International smoking differences

Well, I can only talk about my surroundings. From what I've read in forums and such people in the US are always smoking grass, grass, grass.

Not here in Portugal. It's a royal pain in the ass to find grass. Only in Summer and it's rare. We just smoke hash, the most common, mixed with tobacco (yeah, it sucks, but we've got to burn it somehow).

The dumb thing is, people are so used to this they mix grass with tobacco when they get their hands on some. this is stupid and I never did it but it's as common as it gets (keep in mind my experience is limited to high-school stoners, some college students and of course the drop-outs, or professional smokers as I call them because that's what they do all day ).
There are also others forms of cannabis, harder to find but much better, but I'm afraid I don't know their names in english maybe you can recognise them from these pics

<-- this one is called pollen, I think (I mean the lighter pieces)

We usually smoke it in joints, although water bongs are very popular too except that we make them ourselves (with plastic bottles) because, well, that's recycling and we can't afford real bongs
Another fancy way to smoke it around here is to take all the tobacco out of a cigarette, then mix it with hash then put it back in, so it looks like a regular cigarette. we call it "patience", guess you realise why, I don't know qhy anyone in their right minds would go through so much trouble. people are weird I guess...

 

Yea there is an assload of portagees in my city, a whole section of town inhabited by them pretty much, one kid said he could only find hash when he went out there on vacations... like that mostly everywhere in EU FWIU.

Professional smoking, that phrase is funny. I call professional smoking, smoking a whole blunt without ever taking it out of your mouth or touching it with your hands, just using your mouth to hold it and smoke it til it's done then spitting it out into the ashtray... we started trying to do all sorts of fun shit, another fun one is to throw the blunt and try to catch it in the puffing position of your fingers, like say you throw a peace sign up, the person throws it at you, and you clamp the peace sign at the right time to catch the blunt in the puff position.

 

the stoner population around here is pretty diverse when it comes to smoking preferences (what to smoke and how to smoke it)

but I and all of my aquaintences have a nice glass bubbler or bong at home and a glass bowl or bat for when we are out and about.

 

in spain, most people smoke joints of hash that´s mixed with tobacco.

the best method i learned was "la peseta" where you take a cigarette, tear off the end (that you light) to use as a filter. set that aside then grab a chunk of hash and heat up the corner of it with a lighter. pinch off some, and press it together with your fingers, making a little pancake/patty (or use a lighter to squash it flat). put the hash on the edge of a table or something then lick the seam of the cig, then tear it open so you can dump it easily into your cupped other hand. start heating up the hash with the flame *just* above it but not really touching. if it´s good hash, it´ll start to bubble and sizzle fast.
with it´s evenly heated up, it´ll be very soft and really fucking hot. DO NOT TOUCH the hash to your skin! scoop it into your hand on top of the tobacco with the end of your lighter and very lightly and quickly mince it, quickly breaking up and clumps that form. try putting a little bit of tobacco on top of the hash before you start mincing it. it´s really hot and you really dont want to touch it directly.
this way, the heated up hash sticks to the tobacco and when looking at it in your hand, it looks just like regular tobacco. put a paper (a black-labeled "Smoking" brand rice paper) over the pile of hash and tobacco in your hand, then place your other hand on top of that. then flip your hands over and open them up. the mixture should be right in the paper, ready-to-roll. roll it with the tip of the cig you already tore off and smoke it.

if there´s 2 people smoking the "porro," usually the person who rolled it would start it and smoke the entire 1st half by themself. then it would be passed to the other person to finish. or you take 3-4 hits (or more) a piece, then pass it back - repeat. but since there´s a good chance you´re getting different levels of hash and tobacco smoke as you inhale, it makes more sense to take more hits of it.

 

i dont understand why you put all this in your hands in the first place? is there a purpose? why not just heat teh hash up when its sittin on top of the tobacco in the paper ?

 

american we seemto roll our blunt wit all naturel buddys, but hten in england they tned to mix there joints iwht tobaccos .

since i smoke my joints wit just weed id rather have that cuzz foe the factthat theres more weed, but i do smoke a cig after every bowl i have if i have a pak if koolz on me, so im sure id like the european way as well

 

i have not yet met sum1 in ym area that smokes a mixed j though

 

i've smoked many joints with tobacco in them, and anybody who smokes a blunt is doing generally the same thing (blunts are probably a little less healthy for you, imo, but the nicotine in it is a bit lower and won't feel as bad for you...but the wrap is still tobacco, and its generally a homogenized tobacco paper product rather than pure tobacco leaf)

its just not generally the preferred method among most americans. i dont do it often these days since i try to avoid cigarette tobacco anymore, but it can be nice. its all about finding a good mix of flavors and consistancy, and a good ratio of pot to tobacco.

in my area, preferences are highly personal and vary tremendously. my group of stoner buddies over the past couple years, who largely dont hang out much anymore except in smaller, more distinct groups, went through a lot of changes. at first, everyone smoked bowls constantly. most of us would roll joints on occasion. a few could roll blunts. we learned to love blunts (so long as they're thicker than your little finger) and more and more of us started learning to roll them. for a while many of us smoked blunts exclusively, regardless of how good the pot is and how much it took to get high.

right now i tend to smoke mostly out of my vaporizer. other than that its bowls. on a special occasion i'll smoke a big joint (i like to roll them in a cone shape) or a small blunt. if its a party and other folks are throwing down, i'll roll a big blunt like i used to smoke all the time.

these days i find moderation is key, and theres no shame in purposefully keeping your tolerance low enough to get high from just a bowl or vaporizer pack.

though i must admit i'm anxiously awaiting my next blunt. i rolled it with some really nice middies in a peach golden wrap. golden wraps are tobacco paper cut like rolling papers and sold in packs. easier to roll than phillies, and more cost effective. they dont taste quite as good, but they DEFINITELY get the job done, and they're a little smaller than a regular blunt but still offer QUITE enough room to put in enough weed to get STONED.

this little firecracker is a large cone-shaped joint/blunt...i'm letting it chill in my humidor untill i run out of the rest of my pot. it will be a nice lifesaver.

dont worry though - its not touching my real cigars and wont ruin their beautiful flavors

 

wraps are the shit i like to keep a couple of flavors on hand...

 

Yeah blunts are pretty fine, but I hear they're horrible for your health because they treat them with lots of chems.

 

I smoke hash all the time. Not much weed about, but I prefer hash. Always stick tobacco in joints. People all over Europe do it from what I've seen.

 

In alot of Europe, though in England, Holland and Switzerland it's mainly weed everywhere.

 

Where're you from Spacer?

Also, from what I've heard England mostly smokes [shitty] hash.

 

a lot of people in spain seem to smoke in public. in bars, on the street, etc. in a lot of bars, it´s OK to smoke openly, but still gotta play it cool. so since you´re on the street or in a place with a lot of people, it´s a lot easier to do most of this in your cupped hand. you dont want to have a bunch of shit layed out. you could heat up the hash on top of the tobacco in your hand, then put the paper on it...

heating it up on the paper might burn some of it, too

 

Smoke publicly!? I love spain!

 

Where I'm from (an upper-middle class suburb of Boston), people normally just use pipes. People with less money will roll up blunts (I've never seen a joint around here, though), and people with more money will use bubblers and bongs. The difference is mostly just in social classes.. you can tell where someone lies socioeconomically by how they smoke. It's weird. *shrug*

 

Some people do this because tabacco burns hotter therefore releasing more of the thc from the marijuana. at least that's what they said to me when i asked them, i guess its like having the "after-toke" smoke while your smoking it too. Just a guess though

 

I was told it was to make it burn evenly and to ration your weed.

 

it actually burns at a lower temperature. but unlike weed, it maintains this temperature until it has pretty much gone out. weed must be heated to a higher temperature to burn, but will lose the heat much quicker. this is why cigarettes burn in an irritating sense, but weed burns in a more hot smoke sense. for someone who has smoked both mixed and plain a lott, i can vouch this.

it is mixed into weed for even burning, to turn a pile of weed into a pile of weed twice as big, to give a bit of a nicotine hit (ads to the high for non-smokers), and to make the flavour smoother.

whether you agree or not, its done all over the world

 

good point.

i might also mention that it makes a big difference in the taste depending on the ratios and the pairing of what type of pot with what type of tobacco. certain tobaccos mix with certain types of pot better than others. personally i find half and half or prince albert tobacco to be good for a cooler smoke but more robust flavor...it burns very slowly, be warned. bali shag and bali shag light are good volumunous tobaccos with a great flavor, and are good for mixing with a light hand with finely ground pot, especially when you're rolling it. half and half or prince albert would be better for if you want to smoke a mix from a pipe, but could also be used to roll. just dont blame me if it goes out. if you want to use tobacco actually from a tailormade cigarette, i would advise against most as they simply just dont taste very good by themselves, let alone mixed with pot. follow your heart, but i would generally recommend sticking to something like dunhills, camel turkish blends, benson and hedges, new york cut, pall mall or american spirit. players lights are good for it, too. but again, if you have stronger, heavier bodied smoke from your pot, you're going to want a heavier, more robust smoking tobacco to compliment it. if you're smoking a lighter, crisper, sweeter pot, then you'll want a tamer tobacco as well.

other things can be added in very small quantities to give more flavor. i like maybe 5 fresh ground cloves mixed with a light hand with a blend of 2/3 pot 1/3 tobacco and rolled into a large cone shaped joint. gives it a spicier, warmer flavor. kind of sweet. a pinch or two of fine cut chamomile will give it a sweet, herbal flavor reminiscent of the tea. both of these can be harsh, so only use a little to make sure you like it first. dont go overboard. they aren't good at the same time. feel free to experiment on your own with other things but use caution and dont assume everything is safe to smoke. be careful.

its a question of pairing the pot and tobacco if you're just going that route and no further. its like any of the finer things in life....certain pairs are good and certain ones are bad. for example, you'd want lemony foods with a good sidamo coffee, because chocolate wouldnt go well with it because of the natural citruslike underflavors of the coffee. on the other hand gautemalan coffee pairs VERY well with chocolate. certain wines pair with certain types of food. certain cigars with certain liquors. and certain tobaccos with certain marijuana. unfortunately you almost never know what STRAIN of pot you're smoking, so you have to sort of feel your way through it. if you pay attention closely, you'll feel you're way through it effectively. its all about what you like anyway.