Who remembers the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears? For those that do, remember how Goldilocks found the first bed ‘too hard’, the second bed ‘too soft’, and then finding the third bed ‘just right’? Now of course we don’t recommend wandering into the homes of bears and sleeping in their beds, but we do make these kinds of evaluations all the time.
Finding that ‘just right’ point between too much of something and not enough of it can also be applied to finding the right amount of cannabis to experience a perfect high. Sometimes one or two concentrated puffs is just what you need to get a perfect glow, without overdoing it and getting blitzed. Or conversely going too lean and not getting enough of the buzz you’re after. That’s why we’re going to discuss how to use a one hitter today.
How to Use a One Hitter
A one hitter pipe is usually a small, thin tubular pipe that has a small combustion chamber at its tip. In comparison to the bowl of a standard pipe that will sit on the top of the pipe and face upwards, the chamber on the one hitter is just an area at the tip of the pipe with a ported separator opening a half inch down the length of the tube. This serves as a screen and prevents the cannabis or ash from my being drawn further down the pipe.
You take a small quantity of marijuana, push it into that chamber, and bring the flame of the lighter up to the tip of your one-hitter to take a toke. The idea is that you finish the entirety of the product in one toke, and if you’re good, you’re good. If not, repeat. That’s the long and short of how to use a one hitter.
So, while that’s entirely simple, let’s talk about the ins and outs of how to use a one hitter in greater detail. They’re a nice speedy and discreet way of getting in a quick toke when just one or two is all you need.
Grind Less, Pack Light, Toke Slow
Most one hitter pipes will hold about 25mg of cannabis, and that’s enough for a voluminous toke. Provided you’ve got some quality marijuana, one or two of these should do nicely. Unless of course you’ve got a very high tolerance to marijuana. However, a one-hitter pipe can serve as a nice ‘pick me up’ for these people too, reinvigorating their existing high with a quick toke.
The 3 main guidelines of how to use a one hitter are as follows:
- Don’t grind up your weed as finely as you would for a joint or smoking with a conventional pipe. Leaving it a little more intact and coarse works well for packing it into the tip of your one-hitter.
- Pack your tip much lighter than you would a bowl. Pack it tight – but not too tight – so it’s dense for burning efficiently, and there’s no risk of any of it falling out if you tilt the pipe forward for whatever reason.
- Light the pipe with the flame from your lighter for just a moment or two, toking slowly and gradually to finish the quantity at once and not overwhelming your lungs with the entirety of it at once.
Keep It Clean
Learning how to use a one hitter pipe is easy, and cleaning it is easy too. Good thing, as it’s just as important to clean these pipes as it is for any other. A buildup of tar and resin makes it so that your tokes come with a foul taste, and safe to say no one’ll like that. Fortunately, cleaning a one-hitter pipe is easier than conventional pipes.
How to properly clean a one hitter:
- Rinse with hot water, pouring it down the length of the inside of the tube. Mindful of your fingers.
- Now put your one-hitter in a small plastic container, or a plastic baggie if you don’t have a container handy.
- Slowly pour in as much isopropyl alcohol as needed to submerge the pipe.
- Now add a tablespoon or so of salt.
- Shake the container semi-vigorously so that the salt and alcohol mixture is churning all over the inside of it.
- Do this for 30 seconds for so, and then open the container and pour out the liquid mixture.
- Rinse the pipe with hot water again, same as step 1.
- Let the pipe air dry ideally.
Nothing beats a one-hitter pipe for convenience, portability, and discreetness. How to use a one hitter pipe certainly isn’t rocket science, and most of you would have put 2 and 2 together with it anyways. Hopefully this has been helpful for some though. It likely is for someone who’s new to enjoying marijuana and wants to know more about choosing marijuana pipes.
