Ask Mama: Should I Take a T Break?

Published on January 31, 2023

t break guide

OK, kids, time for a T Break, so let’s get that Earl Grey, nosh those crumpets, and stick your lil’ pinkies way up in the air — I know you’re high, but have some class now! Hold up. Mama’s being told that that’s tea time, a T break is the weed tolerance thing. Reset, start over, Mama got confused. It happens.😖😅  

Aaaaannnywaaaaay, a T break is a tolerance break. It’s a thing you can do where you take a break from getting high to basically reset your weed tolerance so that you can have better, stronger, more enjoyable highs, like you did when you first fell in love with Mama’s favorite leaf as a sweet summer child. Will it work, and how do you do it? As always, Mama’s here to help you get it right.

Lemme just put these tea bags up real quick.

What Is a T Break?

Just like people evolved from monkeys like Mama into smooth humans like you (a debatable upgrade), people adapt, and as they adapt their bodies sometimes change. 

To get sciency for a sec, cannabis interacts with our body’s built-in CB1 receptors, which send signals to your brain to generate all those wonderful effects, like chillness, inspiration, and, uh, highness. But long-term regular smoking can actually reduce the effectiveness and intensity of your CB1 response (don’t take Mama’s word for it; neuropharmacology researchers confirmed this 🧠). 

That’s the big-brain way to say it, but the street smarts are pretty much right on. When you use a thing a bunch, your body just gets used to it. And that means it becomes less effective with repeated use. 

If you’re already into the mega-powerful stuff Tough Mama’s got in stock — like indica cone blunts with 37.42% THC — you might be exactly the type of hardcore stoner whose body has gotten so used to cannabis that it just doesn’t hit the way it used to. That’s where the T break comes in.  

Why You Might Wanna Consider It 🤔

A T break, as that big ol’ ‘T’ implies, is all about weed tolerance. Not like emotional tolerance for weed, Mama knows we all more than tolerate weed around here, we love the zaza for life. We’re talking about physical weed tolerance. 😶‍🌫️

That thing about CB1 receptors? It doesn’t have to be permanent. When you use more weed, your body makes more CB1 regulators; the more regulators you have, the more potent and bountiful you need your weed to be to feel the same sorts of effects you used to. So you want to return the density of those regulators back to a normal, pre-mega-stoner level. To do that, various studies and medical sources have figured out that a multi-week T break might just be your best bet (but it’s not your only option).

When you bring that weed tolerance back down with a T break, you can elevate your high on the other side of it. With a little reset, you’ll get a more powerful high by smoking less weed. And that’s good for your brain as well as your wallet. 

How To Do It Right

How long should a tolerance break be from weed? As a casual stoner, your CB1 receptors and regulators can return to what’s called a “cannabis-naive” (awwwwww, that sounds so cute💕) state after only two days of abstaining from weed. If you’re a daily or daily-ish user, a cold turkey tolerance break of two to four weeks will likely have the most impact. 

This has become such a common format for taking a T break that smarty pants sources ranging from the University of Vermont to Goucher College have adopted and shared a popular 21-day format as a general guide for resetting your weed tolerance and getting you through the hard parts. And don’t let that last part slide — opting for the 21-day T break will be tough if you’re a lifestyle stoner. That’s why these plans emphasize specific focuses on emotional and physical health alike. Don’t sleep on that. 

The 21-Day T Break 

  • 🤝The Prep: Pick a date and stick to it. Don’t procrastinate, set the date for soon-ish, and don’t start binging right before. Stash your goods and all of your accessories before you start. If you can organize a group T break with your besties, all the better.
  • 💪🏋️‍♀️Week 1 — Focus on the Physical: This one’s gonna be the toughest (tougher than Mama, maybe) so you wanna emphasize concrete, physical activities that you have the most control over. Get more sleep, keep yourself real busy, exercise like mad, eat healthy, sustaining food, and embrace routines as much as possible. 
  • 🤗Week 2 — Let’s Get Emotional: Now that you’ve got a good physical routine in your (weedless) body, it’s time to put the focus inward. Start week two with a celebration of your choice (not weed, c’mon), because you’ve earned it. From that healthy place, take time to recognize and process how you’re feeling each day — it might be irritable, it might be anxious, or lonely, or just tired. Journal it, talk about it with your partner or therapist, turn it over and consider it in detail instead of stuffing it down. On the final day of the week, choose another celebration and treat yourself like a champ.  
  • 🧘Week 3 — It’s a Spiritual Experience, Man: As a regular toker, you know weed can be straight-up spiritual, and your T break’s gonna affect that. In this final stretch, focus on spiritual connection — connect inward with meditation, connect upward by rediscovering or emphasizing the philosophical, spiritual, or religious systems you live by, and connect downward by connecting with the people who keep you the most grounded. Take a day this week to escape into a place that feeds your soul, like a beautiful hike. 
  • 🦍 Day 21: Celebrate like a motherf**ker.     

You Got This

While the 21-day T break chart is such a common method that Google’s gonna autocomplete your “T break” search with “chart” at the end, trust Mama when she says it’s not the only way. Cold turkey is def effective, but you can also boost your tolerance to varying degrees with less intense methods like these. You do you. 

  • Reduced usage: Bring twice a day down to once a day. Once a day down to three times a week, and so on. Easy peasy. 
  • Microdosing: Try edible doses of about 2 to 5 mg to maintain a micro-high rather than hitting a monster blunt.
  • Try CBD, or substitute CBD for THC just sometimes. Get the body high without the head high, you might just like it.
  • Switch it up: You a smoker? Switch to edibles or sips of a weed beverage. You get the idea — there’s a ton of ways to get high nowadays, so why not take advantage of the variety?   

Oh, and when you’re ready to get back in the saddle, do that the right way with Mama’s punchy, live resin-infused, terpene-packed pre-rolls, and other stoner-approved products – you know Mama’s got her babies covered when it’s time to take your high even higher. ✨🍃✨

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