Smoking weed from a hookah

Most people smoke weed in a bong, blunt or joint. But have you tried smoking weed in a hookah? If you’re from the West, chances are you haven’t. But smoking weed from a hookah is a unique experience that doesn’t take too much effort even if it looks a little complex at first.

In fact, smoking weed from a hookah can provide you with a more social smoking experience than you’re used to. Let’s break down exactly what you need to know about smoking from a hookah and why you might consider buying one for your next party.

What is a hookah?

Also called a qalyan, a hookah is a device you can use to smoke and vaporize dry tobacco or cannabis (though it was originally designed for smoking tobacco exclusively). These are the tall, seemingly complex instruments mostly used by folks in the Middle East and Asia for smoking their favorite tobacco and various flavorings. 

Can you smoke weed from a hookah?

Absolutely! The hookah was originally designed for use with dry tobacco. But since dry and crushed cannabis is essentially the same in terms of texture, you can vaporize it the same way and enjoy your top-tier marijuana using a quality hookah the same as you would with a bong, blunt, or e-cigarette vaporizer.

The only difference is that some hookahs might have bowls sized for tobacco smokes. So you might need to do some experimentation to find the perfect amount of cannabis for a session. Many of them also feature multiple mouthpieces, meaning several people can enjoy a quality smoking experience at the same time.

The benefits of smoking weed from a hookah

Smoking weed in a hookah offers a few interesting benefits, plus a few differences compared to smoking weed using another tool:

• You can smoke at the same time with multiple people. Unlike sharing a blunt, you don’t have to spread germs as easily by passing the same smoke from person to person
• Some hookahs allow you to take deep draws of cannabis smoke, potentially offering a more euphoric sensation or a more relaxing effect compared to smaller cannabis smoking instruments
• Smoking weed through a hookah almost forces you to sit down and relax. This can be an ancillary benefit if you are normally twitchy and smoke weed to calm down at the end of the day. That’s because hookahs are large and bulky instruments compared to a blunt or joint

How to use a hookah to smoke weed?

Smoking weed from a hookah is pretty easy, and it follows the same basic process as if you would smoke tobacco from the same tool. Let’s break down the process for smoking weed from a hookah step-by-step.

Step one

To begin, make sure that any hookah you plan to use is clean. You should clean out any of the pans or pipes by giving the hookah a good rinse and thoroughly cleansing the interior. Not only is this important so that you don’t force toxins into your lungs, but it also improves the overall flavor of the cannabis smoke.

Step two

Next, find your hookah’s tank and fill it about one-third of the way with cold water. You can also use room temperature water, but cold water will cool the cannabis smoke down and make your smoking experience a little more enjoyable. But keep in mind that you should only fill your hookah tank about one half of the way full if you use frozen water to make sure you can draw smoke effectively from the apparatus.

Place the upper piece and the stem of the hookah gently into the main reservoir vase. Depending on your hookah, some will sit into place with a little pressure, while others will require you to screw it on clockwise.

Step three

Next, take a look at the different hookah hose connections. Your hookah will likely have several of these. The hoses should be flexible and easy to manipulate, especially if you plan to smoke with multiple people at the same time. This is what allows a hookah to be such an excellent social smoking tool.

Do a little test run by pressing your lips to the mouthpiece and taking a breath. If you can draw in air slowly and easily, the hose is working properly. If you can’t draw in air correctly, empty a little bit of water from the basin.

Step four

Now it’s time to add your dried cannabis flower. Stir it if your cannabis has flavor additive, then add the cannabis to the hookah bowl. Be sure not to pack the bowl totally full – if you don’t do this, the hookah will have trouble spreading heated air evenly around the crushed flowers, which can impact the burn rate and the distribution.

Cover the bowl with aluminum foil after packing it appropriately. This should seal in your cannabis. You can alternatively use a hookah screen that already comes with holes – if you’re using regular aluminum foil, use a toothpick or knife to poke a few holes into the aluminum sheet to let air inside.

Step five

Light the hookah coals after placing them on a heat resistant surface. After you light them, you’ll need to wait a few minutes for them to stop burning. When ready, the coals should look bright red and not emit constant sparks.

Use tongs or heat-proof gloves and take the coals, moving them just above the bowl and placing them on the screen or aluminum foil sheet. Place as many coals as possible without covering up the air holes you made earlier – again, this is to maximize heat flow and distribution.

Step six

Lastly, just wait a few moments for the coals to vaporize the weed (about a minute should do the trick for most cases). Then you can place your mouth on one of the hookah hoses and take a deep breath.

The resulting hit should be intense and euphoric. If there’s a problem drawing in cannabis smoke, recheck the holes with the aluminum foil or sheet and make sure that airflow is still being facilitated. Otherwise, you may need to tinker with the hookah or the water level.

From this point, you can enjoy your cannabis until the flower have been mostly vaporized. If you want to make your next time a little faster, clean out your hookah before returning it to the cabinet or somewhere else that’s safe for storage. 

Summary

If you haven’t tried smoking weed in a hookah, you really should! This is doubly true if you are more of a social smoker than a solo smoker, as there’s arguably nothing better than sitting around in a circle with your friends, all sharing the same cannabis experience from a single hookah device.

Ultimately, setting up a hookah is pretty easy and the process of lighting the cannabis and hitting things going only takes a few minutes in total, even if the device looks more complicated than your average blunt. 

Let us know if you have other questions and be sure to check out our online catalog of top-tier cannabis. With something as elegant and excellent as a hookah, you should only ever use high-quality cannabis products.