Methods of Consumption

There’s three ways you can administer cannabis to yourself. Inhalation, Ingestion, and Absorption.

Inhalation can come in a couple of forms. Smoking cannabis flower from a pipe, a bong, or in a joint, and vaping it at lower temperatures from a vape pen or vaporizer. Experienced consumers will also dab a cannabis concentrate. It takes between one and ten minutes for this method’s effects to kick in, with your high lasting between one and three hours. Variances such as intensity of the high and length of it will be determined by our body chemistry and strain genetics’ interaction with one another.

We can also choose to eat or ingest cannabis, though this method’s effects won’t take place for about 45 minutes, give or take, depending on your metabolism and whether you’ve eaten it on an empty stomach. This method provides a more potent high, lasting longer, and is a good option for those of us that choose not to smoke or vape. It can be discreet and offers us a chance to give our bodies a break from the carcinogens found in smoke. And for those of us that don’t want to eat, we can instead drink it as an infused tea or in a smoothie.

Finally, topicals are used for their localized effects - you won’t feel high when using them as their benefits are rendered only where applied. Topicals come with various THC and CBD percentages, either focusing on pain management or a skin condition that may possibly benefit from cannabis chemistry. Because we now know of the endocannabinoid system in our bodies and the presence of CB2 receptors in the skin, topicals could prove to be quite beneficial in the development of new skin and pain-relief products.