Hotboxing is almost a right of passage to many early stoners. Part of the reason for hotboxing is out of necessity. You and some friends need to stay on the move and get blazed on the down-low. There is a particular time and place for hotboxing a car or a small room, which can be tons of fun. It’s important to remember a few key things when hotboxing, so let’s take a look at the essential things to remember when hotboxing.

What is Hotboxing?

At first hotboxing might sound like a bad idea. Let’s get in a small space, shut the door, fill it with smoke and see what happens to us! However, hotboxing can be fun and enhance your smoke sesh when done correctly. When you hotbox, you and your friends get in a small enclosed space and toke up all at once. This usually fills the room with a heavy amount of smoke which many people feel gets them even higher as they pass around their joints or pipe. When you are done, there is a classic feeling of fun and accomplishment as you open the door and see smoke billowing out as you and your friends exit the hotboxed enclosure feeling triumphant.

Hotboxing is considered a youthful smoker’s pastime because of the packed-in and secretive nature of the smoke sesh. In our modern society, it’s hard to imagine having to scramble and hide from the authorities over smoking a joint. Still, if you’re not in a legal state or perhaps your environment is hostile to cannabis, there are still real reasons to want to hotbox other than it being a lot of fun. Hotboxing hilarity dates back to the heady days of Cheech and Chong with their wild van smoking antics and over-the-top joints. Many movies that feature stoners have hotboxing scenes because of the apparent nature of knowing what tons of smoke pouring out a window means, especially when several red-eyed people emerge after with grins on their faces.

Does Hotboxing Get You Higher

The point of hotboxing any small, minimally ventilated space is mainly for the fun of it. But if you’re wondering if hotboxing a car gets you higher than regular smoking, the answer is, yes, it does. Oddly enough, there has been a study on the effects of secondhand weed smoke. The study was done by the John Hopkins School of Medicine in 2015 and concluded significant findings. 

Researchers in the study concluded that “Room ventilation has a pronounced effect on exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke. Under extreme, unventilated conditions, secondhand cannabis smoke exposure can produce detectable levels of THC in blood and urine, minor physiological and subjective drug effects, and minor impairment on a task requiring psychomotor ability and working memory.” (Hotboxing study)

The study placed smokers in a room with non-cannabis users and observed the THC levels in the non-smokers once the stoners were done with their smoke sesh. The non-smokers not only tested positive for THC, but they also had observable reactions. In other words, they got a little high. This means that your secondary cannabis smoke still has some THC in it, and if you contain it in the air around you, you’ll continue to get stoned by it to some degree.

Best Smoking Accessories for Hotboxing

Hotboxing requires that you can produce a lot of weed smoke. There are a few ways of making heavy smoke that range from complex to simple. Let’s take a look at some and what the strengths of each are.

Hotbox with a Bong

To hotbox with a bong, you need to smoke from it constantly. There is usually a gap between each hit from a bong that allows a minute for smoke to settle. When you exhale a bong rip, there is a lot of smoke, but you need to be passing that bong back and forth and refilling the bowl if you want to fill up the space with smoke. We recommend having two bongs for the best result.

Hotboxing with Joints and Blunts

Joints are traditionally the best to hotbox with because of their constant report of smoke that comes from the joint regardless of its hit. Having multiple joints lit and passing around a small space will fill it with smoke quickly. A warning on blunts, though, the secondary smoke from the blunt wrap is usually harsher than the weed inside. Hotboxing with a blunt may prove to be too intense.

Odor Eliminators

Hotboxing produces a strong cannabis odor in a small place and will make you reek of weed after you are done. The best way to avoid these strong smells is to have an odor eliminator handy to reduce cannabis odors and cut down on some of the suspicions some people might have for you smelling strong.

Hotboxing Tip Do’s and Dont’s

Do be respectful of your surroundings.

Be mindful of the place you choose to hotbox. Ideally, the place you choose should be one that no one cares if you smoke there. Try and find a small site owned by one of the people who will be smoking with you. If the car, boat, closet, tent, or phonebooth belongs to one of your friends, it will be less likely that someone will be bothered by you toking up in it.

Do hotbox with plenty of weed.

Imagine you are on the inside of a bong. That’s going to take a lot of weed to fill up that space and get you stoned. The same is true for hotboxing a 5x5 foot space. You’re going to need more weed. The key to successful hotboxing is producing smoke the entire time you are inside the area and doing that. You’re going to need to be constantly smoking. Make sure you bring enough weed.

Do you have some ventilation?

You need air to live. Make sure that the hotboxing space has some fresh air intake and isn’t a wholly enclosed space. If you start not having fun and feel lousy, step outside and get some air.

Places to Hotbox

Here is where you need to be careful. Let’s be honest here if you’re hotboxing. It’s most likely because you are trying to hide and maximize your smoke session. Don’t be dumb. If you’re going to get in a ton of trouble if you get caught filling up a car with weed smoke, then don’t do it. If you have free reign, no big deal, let’s go.

Hotboxing a Car

The classic place to hotbox is a vehicle. Filling a small car up with smoke while a stoner occupies every seat isn’t that hard to do as long as you have the proper supplies. We highly recommend that the vehicle is not move when you are smoking. Finding a chill place to park that is private is a good idea. A small car will keep smoke pretty well with the AC turned off, and if you need to clear the smoke out, all you have to do is open the windows and cut on the fan. 

Hotboxing a Room

If you want to hotbox a room, it better be small. A walk-in closet, pantry, or small bathroom is about the right size. If you’re going to make things work, take a towel and place it at the bottom of the door to keep the room ventilation down. Rooms are harder to hotbox, so more people are better.

Hotboxing a Tent

If you are camping, your tent may be an excellent option for hotboxing. Most tents are water-tight but not air-tight. If you modify your tent for rain protection, it will function best for filling up with smoke. Put the rain cover and tarp over it before sealing the door and lighting your bowl. A small tent is a great place for just two or three people to hotbox. If you’re all smoking, the tent will fill up fast. 

Shop 420 Science to enhance your Hotboxing Session

If you want to hotbox, we can help. Take a look at our joint-rolling collection or any of our big bongs for ways to produce a large amount of smoke in a small space. If you have any questions about hotboxing or the best pipes for doing so, just send us a message, and we will be happy to help.