Spliff, Joint or Blunt: What You're Actually Smoking

Joints, spliffs and blunts are often treated as interchangeable, but they're three different things. The difference comes down to what's inside and what it's rolled in.

A joint is cannabis rolled in rolling paper. A spliff is cannabis mixed with tobacco and rolled in paper. A blunt is cannabis rolled in a cigar wrap or tobacco leaf.

Those differences affect how each one burns, how strong it feels, how it tastes and whether you're inhaling nicotine. In this article, we'll compare all three and explain how to choose the right one for you.

What Is a Joint?

A joint is ground cannabis rolled in thin rolling paper, with no tobacco. It's the most common way to roll cannabis in Canada, and most pre-rolls are joints.

Rolling papers come in a few materials:

• Rice papers are very thin and burn slowly, with little taste of their own.

• Hemp papers are slightly thicker and easier to roll, with a mild earthy taste.

• Wood pulp papers are the thickest and easiest to handle, but they burn faster and can add more flavour from the paper.

A typical joint holds about 0.5 to 1 g of cannabis. Because there's nothing else in it, the flavour comes mostly from the strain itself, which makes joints a good choice if you want to taste the flower. If you prefer not to roll at all, cones are pre-shaped papers that you simply fill and twist.

You can find papers and cones in the rolling papers and cones section.

What Is a Spliff?

A spliff is a mix of cannabis and tobacco rolled in rolling paper. The ratio varies widely by personal preference, from a small pinch of tobacco to roughly half and half.

In North America, "spliff" almost always means a cannabis and tobacco mix. In Jamaica, where the word originated, it can refer to any large cannabis joint, with or without tobacco. That difference explains why the term causes confusion.

People roll spliffs for a few reasons. Tobacco helps the joint stay lit and burn more evenly, and it stretches the cannabis further. Because a spliff usually contains less cannabis than a joint of the same size, it delivers a smaller dose of THC per smoke.

The trade-off is nicotine. Every spliff contains tobacco, so every spliff delivers nicotine along with THC.

What Is a Blunt?

A blunt is cannabis rolled in a cigar wrap. Traditionally, people split open an inexpensive cigar or cigarillo, emptied out the tobacco and refilled it with cannabis. Today, many people use pre-made blunt wraps or whole tobacco leaves instead.

Blunts are usually larger than joints and often hold 1 to 2 g of cannabis or more. The thick wrap burns slowly, so a blunt lasts much longer than a joint and is often shared in a group.

Even with the tobacco removed from the inside, the wrap itself is made of tobacco leaf and contains nicotine. Many people describe a stronger head rush from blunts, which comes partly from that nicotine and partly from the larger amount of cannabis.

The wrap also changes the flavour. Tobacco leaf has a sweet, earthy taste, and many popular wraps, such as Backwoods, add flavours of their own.

What About Hemp Wraps?

Hemp wraps look and roll like blunt wraps, but they're made from hemp instead of tobacco. They contain no tobacco or nicotine.

If you like the size and slow burn of a blunt but don't want nicotine, a hemp wrap is the closest alternative. Many are sold in flavoured versions, much like tobacco wraps.

Joint vs Spliff vs Blunt Compared

The strength of each mostly depends on how much cannabis you use and how potent it is. A blunt usually feels strongest because it holds the most cannabis. A spliff often feels lighter in THC, although the nicotine adds its own effects.

What to Know About Tobacco

Spliffs and blunts both expose you to tobacco, so they carry tobacco's risks as well as cannabis's.

Public-health guidance in Ontario notes that using cannabis and tobacco together can increase the risk of addiction to both, along with the risk of cancer and cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Using one can also increase how often people use the other. Canada's Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines advise against mixing cannabis with tobacco.

Nicotine is also highly addictive. If you don't already use tobacco, smoking spliffs or blunts regularly can lead to nicotine dependence, even if you only use it with cannabis.

If you want to avoid nicotine, choose joints or hemp wraps. If you do smoke spliffs, using less tobacco in the mix reduces how much nicotine you're inhaling.

All tobacco products in Ontario are restricted to adults 19 and older, which is also the legal age for cannabis.

Which One Should You Choose?

The right choice depends on what you want from the session.

• Choose a joint if you want to taste the strain, avoid nicotine, or keep things simple. It's also the easiest format to roll and the easiest to find pre-rolled.

• Choose a spliff if you already smoke tobacco and want a smaller THC dose that stays lit easily.

• Choose a blunt if you want a long, slow smoke to share with a group and don't mind nicotine.

• Choose a hemp wrap if you want the blunt experience without tobacco.

If you're sharing with a group, ask before you roll. Some people don't smoke tobacco and would prefer a joint over a spliff or blunt, and checking first is part of good session etiquette.

Finding the Right Wrap or Paper

Joints, spliffs and blunts each offer a different experience, so the best choice depends on your taste, how much cannabis you want to use and whether you want to avoid nicotine.

If you prefer blunts or want to try different wraps, you can browse tobacco and wraps. If you'd rather stick with joints, rolling papers and cones are available too, and everything can be added to your next flower order.