Spots (also known as spotting, knifers, knife hits, knife tokes, dots, hot knives, kitchen trackingblades, or bladers) refers to a method of smoking cannabis.[1] Small pieces of cannabis are rolled (or simply torn from a larger bud) to form the spot.
The practice originated in the 1970s when drops or dabs of hashish oil were smoked (three dabs of hash oil were considered to be a good standard dose). Generally, the tips of two knife blades are heated, the spot or drop of hash oil, is compressed between the two blades, and the subsequent smoke is inhaled through the nose or mouth.
Another means that is gaining popularity is specially made glass presses heated with a propane or butane torch.[2] In order to facilitate this process, a spottle (also referred to as a bowser, hooter or toker) or hitter is often, but not always, used to funnel the smoke and maximize the amount inhaled. A spottle is generally made from a funnel or cone-shaped container, such as the top (or neck) of a plastic or glass bottle or a gallon of milk/water.[3][full citation needed][4]
Use in different countries
Although practiced over the world, the spots method of cannabis smoking is most common in New Zealand.[5] Possession of knives that have been previously used for spotting (easily distinguished by their blackened and discoloured appearance[3][6]) is considered "possession of paraphernalia" and is thus illegal under New Zealand law. If convicted, the accused faces a possible maximum 1-year prison sentence and/or a $500 fine.[7] In 2008, six New Zealand soldiers were "sent home in disgrace" from their posting in Afghanistan after it was discovered they were spotting hashish.[8] In the United Kingdom, this method of smoking is relatively rare, and appears to be getting rarer. One 1998 survey of regular UK cannabis users put usage of the "hot knives" technique at only 1.3%, down from 5.2% in 1984.[full citation needed][9]
Users spotting cannabis are susceptible to greater health risks than other methods of smoking cannabis. Spotting cannabis oil or resin is thought to be particularly harmful to the lungs, as the smoke comes off the oil at such a high temperature.[10] One possible way of minimizing the risks of spotting marijuana is using cooler knives, leading to the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) being vaporised rather than the entire plant matter being burnt.[11] Some users also fill the lower half of the spottle with ice (that stays in place by being frozen to the edges of the spottle), but much more common is to just freeze the bottle, which leads to a cooler smoke that is less harsh on the lungs.[12]
Care must be taken not to touch the side of a plastic spottle with a hot knife when inhaling spots, as burning plastic gives off many toxic chemicals,[13] including (in the case of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics) dioxin,[14] a carcinogen. For this reason, many smokers prefer to use a glass bottle.
A 1998 joint submission by the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Science on the recreational and medical use of marijuana expressed concern about the use and dissemination of the "hot knives" technique. The submission speculated that increasing use of methods of smoking that enable massive inhalation (and therefore higher intake of cannabinoids) may lead to an increase in incidents of short-term cannabis-related mental disturbance.[15]
Other purposes
The same general procedure is also used with opium, morphine base paste, and black-tar heroin.[16]
Notes and references
↑ Handbook of Pharmacy Education, Harmen R.J., 2001, Pg 169
↑ "The Use of Cannabis and its Derivatives for Medical and Recreational Purposes", joint submission by the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Science to the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee, 1998, Pg 8
↑ "Like A Hot Knife Through Opium", Inside Narcotics 2d Edition (1994) pp 196 sidebar
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A cannabis edible, also known as a cannabis-infused food or simply an edible, is a food item that contains decarboxylated cannabinoids from cannabis extract as an active ingredient. Although edible may refer to either a food or a drink, a cannabis-infused drink may be referred to more specifically as a liquid edible or drinkable. Edibles are a way to consume cannabis. Unlike smoking, in which cannabinoids are inhaled into the lungs and pass rapidly into the bloodstream, peaking in about ten minutes and wearing off in a couple of hours, cannabis edibles may take hours to digest, and their effects may peak two to three hours after consumption and persist for around six hours. The food or drink used may affect both the timing and potency of the dose ingested.
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"Drug paraphernalia" is a term to denote any equipment, product or accessory that is intended or modified for making, using or concealing drugs, typically for recreational purposes. Drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine are related to a wide range of paraphernalia.
A head shop is a retail outlet specializing in paraphernalia used for consumption of cannabis and tobacco and items related to cannabis culture and related countercultures. They emerged from the hippie counterculture in the late 1960s, and at that time, many of them had close ties to the anti-Vietnam War movement as well as groups in the marijuana legalization movement like LeMar, Amorphia, and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
A vaporizer or vaporiser, colloquially known as a vape, is a device used to vaporize substances for inhalation. Plant substances can be used, commonly cannabis, tobacco, or other herbs or blends of essential oil. However, they are most commonly filled with a combination propylene glycol, glycerin, and drugs such as nicotine or tetrahydrocannabinol as a liquid solution.
Cannabis, also known as marijuana or weed among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various traditional medicines for centuries. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive component of cannabis, which is one of the 483 known compounds in the plant, including at least 65 other cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD). Cannabis can be used by smoking, vaporizing, within food, or as an extract.
A gravity bong, also known as a GB, bucket bong, grav, geeb, gibby, yoin, or ghetto bong, is a method of consuming smokable substances such as cannabis. The term describes both a bucket bong and a waterfall bong, since both use air pressure and water to draw smoke. A lung uses similar equipment but instead of water draws the smoke by removing a compacted plastic bag or similar from the chamber.
Lacing or cutting, in drug culture, refer to the act of using a substance to adulterate substances independent of the reason. The resulting substance is laced or cut.
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A roach is the remains of a joint, blunt or roll up cigarette after most of it has been smoked. Most roaches are disposed of immediately after smoking a joint; however, some users will retain the roach for use at a later date. Some users maintain that smoking the roach again has a more intense high due to a high concentration of resin that gathers at the tip of the filter.
A one-hitter is typically a slender pipe with a screened narrow bowl designed for a single inhalation, or "hit", of smoke or vapor from a small serving of heated cannabis flower, tobacco leaf or other dry, sifted herbal preparation. It is distinguished from western-style large-bowl pipes designed for strong tobaccos that are burned hot and tasted but not inhaled. Instead, by properly distancing a lighter flame below the opening, inhalant users operate at vaporization temperatures, minimizing combustion waste and toxicity.
Cannabis consumption refers to the variety of ways cannabis is consumed, among which inhalation and ingestion are most common. All consumption methods involve heating the plant's THCA to decarboxylate it into THC, either at the time of consumption or during preparation. Salves and absorption through the skin (transdermal) are increasingly common in medical uses, both of CBD, THC, and other cannabinoids. Each method leads to subtly different psychoactive effects due to the THC and other chemicals being activated, and then consumed through different administration routes. It is generally considered that smoking, which includes combustion toxins, comes on quickly but lasts for a short period of time, while eating delays the onset of effect but the duration of effect is typically longer. In a 2007 ScienceDaily report of research conducted at the University of California–San Francisco, researchers reported that vaporizer users experience the same biological effect, but without the toxins associated with smoking. Δ9-THC is the primary component when inhaled, but when eaten the liver converts this to the more psychoactive 11-hydroxy-THC form.
Hash oil or cannabis oil is an oleoresin obtained by the extraction of cannabis or hashish. It is a cannabis concentrate containing many of its resins and terpenes – in particular, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and other cannabinoids. Hash oil is usually consumed by smoking, vaporizing or eating. Preparations of hash oil may be solid or semi-liquid colloids depending on both production method and temperature and are usually identified by their appearance or characteristics. Color most commonly ranges from transparent golden or light brown, to tan or black. There are various extraction methods, most involving a solvent, such as butane or ethanol.
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Cannabis has been illegal in Nepal since 1976, but the country has a long history of use of cannabis for Ayurvedic medicine, intoxicant and as a holy offering for Hindu god Shiva and continues to produce cannabis illicitly.
Terms related to cannabis include:
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