How to Smoke Hash

Published on December 4, 2023 | Last updated November 2, 2024

Humans have consumed hash for over 1,000 years, making it the world’s original cannabis concentrate. Debuting in written history in ninth-century Iraq, hash has maintained its place in global popular culture ever since. Napoleon’s troops brought it back to France after their failed invasion of Egypt. Hash-infused fudge was one of writer Gertrude Stein’s favourite treats, and French writers Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Charles Baudelaire and Honoré de Balzac even formed a club dedicated to exploring its effects.

In Canada, hash became a legal recreational cannabis product in 2019. It’s now found in many forms: pressed bricks, balls and strips; powdered and bubble hash; and infused beverages and edibles. Let’s look at the many ways to consume this traditional concentrate.

What is hash?

Hash is made by sifting kief, the sticky, resinous crystals produced by a cannabis flower’s trichomes, into a fine powder and pressing it into a brick or ball (either by hand or in a mechanical press). Sometimes called sift, dry sift or dry sieve, kief is the most concentrated part of cannabis, containing more cannabinoids and terpenes than the buds, leaves, stalks or stems.

Hash’s aroma and appearance depend on the cannabis plant it’s made from, and the techniques used to process it. Because it contains less chlorophyll than dried flower, hash has a richer, earthier scent with fewer fresh or grassy notes. Its colour can range from light golden amber to dark brown or black and may show hints of green.

How is hash consumed?

Hash can be consumed in the following ways:

• Inhaled as smoke or vapour
• Ingested through hash-infused edibles and beverages

How to smoke hash

There are three methods of smoking hash:

• In a pipe
• In a bong
• In a joint

The method of smoking hash on its own in a pipe, bong or joint isn’t all that different from smoking dried cannabis in the same devices, although it can take longer to light hash in comparison to flower. You can add pressed hash or kief to dried flower, too — it helps it to burn more evenly but increases the potency of each inhalation.

How to smoke hash with a pipe

Required supplies: Pipe with fine mesh screen, lighter, kief or hash pieces, dried cannabis flower (optional)

1. If consuming pressed hash, use your fingers or a cutting tool to break the pressed hash into small pieces, one to two millimetres wide.
2. Place a small amount of the kief or hash pieces into the bowl of a pipe, either on their own or on top of loosely packed ground cannabis.
3. Hold a lighter to the bowl of hash with one hand while holding the stem of the pipe to your mouth with the other. Inhale as you hold the flame to the hash, continuing until the hash turns red hot and smoulders.

How to smoke hash with a bong

Required supplies: Bong (water pipe), water, lighter, pressed hash or kief, dried flower (optional)

1. Fill the bong with enough water to completely submerge the downstem (the piece that connects the bowl to the bong’s main chamber).
2. Place small pieces of pressed hash directly into the bowl of the bong, or add loosely packed dried flower and top it with pressed hash pieces or a sprinkle of kief.
3. Place your lips inside (not around) the mouthpiece, holding with one hand to get the right angle. Using your other hand, hold a lighter or hemp wick to the bowl. Remove the flame once the bowl is lit, inhaling to fill the chamber with smoke.
4. Just before your last inhalation, grasp the bowl and pull it up, removing the downstem from the bong. This will push the smoke in the chamber toward your mouth so you can inhale it.

How to smoke hash in a joint

Required supplies: Hash-infused joint, lighter

1. Purchase a hash-infused pre-roll, or roll your own by sprinkling tiny pieces of hash or kief evenly into a cannabis joint.
2. Light the end of the pre-roll with a lighter, inhaling to get it burning. Then inhale as you wish, taking breaks between inhalations to gauge how you’re feeling.

High-quality full-melt or six-star bubble hash can also be consumed through dabbing.

Vaporizing (or vaping) is a smoke-free way to consume hash on its own, but you’ll need a concentrate-specific vaporizer or concentrate-specific accessories. (You can vaporize kief and milled flower in a regular flower vaporizer if you layer it carefully, starting with dried flower — placing kief on the bottom can leave messy residue.)

Required supplies: Concentrate-specific vaporizer/vape or vaporizer with concentrate accessories

1. Add small pieces of pressed hash or a pinch of kief to the concentrate chamber.
2. Adjust the vaporizer’s temperature and airflow settings and turn it on.
3. Inhale through the mouthpiece. 

Hash can be consumed by eating or drinking a hash-infused edible or beverage in your preferred potency. Keep in mind that it can take 30 minutes or more for you to start feeling effects and at least two hours for full effects to appear.

You can also add kief to homemade edibles. Just be sure the recipe includes a form of oil or fat and will be heated to decarboxylate (or activate) the cannabinoids, such as THC and CBD.

Hash is potent, containing up to 60% THC. For comparison, the very strongest cannabis flower contains up to 30% THC. As with any cannabis product, read the label to understand the potency.  Start low, go slow and avoid combining hash with tobacco, alcohol or other substances. 

Saftey considerations for consuming hash

When consuming hash, it's important to keep personal safety in mind to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience. Here are some ways to maximize your safety:

• Start with a low dose: Hash is significantly more potent than dried flower. If you’re new to hash, start small and increase your dose as needed.
• Know your source: Only purchase hash from legal sources, including Authorized Cannabis Stores and OCS.ca, to ensure the product is regulated and dosing information is accurate.
• Choose a safe setting: Consume hash in a comfortable and familiar environment. Being in a safe space can help reduce anxiety or panic that may arise from consuming THC.
• Avoid mixing substances: Mixing hash with alcohol or other substances can amplify or lead to unexpected effects.