There are so many enjoyable moments when smoking cannabis, from the exhilaration to the taste, even the smells and sights that come with it, but for all of these enjoyable moments, there is still one moment that can overpower all of the others. A rough draw can leave your throat raw, hot, and might throw you into a crazy coughing fit. If you're going for the largest rips possible, this might be normal for you, and you're cool with it, but if you're just trying to create a more pleasurable toking experience for yourself with some smoother hits, check out these helpful tips!

1. Ice

The simplest way to smoothen your hits is to make the smoke cooler. Generally if you're smoking with a waterpipe you're already reducing the temperature with smoke percolating in the water, but many pieces also come with specific notches or holds for ice within the piece for extra cooling. If your piece doesn't have ice catchers, put ice in the base of your piece, or in your gravity bong water, reducing the temperature of the water will work just as well as letting the smoke pass right over the ice.

2. Half-breath, half-hit

Many people first start smoking pot with the assumption that stoners always take a full breath of pure, milky smoke. While this is true for many stoners, it's not the whole truth. In fact, many, many, stoners will take half of a breath of clean air before starting their hit. This makes it so that the clean air mixes with the smoke in your lungs so that it isn't as harsh of a hit. This is how I still smoke to this day, and it especially helped me when I first started smoking joints and spliffs!

3. Slower, less powerful draws

The faster you try to inhale your hit, the more force you're going to be pulling through the pipe or joint. The more force you have in your inhales, the harsher of a hit you're going to have. When you rush your draw you bring in extreme heat and particulates into your throat and lungs in a rapid manner that can shock your body into coughing, also, the more force you put into your hits the more likely you are to pull some of that bud right back into your mouth or throat. Nothing stops a hit mid-motion like Scooby Snacks do, so just take your time and take some deep, slow, draws for the smoothest experience.

4. Staying hydrated

In my time, most of the stoners that I have met were totally unaware that Cotton Mouth can be the effect of toking and dehydration. Staying hydrated while smoking is incredibly important not only for a smoother draw, but to support body health (duh). If you want to have continuously harsh hit after harsh hit, don't drink any liquids, or better yet, drink soda. Water is irreplaceable to soothe your throat and lungs when toking, personally, since starting smoking cannabis I have never gone anywhere without a full water-bottle.

5. Practice, practice, practice.

Much of your ability to have a smooth hit will stem from how much experience you have smoking, and how you approach it. Although it is true that the bigger of hits you try to take the more likely it is to be rough, however if you shy away from big hits always, they'll always have that effect. Consider this the 'Trial by Fire' method, taking fat rips may damage your lungs for a few moments, but you'll find that these experiences help forge lungs of steel that can rip it all day long with little worry.

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These are the few big ways that I know how to get a silky smooth hit, but what else can you do for that perfect draw? Let us know in the comments!