Joint (cannabis)

"Spliff" redirects here. For other uses, see Spliff (disambiguation).

File:Unrolled joint.jpg

A joint prior to rolling, note paper mouthpiece at left

File:Joint.jpg

500-mg. joint with European-style "roach"

Joint is a slang term for a cigarette rolled using cannabis. Rolling papers are the most common rolling medium among industrialized countries, however brown paper, cigarettes with the tobacco removed, and bible paper is commonly used throughout the developing world. Modern papers are now commonly made from a wide variety of materials including rice, hemp, and flax. One of the newest innovations in joint-rolling technology has been the introduction of transparent cellulose-based rolling papers.

A joint can range widely in size, typically containing between 250- and 750-mg. of cannabis. Burning temperatures can reach 700°C, oxidizing (destroying) active cannabinoids, while the combustion toxins cause a dopy "high" which can be avoided by using a vaporizer or a 25-mg.-capacity one-hitter.

Variations

Though all joints by definition contain cannabis, there are regional differences, including the following:

• In Europe and certain Commonwealth nations, joints, or "spliffs," typically include a bit of cardboard or rolled business card in one end to serve as a mouthpiece. This is known as a crutch or "roach." In North America "roach" usually means the smoked-down butt of a joint.

• In Europe, some Commonwealth nations and the Middle-East, joints or "spliffs" are rolled by mixing cannabis or hashish with tobacco.

Blunts

In North America since the 1990s, a "blunt" is rolled using a cigar skin, from which the filler tobacco has been removed, to wrap cannabis in.

Etymology

The word "joint" ultimately originated from French, where it is an adjective meaning "joined" (past participle of the verb joindre), derived in turn from Latin iunctus, past participle of iungo meaning "I join."

By 1821, "joint" had become an Anglo-Irish term for an annexe, or a side-room "joined" to a main room. By 1877, this had developed into U.S. slang for a (usually shady) "place, building, establishment," especially referring to an opium den. By 1935, "joint" was being used to refer to the hypodermic needles used to inject heroin and other drugs at such establishments; this may have been influenced by the secondary meaning of "joint" in the sense of something done "in common" or shared. Its first usage in the sense of "marijuana cigarette" is dated to 1938.

Other terms

There are many slang terms mostly synonymous with the word joint, e.g. "Geoffrey", commonly used to describe a various recreational drug mixture composed in a form of a cigarette or "fatty", which is used to describe a joint that contains an unusually large quantity of marijuana.

Spliff

The term spliff is a West Indian word of Jamaican English origin, but has spread to several western countries, particularly Britain, Ireland, Europe, Canada and the United States. Its precise etymology is unknown, but it is attested as early as 1936. While Jamaican spliffs are generally conical in shape, those elsewhere tend to be cylindrical and of varying lengths. "Spliff" can also refer to various styles of cigarette rolled with a mixture of hashish and tobacco.

See also

• Roach clip
• Spliff politics

Footnotes

zh:大麻烟卷