Chapter 4 - Joint Etiquette

Protect Your Papers

There are many advantages to carrying rolling papers, rather than a pipe or bong. They're light, legal, and they come many to a pack. However, papers tend to bend and tear when carried around for any length of time. The answer to this problem is a rolling paper protector. (Yes, these are available.) Place the entire pack of papers inside one of these metal cases, and you're good to go.

Paper Cut

The tip of a joint is sometimes totally void of marijuana. When this is the case, be sure to either tear or burn the tip off before smoking it. (Of course, if you just use more weed while rolling, you shouldn't have to worry about this problem.)

Hole in the Roll

Have you ever tried to sip through a straw with a hole in it? This is the same effect you get when your joint has a tear. You can fix a tear by covering it with a small piece of rolling paper, or re-rolling the joint completely.

To avoid this situation, break the buds into small pieces and remove all stems. Larger buds burn more slowly, and will cause your joint to burn unevenly. As for stems, they have a tendency to poke through the paper and ruin your joint altogether. It may take an extra minute or two to prepare the weed in this fashion, but it will save you time and frustration down the line.

Running Joints

Occasionally, even the best-rolled joints will burn too quickly on one side. The solution is simple: saliva. Using the tip of one finger, apply saliva to the side of the joint that's burning too rapidly. This will allow the slower burning side to catch up, and your joint will burn evenly again. If this doesn't work, you can peel the excess paper from the slow burning side, but be careful not to drop the lighted tip, called the "cherry."

Eating the Peanut

What do you do with a "roach" (the butt of a joint) when it has become too small to hit? Well, in some circles, the person left holding the roach eats it. This is called "eating the peanut." (Note: Never eat the peanut when it is still lit, or when it contains a filter or wire.)

If your circle doesn't practice this ritual, there are other options to help you get the most from your joint:

1) Tear the joint apart and load the weed into a pipe.

2) Place the butt-end of the "cherried" (burning) roach into the bowl of your bong.

3) And, as always, there are the trusty roach clips and "alligator" clips.

Generation Joints

In other circles it is customary to save the roaches from your joints and combine the resonated pot into a new (more potent) joint.  If planned correctly, this technique can be repeated endlessly, producing high-potency grandparent joints and even great-grandparent joints.

This practice can also be helpful when you're low on funds.  For instance, if your stash were to run out in the middle of a money crisis, you would still have this super-potent joint leftover to hold you until payday.