Cannabis smoking
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Cannabis smoking is the process of inhaling the vapors released by combusting cannabis. Most frequently the flowering buds of the cannabis plant, or hashish, a preparation of the trichomes of the cannabis plant, are used. Lighters, matches, or solar power through a magnifying glass can be used to combust it. Cannabis is almost exclusively consumed to produce a feeling of euphoria, though it is also consumed for other medical reasons (such as to relieve stress). During this process, the main psychoactive chemical in cannabis, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is absorbed into the bloodstream through the lungs. It is then transported to the brain, where it binds to cannabinoid receptors, a type of protein cell in the brain. The cannabinoid receptors receive the THC, setting off a chain reaction that leads to the feeling of a mental "high". It has also been found that heating of cannabis results in the production of additional THC from the decarboxylation of the non-psychoactive Δ9-tetrahydrocanabinoid acid (THCa)[1].
While cannabis can be consumed orally, the bioavailability characteristics and effects of this method are starkly different. The effect takes much longer to begin, is typically longer-lasting, and can sometimes result in a more powerful psychoactive effect.[citation needed] For these reasons, the great majority of consumed cannabis is smoked. [1]
Cannabis can be smoked in a variety of ways, including the use of pipe-like implements, such as bowls and bongs, or by rolling it into a cigar-like "blunt" or cigarette-like "joint."[2]. These methods differ by the preparation of the cannabis plant before use, the parts of the cannabis plant used, and the treatment of the smoke before inhalation. Due to the popularity of smoking cannabis, several slang terms have developed, many of which are only relevant to select social smoking groups.
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[edit] Smoking implements
[edit] Pipes
Smoking pipes, often called bowls, can be made of blown glass, wood, ceramic, stone, or metal. To avoid inhalation of undesirable vapors, certain reactive metals are typically not used to make smoking pipes. When speaking about a specific pipe, the term "bowl," "cone piece" or "crater" (the narrowest) often refers to the indentation where cannabis is to be combusted.
Blown-glass pipes are usually intricately and colorfully designed, and can contain materials that change color or become more vivid with repeated use. Such pipes usually have a hole which is covered with a finger during inhalation, and then uncovered to clear the pipe of smoke and cool the burning cannabis. Slang names for this hole include: rush, choke, carb (short for carburetor), shotgun, and shotty.
Metal pipes are often assembled with various fittings that screw together, with interchangeable, and frequently decorative, parts. Metal pipes may get hot, because metal is a good conductor of heat. This can be avoided by having a crater-diameter narrow enough to maintain low burning temperature through deprivation of oxygen.
Tobacco pipes are sometimes used, but the bowl is often too wide to be ideal for cannabis users.[citation needed]
[edit] Bong
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A bong is a water-pipe by which the cannabis smoke is filtered through water into a chamber. Bong use is common and enables smoking techniques that are not possible with a smoking pipe. Users will often fill the bong with cold water or ice in order to help cool the smoke before inhaling it. In addition, non-carbonated alcoholic beverages, such as wine or liquor, are occasionally employed as a filtering liquid on the belief that it will make the smoke "milder".
Hand-blown glass bongs often employ the same decorative features as glass-blown smoking pipes. Homemade bongs are also quite common, and are made by inserting a bong pipe or other improvised bowl into a vessel that will be used as the main chamber. A carburetor can cut or bored into the container, depending on the preference of the smoker.
A variation of the bong concept, known as a gravity bong, employs a vacuum created by water suction to fill the chamber, rather than relying on the user's lungs. In this method, the vessel is open on the bottom and is partially immersed in water prior to lighting the cannabis. When the cannabis is lit, the vessel is lifted, creating a pressure differential between the inside of the vessel and the outer air, and causing air and the resulting smoke to rush into the vessel. The bowl is then removed and the vessel lowered while the user inhales from the same opening where the smoke entered. This method has several variations and aliases, including waterfall bongs, bucket bongs, depth charges, torpedoes, and bucky.[2]
[edit] Vaporizers
Since the delivery of THC occurs through heating rather than combustion, it is possible to "smoke" cannabis without ever igniting the herb, through the use of a "vaporizer." This is suggested to allow consumption of active cannabinoids without the harmful and irritating effects of the actual smoke.[3] A vaporizer heats herbal cannabis to 365–410 °F (185–210 °C), which turns the active ingredients into gas without burning the plant material (the boiling point of THC is 392 °F (200 °C) at 0.02 mm Hg pressure, and somewhat higher at standard atmospheric pressure).[citation needed]
At least one study has shown that using a vaporizer results in less tar and carbon monoxide inhalation than smoking the same amount of cannabis[3].[citation needed]
[edit] Smoking with Fruit
Fruit, including apples, can be used as a smoking device by sticking a sharp, round object into the fruit at three different points, which roughly form a triangle, and intersect near the middle of the fruit-forming a more natural smoking device. One hole, corresponding to the bowl, is placed at the top of the fruit. Another hole, the mouthpiece, is made in the upper front side of the fruit. The third hole, the carburetor, is placed in the middle part of the side opposite the mouthpiece. The bowl can be made by widening the top-most hole to the desired size, or by simply using a glass or metal bowl made for a bong. This method of smoking not only adds a hint of flavor, but makes for an easily disposable and replaceable smoking device.[4]
[edit] "Spots"
An alternative method, known variously as spots, spotting, dots, hot knives, or blades, is to compress a small amount of cannabis between two heated metal blades and inhale the resulting vapors.[4] In order to facilitate this process, a spottle (also referred to as a bowser or hooter)[citation needed] is used to capture the smoke and maximize the amount of smoke inhaled. Although not a popular or well-known practice in some parts of the world, the spots method of consuming cannabis is quite common in New Zealand.[5]
[edit] Rolled
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Many smokers prefer to roll the cannabis inside paper or a tobacco leaf, achieving an effect similar to a cigar or cigarette.
[edit] Joint
A joint is created by rolling up cannabis, either manually or with a rolling machine, into a cigarette-like product. Standard sized papers for joints are 70mm (standard size), 79mm (1 & 1/4 size) , and 110mm (1 & 1/2 size).
If a joint is smoked until it almost begins to burn the fingers of the user, it is often referred to as a "roach". Tweezers or a specially-designed pair of "roach clips" may then be used to continue smoking. Some smokers prefer to empty the roach into a bowl or other pipe-like device rather than continue to smoke the roach as if it were a joint.
In the UK a roach is often simply a piece of card or other paper, maybe a centimetre in width, rolled up to provide a sturdy end to smoke through, this is used as a replacement for a filter, as these do not allow THC through.[citation needed]
[edit] Blunt
A "blunt" is a method for smoking marijuana in which the marijuana is smoked inside a tobacco leaf obtained from the outer layer of a cigar.
There are three main methods for producing blunts. The first method is to hollow out the interior of a pre-made cigar and fill it with cannabis. The second method is to rip or cut the cigar lengthwise from end to end, after which the contents are discarded and the wrapping rerolled like a new cigar. The third method is to buy cigar paper (commonly referred to as a wrap) which can come in a variety of flavors, and roll it like a joint.
The term "blunt" may have originally referred to a type of cigar, the Phillie Blunt, which has become highly popular for creating marijuana blunts.[citation needed]
[edit] Shotgun
A shotgun (also known as a shotty, brainer, charge, super, or blowback) can have many meanings, but most commonly refers to one user taking a "hit" of a blunt or joint, turning it around so the lit end is inside the mouth, and blowing the hit out through the blunt/joint into the mouth of another user, who sucks it in. Also known as "Power-hit" it's a really intimate way for a couple to share a marijuana cigarette, since the lips nearly kiss (actual kissing works even better). A "Stinger" has the same concept except smoke is inhaled through the nasal passage. The "first" user of a one-hitter can finish the toke, turn the instrument around, cup mouth around the crater-head, and blow air steadily through to the partner who sucks from the mouthpiece. This method works well on a low supply, because two people both get the effects out of only one hit.
[edit] Mixing with tobacco and other herbs
Often cannabis is combined with tobacco (also known as spinning) or other smokable herbs prior to smoking. When cannabis is mixed with tobacco to role a joint it is known as a spliff. This can be done to enhance the flavor; to make a small amount of cannabis last longer by "cutting" it with another substance; or in the case of other psychoactive herbs, to increase and/or modify the effects on the user.
Mixing cannabis with tobacco is common in Europe but less so in the United States. At least one source has suggested that the practice of mixing tobacco with cannabis can lead to nicotine dependence.[6]
[edit] Health effects
Reports decreased gas exchange capacity and the existence of particle residue in the lungs of marijuana smokers several times greater than for tobacco smokers.[7] These findings,however, may have been exaggerated. In both studies, smoked marijuana was not filtered, while smoked tobacco was. Tashkin et al. notes that, "these differences could largely account for more than twofold greater tar yield from marijuana than tobacco that was measured using syringe-simulated puffs of similar volume and duration." Smoking cannabis through a water-pipe may filter out water soluble carcinogens and will also greatly cool down the smoke. Also, cannabis need not be smoked: In Middle Eastern countries, it has been consumed through teas and food for centuries, avoiding the carcinogenicity of smoke altogether.
Despite cannabis' suspected negative effects to lung function, there has never been a reported case of lung cancer. Tobacco, though, is expected to kill 400,000 people this year.[8] The question has been raised as to why there are not thousands of cases of marijuana related cancers, given its widespread use.
Marijuana smoking can also lead to Gum Disease. Researchers studied a group of more than 900 New Zealanders who smoked marijuana more than 40 times a year. They found that smoking that much pot regularly from the age of 18 greatly increased the chance of developing periodontal disease by age 32.[9]
[edit] References
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) |
- ^ Verhoeckx KC, Korthout HA, van Meeteren-Kreikamp AP, Ehlert KA, Wang M, van der Greef J, Rodenburg RJ, Witkamp RF (2006-04-06). "Unheated Cannabis sativa extracts and its major compound THC-acid have potential immuno-modulating properties not mediated by CB1 and CB2 receptor coupled pathways". International Immunopharmacology. PMID 16504929.
- ^ United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2006), World Drug Report, vol. 1, pp. 187-192, ISBN 92-1-148214-3, <http://www.unodc.org/pdf/WDR_2006/wdr2006_chap2_annex1.pdf>. Retrieved on 22 November 2007
- ^ DI Abrams, et.al. (2007). "Vaporization as a Smokeless Cannabis Delivery System: A Pilot Study". Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 82 full text (pdf).
- ^ "Cannabis use in a drug and alcohol clinic population", McBride A. J. 1994
- ^ Put that in your pipe and smoke it: a traveler's guide to smoking pot in New Zealand
- ^ Australian Government Department of Health: National Cannabis Strategy Consultation Paper, page 4. "Cannabis has been described as a 'Trojan Horse' for nicotine addiction, given the usual method of mixing cannabis with tobacco when preparing marijuana for administration."
- ^ [Tashkin et al.] (1990)
- ^ (Glenn, 1992)
- ^ http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080205/pot_gums_080205?s_name=&no_ads=
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Marijuana, being smoked in copious amounts over a long period of time can cause the smokers memory, in particular their short term memory to deteriorate.
