Blunts

What are "blunts?"

The name, "Blunts," is a street name used to describe a marijuana and tobacco cigar. Other street names include "el-pees" (LP's), According to one source, blunts originated among Jamaicans in New York City in the early 1980's. Blunts take their name from "Phillies Blunt" brand cigars, although other brands of similar make (such as El Producto, White Owl, and Dutch Masters) are also used for this purpose.

Blunts vs. Joints

Smoking marijuana inside the leaf or paper wrapper of a cigar offers several advantages to the user:

• The tobacco wrapper slows down the burning rate of the joint. This allows a greater number of users to share the same joint.
• A blunt holds more marijuana than a joint, and is convenient to use and store. A single user can smoke it, extinguish it, and easily relight it. "That's what's so cool about a blunt. Just put it out. It fits nicely in the top pocket."
• It looks like a legal drug. Even though it is illegal for adolescents to use tobacco products, blunts appear to be commercial tobacco cigars. Policemen, teachers, and parents who ignore cigarette possession in minors are likely to ignore blunts as well.
• Nicotine from the tobacco content may add to the effects of the marijuana in a blunt. Nicotine is a stimulant, and marijuana is a minor hallucinogen with some depressant properties. Other stimulant and depressant combinations include cocaine and heroin, cocaine and alcohol, amphetamines and alcohol. At this writing, there appears to be no medical literature evaluating the psychoactive effects of using marijuana and tobacco together vs. individually. However, some of the comments made in one magazine interview are intriguing and may indicate synergistic effects: "The blunt is more effective than smoking marijuana alone..." "When you smoke a blunt, you get twice as high. . ." "At first, I didn't like it, 'cause it made me dizzy. . .

Why are Phillies Blunt^® cigars used?

Many other cigar brands are still being used to make blunts. Users say that the Phillies Blunt^® brand produces less harsh-tasting or sweeter smoke. The leaf wrapper of a Phillies Blunt is strong enough to hold together through the manipulations of making a blunt. Other brands fall apart.

Washington DC Area Trends

National Trends

REFERENCES

• Nixon R. "Story of the blunt." High Times 1993 Mar;:40-1.
• Mundell C. (1993) "The emergence of blunts: A timeline of the emergence of marijuana and tobacco cigar use." (Presentation at the Center for Substance Abuse Research, College Park, MD, 11/8/93)
• Nixon R. "Rolling with Redman." High Times 1993 Mar;:38-9.

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The first thing you have to know to roll a blunt, is Practice, Practice, and Practice. It takes several tries before you can get it right. Go to your corner store and buy a pack of Tampa Gold Gars. Take a razor blade, and cut it open like this.

Take all the tobacco out. Lick the back of the paper, that is, the outside of the gar, thoroughly. You really need to make love to these things with your tounge. Next, place a healthy portion of weed in the gar. Roll it up, and lick the edge thoroughly. It takes a lot of saliva to make these things stick. When you have it closed up, pop it in the microwave for about ten seconds, this makes it stick better. The light it up, and smoke it.

The Ethics of Gars

A lot of people think rolling in gars ruins the taste of marijuana. I personally think it enhances the taste. You can take mondo hits, and you'll definately choke the first time you smoke one. For the ultimate high, let someone give you shotgun. It'll knock you on your ass. All the people I know now don't even carry skins anymore, only a pack of gars in their pocket. It takes longer to roll than a joint, but it's worth the extra effort.

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