The Situation

I’ve had an herb situation that has been bothering me for years! I have a problem getting high off of joints. I smoke a joint by myself or with friends and I’m left with a dissatisfied feeling… with one exception, when I smoke with my friend Josh. He rolls joints that get me blasted, but he lives over a hundred miles away, so we don’t get together very often – especially during these COVID times.

I’ve been a pipe person for thirty-eight years because I started smoking the herb with a pipe. The person that taught me to smoke herb properly demonstrated how by using a pipe, and that method has worked great for me over the years. I don’t even have to think about the process much – I pack a bowl, take a few hits, and I’m on my way! I don’t even think about how I’m inhaling or about holding it in – I have good, solid habits from nearly four decades of experience.

But joints are another issue… I didn’t have much experience with them in my earlier years, and when I did they were usually skinny joints, rolled badly and with crappy herb. I never smoked a great joint until Josh came along.

The Joint Dilemma

So here’s the reality I’m confronted with as I deal with my joint problem – the herb is the same as in my pipe, the smoke is the same, but no high?! Why? It’s obviously not the herb that’s the problem… it must be me.

This issue plagued me for a long time, and this last week I decided to do something about it. After all, I love the idea of joints. A bit of herb wrapped in a thin paper with a crutch at the end to keep the herb out of your mouth while you enjoy a pleasurable smoke. Great idea, just wish I could get high when I smoked one!

Choosing A Better Rolling Paper

The first thing I did to deal with the issue was get better rolling papers. I’ve been using RAW papers on occasion and I hate the taste they give the herb. I went to the local smoke shop and bought myself a handful of different papers to try. I’m on a search for the thinnest, least-noticeable paper I can find. I want to have a smoke that captures the beauty of the herb I’m ingesting, and I don’t want to taste the paper!

These are the papers I’m trying right now:

• ZigZag Ultra Thin
• Vibes Fine Hemp Paper
• Vibes Ultra Thin Cones
• OCB Premium + Tips
• Elements Ultra Thin Rice Paper

The Vibe Cones were the first ones I tried. Very easy to load, pack and smoke. The flavor is just a step up from the RAW papers though. I smoked a joint I rolled with the OCB papers and it was smooth and tasty. I’ll be rolling up a few more with that paper! Next I’m going to try the Elements because I’ve read good things about those papers. Full rolling paper review coming soon!

Set and Setting

The next thing I did was thoroughly examine my background with joints. My thought was to do some cognitive therapy on myself, and cure my joint-disorder. As we established, it can’t be the herb or the smoke that’s the problem… the problem has to be rooted in my set and setting.

With Tania’s help I looked back at my memories of smoking joints and I realized that I had built up a long series of negative associations with joints. As I mentioned, I rarely smoked joints during the formative years of my smoking relationship. I smoked from a pipe because just a few hits did the trick. Smoking a joint seemed so extravagant and wasteful.

I’ve always hated skinny joints, and I love to roll them fat, so it was a big investment for a poor artist to roll a joint that could easily be spaced out into four or five bowls in the pipe. Herb has always been expensive and I had to make a little go a long way!

Another thing I found strolling through my memories was how many bad joints I had smoked over the years. Serious crappy joints rolled from crappy herb. Those bad experiences, especially when I wasn’t a big fan of joints in the first place, laid some negative expectations on my mind. To do a bit of cognitive therapy, I reminded myself of the facts – that was the past, those were bad joints, just let it go… let’s build new experiences on new expectations!

The last thing I noticed was that I was not being mindful when I smoked a joint. When I lit up the first joint using the Vibes Cones I immediately noticed that I was naturally gravitating to smoking it like a cigarette. But a cigarette hit is so different, it’s shorter and not pulled deeply into the lungs using the diaphragm. I shifted up my inhales, got mindful, and put my diaphragm to work.

Putting The Pieces Together

So now I had all the pieces of this problem out on the table it was time to fix this situation!

First off, I picked a choice nug of some Do-Si-Dos to cut up for the inaugural joint of this new era of smoking! The Do-Si-Dos had such a sweet, gassy, diesel smell that my senses were engaged immediately. I sifted the herb into the cone and packed it down with the straw included with the cones. I’d never packed a cone before and I found it very easy. I just used my common sense when packing it down, and left room for the air to travel through the joint without it being loose.

The cone worked beautifully. It was about the easiest time I ever had preparing a joint and gave me plenty of time to appreciate the herb while I filled the cone. I got into a mindful vibe, and that prepared my mindset, raised my expectations for what was ahead, and now I was ready for a sesh!

I lit the joint and settled in for a good ten minute smoke. When I smoke from my pipe I take about a hit, wait five minutes, then take another – very casual. Smoking a joint is a much more concentrated experience. I adjusted my thinking to embrace that, and started to enjoy my sesh. I pulled the hits deeply into my lungs and savored the smoke and the moment.

The cone burned very well, only going out once when I just held on to it for a couple minutes without smoking. I was halfway through the joint by that time, and I was getting blasted!

Blasted, stoned, lit, higher than a kite, and any other term you want to use – I was there! It was the best joint I had ever smoked by myself. I was amazed… just a little fine-tuning of my mindset had changed up the game completely!

I spent the rest of the day rolling myself some beauties. I put my pipe and bong away, and just enjoyed my new found pleasure all day long – and it was great! I’ll be writing more about joint smoking in the future because now I’m rollin’…

Until later, best of health.

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Until later, best of health ??