Month: July 2006

Alert: Smoking Hookahs Can’t Be THAT Bad For You!

Hookahs and Smoking and RunningSo all of you have been ambushed by those crazies who will tell you that smoking the hookah is just as bad as smoking cigarettes. Well, I am no doctor, but here’s a little story that made me a believe that this simply isn’t true…

Yesterday I had the great priviledge for running a 15K roadrace, which is about 9.3 miles, in Utica, Ny. Without (almost) any training and having been smoking the hookah quite often as of late, I didn’t have a bit of trouble. Hell, I was hung-over and didn’t have to take a break and walk during the race. I ended in 95 minutes… which was faster than most of those “I run everyday, never smoke, and only eat broccolli” types of people. You know em.

So when people come up to you and say that you can’t run if you’ve been smoking, just challenge them to a race and have a fine puff of the hookah when you win.

Herbal Smoke… Damiana, Kava, Skullcap and More

Many people all over the world are now hooked on a new trend – herbal smoking, also known as legal bud smoking. Legal bud smoking involves inhaling the fumes of several herbs, after lighting them, either through specialized pipes, chillums or just by rolling them in cigarette paper.

A wide variety of these herbs have been branded as legal buds. These herbs are those which have been used for centuries in shamanic potions and traditional tribal teas. Herbal smokes are prepared by blending two or more of these herbs in varying proportions. Most popular herbs used are salvia divinorum, hops, chamomile, damiana, ginseng, kava kava, wild dagga, passion flower, star of Bethlehem, skullcap, Artemisia vulgaris, scotch broom tops, betel nut powder and many more. Some manufacturers also call them marijuana alternatives. These blends also contain powders of the mugwort, in order to hold the mixture together.

Many of these ingredients, like the Ayurveda and Persian, are well-known for their medicinal properties and even used in medicinal branches. Some of them are secretly grown. The salvia divinorum has been used for hundreds of years by the shamans of the Aztec civilization for its healing properties. The skullcap is another herb which supposedly relieves a person of worries and tensions. Damiana and ginseng are reputed aphrodisiacs.

American manufacturers procure these herbs from the Hawaiian Islands or Mexico, where the herbs are grown in secret plantations. There is a huge market in America for smokers of legal buds. Some claim that it gives the same high as smoking pure marijuana, but this is a misconception. Most of these herbs do provide ‘highs’, but they are very short-lived.

Herbal smoke is inhaled through pipes or chillums. Native Indians just roll the mixture in a betel leaf. Some people use cigarette paper for rolling the mixture.

The general perception is that herbal smoking is not as harmful as tobacco-smoking. Herbal cigarettes do not contain tobacco, and hence no nicotine. Some manufacturers even claim that these herbal blends do not affect children in any adverse manner. However, health experts have a different point of view. Burning leaves release tar, which clogs the lungs over a period of time. Herbal mixtures may not be as addictive as tobacco, but they do create a craving and a desire to smoke them repeatedly. The only proven effect of herbal smoke is its numbing effect of the nervous system, but health activists still hold herbal smoke in contempt.

Salvia Divinorum for Dummies

Update: Make sure to read the update at the bottom of this post for important info…

Salvia Divinorum

Salvia Divinorum is a plant that can be smoked that is from the sage plant. In the summer of 2004 I had the very weird opportunity of smoking some Salvia Divinorum with my parents who had purchased some from an online store. I’d like to repeat that this was a very weird experience. If you are thinking of buying or smoking some Salvia Divinorum or having some Salvia Divinorum Extract in the near future, then you are going to want to read this whole thing through at least once. It is really not like anything you have ever tried.

Salvia DivinorumLet me start with the basics:

Salvia Divinorum is legal. I won’t say completely legal, because it probably isn’t something you would want to smoke in the car while driving around. Salvia is legal in that gray area that makes glass pipes somewhat legal. It can also usually be found in the same places that sell glass pipes and hookahs and bongs. If you have Salvia Divinorum on you, you will probably be arrested, but would get off when it came to court. My point is, be careful when you have this on you and treat it like a controlled substance.

How You Ingest Salvia Divinorum:

There are two ways that I know of to ingest Salvia Divinorum. I have tried them both. They are…

1. Drink a Salvia Divinorum Extract…

With this method, you actually take what would be considered a tincher of Salvia. This is a highly concentrated and very alcoholic dose of the Salvia Divinorum plant that has to be held in your mouth to be absorbed by your tongue and mouth and then swallowed. The good part of this method is that you can make sure to get exactly the amount you want, and your “high” comes on more slowly. The BAD part of the Salvia Divinorum extract method is that there is so much alcohol in it and you have to hold it in your mouth so long that it will burn the shit out of your mouth. We are talking about skin peeling off of the roof of your mouth and your tongue hurting like never before. The extract is also QUITE expensive and doesn’t do as much (in my humble opinion).

2. Smoke The Salvia Divinorum…

This is my preferred method. You are going to smoke the Salvia Divinorum just like you would smoke weed. You can use your same pipe for the salvia, or if you have a hookah lying around or a water pipe, then that is even better. Very simple stuff.

A Bit about 2x Salvia, 5x Salvia, 10x Salvia, and up…

The people who sell Salvia have thought up lots of new ways to get you blasted (and to make a buck or two more). They now offer higher powered Salvia that is basically more potent. The same thing that hash is to weed. In my experience, the more potent Salvia TRULY does make a big difference if you want to have an out-of-body experience. If you are looking for an experience that is less drastic, then you can buy the cheaper stuff.

What to Expect When You Do Salvia Divinorum:

When you smoke salvia, you are going to have one of two experiences. You are either going to have an out-of-body, more trippy than LSD, forget who you are and that the world exists kind of experience, or you are going to have a lighter feeling more like being high. I’m going to describe the out-of-body feeling first.

Out of Body Experience from Salvia Divinorum:

The first time I tried Salvia, it went like this… I watched my girlfriend take some extract and then trip a bit and think I was a tree and talk to me like I was a tree and then a crayon. It got me pretty psyched. I started out my experience by taking a bit of 25x Salvia Extract which got me ‚Äúto the door‚Äù and I remember ‚Äúfeeling something‚Äù. Since I was still conscious, my guides (my parents) put some 20x salvia into a bong and let me hit it. What happened from there I can only tell you from what I heard afterwards from my girlfriend and parents. I took the hit and held it for a moment then blew it out and would have dropped the bong if someone didn’t grab it from me. I laid back on my back and babbled and then tried to stand up repeatedly for about 10 minutes… then I kept saying ‚ÄúWho are you?‚Äù to the people around for about 30 minutes more. Not too interesting from a spectators point of view, but let me tell you what happened inside my head….

After taking the hit of 20x Salvia Divinorum, I immediately felt my perception of time stop. Time seemed to stop. Completely. I saw the inner workings of what seemed to be a universe of gears with billions of universes inside, each with lives and lives and lives all the way down. I saw the faces of people I had known in this life inside the gears and they seemed more insignificant than an ant. This seemed to continue for what would be days in our normal world until the effects began to wane. “Coming back” is relearning what makes up this world. You relearn that you know the people around you. You relearn that you are human. You relearn that you can walk. It took me about one week to get back to my state of mind before the experience. I must truly say that I have done many, many drugs and this one is absolutely the one that takes you further than any other. I have heard that Salvia Divinorum in these quantities is on par with 5 Meo Dmt.

Smoking Salvia Divinorum in a Joint

All of the Subsequent times that I have smoked Salvia Divinorum have been just regular Salvia smoked in what would be a joint if it were made with weed. Pretty much what happens when you smoke this is you begin to be more conscious or each thing you are doing. For instance, if you are on the computer talking to people, writing an email, and listening to music, you begin to get overwhelmed with how many things you are doing at once and you find yourself sitting and marveling at how much you can do at once.

I have heard many people say that they don’t feel anything when they only smoke a little bit of Salvia Divinorum. If you don’t know what to expect, and therefor what to feel for, you need to smoke a lot to get the feeling in your mind so you can recognize it.

Conclusion

If you have a stable mindset and think you can handle being out of control of your body, then you should try some Salvia Divinorum. It is cheap and mostly legal, so there really is no downside. Just make sure that you have someone with you to watch over you. Salvia Divinorum is not really a “fun” high, and it is completely non-addictive. So, go out to your local head shop and pick some up!

Update: After doing a bit of research, it has come to my attention that smoking Salvia Divinorum CAN be a cause to schizophrenia. If you have any known mental health issues or are on medication don’t fuck with your body chemistry. Do not smoke this. Do not touch this. You really shouldn’t do any drugs.

Why Is My Hookah Harsh?

Lately I Have been asked quite often, Why is My Hookah Harsh? If your hookah isn’t as smooth as you like it, you’ll find yourself smoking less and less (and we can’t have that now, can we?). So, lets try to figure out your problem…

1. First off, take a look at this list of Hookah Tips to see if any of these will help your experience…

2. If those Tips don’t help, make sure that you are setting up the hookah correctly. I know, I know, you’ve done it a million times. Just brush up and make sure you are doing it right… you might have forgotten a step in your years of smoking.

3. Many times you will find that your hookah is smoking a bit too harsh if your shisha hasn’t been taken care of well and it is too dry and burning too quickly. I’d suggest reading these two little diddies ( Shisha Info 1, Shisha Info 2) and make sure that your shisha isn’t having any problems.

4. Lastly, I’ve found that usually your hookah is a bit too harsh if the coal gets to burning the sheesha too much. When it gets harsh, back that coal off a little bit and let the shisha get back to a reasonable temperature. Remember to take your time and treat the hookah like a part of the party and usually the hookah will give back some love too.