You can also smoke it straight through the apple.

Well that needs clarification if you've never done it. I suppose yuo could use the whole apple but try this. Cut a rectangular chunk of apple about the same size as a very large eraser (slightly longer so you don't burn your nose). Cleanly divot out a bowl (inverse tetrahedron) at one end. Use a bamboo skewer to ream a draw from the mouth end into the inverted tetrahedron bowl. No screen required. Instant sweet tasting pipe. People who use aluminum cans or aluminum foil are quietly removing themselves from the gene pool. Applying heat to painted aluminum and inhaling the result...never a good idea.
posted by Muirwylde at 10:59 PM on June 11, 2010


Like tallus, in the UK I've experienced buckets, hot knives, crushed cans, home made water pipes and once even a pipe made from a cigarette packet (harsh but effective). Joints have always used tobacco, in the past grass was much less common so hash was the norm, no idea how you'd even make a hash joint without tobacco.

Other methods seem to be more party tricks, like smoking through an apple or orange, not regular practice. I've also eaten hash mixed in yoghurt, which I haven't seen above.
posted by zingzangzung at 4:48 AM on June 12, 2010


Terminology varies vastly by region, and within regions for that matter. I gather that in the US, a blunt refers to weed rolled in tobacco leaf (from a cigar, cigarillo, or a blunt wrap) and joint to the same in a rolling paper (with or without tobacco - some people use spliff to refer to joints with tobacco). I also gather that it is uncommon to use a bit of card at the end, so roach most commonly refers to the unsmoked butt of a joint, still containing some weed.

In the UK, blunt is sometimes used as in the US, and sometimes to refer to a joint rolled without tobacco (as is the norm in Amsterdam coffeeshops?). Joints or spliffs are most commonly rolled with tobacco, and with a bit of card at the end, referred to as a roach. I've heard people from other parts of Europe call this a tip, as well.

In both the US and the UK, the receptacle for weed in a bong, and thus the unit of consumption when using a bong is the bowl. In Australia and New Zealand, I gather, the more common term for the same is a cone. I've heard other Europeans (possibly translating from other languages) call this a head.

Basically, there are very few terms that are universally understood in the same way.
posted by Dysk at 6:22 AM on June 12, 2010


It's pretty widely varied. I'm in the US and I have a friend who smokes regularly. He mixes in tobacco, uses a machine roller, and adds a filter. His spliffs look just like commercial cigs. We have a mutual friend who also smokes regularly and that fellow rolls skinny, elegant, unfiltered spliffs. Neither of them use roach clips.
posted by chairface at 8:12 AM on June 12, 2010


Well......in Michigan I have seen the Marijuana Milkshake. You take a glass mug and put it in the freezer for a few hours. Take it out. You then light a spliff / joint, turn it around, and put the hot part / cherry in your mouth. Close your mouth and blow the opposite end of the spliff into the frozen mug. The smoke will stay in the mug. Do this a few times until the mug is pure completely filled with smoke. Pass it to your friend and have him drink it!!!!!!!

And has no one mentioned a vaporizer yet?
posted by jasondigitized at 4:56 PM on June 12, 2010


Well that needs clarification if you've never done it. I suppose yuo could use the whole apple but try this...

Or, you could just pop off the stem, stick a pen through the core, and then stick the pen through the side of the apple to meet the cylindrical hole in the core. Loads easier, and since the bowl is naturally formed for you, often just as effective if not more so than cutting a rectangular chunk.

And has no one mentioned a vaporizer yet?

Yes.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 8:34 PM on June 29, 2010


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