The Beauty of the Blunt

The practice of rolling cannabis in cigar leaves can be traced back to New York in the 1980s. The story has it that smokers needed a more discreet way of smoking weed. They would hollow out a cigar, dump its contents, and replace them with cannabis. It got its name from the popular cigar brand Phillies Blunts, which were one of the top choices in for rolling pot.

Today, blunts are one of the popular ways of enjoying weed. It can hold more weed than usual rolling paper. It also lasts longer than a joint since they burn slower. Additionally, blunts are a great way to bond with friends. The long smoke time and strong high that accompanies a blunt make for the perfect social activity (as long as everyone can handle that much weed).  

Blunts and Rap Music

The connection between blunts and rap music is deeply rooted, especially since both of them are said to have started in early 1980’s New York.

New York is a hub of music culture and activity. In fact, the Bronx is recognized as the place where rap and hip hop music originated from.As NRP explains, “Rap as a genre began at block parties in New York City in the early 1970s, when DJs began isolating the percussion breaks of funk, soul, and disco songs and extending them. MCs tasked with introducing the DJs and keeping the crowd energized would talk between songs, joking and generally interacting with the audience. Over time, it became common for the MCs (or rappers, as they soon became known) to talk and rhyme over and in sync with the music.”.

It was not regarded seriously but that changed when it quickly became mainstream after the release of the first commercial rap single, Rapper’s Delight by The Sugarhill Gang

 

While some drugs were addressed in early rap, there was one that was celebrated above all else: Weed. Therefore it’s no surprise that blunts also began appearing in many rap lyrics. Pretty soon, they became synonymous with the rap and hip hop culture. The method of choice became the first choice, not only for rappers but for their listeners as well.

Current Hip Hop

Popular rappers who discussed their love of blunts include Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Schoolboy Q, Chief Keef, and Method Man. Other rappers who enjoy blunts include B-Real, Lil Wayne, and Belly. Snoop Dogg, who many regard as the cannabis king of rap, credits Bushwick Bill of the Getto Boys with being the first person to show him how to roll one. The blunt would become part of Snoop Doggs image and identity.

 

Blunts have actually become such a part of Snoop Doggs life that he has a fulltime blunt roller on staff to, you guessed it, roll a blunt whenever Snoop needs one. His roller is said to be able to read if Snoop needs another blunt just by looking at his face. 

How to Roll a Blunt

There are several ways of rolling a good blunt:

• First, you have to prepare your weed. You can grind your weed using a grinder or bust it up with scissors or even your hands. Blunts burn slower so you want to make sure it is not ground too fine or the weed may smoke faster than the tobacco around it.
• The next step is to prepare the cigar. Look for the cigar’s “vein;” this is the area you want to cut open. It is the part of the wrapper that folds over to complete the tube. Once you’ve located it, you can gently cut it open with a knife lengthwise, from the butt to the tip of the cigar. I prefer to gently pinch and pull it apart carefully with my index and thumb fingers. Whatever you do, just make sure that you don’t create huge tears in the wrapper. Blunts are incredibly hard to repair, and while you can do it using the glue from rolling papers, it gets annoying quickly and the structural integrity of the blunt will be compromised.
• Now, carefully remove its content and empty the cigar, taking care not to tear the wrapper. Gently spread the cigar wrapper open and load up your blunt with your ground weed. Make sure that the weed is spread evenly for an even burn. The weed should not be packed too tightly or you risk it not burning right. Your weed should be packed just right, for good airflow and reduced air pockets.

Now, there are two ways that you can finish rolling the blunt:

• You can start rolling the blunt beginning from its shorter end, tucking it under the weed. Using your index fingers, gently press the tucked end downward. With your thumbs, roll the blunt carefully back and forth to tighten and shape the blunt.or
• The other option is to start rolling from the butt portion of the blunt toward the tip. In this method, you have to gently pinch the weed into place as you roll the blunt. Make sure that the weed is spread evenly as you roll the blunt into its original shape.

To seal the blunt, simply lick the edge of the wrapper and roll the rest of the way. You want to leave it to dry for a while before lighting up.

 

For those who don’t want the hassle of preparing the wrap, there are blunt wraps available in the market. You only have to load your weed and roll.

If you want to try rolling and smoking a blunt and are looking to make it extra special, why not do it in style with Shine’s Gold Blunt Wraps?

For those that which to try the traditional method of busting open a blunt and re-rolling it with cannabis I recommend the Shine Infinity Cigar.

If you want to skip having to break open a cigar and get right to rolling then I recommend the Shine Woven Blunt Wrap.

Why mess around when you can just go all out? I recommend the Shine 24k Gold Blunt Wrap.

Things to Know Before Trying a Blunt

• Blunts are a fun way to enjoy smoking weed. But before you try one, you need to know that there is some inherent harm to it as well. The most obvious being the addition of tobacco to your cannabis.
• Tobacco, by itself, is very addictive. It can increase dependence, and if mixed with cannabis, it means you can become dependent on that too. There are also a great deal more carcinogens and toxins found in tobacco, so you’re inhaling more bad than if you were to just smoke cannabis.  In large doses, tobacco can also make you feel sick. I still remember the first time I tried tobacco. I was on vacation with my family when I was maybe 13 or 14. There was a set of twins from Texas who were a couple of years older than me and all I wanted was to impress them. They were smoking cigarettes one night, and I asked for a drag. I tried to play it cool but felt like I was dying. I lay on the ground and asked them to get my mom who was not very impressed. What I’m saying is, tobacco can make you feel very nauseous and dizzy, so if you’re going to try a blunt, go slow.
  
• Blunts also contain more weed than an ordinary joint. Some say one blunt contains roughly six joints. So if you’re thinking one blunt = one joint, think again. You don’t want to end up too high. Instead, share the blunt with friends.
• Smoking blunts regularly puts the health of your lungs at risk. This one seems obvious, as smoking anything regularly puts your lungs at risk, but especially so with blunts do to the chemicals in tobacco. You are inhaling unfiltered smoke, and this smoke contains chemicals that irritate and damage the lungs. It can increase your risk of developing cancer and other lung problems associated with smoking.

Blunts may have started as a simple way of smoking weed, but they have come to represent so much more. As journalist David Foster explains “Blunts meant hip-hop. They meant urban culture, New York culture and frankly, black culture.” As we’ve discussed, people of colour have been the most impacted and victimized by the unjust war on drugs. Today blunts are part of the fabric of both cannabis and, to a degree, hip hop culture. So next time you roll a blunt, consider the history that went into it and the world that existed when they first started appearing. You should realize how lucky we are to live in a country that no longer criminalizes cannabis and in turn, its users.