How to Cough Less When Smoking Weed

It’s the telltale sign of an amateur smoker, but coughing when smoking weed isn’t just for newbies.

Although studies have shown that smoking marijuana is less damaging to your lungs than cigarettes, chronic cough is still a common side effect. About 1 in 4 people will have this problem if they smoke their weed.

The cough is a side effect of the smoke irritating your lungs. It doesn’t mean it’s causing serious damage (although it’s possible any time you inhale smoke). But it’s annoying, and you don’t want to look like an amateur marijuana smoker.

There are some ways to enjoy the benefits of smoking cannabis and slow down your coughing. Follow these tips to reduce the irritation to your lungs so you can enjoy your joint.

1. Use Accessories

You’ve seen all the accessories that you can buy along with your cannabis. They’re not always to enhance the flavor. Percolators and diffusers, two common “extras,” actually have a health purpose.

Percolators are water chambers that you add to the shaft of your bong when you smoke. This increases the ratio of smoke to water, making the smoke less irritating to your lungs.

The other usual accessory with a bong is a diffuser. This lets the smoke contact the water in smaller volumes. By controlling the water exposure, you get a smoother hit and less coughing.

2. Go for Smaller Doses

You want to enjoy your weed when you smoke it, but taking big pulls isn’t the way to get the job done. Slow and steady, with small hits, give you the best results without irritating your lungs.

This is especially true if your lung capacity isn’t that strong. Not everyone has the ability to breathe in and out in large volumes. If you find yourself coughing a lot, but only when you’re inhaling, you could be trying to take in too much smoke.

Keep in mind that smoking a joint is not the same as using a tobacco cigarette. The smoke is stronger and smoother with weed, so you can’t inhale the same way you would with a regular cigarette.

3. Use Different Concentrates

Smoking is only one way to get the benefits of cannabis. Concentrates are another method that is quickly becoming the most popular form of marijuana consumption.

When you use a concentrate, your cannabis has already been processed into the strongest version possible. All the terpenes and cannabinoids are extracted, unlike when you smoke them and are burning them actively at the moment.

Smoking weed is one of the least healthy ways to consume marijuana. Coughing is one of the major side effects because of lung irritation. But when you burn the flower, you can also taste the chlorophyll in the plant, which can be bitter.

When you use oils, extracts, and other concentrates, you get the “high” and the other benefits of cannabis without the unhealthy parts. Concentrates are also more potent, which is helpful if you’ve started to become tolerant to smoking joints.

To learn more about your concentrate options, check out this article.

4. Grind Your Weed Fresh

Do you know where your weed is coming from? If it’s not fresh from the dispensary or your own garden, it could be old. Stale weed quickly molds or mildews. It’s not as flavorful, and it can increase coughing.

Getting random weed from a place that doesn’t have high-quality cultivating policies is not a good idea. The growers could use herbicides and pesticides, which you’re then breathing in.

Find a dispensary you’re sure has high standards and make sure the weed is fresh. The texture will give this away. Fresh weed is slightly moist and a little sticky because the terpenes have just been released.

While it’s still in its raw state, grind it and use it as soon as possible. Weed doesn’t stay fresh for long, even if you seal it in a vacuum-tight bag or jar. If you want to reduce the irritation on your lungs when you smoke it, use your weed straight from the grinder.

Conclusion

Ending up in a coughing fit after you take a hit is never a good thing. You can’t enjoy the smooth flavor, and it can be embarrassing if you’re around other people.

Coughing when smoking weed might be a sign of breathing issues, but it’s more likely that you need to adjust a few things.

Add a diffuser or a percolator, get fresh weed, and take smaller hits. If those fail to do the trick, switch to a different concentrate that gives you an even stronger potency. One way or another, you’ll get your weed fix and knock out the coughing!