The High Road
Part 1: Drug of my Life
It’s been a long hiatus. What started as too much work to make time for weed reviews was only further extended by being on the receiving end of a jar of an ~unreleased~ Pure Beauty strain straight from the trimmer that I should have reviewed but didn’t know whether or not it would be released so opted to just keep it to myself.
Either way, it kept me nice and high until a holiday weekend in July when I decided I wanted to celebrate my bachelorette by eating mushroom chocolates (my first experience with the psychedelics). Against better wisdom, the whole bar was eaten. Let’s just say, it made me THAT much more certain that weed is the drug of my life.
I didn’t sleep that whole weekend, but weirdly started sleeping GREAT the first week I was back. If you haven’t read any of these other posts yet, you should know my primary motivation for smoking weed is as a sleep-aid. I’ve had chronic insomnia for over a decade, which began with a bad college roommate experience. So coming back to a busy week of life and not laying in bed for 60 minutes before eventually getting up to get stoned so I could drift off to dreamland was a noticeable change. I tried to smoke the rest of that jar on week two, and woke up with a severe migraine, which prompted me to (!shock and horror!) throw away what little remains were in that jar. It’s been a little over a month since then, and I’ve been thinking about weed ever since.
On the one hand, actually being able to sleep for once makes you realize how nice it is to be able to do that. It also makes you realize that the anxiety about not sleeping is just a self-fulfilling prophecy, and addiction can be as tame and harmless looking as this. Plenty of people are addicted to “tame and harmless” things, like Benadryl or coffee. But I think it’s still good to call it an addiction to realize how powerful substances are in our bodies.
But I digress. I have been glad to claim and restrict my addiction, but I have also been sad because weed brings me so much peace and joy. So today I decided was finally the day, because work has been long and stressful, and I feel like the migraine was just because the weed was pretty old at that point. I am writing this while high. I missed you, my friend.
Some ceramic pieces I made <3
Part 2: How to get High
There are so many ways to smoke weed, I thought I’d just share a bit about my experience with them and what my preferences are. Maybe some day I’ll do something more in-depth, but I just smoked Happy Day Farm’s Ogre Berry and I am going to want to go make a s’more on the stove soon.
Pipes
Called pieces or pipes or stoneware or glassware, objects that have an interior hollow chamber, mouth hole, carb, and dried goods bowl are the classic way to smoke weed. I have treasured pieces from Miwak Junior and YewYew in my assortment. I also have a one-hitter that I made because I know people who swear by that smoking method. I admit they are convenient, but it feels too harsh on my throat for the smoke to travel such a short distance. I like a big, roomy bowl, and the two brands listed above are the ones I’ve tried and like.
Joints
I love a joint but pre-rolled’s from the store are so huge, who sits and smokes that? Sure you can tamp it out after a few hits and try to keep it for a few days like that, but so much material is wasted and you inhale A LOT of ashes. I prefer to roll tiny single- use joins with like the same amount of ground bud that I’d put into a bowl, or 2x as much and I’ll smoke this in 2 sittings. I really like the Blazy Susan mini rolling cones too. Rolling papers are cheap but you have to have a little skill. Rolling cones are much easier to pack but are massive. These mini cones are like 1/4 of the regular cones which is perfect to me. Lighting weed on fire in a bowl or joint always tastes like burned material - anyone who says the get tasting notes from a joint is full of shit.
Bongs and Water Pipes
Over Covid I got very interested in water pipes or “bubblers” which are like a regular pipe but with water in a little chamber. I never found a good one to buy, but I’d definitely try it. Filling it with water and cleaning it seem mildly tricky. The kind of bongs from stoner movies are insane and what adult in their right mind has one of those in their house (ok that sounds judge-y, no judgement if that’s you). But I don’t have room for that kind of set-up nor a need to inhale that much smoke in a sitting. I made myself a baby bong shaped like a bubble with a straw coming out of it (inspired by the discontinued AWMOO) and it was pretty legit for being hand-built by someone who doesn’t 100% know how bongs work. I wish I wasn’t so lazy and that I used this (or bought a better one and used it) more. Bongs are great because they cool the smoke, catch any large particles, and actually allow you to taste your weed some.
Vaporizers
I do not fuck with oil cartridge vapes because A. I absolutely do not need anything over 35% THC which is literally all vapes. and B. I absolutely do not trust the ingredients lists on those things.
However, apparently oil cartridges are not the only kind of vaporizer. There is also “convection oven” or “air” vaporizers. Like a micro-sized air fryer for getting high. These devices use electricity (or fire) to heat a little chamber full of dried material or wax/dabs (also something I do not fuck with). You the inhale “pure vapor” like basically it’s air but has THC particles in it?? Science is cool…I got one of these from DynaVap that is super minimal and not like all the other ones that look like the kind that every bro in a muscle car is dragging. It was a good idea in theory but freaked me out because I had to use a torch lighter which like discolored the metal and ran out after 5 uses, and was unclear if I was actually inhaling anything or not. The issue with these vapes is that it’s a big investment for something you may or may not like. If I do find one that isn’t hideous someday, I will buy it and write about it so you can decide if it’s worth it. Until now, let’s spend the extra 5 minutes to fill the bong.
