RECREATIONAL CANNABIS 113
Smoking for Science
(Combusting Cannabis – Then and Now)
by Chelsea Dudgeon
As long as there has been human civilization, cannabis has been a part of it. While the oldest known uses of cannabis was as a textile and valuable trade good, the oral tradition of ancient Chinese cultures carried stories of cannabis use going back to the historical/mythological figure Shennong (“God Farmer”). When it comes to cannabis smoke, however, the earliest recorded burning of cannabis plants for intoxicating purposes comes from the Scythian culture circa 900 BC. In the good old, old days, bundles of cannabis would have been thrown on a fire inside of a communal tent. The earliest hotbox predates the earliest joint!
Why smoke cannabis? According to the historical record, it's medicinal and recreational uses were well known long before burning the plant was commonplace, so how did this practice come to be the so common in modern cultures? Are we even doing it right?
Why Burn the Bush?
The number one reason to burn cannabis is as an intoxicant, though the line between intoxicating use and medicinal use is extremely blurry. Way back when, smoking weed was almost exclusively done using devices like water pipes, chillums, and hookahs, which are still in heavy use in the cultures in which they evolved, and abroad. Since tobacco cigarettes and pipes became popular during colonial times, cannabis has also come to be smoked in cigarette or “joint” form, as well as through all manner of pipes. No matter how you burn it, the goal is the same: Decarboxylate tetra-hydra-cannabolic acid (THC-A) and vaporize the resulting delta-9-tetra-hydra-cannabinol (THC) as quickly as possible.
By Adam Rhodes
Recreational
CANNABIS