Staying safe while smoking pot is incredibly important, so we highly recommend using gear specifically designed for taking a hit. All of our inventory has been designed for the best, safest smoking experience using high-quality materials, so you can’t go wrong when you choose a RYOT product.
That said, sometimes you find yourself without an aluminum dugout, portable vaporizer, bong, or pipe, and you just need a smoke. What do you do in these circumstances? Grit your teeth and soldier on or get a little creative? We don’t recommend going that first route, but we can definitely help with the second. By thinking outside the rolling papers, you can have an enjoyable experience using objects you probably have on hand.
Food Items
Candy: Starbursts are the perfect candy for making a homemade pipe because they are accessible and convenient (if slightly sticky), but they also make a tasty snack once you’ve finished your flower. You can make a homemade pipe one of two ways:
- Work the Starbursts together into a putty, and then form it into a pipe shape with a bowl-shape on one end and a mouthpiece on the other. Use a sharp utensil to poke a hole through the pipe, stopping right where the bowl starts. Then use your sharp tool to carve out the bowl and connect the two airways. Smoke as usual.
- Stack Starbursts into an L-shape (the short end of the L makes the bowl) and use a sharp tool like a wooden skewer to poke a hole through the mouthpiece and then carve out the bowl, making sure that both airways connect.
Fruits: Making a pipe out of an apple is a fun (and fruity) parlor trick for when you don’t have a pipe handy. Simply use a sharp object (ex: a skewer or a pen) to make a hole halfway down the apple from where the stem came out. You may need to use a knife to carve the top of this hole into a bowl shape. Then make another hole halfway through the side of the apple perpendicular to the stem hole, making sure that they connect in the middle (try blowing air through it to make sure they connect). Make a third hole coming from a different side of the apple, joining in the middle again (this one is for the carb). Other fruits that work well include melons, pomegranates, and cucumbers.
Vegetables: You can cut similar configurations out of vegetables such as squash and potatoes. Additionally, carrots work great as a pipe or one hitter because they’re already shaped well for the job.
*Note: You must choose fruits or vegetables that are firm and not rotten or mushy in any way. You don’t want the heat to cause the fruit to collapse and potentially ruin your bud before you get to enjoy it completely.
Household Items
It’s important to mention here that you should never have burning cannabis come in contact with any plastic materials. Whatever method you choose, you should have a metal (ex: aluminum foil or a metal bolt) or organic piece (ex: fruit) acting as a bowl, even if plastic encases everything else. You don’t want any burning plastic in your lungs, so be careful when you load your weed that it only comes in contact with non-plastic surfaces.
Pen: A common household item for creating a DIY one hitter is using a pen casing, but you have to make sure that the end piece that holds your bud is made of metal. First, remove all of the guts of the pen, then pack a little bit of green into the metal end, reinsert the metal end with the bowl pointing out, and light up the way you would a dugout one hitter.
You can use other household items to make bongs, pipes, and one hitters, including Tic Tac containers, toilet paper rolls, soda cans, LEGOs, and plastic water bottles.
Rolling Paper
There aren’t many acceptable substitutes for rolling paper, but there are some common things to use if you find yourself in a pinch. Dried corn husks are a good option because they’re natural and haven’t been processed with any inks or chemicals. Additionally, if you have some roses at your house, you can make some rolling paper by sticking a few petals under the broiler for about 10 seconds. When you remove them from the oven, quickly lick the petals and stick them together in a line. Put them back under the broiler for about 10 more seconds, and you’ll have some rose paper for rolling.
If you don’t have either of these natural options, you can always use paper from a book you don’t care about. Just make sure that there is as little ink as possible on the paper (preferably none) because you don’t want to be inhaling that into your lungs. Paper gum wrappers even work as long as you peel off the aluminum coating.
Grinder
If you find yourself without an herb grinder, there are several things you can do to get your bud down to a nice powder. You can always use your hands to break the bud into manageable pieces (though you risk wasting some of that valuable pollen on your fingers). You can also use a knife or a credit card to chop things up, and keeping a utility tool like this handy can help you in countless situations, not the least of which is chopping up your green. Of course, we strongly recommend keeping a high-quality cannabis grinder anywhere you like to light up because that is the safest and most efficient way to grind up your cannabis.
As hard as you try to always have a hit handy, sometimes you find yourself without the necessary tools to get the puff you need. Don’t worry, though! With a little bit of creativity and ingenuity, many common household materials can turn into smoking devices in a pinch.
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