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AP Joint Physics

tricomb

tricomb

Bluelight Crew
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Jan 21, 2012
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Everyone rolls joints a different way, and the shape of the joint makes a big difference in how that joint is smoked.

Joints rolled by hand roll differently than joints rolled with joint rollers.

Joints that are rolled straight like cigarettes burn differently than cone-shaped joints, and so on.

I wanted to get as much input as possible on how the shape of your joint effects how it smokes in comparison to other ways of rolling it.

For example, which way do you find burns most evenly? Which way do you find burns the longest?
 
I stopped smoking joints & went to vaping, but if you're still living in the past then get some thin king size papers & some plain card. Roll a roach from the card. Fold your paper back the other way so the gum is facing you. Put weed & roach in the paper. Roll it, then lick the gum through the paper & tear or burn the excess paper from the outside. This makes sure there is only one layer of paper around your joint, so it can't be uneven or creased & it'll burn more evenly. It's rolling it backwards or inside out.

Like in this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k06H192SNiU

The cone shape & the card roach give the joint extra strength so it holds together perfectly & it's good right until the end. If it's straight & fat all the way down it can come loose at the end & nobody likes a skinny joint, so it has to be a cone shape.
 
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Very interesting technique. I don't know what you meant by "living in the past", there are many reasons why I prefer smoking to vaping but to each his own.

So basically, you're saying that in your experience, the cone-shape is advantageous because it reduces the risk of the adhesive failing towards the end so that it does not unravel?

Thanks for sharing the video.
 
I mean, there are awesome portable vaporizers around for not very much money now & it's far better than smoking in every possible way, joints became obsolete last year. The only reason for not vaping is you haven't had a good one. Joints just don't get me high at all now & taste bad since I got into vaping, they seem like a waste in comparison. I still miss rolling joints, but my tolerance has gone so high in the last few months that smoking weed just doesn't do much for me & I'm consuming half the amount of weed that I used to.

Yes, I think the cone shape is for it's structural strength, it stops it getting loose at the end. It's not just the adhesive failing, that shouldn't happen with quality papers rolled properly, the weed can get loose inside after it's been smoked & passed around for a while if it's a big fat straight joint.

Rolling it backwards like in the video prevents any problems with how it burns because it's impossible to crease it, it tastes better with less paper too. Fewer problems with adhesive since you're licking it through the paper, you can't lick the gum off it.
 
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For years I've stuck with what works, nothing fancy.

Always an L prep, quite thin roach made of card (not too thin). A little sprinkle of tobacco, weed on top, another little sprinkle of tobacco on top. I find that making a smaller roach makes it much smoother than when I smoke my friend's joints as many of them make quite big roaches. If it's not the driest weed then I might put a little bit more tobacco in the first joint, while I'm waiting for the rest to dry out a little bit. The right mixture makes it burn evenly.
 
Don, just say no to wet weed. If it's not dry then buy some dry stuff off somebody else.
 
I'm not talking really damp stuff, just not as dry as I'd like it. Going to someone else was a possibility anytime I was living in a city, but I'm now living in a small town in Northern Ireland so sometimes getting slightly damp stuff is better than giving money to paramilitary dealers. My contacts do good dry stuff, but if I'm on a night out, or away from home, I'll tend to take what I'm given haha.
 
in regards to the vape comments, most of the tokers i know have had access to the best vapes out (volcano, herbalaire, etc) and still prefer hitting pipes, bongs and joints so it's really just a personal choice. i agree that objectively speaking it would seem that vaping is superior to smoking but if it doesn't have the same effect for some people then there's nothing that can be said, really.

in regards to joints, i would rarely smoke Js because i hate mixing tobacco in and the herb itself is too resinous to burn properly. the resin always ends up melting after a few puffs and collecting on one side of the paper, it's a hassle. blunts are easier to handle and imho tastes better than either joint paper or cig tobacco. either way my strategy is to roll a cone shape with a filter in one end then work it over between my fingers and pat it down a few times with a poker until the consistency is good so that air can move through it nicely.
 
To clarify, there is absolutely zero tobacco / nicotine. When I say Joint, where I'm from, this means pure chronic rolled up in a tobacco-free paper.

And re: vaping, Thujone said it. Just because I don't prefer to use vaporizers doesn't mean that it is because I have never used legit vapes, I've vaped plenty and have a few mech-mods I built for concentrate vaping but I just don't enjoy vaping cannabis unless it's wax/oil in which case I dab it or use one of the variable voltage / variable wattage oil-burners if I'm on the go walking down the street etc.

So yeah, I don't vaporize bud by choice, and when I roll joints, there is only weed. On the west coast USA the term "Joint" rather universally means weed-only, and "Spliffs" referring to the European style tobacco/weed blends, but nobody I know smokes spliffs except for my friends overseas in Europe.

I love my bong as much as the next guy, and dabbing is indeed the business, but I still enjoy the portability of smoking weed in a joint walking in the streets, driving around town, in my local walmart (loud challenge! hahaha) , anywhere one would smoke a cigarette.

If I'm trying to be discreet, I would definitely go with my favorite pyrex-tank portable vape with some wax/shatter/oil/hash. I can vape wax with my vape literally anywhere and everywhere hah.
 
loud challenge bitches, smoke weed in your local whole foods, staff dont give a fuck cause we RUN this produce section...

seriously though. I roll with zig zag blues, make sure to grind the herb really fine, and pack that shit in with a pencil or something... enzures an evenly slow burning joint :)

also, mandatory filter/crutch off a translink transfer.
 
Zig Zag Blues is what I use too, and I use this dope titanium grinder with a double keif catcher that I've had since I started smoking haha, it's been all over the world. My goal is always a slightly cone-shaped, cardboard for a filter, carefully rolled with love, slowest burn possible.
 
I don't like joints. :(

Bongs>>>Blunts>>>Joints



My main issue? Fuckin' paper always sticks to my lips when I take a hit. That shit is irritating. :X





BUT BUT BUT I've always preferred near-perfectly cyllindrical J's. Like cigarettes, straight and smooth. I don't like using joint rollers, though-- strictly hands.

But yeah, I don't really like joints.
 
For me the shape isn't that important, obviously if you're gonna do a fat one its better to roll it like a cone IMO, always hand rolled.
The essentials are:
-the weed has to be dry and well cured, you don't want to roll one with buds that are too fluffy or wet.
-always use a hand made filter (obv not the cig ones)
-and finally to make sure you have the perfect joint you have to pack it like sekio said.
 
If you roll it tight enough there's no need to pack it down with anything. Extra points if you roll it backwards, then burn the paper off it & light your joint in one. Sometimes wish i could go back to joints, I liked rolling them, but my tolerance is up too high, vaping is more like oil hits & weed joints just taste nasty without getting me high now, a cigarette would do more. Volcanoes are no longer the best vaporizers & can't really replace joints because they aren't very portable, there are better ones out in the last 3 years, the plenty is a serious tool & there are quite a few battery powered pocket sized portable vapes that aren't shabby.
 
Jibult said:
I don't like joints. :(

Bongs>>>Blunts>>>Joints



My main issue? Fuckin' paper always sticks to my lips when I take a hit. That shit is irritating. :X





BUT BUT BUT I've always preferred near-perfectly cyllindrical J's. Like cigarettes, straight and smooth. I don't like using joint rollers, though-- strictly hands.

But yeah, I don't really like joints.
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You're doing it wrong. The cone shape, rolling it backwards & card roach should make sure there's no loose paper at the end to stick to anything.
 
DrGreenthumb said:
If you roll it tight enough there's no need to pack it down with anything. Extra points if you roll it backwards, then burn the paper off it & light your joint in one. Sometimes wish i could go back to joints, I liked rolling them, but my tolerance is up too high, vaping is more like oil hits & weed joints just taste nasty without getting me high now, a cigarette would do more. Volcanoes are no longer the best vaporizers & can't really replace joints because they aren't very portable, there are better ones out in the last 3 years, the plenty is a serious tool & there are quite a few battery powered pocket sized portable vapes that aren't shabby.
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Yeah i rolle mine tight but always like to pack it down a little just to make sure (kind of an habit i guess). Rolling backwards its cool but i personally don't notice the difference in the smoke, i always try to use hemp papers but any organic ones are usually my go to (mostly OCB).
I get what you say about joints, there's something special about them, i sometimes feel like i have to smoke one even if i'm low on weed and know i'd get higher if i use the bong of the vaporized instead.

I'd like to have the herbalizer but can't afford it at the moment so I use the MFLB which isn't the best but its OK for getting the most out of your weed (also for public situations).
 
DrGreenthumb said:
You're doing it wrong. The cone shape, rolling it backwards & card roach should make sure there's no loose paper at the end to stick to anything.
Click to expand...


Fuck a cone, always put my crutch in and them mafuckas ain't loose.

I just don't like having to have bone dry lips to avoid irritation every time I take a hit-- and I'm not talking about wet-lipping either.



I don't like joints, any which way they're rolled and whether I'm the roller or not. What's the fuckin' problem with that, Greenthumb?




[EDIT: I actually have the same issue with cigarettes during the winter. If I keep a lit jack in my mouth for a few seconds too long one of my lips'll likely stick and, swear to God, end up tearing a little piece of skin off my lip when I take my drag and grab the cigarette. Stings like a bitch. I might have a weird lip issue or something, iono.... I kinda blame working in outdoor conditions 8 hours a night starting round midnight all Winter. My lips always seem dry/near-chapped so I'm constantly working to keep them moist this time of year. Eh. It is what it is.]
 
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I'd say I'm pretty decent at rolling joints. I've rolled thousands of them, used to go through a pack of the RAW 300's in a month or two. It's my favorite way of smoking weed.. I used to smoke cigarettes and grew up watching my dad smoke rollies, so it's definitely a comfort thing for me.


anyways, let me pass on the bits of knowledge I've picked up over the years. For starters, grinding the weed is preferred. Crushing/cutting it up usually leaves a much less consistent crumble, this usually causes joints to burn uneven and have a lot of little air pockets and really dense parts that burn way longer.

Second thing, make sure you get a nice even distribution of weed in the paper before you start to roll it. Depending on your preference, either make sure there is a nice even amount all the way down from end to end or that it funnels down slightly from one end to the next. Personally, I like rolling slight cones- not too extreme though, so I distribute more weed at the front of the joint and gradually fade it down to the other end.

Next, with the weed in the paper and while holding the paper in a "U" shape, carefully use index fingers to "pre-pack" the weed on the ends. Once that is down, very gently start to roll the weed inside the paper, using a very light pressure with your thumbs to smoothly shape the weed/joint. This is probably the most critical part. You want to find that perfect amount of compaction of the weed. Too much and you won't be able to hit the joint, too little and it won't burn even or it will burn up really quick with a long ass cherry. I find that you want it somewhat "firm" but still flexible. While I'm rolling and compacting the weed I like to take the time to pause and pack in the weed with my index fingers on each end of the joint. Not too much tho, again.

Lastly, when you go to twist the joint(or roll and "glue" the paper), make sure that the non-stick side(the side you tuck in) gets tucked in a smoothly and evenly as possible. If it gets folded upon itself rather than tucked in and rolled nice and smooth, it will burn unevenly, the parts with more paper burning slower.


Also, just a side note, there is a perfect amount of weed for a joint based on the size of the rolling paper. The smoothest burning joints that I roll usually have enough paper to going around the whole thing twice, or once with nothing to spare. When I was smoking 5-10 joints a day i would cut the extra off the paper based on how much weed I was going to smoke. If I was going to smoke only a little I would cut a regular size paper in half length-wise so i'd have a long and skinny joint with no extra paper. If you can get exactly a single wrap around the joint it will burn the smoothest IME. Also, more than 2-3 people on the same joint usually make it burn uneven, no matter if the joint is rolled perfectly.
 
I think you could make a killing on selling instructional videos, your method is flawless as far as I can tell. The only addittion I would submit for consideration is taking into account how wet/dry the weed is. I always mixed with tobacco regardless, as I found it helped uniformity and continuity and also resulted in a more even burn.

One method I found helpful when I first started rolling was to overpack the paper and make sure I got lots of material to work with. It made packing the ends a bit of a bitch but handling the crumble inside the paper and getting used to the rolling motion seemed to help me get a better feel for the roll.

I also always had a firm piece of paper (business card) about an inch long to roll up and pack into the end. I found it helped keep an even and open flow to draw on and reduced the resin stains and burns on fingers and thumbs.
 
man, I wish I could see the enterprise there. maybe for getting followers on instagram ans solcial media and getting people to pay me for ad space? idk i'd be open to ideas tho haha anything to get me out of my current job of breaking my back for a living. I'd have to get way better at it tho, I might be good at teaching someone how to roll a quality joint but the stuff I've seen on instagram and youtube is insane... like octopus joint wtf!!! I do give instruction in my work, I just pretended I was teaching someone at work how to do something haha.

I agree tho, very good and valid point to consider is the dryness and density of the bud. The wetter the weed, the looser you want to roll. You want to make sure to still get a fairly consistent compaction throughout the length of the joint, but still making sure to leave it loose and somewhat airy. Wet weed is usually really hard to roll, doesn't burn/stay lit very well if at all, and even well rolled joints can be hard to hit. For dryer crunchy weed, you still don't want to go too tight but you want to go quite a bit tighter IME.

Lots of good info in this thread tho. Walk out of here with a PHD in rolling joints...
 
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