A Guide to Being and Getting High on Weed
- Jeremy Garner
- Nov 10, 2020
- 5 min read
January 25, 2020
According to a recent survey conducted by Buzzfeed News, about 35 percent of Americans have used cannabis at some point in their lives.
Of the 62 percent that said they never tried the drug, a quarter of them have considered it.
Although many people have tried weed, most people wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly what weed is. Here’s a breakdown:
Weed in a Nutshell
On a basic level, weed is the flower part of the hemp plant that when consumed releases the chemicals tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) into the body.
Both chemicals interact with the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS) which helps to regulate processes, like sleep, appetite, and memory. Each of which are played up in the typical stoner character portrayed in media.
The THC compound is the main psychoactive component that produces the “high” sensation by binding to the receptors. Sleepiness, munchies, and spotty memory are all linked to THC, since it binds with the CB receptors.
There is not a working understanding of how CBD interacts with the ECS. However, unlike THC, CBD doesn’t produce any negative effects.
On a less scientific side, there are several different ways to ingest cannabis, and each one has it’s own ingestion methods, intensity, length of high and how long it stays in
the body.
So, What's Weed?
When weed is mentioned, most think of the smokable, trichome-covered part of a female hemp plant. This is called flower and is the basis for all other forms of synthesized cannabis consumption.
When the THC and other cannabinoids are extracted from the flower an oil or concentrate is produced.
Oils and concentrates have the highest THC content out of any forms of consuming cannabis, anywhere from 40 to 90 percent. Both flower and oil are smoked, but weed can be eaten in the form of edibles.
Edibles can take many forms, from cookies, brownies, or candy to pills and topical creams. Basically, an edible is anything you don’t inhale. The high takes longer to kick in and tends to last longer as well.
Bud Tastes Good Raw, Right?
Flower, or bud is smoked. It’s ground into a grainy consistency before packing or rolling. Blunts and joints are the most universally recognized form of smoking, with many who partake using the “puff, puff, pass” method of sharing.
The difference between blunts and joints is what the weed is rolled in. A blunt uses either the shell of a cigarillo split down the side and rerolled or a tobacco leaf while a joint uses rolling papers.
Of the two, a blunt generally lasts longer, although much of long a blunt or joint last depends on who’s rolling and the quality of weed.
If rolling isn’t easily accessible, a glass or plastic pipe or bong is the next best method. The hardware, called “pieces,” utilize a reusable pack and burn bowl.
Pipes are the least fussy pieces consisting of a bowl and stem.
Bongs are a little fancier, adding a removable bowl and a water or ice filter to cool the smoke as it passes through. To ingest, just pack the bowl with ground bud, light, pull, then, if it’s bong, remove the bowl to clear the smoke and pass.
There is also a third, younger, less common and more technological method of smoking that only became popular in the last 5 to 10 years called vaporization.
For this method, the flower is heated to a temperature just below the combustion point of 392F. The heat can be applied in three different ways:
Conduction, which puts the plant in direct contact to the heat source, Convention, which works by passing precisely heated air over the weed, and Radiant, which uses energy produced by a light source or electricity.
Which leads into oils and concentrates, which, today, are typically vaporized. Dab pens are a common product, many celebrity companies, like Lil’ Wayne’s GKUA Ultra Premium, specialize in creating different concentrates for different uses. To smoke oil, all that’s needed is a battery pack and a disposable cartridge. It makes smoking as simple as pushing a button and pulling.
On the flip side, there’s the traditional method of dabbing with a full rig. Consider it a bong with extra steps.
Instead of just packing grounds into a bowl, the extract is picked up with a dabber, placed onto the “nail” made of titanium, ceramic or quartz, then heated by a blow torch while covering it with a dome to trap the vapors as you pull.
The benefit of this method is, for one, reduced waste, and for two, it can be a nice ritual.
Then there are edibles. Difficult to make, easy to consume. To make an at home batch of weed brownies requires patience, a large pot, cheesecloth and a lot of weed. Most recipes require cannabutter and here’s a recipe.
Baked goods are just the basics though. Today there is candy, pills, and even breath strips and sprays, all of which can be purchased from various retailers. Recently, Edible Arrangements entered the edible game by releasing Edible Products. Even though it is just CBD, it still counts.
How High and How Long Will I be High For?
Each form of cannabis consumption has varying degrees of intensity. Flower tends to be the least intense being on average 10-25 percent THC.
Quality and quantity are the greatest factors in the intensity of the high which can last for several hours. After smoking the onset is immediate with the peak coming within the first 30 minutes.
The first hour is going to be the most intense, just remember to breathe. It should be said that getting high can cause paranoia which can be counteracted by chewing on some black peppercorns.
The peppercorns will release terpenes into the body which interact with THC and CBD to produce a calming effect.
Oils are going to be more intense than flower. Mostly because the THC content can be up to 95 percent, or it can be almost nothing, instead of containing mostly CBD.
The high will last the same length as long as flower because both are smoked. So, expect to have a short, and intense trip when smoking concentrates.
Then there are Edibles. Eating a cannabis product can make the high last a whole day depending on what is eaten before. THC is fat-soluble, meaning your body breaks it down slowly.
The fattier foods you eat before can affect how long the onset takes, which can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Be careful eating that second brownie, it might be too much. A more detailed description of the type of highs can be found here.
How Long Till' Peeing in a Cup isn't a Concern?
The general advice is to stop consuming cannabis two weeks before a drug test.
According to a study by the Mayo Clinic, it takes “3 days for cannabis to leave the system in ‘occasional users’, 5-7 days in ‘moderate users,’ 10-15 days in ‘chronic users,’ and more than 30 days in ‘chronic heavy users.’”
So, understand that there are various ways to get high, and each one has it’s own benefits and lengths, plan accordingly.
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