“What kind of stupid shit are they going to come up with next?” Rango snarled as I finished my hit. “Making fucking rules for how you can and can’t smoke pot.”
“Actually,” I said, exhaling and feeling the buzz creeping over me, “it works. Look! No cough!”
It’s not like someone who knows teaches us how to smoke pot. There is no manual given out when you start. Coughing is part of learning, and the sayings … “cough to get off” or “if you’re not choking you’re not toking” do more harm than good. It makes it seem like coughing is a part of the process.
Actually it’s a sign you’re doing it wrong. And that you’re damaging your lungs and throat, as well as giving yourself a headache if you’re not careful.
A little science to go with your bong hit
My question was if you even needed to take it into your lungs to get high. So I finally looked it up. Turns out you do, but not for as long as you think. Or as much.
The goal is to get the smoke against the insides of your lungs, where it can be absorbed. Packing your lungs with as much smoke as possible doesn’t do what you think. There is only so much surface area to the inside of your lungs. Once that’s filled, the rest goes to waste when you exhale.
In the process, if you hold it in your lungs too long, that gives the tars and other nefarious substances time to settle through the haze and into your lungs. The trick is to get it in there and out of there as quickly as possible, but keeping it in long enough for your lungs to absorb it.
How long do you need to hold it in? About two seconds.
Think of it as the same effect of adding whiskey to coke, only you’re doing it in your body, rather than the glass. Throwing up whiskey and coke is a lot better than throwing up straight whiskey. Particularly if you’re passing it through your nose.
Once you got it, dilute it
When you’ve got the hit in your lungs, taking a breath does two things, both beneficial. First, it pushed the smoke deeper into your lungs, which gets you higher, but also takes some of the harshness away from your throat and the upper part of your lungs. That’s where you’re most likely to find a cough springing from.
Second, it dilutes the smoke with oxygen, so it’s smoother on the exhale.
For a disgusting but fair comparison, think of it as the same effect of adding whiskey to coke, only you’re doing it in your body, rather than the glass. Throwing up whiskey and coke is a lot better than throwing up straight whiskey. Particularly if you’re passing it through your nose.
Cannabis smoke, or vapor even works the same way. Diluted smoke or vapor comes back up much easier than a blast of the straight shit.
Do a little more often for the same buzz without the cough
Those of us who came of age when weed wasn’t so strong and only cost $30 an ounce learned to take huge hits. With the right bong, you could get and hold the equivalent of a joint in a single bong hit. Several times throughout the course of an evening.
With the above science in mind I can see why. We never got the effect of most of the weed we smoked.
Here’s something to try. Fire up and inhale for two seconds. If you’re smoking a bong or dab rig, light it, fill the chamber, take a quick breath then inhale for two seconds.
Then inhale a bit of fresh air. The fresher the better, ideally close to someone you love.
Hold the hit for two seconds, then slowly release it.
If you coughed, you either got too much, or held it in for too long. Adjust the recipe to find your sweet spot
Fire up and inhale for two seconds. If you’re smoking a bong or dab rig, light it, fill the chamber, take a quick breath then inhale for two seconds. Then inhale a bit of fresh air. The fresher the better, ideally close to someone you love. Hold the hit for two seconds, then slowly release it. If you coughed, you either got too much, or held it in for too long
But it’s not the same buzz!
Correct. We learn to equate the head rush, or even the pounding in the head that comes with a big hit or coughing spell with being higher.
When that happens, the level of oxygen in your blood is likely going down temporarily. That’s not high, that’s hyperventilating. And once your oxygen level evens out a few seconds later, you’re no more higher than you were before.
It’s an illusion, albeit an effective one. But do you really need an illusion to make you high, especially when the process that causes the illusion is bad for your lungs?
If you want that effect, as soon as you’ve exhaled stand up real fast. That often provokes the same thing, without the dangers. Except of course, hitting your head on the coffee table if you do it too quick and topple over.
When that happens, the level of oxygen in your blood is likely going down temporarily. That’s not high, that’s hyperventilating. And once your oxygen level evens out a few seconds later, you’re no more higher than you were before.
“We’ll fuck me it works!’
Rango begrudgingly tried it. Then tried it again. He’s coughed on damned near even hit for the past five years. He’s even taken to doing that percussive, through the nose closed mouth cough people do while holding a hit. I’m not much better.
And suddenly we’re getting high without coughing. He’s still getting high enough he has to lay down on occasion. And my buzz isn’t suffering either.
And after forty something years, for the first time, I don”t have to cough to get off.