Okay, you’ve left your rolling papers at home; you’re not the first person to be in that situation and you sure won’t be the last. Every seasoned weed smoker has been there; gasping for a puff and then suddenly realizing that they’ve left their papers in their aunt’s bathroom after a sneaky covert sesh. Disaster!
Even more of a disaster is that these forgetful moments always seem to happen before you go somewhere far from a resupply. Fortunately, in these unforeseen situations, there are a few alternatives that you can use as rolling papers for smoking.
Alternatives to smoking weed with rolling papers can be fashioned from a whole range of everyday household items and fresh produce. Of course, these emergency substitutes are just that, for emergency use only, and they should not be used routinely to replace rolling papers, pipes or cones. But, when you’re in dire need, here are a few great alternatives to smoking weed with rolling paper.
Toilet-paper pipe or “steamroller”
If the weed rolling papers are nowhere to be found, you can save the day with the inside of a toilet paper roll. These are incredibly easy to use for smoking weed and require very few materials. This is what you will need:
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- Cardboard tube from a toilet-paper roll or paper-towel roll;
- Cutting implement;
- Tinfoil (just a small piece);
- Sticky tape;
- Pen or pencil;
- Toothpick.
Make sure all the paper is removed from the roll. Next, take your sticky tape and cover one end of the cardboard roll so that it is airtight on that side. Use your cutting implement to make a circular or square cut about an inch wide on the side of the cardboard roll. Make a smaller hole about half-an-inch away from the first one using your pen or pencil. This hole is your carb.
Now cut a piece of tin foil that is big enough to cover the first hole. Then form the tin foil into a bowl shape over your thumb and place it over the open end of the cardboard roll. Using your toothpick, pierce the foil bowl several times to allow the smoke to pass through. That’s assembly complete.
Tin-foil pipe
Even without a cardboard roll, you can still fashion a substitute pipe to smoke your weed with by using just tin foil.
Create a cone shape from a piece of tin foil by using a pen or pencil. You want to leave enough tin foil to bend it into a bowl shape and also leave a small gap so air can pass through.
Now just fill the bowl with cannabis, spark it up and smoke away. Tin-foil pipes are simple and quick to make—great for those real emergencies.
Holy smokes
People will try to create their rolling papers out of anything in an emergency, including store receipts and phone-book pages. Neither are great. I know, I’ve tried them both. Receipts have a light plastic coating and the ink is really heavy. Phone books are just too inky.
One place you may not have considered getting help is from the pages of the Bible. No, I don’t mean giving up the weed and getting religious; I mean rolling your weed in the actual pages of the Bible.
Many seasoned smokers recommend the Good Book for the smoking quality of its pages. Try to show a modicum of respect, though, and use a page with no writing on it. You never know who’s watching!
Get fruity
Losing or misplacing your rolling papers can provide you with an opportunity to go green. Try fashioning yourself an apple pipe.
It only takes a few minutes to make one of these healthy, natural alternatives. All you need to get started is the following:
- Large apple;
- Knife or something sharp;
- Pen;
- Toothpick.
Once you’ve found a nice big juicy apple, give it a good rinse and remove the stem. Take your toothpick and insert holes halfway through the apple to its core. With the pen (you’ve already removed the ink), make a hole perpendicular to the toothpick holes, but in line with them. Use your pen again to make a carb; position this where your thumb naturally sits. Remove any bits from your pen and then use this as a mouthpiece.
Refill an empty cigarette
If you’re offered a regular cigarette, but would rather have some of your own weed instead, don’t just refuse the offer. Accept it and then politely explain that you would like to refill it with your own herb.
To replace the tobacco, roll the cigarette back and forth between your thumb and forefinger. The tobacco will come loose and fall out.
Once empty, put your own weed in there. Take care at this stage, as it is easy to tear the paper. To get the full flavour of your cannabis, we recommend that you remove the filter. Seal the end of the cigarette by twisting it to avoid swallowing the new contents.
Quite a bit of work is involved in this one and it’s a little fiddly too, but it’s worth giving it a go. Just beware that your buddy might not be your buddy for long if you keep wasting their tobacco, so make sure to offer him a few tugs on your joint for their generosity.
Which piece of trash can be used? The cans, man!
Instead of chucking your used drink cans in the trash, recycle it as an alternative cannabis pipe. Just rinse your finished can out with water, then put a dent in it to hold the weed. Poke a few holes in the dent to allow the smoke to pass through, then fill the dent with weed. Light the cannabis and draw through the can’s mouth hole.
An easier, but not exactly an emergency, substitute is the Presto Pipe. It’s a gadget that allows you to turn any can or bottle into a cannabis steamroller. Wow, if you’re organized enough to have one of these little babies, you’re probably not the type of person that leaves the rolling papers lying around to get lost.
Water gravity pipe
This beloved alternative to papers has been saving the day for decades. Everything you need to make a water gravity pipe is lying around your home somewhere. Here’s the list:
- Two-litre bottle;
- One-litre bottle;
- Paperclip;
- Tin foil;
- Knife;
- Scissors.
First, cut the bottom two inches of the one-litre bottle. Two inches is important; too much and you’ll have no room for the smoke.
Next, cut the top of the two-litre bottle, then fill it with water. Cut a hole in the lid of the one-litre bottle and cover that with tin foil; poke a few vent holes in the tin foil. Push the one-litre bottle into the water (in the bigger bottle) ensuring the top remains above water. Twist the cap onto the top and place your weed on top of this makeshift bowl.
Light the cannabis and lift the bottle as the smoke fills it. When you’re ready to smoke, remove the tin-foil bowl and depress the bottle as you inhale. Phew, got it? This is a classic procedure and takes some practice to master.
All these are great to try when you are caught short and need a few alternatives to smoking weed with rolling papers.
