Smokers love the feeling of taking a drag or a hit of their favorite smokable substance. And fans of marijuana, which is now legal in many states, love the feeling of being (safely) under the influence of marijuana. But not all smokers enjoy the same exact things. For some, the feeling of taking a drag off of a burning joint or a hit off of a pipe or bowl can be unpleasant. The smoke can be hot and harsh. It can irritate a smoker’s throat and lungs. A smoker may find him or herself coughing and wheezing and trying to cool down his or her throat with water.
If this all sounds like you, you’ll be pleased to know that there are some solutions to this. You don’t have to smoke marijuana (or any other substance) using a pipe or rolling papers. Here are some ways to enjoy your smoking (or, in some cases, non-smoking) experience without making your throat burn and your eyes water.
Use water and ice to cool your smoke
When you take a hit off of a joint or a bowl, you’re breathing in smoke that comes directly from your burning smokable. That’s going to be pretty hot smoke, and — for some of us — unpleasantly harsh smoke. That kind of smoke can irritate the throat, and even experienced smokers are not going to be able to take massive hits in the way that they could if the smoke were just a little bit cooler.
So the solution, of course, is to cool the smoke down — and that’s exactly what some types of smoking devices are designed to do. Certain types of smoking apparatuses route the smoke from your hit through water and (sometimes) ice, which takes out impurities and cools it down. The result is a smoother smoke that makes it easier to take big hits without hurting your throat or lungs and without coughing up a storm.
Your simplest option for water-cooled smoking is a bubbler. These devices just work like familiar pipes and bowls, but with a shape that allows the pipe to hold water (without spilling it, of course). The smoke goes through the water on its way to you, but there’s no need to pull out the bowl or fill an ice catcher as there is with some other smoking devices.
You can opt for a larger and more involved option. Bubblers, bongs, or “water pipes”, for example, route smoke through water on its way to you. But by using a removable bowl as a sort of carb, bongs enable you to take larger hits of cooled smoke. They’re great for experienced smokers and those who want to get more out of their marijuana. Bongs (like bubblers) are healthier than smoking with rolling papers. They’re also more efficient in their use of marijuana since they don’t lose as much smoke to the air as joints and blunts do. You’ll find plenty of brand names in the bong market: you can grab a RooR water pipe, for instance.
Bongs may also have ice catchers, which allow smokers to add ice. The ice is suspended above the water, not in it, so the smoke that collects after being pulled through the water is cooled by the ice in the moments before the bowl is removed and the hit is drawn in. The result is a cooler and more mellow hit, which reduces coughing and further improves your ability to take larger hits.
Another option: skipping the smoke
Most smokers love smoking, but it’s not for everyone. Some smokers are just using smoking as a way to ingest their favorite substance. If that’s you, you may want to consider the ways in which you can consume substances like marijuana without smoking at all.
Vaping is one option. You can get vaping products from the same places that offer smoking products, and you can use vape pens and other vaping devices to consume many of the same substances that you can smoke. Vaping is likely healthier than smoking, experts say, and it’s also convenient and discreet.
Edibles are another option. In states where marijuana is legal, edible marijuana products enable those of legal age to get high without smoking at all. CBD edibles, which are non-psychoactive but contain the cannabinoid that makes marijuana such an effective medicine for things like pain relief and anxiety, are even more widely available than THC edibles.
Of course, you don’t always have to consume your favorite substance the same way. There’s a time and a place for joints, water pipes, bongs, vape pens, and edibles. It’s all up to you to decide what you prefer and how you prefer it.