Joints

Being a person who’s used cannabis for 48 of the past 53 years, I am always stunned by the changes (“fads”) in smoking and delivery of smoke used by populations around the nation and the globe. The style of rolling joints, for instance, has undergone at least three changes since the days when a j like the ones Dave Crosby thinks of “ideal” in their morphology.

Now a Crosby joint, according to an article I recently read, should look a little like a zeppelin with two small twists on each end. I have always thought this a waste of space in rolling paper, and consider a well rolled joint to look not unlike a plain cigarette- sometimes a little fatter, if you like, but even at both ends. You can always pinch the roach end down while you are smoking, to regulate airflow.

And nowadays the joints look like cotton candy cones- always a cone shape, always a stupid cardboard “filter” on the end (this apparently was picked up from the Europeans, the French and Dutch, way back in the late 70s, but only caught on here in the USA when “pre-rolleds” became commercial in states like Washington and Colorado. This is more the “hipster’s” idea of what a joint should look like, and is modeled also in part of tn the Jamaican spliff, or even the Indian chillum, which made its way to Jamaica on its own (hence. ”ganja’ being a common expression for weed in both places.)

But now how should that great joint you rolled smoke?

Some say a joint that goes out is not a good joint. I disagree. Perhaps the joint goes out because of a high resin content in the cannabis, and going out allows you to savor it a little longer. You can also use those moments to appreciate the taste and flavor of the grass a little longer as well. Sometimes, one or two hits is all you really need anyway, so having a joint around to suck on at different hours of the day turns out to be an OK idea, rather than smoking a whole one up and going back for more and more later. This way you've got an all-day sucker, and so on to other activities.

A friend of Jerry Garcia’s said, Jerry rolled “perfect joints every time.” I have no idea how Garcia’s joints compared to Crosby’s but since the two seemed engaged in a dope consumption rivalry of sorts for some years running, I have always assumed Garcia might come down on my side, with the more obvious cigarette form allowing you to get more into the package. But even Trixie Garcia’s pre-rolls come in the new hipster line of style. So who knows. I only know nobody wins with this style of pre-roll since it requires a bit more weed to fill one (and wastes more in the toking) than it does a cigarette-style joint. And when you have enough, you still have more left over.

Well, however you like to take your cannabis, remember to always take it with a grain of salt!

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