How to Pack and Smoke a Bowl of Marijuana

The different methods of cannabis consumption are not merely wonderful because of the fact that you can diversify your experience with the herb.

What’s more, there is a certain kind of magic that embraces your entire being as you gradually expand your horizons when it comes to the numerous ways you can enjoy the benefits of the green medication.

Knowing how to pack and smoke a bowl of marijuana is one of the cult-classic, tried-and-tested, beloved methods of discovering another dimension of weed fun and satisfaction no matter if you are a medical or a recreational cannabis consumer.

There are certain tricks that can help you get the most of the pleasant ritual of packing and smoking a bowl of weed – and these smart tips also vary depending on whether you are about to smoke weed alone or alongside your bud-buddies.

Nonetheless, while it seems like a quite simple, easy and straightforward process on the outside, particular challenges may arise when you are still a newbie to smoking a bowl of weed.

Did we manage to sparkle your curiosity Now, let’s get down to the practical side of the matter!

Short Introduction to Cannabis Pipes: Intriguing Facts & a Lil’ Bit of History

Pipes for smoking tobacco have been long-known and utilized by our ancestors. Moreover, the smoke of various dried plants was also used in shamanistic rituals.

It might be surprising to find out that some of the earliest existing evidence of smoking pipes dates back to thousands of years ago!

Signs that were attributed to shamanistic smoking have been discovered in Ecuador and Peru. Experts revealed that these signs date all the way back to 5000 BCE. The inhaling of a smoke of dried plants as an essence was usually a part of sacred rituals.

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The earliest types of smoking pipes were carved from stone, wood or gourds. Used by Native Americans, most archeologists dated the oldest tobacco smoking pipes to around 500 BCE.

However, a study that was published in the Journal of Archeological Science turned out to be an important step towards shedding new light on the earliest smoking pipes.

At first, researchers from the University of Mississippi, the University of Alabama, and Rhodes College teamed up in sending artifacts uncovered in the late 1930s to the Alabama State Repository for further investigation. But these crucial artifacts were left behind and forgotten for a particular period. Fortunately, thanks to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ members, a new study of the early use of pipes by Native Americans was settled.

Investigating the Alabama pipes, researchers used mass spectrometry to identify traces of nicotine found inside a pipe made out of limestone. This particular pipe was found alongside animal bones that date back to between 1685 – 1530 BCE – a spectacular discovery that made Alabama pipes the earliest evidence of tobacco smoking in North America.

Nowadays, pipes have truly reached new levels of both aesthetic appeal and usefulness. Regardless of the modern-day imprint in cannabis pipes’ design, the key features that relate to the good old-fashioned, traditional pipes for smoking tobacco and contemporary marijuana pipes are pretty much the same – there is a relatively deep and round basin where dried herbs are packed in (aka the bowl), as well as an airtight channel that serves the purpose of delivering the smoke through a mouthpiece.

One major change in the design of cannabis pipes of the 21^st century VS traditional smoking pipes is the construction material. As briefly mentioned above, the earliest pipes were made out of wood, stone, and later on – from ceramics.

In present times, cannabis pipes are widely made out of borosilicate glass. Borosilicate glass is an amazingly versatile construction material – and it makes an excellent choice for the production of pipes.

Easy to use, easy to carry around, easy to maintain, as well as possibly reducing the number of foreign toxins being inhaled along with the smoke, pipes can be found in a mesmerizing variety of shapes and sizes – some are nothing less but fine pieces of art.

For anyone who might be wondering how to compare the marijuana experience when smoking bongs VS joints VS bowls, we have some good news for you – it’s really all about your unique, personal needs and preferences.

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No matter what type of pipe you choose so that you pack and smoke a bowl of marijuana, the basic principles of use you need to follow are pretty much the same – and we will list these below in 5 easy-peasy steps.

1. Grind up your Weed Properly

The first step in packing a bowl of cannabis is to grind the buds carefully.

Certainly, you can simply place a whole bud in the bowl and light it up – but this will greatly affect your smoking experience in a negative manner. In a nutshell, the plant material won’t burn smoothly and consistently. As a result, you will waste way too much of the precious herb. Plus, you will end up depriving yourself of reaping the full spectrum of benefits of the bowl smoking experience, such as enjoying the subtle blend of flavors as combusting whole buds leads to a rather tarry aftertaste.

When it comes to grinding your weed properly, it is best to opt for a grinder.

However, you can also use scissors to grind your weed manually, and then opt for tweezers to pack the material inside the bowl. In any case – there’s much room to be creative on that note as long as you make sure to grind the weedaccurately.

What’s important is that you grind the buduntil it becomes evenly broken down but without turning into powder. Grinding your cannabis too finely can lead to inhaling a whole bowl just to notice that you can’t really manage to smoke it.

Now is the perfect time to consider adding a screen to facilitate better airflow. There are readily-available pipe screens but you can also make your own screen with common and inexpensive materials.

Marijuana stems can make an awesome DIY screen – just place them at the very bottom of the bowl and they will serve as a barrier that prevents tiny grinded particles from passing. In a breeze, you can twist a paperclip or wire into a coil and use it as a screen, too.

In any case, avoid using a soda can or aluminum foil for a DIY screen as these materials contain compounds that are hazardous to your health when heated and inhaled.

2. Pack your Bowl Accordingly

Finally, it’s high time for packing a bowl of marijuana, woohoo! While this step seems fairly simple at the very first glance, you still need to be careful in order to optimize and maximize your smoking experience. That’s because packing too lightly or too tightly will end up in wasting the precious plant material.

For best results, strive to pack your weed very lightly at the very bottom. Just take a pinch of the freshly ground pot and press it down slightly and gently.

As you keep packing the bowl, aim for a denser pack at the top. Doing so allows the passing of fine airflow that assists easy inhalation and limits clogging at the bottom while providing a consistent burn at the top.

So far, so good – but why do we encourage you to pack your bowl accordingly Well, there’s a big difference in packing and smoking a bowl of marijuana on your own VS enjoying a shared smoking session with friends.

As they say, a friend with weed is a friend indeed – so don’t be selfish and follow the unwritten cannabis connoisseurs’ etiquette of packing a nice and generous amount of the herb when blazing with friends.

While you are passing the bowl, make sure to light only a fraction of the visible cannabis, and not the entire ground plant material. This way, everyone in the circle can indulge in the same beautiful smoking experience without having to bump into an ashy hit.

Sometimes, the bowl might reach your turn when it’s already lit up. In such cases, you can take your hit while skipping on lighting up the bowl but don’t forget to let the next peer in the circle know that the bowl is ready-to-hit without lighting.

As a rule of thumb, stuffing a party bowl is all about adding enough weed so that everyone gets a hit of fresh, delicious marijuana, and not the nasty ashes remaining at the top.

On the contrary, if you are planning on smoking alone, then a micro bowl, single-hit pack commonly referred to as a snapcan work wonderfully. Doing so will not only save you from wasting plant material but it will also grant you access to superbly fresh hits of cannabis.

3. Light it up

So, there you are – ready to get down to smoking your bowl of marijuana (*impatiently_waiting*).

Now that you have packed your bowl like a pro, it’s time to light it up like a pro.

But what’s the big deal with lighting a bowl of weed anyway

In a nutshell, traditional butane-lighters can work just fine. However, there are other lighting methods that are superb to conventional lighters. That’s because of the fact other lighting methods can allow better heating control – something that is of utmost importance for enhancing your bowl-smoking-experience.

As a rule of thumb, avoid using zippo’s since the chemicals added can affect the taste of the smoke adversely.

An affordable and fantastic lighting method you can choose is to opt for using hemp wick. Quintessentially, hemp wick is woven hemp that is coated with a thin layer of wax. It ignites slowly and is considered the tastiest and healthiest method for lighting up a bowl.

And indeed, hemp wick does not give off any undesirable aftertaste while it also helps to maintain an even burn.

A glass wand can be an excellent choice, too. When heated within a controlled extent, a glass wand can help to vaporize the herb once in contact with the surface of the plant material.

This way, a glass wand eliminates combustion smoke while simultaneously delivering the full blend of flavor and active cannabinoids through a simple lighter hit.

4. Inhale, Exhale (& Pass)

Now we get to the sweetest part of learning how to pack and smoke a bowl of marijuana – the point when it’s time to stop chatting and finally get down to blazing.

It is good to keep in mind that most pipes have a tiny hole known as a carb or a choke which serves the purpose of regulating the airflow. It is usually located beside the bowl itself, so it’s quite effortless to spot. In the case your cannabis pipe does come with a choke, then you need to place your finger over it as soon as you are ready to light it up.

Anyway, if your pipe does not have a choke – then you can simply get straight to lighting without moving a finger. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to enjoy your bowl of marijuana nonetheless – even in the absence of a choke.

All that’s left to do once you light up your bowl of weed is to take a deep, controlled breath.

Inhale the smoke and hold it in your lungs but don’t overdo it – it takes as little as milliseconds for the active cannabinoids to travel through, so holding your breath for 2-3 seconds is more than enough to offer you the full array of effects and benefits of the green medication. With this in mind, there is really no use of holding your inhales for any longer.

As soon as you finish up the plant material that you have packed in your bowl, you can let go of the choke. Exhale, take a deep breath, and pass (if the latter if applicable).

5. Clean your Pipe

Wait a minute! Were you getting ready to leave the party Bud buddies, the true mastery of packing and smoking a bowl of marijuana is all about developing the healthy habit of always cleaning your smoking device once the green sesh is over. The sooner, the better – it’s that simple!

A simple mixture of rubbing alcohol and kosher salt placed in a re-sealable bag along with your pipe, and there you have it – a sparkling clean, excellently maintained pipe ready for new adventures!

Even if you don’t feel like getting down to thoroughly cleaning your pipe with a readily-available or DIY cleaning solution, at least make sure to ash it. Ash that is left behind leaves a terrible aftertaste.

In fact, ashing your pipe is the perfect time to notice whether you have managed to fully inhale all of the heated plant material. If ash doesn’t come off effortlessly after a few light taps, this means you should better light up your bowl once more and make use of the cannabis remnants instead of throwing these in the trash. Or you can be like 2 Chainz – he loves to smoke, knows how to smoke, and we bet that possible wastage doesn’t seem like a big deal for him, lol.

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