What is a Spliff?

The origins of hand-rolled cigarettes date back to the 17th century in Spain. In port cities like Seville, the poor rolled scrap paper and tobacco leave into “papilletti”, which were smoked in public. Over time, this practice spread, and people began to use it to roll tobacco and hemp, which resulted in their cigarettes becoming popular.

The spliff definition itself came from Jamaica and other parts of the West Indies, a region where marijuana and hemp are cultivated for medicinal and cultural purposes. The term was reportedly referring to a weed cigarette that contains no tobacco. Later on, it was introduced to the United Kingdom and was soon adopted in Europe, where it is most often used to refer to a cannabis cigarette combined with tobacco. In fact, the name "spliff" comes from the English phrase "to split [a] spliff", which refers to splitting the difference between tobacco and marijuana in a joint.

Read Also: Ways to Consume Marijuana: The Definitive Guide

Blunt vs Joint vs Spliff: What’s the Difference?

Mary Jane has many gifts to give, and you might find that more than one of them makes you happy. Leaving all the water-filter devices out of this discussion, let’s focus on good old self-rolled marijuana cigarettes and discover how they differ.

Blunt

Blunts are cigars or cigarettes that have been emptied of their tobacco and refilled with marijuana. The most important thing is that the inside of it is just magic grass and nothing more. The exterior cover is made of cigar paper. Cigar paper is the top layer of a cigar and is made from pressed tobacco leaves.

The blunt's outer cover is what determines its color, size, and shape. There is always a brown natural shade to it, long and cylindrical in shape, with 1 gram of ground cannabis material inside. The blunt is always longer and thicker than other kinds of weed cigarettes. Its taste is directly related to the type of cigar paper used and to the variety of the stuff’s strain that’s used. Generally, it is kind of like a mix — the taste of weed in the middle and tobacco leaves on the outside.

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Joint

Joint is also a form of a self-made cigarette. Its internal content (as well as that of a blunt!) is marijuana. Paper is used to wrap up the joint, and that’s really the only difference between using a blunt versus using a joint. The appearance of a joint is often determined by the size and shape of the papers that are used to roll it.

The size of the roll depends on the size of the paper, as well as on how much stuff you put inside it (approximately 0.5-1 g). A joint has a clean marijuana flavor because it is rolled with paper that has no smell or taste. Whereas, when you smoke a blunt, you get the taste of tobacco and weed at the same time. Depending on the preferences, some people need a hand-rolled cigarette filter, while others find filters unnecessary.

Spliff

As was mentioned above, a spliff is a marijuana cigarette made by mixing tobacco with the cannabis plant. And tobacco shouldn't make up more than 50% of this mix. If not, it's hardly worth trying to smoke it; a simple cigarette would deliver the same effects. A spliff is similar to a joint in that it’s made using paper.

Why Do People Smoke Spliffs?

A spliff is the most common way people consume marijuana and is the most popular type of recreational marijuana smoking. Many people who are new to weed or trying it for the first time prefer to smoke a spliff since it allows them to feel more secure about their experience. It’s due to the fact that a spliff contains a lower amount of THC than pure weed, easing first-time smokers into things.

No wonder, nowadays, smoking spliffs is becoming more common. It is not just possible to smoke them in public places and feel like you aren’t doing something awkward. You can even combine the two substances in one and achieve effects that go far beyond a joint. However, it seems like this form of marijuana consumption has its cons as well. Let us take a look at some of the pros and cons of smoking spliffs.

Pros

• If you're looking to save some cash while still getting a good buzz, adding some tobacco to your weed will stretch your stash.
• Rolling tobacco is cut very finely, facilitating the mixing of cannabis and tobacco evenly. This helps to prevent a sticky weed mix, increasing your satisfaction with your smoking experience.
• The smell given off is not as offensive to others as that of pure marijuana.
• It's easier to make such a cigarette since the tobacco is already in a shredded form, and it’s more effortless to roll one. In addition, finer tobacco burns better.

Cons

• According to a study, people who smoke marijuana and tobacco are more likely to become dependent on cannabis.
• Despite containing less tobacco than a cigarette, you are still at risk for developing lung cancer if you choose to smoke unfiltered nicotine.

Read Also: How to Use a Weed Pen

How to Roll a Spliff Step by Step

The key to an optimal spliff experience is the ratio between cannabis and tobacco. You can make a bad spliff no matter how good your pot or rolling skills are. Here is a step-by-step guide to making a perfect rolled spliff.

First, take the paper out of the booklet, making sure that the glue side should be on top. Then, start folding the paper in accordion style, begin about halfway up one side of the paper and bend it back and forth. For a spliff with a wide tip, make the width of each fold about as thick as you would like the tip to be. With the paper you have remaining, just wrap it around the crutch to finish it. Because of the additional support provided by its folds, the crutch will not collapse with ease.

Once you have your filter tip in place, start rolling the paper around it and continue rolling until the sides of the paper are sealed together. When you've wrapped your spliff, lick a thin layer of glue on the inside of a paper edge to seal it. Fill your crutch with the blend. Pack your spliff by tapping the tip on a hard surface, without flattening it, or air pockets will form inside the crutch. This will help you achieve a smoother, more even burn that won't cause the spliff weed to canoe (or burn with an upside-down crater). Now, you can light it up and enjoy your smoking experience.

Is Smoking a Spliff Dangerous?

Now that you know how to smoke a spliff, you might wonder about the precautions that are necessary when indulging in this type of smoking. The main concerns about using spliffs are the possible exposure to nicotine, carcinogenic properties, and respiratory damage. Scientists have conducted many testable comparisons of marijuana and tobacco smoking but have failed to find any overwhelming evidence proving that one substance causes greater harm than the other.

A downside of rolling your own cigarettes is that you don’t have a filter to cut back on the amount of smoke you take in. Therefore, users inhale more of the substance than cigarette smokers do with a normal cigarette. Typically, marijuana smokers tend to hold the smoke in their lungs longer than tobacco smokers do. That can cause the lungs to be exposed to cancer-causing agents for a longer time. While smoking pot is quite harmless compared to cigarette smoking, like most other things in life, it can become harmful if used in excess.

Read Also: How to Use a Weed Vaporizer?

Conclusion

A spliff is a cannabis cigarette made by mixing tobacco with the marijuana plant. A common amount of mixture would be one half to one tobacco and two parts to three parts cannabis leaves. It has been theorized spliffs are more popular among inexperienced smokers because they can help lower the cost of smoking by using a combination of marijuana and tobacco, which are often less expensive than marijuana alone. In addition, they provide a smooth transition between the harshness of tobacco smoke and cannabis smoke. This allows users to ease into the more intense effects of smoking pot without becoming overwhelmed by its unique taste and smell.