A question about weed consumption (serious)

[Dystopia]

I'm not personally a weed consumer, even tough I've tried it a few times. I'm curious about something:

From reading in international forums, talking to friends who've traveled and observing real life experiences and interactions, it seems Americans (and maybe Canadians and Australians too, but I don't know) smoke just weed, or "pure weed" like we call it in Europe, whereas Europeans mix it with tobacco. Why does it work like this and why do some people prefer one method over the other?

As far as I'm concerned, most of my friends who smoke prefer hashish, not actual weed, because it is cheaper, however many say that it will not burn correctly if it's not mixed with tobacco, so they mix it with rolling tobacco (like Amber Leaf) - Plus, people usually tell me that smoking a joint with "just weed" is very strong even for experienced users. Others tell me that the amount of weed needed to get several people high doesn't justify putting weed in a whole joint, so they mix with tobacco. I'm kinda noob on this, so could someone explain it to me? And how does real weed distinguish itself from hash? Most of my friends who smoke, have these solidified brown bars, that you remove a piece, burn it with a lighter, mix with tobacco and roll it in a king size paper with a handmade filter tip (it can be made out of cardboard, paper, whatever, but people don't use actual filtertips for rolling tobacco). 

Thanks for the replies

[paulpablo]

I'm not personally a weed consumer, even tough I've tried it a few times. I'm curious about something:

From reading in international forums, talking to friends who've traveled and observing real life experiences and interactions, it seems Americans (and maybe Canadians and Australians too, but I don't know) smoke just weed, or "pure weed" like we call it in Europe, whereas Europeans mix it with tobacco. Why does it work like this and why do some people prefer one method over the other?

As far as I'm concerned, most of my friends who smoke prefer hashish, not actual weed, because it is cheaper, however many say that it will not burn correctly if it's not mixed with tobacco, so they mix it with rolling tobacco (like Amber Leaf) - Plus, people usually tell me that smoking a joint with "just weed" is very strong even for experienced users. Others tell me that the amount of weed needed to get several people high doesn't justify putting weed in a whole joint, so they mix with tobacco. I'm kinda noob on this, so could someone explain it to me? And how does real weed distinguish itself from hash? Most of my friends who smoke, have these solidified brown bars, that you remove a piece, burn it with a lighter, mix with tobacco and roll it in a king size paper with a handmade filter tip (it can be made out of cardboard, paper, whatever, but people don't use actual filtertips for rolling tobacco). 

Thanks for the replies

From my own experience I'd say there's not that much difference between hash and real weed except maybe you get a bit more stoned with real weed. 
But then I also found that eating hash got me even more stoned than smoking either real weed or smoking hash.
Just thinking back to smoking weed gets me depressed about all that money I wasted smoking it and how crap of a drug it is.

[Dystopia]

I'm not personally a weed consumer, even tough I've tried it a few times. I'm curious about something:

From reading in international forums, talking to friends who've traveled and observing real life experiences and interactions, it seems Americans (and maybe Canadians and Australians too, but I don't know) smoke just weed, or "pure weed" like we call it in Europe, whereas Europeans mix it with tobacco. Why does it work like this and why do some people prefer one method over the other?

As far as I'm concerned, most of my friends who smoke prefer hashish, not actual weed, because it is cheaper, however many say that it will not burn correctly if it's not mixed with tobacco, so they mix it with rolling tobacco (like Amber Leaf) - Plus, people usually tell me that smoking a joint with "just weed" is very strong even for experienced users. Others tell me that the amount of weed needed to get several people high doesn't justify putting weed in a whole joint, so they mix with tobacco. I'm kinda noob on this, so could someone explain it to me? And how does real weed distinguish itself from hash? Most of my friends who smoke, have these solidified brown bars, that you remove a piece, burn it with a lighter, mix with tobacco and roll it in a king size paper with a handmade filter tip (it can be made out of cardboard, paper, whatever, but people don't use actual filtertips for rolling tobacco). 

Thanks for the replies

From my own experience I'd say there's not that much difference between hash and real weed except maybe you get a bit more stoned with real weed. 
But then I also found that eating hash got me even more stoned than smoking either real weed or smoking hash.
Just thinking back to smoking weed gets me depressed about all that money I wasted smoking it and how crap of a drug it is.

So you just eat it? I don't know, but my friends say there's a notable difference between hash and weed - It also depends to whom you buy the weed and hash, and how much you trust that person. From my limited experience, I felt better when smoking actual weed, and about half the times I smoked hashish I felt ill and had to vomit, my mouth was also super dry. I also tried one of those legal synthetic drugs sold in some countries' stores labeled as "house items", that are not really house items but drugs made in labs meant to simulate the effects of real drugs like cannabis, hash, etc - It was a terrible experience and I was passed out for 8 minutes. Can't recommend.

[Faith No More]

If you suggested putting tobacco in your joint over here on this side of the pond, you would be laughed out of the circle. Seriously, I've never heard of such a thing.

There's no need to cut weed with tobacco to weaken its potency. Just take smaller hits of the pure stuff. That way you get all the flavanoids of the weed without any of the crap smoke from the tobacco.

It sounds to me that this is just a cultural preference sort of thing, and that there's no real practical application for adding tobacco beyond that's what you enjoy.

[Dystopia]

If you suggested putting tobacco in your joint over here on this side of the pond, you would be laughed out of the circle.  Seriously, I've never heard of such a thing.  

There's no need to cut weed with tobacco to weaken its potency.  Just take smaller hits of the pure stuff. That way you get all the flavanoids of the weed without any of the crap smoke from the tobacco.

It sounds to me that this is just a cultural preference sort of thing, and that there's no real practical application for adding tobacco beyond that's what you enjoy.

Well, 99% of people I know smoke cigarettes aside from weed - I've only met one person who didn't smoke cigarettes regularly and smoked weed, but he did add rolling tobacco as well to his joints. I understand it's probably a cultural thing, it also depends on the potency and "kind" of weed is available on both sides of the globe, as well as price. I don't know this from experience, but from what my friends tell me (as said in the OP) hash and solidified forms of weed will not burn correctly if you don't add tobacco, so most people mix tobacco anyway.

When I was in school I noticed people who smoked cigarettes were also the majority of weed smokers, but that's probably a cultural thing - I'm not saying you need to smoke both if you smoke one of them - But if you smoked cigarettes in most schools I've been to, you'd probably find yourself in a circle of, so to speak, rebellious groups of people who do lots of dangerous things, and there's probably people who smoke and sell weed. Of course, I don't doubt there's many people around who smoke only weed, but the majority will still add tobacco - For less harsh puffs, just buy a brand of rolling tobacco that is soft, it will taste much better - BTW, back in my day (when I was a teen) most people didn't smoke rolling tobacco due to the low price of normal packs, so most people would remove the tobacco out of a normal cigarette and mix it with weed.

[CapnAwesome]

I'm not personally a weed consumer, even tough I've tried it a few times. I'm curious about something:

From reading in international forums, talking to friends who've traveled and observing real life experiences and interactions, it seems Americans (and maybe Canadians and Australians too, but I don't know) smoke just weed, or "pure weed" like we call it in Europe, whereas Europeans mix it with tobacco. Why does it work like this and why do some people prefer one method over the other?

As far as I'm concerned, most of my friends who smoke prefer hashish, not actual weed, because it is cheaper, however many say that it will not burn correctly if it's not mixed with tobacco, so they mix it with rolling tobacco (like Amber Leaf) - Plus, people usually tell me that smoking a joint with "just weed" is very strong even for experienced users. Others tell me that the amount of weed needed to get several people high doesn't justify putting weed in a whole joint, so they mix with tobacco. I'm kinda noob on this, so could someone explain it to me? And how does real weed distinguish itself from hash? Most of my friends who smoke, have these solidified brown bars, that you remove a piece, burn it with a lighter, mix with tobacco and roll it in a king size paper with a handmade filter tip (it can be made out of cardboard, paper, whatever, but people don't use actual filtertips for rolling tobacco). 

Thanks for the replies

I've smoked weed in about 10 different countries. The difference in them is pretty astonishing. Hash is processed weed. So if you are smoking what looks like a natural plant or part of a natural plant, that's weed. There are different ways to process it which turns it into hash. What your friends are smoking is definitely hash. Most Europeans (and Australians) smoke weed with tobacco because there is just more tobacco consumption I think. It also helps something like hash burn easier, it's harder to light pure hash and harder to smoke it straight. South America they tend to smoke whole joints, but their weed is shittier so you could smoke a whole joint to yourself. In the US (and Canada) you roll a joint and you have to be a champ to smoke it by yourself, so it's more of a social thing. Other than that people smoke out of pipes or bongs. I think the hash culture of Europe is more a result of a lack of a good climate to grow strong weed. All the best weed is American or Canadian. I've never run across good weed anywhere else in the world.

I don't smoke tobacco and don't like it, but if you don't mind it, mix it up.

[Jackalope]

I'm not personally a weed consumer, even tough I've tried it a few times. I'm curious about something:

From reading in international forums, talking to friends who've traveled and observing real life experiences and interactions, it seems Americans (and maybe Canadians and Australians too, but I don't know) smoke just weed, or "pure weed" like we call it in Europe, whereas Europeans mix it with tobacco. Why does it work like this and why do some people prefer one method over the other?

As far as I'm concerned, most of my friends who smoke prefer hashish, not actual weed, because it is cheaper, however many say that it will not burn correctly if it's not mixed with tobacco, so they mix it with rolling tobacco (like Amber Leaf) - Plus, people usually tell me that smoking a joint with "just weed" is very strong even for experienced users. Others tell me that the amount of weed needed to get several people high doesn't justify putting weed in a whole joint, so they mix with tobacco. I'm kinda noob on this, so could someone explain it to me? And how does real weed distinguish itself from hash? Most of my friends who smoke, have these solidified brown bars, that you remove a piece, burn it with a lighter, mix with tobacco and roll it in a king size paper with a handmade filter tip (it can be made out of cardboard, paper, whatever, but people don't use actual filtertips for rolling tobacco). 

Thanks for the replies

I have no idea why someone would do such a thing.

In my experience -

Hashish smokes just fine by itself if you do it properly (just sticking it in a pipe or a joint is doing it wrong). Weed is stronger than hash? Maybe shitty hash. Why would you smoke that?

[Homeless Nutter]

I grew up in an Eastern Europe, where weed and hashish were very rare. We used to smoke it in glass tubes - cigarette holders - because it's less wasteful than joints and we would mix it with tobacco, mainly because that way it was easier to tightly load the tip of the tube, without bits of weed falling out half-burned, or being sucked in.

In UK, we usually smoke joints and we mix weed with tobacco, especially if it's a strong kind, like skunk. It makes it easier to hold the smoke without coughing, especially if you're a tobacco smoker. Also, if you're smoking slowly a joint keeps burning away, while you're not dragging on it, so if all there is in it is weed - you're wasting a bunch of it.

I think a lot of smoking culture differences stem from the availability of marijuana and I'm pretty sure it's more easily available (and consequently cheaper) in US, especially now with all those "medicinal" weed dispensaries.

[brewer]

Weigh in on the weed vs hash potency. Hash potency depends on the weed potency it's made from. I can go pick Neb ditch weed and make hash but I'll never get high.

Hash contains more of the resin containing cannabinoids by weight than the unaltered plant. So, gram for gram, the hash should get you higher.

http://www.maryjanesgarden.com/making-hash

[Jackalope]

Weigh in on the weed vs hash potency. Hash potency depends on the weed potency it's made from. I can go pick Neb ditch weed and make hash but I'll never get high.

^^^ This ^^^

I don't know what kind of ditchweed the guys overseas are making hash from, or what process is used to make it, but over here we have no-shit-lab-tested hash oil that is 60-90% THC. I've been smoking weed for going on four decades and the first time I smoked "dabs" (a.k.a BHO or butane hash oil [butane is used as a solvent to extract the THC]), two big hits and I was way more stoned that had ever been in my life, and that's saying something. Bedtime for me. By way of comparison, the strongest weed I've ever smoked was 33% THC (strongest that was tested for potency, that is - but subjective experience says that it was indeed the strongest).

There's a handful of weed stores around my home (recreational weed is legal and regulated here), and for the most part, most of the sellers don't mess with much sub-20% - and 20% THC is very good. There's one seller downtown who seems to be targeting the lower end market and that store stocks stuff as low as 10% THC. It's cheap, but I don't see any reason to buy it unless I was pretty broke. I don't like to cough, and the cheap shit has to be inhaled so deeply and held so long to get high it's just not worth it to me.