What is a Thai Stick & Why You Should Smoke One

What is a Thai Stick & Why You Should Smoke One

Published on 11/20/21

One of the great things about cannabis culture is that what exists in one culture can be quite different from another culture. Cannabis, after all, is an international recreation, and the customs and norms of the United States aren't the same as they are in other places. After all, the stain Hindu Kush takes its name literally from the mountain range in central Asia where it originated. A Thai Stick is one such aspect of international cannabis that is starting to make inroads to the U.S. What is a Thai Stick, and why should you smoke one?

What's In a Name

As you may have been able to guess, the term "Thai Stick" did indeed originate in Thailand. As with so many aspects of cannabis culture, we aren't sure exactly when and where they appeared. What is certain is that the thick-roll process used to create a larger Thai stick cigar is not just used for cannabis, but also for tobacco and other herbs. Thai Sticks appeared in the United States after the Vietnam War, when soldiers overseas returned home to smoke cannabis in the way they had during the conflict. Rumor has it that some would dip their Thai Stick in opium. Rest assured that while you can buy a Thai Stick blunt for sale in a dispensary today, it certainly won't have opium. Instead, these cigars are a type of art unto themselves, made with creativity by dispensaries, often with a lot of extra goodies in them that take your high into the very heavens themselves. 

Form and Structure

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The key to Thai Sticks is its thick layer of bamboo, a smoking accessory much more common in east Asia than in the U.S. This bamboo provides the infrastructure for layers of cured cannabis, which is then wrapped up in fan leaves. If you want a stronger Thai Stick, you can sprinkle in kief or dip it in concentrates, but if you're happy with a thick cigar of cannabis, then all you have to do is remove the bamboo from the center and smoke. Removing the bamboo lets air flow through the center of the cigar, just as the air flows into the side of a bowl or through the water in a bong. This airflow is crucial; don't forget to take the bamboo core out of a Thai Stick before smoking, or you will find yourself unable to inhale much of anything.

Make Your Own

The first step to making one of these exotic cigars is to get the best Thai Stick strain. You might think that any cannabis is good cannabis, and while that's true to an extent, Thai Stick weed needs to do things that normal weed does not. You want a flavorful strain, first and foremost, because you're going to be smoking a lot of it. If you want to go down the path of a very strong strain, feel free, but remember that you'll definitely get high with a Thai Stick; don't push it past the point of good clean fun. Fluffy buds are better than tightly-packed buds because you want airflow going through the entire blunt once you light it up.

Start with a piece of bamboo or a chopstick. Coat it in hemp oil then press the bud around it, holding it together with a hemp string so it does not fall apart. Wrap it in parchment paper and put it in a refrigerator for several days for it to come together. Once it has, repeat this process two to three times, until the blunt has gotten longer, thicker, and filled with much more bud. If you'd like, dip it in THC wax or kief at the end so that the kick is even stronger.

Buying Thai Sticks

If the manufacturing and rolling process sound pretty intensive, there's good news: you can easily find Thai sticks for sale at local dispensaries. Some dispensaries may only market and sell cannabis cigars, but most will have someone who specializes in making these unique types of blunts. After all, there's a fan of just about every type of cannabis out there, and a dispensary usually knows its customers better than anyone. Shop around to find out where to buy Thai Stick blunts, as well as your preferred strains and flavors of these monsters. Then buy one, light up, and enjoy it as fast or a slow as you want: smoke it in one sitting if you really really want to get baked, or enjoy it over the span of an entire weekend.

Have you ever tried a Thai Stick? Are there any other types of cannabis smoking that you prefer to a standard bowl, bong, or joint? Let us know in the comments below!


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