Page 2. Bongs & Vapes To Legal Highs & Snuff : Weedmania

I have been using a friend’s Iolite vaporizer whenever I’ve had the chance for quite some time now. I love the ease of use, how portable it is, how clean the hit you get from it is; everything. And so for quite some time I’ve been thinking about, but not acting on, getting my own one.

I finally decided to take the plunge and get one, but instead I noticed that a new handheld portable vaporizer was available for the same price as the Iolite. The Vapir No2. I have previously tried the original Vapir, which was OK, a little noisy at times, and certainly no where near as good as the Iolite, but the Vapir No2 Vape intrigued me.

It is smaller and lighter than the original Vapir and boasted on the box that it is silent during use. This, coupled with the digital tempertaure display on the front, convinced me to try this vaporizer instead.

I am so glad that I did. This vaporizer is incredibly simple to use, and they weren’t lying when they said it was quiet! Whereas the Iolite is butane powered, the Vapir No2 has a rechargeable battery so when you turn it on you don’t get any burning or hissing sounds. You can set the temperature to exactly what you want and it tells you when it has reached the set temperature.

The hit I got was just as good as a hit off an Iolite; even though I was getting high, my head felt clean, clear and creative.

I still love the Iolite. It is slightly smaller, has a carry case and is more aesthetically pleasing than the Vapir No2, and maybe I will get one one day. But the Vapir No2 has its own advantages too. It is quiet. You don’t have to keep it filled with butane, which has its own added costs. You can charge it at home an the charge on it seems to last ages. This is one investment that I am sure will pay for itself in no time at all.

I complained about this not long ago, but once again the P.C. Brigade have ruined a piece of theatrical spectacle because of the abhorrent ‘dangers’ of smoking. When I last complained it was the theatres in Scotland that were suffering the most, but it appeared that at least England still had a small modicum of sense. Not so much anymore.

Circus of Horrors are exactly what they sound like. A travelling circus show that crosses Burlesque and Body Horror. Anything goes.

Now, when a performance arrives at a new theatre they have to provide a risk assessment to show that what they are doing is under control and will not harm the public. Which is just what Circus of Horrors (who incidentally have been touring now for 15 years and have never encountered such nonsense before) did when they arrived at The Corn Exchange in King’s Lynn.

They explained how they swallow swords. They swallow revolving electric drills. They swallow fire. They nail their tongues to planks of wood. They pull hoovers around that are attached to their genitals. They fire bows and arrows with their feet. They walk barefoot up a ladder of swords. They contort themselves into impossibly small and tight spaces.

All of this is fine as far as Health and Safety and Risk Assessment go. No problems at all. But when they mention that one of the performers smokes a cigarette during their act the red tape comes out and all the bureaucratic heads shake and say no. This despite guide lines that state that a performer is allowed to smoke on stage as part of a performance. Ridiculous. [/rantover]

I have recently been waxing lyrical about my new glass bong; the Breit Ice Bong. It is gorgeous, smokes beautifully and looks amazing. On a whim I thought I’d buy an extra piece of kit for it; a diffuser downpipe.

These downpipes are made by ROOR who are the absolute masters of glasswork. They make incredible bongs that would be worth saving up for. They make bongs that start at around the £55 mark, and increase to however much you are willing to pay for one! They also make all kinds of accessories for the avid smoker; stash pots, filters, ashtrays, bowls, pipes and adapters are all available from ROOR. However, it was the Diffuser Downpipe that caught my eye.

These downpipes are available in a multitude of sizes and lengths to fit your glass bong. They differ from a standard downpipe in one very important aspect; the end of the downpipe contains a vast array of holes. These holes break the smoke up much more effectively than a standard downpipe would which increases the water’s ability to filter the nasty, harsh bits from your smoke, and allowing it to cool much more effectively.

The great thing is that they work. I tried swapping between the standard downpipe and the diffuser downpipe and you can definately tell the difference. The diffused smoke was smoother, much less harsh on my throat and much easier to inhale. It may have been an expensive treat to buy, but it was certainly worth it.

If you’re going to have a bong, you may as well make it the best bong you can get. Personally I love glass bongs more than any other material; more than acrylic and much more so than ceramic. There is something beautiful and clean about a glass bong; the precise lines, the clean taste of the smoke.

You can spend as much or as little as you want on a glass bong; I have even seen some advertised for over £2,500. Let’s face it though – there’s no point spending that much money on a bong!

I’ve just bought a really nice glass bong for about £30. It’s a make called ‘Breit’ that I hadn’t discovered before, but it looks really beautiful and smokes like a charm. I love the addition of the ice shelf. I say shelf instead of twist as most bongs that you can put ice in literally have a twist half way down the shaft, but this little baby has hand blown ‘prongs’ that come into the shaft creating a little shelf, so you can add your ice for a much nicer smoke.

This bong has got the biggest bowl I’ve ever had on a bong of my own. It is huge! When packed down you can certainly get a massive hit from this beauty. As you all know by now my favourite smoking method is joints, but I’m certainly partial to a few hits from my beautiful Breit bong!

I love smoking blunts. Not all the time, but I do enjoy having an occasional blunt and there are several reasons why.

Firstly, I really enjoy the social aspect of smoking. I very rarely have a joint on my own but when you are passing a joint around a group of people it doesn’t last very long. If you rolled it, you would be very lucky indeed if it ever comes back to you!

This problem doesn’t happen so much with blunts. They are much slower burning so less gets wasted and more gets smoked! Due to the size of them people can’t hog them for too long, so you are more than likely to see that beauty you’ve rolled make its way back to you.

Secondly you can fit more weed in a blunt compared to a joint! Obviously more weed = more high! Some people would still mix their cannabis with tobacco when rolling a blunt, but I prefer the traditional method of smoking pure weed. (This is the major reason why I don’t smoke them all time; it can be quite costly!)

You can buy several different blunt wrappers online from plain ones to flavoured ones. My favourite ones at the moment are the Cyclones Xtra Slo. The tobacco leaves and tip are especially flavoursome and smoke like heaven. Blunts take a little time to get used to rolling, but these blunts are great ones to practice with.

Taking the plunge and buying your first shisha pipe can be quite a daunting experience. How big a pipe do you buy? How much do you spend? What exactly do you smoke in it? How does it work?

That is why I decided to put up this little blog all about shisha, or hookah, pipes so the uninitiated no longer feel so alone and in the dark!

When looking at your first pipe it is wise to choose one with a decent sized base. This will give you far superior cooling and cleansing of the smoke, and also stability. You don’t want to accidentally knock over a shisha with burning coals! I would recommend spending around £40 – £50 on your first shisha; believe me, it will be worth it and you will certainly get your money’s worth. Once you become more experienced you may even wish to spend more on a large shisha.

So you have your shisha pipe. You will need to pick something to smoke in it! Online it is very easy to find tobacco free herbal molasses. There are many different flavours available and this is all a matter of personal taste, but if you want to go for a truly authentic experience I would recommend apple.

Be aware – smoking a shisha is nothing like smoking a cigarette, joint or bong. This is a slow, sociable process that can take a couple of hours. I would not recommend using a shisha pipe to smoke pure tobacco or weed as this is too dry and will burn out far too quickly. These can be mixed with herbal molasses if you require, but smoking tobacco by itself will not be the enjoyable process that smoking a shisha should be.

Now you have your pipe, and you have something to smoke in it. Roughly half fill the base of your shisha with cold water, insert the neck of the pipe into the base, insert the hose into the side of this and fit the ceramic bowl into the top of the neck. You can then add your flavoured herbal mixture to this bowl. Finally, place a hookah charcoal screen over the top of this. (You can use tin foil if you don’t have a screen – just make sure that you have formed a reasonably tight lid and have perforated the foil with holes) You will require coals to make this work. Unlike a bong you cannot simply hold a lighter over your smoking mixture. As I have already said, this is a slow relaxing and sociable process so there are no quick fixes. You can buy self-igniting charcoal to use; this is very simple as all you have to do is ignite the edge of the charcoal, and the flame will spread across the surface and stay lit until the charcoal has burned out.

Now you will require possibly the most important element of all. Good company. It takes a long time to smoke a shisha; you have to draw heavily and regularly to keep the coal and molasses at optimum smoking temperature, and for this reason I wouldn’t recommend that you smoke alone! You will end up incredibly light headed if you do! Make sure you are with someone who gives you good and easy conversation and your experience with the shisha will always be an enjoyable one.

Amsterdam has a reputation as one of the most laid back cities on earth, and let’s face it, we all know why most tourists go there. However, Amsterdam has still been affected by the smoking ban, as you are no longer allowed to smoke tobacco indoors.

This ban does not apply to pure weed blunts. You are allowed to go into an Amsterdam cafe and smoke a roll up that contains nothing but marijuana, but if it has even a pinch of tobacco you can be fined. Madness! However, marijuana is not the only smokable excluded from the ban – you are allowed to smoke tobacco free herbal alternatives inside. The only problem then is that most herbal tobaccos are, to put it politely, not quite up to par. So if you want to smoke inside and don’t like herbal tobacco you are left with no choice but to smoke pure weed blunts, and these are often so strong that they are not exactly what you are looking for, i.e. a relaxing rather than mind blowing smoke!

On my last trip to Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago, I found that the cafes have discovered a new alternative to this problem. A new herbal called Greengo Tobacco. At first I was terribly skeptical as I really don’t like herbal tobacco; the flavour to me has always been very cloying and heavy. However this new tobacco really caught my interest.

Don’t ask me how this is possible, but when smoked in a joint Greengo is completely flavourless. Not only that but it actually enhances the effect of weed when mixed together. Many of the cafes now offer Greengo for free! You go into your cafe, buy your weed, and they have a great big pot of Greengo at the counter that you can help yourself to in order to roll your joint with.

Needless to say I became hooked and now I’m home I’m really happy to see that Greengo is available to buy in the UK. Doing a little more research on it I’ve found that it has less tar than regular tobacco, and is much cheaper to buy. I think I know what I’ll be rolling my joints with from now on.

This is not a high as such, but an amazing energy booster none the less!

Noz Kandy comes in a handy little pre-filled bullet, which I always approve of; I love the fact that I can carry something so easily in my pocket that will perk me up, and it’s as unuassuming as a Vicks Inhaler, so people don’t give you foul looks when you use it in public.

I also love the different flavours you can get. It’s not called ‘Kandy’ for nothing! My personal favourites are the peppermint and the cinnamon ones. The mint gives you an extra zing compared with the others and goes very nicely with the menthol vapors, and the cinnamon reminds me of Christmas. What more could you ask for?!

The inhalers contain ginseng, ginkgo, menthol vapors and all natural herbal ingredients. These are great herbal remedies for mental and physical tiredness, but would it work? Time to put it to the test.

I had a lot of work to do in a very short space of time and wasn’t really sure that I was mentally up to the job. Using one of these inhalers really helped. Imagine the mental clarity and energy that you get from Red Bull but without the horrible shakes that tend to come with it. Just a couple of sniffs and I felt totally ready to tackle everything the day had to throw at me. For only £3.99, these inhalers are a great way to get through tough, busy and stressful days.

The planet’s resources are, for the most part, finite. Some studies have suggested that oil will run out within our lifetime, possibly as soon as the next forty years. The logging industry is choking the planet, destroying our oxygen supply.  World hunger and famine are prevalent.

These problems could all be solved, or at the very least eased, by making marijuana legal.

Marijuana is known as ‘weed’ for a reason. It is a weed; it grows fast and as there are varieties that can adapt to any climate, it grows anywhere.

Hemp seeds are rich in nutrition, and like the rest of the plant, can have many uses. The seeds can be ground to make flour, pressed to make oil or simply toasted and eaten as a healthy snack. They contain large amounts of oil that is almost entirely unsaturated, and are composed of the essential fatty acids needed by the human body in the exact proportions needed. This wonder food grows easier and is cheaper to produce than other tradition food aid such as simple grains and rice, and is also of a higher nutritional value. In struggling third world countries it could very easily help play a large role in helping sufferers of malnutrition, and help make villages more self sustaining. The crop has the ability to withstand the harshest of environmental conditions and should therefore be used to as a standby to help villagers survive the worst dry seasons. This would have a two-fold benefit. Through proper management, hemp can actually improve soil quality and prevent soil erosion, meaning that land previously used to grow hemp could be used to grow more diverse crops.

As previously mentioned, the logging industry is choking the planet. We are cutting down the forests at an alarming rate, destroying natural habitats for much of the planet’s wildlife and removing our main source of oxygen producing trees. Mostly this logging is for the paper industry. However hemp can be used to produce much cheaper and higher quality paper. One study suggests that, weight for weight in raw materials, hemp will produce 3-4 times more paper than traditional methods using trees. There are also fewer chemicals needed in the production of hemp paper as opposed to wood.

Hemp can also be used as an incredible energy source. Methanol can be produced from hemp, which can be used as a cheap and clean fuel for cars. Indeed, Henry Ford’s first ever automobile ran on hemp methanol, for a fraction of the price of regular petrol and making much less of an impact of the environment. Whilst it still produces CO2, the actual growing of the plant uses so much CO2 and produces oxygen, that the carbon footprint of using hemp as a fuel source is practically zero. It is also an incredibly productive fuel source. One acre of hemp grown could produce as much as 1,000 gallons of methanol. That’s a lot of fuel!

Greed on the part of the oil barons and logging industries keeps marijuana illegal. Reform is needed to make sure his wonder plant can save our planet and our modern way of life.

Much has been said on the subject of prohibition, but at the end of the day the bottom line is this; it does not work. Just like the alcohol prohibition in 1920s America benefited no-one but the likes of Al Capone, drugs prohibition creates winners out of drugs cartels and gang leaders.

There is currently a proposition, Proposition 19, in California that would legalise the sale of non-medicinal marijuana to those over the age of 21, allowing those of age to possess up to an ounce for personal use, and even allowing them to grow marijuana at a private residence in a space of up to 25 square feet for personal use.

Such a proposition would have several effects.

• Marijuana would no longer be in the sole control of drugs cartels, meaning that organised and violent crime in relation to these gangs would be eradicated over night.
• Help claw back some of California’s massive budget deficit by imposing tax upon the sale of marijuana. Money that would otherwise be going into the hands of criminals will be going to the government. It expected that marijuana sales could generate $1.4 billion a year in tax revenue.
• Increase room in prisons, as cells currently being used to house marijuana users could be used for other criminals, many of whom are currently being released early due to a lack of jail space.
• Free police time in dealing with users.

This sort of policy of drugs harm minimisation is not a new thing, and is obviously familiar to anyone who has even heard of Amsterdam. There they have proven that prohibition does not work and legalisation does.

Let’s face facts. Smoking a joint in the comfort of your own home doesn’t hurt anyone. The fact that we are considered criminals for smoking a natural thing is appalling. California has the right attitude, and I can only hope that when Proposition 19 goes to the vote, people vote correctly. And let us hope that the sense California is currently seeing spreads to the rest of the world.