Before you light up
Hash is kief, the resin crystals produced by cannabis trichomes, pressed into a brick or ball. It often has a higher concentration of THC than flower, and its THC content ranges from almost none to 65%, according to Wikipedia. If yours is pressed, break it with your fingers or a cutting tool into pieces about 1 to 2 mm wide; loose hash and kief can be used as they are.
Dose small. Start with a pinch about the size of a dime and take a single inhalation, then wait up to 30 minutes before having more. Inhaled cannabis is usually felt within seconds or minutes, takes 10 to 30 minutes to reach its full effect and can last up to 6 hours (Health Canada).
In a joint, with flower instead of tobacco
Grind your flower, lay it in the paper as usual, sprinkle the hash crumbs evenly along the middle and roll it up. Mixing hash into flower helps it burn more evenly, but every puff is stronger than plain flower, so take breaks between puffs to check how you feel. You will need rolling papers and a lighter.
A spliff is a joint rolled with tobacco. In many European countries joints are commonly rolled that way, especially when the cannabis is hash, while in Jamaica, where the word comes from, a spliff is simply a cannabis joint (Wikipedia). Leave the tobacco out: Canada's Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines say smoking burnt cannabis, especially combined with tobacco, can cause respiratory problems, possibly including lung cancer.
In a pipe
The pipe method takes 3 steps:
- Use a pipe fitted with a fine mesh screen.
- Put a small amount of hash in the bowl, on its own or on top of loosely packed ground flower.
- Hold the flame to the hash as you inhale, until it glows and smoulders. Hash takes longer to catch than flower.
In a bong
Fill the bong until the downstem sits under water, put small pieces of hash in the bowl or on top of loosely packed flower, then light it as you inhale. The water cools the smoke and filters out some harmful substances, but Health Canada says that doesn't make pipe smoking safe, and a NORML-MAPS study found that water pipes filter out more THC than other tars, so you may smoke more, and take in more tar, for the same effect (Wikipedia).
In a vaporizer, with no smoke
Vaporizers heat cannabis to temperatures below its combustion point, so they produce vapour instead of smoke (Wikipedia). For hash on its own you need a concentrate vaporizer or concentrate accessories. In a regular flower vaporizer, kief can work if you layer it on top of dried flower; kief at the bottom can leave messy residue. Add a small amount, set the temperature and airflow, and inhale.
The Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines recommend vaporizers over smoking burnt cannabis, while noting that they are not entirely risk-free and that rigorous studies on health outcomes are largely lacking. High-grade full-melt bubble hash can also be dabbed, a stronger and more involved method explained in the dabbing guide.
Hot knives: a method best skipped
Hot knives, also called spots, means heating the tips of 2 knife blades, pressing a small piece of hash between them and inhaling the smoke, often through the cut-off neck of a bottle (Wikipedia). It is thought to be particularly harmful to the lungs because the smoke comes off at such a high temperature, and touching a plastic bottle with a hot blade releases toxic chemicals from the burning plastic. You are also handling heated metal close to your face.
If you try it anyway, use glass instead of plastic, keep the area clear of anything flammable, and let the blades cool a little first so the hash vaporizes instead of burning. A vaporizer is the lower-risk way to get the same result.
Safer-use checklist
Whichever method you choose, these habits lower the risk:
- Start with a pinch, take 1 inhalation and wait up to 30 minutes before having more; Health Canada says one inhalation can take that long to reach its full effect.
- Take shallow puffs and don't hold the smoke in. Inhaled cannabis is absorbed directly into the bloodstream (Health Canada), and holding your breath disproportionately increases the toxic material you take into your lungs (Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines).
- Don't mix hash with tobacco, alcohol or other drugs (Health Canada).
- Don't drive or operate machinery for at least 6 hours after using (Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines).
- Keep use occasional: daily or near-daily use is among the strongest predictors of long-term cannabis-related health problems (Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines).
- Don't use cannabis if you are pregnant or have a personal or family history of psychosis or substance use disorders (Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines).
- Store hash locked away from children and pets. If you think a child has eaten cannabis, call 1-844-POISON-X (1-800-463-5060 in Quebec), and call 9-1-1 if the child loses consciousness or has trouble breathing (Health Canada).
- For medical questions about cannabis, such as how it interacts with a medication, ask a doctor or pharmacist.
Buying hash
Hash comes pressed, loose or as bubble hash, so check the type and the THC figure on the label. GasDank delivers same-day across Toronto and the GTA, usually within 1 to 2 hours, and ships mail order across Canada; hours are 8 AM to 2 AM Sunday to Wednesday and 8 AM to 3 AM Thursday to Saturday. See the hash menu; the menu carries lab-tested products. Local orders are paid by cash on delivery or Interac e-Transfer, and customers must be 19 or older (21 in Quebec), with ID checked at the door.
