In society there are a lot of different health trends, some for dieting, some for drinking alcohol and even smoking weed. Believe it or not, stoners don’t want to burn out their lungs and find different ways to eliminate some of the negative impacts. When smoking a joint you can get two different types of ash, black or white and ideally most consumers want white ash.
White ash is thought to be the cleanest way to smoke and is evidence of correctly growing plants. One of the ways to produce white ash is to wash the plant at the end of the cycle, also known as “flushing”. Doing this gets rid of excess nutrients and forces the plant to use its stored nutrients. Flushing is considered to produce better bud and ultimately give a better high, but a 2019 flushing cannabis trial and event conducted by RX Green Technologies, found otherwise. The company found the consumers who blind-tasted bud from different flushing periods, including no flushing, couldn’t tell a difference; they actually preferred the unflushed cannabis. Flushing aside, there are other factors that contribute to white ash and to a cleaner smoking experience.
One of the factors you should consider when looking for white ash is the moisture content. Similar to a wood fire, the drier the product becomes, the whiter it becomes. The damper the product, the darker and harder it is to burn. Drier weed will combust faster producing white ash.
Health-conscious cannabis smokers may look for alternative joint smoking accessories to make less of an impact on their lungs. One of the first items to change is your rolling paper. Rolling paper comes in a variety of materials like hemp, rice fibers, and wood pulp. When trying out different types and brands, you will find how each one burns, how it tastes and how much ash it produces. Some consumers prefer a hemp-based paper to get a complete cannabis experience while others prefer to use natural leaves like tobacco or palm.
Another way to get a cleaner smoking experience is through your flame source. Typically, smokers will use a lighter and slowly rotate the joint or blunt to give it an even burn. As soon as the lighter is lit, you are exposing your weed to noxious butane chemicals that are bad for your lungs and can even impact your flavor profile. Many stoners have switched to hemp wick, a thin cannabis derived cord covered in beeswax to control the burn. It is lit on one end a produces a slower burn which is great for bowl and pipe users.
A newer trend of vaping cannabis eliminates the use of lighters and paper because of the negative impacts. Some consumers have switched over to vaporizers as it is thought to alleviate health concerns. Performing your own tests and experimenting with alternatives will be the best way to find your cleanest and best smoking experience.
