Sorry about post size, in advance. My excuse is that I'm on stimulants and methadone.
That may be true, but I handled it fine after similar oral surgery, as did my sister and various friends of mine.
But in all honesty, a few tokes, lightly taken, shouldn't be too big of a problem. I don't see why two weeks would be a necessity, especially as your mouth and throat heal quickly and have extremely quick cellular reproduction rates.
You're right, edibles are better, especially in this case. But that takes more weed, IME, and not many can afford to go that route.
I can see your worry being warranted for tobacco, you generally smoke grams and grams in a day if you use it. Obviously contraindicated here. But cannabis? .25 to .30, taken slowly, with light hits? If you live in certain cities, the exhaust fumes from cars would be more irritating than just a few tokes.
Truly, I appreciate the need to protect a healing mucous membrane, but after this long with normal healing rates, unless you go overboard and smoke too much, you'll be fine. Obviously, take whatever precautions you can; and, if you feel any irritation, simply stop. I don't think this guy wants to get *blazed*, I think he just wants to feel a small buzz. I know you're just promoting harm reduction to the fullest, and I respect that. Nonetheless, I must disagree that he should be as worried as you imply is necessary. Worry, don't smoke much, take very small tokes, cherry the bowl instead of scorching, and even smoke in a steamy bathroom, but don't fear inhaling a little like the plague, unless it's the first couple days post-op.
I've lived in China, and let me tell you, the air in some cities there can burn your sinuses/throat on its own, no flame needed. It definitely causes inflammation, esp. With long exposure. I'm sure Americans have some cities with similar conditions. Yet issues with these types of operations are not a widespread health issue, so far as I've heard/read.
Seriously though, out of curiosity, what is your biggest worry? Inhaling smoke/hydrocarbons? Or the heat? Because the former is only a concern with lots of inhalation, quite small amounts are not threatening, though they will probably slow healing a little. If it's the heat, well, I can respect that, it's my biggest concern. But in a shower or with light tokes, I really don't see the heat as being enough to cause serious inflammation or serious worsening of the condition of the tissue in question. When I did it, I was fine, and many others I know had the same experience of this situation.
I don't question that smoke and heat are irritants. But AFAIK, the real danger here is in reopening healing tissues through forcible coughing, infection caused by the "dirty" nature of cannabis, or, most likely, drying out the healing tissue.
Therefore, I stand by my opinion, especially if you drink enough water and use steam to keep the tissue moistened. The danger is exaggerated; though of course you should worry and take precautions. You can't possibly tell me that smoke in the natural environment somehow isn't damaging, and a couple small tokes are far less than the average city-dwellers daily exposure. And heat is bad for drying out the tissue, but you can mitigate this, yes.
If you are too worried, don't smoke anything. If you want to smoke, do it carefully and take precautions. Yeah, it's a risk, but it's a VERY small one this long after the operation. I was willing to take a small risk, and it worked for me; again, I'm not just bullshitting here, I've really looked into this, back when it concerned me, and again for my sister. Sure, it's an irritant. I'll never deny that. But done carefully and with proper hydration, the small irritation is not nearly enough to be extremely or even moderately alarming.
For me, I need cannabis medically. For me, the small risk was outweighed by the reward. I don't think you need a medical reason for this to be true for another. So, yes, two weeks would completely ensure that no issues arise. But sometimes, it's just nice to have a could tokes, nothing serious, to take the edge off pain or simply for the mindstate. And even my ex-doctor told me (unofficially) that I could smoke my medicinal cannabis if I seemed to be healing well and I was careful about not coughing and he was also worried about infection, but I was on antibiotics and had a special mouthwash. He really stressed hydration and moderation, which I still do.
If you want to be safest, listen to Chainer. If smoking a little pot, to you, is worth the small (minuscule to infinitesimal, IMO and experience) risk, then don't be that anxious about it. If you're going to do it, you're going to do it. Just make sure you do it carefully, and all will be copasetic.
(lol, just realized how much I posted; I'm on speed and methadone, sorry for the post size)
