First, know that you don't have to smoke cannabis in order for it to be effective. There are a number of alternate ingestion methods that do not require the inhalation of smoke. I've gone over these alternative ways to use pot in another post, but if you're short on time, here's a quick recap:

• Use a vaporizer
• Grind it, put it in food, and eat it.
• Make tea.
• Make green dragon.
• Make cannabutter

But what about if you just want to learn how to smoke weed? In that case, here's what you need to know:

A Note on How to Hit

No, I don't mean how to punch someone. Instead, I'd like to take a moment to go over how to take a hit.

First, forget every scene of pot smoking that you've ever seen in the movies. That's not how it's done. Good. Now, when smoking, remember to inhale the smoke into your lungs. It's common for first-time smokers to breathe the smoke into their mouth and hold it -- but doing this won't get you high. All you get is a funky taste and a mouthful of smoke. You don't want that.

If this is your first time smoking, you may find it hard to breathe smoke into your lungs. That's to be expected -- it's a rather unnatural procedure, so it takes a while to get used to it. A technique I've found to work for most first-time smokers is this: fill your mouth with smoke (i.e. take a hit from the pipe/bong/joint etc. and hold the smoke into your mouth), then open your mouth, and immediately breathe in a lungful of air through it [your mouth.] This breath of air will help push the smoke down into your lungs, while ensuring that you don't breathe too much smoke at once. Be sure to hold the smoke in your lungs for as long as you can (shoot for around 5 seconds minimum.) Then exhale.

Once you get the hang of it, you may wish to inhale directly in to your lungs -- but you don't have to. I still use the mouth->lung method, especially as it helps to cool the smoke (since the air you intake will mix with the smoke before entering your lungs.)

If you're a cigarette smoker, you probably didn't need to read most of that, as you likely already know how to breathe smoke into your lungs. For you, I have just one note: pot's not tobacco -- you can't just breathe in a puff, and immediately exhale. That won't work. You've got to try to keep the smoke in your lungs for at least a couple seconds to allow the THC to be absorbed.

Good -- now on to the actual smoking...

Smoking Methods

Cannabis is typically smoked using one of several popular methods:

• Joints (For UK see Spliffs)
• Pipes ("Bowls")
• Bongs
• Blunts
• Spliffs (common in the UK and also called Joints in UK)

I'll go over each one of those terms in detail:

Joints

The dictionary defines joint to mean "a marijuana cigarette." While technically true, this doesn't give the reader a very good idea of what a joint is, much less how to use one. A joint is comprised of marijuana (usually dried), wrapped in a rolling paper (or "skin"), and rolled into a cylindrical shape, much like a cigarette. If the description doesn't help you, take a look at the photo to the right (click for a larger version).

Smoking a joint is fairly straight-forward -- you light the end, put it to your lips, and breathe in, just as though you were smoking a cigarette.

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Pipes (Bowls)

Another common way to smoke weed is using a pipe or a "bowl". While it's possible to smoke pot out of a pipe like that used for tobacco, cannabis is typically smoked out of a glass piece, designed specifically for that purpose. Tobacco pipes typically have a bowl into which one puts the tobacco, a small chamber, and a stem, through which one draws the smoke. Marijuana pipes are of a similar configuration, with one key exception: they have a carburetor (or "carb" in stoner terminology or choke as its known in the UK  This is a small hole on the side of the bowl, designed to let air into the chamber of the pipe. It is most commonly used to draw air through the pipe at the end of a hit (otherwise known as "clearing" the pipe). Some smokers may choose to use it to allow air into the chamber during a hit, thus cooling the smoke. This technique is often employed when smoking out of a pipe with a short stem, as such a pipe will typically produce very hot smoke.

Using a bowl is slightly harder than using a joint -- but it's still pretty simple:

1. Tear up some buds, and place them in the bowl of the pipe. Don't pack them in too tightly, or it will be hard to light the bowl.
2. Hold the pipe in one hand, such that you can place a finger over the carb (choke). Keep your finger on the carb (choke) to start.
3. Using your other hand, ignite your lighter, and hold the flame over the marijuana.
4. Draw in through the stem. The flame will be pulled onto the buds, catching them on fire. Once they are burning, you don't need to keep the flame on them. Continue to draw in smoke as long as you can. You may wish to open the carb (choke) to allow air to mix with the smoke as necessary.
5. Once your lungs are, say, 85% full, open the carb (choke), and draw in. This will clear the remaining smoke from the pipe.
6. Enjoy being stoned.

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Bongs

A bong is a form of water pipe, and while it certainly one of the more complex ways to use cannabis, it is also one of the more effective ones. Bongs use differences in air pressure to pull the smoke through water, thus cooling and (to a limited extent) filtering it. Using a bong is definitely more difficult than using a bowl, but even novice tokers should get the hang of it fairly quickly:

1. Fill the chamber with water. The exact procedure for this varies from piece to piece, but it's generally as simple as pouring the water down the mouthpiece until the chamber is 75% full (i.e. full, but not so full that water comes spurting out of the bowl.)
2. Tear up some buds and place them in the bowl. You can pack a bong's bowl a bit tighter than a pipe's bowl, as the cooling effect of the bong allows you to keep the flame on your weed for a longer period of time (which will in turn allow a denser bowl to be lit.)
3. Cover the carb (Known as choke in UK).
4. Place your mouth over the mouthpiece/stem and draw in. At the same time, light (or get a friend to light) the weed. As you draw in, you will decrease the air pressure in the chamber, thus pulling smoke from the bowl through the water and into the chamber. If you're doing it right, you'll hear a bubbling sound as the smoke is drawn through the water and fills the chamber. Once the bowl is lit, you can take the flame off of it.
5. Once the chamber is filled (and your lungs are almost filled), take your finger off of the carb (choke) and continue to draw in. The fresh air from the carb (choke)  will "clear" the chamber of smoke. This is referred to as "clearing" the bong, "cleaning your plate", or simply "finishing your hit/toke." If you timed it right, your lungs will be filled around the same time that the chamber is cleared of smoke.
6. Hold in the smoke as long as you can, exhale, and chill. You're gonna be baked. (Bongs tend to have a "gravitational" stoning ability on most people.)

Most bongs are quite a bit more complex and ornate than the one pictured in the diagram, but their operation is pretty much the same. Some users may choose to add ice to the water in the chamber, so as to cool the smoke further. Other bongs may feature multiple chambers for additional cooling/filtration or multiple mouthpieces (some uses hoses) for group smoking. Nevertheless, even a simple, homemade bong will do just fine if all you want to do is smoke.

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Blunts

 Blunts are made from a cigar wrapper, marijuana, and (optionally) tobacco. Making a blunt is fairly simple: all you'll need is a cigar (I'd recommend ring gauge of 38 or bigger) and some weed. If you want to use tobacco, use rolling tobacco (not cigar tobacco, unless you want to cough out a lung.) Once you've got the materials together, follow these steps:

 

1. Cut the cigar wrapper lengthwise (from tip to tip).
2. Gently open the wrapper and remove the filler tobacco. You should be left with just the cigar wrapper.
3. Grind your cannabis up. Don't leave any large nugs intact. Remove any sticks, stems, and seeds.
4. (Optional) Mix your ground cannabis in with rolling tobacco.
5. Place your ground up cannabis mixture into the cigar wrapper. Evenly distribute it along the length of the wrapper, leaving a small margin empty at each end. Be conservative with the amount of cannabis you put in -- if you use too much, you won't be able to re-wrap the blunt.
6. Re-roll the cigar wrapper. Make sure that you roll it tightly enough that the two sides of the split paper overlap somewhat. The more overlap you have, the better your blunt will stay together.
7. Gently lick along one side of the slit in the wrapper. Once the paper is slightly moist (use care: it shouldn't be soaked), roll up the blunt such that the damp side is overlapped by the dry side. Lick the bottom side of the other side of the seam before placing the two together.
8. Lick the newly-created seam. Make sure to get it damp enough that the two sides of the seam stick together well.
9. Once you've got the blunt rolled up and the seam sticking (remember: when in doubt, lick and press the seam), take out a lighter. Being careful not to accidentally set the blunt on fire, run the flame back and forth under the damp seam of the blunt. This will dry out the seam, causing the overlapping bits of the wrapper to bind together. This drying process is called "roasting" the blunt.
10. Once the blunt is dry, light up. Enjoy!

Naturally this method takes a lot of practice (and I do mean a lot -- most good blunt rollers have spent years perfecting their technique.) If you're after a similar smoke with none of the effort, I'd advise you to take a look at Cyclone brand pre-rolled blunt cones. They're much, much simpler to use. As an added benefit, they come in different flavors for a more exotic smoke.

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Spliffs

If you're in the United Kingdom (or some other parts of Europe), you will no doubt run across the ubiquitous spliff. The simplest definition of a spliff is a cross between a joint and a cigarette. There are some subtleties, but for the most part that's all it is.

Making a spliff is simple:

1. Find an extra long skin (preferably 1.5 width or double width).
2. Mix together some marijuana and some shag rolling tobacco. Make sure that all buds are broken up well and that the tobacco and marijuana are evenly mixed.
3. Place the mixture in the skin/paper and roll it up.
4. For bonus points, roll a small piece of cardboard (about as wide as your thumb, and as long as your thumb's fingernail) into a tube, and place it in one end of the spliff (i.e. roach it.)
5. Light the spliff, and smoke away.

Basically, if you can roll a joint, you can roll a spliff.

American smokers take note: while in the US the term 'spliff' is almost always used to refer to a joint, this is not necessarily the case in other countries.

So that's pretty much it. A step-by-step guide on how to smoke pot. Hopefully this answers all your questions. If not, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page and your questions will be answered to the best of my ability

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