Jungle Fever: Smoking Paraphernalia & Legal Highs

Blunts are a mixture of herbs and tobacco smoked in the shell of a particular make of cigar, and have become a favoured and trendy drug in many areas, enjoyed openly by folks in all walks of life despite having begun life in the early 1980s amongst the Jamaican population of New York.

The type of cigar leaf used in the creation of the classic blunt is that of the Phillies Blunt brand, which is claimed by aficionados to produce just the right taste and burn in the optimal way, which is basically smoothly and slowly.

Other brands can also be used, in particular the Dutch Masters and White Owl brands, but Phillies Blunts are the leaf used by master rollers the world over.

Blunts are more economical than cigarettes because they can be put down and come back to later without burning themselves out, and the high can be achieved by the use of a number of easily-purchased and totally legal herbal products.  These are all now widely available on the internet as well as in the high street.

Blunts are also known as LPs, and are promoted on a variety of casual wear and sporting equipment such as baseball caps, having almost become an accepted part of mainstream society; they are even seen by some as a fashion accessory.  There are some who will want to stick to bongs and pipes for smoking their legal highs, but for many blunts are definitely where it is at these days.

Blunts made their first appearance in the colourful and vibrant Jamaican community in New York in the early 1980s and have been a fixture in the legal highs scene ever since.

A blunt is simply a mixture of herbs and tobacco wrapped in cigar wrappers, and it is also commonly and affectionately known by aficionados as an LP or ‘el pees’.  The term ‘blunt’ is borrowed from the cigar brand that is favoured as the best type to provide the shell for the herbal mixture.  Although Phillies Blunts cigars are the most popular for this, other brands often used include White Owl and Dutch Masters.  We must take the word of the experts when it comes to such esoteric matters as rolling the finest blunt from the best materials available.

A blunt will last longer than the average joint made from cigarette wrappers because the enclosing cigar leaves will burn slower and at a steadier rate, as well as adding their own distinctive flavour to the inhaled smoke.  It can be laid aside at convenience and then lit again without becoming a pile of ash in the ashtray, so it saves on money and is cheaper than smoking cigarettes.

Blunts can of course be used to smoke illegal substances, but many users prefer them as a safer alternative to cigarettes, and the legal herbs combine with the tobacco to deliver a punchy high that is much prized by enthusiasts, who often compete with one another like celebrity chefs coming up with innovative creations.

Blunts are very popular across America and the UK at the moment, having passed boring old cocaine in the hip charts to become something of a must-have fashion accessory in some quarters.

Blunts were first used by the Jamaican community in New York in the early years of the 1980s as an alternative to joints, and although there are some people who use illegal substances as the filling they can be filled with any herb or mixture of herbs you desire.

The distinguishing feature of the blunt is its envelope of cigar leaves.  These are typically of the Phillies Blunt brand – hence the name – but other varieties of cigars can be used if you are not too fussy.  The advantage of using cigar leaves is that they burn more evenly and more slowly than paper and the blunt can be set aside and picked up later, making it more economical than the average smoke.

The filling consists of tobacco and various herbal mixtures, and there is something of an art to mixing these, although all the ingredients for a legal high can be easily obtained online.

The smoke produced by a Phillies Blunt roll-up is generally considered by those in the know to be sweeter and much gentler on the taste buds than that produced by other brands of cigar leaf, and the wrapper itself has a physical robustness that facilitates its filling.

Blunts have become so mainstream in the US now that they feature on baseball caps and various items of leisurewear.

“Blunt” is a slang term for a tobacco cigar filled with an herbal high mixture instead of the normal tobacco.  There are various stories about the origin of blunts, but one is that it was invented in New York in the 1980s in the Jamaican community.

The name comes from the cigars with the brand name Phillies Blunt, as this is the preferred type of cigar for this purpose.  Other cigars that are used include Dutch Masters and White Owl.  The leaf wrapper of a Blunt cigar doesn’t fall apart when users make an herbal high blunt.  Lots of other cigar brands are not up to the procedure and crumble.

Another reason for the popularity of using the Phillies Blunt cigar is that users prefer the sweeter smoke linked to this brand.

The tobacco wrapper burns slowly, meaning that the blunt can be enjoyed over a longer period of time.  It is also highly portable.  A smoker can enjoy a portion of the blunt at different times.  It is easy to extinguish, store in your pocket and bring it out later for another smoke.  Just use an everyday lighter to light; there is no hassle to enjoying this herbal high.

How to Make a Blunt

It is simple to make your own blunt.  Buy a suitable cigar, slice lengthways with a razor and remove the tobacco.  Fill with your own preferred herbal mix, lick the outside of the paper and re-attach the two sides.  Light the cigar and enjoy.

Named originally after the “Phillies Blunt” cigar – a completely legal brand manufactured in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States by Atladis USA, Inc – legend has it that the contemporary meaning of the word “blunts” originated amongst Jamaicans in New York City during the 1980s.  Blunts became the street term for a marijuana cigar, even though the term had been in use since at least the 1800s, referring simply to the shape of the cigar (it had blunt, as opposed to pointed, ends). Basically, the tobacco filling of a Phillies Blunt – which has a robust outer casing of tobacco leaves – was removed and replace with marijuana.  Looking like a conventional cigar, marijuana smokers opted for “blunts” when they wanted to use cannabis without attracting undue attention to themselves.  Not only that, but the tobacco leaf wrapper slows the rate of burning down and holds a lot more herbal material than a traditional “joint”, so that the smoking experience lasts a lot longer.

Today, however, there are numerous legal herbal alternatives to illegal substances known as ‘legal buds.’  Widely available from online “head shops,” it is important to check the reviews and the constituents before purchasing.  There are also plenty of herbal tobacco substitutes available for smoking in blunts, such as hemp-flavoured smoking herbs made with American red clover (trifolium herba).  Flavoured tobacco leaf blunts are openly available for such use, and can be purchased with filters and with soaked bamboo tips for added flavour.

The word “blunt” is commonly defined as a type of cigar which is wider than cigarettes and most other types of cigars.  They are considerably shorter than some types of cigars as well.  However, they have become popular where legal highs are concerned.  They are hollowed out, and then filled with the herb and plant material mixture that you have chosen to smoke.  Using blunts to attain legal highs is just as popular as using bongs, hookah pipes, or vaporizers.

Since blunts are considerably larger than the bowls or herb-holding compartments of the three items above, they are more convenient when you are enjoying your legal highs with a group of friends.  They can be passed from one person to the next without the inconvenience of having to continually reload the bong or hookah bowl or the vaporizer compartment spoken of above.

Although the word blunt has been used when referencing a way to smoke an illegal substance in the past, they are also a very popular way to attain legal highs by smoking natural herbs and plant materials.  However, you still need to take the same precautions when smoking your herbs in blunt form that you would if you were drinking alcohol or taking prescription medications.

It is recommended that you read the precautions on alcohol or medicine containers as many of them will apply to ingesting the materials that produce legal highs.  The primary warning is that you should never drive a vehicle or operate any type of machinery when enjoying legal highs by yourself or with friends.

The technical definition of a blunt is a cigar that is larger and wider than a Cigarillo but not quite as fat as a Corona.  It is comprised of two components which include an inner wrapper, similar in nature to cigarette rolling papers and made from tobacco.  The second component is an outer leaf that is considerably thicker than the inner one rolled spirally around the inner wrapper.

The term “blunt” originated in the 1800’s from the broad and/or rounded tip of the cigar which differentiates them from the pointed, tapered tip of other cigars.  In today’s society, it has become associated with the smoking of marijuana.  The outer wrapping is still tobacco leaf, but marijuana is substituted for the tobacco found in the core of the cigar.  The exterior spiral wrappers are usually sliced open and the actual tobacco is then emptied out.  Once this has been done, it is filled with marijuana and then resealed.

Today there are herbal or natural substances that you can fill the cigar wrapper with in order to obtain a legal high.  Although many marijuana smokers feel that this procedure is a way to get away with smoking marijuana publicly (and illegally), you are at considerable risk of legal consequences if you are caught.  This method of rolling an herbal or natural substance to smoke and get high legally has become as popular as using an acrylic bong or glass bong to accomplish the same results.  The key difference is that you are still exposed to potential physical consequences due to the fact that it is still wrapped in tobacco leaf.

Now that you’ve gotten into the swing of enjoying legal highs with the use of herbs, you can begin to address other issues, like the smell of stale smoke that sometimes lingers in the house.  Over time, the scent works its way into the upholstery, draperies, carpeting, and other items in the home.  Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to deal with this sort of thing.

First, you can always choose to not smoke in the house.  This is a common solution for many people who smoke commercial cigarettes and cigars, and tends to work pretty well, as long as you keep to the practice.  Since you are not smoking anything that is illegal, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy your herbal mixture in your back yard, or even on your front stoop.

Of course, if you want to enjoy your herbs in the house, there is always the option of not creating smoke in the first place.  Instead of using a bong or rolling a blunt, get yourself a good quality vaporizer.  With vaporizers, you don’t burn anything.  Instead, you heat up the herbs and inhale the vapour that escapes during the process.  You get the full benefit of the high, but don’t have any smoke to linger in your home.

You can also cut down on the stale smoke problem by using air purifiers while you smoke.  If you don’t have a purifier, opening a couple of windows and getting some cross ventilation going will help somewhat.  You can always finish up by placing a small dish filled with white vinegar in the room overnight.  Vinegar can help kill a lot of odours, not just stale smoke, leaving the room smelling clean and inviting by morning.

Blunts are like a rolling paper but are usually made from tobacco leafs and often have a flavour applied.

Some of the most common makes of blunts that you will come across are Cyclones, Blunt Wrap, Golden Wraps, Amico Sweet Palm Wraps and Royal Blunts.

Cyclones are pre rolled blunt cones which are super slow burning giving you more time to enjoy your smoke. The slow burn is due to been double wrapped in tobacco leafs. Each blunt is wrapped singularly.

Royal Blunts are available in a 3 pack and come in a wide range of flavours from Blueberry and strawberry to mango. The 3 pack usually retails around £1.50, if you struggle rolling then you can always get pre rolled blunts, or accessories such as Tip Tubes to aid your rolling.

A blunt is a cigar that is slightly wider than a cigarillo, but not as wide as a corona. Blunt cigars consist of two parts, the inner leaf, which is made from tobacco and the outer part, which is rolled in a spiral around the inner leaf.

There are two common styles of blunt rolling, the Dutch style and the Philly style.
What you then do is remove the tobacco from inside and re-roll it with your chosen leaf, for example some type of herb.

Blunt smoking is usually carried out in groups or circles, commonly called ciphers, or ciphs. The passing of the cigar is usually done in a counter-clockwise direction, though the direction is open to individual choice. Since the smoking of blunts is done in ciphs, it is wise to follow some basic etiquette in these gatherings.

No Sleeping.
Sleeping on blunts actually means that someone is not smoking or passing it on.
This is wasteful and rude, so it is discouraged.

No Joking Please.
Humour is definitely discouraged during ciphs, especially when someone is taking a hit at the time. It can cause the smoker to hack and wheeze, which would be a waste of a good blunt.

Pass the blunt.
Blunts are smoked in ciphs and usually more than two people are involved. It is therefore a good idea to agree how many times a person can take a hit at any one time. It could be considered rude to take more than three hits, especially in a large group, so make sure you pass it on.

Chip in.
It’s customary to share some of your leaf or herb or donate money to the person who rolled the blunt.

Blunt rolling is a fun way to socialise or hang out with your friends. So, start rolling and start enjoying, but be sure to mind your manners at all times.