Germaphobes...how do you handle toking with others..

[mtbazz]

I've always been somewhat of a germaphobe....one thing I never really let it affect was partying with others and sharing pipes, joints, bongs, etc...

However, after being sick for almost 4 weeks straight (first with the flu and than pneumonia) I am really not all that down with toking with others and taking the risk of contracting some other bug that someone might be carrying around..


If someone comes over I have my own pipe, and I'll let them toke from another pipe and smoke my stash.....Get alot of odd looks and comments, but fuck it, my health is more important to me than any bullshit smoking etiquette.

 

[Capt.Ahab]

IM not a germaphobe but about a month ago when that flu was going around and everyone was sick I didnt share a smoke with anyone for a few weeks. I rolled extra joints and when we toked up I gave everyone their own. Fun! I never got the flu either.

 

[kaotic]

You don't.

 

[Stoner4Life]

my friends know to bring their own pipe, nobody touches my bong, been that way for years. if someone doesn't have a pipe I have loaners that they can use.

 

[Aeroguerilla]

same here nobody touches my glass but wife and I. and we never get sick anymore

 

[vertigo0007]

Carry alcohol wipes. Or my favorite is berating people for wet lipping my shit.

 

[RicoT]

Never could smoke after stone cold freaks....

 

[SeaMaiden]

I've always been somewhat of a germaphobe....one thing I never really let it affect was partying with others and sharing pipes, joints, bongs, etc...

However, after being sick for almost 4 weeks straight (first with the flu and than pneumonia) I am really not all that down with toking with others and taking the risk of contracting some other bug that someone might be carrying around..


If someone comes over I have my own pipe, and I'll let them toke from another pipe and smoke my stash.....Get alot of odd looks and comments, but fuck it, my health is more important to me than any bullshit smoking etiquette.

Sounds like you have immune system issues, and it seems to me that no one should take offense if you simply say that you do have immune system issues and can't risk contracting another infection. ANYONE who's spent any time with, say, a transplantee, or an AIDS patient, knows these things. Others will have to get over themselves. In the meantime, I'm a handwasher, especially when every place I go lately seems to have flu warnings, especially the nursing home now is taking lots of extra precautions. Washing hands is imperative for infection control.

How familiar are you with using lysine to help boost your immune system? I use it in place of Valtrex when I pop cold sores, and it works just as well if you use it exactly like Valtrex. The moment the tingle can be felt, you start with 2,000mg of lysine. Take that 2x/day. It's day 3 for me and the sore never erupted, precisely the same timing as with Valtrex (that was $80/pill last time I used it almost 10 years ago!). This method is clinically proven.

My husband used to get bronchitis every winter, too, before we were together. We got together, and I fully believe that the difference between my housekeeping habits and those of his ex-wife's are what has made the difference for him--he hasn't suffered a single bout of bronchitis since we moved in together back in 2004.

I'm not a germaphobe, just the opposite in fact. I believe in building up immunities by exposure and getting as much dirt under my nails as possible. Washed off by day's end, of course.

 

[Holdin']

Re: Germaphobes...how do you handle toking with others..

I remember getting the worst illness of my life suspected from sharing a pipe with a buddy. He had been pretty sick for a while. He said he was feeling much better so I went over to kick it and burn some herb. Next thing you know a short while later, I was out shopping with my gf at the time and all of the sudden I felt like my body just shut down. Instant extreme fever of 102-103 by the time I got home, vision went blurry, so dizzy I could barely walk. Progressed into a god damn super virus over the next week or so... had disgusting sores throughout my throat, fever rashes, fever reached 104 and ended up in the emergency room. Felt the worst I ever had from an illness. And then spread it to everyone in my household.

I used to get bronchitis or pneumonia every year, when if lived in my previous house before that sickness took place. The doctor always told me just some people are more susceptible.... so I was and still have been very leery of sharing pipes/bongs etc.... turns out once I moved I've barely had any sort of illness. Suspect that house was infested with harmful mold.

But I still to this day seldom share pieces. It turned me into a hypochondriac/germaphobe.

Best way to get around this is to have your own smoking apparatus. There's no other sure fire way. Some of your friends will think you're a weirdo, but IMO they can think I'm weird all they want... the only germs I exchange belong to good looking women

 

[ezak420]

Smoked after a guy with poison ivy on his hands rolled it. Never was worried.

 

[OrganicOzarks]

If people take it personally then they need to grow up. Gotta watch out for number 1 first. Any adult will be fine with you not sharing. I don't smoke others herb because I can not be certain that it is organic. Some people think I don't even smoke because of this. I don't really give a fuck what anyone else thinks. If they only knew.....

 

[lost in a sea]

dont touch me you're covered in them!!

if the person is "clean" then give a shit but i only have a couple friends i smoke weed with, and i dont use bongs because i dont think they are that hygienic anyway tbh..

 

[BlueBlazer]

Tell them you're having a herpes outbreak . . . they'll be happy to smoke their own and leave you to yours . . .

 

[lost in a sea]

doesnt even need to be an outbreak lol, just herpes and they will run a mile..

 

[purple_man]

yepp, the herpes line should work just fine

blessss

 

[mugenbao]

I think it's so odd that people would give someone weird looks for not wanting to share a pipe. My wife has a compromised immune system so it's simply non-negotiable, period. Even if that weren't the case I don't wanna put my lips where everyone else's have been, especially these days.

As far as I'm concerned, they can either get over it or get going. Not my problem and I'm not gonna sweat their attitude.

 

[devilgoob]

There are trillions of bacteria and viral RNA, both attacking and defending me. When you die, very quickly do they spread and you become the fruiting body.

Its dangerous to bubble your immune system. Therefore when an actual threat occurs, your immunesystem will not have a remembered histological response.

We breathe in fecal matter. Our mouth is a biome. The bacteria species in our intestines isn't us.

While many fears are real, this disgust should arise when someone is sick or when the skin is pierced.

Keyboards, remotes and phones are grosser than toilet seats both by number and danger of strains

 

[mugenbao]

Its dangerous to bubble your immune system. Therefore when an actual threat occurs, your immunesystem will not have a remembered histological response.

Technically true, but in the context of this thread also somewhat irrelevant.

Not sharing a smoking implement is not equivalent to biological isolation in a clean room or so-called "bubble". It's a smart choice to limit exposure to likely sources of infectious agents, some of which you probably don't have adequate immune response to anyways, such as an emergant norovirus variant as well as many other infectious diseases which you haven't already been exposed to, demonstrated by the very fact that you don't already have the disease.

Keyboards, remotes and phones are grosser than toilet seats both by number and danger of strains

Yup yup... Which is but one of the many reasons you won't see me putting my mouth on anyone else's keyboard, remote, phone, or toilet

All that aside, it's just fucking disgusting when someone hands you a wet joint or passes along a bong they just sprayed with saliva after coughing up a lung. I'll pass, thanks



.

 

[barnyard]

most chicks are OK to spit in my mouth if they'd like...but I won't share a pipe or J with a dude.

 

[Feyd]

interesting topic. i have never been worried about sharing, but then again i don't think a friend has gotten me sick that way.

i remember chillin at a mutual friends house and watching one sick guy share a pipe with another dude, the healthy guy just took a lighter and ran the flame across the mouth piece. he said it "sterilized it"
yeah, ok.