Opinion: The first-timer's guide to consuming cannabis

Mar 28 2018, 11:48 am

Written for Daily Hive by Christopher, a budtender and content manager at Air Reserve Collection.


My first time was puffing and passing a joint around a beachside bonfire on a summer evening.

So if you’re about to smoke cannabis for the first time, your first priority should be to choose a relaxed and stress-free environment.

Know your cannabis

The most popular way of smoking cannabis is  as a joint or a blunt. Joints are usually rolled using fine paper; blunts are rolled using tobacco leaf. Blunts are normally used in more social occasions, as they tend to take a lot longer to burn. Bongs, especially acrylic bongs, are portable and easy to carry social events. It only takes a relatively small amount of weed to pack a bowl, but it can provide many hours of shared entertainment with friends.

Vaporizing dried cannabis flowers or a cannabis concentrate is fast becoming the preferred method of consuming cannabis. The reason for this is the high-quality cannabis concentrates available on the market. Different varieties of concentrates are available in different potencies ranging from 60 to 90% plus THC.

Vaporizing or dabbing is a fast way to consume large amounts of concentrated cannabis, and not recommended for beginners due to the potency. Concentrates should be enjoyed in small quantities and done slowly when starting out with cannabis.

Your first smoke

You hopefully start smoking cannabis with a well-cured and dried cannabis bud/ flower. This bud should smell pungent and to the eye should have lots of glistening trichomes. Break the stems of flowers and layer your grinder. Hopefully, by using good quality cannabis, you won’t have the experience of separating seeds from your bud.

Once you have ground your cannabis into a fine consistency, you are ready to pack your bowl in a bong or sprinkle some bud in a blunt wrap.

Lighting and inhaling your first joint is a memorable experience. Once lit and you inhale, expect your mouth, lungs to be filled with spicy and flavoursome smoke. Your blood will start absorbing the THC at a quick rate, and once the THC cannabinoids connect to your bloodstream they are quickly directed to the CB1 and CB2 receptors of our endocannabinoid system (ECS). THC connects to these receptors like a lock and key, and activates as a mood stimulant and other bodily functions.

There is a known fact about smoking your first time. Often users of cannabis initially do not get high. This is a widely experienced side effect of your first time using cannabis and many theorists blame it on not smoking cannabis correctly through to high levels of adrenalin inhibiting the psychedelic effects of THC.

Vaporizing, smoking or ingesting cannabis can present a variety of different flavours, aroma’s and “highs”. Taking small amounts with long intervals is the best way of consuming cannabis your first time. With the many high THC concentrates out there, be careful of being too high, but don’t worry you will never overdose and die.

Consuming cannabis is best done in a comfortable environment like your home. Check your local laws and regulations about consuming cannabis for extra peace of mind.

See also

Christopher is a budtender and content manager at Air Reserve Collection, when he’s not doing research on latest strains and products for the store, he’s busy making cannabis chocolate covered strawberries and discovering new ways in incorporate cannabis into his morning smoothies.

Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Daily Hive. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.

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