How many seconds must you hold in a hit for maximum THC absorbtion?
- Thread starter Bulénath
- Start date
D
DrKong
i could be wrong but i think THC is absorbed with the movement of the THC infused air across the surface of the lungs. Hence holding in smoke will not make it absorb more. If you breath in then out more it would get you higher.
Hope i'm not way off and that it helps.
Hope i'm not way off and that it helps.
P
pSi007
a 3 second breath is full of inhaled oxygen that is 21% in normal atmospheric levels. in those 3 sec, that 21% is being knocked down to 16% from the lungs. its hard for the lungs to absorb more than 5%-8% of the oxygen out of the air. I assume cannabis is the same.
i think the THC bonds to the oxygen and when the oxygen is no longer absorbed, then the cannabis is also no longer absorbed. instead of the lings filtering out the last remaining 16% of oxygen, they instead start to product large amounts of co2 in the lungs and make the body feel out of breath.
7-10 sec and i doubt you will get more THC absorbed.
i think the THC bonds to the oxygen and when the oxygen is no longer absorbed, then the cannabis is also no longer absorbed. instead of the lings filtering out the last remaining 16% of oxygen, they instead start to product large amounts of co2 in the lungs and make the body feel out of breath.
7-10 sec and i doubt you will get more THC absorbed.
zeeba amoeba
Member
pSi007 said:
There was a study recently that showed that holding in a toke is an URBAN MYTH... here's the link
http://just-say-know.org/?p=4
I can verify one claim on this page, that inhaling DEEPER is more important than the length of time you hold it in. When I vape, I breathe very deeply indeed, and exhale almost immediately after reaching the end of my breath. Employing this method enables me to get high from as little as .1 of a gram of kush. If you want to save money on pot, buy a vaporizer and breathe deep and don't worry about holding it in ever again.
Yea, the guy that said 75 seconds is right, youll probably get 100% of it.
But if you want to have the optimum THC to smoke/plant matter, it is like 3 seconds.
I usually hold it in for 2.5 seconds..i think....hmmm
And yes, the guy above me is right, its not the length of time. You have to get the smoke through the tubes in your lungs to the alveoli, much like if you dont clear a bong, if you dont inhale deeply the smoke will just sit in those tubes....and wont get absorbed into your bloodstream...itll just go back out of your mouth.
This is why i use a breath for drawing the smoke into the bong and another breath to breathe the smoke I just accumulated in the bong.
But if you want to have the optimum THC to smoke/plant matter, it is like 3 seconds.
I usually hold it in for 2.5 seconds..i think....hmmm
And yes, the guy above me is right, its not the length of time. You have to get the smoke through the tubes in your lungs to the alveoli, much like if you dont clear a bong, if you dont inhale deeply the smoke will just sit in those tubes....and wont get absorbed into your bloodstream...itll just go back out of your mouth.
This is why i use a breath for drawing the smoke into the bong and another breath to breathe the smoke I just accumulated in the bong.
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OK,
I've read alot of opinions here & at other sites and I have
come away with this, somewhere between 4 seconds & 20
seconds....... so a 4/20 theory makes sense to me.
I've read alot of opinions here & at other sites and I have
come away with this, somewhere between 4 seconds & 20
seconds....... so a 4/20 theory makes sense to me.
weaponmaster15
Member
Or you could just do what I do hit that good ol green then just hold it until the next hit so you don't get any ox at all and all thc. I can get high very fast.
Ya know why Purple Haze Was Around?
Haze Would be passing around at a concert and then taking hits and listening to music one is gonna forget to breathe and then...He or She Turns PuRple
Purple Haze!!!
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Voodoo Chile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GSpbuFSr2o&NR=1
Haze Would be passing around at a concert and then taking hits and listening to music one is gonna forget to breathe and then...He or She Turns PuRple
Purple Haze!!!
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Voodoo Chile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GSpbuFSr2o&NR=1
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treehuggers
Active member
Stoner4Life said:
4, 2 and 0 aint answer to all.
I hold it in for 2-4 seconds and I get as high as I do when I hold the same weed in for longer. Holding smoke in longer is just a myth.
Bulénath
Member
Taken from the above link that was shared by zeeba amoeba:
"Something kinda important everyone should know who indulges in the magical plant known as cannabis. The length of time one holds a hit of pot smoke in the lungs has little to no effect on how high ya get.
What is important, however, as most pot smokers tend to learn instinctually, is how DEEP one takes the smoke into the lungs. The reason for this is basically pretty simple: the lungs are essentially made up of a bunch of tubes, called bronchi. These tubes break into smaller tubes, that break into smaller tubes, that break into even smaller tubes, that finally end in tiny sacks called alveoli. These tiny sacks are covered in very fine blood vessels, called capillaries. In normal breathing, oxygen goes from the alveoli into the capillaries, which drain into the pulmonary veins, which go directly to the heart. (This is way drugs take effect so quickly when they are smoked).
So basically, to get your money’s worth, the idea is to fill as many alveoli as possibly with smoke by taking the smoke as deep into the lungs as one can. However, the actual transaction of cannabinoids (the pharmacologically active chemicals in pot) going from the alveoli to the capillaries happens very quickly. All that happens when you hold the smoke in for a long time is that it gives the irritants in the smoke a longer time to irritate your lungs. It’s pretty well established that regular pot-smoking increases one’s risk of chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and other lung illnesses (although apparently NOT cancer, as several major studies have shown, which I’ll discuss in a future article). So, to decrease your chance of developing any of these illnesses (chronic bronchitis, while nowhere near as bad as lung cancer, still sucks ass… let me tell you) you want to get the irritants out of your lungs as soon as the cannabinoids have been absorbed into the bloodstream. And this happens in a matter of a couple seconds.
Two studies (possibly more, but two that I found today, anyway) demonstrate this phenomenon. One study [1] looked at the cognitive effects of cannabis smoking in participants who held the smoke for a short vs. a long period of time. This study measured a battery of cognitive effects of pot smoking between the two groups, including tests of learning, associative processes, abstraction, vocabulary, and psychomotor performance. The majority of the tests showed no difference between the short-time and long-time smoke holders. A few of the tests showed minor differences, but the researchers concluded that this was simply a result of the participants holding their breath for a long time (maybe due to lack of oxygen). They concluded this because when the participants held their breath for a long time, they did worse on these tests whether they were smoking pot or whether they were smoking a placebo (a substance that looked and smelled like pot, but had no psychological or physical effects).
A similar, but slightly more complex study [2] looked at differences not only among groups who held the smoke different lengths of time, but also among groups who took in different amounts of smoke. As you might expect, the more smoke the participants took into their lungs, the more of an effect the smoke had. The more smoke they took in, the more THC was found in the blood, as well as the more the participants reported feeling high. Taking in more smoke also increased carbon monoxide boost, or how much carbon monoxide came out in the participants’ breath. Basically, this is a measure of how much smoke the participants’ lungs were exposed to. However, the length of time the participants held the smoke had no effect on carbon monoxide boost, nor did it have any effect on their self-reported high. The length of time the participants held the smoke also had no effect on an assortment of cognitive and motor tasks, similar to the first study. There was a difference in blood THC levels between the groups who held it in for 10 or 20 seconds vs. the group who held it in for 0 seconds, but that’s kind of a no-brainer really. Frankly I’m not quite sure what the point of having them hold it in for no time at all was. But scientists can be wacky like that. At any rate, the article concluded that the study “…cast doubt on the common belief that prolonged breathholding of marijuana smoke enhances classical subjective effects…”
So there ya go. Breath it in deep, but the only thing you’ll likely get from holding it a long time is a bad cough.
References:
[1] Block RI, Farinpour R, Braverman K. (1992). Acute effects of marijuana on cognition: relationships to chronic effects and smoking techniques. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behaviour, 43(3), 907-917.
[2] Azorlosa JL, Greenwald MK, Stitzer ML. (1995). Marijuana smoking: effects of varying puff volume and breathhold duration. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 272(2), 560-569.
"Something kinda important everyone should know who indulges in the magical plant known as cannabis. The length of time one holds a hit of pot smoke in the lungs has little to no effect on how high ya get.
What is important, however, as most pot smokers tend to learn instinctually, is how DEEP one takes the smoke into the lungs. The reason for this is basically pretty simple: the lungs are essentially made up of a bunch of tubes, called bronchi. These tubes break into smaller tubes, that break into smaller tubes, that break into even smaller tubes, that finally end in tiny sacks called alveoli. These tiny sacks are covered in very fine blood vessels, called capillaries. In normal breathing, oxygen goes from the alveoli into the capillaries, which drain into the pulmonary veins, which go directly to the heart. (This is way drugs take effect so quickly when they are smoked).
So basically, to get your money’s worth, the idea is to fill as many alveoli as possibly with smoke by taking the smoke as deep into the lungs as one can. However, the actual transaction of cannabinoids (the pharmacologically active chemicals in pot) going from the alveoli to the capillaries happens very quickly. All that happens when you hold the smoke in for a long time is that it gives the irritants in the smoke a longer time to irritate your lungs. It’s pretty well established that regular pot-smoking increases one’s risk of chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and other lung illnesses (although apparently NOT cancer, as several major studies have shown, which I’ll discuss in a future article). So, to decrease your chance of developing any of these illnesses (chronic bronchitis, while nowhere near as bad as lung cancer, still sucks ass… let me tell you) you want to get the irritants out of your lungs as soon as the cannabinoids have been absorbed into the bloodstream. And this happens in a matter of a couple seconds.
Two studies (possibly more, but two that I found today, anyway) demonstrate this phenomenon. One study [1] looked at the cognitive effects of cannabis smoking in participants who held the smoke for a short vs. a long period of time. This study measured a battery of cognitive effects of pot smoking between the two groups, including tests of learning, associative processes, abstraction, vocabulary, and psychomotor performance. The majority of the tests showed no difference between the short-time and long-time smoke holders. A few of the tests showed minor differences, but the researchers concluded that this was simply a result of the participants holding their breath for a long time (maybe due to lack of oxygen). They concluded this because when the participants held their breath for a long time, they did worse on these tests whether they were smoking pot or whether they were smoking a placebo (a substance that looked and smelled like pot, but had no psychological or physical effects).
A similar, but slightly more complex study [2] looked at differences not only among groups who held the smoke different lengths of time, but also among groups who took in different amounts of smoke. As you might expect, the more smoke the participants took into their lungs, the more of an effect the smoke had. The more smoke they took in, the more THC was found in the blood, as well as the more the participants reported feeling high. Taking in more smoke also increased carbon monoxide boost, or how much carbon monoxide came out in the participants’ breath. Basically, this is a measure of how much smoke the participants’ lungs were exposed to. However, the length of time the participants held the smoke had no effect on carbon monoxide boost, nor did it have any effect on their self-reported high. The length of time the participants held the smoke also had no effect on an assortment of cognitive and motor tasks, similar to the first study. There was a difference in blood THC levels between the groups who held it in for 10 or 20 seconds vs. the group who held it in for 0 seconds, but that’s kind of a no-brainer really. Frankly I’m not quite sure what the point of having them hold it in for no time at all was. But scientists can be wacky like that. At any rate, the article concluded that the study “…cast doubt on the common belief that prolonged breathholding of marijuana smoke enhances classical subjective effects…”
So there ya go. Breath it in deep, but the only thing you’ll likely get from holding it a long time is a bad cough.
References:
[1] Block RI, Farinpour R, Braverman K. (1992). Acute effects of marijuana on cognition: relationships to chronic effects and smoking techniques. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behaviour, 43(3), 907-917.
[2] Azorlosa JL, Greenwald MK, Stitzer ML. (1995). Marijuana smoking: effects of varying puff volume and breathhold duration. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 272(2), 560-569.
Bulénath
Member
Yet the author ends up contradicting his own conclusion when he states "There was a difference in blood THC levels between the groups who held it in for 10 or 20 seconds vs. the group who held it in for 0 seconds". Im assuming he intends to suggest there was a higher level of THC in the bloodsteam of those who held in the smoke for 10-20 seconds, v.s. those who held it in for 0. Well isnt the whole point of "getting higher" to have a higher level of THC in the bloodstream?!
zeeba amoeba
Member
Bulénath said:
He compared 10 seconds versus ***ZERO*** seconds, i.e. you IMMEDIATELY exhale, without even waiting ONE second. Think about that. In out just like so! You're basically NOT INHALING, PERIOD. The author is poking fun of the scientists who compared 10 second holding period to nothing at all, i.e. not really inhaling at all. Read the complete paragraph.
This is a VERY important thread, maybe the MOST important thread I've ever seen on a cannabis forum, and merits becoming a sticky. Because all of us have been told, "Hold it in!" which is BULL SHIT. I remember being thirteen years old and my older brother telling me this shit, and we all did it, for YEARS, and it's BULL SHIT, just like Christianity and Santa Claus.
And the down side? You're exposed to so much tar and carcinogens when you hold it in. That fucked me up so bad, I got chronic bronchitis when I was a teenager from smoking marijuana, and had to go to the fucking HOSPITAL, where I stayed for about a week. It was because the bronchitis would not go away, not after two, three months. They thought I had pneumonia. I got xrays and all this shit. I was on antibiotics for months and constipated from them.
Like a lot of urban myths, this "hold it in" bull shit has the power to do evil, maybe not on a large scale but it sure isn't helping pot smokers at all.
So, let's change "hold it in" to "Breathe deeply and then exhale the shit right away." That's what I do today and knock on wood, no bronchitis so far.
zeeba amoeba said:
Absolutely correct-- The lungs "catch" everything that enters...pretty much instantaneously...smoking is by far the quickest way to feel a drug...ain't that right, all you crack-heads!!
On the serious side...it is, in fact...how DEEP you inhale, not how long you hold it in-- That is called Oxygen Deprivation...whole other topic--
Bulénath
Member
zeeba amoeba said:
Actually his statement was a pretty vague one that leaves much room for misinterpetation. He could mean that people inhaled, then immidately exhaled without holding thier breath, the way people smoke tobacco. You are right that he could have meant the test subjects just "mouthed" the smoke...There really is no telling, but it seems more probable, to me anyway, that the author means they inhaled and immediately exhaled.
(oh and kmk420kali, shooting into a vein is much faster)
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