Policy

You Can Put Your Weed in There

What to do after the last head shop closes

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In the unlikely event that the government manages to eliminate the drug paraphernalia market, will everyone stop smoking pot, as U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan maintains? Unfortunately for Buchanan, there are some do-it-yourself alternatives to fancy hand-blown glass pipes and $500 vaporizers. Here are a few.

Foil pipe: Take a piece of aluminum foil, about six inches square, and roll it loosely around a pencil. Remove the pencil. Bend up the last inch or so to form a bowl.

Apple pipe: Core an apple with a knife, being careful not to cut all the way through the bottom. Insert the empty shaft from a disposable, retractable pen into the side of the apple to serve as a mouthpiece, connecting to the bowl you created with the knife. Put a small perforated piece of foil or a metal screen patch over the top of the apple to hold the marijuana.

Pipe pipe: Connect a two-inch-long brass pipe nipple to a female pipe tee of the same diameter (one eighth of an inch works well).

Gravity bong: Cut the bottom off a two-liter plastic bottle. Remove the bottle cap. Fill a bucket with water. Put the bottle into the bucket until the water is near the neck. Trim a screen patch to fit into a five-eighths-inch wrench socket. Place the socket on the top of the bottle. Put marijuana in the socket and light it as you gradually pull the bottle up. The bottle will fill with smoke. Remove the socket/bowl and put your mouth over the opening. Let the bottle fall, which will push the smoke out.

Improvised vaporizer: Attach a one-foot length of garden hose to a half-inch-diameter hose faucet (one that's not connected to plumbing). Attach a one-gallon plastic bag to the opposite (snipped) end of the hose with a rubber band or elastic hair tie. Holding the faucet by the handle, use a heat gun to vaporize the active ingredients in marijuana placed inside the open end of the faucet. The vapor will blow into the plastic bag. Pinch the hose while unscrewing it to prevent the vapor from escaping. Inhale.