Category: Wild Weed

by Cyrus Grant

Bongs are a tried and true stoner staple. Not only do they make for a great smoking experience, a lot of them are basically art pieces (seriously, blowing glass is no joke). If you’ve decided it’s time to up your bong game, you’ve come to the right place. Mama will cover everything you need to know about bongs, plus some things to look out for when deciding to buy at a head shop or online.

So, whether you’re in the market for your first bong or just a new bong, here’s Mama’s bong buying guide. Oh, and if you want to see some cool bongs make sure you scroll to the end. 

Bong Basics 

So we all know what a bong is. It looks like a vase and you use it to smoke grass. A+, right? Well, that’s certainly the most important info, but let’s get a bit more into the weeds (pun absolutely intended) on what bongs actually are and how they work.

How Bongs Work

Bongs are technically a type of water pipe that uses water to filter smoke for a smoother smoking experience. The main features of a bong are a bowl (this is where you put the weed) that extends down into a chamber that holds water, which then rises into a cylinder where you place your mouth and inhale from.

To break it down for any bong noobs out there, this is how you use a bong:

1. Pack your weed into the bowl (a small, almost pipe-looking device coming off the side)
2. Light the weed
3. Suck air until the water chamber is filled with smoke
4. Remove the bowl
5. Inhale the smoke

And that’s pretty much it. Some bongs work a little differently (we’ll cover some different types down below), and some even come with extra features like percolators to provide additional smoke filtration, or even ash catchers to keep the water clean. 

Bong Materials

Ignoring your homemade fruit bong for a sec, there are four typical materials you’ll find bongs are made out of — glass, ceramic, silicone, and acrylic. If you take nothing else from this, remember that the best bong materials are in that order.

1. Glass – The standard bong material, and for all intents and purposes, the best. Glass performs the best, provides the cleanest and smoothest taste, and is surprisingly resilient (still, be careful not to drop it).
2. Ceramic – Ceramic bongs are a close second to glass and can provide a cool and unique look. They feature many of the positives of a glass bong, but feature one distinct negative — they’re heavy.
3. Silicone – A cheaper, shatter-proof alternative to the above two materials, a silicone bong can work in a pinch, but let’s be honest, the taste and quality of smoke that come out of these things are 🤮.
4. Acrylic –  Just don’t. They’re cheap, but you’re basically just smoking out of a hot plastic water bottle.

There are a few other materials out there, like metal (again with the gross taste) or even bamboo (great option, but kinda a pain to clean since you can ruin them if you’re not careful). 

TLDR: Buy a glass bong…or ceramic if you don’t mind essentially lugging a brick around.

Standard Types of Bongs 

While you’ll typically know a bong when you see one, there are a few different types you’ll often come across.

Classic Bongs (aka Round or Bubble-Base Bong) 

If you’ve ever seen a cartoon bong, it was probably one of these guys. Round-base bongs feature the standard cylinder that stretches down into a round-shaped chamber. The only real difference with this bong from other standard-shaped bongs is that your high friend might set it down just a liiittle too angled, and the next thing you know it’s on the floor. Minus half a point for slightly less stability. 

Beaker Bongs 

Pretty much the exact same as the round bong, but with a wider, more stable base that resembles a science beaker. These are probably the most popular on account of them functioning well and also being more stable than most other bong shapes. The best bong is one that’s tough to accidentally knock over, trust us.

Straight Bongs

Straight bongs are, well, straight. Rather than having a tube that goes down into a larger chamber, they just go straight down into a base. With these, you just put a bit of water in and then it’s business as usual. The plus side of a straight bong is that they’re slightly easier to store, but the downside is they tend to be the least stable of the three major bong shapes. 

Cool Types of Bongs

The bongs in this section are essentially variations of the three above, but with some cooler twists and features. If you’re looking for a bong that provides a little something extra, this is the section for you.

Gravity Bongs

Gravity bongs are technically more of an airflow thing than a gravity thing, but let’s leave the science to people in lab coats and focus on what really matters — gravity bongs will get you extra high.

The basic idea is that water creates a vacuum that draws in a bunch of concentrated smoke. It’s obviously a more complicated process, but it’s easy to use and the important part is that it works. In fact, Seth Rogan (notable stoner), uses a $600 gravity infuser by Stundenglass. Talk about a cool bong.

Percolator Bongs

Percolator Bongs are generally one of the three standard bongs, but with an additional feature called a percolator (fancy word for “filter,” basically). The percolator is a piece of glass in the bong that not only helps filter the smoke, but can also cool the smoke for a smoother, less harsh experience. The only downside to this type of bong is the fact that it’s kinda a pain the ass to clean, since the percolator is generally a pretty small and complex glass structure inside the bong.

Multi-Chamber Bongs (aka Recycler Bongs)

A variation of the straight bong, recycler bongs are straight, but contain two water chambers connected by various smaller tubes. This results in the smoke being filtered a second time, resulting in a smoother and cooler (temperature-wise…but, they look pretty cool too) smoking experience. Again, cleaning is a bit of a hassle, but that’s the price we pay for beauty.

Ice Trap Bongs

What’s cooler than being cool? Ice cold. If you want the literal coolest smoking experience, you’ll want to look for an ice trap bong. These bongs feature something known as an ice trap or pinch, which holds ice cubes so that smoke rises past it and rapidly cools the smoke. Cool smoke = less harsh hit, and it’s as simple as that. 

The only thing you’ll have to look out for is when the ice melts it will fill up the water chamber below to the point you might need to dump some out. Honestly though, the slight amount of extra effort is worth the nice and cool smoke you get.

Buying at a Head Shop vs. Online

We live in a time where you can literally order weed straight to your door (Tough Mama even offers it), but sometimes it can still be worth venturing out into the world when it comes to doing some shopping. Here are some advantages to buying a bong at a head shop versus buying one online.

Head Shop Advantages and Disadvantages 

Advantages

• Employees can answer questions and make recommendations
• You get to physically inspect the bongs and compare them to each other
• Get a better idea of the size
• Take it home with you that day

Disadvantages

• Less price flexibility
• Not as convenient or available near you
• Limited selection

Online Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

• Convenient
• Limitless options
• Not rushed to make a choice

Disadvantages

• Can’t inspect what you buy
• Harder to get direct advice
• Have to wait for delivery
• Risk of damage during delivery

Bonus Section: Some Cool Bongs

Stündenglass Gravity Infuser

We mentioned this one already (made popular by Seth Rogan), but it’s so nice we just had to show it twice. This thing is a high-tech way to get high, and pretty f-ing cool. The price is slightly less cool, but you gotta pay to play sometimes.

Chongo Ceramic Bong by Summerland

If you’re into a minimalist, natural look, Summerland makes some killer bongs. Honestly, these double as home decor. Might just buy a few to keep around the house…for aesthetics of course.

Budsy Water Bottle Bong by Puffco

This one technically breaks our no-plastic rule, but it is pretty cool. If you really want water filtration on the go but don’t want to lug your glass bong along (reasonably so), then this is a solid and discrete option. Just make sure you don’t actually drink the water after.

Mini Baseball Bat Bong By Bougie

A bong that looks like a baseball bat with a baseball bat percolator inside? Yeah, this one knocks it out of the park.

12″ Twisted Spiral Bong

Oooo spirals. Not only does this feature a unique design, it’s also technically an ice bong. Double cool.

Gas Mask Bong

Gas. Mask. Bong. Enough said.

Gorilla Smoking A Fatty Hand-Blown American Rig

A smoking gorilla bong affixed atop a glass banana. Mama might be in love.

And that’s it on Mama’s bong buying guide. There are basically an infinite amount of cool and high-quality bongs out there, so get to searchin’ for something that matches your style. And don’t forget what you learned today, so can you make sure to buy the bong that’ll give you exactly what you’re looking for. 

Oh, and for when you’re not in the bong mood, check out Tough Mama’s selection of seriously great products!

by Dan Ketchum

Sometimes, weed culture crosses the thin green line right into hype culture. And with the tech bros in one ear and the crunchy Birkenstock crew in the other, it can be hard to sort shit out. It’s especially hard when you’ve got one thing called live resin and another called live rosin nestled between 12 other buzzwords – like, who’s branding this stuff?

No worries, though, cause Tough Mama’s here to help you strike a balance between knowing your smoke and just smoking your smoke without straining your brain. Enjoy our slow-burning, smooth-hitting, BS-free breakdown of what live resin is, and why it matters to ganja enthusiasts like you.  

What Is Live Resin?

So what is live resin? Cutting right to the chase, it’s simply a cannabis concentrate, typically produced in oil form. And a cannabis concentrate is just a concentrated (yep) mass of the most active or enjoyed parts of cannabis, like THC or CBD. You’ve heard of concentrates like various oils for your vapes and the resins advertised on pre-rolls – we’ll dive into all of that in a bit.

One of the things that sets live resin apart is how it’s made, and yes, that is a segue.

How Live Resin is Made

Hello, and welcome to the “how it’s made” section we just set up in the last sentence. 

To get that live resin cannabis concentrate, you start with flash-frozen cannabis plants, which are weed plants frozen ASAP after harvesting, typically by way of liquid nitrogen or dry ice, like a sick high school Halloween dance. That plant is kept cool throughout the entire process of extraction, in which all the good parts of cannabis you want to put into a concentrate – psychoactive THC, chill CBD, flavorful terpenes, and such – are separated from the rest of the plant using a solvent like CO2, butane or propane. (Don’t worry, though, modern extraction processes ensure that no traces of solvent are left in the final product.)

Live Resin in Comparison

A lot of the time, concentrates are extracted from dried and cured weed. The main idea behind the flash-freezing method for live resin is to retain more terpenes – the natural chemical compounds that imbue each strain of weed of their distinct aromas and flavors – than those methods, which can sacrifice more terps during the extraction process. 

Here’s how it differs from other concentrates you’ve probably heard of, or seen at the dispensary.  

• Rosin is an extract that’s made without using any solvents, just forces like heat and pressure.
• Live rosin, like live resin, is extracted from flash-frozen cannabis.  
• THC oils can encompass different kinds of concentrates, including live resin. They can be extracted in different ways, but end up as the oils in your tinctures, capsules, and vape carts.
• Wax and shatter are more solid cannabis concentrates that are often enjoyed by dabbing. While wax can be sticky or sappy, shatter has a glassy, sugar candy-like consistency.
• Crumble is a potent and affordable alternative to wax and shatter. Like those, it’s usually made with solvents, but has a more honeycomb-like, drier texture.   
• Budder is another type of terpene-rich, solvent-produced concentrate, this time with a taffy-life feel.  

Live Resin In Your Life

OK, we’ve got all the abstract Google responses to “what is live resin” out of the way. So how does live resin actually factor into your life as a stoner? TBH, it may already be factoring in right now.

How You Use It

Because live resin concentrate has a smooth, saucy consistency (jury’s out on its saucy personality), it’s real common for it to show up in vape cartridges. But that also means it’s easy to micronize and mist onto cannabis flower, which is how you get those “live resin-infused” pre-rolls. Spoilers: we make both of those things and we’re gonna talk about ‘em in a sec.

You don’t have to do anything special, like set up a dab rig or anything, to smoke live resin – if everything’s on the up-and-up, it’ll be labeled loud and clear as a part of the weed you already enjoy, like “live resin vape carts” or “live resin-infused flower.” And after the fact, weed products with live resin don’t really impact the regular storage needs of your zaza.

How It Feels

Ideally, live resin concentrates with all those terps intact offer a fragrant, flavorful experience when you partake, retaining plenty of the original strain’s character. Because those terps are present, products made with live resin may also help facilitate the entourage effect, making for a full-bodied high. 

(P.S.: The entourage effect is the theory that your high is ultimately affected by the sum of weed’s parts, that the interactions between various cannabinoids (like THC and CBD) and other cannabis compounds actually strengthen the high.)

Get Curious

Like Mr. Rogers said, it’s good to be curious. Tough Mama believes that, and we believe in exploring, too. That’s why we’ve got Mini Mofoz pre-rolls and party hardy Yolo Shotz infused with premium Hi-Phi cured resin right alongside Live Resin Infused Hemp Blunts and Live Resin Vape Carts. 

Get curious, and see if that live resin life is for you – by trying a 1.6g Big Block indica blunt with a brain-smacking 37.42% THC content, a more euphoric, aromatic Mango sativa vape cart, or something entirely in-between. 

Cuz sometimes Tough Mama knows best, and sometimes, it’s your call.

Dan Ketchum splits his time between Dallas and LA as a freelance lifestyle, fashion, health, and food writer with more than a decade of experience. In cannabis, been fortunate enough to collaborate with Cannabis & Tech Today, FOCL, Vitagenne, Reign Together, Mistifi, and more.

by Dan Ketchum

Oversized pants, ‘70s fonts, and the return of the Mexican Pizza are trending in 2023, but all that stuff is a little too earthly for true Tough Mama stans. We know you need a little somethin’ somethin’ to elevate you to the stars and back. 

The Year of the Rabbit continues our zaza renaissance in a big way, with plenty of strains that combine flavorful terps with brain-shattering highs. Some of them prove that not all of 2023’s strongest weed strains rely on THC content to get you there, others pack unexpected flavor combos, and all of them are worth your smoke. 

On THC: Let’s Be Real, Though

If we’re talking about the strongest weed strains, or even just plain the best weed strains, we’ve gotta talk about THC content upfront. In the years leading up to 2023, THC percentage has been blasted by canna-marketers, and sellers are more than happy to charge out the ass for high-THC flower. But is THC content all-important when it comes to the strongest weed strains you can get?

According to researchers at the University of Colorado (of course it would be people from Boulder), the answer is “not as much as you’d think.” UC’s 2020 study found that when people were given weed with 16 percent and 24 percent THC content, their monitored physical signals and self-reported “highness” levels didn’t correlate with THC content. Like, at all. 

We’re not saying you should totally ignore THC content (Tough Mama’s own pre-rolls blast past the 30% THC mark, and we like it that way), we’re just saying that it’s just one piece of a whole pie rather than the be-all end-all indicator of any strain’s potency or quality. It’s a rough estimate, but the actual experienced high is a holistic one. It’s the result of all kinds of factors jelling together, including terpene profiles and the literally hundreds of other cannabinoids present in bud. That’s where that whole “entourage effect” comes from, and it really can color your high. 

The Best Weed Strains of 2023

All that science shit aside, 2023’s most powerful and promising strains pack a punch with their THC content as well as plenty of those other equally important factors. You’ll notice that hybridization continues to be absolutely out of control in the best way, and that flavor profiles are getting wilder than ever this year. Long story short, these are the strains that are gonna take you to space in a whole bunch of different ways. 

Whoa Si Whoa 

Forget the highest THC strains of 2022, which ones won the SoCal High Times Cannabis Cup so they could ascend in 2023? That’d be Whoa Si Whoa at first place in the indica category, and for good reason. It adds a touch of CBG — AKA the “mother of all cannabinoids” — to its high THC content, resulting in a high-school-assed high that’ll make you feel giggly, talkative, and tingly all over. 

Goofiez

In 2022, Jokerz dominated the hype cycle, so it’s only natural that a Jokerz x Apples and Bananas strain is one of the hottest flowers of ‘23. Leafly’s already calling this taffy-scented fat boy of a nug one of the very best of the year, thanks to the turbo high it facilitates. It’s an elated sort of creative high, and one that’s best left for veteran canna-sseurs. 

Afghan Kush

It’s called Afghan Kush, but it might as well be called Indica AF. The grandaddy of longtime faves like Northern Lights and Amnesia Haze, this high-CBD strain is finally getting its own time in the sun this year. But when you partake, you might miss out on that sun for a good while — Afghan’s heavy sedative power has the potential to knock your ass out good.  

Iced Lemonade

Speaking of Afghani strains, this sweet citrus refresher crosses Afghan with the iconic Lemon Haze for a sativa that’s equal parts spicy, diesel-y, and sour. It hits real quick, too, slapping you with euphoria upfront and packing a clear-eyed creative boost that can stick around for hours and hours. For an easy way to give it a toke, try our 1.6g live-resin infused hemp-cone sativa blunt, featuring this THC-heavy lemon lime contender. 

Cap Junky 

One thing that’s hot in 2023: Diesel-inspired, gas-machine, muscle-car flower. The Alien Cookies x Animal Mints cross known as Cap Junky is blowing up in LA thanks to its abundance of everything: it’s high in THC, high in terps, high in trichomes, and high in getting your whole ass high. Like Leafly’s David Downs says, “Buckle up and enjoy Cap Junky with a couch and a wall to stare at — you’re going on an inward journey.” 

Ghost Train Haze

On the complete other end of the spectrum from the in-da-couch magnitude of Cap Junky is rising star Ghost Train Haze, the insane baby child of Ghost OG and Nevil’s Wreck. This is the one to try in ‘23 if you want sativa-dominant energetic intensity and don’t mind running the risk of getting a little psychedelic. Ghost Train Haze is like tie-dye rolled into a blunt, and it tastes like sour citrus flower power.

Cookies Gelato

It might sound like a place to get $18 ice cream in WeHo, but Cookies Gelato (a descendant of stoner legend Girl Scout Cookies) is nothing to f**k with. Gelato tastes just as sweet as the name implies, and it makes your brain palace feel pretty dang sweet, too, with a fierce cerebral high. The growers at Royal Queen Seeds say, “she’s pretty much as potent as you can get, delivering an immediate high that hits from the top down.”

Get High Your Way

Consider these potent 2023 up-and-comers the Seven Gnarly Sins of the year, but don’t let that fool you into thinking they’re the only way to get absolutely zonked this year. We love flower, but one of the beautiful things about ‘23 is that your options for weed vessels span the spectrum. 

Tough Mama supports your quest for the highest peaks of highness with our own hybrid live resin vape carts featuring 80.73 percent THC and potent terpene extracts, convenient Mini Mofoz with the big body highs of Ice Cream Cake, and party-starting Yolo Shotz shooters with rapid onset nano-emulsion. But we’re not leaving that flower power behind — Tough Mama’s exclusive Loudpack strains pack a universe-exploding THC content of more than 30%. Plus, it’s greenhouse grown, so you know it’s just as au naturale as Mama herself.

Whatever spaceship you’re taking to the moon in 2023, we’re here for it.

by Dan Ketchum

By nature, stoners love two things: weed and jargon. And hot Cheetos, and skating, and shower thoughts, and vinyl and…alright, never mind about the “two things” part, stoners like lots of stuff, because we’re all unique human beings. But the jargon part is true.

In stoner culture, you’ve got atomizers, bubblers, dabs, zongs, and hotboxes, and that’s just the tip of the slang grass-berg. But just like stoners are distinct and special human-shaped snowflakes, so are our smokeables. Given the number of options out there, it can be tough to cut through the word salad to separate your joints from your blunts (and the lines do get blurry sometimes), but knowing a few key features will inform both your brain and your smoke sesh. 

Where We’re At

Before diving into, uh, blunt definitions and the joint vs. blunt wars, it’s important to clarify something up front: there’s no manual on this stuff. Weed culture has always been a grassroots (no pun intended), countercultural thing, so there is no officiating body, no United Nations of Weed telling us the exact specifications of a blunt or a joint. And that’s especially true here in the absolute weed renaissance we’re living in, where the options are just about endless.

So that said, most of our blunt definitions and joint definitions come from tradition, whether that’s pre-legalization street wisdom, post-legalization product trends, or just Urban Dictionary. We can certainly identify basic characteristics that make a joint a joint and a blunt a blunt, but keep in mind that the cornucopia of cannabis companies out there are ultimately going to identify their products in their own unique ways.

What Makes a Joint a Joint

In the Year of Our Matron Gorilla 2022, you can smoke, vape, eat, drink, dab, drop or rub your weed, you can swish CBD in your mouthwash or get greasy with cannabis-infused personal lube. Whatever gets you going. But still, just plain smoking weed in what Reefer Madness called a “marijuana cigarette” has never gone out of style.

And that’s basically what a joint is: cannabis rolled up in a little tube of paper for a convenient, smokeable format. The papers are usually made from rice, straw, wood pulp, flax, or even hemp, often bleached to a white-ish color. You can roll them yourselves with a flower, a weed grinder, and rolling papers, or get them all fancy-like from your local dispensary as singles or in packages, where they may include a filter. They come in all sorts of sizes but are generally smaller than blunts.

And that’s an important distinction. When it comes to the issue of joint vs. blunt, a lot of what makes a joint a joint comes down to what it lacks – basically, a blunt is a type of joint with some extra features. 

TL, DR: Joint Basics

• It’s weed.
• It’s usually smaller than a blunt.
• The average American joint contains about 0.3 grams of cannabis.
• It doesn’t contain tobacco.
• It usually features lighter-colored or thinner rolling paper (but some unbleached rolling papers may still be a little earthy).
• Those lighter rolling papers also make for a lighter-tasting smoke than a blunt.

How Blunts Hit Different

So here’s that blunt definition: it’s a bigger joint that’s rolled with paper, usually brownish in color, that used to feature tobacco content – nowadays, those papers are commonly made with hemp, (which is what you’ll find in most dispensaries) or other plant content. Back in the day, a blunt was a cigar that was hollowed out and had its tobacco leaf replaced with cannabis, but that’s not gonna be the case when you walk into a dispensary today. Mostly because we don’t need to do that anymore. 

That blunt rolling paper is usually going to be thicker and more textured, too, so the roll may be rougher or appear “veinier” than a joint). Blunts – like Tough Mama’s live resin-infused Hemp Cone blunts – can be conical in shape sometimes, to pack more leaf in. If a joint is a “marijuana cigarette,” think of a blunt sort of like a marijuana cigarillo or cigar.

TL, DR: Blunt Definition

• It’s weed.
• It’s usually bigger than a joint.
• It usually contains about 1 to 2 grams of cannabis (ours have a gram of weed, 0.25 grams of oil, plus terps for 1.6 overall grams of heft).
• The rolling papers are thicker “wraps” made with plants such as hemp, or even more creative stuff like banana leaves.
• That rolling paper can also lend blunts an earthy, sometimes robust, flavor profile.

A Word on Spliffs

Quick note, things can get confusing here because blunts used to primarily combine tobacco papers and weed, and spliffs also combine tobacco and weed. Here’s the key difference: spliffs actually mix tobacco leaf, like the kind you’d find in a cigarette, with the cannabis flower contained in the roll. So unlike a blunt, it’s not just a rolling paper thing. Make sure you clarify when smoking casually, as some people use the term “spliff” and “blunt” interchangeably (Mama’s note: they shouldn’t). 

Joints vs. Blunts 

This isn’t World War III, or Twitter. We don’t need to dunk on each other in the great blunt vs. joint debate. But here’s how they can each affect your session in different ways.

 For one, the different rolling papers can affect the flavor profile of your sesh, lending blunts an earthier, smokier taste. At the end of the day, the strain, or the flower itself, will likely have a more noticeable effect on the way your body and mind respond to the weed, but the question of joint vs. blunt is often a choice of experience. 

Ultimately, because blunts simply contain more flower than joints, they pack more THC content – and they’re going to burn for longer than a joint (the thicker paper contributes to this, too), making them well suited to smoking over time or sharing with bigger groups of friends. It’s a slow-burn kinda high, while a joint is more personal, a little quicker, and best shared with a friend or two (though you can get joints with slow-burning, tobacco-free papers to split the difference). 

And because both of those situations are legit experiences and both suit valid moods and preferences, we offer a simple reminder – there’s always room for both.

Dan Ketchum splits his time between Dallas and LA as a freelance lifestyle, fashion, health, and food writer with more than a decade of experience. In cannabis, been fortunate enough to collaborate with Cannabis & Tech Today, FOCL, Vitagenne, Reign Together, Mistifi, and more.

The 2020s are full of all kinds of things Mama would rather not talk about, but on the bright side, they’re also full of things Mama loves: choice, variety, bananas, and all kinds of personalized options. Even better, that breadth of choice goes doubly for smoking weed. Or eating weed, or drinking weed, or vaping weed – which is kinda the point, here.  

Among all the edibles, vapes, tinctures, and lotions, pre-rolls are just one option for consuming cannabis these days. Basically, the pre-roll is a pre-packaged joint that someone has already rolled for you before selling it to you at the dispensary. But even in this singular weed-smoking category, you have tons and tons of sub-types and options to choose from. And Mama likes that. 

Pre-Rolls: The Basics

The joint – a rolled marijuana cigarette, in case you need a refresher or you’re new to all this – is an icon of canna-culture, and easily the most recognizable way to use weed. You can still roll joints and plenty of people do. All you need is about a half gram or a gram of ground-up weed, rolling paper, and an optional filter. Alternatively – maybe if you like convenience or you’re not an extra in Rebel Without a Cause – you can get a pre-roll.

When a dispensary, retailer, cultivator, producer, or otherwise any other officialized cannabis-selling group pre-rolls weed into a ready-made joint (and usually packages it all pretty) for sale, that’s a pre-roll. Most have filters, some don’t. You can get ‘em individually, or you can get ‘em in multi-packs. And there are many, many, oh-so-many varieties. We’ll get into that later.

It’s like when Mama makes PB n’ J sammies for you. You can do it yourself, but it tastes better when someone else makes it.

So Why Pre-Rolls?

Well, first there’s that variety thing, then there’s that convenience thing. Pre-rolls are not only an easier proposition than rolling your own joints, they get you high faster and offer an easily shareable, super sociable solution. Plus, they’re pretty inexpensive compared to other options for getting high. And if you love the green jungles like Mama does, it feels good to know that lots of ‘em come in eco-friendly, recycled, or recyclable packaging. 

Also, now’s a really damn good time for pre-rolls. Not only can you get any strain, size, flavor, potency, or style you want, we’re living in a quality renaissance, baby. Used to be that pre-rolls were full of shake, stems, and other plant part filler that had less to do with getting you high and more to do with saving rich people money. But with increased competition and more canna-educated customers than ever (Mama’s proud of you), quality has come up while prices have gone down.

Know Your Roll

There are many colors of the pre-roll weed rainbow. Probably more colors than there are in an actual rainbow. Wait, Mama just Googled it and there are definitely way more types of pre-rolls than colors in the rainbow:

• The doobie or just standard variety pre-roll is what your dad calls a joint, and it’s pretty much the classic in pre-roll form. It usually packs up to1.5 grams of weed rolled up twisty-like in hemp or rice paper.
• Dog walkers or mini products (more on those later) are like regular pre-rolls, but usually contain around .75 grams or less. 
• You can probably guess what a king-sized pre-roll is (please tell me you can, my sweet summer child). It’s a pre-roll, but big. Usually up to 1.75 grams, and often with a wide filter for big ol’ hits and a funneled shape to get more weed in there. Cones fall into this – they’re wider at the tip than the mouthpiece because they pack in a lot of weed.
• Imagine, if you will, a cigarette but it’s weed instead of tobacco. That, my sweet peas, is a cannabis cigarette. These are like tobacco cigs in size, shape, and smoothness, come with a filter, and usually sell in packs of five to a dozen.
• Cannagars, a.k.a. Thai sticks are like if a pre-roll and a cigar had a beautiful baby. These monsters pack 4-to-8 grams of cannabis in the size and shape of a stogie. They’re meant to be shared or to last you a lot longer than a single sesh (please — Mama doesn’t want to see you green out).
• There’s some overlap in the definition of blunts and cannagars, cuz there’s no official rule book on this stuff. Pre-legalization, a blunt usually meant a hollowed-out cigar paper filled with weed. Nowadays, with off-the-shelf pre-rolls, it probably just means it’s rolled in hemp leaf papers, or is bigger than the average bear.
• Unlike blunts, the meaning of spliff hasn’t really changed much since Mama was young. Young-er! This is just a pre-roll or joint that has tobacco mixed in with the marijuana.
• Infused pre-rolls usually contain some sort of cannabis oil, rosin, or distillate in addition to the flower – they may even be rolled in powdered cannabis isolate on top of that. Some infused pre-rolls also feature kief, the tiny trichomes that cover the surface of cannabis plants, in a concentrated powder form (not to be confused with Keith, he’s your uncle and he owes me money).

Now keep in mind that these are just some of the physical styles of pre-rolls. You’ll get waaaaaaaay more variety in the mix when you take into account that pre-rolls feature all kinds of different strains – from clear-eyed sativas to mellow indicas to balanced hybrids and beyond – but that’s a whole other story. If you’re just dipping your toes in, ask your budtender to guide you through the weeds of weed strains, just to start with.

Mama’s Own Prerolls

Mama loves making you two things: banana bread and those good good Mary Jane products. Just because Mama wants to see you happy, we’ve got:

• Tough Mama’s Infused Hemp Cone Blunts. Hey, now you know what all those words mean! These come in euphoric citrusy sativa, relaxing flowery, diesel-y indica, and grassy, just-right hybrid varieties. They’ve got a gram of weed, plus 0.25 grams of Live Resin infused directly into the hemp cone. That oil infusion and hemp cone combo make for an even, balanced burn (but you may need some friends to help you finish).
• Tough Mama’s Mini Mofoz. Mama almost named you Mini Mofo, but decided on these blunts instead. They come in the same strain options as the big boys, but at .85 grams, they’re adorable mini-cone blunts infused with cured resin and made with Hi-Phi, solventless extraction, so they’ll still knock your ass over. Plus, they come in 4-packs that encourage sharing, though Mama won’t judge you for bogarting.

Just like Tough Mama’s tough love, none of these pre-rolls f*** around one little bit. But you know what? You deserve to let Mama roll one for you after this hardcore education session – and yes, Mama does have a light.

by Dan Ketchum

No, 710 Day is not 420 multiplied by two, mostly because that would be 840 (you’re supposed to share that hemp cone blunt). It is kinda similar in that it does celebrate everybody’s favorite plant, but just like oil and flower, each celebration has its own distinct vibes. 

The (very) unofficial holiday has some pretty interesting online origins, which’ll mostly make for great convo starters as you party in 710-friendly ways that would make Mama herself proud.

OK, What Is 710 Day? 

OK, first up, we gotta talk about that whole 710 meaning. Similar to how “420” went from a certain time of day that a few California teenagers chose to smoke it up to a universal code word for weed, 710 is a (slightly more clever) code – it’s just “OIL” turned upside down. If you know, you know.

With that code in mind, celebrating the wonders of cannabis oil on July 10th has been catching on for more than a few years now. Leafly notes that there have been recorded 710 Day celebrations, like the 7/10 Cup in Colorado, since at least 2012. Weedmaps claims that the term “710” showed up on Urban Dictionary as early as 2010, while the indie hip-hop album “The Movement” was released in 2011 by Task & Linus with tracks like “7:10” and “Boil That Oil.” Album creator TaskRok perfectly nails the current mantra, though – he says 710 “belongs to the community now.” 

How to Celebrate 710 Day (Hint: Smoke It Up)

710 Day also goes by the name Dab Day, so feel free to celebrate with a dab, which is using a highly concentrated, uh, dab of hash oil by rapidly extracting its THC with high heat, usually a torch or dab rig. But if you’d rather not deal with the mess and fuss of a dab rig, portable dab vapes and vape pens offer a more easygoing solution. Our live resin cannabis oil vape carts pack plenty of punch with over 70 percent THC and our cone blunt pre-rolls come infused with live or cured resin oil, too. And that’s 710-friendly AF.

In any case, pack your vape, tincture, wax, shatter, or whatever other type of concentrate you like (gotta stay on theme, you know) and appreciate the oil nature gave us with one or two of these Tough Mama-vetted festivities:

Rise and Shine

Some people pray or meditate on holidays – we make party-friendly weed, but even we know that not everything’s a party. Whether it’s all you do to observe 710 Day or it’s just the start of your festivities, load up a fresh cart and take a symbolic pull at 7:10 AM on 7/10. Pairs great with a little meditation, coffee in the yard or just listening to the birds sing.

Mix Oil and Water 

As a date, 7/10 isn’t just “OIL” upside down, it’s also most likely going to be hot as hell. Good thing stoners and beaches (or lakes, we see you land-locked lovers) are like chocolate and peanut butter. Surfing, boogie boarding, sand volleyball, those weird little hot dog hibachis, bocce ball, or just zoning out to the sound of waves – they’re all legit ways to appreciate 710 that go oh-so-well with a dab or a pull. 

Picnic With (Two Kinds of) Edibles

Usually, edibles are made with odorless, flavorless oil called cannabis distillate – in Tough Mama’s case, our YOLO SHOTZ are infused with the same cured resin oil as our prerolls – which means that they totally count for 710 Day. Pack your 710-friendly pick-a-nic basket, lead up to the event with a little hike if you’re feeling outdoorsy, and enjoy a warm breeze under the gentle sway of your favorite gummy, cookie, brownie, or beverage. We recommend euphoric sativa for this one. 

Host the OILympics

OK, smoking weed does have some pretty verifiable health perks, but no one’s saying it’s going to turn you into an Olympian. You can totally host the Summer OILympics, though, which is a little bit more low-key and friendlier to people whose reps only involve lifting pens. 

Cornhole? Check. Cup pong? The game of champions. A $20 badminton set? That’s more money left for hot chips. Bocce ball? Still leaves you one hand to smoke. 

If you’re feeling extra generous, your OILympians can pool a few bucks together for gold, silver, and bronze medal prizes in the spirit of the holiday. Which is, you know, oil that gets you real high.

Dance Party to the OG    

Whether it’s serendipity, truth, or just the internet being weird, TaskRock got all wrapped up in the origins of 710 Day, and now he’s like the spirit of Dab Day, the Santa Claus of 7/10. As it turns out, “The Movement” is still readily and cheaply available in full on Bandcamp. It’s the perfect, thematically apt backdrop to slam Yolo Shotz and start a dance party to. Maybe pop it off at 7:10 PM? 

Here’s what we know about cannabis oil: it’s smooth, it’s easy to handle, and it facilitates having fun without a bunch of gatekeeping or stress. Bring that vibe to your 710 Day celebrations, big or small, and you’ll do just fine. 

Dan Ketchum splits his time between Dallas and LA as a freelance lifestyle, fashion, health, and food writer with more than a decade of experience. In cannabis, been fortunate enough to collaborate with Cannabis & Tech Today, FOCL, Vitagenne, Reign Together, Mistifi, and more.

by Nick Marshall

How are you getting your drink on these days? Shotgunning spiked seltzer like it’s still 2019, sippin’ on gin and juice like an OG, or pounding the brewskis in the backyard because it’s the weekend? 

Tough Mama’s seen it all and she knows that this year it’s probably none of the above.

Stoned Cold Sober Is the New Buzzed

As a nation, we’re drinking less alcohol and smoking more herb. And that’s created a huge global market (set to top $2 billion by 2026) for cannabis-infused drinks. Since brewers aren’t allowed to produce any drink that contains both THC and alcohol, these new kids on the block are alcohol-free. That’s great if you want to get high instead of wasted — and avoid hangovers while still having a blast.

How to Enjoy Your Liquid Marijuana

With THC drinks, the buzz hits different. It takes longer, for a start. Like 90 minutes for an oil-based THC beverage, or around 15 minutes for a water-soluble formula like Tough Mama’s Yolo Shotz. So there’s no chugging or chasers required, just a slow pace to let your cannabis infusion do its thing. 

Where to Buy

THC drinks aren’t available in all 50 states, and you’re not going to find them in the major retailers yet. That means you’ll have to order them online or check out your regular dispensary. At the moment, it’s mainly women blazing the trail too. Tough Mama approves!

Here are our top picks of what’s out there at the moment. 

Cannabis Shots

If you prefer your cannabis straight up or splashed on the rocks, you’ll find plenty of cannabis shots to choose from. These give you a quick, controlled dose that kicks in within 10 or 20 minutes. Tough Mama’s Yolo Shotz are some of the most kick-ass on the market, and clock in at 100 mg of THC per bottle. 

Who’s it for? Seasoned stoners looking for a serious high. 

The DIY Dose

If you’re not about the tasting notes and just want the THC, look for pure liquid cannabis. strip things down to a pure liquid cannabis shot. The most popular are colorless and odorless vials that gives you 5 or 10mg of THC. No calories, no sugar. Just drop it in your smoothie, shake, morning coffee, or sundowner, and let the good times roll. 

Who’s it for? Hustle culture bros with no room in the calendar for a full bong between spin class and their TED Talk.  

THC Teas 

Think Long Island iced tea, without the alcohol. Look for the brightly colored bottle and instant look of regret at your local dispensary. That’s because most are pretty hit and miss when it comes to flavor. We prefer to take an established brand of Iced Tea and add a Yolo Shotz instead. Who said you can’t hack getting high?

Who’s it for? Stoners looking for a cheap 100mg of THC without too much concern for taste.

Sodas, Seltzers, and Sparkling Waters

Since everyone’s making a hard seltzer these days — here’s the proof —it’s hardly surprising that THC soda is already a big deal. They’re not bad at all right now, and could get even better once some of the bigger beer and soda brands flex their muscles.These fruity, natural sodas are a great place to start your cannabis journey, as most come with just 2mg of THC per can, but if you’re an experienced stoner they’re not going to blow you away.

Who’s it for? Yo mama (seriously)- and her cannacurious friends.

Marijuana Mocktails

As long as you’ve got plenty of ice, a shaker, and a swizzle stick or two, why not experiment at home with some THC mocktails? All you need is a dash of sour, a hint of sweetness, a few parts bitterness, and a slug of Tough Mama YOLO Shotz, with a No BS 100mg of THC per bottle and three flavors to choose from. 

Who’s it for? Mixologists on a mission. 

Kombucha

Boost your gut health AND set your mind free? Sounds like a plan. Kombucha drinks with THC are starting to boom and we’re expecting them to become a big deal in the future, especially with some well-known brands ready to enter the market.

Who’s it for? Clean-eating, life-loving, moment-seizing beautiful people. 

Wine(ish)

It’s wine, but not as we know it. Now you can get fermented grape juice that swaps out the alcohol for around 8mg of THC. Red fruit with a hint of honeysuckle? Mmm. Live cannabis resin? Ahhhh.  

Who’s it for? If you can name a bud by the aroma alone, this one is for you. 

Energy Drinks

Need a boost? If you like a little Mary Jane with your Cup of Joe, you can either add your own THC-infused oil to your regular coffee or you can chug an energy drink with THC to see you through the task ahead. 

Who’s it for? Anyone who wants to be high at work, but whose boss might have a problem with one of our infused pre-rolls in a meeting. 

Sip and Soar

THC drinks are the best new way to get buzzed. If you’re looking to put the fun back in getting baked, Tough Mama’s Yolo Shotz is a must in your line-up. They come in three flavors, and at 100 mg per 2oz bottle, they pack a serious punch. Because Tough Mama is for the fearless few who aren’t afraid to get stoned properly.  

Sources

LA Times You can drink your high this Fourth of July with these five cannabis-infused drinks

LB Business Journal Drinkable high: Are THC-infused beverages the next trend in legal cannabis? – Long Beach Business Journal

Cannabis Beverage Association the Cannabis Beverage Association

by Dan Ketchum

In the Year of Our Mama 2022, you can get high from a blunt, a vape, a drop under your tongue, a patch, some beef jerky, a cup of coffee or even cotton candy (that’s not a typo). 

Truthfully, liquid THC drinks kinda sucked until recently, but thanks to the good graces of the weed gods — and also lots of science — smooth, tasty marijuana shots have finally arrived. 

Mama says always shoot your shot, but if you’re gonna do it, here’s how to do it right.    

It’s Me, Liquid THC

So, marijuana shots are simple: liquid THC infused into a convenient, shootable beverage. THC shots are always alcohol-free, as it’s currently illegal to combine alcohol and cannabis into a single product in the U.S. 

The way that cannabis got infused into your shot is a little less simple, though. Infusing cannabis into beverages has been stumping brands for years, which is why stuff like THC-infused beer used to go down like chunky Yoplait. That’s because cannabinoids like THC and CBD are fat-soluble compounds that don’t like to mix with water (think oil and water).  

In recent years, a process called nano-emulsification, which breaks cannabis oil down into microscopic particles, has finally allowed liquid THC to thrive. Tough Mama’s own Yolo Shotz exist thanks to tech like B-LINE nano-emulsion, a new Cannabistry technique that ensures cannabinoid integrity and maximizes bioavailability. In other words, it gets you high real good, real clean, and real quick.

How to Take a Marijuana Shot (Like a Pro)

A super important clarification: even though it’s called a marijuana shot, you don’t always want to shoot the whole off-the-shelf bottle at once. (Unless you’re trying to green out, we guess). Read the label to figure out how much THC it contains in total. 

As a dosage rule of thumb, stick to about 5 to 10 mg for a punchy shot, or feel free to go lighter — around 2.5 to 4 mg — if you’re new or want a gentler high. For context, a single capful of one of our Yolo Shotz is about 5 mg, which means you can get about 20 shots or canna cocktails from a single bottle (sizes of course vary among brands). 

You can shoot a THC shot straight, holding that capful-sized dose daintily, pinky up, and wig powdered. Or, if you want that real LFMAO ft. Lil Jon “Shots” vibe, mix your milliliters into sparkling water, soda, or juice, and serve in a shot glass. Virtually any traditional shot recipe works, just sub out the booze for THC. That’s the beauty of marijuana shooters; you can take them as a no-nonsense sip to encourage creativity or get you through your shift, or dress ‘em up for a Friday night and expect less of a Saturday hangover.  

Oh, and don’t forget the best part: you’ve got flavor options. Nowadays, liquid THC tastes like everything from green tea to sour gummy worms. We like Mama’s Tropical Punch, Lemon Lime, and Berry Crush shooters, but we’re also slightly biased. 

Ways to Shake It Up

Look, Mama’s a classy monkey, just like you — she’s not always taking stealth shots in the Circle K parking lot (only sometimes). If you’re a classy stoner, try mixing your THC shot into a weed-infused cocktail. Here’s some inspo.

Tough Mamartini

What you’ll need:

• 5 ml Berry Crush Yolo Shotz 
• 5 oz organic coconut water
• Sugar
• Sprig of rosemary

How to make it:

• Rim glass with sugar
• Combine all liquid ingredients and shake over ice
• Serve in a 7 oz martini glass
• Garnish with rosemary sprig

Tough Mama’s Lemon Lime Elixir

What you’ll need:

• 5-10 ml Lemon Lime Yolo Shotz
• 5 oz lemon-lime seltzer
• Hearty dash of lime syrup

How to make it:

• Combine all ingredients 
• Serve on ice in a rocks glass

What to Expect

Marijuana shots like Tough Mama’s own family recipe are a good time, but remember that they’re also powerful. THC shots kick in fast (like really fast), so they get you high quick. Expect liquid THC to hit in about 5 to 15 minutes. In comparison, you can expect an onset of about 30 to 60 minutes with most edibles.

Vibes will range from euphoric to mellow depending on the strain the shot contains. The premium cannabis extract used in our Yolo Shotz retains the full spectrum of the flower, which means you’ll get a high that’s a little more spacey and stonery. 

As fast as they hit, marijuana shots also dissipate more quickly than smoke and edibles, making them a little more sessionable (meaning, you can have a few hits in a single session). This also makes it great for hanging with people who have different tolerances — seasoned stoners can keep shooting while canna-casuals can sip slowly. 

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Dr. Ryan Vandrey of John Hopkins University says, “If you’re talking about drinking [weed shots] in a social setting in an evening, you need to drive home at some point. A faster onset and shorter duration might be better.”

Let the High Times Roll

If you’re new to THC shots, always remember the quote Confucius stole from Mama: start low and go slow. 

When you’re ready to shoot your shot, here’s where to buy Tough Mama’s Yolo Shotz. But try to make your Mama proud, OK? Shoot hard and take big swings, but know your stuff first — and don’t go apeshit.

Dan splits his time between Dallas and LA, where he’s been writing lifestyle, fashion, health, and food content for more than a decade. He’s been fortunate enough to collaborate and publish with companies such as Mistifi, LIVESTRONG, Vitagenne, Reign Together, Out East Rose, SFGate, The Seattle Times, and many more.

Sources

Cannabistry – Cannabistry’s Four Proprietary Canna-Tech Platforms Solve Industry Pain Points

Rolling Stone – Drink Your Weed: How Cannabis Beverages Finally Took Off

The Washington Post – How to Carefully, Safely and Legally Use Cannabis in Drinks