How to Roll the Perfect Joint or Blunt for Beginners & Tips for Smoking Weed
It can be a little intimidating to figure out how to smoke weed for the first time, especially when you’re unsure of where to start. Whether you’re new to cannabis or looking to improve your smoking technique, understanding the basics can help you avoid any awkward moments. With cannabis use becoming more common, you might be considering trying marijuana for medical purposes or joining the many people enjoying legal recreational cannabis but aren’t sure where to begin. Don’t worry—it’s not as complicated as it may seem, though there can be a small learning curve.
There are several ways to smoke weed, and this guide will walk you through everything you need to know: from how to smoke a joint to understanding the difference between a blunt and a joint, along with the necessary paraphernalia and terminology to enhance your experience. You’ll also find tips that can make your smoking session more enjoyable and less harsh on the lungs.
Why Use a Grinder When Smoking Weed?
When you learn how to smoke weed, one of the first things you’ll realize is that a good herbal grinder is your best tool. Regardless of the smoking method you choose, grinding your cannabis is essential. Grinding helps your weed burn evenly, produce more smoke, and improves airflow, giving you a smoother smoking experience.
Grinding marijuana creates a larger surface area, which helps to ensure it burns evenly. Cannabis requires heat to activate THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids that your body needs. This process, called decarboxylation, is crucial for cannabis consumption. Without it, you miss out on the full potential of your weed.
When smoking marijuana, whether you choose to smoke a bowl or roll a joint, the quality of the grind affects the overall experience. If you skip grinding, you run the risk of dealing with uneven burns, stems, seeds, and underheated flower, all of which reduce the potency of your cannabis. These unwanted bits can cause seeds to pop and stems to burn unevenly, leaving some of your weed wasted while the rest burns too harshly.
For those who are still wondering how to smoke weed effectively, consider using a grinder for a more efficient and enjoyable experience.
General Tips When Learning How to Smoke Weed
As adults, we can often feel awkward or unsure when we’re new to something. If you’re learning how to smoke weed, here are some basic things to keep in mind as you incorporate cannabis into your lifestyle.
Start off slow. Cannabis affects our endocannabinoid system, which influences many aspects of our health and well-being. Since everyone reacts to cannabis differently, it’s important to be mindful of how your body responds. When smoking, you’ll feel the effects fully within about 30 minutes.
Pace yourself. One of the great things about smoking is that you can stop and start at your own pace. It’s essential to get familiar with how you feel before you smoke too much at once, so take it easy and listen to your body.
Don’t panic. THC from smoking is fast-acting, and the effects will fade after a few hours. So, if you’ve overdone it, rest assured that you’ll feel normal again soon.
When purchasing cannabis, an ounce of weed (28 grams) might seem like a lot, especially for beginners. It’s important to start with smaller amounts and figure out your personal tolerance. An ounce can last a while, so don’t feel pressured to consume it all at once.
What is a Joint?
A joint is essentially a rolled cigarette, but instead of tobacco, it’s filled with cannabis flower. You use rolling paper to roll up your ground marijuana.
Joints are often the first thing people try when they’re learning how to smoke weed. However, with the growing legalization of cannabis, there have been new innovations in joint technology.
Pre-rolls, short for pre-rolled joints, are now commonly sold at dispensaries. In addition to traditional rolling papers, you can also use cones, tobacco wraps, or even rose petals as wraps for your joint.
How to Smoke a Joint
When learning how to smoke weed, joints are probably the most recognizable method. However, many beginners (and even experienced smokers) may hesitate to try because they don’t know how to roll a joint. At their core, joints are simple: just weed and rolling papers. But once you dive into the details, you’ll discover there’s a bit more to them.
First, you can choose from different types of paper for rolling your joint. Some popular options include:
- Rice paper
- Hemp paper
- Flax paper
- Wood pulp paper
- Cellulose paper
No matter what paper you choose, always go for the thinnest option possible. Thin papers tend to burn more slowly, producing less smoke and making for a smoother experience.
As you get into rolling joints, you might notice some have a filter at one end. This filter helps the smoke flow into your mouth more smoothly and protects your hand from getting too close to the burning paper.
Don’t be discouraged if your first attempts at rolling a joint aren’t perfect. Joint rolling is a skill that takes time to develop, so keep practicing!
How to Smoke a Pipe
Pipes are another easy and efficient way to smoke weed. If you’re learning how to smoke weed, pipes are a great method to consider. All pipes have three essential components: the body, the mouthpiece, and the bowl. Some pipes also have extra features, such as a carb (a small hole that lets you control airflow while smoking).
Your pipe may also have a screen to prevent pieces of weed from being inhaled along with the smoke. If your pipe doesn’t have a screen, it’s likely to have a hole that’s too small for weed to pass through, ensuring that only smoke enters the mouthpiece.
When it comes to pipe size, smaller pipes are suitable for occasional smokers but may not work well for regular users, as they tend to get clogged more quickly. Plus, smaller pipes put you at risk of more burns due to their compact size.
You can find pipes made from a variety of materials, including glass, ceramics, metal, and wood. For the safest and most pleasant experience, it’s best to go with a pipe made of glass or ceramics. Wood and metal pipes can cause unpleasant tastes and even release harmful fumes when heated.
How to Smoke a Blunt
Blunts are similar to joints in that they both involve rolling marijuana; however, the key difference lies in the material used to wrap the cannabis. While joints use rolling paper, blunts are wrapped in cigar paper, which contains tobacco. This means that when you smoke a blunt, you’re not only inhaling the cannabinoids from the marijuana but also nicotine and other chemicals from the tobacco.
For this reason, some medical marijuana users choose to avoid blunts, as they feel that tobacco does not belong in a medicinal context.
To prepare a blunt, you’ll need blunt wraps or blunt papers. These can be bought as stand-alone items, or you can repurpose them from cigars by slicing along the length of the cigar and peeling off the outer paper.
How to Eat Edibles
Edibles are a popular alternative to smoking weed, offering a discreet and tasty way to consume cannabis. Read this guide to learn more!
How to Hit a Bong
Bongs are water pipes that filter the smoke through water before it enters your lungs. To use a bong, you load marijuana into a bowl, light it, and inhale through the mouthpiece. The smoke passes through the water, cooling it down and making the inhalation smoother.
Some bong users enhance their experience by using cold or ice water, which provides a refreshing sensation when inhaling. Others opt for flavored beverages in their bongs instead of water, adding a unique taste dimension to their smoking session.
Like pipes, bongs may have a carb, which allows the user to control the airflow, or they might have a bowl slide. After taking most of a hit, the user removes the bowl slide to take in a rush of air along with the smoke.
Bongs come in many sizes, but like smaller pipes, smaller bongs tend to clog faster and require more frequent cleaning to maintain their performance.