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Файл:Ординатура / Хирургия / Библиотека им академика М.И. Перельмана / Книга_5515_Библиотеки_им_академика_М_И_Перельмана.pdf
Gravity bongs and waterfall bongs can be constructed from simple materials (such
as used soda bottles and buckets), as shown in figure 7.3. Both devices operate on the
idea of controlling the pressure on the lit cannabis without the user dragging on it.
Gravity and suction pressure do the work of getting the smoke from the lit bowl. The
result in both designs is to cool the smoke being drawn into the chamber and to disperse
it a bit. In both designs the user simply inhales the cooled smoke from the top of the
device after it has been drawn into the chamber.
There are thousands of makes and models of bongs; a well-established head shop
may carry hundreds. To the untrained eye they look aesthetically pleasing, but the shapes
and devices in bongs determine the smoking experience. The basic principle of a bong
is simple (fig. 7.4).
A bong can be accessorized by several add-ons. Ice can be added to the bong
water, but because it can easily move around a pinch is introduced in the chamber to
catch or prevent the ice from going too high. Adding ice to the bong cools the smoke
coming through from the bowl and downstem. An ash catcher can be attached to the
downstem to prevent particulate matter from entering the water. Diffusers are alterations
to the downstem that further cool the smoke coming into the chamber: small holes are
placed along the downstem to allow smoke to escape at many points in the bong water.
These alterations will increase the contact of the smoke with the water, which helps to
cool the smoke and make it thicker and smoother to inhale, but they can also increase
drag (the amount of effort the user has to put into inhaling).
Figure 7.3. Gravity bong on the top, and waterfall bong on the bottom.
Figure 7.4. A lateral view of a typical bong. The flask itself can be of any shape that can hold a reasonable
layer of water. A bowl is connected to a pipestem, with the nonbowl end submerged into the water. Some
bongs have a small release hole above the water level called a carb or a shotgun hole. When this hole is
blocked (usually by a thumb or finger), the smoke will well up in the stem. Another way to deliver the smoke
to the user without a shotgun hole is to build in a removable downstem that when removed releases the
smoke in the chamber by suction pressure. When the downstem is in place, the system is sealed; but
when removed, the user’s inhaling takes over, and the smoke pours out of the mouthpiece into the user.
There are more complex percolator devices (commonly called percs) that can be
added to the stem of a bong to cool, smooth, and expand the smoke being inhaled into
the bong. Tree percs are the most common, and basic kinds of perc can have a series of
vertically arranged tubes through which the smoke is drawn and then released to the
bong water through slits that allow smoke to percolate through the water. Table 7.1
presents a list of such percs and what they can do.
Ultimately, bong technology has progressed to the point where the smoke making its
way to the lungs of the user is more concentrated with THC and CBD and physically
smoother than smoke inhaled from a regular pipe or a spliff, making the sweet spot even
easier to maintain. But perhaps the best way to inhale cannabis is by vaporizing, or
vaping. Vaporizers can maintain a steadier and more appropriate temperature of inhalant
than spliffs, pipes, or bongs.
Table 7.1. TYPE OF PERCOLATORS (PERCS)
Kinds of percolators or “percs” Comment
Tree One to eight vertical “arms”; slits in arms; increased flow paths to water
Dome Large single dome; smoke forced out of dome via hole in bottom
Dewar A specialized dome perc; eliminates back pressure
Coil Similar to a tree perc, but arms coiled
Ring Also known as halo or disc perc; round glass tube
Pinwheel Extremely rare; a variation on the tree perc
Inline A combination of tree and dewar perc characteristics, but in series
Honeycomb Submerged horizontal disc with multiple holes like a honeycomb
Fritted disc Highest producer of bubbles; similar to honeycomb
Tornado/cyclone Produces a tornado/cyclone effect in bong water
Showerhead Acts like a showerhead, but pointing up to release bubbles
Filter disc An extreme kind of honeycomb perc; superfine holes and several discs
I previously explained that THCA and CBDA decarboxylate by heating to about
160 degrees C (320 degrees F). Part of the problem with all the approaches to creating
smoke for inhalation is that they require fire that is much hotter. If one can heat
marijuana up to just 160 degrees C (320 degrees F) without burning it, then the loss of
THC and CBD will be minimized. THCA and CBDA will vaporize around this
temperature, and the vapor can be collected and then inhaled. The easiest way to do this
is with a commercial vaping device, but to the casual user they are black boxes. Figure
7.5 shows a diagram of a homemade vaporizer using a heat gun. Other homemade
vaporizers can be made from light bulbs (rather like the original Easy-Bake Ovens
made for children) or by using a candle and indirectly heating the cannabis in a metal
tray to the vapor point. A vaping pen is simply a miniaturized heat gun and collection
device.
Figure 7.5. A homemade vaporizing device. A holder for the cannabis is constructed with a small glass bowl
and a mesh cap (to allow the vaped cannabis to escape the bowl) between two short columns. A collection
bag is placed at the top of the device and a heat gun at the bottom. The heat gun is then turned on to force
heat up to the glass bowl. The bowl is slowly heated without any flame touching the cannabis. The heat gun
is kept at a steady temperature to force decarboxylation, but not breakdown to CBN and other unwanted
cannabinoid byproducts.
Eating Cannabis
We eat many plants for nutrition, and some of us eat plants for molecules that have
psychoactive effects. Two specific examples should come to mind: chewing tobacco
and “chewing” coca (cocaine) leaves. As with cannabis, the most efficient way of
delivering nicotine (the active chemical we desire in tobacco) is through smoking it. But
some prefer to chew it. When it is chewed, the salivary proteins of the mouth—
specifically one called salivary amylase—digest the materials in the tobacco leaf.
Another fluid secreted by the mouth called mucin lubricates the chewed matter. When a
tobacco plug or a coca leaf is chewed, therefore, the leaf is partially digested, releasing
any chemical that was produced by the plant; this includes nicotine. Some chewers
swallow the salivary juice produced when chewing tobacco. Others find such
swallowing quite unpleasant. Either way, the saliva with nicotine in it is absorbed by
the body, and the nicotine eventually is delivered to the brain.
“Chewing” coca leaves is another matter, though. This way of ingesting the
psychoactive compound of these leaves—cocaine—is endemic to the native peoples of
the Andes. In fact, La Paz, Bolivia, houses the Museo de la Coca, a museum dedicated
to the understanding of cocaine, the plant that produces coca, and the sociocultural
aspects of coca use by native peoples. It is well known that the people of the Andes
used and continue to use coca leaves to alleviate pain, headaches, stomach ailments,
cramps, and a slew of other sources of human pain. Calling this “chewing” coca leaves
is actually inaccurate, however, because the native people who ingest cocaine orally
are really sucking on the leaves. The practice is old, certainly hundreds of years. The
veins of a coca leaf are tough and can irritate the mouth, so they are usually carefully
removed before placing the leaves in the mouth. The leaves are massaged in the mouth
and bathed with saliva, and the person “chewing” will gently try to massage the leaves
with the inside of the mouth, just enough to disrupt the leaves’ cell membranes but not
enough to macerate them.
About ten grams are gently digested like this at a time, and often a bolus of leaves
is left in the mouth between the gums and the cheek. The natives know the precise spot
in the mouth where saliva is emitted (called the parotid salivary gland), and so the
bolus can sit there over this gland. The plant material is left in the mouth for ten to
fifteen minutes when the user adds a solution called llijta, which is alkaline in pH.
Llijta consists of vegetal ashes from quinoa or plantain plants. A more modern method
is to simply ingest some baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) with the leaves. Such
alkaline solutions added to the chewed coca leaves facilitate the activation of alkaloids.
Cocaine, the targeted substance from chewing coca leaves, is a tropane alkaloid, and it
too is activated. Shortly after the administration of the llijta or baking soda, the cocaine
kicks in and the mouth, cheek, tongue, and throat numb up as the drug is absorbed into
those tissues. The juice is also sometimes swallowed, which can be useful for
alleviating pain in the digestive tract. The cocaine absorbed via the mouth and or the
digestive tract enters the blood system and is transported to the rest of the body.
Chewing coca leaves is not the most efficient way to get cocaine into the body. It
shouldn’t be too surprising to many readers that the most common way of getting
cocaine into the blood system is to snort it. The snorted cocaine gets into the nasal
passageway, where the drug can enter the blood system via a fine network of blood
vessels.
Can you snort marijuana? Yes, but any marijuana that is snorted needs to be
decarboxylated and powdered, so that the fragments coming into the nose are not so big
as to irritate the nasal passages. A California company created a powder product called
Canna Bumps. Apparently, the white powder product and name (bumps) conjured up
snorting cocaine, a huge marketing mistake. Most marijuana users are not cocaine users,
so consumer demand was very low, and the company dropped the product quickly.
More palatable to users are nasal mists. These products infuse THC and CBD into nasal
sprays.
The nasal passage is an interesting way to ingest cannabinoids, but most users of
marijuana ingest it through foodstuffs. Cooking cannabis-laced food items requires a
decarboxylation step before infusing the cannabis material into a substrate such as
butter, and usually consists of simply controlled baking of the spread-out buds in an
oven. Another method is to place the buds in a plastic bag and then immerse the bag in a
precisely calibrated pot of boiling water, so the decarboxylation temperature is
controlled. Still another way to decarboxylate is to use a precisely calibrated crock pot.
Some kinds of butter are better at maintaining and delivering active THC than others.
Cocoa butter is preferred over normal dairy butter, and coconut oil over both. This is
because coconut oil has more saturated fats in it than either butter or cocoa butter, and
these fats assist in the degradation of cannabis glandular material. More important is
that coconut oil has a high concentration of medium-chain triglycerides, which
accelerate the absorption of the THC and CBD into the bloodstream. It is critical that
this absorption occurs in the portal vein and liver, where the active form of THC is
converted to the much more powerful and psychoactive 11-OH-THC that eventually
will make it to the brain.
Purveyors of edible marijuana have been clever in how they make their products,
and the practice is thousands of years old. According to Ram Nath Chopra, considered
the “father of Indian pharmacology,” cannabis preparation is known from the Atharva
Veda, a Hindu scriptural text of procedures for everyday life. The most common edible
(actually, drinkable) product from that time about 3,000 years ago is called bhang.
Chopra offered a veritable cookbook of bhang recipes, prepared with cannabis leaves
and flowers, milk, and a variety of other ingredients such as almonds, pistachios, rose
petals, mint leaves, garam masala, ginger, fennel, anise, cardamom, rosewater, and
honey.
Figure 7.6. Advertisement for Hasheesh Candy in Vanity Fair from 1862.
The more recent history of edible cannabis started 150 years ago and has led to
highly creative culinary developments more recently, with clandestine cooking in
between. Lacking candy with marijuana cannabinoids has a bit of history. In the 1860s
candy lovers were treated to a product offered by the Gunjah Wallah Company in New
York called Hasheesh Candy (fig. 7.6). This maple-flavored sugar candy was sold
legally for over forty years and was even advertised in the proto-Amazon Sears,
Roebuck catalog. It was marketed as fun, sweet, and perfectly harmless. In fact, several
other products with psychoactive compounds were offered during this time, including
opium- and cocaine-infused tonics that were used medicinally.
The advertisement for Hasheesh Candy (see fig. 7.6) offered it as a medicinal
product. In 1906 the United States passed the Pure Food and Drug Act. Although this
law was initially ineffective in curbing quack remedies containing psychoactives, it
eventually drove most edible marijuana products underground. In 1954 Alice B. Toklas
included a recipe for hashish fudge in her famous eponymous cookbook. Needless to
say, the publication of this recipe was controversial at the time, and for the most part
underground cooking of edible marijuana remained the only way to make it available in
this form.
Marijuana-laced food (especially brownies) was produced by users of cannabis
during the latter half of the twentieth century as an alternative to smoking. Today
cooking with marijuana has become an art and an industry. Even cable channel
streaming services have created cannabis cooking reality shows such as Cooking on
High and Bong Appetite. Laced candies are particularly popular, with gummy bears
being one of the more popular ways of consuming THC. Hasheesh Candy, in other
words, is back in vogue.
8
THC and CBD in the Body
Through decarboxylation, we now have the THC and CBD in either smoke or edible
form ready for the body. Where do they go from there? First let’s follow a molecule of
THC emanating from a hit on a joint, and then do the same for a molecule of THC in a
piece of white chocolate. We need to consider how smoke egresses to the body
differently than food does for one simple reason: inhaling THC and CBD delivers it to
the lungs, while ingesting these compounds in food delivers it to the stomach.
If you take a drag of cannabis from a joint and inhale the smoke, most of it goes into
your mouth and down your trachea. While the smoke is in your mouth, there are a large
number of volatile chemicals entering it with which your taste buds will interact. Your
olfactory system will also detect quite a few odors. This is because your gustatory- and
olfactory-sensing systems both work by reacting with chemicals. Your sense of taste is
bombarded with a lot of the volatilized terpenes that are wafting into your mouth. The
tastes are sometimes overwhelming and are accentuated by your olfactory system,
because a good deal of taste is actually smell.
For a comparison, try this simple experiment: Find a cherry- or strawberryflavored jelly bean. Hold your nose closed, pop the jelly bean into your mouth, and
chew. Because the jelly bean is mostly sugar, your taste buds will immediately detect
sweetness, but recognizing the taste as cherry or strawberry is not entirely complete