Joint, Spliff, or Blunt?
Lighting a spliff, smoking a blunt, rolling a joint…
To cannabis newbies, there’s a temptation to think all three terms refer to the same thing. However, not only does each phrase relate to a different method of ingesting cannabis, but the methods themselves are also distinguished by differences that carry varying health consequences.
The quick take is that medical professionals at CannaMD do not advocate using blunts or spliffs. Before getting into the reasons why, let’s start with some definitions and background.
What Is a Joint?
“Doobie, bone, jay, pinner, zag…”
Different names for the same thing: a hand-rolled cannabis flower cigarette, most commonly known as a “joint.” The term likely dates to the days before double-wide rolling papers became a thing, and refers to the practice of joining several rolling papers together to hold more marijuana. The most important thing to know about a joint is that the only thing inside should be cannabis flower.
- Contains Tobacco: No
- Uses Rolling Paper: Yes
- Uses Wrap: No
What Is a Spliff?
When you roll up a mix of marijuana and tobacco, you’ve made a spliff. The name comes from Jamaica and is said to be a combination of the words “split” and “whiff,” describing the distinct aroma of the smoke created by combining the two substances. The globalization of reggae music popularized the word, and it is also used to describe a hand-rolled mix of tobacco and hashish.
- Contains Tobacco: Yes
- Uses Rolling Paper: Yes
- Uses Wrap: No
What Is a Blunt?
A blunt is a small, hollowed-out cigar packed with marijuana. The practice was popularized by hip hop culture and took its name from Phillies Blunt brand cigars, which were a favorite for creating these hybrid smokes. In the days before legalization, a blunt’s tobacco leaf wrap provided a discreet visual alternative to joints, while also disguising the distinctive odor of burning weed.
- Contains Tobacco: Yes
- Uses Rolling Paper: No
- Uses Wrap: Yes
Why Do People Add Tobacco to Marijuana?
With the exception of the United States and a few other countries, mixing tobacco and cannabis is the preferred method of smoking. The most recent Global Drug Survey found that 65% of the world’s cannabis smokers added tobacco to the mix, and in many European countries the rate was as high as 90%.
A historic explanation for Europe’s love of spliffs dates to the 1960s. While flower children in the United States were toking Mexican marijuana or northern California cannabis, the European market was dominated by hashish coming from the Middle East and Morocco. Because resinous hashish doesn’t burn evenly, it was typically crumbled and mixed with tobacco. Traditions created during this time period remained in place as marijuana flower became more readily available.
A frequent explanation for the attraction of tobacco/marijuana mixtures is the belief that it improves the high. A laboratory study from 2009 showed that the smoke of a tobacco/cannabis mix had as much as 45% more THC than pure cannabis smoke. These results were based on mechanical smoking machines and choreographic analysis, and the authors stated that this was likely due to more complete combustion and vaporization of the marijuana flower rather than a synergistic chemical reaction.
More recent research from the University College London asked experienced cannabis users to rate the experience of smoking pure marijuana as opposed to a cannabis/tobacco mixture. Subjects were also given a series of simple cognitive and memory tests. Based on responses and results, the study authors reported that adding tobacco did not appear to alter the nature or intensity of the high, but did appear to improve some aspects of short-term memory affected by marijuana intoxication. On the downside, they also found that adding tobacco increased both heart rate and blood pressure.
Why Mixing Tobacco & Marijuana Is Bad for Your Health
When you fire up a blunt or light a spliff, you are smoking tobacco. And there’s nothing good about that. CannaMD has reported on the health risks of smoking tobacco as compared to smoking marijuana. While there are some general concerns about the effects of marijuana smoke, the current consensus is that it does not pose an equivalent level of risk as tobacco.
By contrast, the well-documented health risks that come with smoking tobacco include that:
- Nicotine in tobacco smoke is highly addictive
- Tobacco smoke adds 173 toxic compounds to marijuana smoke
- Tobacco smoke contains acrolein, which is implicated in lung diseases and respiratory cancers
- More than 80% of lung cancers are caused by smoking tobacco
- Tobacco causes systemic inflammation and cellular damage from oxidative stress
- Tobacco smoke elevates reactive proteins that increase the risk of heart attacks and stroke
- Tobacco use more than triples the odds of developing Type 2 diabetes
A University College London survey found another reason to avoid mixing cannabis and tobacco. Their research confirmed that, while cannabis use did not pose the same addictive risks as tobacco, using both substances together increased the chances of developing a psychological cannabis dependence and reduced the motivation to quit smoking.
The Problem with Blunts
While spliffs are not nearly as popular in the United States as they are in Europe and elsewhere, blunts are trending. New reporting from the journal Addictive Behaviors shows that between 2015 and 2022, the number of Americans smoking blunts either daily or occasionally rose by 24% and 34% respectively. This equates to roughly 19 million Americans smoking blunts, and numbers have likely increased in the years since the survey data was analyzed. The research also revealed an unexpected trend, which was that the greatest increases in blunt smoking were observed among females, older adults, and those who did not use alcohol; groups with historically lower rates of blunt smoking.
The problem is that when you smoke a blunt, you are inhaling tobacco. In contrast to joints which are made with cigarette papers, blunts encase marijuana within tobacco leaves. It’s a fact that is lost on a substantial number of users.
When researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill surveyed young people between the ages of 15 and 20, they found that one in three respondents did not think blunts contained nicotine. Half of those surveyed thought blunts were less addictive or harmful than unaltered cigars, and this belief became stronger with regular use.
A study published in 2023 found that a substantial number of adults who smoked blunts were unconcerned about nicotine exposure, as they believed that it was found only in the tobacco filler and not the wrapper.
Bottom Line: Stick to Pure Medical Cannabis
After reading this post, the risks of smoking blunts and spliffs should be apparent. Medical marijuana patients can avoid these risks by choosing therapies based on pure marijuana sourced from a licensed dispensary. Patients who choose smoked marijuana can find more information on effective smoking techniques at our website.
If you have questions on medical marijuana, our network of certified medical marijuana doctors is here to help. Contact the CannaMD team at (855) 420-9170 to learn more. Ready to get your card and purchase legal cannabis products? You can find out if you qualify for medical marijuana treatment with our quick online application.
