Using a filter tip is one of the best ways for a spliff to look perfect. Filters are common in cannabis smoking, but not all marijuana smokers use them. Some people use them for health reasons; others because they help enhance every single puff. In this post we explain the most relevant features of the different types of filter, so you can choose the one that best suits your tastes.
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Using weed filters for smoking marijuana offers many advantages. However, it is hard to point out which one is the best, as in reality each user has their own particular tastes and preferences. Filters can be made of different materials and can be either homemade or designed and manufactured by specialised firms. In any case, there are many options for you to take advantage of the benefits that this way of smoking has to offer.
Filters have several roles, such as preventing the inhalation of harmful substances, or cooling down the air that you breathe in so that each drag becomes more enjoyable. Filters can also help you get the most out of your cannabis and make joint rolling easier.
Smoking cannabis with a filter: a world of benefits
Smoking a joint with a cigarette filter tip helps you make the most out of the filling space. It creates a user-friendly space between your lips and the spliff. This means that you can smoke the full joint more easily, without burning your fingers and without wasting anything.
Using a filter also makes the rolling easier and faster. By being a rigid, structured element within the blunt, the filter helps you give it a good shape and better consistency, and it makes it harder for the paper to split open or become unstuck.
A solid filter can also create a good air flow. That’s why smoking with a filter is easier: you don’t have to inhale as vigorously to be able to enjoy a good hit. Sometimes a joint that has been pressed too tightly can prove impossible to smoke, but with the help of a filter with holes on either side you’ll always get the same amount of air.
Homemade or professional
A good option is to buy ready-made filters in an online grow shop. There is a wide range of materials and formats to choose from. The second option is to make the filters yourself. There are different raw materials that you can use to make your filter tips, and you probably already have some at home.
One of the most traditional alternatives to ready-made filters is cardboard. Any piece can work as long as it fits tightly into the end of the joint. More innovative individuals use ‘fusilli’, that spiral-shaped pasta that you can find in any supermarket. The best thing about this method is that you don’t need any prior preparation: you just need to take a piece of fusilli with the right dimensions for your blunt. The thinner the fusilli, the better. And you can also use a business card or similar, which is a cheap alternative that’s easy to prepare. In addition, many brands include cardboard filters in their promotional products. Cardboard is certainly a versatile and handy material worth keeping around!
Best shapes for handmade filters
If you opt for making your own smoking filters, you can choose from different techniques and shapes. They’ll probably be of a lesser quality than professional filters, but this grants you the opportunity to give free rein to your imagination and creativity.
The most common way of shaping your homemade filters is by folding the cardboard like an accordion, so that the filter tip ends up looking like a ‘W’. There are also other more complex ways of giving shape to your filters: you can model them in the shape of a heart, a star, a spiral, or a cannabis leaf; and even so that they look like the Mercedes-Benz logo!
But, most importantly, filters need to help keep the joint solid, and prevent the weed from coming out through the end that’s closer to the lips. This means that any shape that you can think of is valid as long as the air can circulate properly to maintain good combustion conditions.
Professional filter tips
If you’re not keen on origami and you’d rather use manufactured filters, you can find these in all shapes and sizes (and materials.) There’s a countless number of brands, and each one offers products with their own specific characteristics.
RAW features a wide range of filters in different sizes and formats that include booklets aimed at experienced smokers. You can choose between RAW Organic Tips, which showcase a special curvature to facilitate the rolling, and RAW Prerolled Paper Tips, which save the hassle of having to roll if you’re not good at it.
OCB offers foam filters made with 100% natural cellulose. This means that they’re organic and biodegradable, which is great news for the environment and for those committed to its preservation. Even though they’re more popular amongst cigarette smokers, these filter tips can also be used with marijuana. One of their main features is that they absorb much more smoke, which helps prevent coughing whilst inhaling.
Twister Long Filter by Eko Puffs is a small reusable mouthpiece produced by professional glassblowers using borosilicate glass, a material highly resistant to thermal shock and which is commonly used in the manufacturing of lab equipment and kitchen utensils. This filter makes drags softer and more bearable, it cools the smoke down, and also eliminates the tobacco flavour, so the cannabis terpenes are more noticeable. You’ll definitely be pleasantly surprised by this glass filter!
All in all, the choices are endless. Now you just need to decide on the one that best suits your taste and style.