Joint

Joint Etiquette

Joint Rolling - Freestyle-Dollar Bill-Pen Technique-Roller

Protect Your Papers

There are many advantages to carrying rolling papers, rather than a pipe or bong. They're light, legal, and they come many to a pack. However, papers tend to bend and tear when carried around for any length of time. The answer to this problem is a rolling paper protector. (Yes, these are available.) Place the entire pack of papers inside one of these metal cases, and you're good to go.
Paper Cut
The tip of a joint is sometimes totally void of Bud. When this is the case, be sure to either tear or burn the tip off before smoking it. (Of course, if you just use more Bud while rolling, you shouldn't have to worry about this problem.)
Hole in the Roll
Have you ever tried to sip through a straw with a hole in it? This is the same effect you get when your joint has a tear. You can fix a tear by covering it with a small piece of rolling paper, or re-rolling the joint completely.
To avoid this situation, remove all stems and break or grind the buds into small pieces. Larger buds burn more slowly, and will cause your joint to burn unevenly. As for stems, they have a tendency to poke through the paper and ruin your joint altogether. It may take an extra minute or two to prepare the Bud in this fashion, but it will save you time and frustration down the line.
Running Joints
Occasionally, even the best-rolled joints will burn too quickly on one side. The solution is simple: saliva. Using the tip of one finger, apply saliva to the side of the joint that's burning too rapidly. This will allow the slower burning side to catch up, and your joint will burn evenly again. If this doesn't work, you can peel the excess paper from the slow burning side, but be careful not to drop the lighted tip, called the "cherry."
Eating the Peanut
What do you do with a "roach" (the butt of a joint) when it has become too small to hit? Well, in some circles, the person left holding the roach eats it. This is called "eating the peanut." (Note: Never eat the peanut when it is still lit, or when it contains a filter or wire.)
If your circle doesn't practice this ritual, there are other options to help you get the most from your joint:
1) Tear the joint apart and load the Bud into a pipe.
2) Place the butt-end of the "cherried" (burning) roach into the bowl of your bong.
3) And, as always, there are the trusty roach clips and "alligator" clips.
Generation Joints
In other circles it is customary to save the roaches from your joints and combine the resonated Bud into a new (more Budent) joint. If planned correctly, this technique can be repeated endlessly, producing high-Budency grandparent joints and even great-grandparent joints.
This practice can also be helpful when you're low on funds. For instance, if your stash were to run out in the middle of a money crisis, you would still have this super-Budent joint leftover to hold you until payday.
Cigarette-Paper Technique
Another joint-rolling technique (not shown) is the cigarette-paper technique. To roll a joint using this technique, you will need a cigarette, a pen or pencil, and a poker or similar device.
While holding the cigarette upside down (over a dish or container), gently roll the cigarette back and forth in your fingers to loosen and remove the tobacco. Using the poker, carefully remove any stubborn tobacco from the cigarette paper. It is important that you do not rip the paper during this process.
Once the tobacco has been removed, you may begin filling the cigarette wrapper with Bud. Make sure that your Bud is stem- free and broken or ground into very small pieces. Next, use your pen or pencil to pack the Bud toward the filter of the cigarette paper. Alternate adding and packing small amounts of Bud until the cigarette paper is nearly full. At this point, you can twist the end of your joint and save it for later, or light it up and enjoy.
Some people prefer to remove the filter before they smoke their joint, while others prefer to leave it attached. If you decide to keep the filter intact, be sure to stop smoking the joint before the flame reaches the filter. Lastly, while this technique can be used in a pinch, it is time-consuming and not always practical...especially if you're not a cigarette smoker.