I need to establish a definition before we get started. I’m going to use ‘cannabis’ in this article. ‘Cannabis’ includes hemp, marijuana, pot, and every other colloquialism people use to define the dried flowers of the cannabis plant.

Why Smoke Cannabis?

This question comes up a lot during medical cannabis debates, especially from those who oppose medical cannabis use. They contend that smoking is inherently unhealthy and that something can’t be medicine if it has potentially negative side effects.

Yeah. I’ll wait for you to stop rolling your eyes, chuckling sarcastically, or screaming, “Look at the side effects of the pharmaceutical ‘medications’ they push down our throats during every commercial break, you idiots! For God’s sake, every suicide and mass shooting are connected to a dose change of an anti-depressant. How can that be a medicine when the side effects are killing yourself and others?! [Insert profanity where applicable].”

We’ll ignore the hypocrisy of the knuckle dragging Gumps who don’t believe cannabis has medical value and continue. I’m gonna do a blog one day just making fun of people who don’t believe cannabis has medicinal properties.

I know that smoking something is less healthy than not smoking something. Combusting organic material, like dried plants, creates carcinogens. Carcinogens can cause cancer. Vaping is also bad, so don’t think that’s a loophole. The glycol bases used in those dirty nicotine vapes turn into aldehydes when they get heated up. Go read how healthy aldehydes are when you’re bored.

However, smoking cannabis has benefits that cannot be recreating by any other method. Believe, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get the effects of smoking without smoking for 20 years. IT DOESN’T EXIST.

Benefits of smoking cannabis

1. Smoking Works Immediately.

Edibles take a MINIMUN of 30 minutes to start working. Realistically, it’s closer to an hour. You feel the effects of smoking within 2 minutes. If you are dealing with severe pain, seizures, or panic attacks, you don’t want to have to wait an hour for relief. What about nausea? You could throw up 10 times while waiting for an edible to kick in AND you’ve probably puked it out while waiting. What about intraocular pressure from glaucoma? I have glaucoma from a golf ball accident and if I start getting one of those murder headaches, I don’t want to want 45 minutes to not feel like my brain is going to explode out of my left eye.

2. Smoking Doesn’t Last as Long.

Cannabis edible effects last for 4-8 hours, depending on dose and tolerance. I can’t be ‘out of it’ for the better part of the day because, like most people, I have a lot of responsibilities. I need to be able to get relief, and be back in action, as soon as possible. The days of sitting on the couch and playing video games for 8 hours a way behind me.

Smoking provides that. I can take one puff and still be completely functional and feel better from whatever caused me to need puffs. Even if take more puffs than needed and get too high, I’ll be back to normal in 20-30 minutes.

This is NOT the case with edibles. They last a long time. If you take the correct dose, you will be able to function as normal. If you miscalculate and take too much, get ready to block off the next hour or so because your productivity is about to go down. And that doesn’t include getting THC induced anxiety, which probably undoes any benefit you were looking for. Anyone who has taken a gummy or brownie and freaked out knows all too well what I’m talking about.

For the record, edibles are awesome and I’m not discouraging anyone from using them. Proper dosing is IMPERATIVE. That’s why I’m OCD about Better Than Nine’s products always being dosed accurately.

3. Smoking THC Isn’t as Strong as Eating it.

This is true and interesting. We have this enzyme system in our bodies called the cytochrome P450 (CYP450). One function of the CYP450 is how the liver metabolizes drugs.

When you eat THC, your liver metabolizes it and converts it from a delta-x THC to an 11-hydroxy delta-x THC.

While delta THCs have an affinity for mostly CB1 receptors, 11-hydroxy THC have affinity for CB1, CB2, CB3, TRPVs, and GPRs. This increased receptor activity makes 11-hydroxy THCs 4-5x stronger than standard delta THCs.

When you smoke cannabis, the delta THC stays as delta THC.

This is why eating 50mg of THC can cause you to hallucinate, but smoking 50mg may not cause any noticeable psychoactive effects.

Conclusions:

This article’s purpose was not to say which method of consuming cannabis is better. It is to explain the differences between smoking and eating cannabis. Which method is better depends on the individual and what they are trying to achieve with cannabis. The ‘best’ consumption method will even change for the same person. For instance, if you have little kids, you probably don’t want them seeing you smoking or smelling cannabis, right?

I hope you had fun and learned something reading this because I had fun writing it.

If you like smoking or want to smoke I STRONGLY urge you to check out our High THCa Hemp Flowers. They are awesome. You won’t call your ‘weed guy’ anymore after you try these.