How to avoid getting burnt when you're smoking weed
Of course, the best way to avoid getting burnt would be switching to an alternative means like a vaporizer, but even they can get hot or malfunction from time to time, and there is nothing worse than a burn that lingers for days leaving behind a nasty scar when the suffering is finally done. It’s kind of ironic when you think about it how we go through so much pain for the relaxation that we crave, but there are some things that you can do, use, or get to lessen the risk.
1. Roach clips
Roach clips should be a staple in every cannabis lover rolling kit because they are so useful. If you place one on your joint or blunt right after it’s lit, it's so much easier to pass the roll back and forth safely without fumbling or accidentally grabbing the coal, and once it burns down into a roach, it will ensure that you can get every last puff while keeping a safe buffer between your lips and the roaring heat.
We also highly suggest that you get one with a weighted bottom so that it can be set down safely for breaks, which will lead to fewer dropped joints that might end up burning things like furniture or carpet because with how affordable they are, it pays to splurge for the extra features that will help you to avoid all different types of burns in the future.
2. Avoid metal pieces
Metal pipes and bongs are common all across the market because they are incredibly cheap to make and affordable to buy. Some people love them because of how long they can last, and their unbreakable ability to survive almost any kind of endeavor, but there is a major downside to using metal when you’re smoking weed, and it’s that the material gets hot quickly, and stays that way for quite a while.
As you can imagine, hot pipes and bowls cause quite a few burns each year, with the majority of injuries occurring during the passing of the device. It’s sudden, incredibly painful, and nearly impossible to avoid, which is why it’s a good idea to invest in alternatives instead. Glass and silicone are two materials that transfer the least amount of heat, as they cool down fast, which means fewer burns for you.
3. Water can be a lifesaver
Water is used to put out fires of all kinds because it truly is the best thing to use for bringing down temperatures quickly. It stops fires from spreading, which can happen in the chamber of a pipe or bong, resulting in the inhalation of hot coals, resin, and ashes. Water devices work to keep the temperature of the piece and smoke down at all times, so it will never get as hot as its dry counterpart.
The cooler, smoother hit will be a bonus that will keep your throat from burning after a good bowl of weed, and the real skin burns deep that you want to avoid will also lessen, as the only part of a water-compatible device that will stay hot is the bowl itself, which is easy to workaround. These handy tools also help to make cleaning easier, which means no more fumbling with boiling water to get the job done.
4. Use a joint filter
Most cannabis enthusiasts will have to endure a few burns here and there no matter how hard they try, but some of the worst ones imaginable are those that happen to the face. Sometimes it doesn’t take much more than puffing away on some really dry herb to burn the outer layer of skin on your lips, and that can make every single hit painful until you’ve healed.
Luckily there is a solution that can help you to avoid this common stoner problem, and it comes in small packages. Joint filters are sold as either disposable plastic with paper inserts or reusable glass tips, and their design is meant to remove some of the harmful resins before they enter your lungs, but they also put a nice gap between your lips and any part of the joint that will keep you from getting burnt.
5. Grinder card for fanning or digging
If you’re a frequent bowl packer, then you likely already know the pain of pressing your fingers just a little bit too close to the hot burning coal of cannabis. Fanning the bowl is a common practice, and most will use their hands to make this happen by covering the bowl intermittently to improve the rate of burning by containing the heat, but if you do that, you will practically guarantee that you’re going to get burnt.
With a metal grinder card, you can safely fan any kind of bowl in nearly every type of device without risking your fingertips, and that’s not all. They can also be used to stir up the bowl once you’re finished smoking one, yet another thing that so many of us use our fingers to do, risking our most precious limbs just to get high, so why not just skip all of that pain and get a grinder card instead.
6. Frequent breaks
Some tokers never use their device more than once or twice in a row, which means that it never really truly gets hot, but once you introduce any kind of bong or pipe to a larger circle of people, even the best of the best will eventually get too hot to handle. You can invest in the highest quality glass, opt for a water-compatible device, or add ice, but those solutions will only get you so far.
If you want to avoid the possibility of burns altogether, then you should take all of the advice you find here today and use it on top of taking frequent breaks. It might be tempting to keep on puffing away, especially when you’ve got a group of friends that are waiting for a turn, but if you can, it’s a good idea to have a second device to toss into the rotation so that each one can be given breaks often to cool down.
7. Buy a joint extinguisher
No, we don’t mean that you should equip yourself with a real fire extinguisher, although that’s technically not a bad idea either. However, what we’re suggesting here is a joint extinguisher, something that was initially designed to put out the hot coals on cigarettes. They are typically little cubes with a singular hole in the middle and meant to rest in an ashtray so that you can press your roll into it to butt it out partway.
This might sound like something that is so incredibly simple that there is no way that it’s going to save your hands from getting burnt while you’re smoking, but if you think about how many times you’ve tried to successfully put out a joint or a blunt partway without burning yourself or wasting any, you’ll likely realize rather quickly that this is an investment you should have made some times ago.
8. Keep your concentrates contained
Concentrates are typically used for dabbing or vaporizing, as these methods allow for the pure cannabis products to be safely contained and then heating to an appropriate temperature to consume, but when you smoke them, things can get messy and quickly leading to burns that you weren’t expecting as they leak down through the chamber to the mouthpiece, or leap out of the bowl as the heat hits.
Cannabis concentrates can be superheated and they still don’t normally move much on their own, but if you’re smoking them, then you have to be mixing them with something like cannabis or tobacco, plant-based products that are known for moving and even jumping after applying heat. To avoid getting scalded, make sure to hide it safely inside of a bed of herb, rather than placing it on top.
9. Have a rolling tray handy
No matter how you like to smoke cannabis, there will always be some risk involved as you play with literal fire to get the job done, but if you’re looking to protect yourself as much as possible then one of the best things that you can do is to keep a large rolling tray on hand so that if you do end up handling something hot, you can quickly drop it before too much damage is caused.
A lot of our burns come from making small mistakes like dropping a joint or a hot pipe and then trying to avoid burning our surroundings by grabbing them up again too quickly, but if there is a safe and clean place that will contain whatever it is that you need to drop quickly, then you’ll be much less likely to torture yourself, by holding onto things that you shouldn’t be for any longer than what’s necessary.
10. Always make sure to use a BIC lighter
Cannabis enthusiasts often overlook this incredibly important tool, because as long as they have something that sparks, they assume that they’ve got their bases covered, but this is the place where all burns stem from, which is why it makes sense to pay attention to the kind that you choose. Of course, it’s easy to cheap out because you save money, but these devices are a lot more likely to malfunction.
A lighter may seem like a simple tool, but without quality design, flaws are fast to show. Some no-name brands will explode if they’re heated up too much, and at least a few of them will start to leak or blow out a wheel from trying to keep a bowl lit, and Zippos come with a terrible taste, so if you want to avoid unnecessary burns, then opt for quality and stick with a BIC.
You could take every precaution imaginable, but when you’re playing with fire there will always be a risk of ending up getting burnt. The best thing that you can do is to reduce the possibility by using the right tools, tips, and tricks to get high.
