After giving up ciggies at 19, I didn't smoke anything with tobacco in it until about 7 years ago
At the time, I think it was fair to say I had gathered enough weed to last me several months at my average daily allowance. Then, out of the blue, an old family friend came to stay. Ol' "E**** the fish" (RIP) as we used to know him, liked tobacco in his joint where I didn't, so I would say just help yourself to the jar and make your own. OL' E ended up staying for months and my supply of course diminished rather quickly. Eventually I had to say we would have to start having 1 smoke between us rather than 1 each. Although Ol' E didn't smoke ciggies, he just couldn't seem to smoke weed without tobacco, regardless of how smooth the mull.
So I started adding as Ol' E would say in his best Albanian accent, "
...just a little bit of tobacco... To cut a long story short, O'l E eventually moved out but the
... little bit of tobacco.. stayed and grew to around 50:50 in my joints. A while ago I changed to bongs, and have reduced that to around 25-30% tobacco.
After three months of bongs instead of joints, without really trying, I have reduced my intake of both. One big difference to health comes from not being surrounded by a smoky atmosphere which usually results from smoking joints or cigs. With a bong, although you're getting more smoke per cone amount, if the smoke is exhaled out the window, your environment will remain much cleaner. Overall it has made a big difference to how I feel. I've lost my cough, and my once continual sore throat.
In regards to which form - straight or mixed - is found to be less harsh on the throat and bronchial air way, I think it all comes down to what you're used to. Because cannabis and tobacco smoke burn different areas of the air passage and throat, if you do mix, you cause additional irritation. The reason the “bite” is more pronounced in a non-smoker or single substance smoker, is that cells in these areas have not been accustomed to the new form of irritation. Cells of a mix smoker respond to continual irritation by amongst other things, releasing protective mucous which lessens the “bite”.
For those who do mix, most usually agree there is little doubt nicotine potentiates THC, especially with the form of tobacco normally used i.e. processed. Nicotine delivery is packaged into each and every cigarette and most rolling tobacco, even though such intent is not admitted by tobacco companies. Nicotine is also an amazing drug in the way it affects absorption of certain substances. I have a paper on this somewhere if anyone is interested.
My advice for a great mixing substitute is dried rose petals. Avoid any roses that have been sprayed
at any time over the past season. This can be a tall order, but some rose growers do prepare petals for smokers as the practice is not that uncommon, or at least it once wasn't. A great source can be wild roses, but
not those growing on roadsides, as besides heavy metal accumulation, they may have also been sprayed.
