Not much of topic for GQ so I thought this might be the place…
Not being a smoker I’ve often wondered about the inhaling habits of marijuana smokers I see IRL and TV.
Why do people inhale and appear to almost choke/swallow the smoke down while holding their breath and making funny faces?
Let’s leave TV out of this. Drama (or comedy) is not real life.
In Real Life marijuana smokers are trying to inhale and hold their breath. Unlike cigaret smokers who are normally content with just getting the smoke into their lungs, mj smokers pretty much universally accept that the deeper the drag and the longer the hold, the more effective the dose.
Since the smoke starts at at several hundred degrees Farenheit, and since it is composed of even worse tars and impurities than a cheap cigar, the body naturally tries to push it right back out.
Because:
a) the smoke is generally more “coarse” and heavier than cigarette smoke.
b) a deeper drag is taken.
c) the smoke is held longer in the lungs ostensibly to give it more time for the desired chemicals to be absorbed into the bloodstream. (Or bluntly put, efficiency.)
Because you get a better high that way.
I never noticed smokers making funny faces unless they were new smokers, just that they would try to hold their breath for as long as possible.
“You gotta cough, to get off.”
-Mark Winfrey (my college room-mate)
Yeah, that’s what we believed. Dunno know if really works, but it seems logical. Did the same thing when when we were inhaling Nitrous Oxide. Take a deep breath and hold it.
Of course, there’s the odd time that you take some super-heated smoke into your lungs, it doesn’t cool down as quickly as you though it would, and you end up coughing so violently you almost vomit. Your mouth fills with saliva, your eyes water, you can’t catch your breath, and all your goddamn stoner friends are laughing to beat the band because that’s just so funny, man!
I think it’s a combination of the lack of oxygen and the breathing in of the smoke.
A lot like inhaling glue or gas, that sort of thing.
In my (past) experience, I would get high faster and stronger if I held it in compared to just breathing it in like a cigarette. Same thing happened if I had a coughing fit.
Sometimes when you’re down on the roach the drag can be really HOT, or when you take a hit from a bowl.
Consequently when you inhale, you want to take in some air with the hit. That will lead to a noisier drag than a normal drag on a cigarette.
It may also be pot smokers wives tale that holding it in longer gets you higher, but it seems to make sense, and it certainly can’t hurt. Why mess with success?
I’ve known some europeans that find it strange that we just roll up marijuana. From some parts of Europe, they’re more apt to roll up marijuana with tobacco. That’s because Europeans are total wusses.
FWIW, I don’t smoke anymore. Although I do have some at home right now.
My brother would make some pretty funny giggly-faces. Usually after he’d been hitting the baggie for a while and I was keeping him entertained with my stupid California Surfer Dude voice.
Well, funny faces because you’re being made to laugh is normal! I meant just while smoking 
Cough? I thought it was boff
I’ll be happy to uh, toke that off your hands. Oops, I mean I’d be happy to dispose of that for you. 
There’s a very logical explanation why they do it like that on TV. It’s because…
…uh…
What were we talking about again?
Oh yeah, TV. Let’s see what’s on TV. Maybe Scooby Doo is on. Heh. Scooby Doo. Dooby Scoo. Dooby Dooby Scoo! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
You got any Doritos?
I’m kind of looking forward to my last bike race of the season, when I pull out the stash, clean out the pipe, and pop in “The Big Lebowski”.
I’ve been putting off watching it for a long time.
Because it feels oh so good.
snork
'kay. I’m probably the Lone Ranger here, but I always purposely took small hits and expelled them quickly because:
Of course, that was many moons ago. I’m more into fondly reminiscing about those days.
Heh. You beat me to it.
CURTAIN RISES
Shirley Passionflower: “Maria. I’ll never stop saying ‘Maria.’”…Maria… Maria…Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria Maria…
(Moonbow enters stage left with Ruffles and onion dip, breaking Shirley Passionflower’s Zen-Bernstein Meditation. Cheeto, downstage right, exhales and passes out.)