Rolling a Blunt

Advantages of Smoking Blunts

1. Blunts are disposable, resemble an ordinary object and are manufactured from ordinary objects not necessarily known as paraphernalia (box cutters, cigars).
2. Thanks to their tobacco wrapper, blunts burn more slowly than joints and can be shared with less detail than pipes, bongs, chillums.
3. Nicotine, a stimulant, creates a synergistic effect with the marijuana, as reported by a majority of blunt smokers.
4. The rigid sides of the blunt channel large amounts of smoke directly to the user without depositing any resin on non-consumable surfaces, such as the insides of a pipe or the leaky paper of a joint.

As America, a moral nation with a political conscience, began the slide further into the descent of cultural breakdown, most people began to view lifestyle choices like blunt-smoking as products of social injustice or damage, but some simply state their desire to get high. Being from the latter category, this editorial board suggests a nihilistic recognition of the blunt for what it is: a useful portable, disposable device for inhaling marijuana.

Blunt Assembly

You need steady hands, a wet tongue, and some basic ingredients.

1 13cm blunt
1-3g marijuana
1 knife

Shown is a package of the cheap, readily-available cigars we know as blunts (industry speak for "short, cheap cigar with single tobacco wrapper). Each user appears to have a favorite brand, but the differences between the top echelon are minimal and of the rest, most are to be avoided but there are regional favorites and a few standouts to be had. Here we use Optimo "Sports" because of their thickness, sturdiness and capacity. Another brand that our editors picked: Garcia y Vega (blue tubes). There are also Phillies, Swisher Sweets, El Producto, Dutch Masters, White Owl and Tampa Golds.

Worth noting is that commercial cigars are not intended to be inhaled, and so contain a tobacco-cardboard hybrid that is worth discarding immediately. It does not compare to commercial cigarette tobacco and is substantially more dangerous to your health.

Next element considered is marijuana. An optimal mix is 70-30 of indica and localized sativa, to maximize cost efficiency and potency. Synergistic effects are reported between tobacco and marijuana by most users, but a substantial portion of the others also noted the mutual amplification of effects between types of marijuana. It is suggested to find a local outdoor grower for both varieties. The editors' pick mixture was 80% Thai and 20% Northern Lights, with a sprinkling of Pakistani hashish. (Blunts were originally used around dime bags of high-end marijuana, varying from 1g-3.5g in weight.)

The third item to have present is a knife with cleanly-cutting blade. This should be an x-acto style knife (or box cutter!) or sharp pocket knife. The latter is preferrable as coincidental paraphernalia. It is also useful to have a trash bucket nearby, and if necessary, steam.

The first major task of this exercise is to slit the cigar lengthwise while clamping it tightly to a surface with a free hand so as not to tear skin surrounding the wound when the blade goes through the outer layer and contents of the cigar. On a double-layered cigar like the Optimo or Garcia y Vega, allowing too much gravitational pressure on the cigar will cause it to lose an outer skin, so it should be held level and its innards scraped from it with gentle proddings of the knife. At this point the inside of the cigar should be cleansed of dust, using a finger, and then the skin examined for integrity and strength.

Once the cigar is free from residual tobacco substitute, the user must assess its condition. Is it as dry as paper normally feels? If so, it will need either steam (hold cigar paper open over pot of boiling water) or the intervention of tongue along its length with gentle touch, being careful not to drench the leaf wrapper, getting it moist enough to be flexible. Excess moisture will cause the paper to tear and thus introduce repair problems later. When cigar is ready, insert marijuana evenly along the length of the leaf.

Holding the cigar so that its conical end rests over the base of the thumb, gently compress marijuana using the end of the leaf facing toward the user. There is now a core of marijuana enclosed in half of the wrapper, under the thumb of the user, while the second half is unsecured and hangs over the core, facing the user with its cut edge. The bottom leaf then slides under the other side of the cut leaf and can be sealed. To close your blunt, lubricate each edge of the wrapper with saliva and, while pressing down on the lower portion of the blunt containing marijuana, firmly clamp the top edge of the wrapper onto the lower in order to fasten the sides of the blunt. Once the cigar is secure, the seal must be completed by wetting the top of the wrapper and then heating the construction in order to dry its new bonds. Gentle application of the tongue in a continual dragging motion from the open end of the blunt to its nether conical endpoint will lightly soak the two layers of wrapper at the point of their fixture. Holding a lighter 1 cm from the cigar seal, move the flame down the length of the cigar in pulsing strokes to transfer heat but not fire to the blunt, or place it in a microwave for ten seconds on high to make fast the leaves. Some users prefer to use honey to seal or line the blunt before insertion of marijuana, claiming a sweeter taste and longer burn time. While this is true, one alert editor noted that the smoke is correspondingly harsher. The completed device, now fully a "blunt," should be allowed to completely dry before consumption. To use, place conical end in mouth and light open axis of blunt with a swift stroke of a lighter combined with a rapid short inhalation. Many users report being unable to get the thick smoke into their lungs from fear of pain, but experienced smokers often find the smoking process natural and its products to exhibit less harshness than those of a joint or pipe. Roughly the last 3cm of any commercial cigar contains an additional treated cardboard lining that makes for poor smoking; it is suggested the blunt be extinguished before it reaches this stage.

Our editors concluded that the most sensible method of preparing the contents of any blunt is to reduce the marijuana to its state of largest possible surface area while retaining plant form, that is to tear the pot into the smallest pieces possible, not dust but at the granular state of shattered plant matter just above that. The more surface area of plant that is exposed to flame, in total, regulates how efficiently the weed will burn. Larger chunks of weed present less immediate surface than tiny bits of weed (the space within the large chunks has a another dimension of in its thickness, which split into parallel reveals a greater surface area). While crushing marijuana seeds and stems included into the blunt in the original style of blunt-rolling is easier, in this document weed granularization is recommended despite its nontraditional status. To break down marijuana, remember that its structure is that of a plant. It will have branches and sub-branches which can be individually separated, and then pulled apart in strands of plant matter. To deconstruct any single piece, find the largest structure in the piece and then search within its substructures until you find the smallest type of growth in the plant. Take these elements and tear them apart in halves or quarters, which will provide pieces in square size of 1mm or less. - DJ GOAT

Diagnostics

Problem	Solution
Unsteady or slow burn.	Either the marijuana in the blunt is too losely packed, or there is a break in the skin somewhere. Seal skin and if necessary, further break down large chunks of marijuana.
Seal rupture	Most likely, the wrapper is either too moist or not moist enough. If it is moist, give it time to fully dry and then apply 2/3 of the moisture originally used. If wrapper is dry, moisten and follow sealing procedure again.
Torn skin	If your cigar has an external leaf wrapper as well as a tobacco leaf foundation, tear pieces of the external leaf to fit holes in skin, and, wetting them thoroughly place them over holes. Follow heat-sealing procedure on each instance.
Will not light	Probably your marijuana is dense, in too large sizes of fragments, or your blunt has obstructed airflow and flame cannot be sucked down tobacco tube. Most common solution is to wet seam and carefully unfasten it, then to granularize the marijuana contents further while removing extra woody or leafy plant matter.

Other Viewpoints

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/marijuana.html
http://nepenthes.lycaeum.org/Drugs/THC/Smoke/blunts.html
http://www.onyx-group.com/CigarUse.htm