The cannabis subculture across the country is very different than it was in the 1960s. In fact, modern pot smokers talk a lot like wine enthusiasts instead of the somewhat seedy characters you might se in mass media. Conversations in brick-and-mortar dispensaries frequently turn to the topic of flavor profiles of various Cannabis products just as much as the intended effects. While people might argue about their favorite hookah flavors or what modern grinder is the best, those working throughout the glass pipe sector have creatively come up with numerous innovations they hope to enhance the flavor of your herbs. Sometimes, these creations borrow heavily on laboratory designs. With demand having grown for several decades, there are now many imaginative designs. Just visit your neighborhood's shop, and you'll see a delightful variety of choices. Let's look into some of them and a few tips from the pros to enhance your personal smoking experience.
Are Chillums Really That Chill?
If you're familiar with chillums, then you know they are among the more simple versions of pipes. One of the oldest designs is a simple conical clay tube filled with herb. Quite a few traditional Rastas still hold this dear. Nobody is going to argue how this method of smoking is both powerful and flavorful. However, anyone that knows anything about this also can tell you it's the hottest method. Do you wonder why that matters? It's because Cannabis usually combusts between 500 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit. When it does, it can burn physical holes inside your throat. That sounds extreme to many, but a few users actually love it when this happens. That burn can mean a direct pathway into the bloodstream for faster onset. That's the thinking behind the people that love to joke how 'you have to cough if you want to get off'. If this idea grosses you out, then you can find cooler choices these days.
Modern Descendants of Chillums
The chillum has modern variations derived over the years by smart people looking for something better. Paperless cigarettes are one incarnation, and glass blunts are another. These usually have a tube inside of a tube, and the two tubes are connected using shrink wrap or rubber washers so that the smaller tube is able to move freely in a sliding fashion inside the bigger one. You pack the bigger tube but use the smaller one as your mouthpiece. It's confusing, but the physical result is an herbal tube you can smoke just like a cigarette. Expel the ash by pushing the two tubes together. You can keep the herb from actually burning because of the glass, unless you would like it to do so. Try one of these if you like cigarette-style smoking without wasted smoke.
A Good Grinder Rules All
There are plenty of arguments both for and against using a grinder. Unfortunately, this debate might be fueled a lot by how many substandard grinders are available on the market.
Hopefully, that's fading into the past. Recent name brands have actually gotten to the point that they're using ex-NASA engineers for their designers. This might sound like a joke, but it's actually true. Former space program engineers might have made your next grinder.
There's always a benefit to pulling apart weed manually. Namely, you can prevent trichome disturbances. These resin crystals have lots of the active flavors and ingredients that you want. Grinding always has the potential to diminish both flavor and quality. Then again, you can also do that if you pull things apart by hand or stuff huge chunks into the pipe. Lacking surface area in circumstances such as these can mean you need more burn time from the lighter. Accumulated butane byproducts wind up in your smoke and pipe. Of course, you can get around this with a high-purity butane for refillable lighters, such as 99.9998-percent pure Puretane brands.
A good grinder has many upsides to it. Surface area is one of them. A ground herb will have several times the available surface area. This means more potent and dense smoke happening at hotter temperatures for full combustion. Unground herb just won't have the same flavor.
Many grinders also have kief catchers for versatility. The ground herb can fall onto a mesh screen to separate the kief or trichomes towards the bottom. That pulls flavors out that are difficult to attain without any symbiosis.
Bong Smoke Filtering at the Molecular Level
One relatively recent and yet fascinating advancement in modern pot-smoking tech is how activated carbon has been applied. Really, it's just charcoal, and yet it supposedly has a negative ionic charge. This same tech filters both alcohol and air. All the science behind it can get a bit technical, but basically the carbon works like a magnet down at the molecular level so it can take ash from the smoke. As a result, you get a smoking experience that is seriously clean and tasty beyond imagination. Smoke that gets filtered this way feels and tastes like an actual vaporizer, and yet you get the whole range of the combusted materials. Some vaporizers leave that part out.
More Coming Down the Pipe
Okay, that's an awful pun. Yet, it's also the truth. The market has a considerable number of innovative products already for sale and being used. However, a lot more creations are being worked on right now across the country and around the world. Remember, some of them are even being designed by former rocket scientists, so there's no doubt there will be things you can have a blast with. Keep hitting up your local shop and having those crazy conversations to keep up with everything.