Survey: How American Cannabis Users Compare to the Rest of the World #Cannabis #Science

Preparation of a spliff with tobacco and cannabis

Herb: What Happens To Your Body When You Mix Weed And Tobacco?

The reference to Herb and the one following to High Times do not link to some type of Cheech and Chong comedy routine nor are they pushing anything except the information which is straight-up and reasoned.


The Rockhouse has not typically favored spliffs during our long and checkered history with cannabis although there are reasons now so that sparked some curiosity about how much people smoke it this way, what are their thoughts about effects or possible risks, etc.

A spliff is a joint with some percentage of tobacco mixed into it.  I knew it wasn't so common in America but not to that extreme.

That question was the primary interest from the first article although it gives a great deal of level-headed information about other approaches such as vaping and dabbing.  The article was written by a PhD so you can be reasonably sure of the content.

High Times:  Survey: How American Cannabis Users Compare to the Rest of the World


There’s a reason why spliffs are so popular. Nicotine causes spikes of opioid “feel good” chemicals in the brain, it is instantly relaxing and gives you a pleasant, lightheaded feeling. You also feel all of these sensations with cannabis, but with more powerful, psychoactive and muscle relaxing effects. When you combine the two, you get a different experience altogether.

- Herb

The effect is subtle since this long-time stoner doesn't look to get wasted but rather savors the buzz for extended periods by smoking small amounts intermittently.  I don't find a huge difference with smoking a spliff except doing it that way does reduce coughing since smoking one of the shortie pipes makes so much heat it's brutal to the lungs.


The study examined the THC content in smoke captured from a pure cannabis joint and a spliff containing only 25% cannabis. The results are surprising. THC in the smoke from the pure cannabis joint measured around 32.70 milligrams per gram. And the spliff? THC increased to 58.90 milligrams per gram. This lead the study authors to conclude that tobacco seemed to increase the vaporization efficiency of THC by as much as 45%.

- Herb

There's a bigger buzz with a spliff since trying to get it all burned in a pipe is almost impossible.  When the cannabis burns with tobacco, it doesn't need to be relit constantly so the combustion is much better.  I may take only three or four hits and, yep, that's enough.


For the interested student, there's no need to refer you anywhere given fifty years of Rockhouse experience.  The reason for my own interest is high impact on the lungs from cannabis and I guess there would be after all these years.

Smoking a pipe, particularly a small one, is the worst because too much heat and too much impact.

A joint is a little bit better since it's marginally cooler but the efficiency isn't so good since it needs frequently to be relit.

Next after that is the spliff and I've found that to be a significantly better smoke for multiple reasons including reduced impact to the lungs.

The next move after that was to take a cigarette filter which I cut in half and then use one half in the spliff.  I found that much superior due to reduced impact and also apparently a bigger buzz.  However, I notice the filter gets much dirtier than the filter used with tobacco alone.  The shorter filter has less surface area and should trap less but it seems to trap more of something.  No matter what the process, that's a lot of goo which doesn't make it to my lungs so five stars on doing that since it doesn't diminish the buzz.

Definite Rockhouse recommendation for filtered spliffs.  If you don't smoke cigarettes by habit, you won't get enough tobacco this way to make any particular difference to health beyond whatever will come from smoking or vaping anything.