This article refers to the type of cigarette. Spliff was also the name of a German New Wave ("Neue Deutsche Welle") band in the 1980s, and spliff is also an email-watching program (written in Perl/Tk) that watches your incoming email and displays various header information from your most recent messages.
Spliff is slang for an individually rolled cigarette made with cannabis, sometimes mixed with tobacco. Spliffs come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and are also commonly referred to as joints. They are sometimes (often ironically) referred to with their old slang name of reefers, especially by people who have seen the classic moral panic film Reefer Madness. While "reefer" and "joint" are almost certainly American terms, "spliff" is a term from Jamaica.
A large spliff is made by joining three cigarette papers, so that the long sticky side of paper (a) is attached to the non-sticky side of paper (b). Paper (c) is then stuck to either of the ends of the combined papers (a + b). The large surface area (papers a + b + c) is now set for the introduction of the cannabis (and possibly tobacco). It is usual to add tobacco if the cannabis product is in its resinous (hashish) or oil-based form, or to add bulk and make it more easily and uniformly combustible. If the cannabis is in its leaf and flower form it may be considered less (or more) desirable to use tobacco, though this is largely a matter of personal taste, and in Europe tobacco is almost always added. Once the correct mix is achieved, the spliff is carefully rolled, and stuck together with a twist in the paper at the end where paper (c) was attached, sealing the spliff. Sometimes a rolled up tube of cardboard known as a crutch or roach is inserted into the open end to prevent the contents slipping back into the mouth of the smoker, and to remove the need for a roach clip. ("Roach" may also refer to the stubbed-out end of the spliff.) The spliff is then lit and smoked.
Not all spliffs are made of multiple rolling papers. Many smokers have been known to instead make "mini-spliffs" from a single sheet of rolling paper.
There is a large sub-culture interested in preparing spliffs of different shapes and sizes, from the classic Camberwell Carrot (see Withnail and I) to more esoteric constructions that have a degree of engineering to them such as the Dutch Tulip. A certain Mexican technique, for example, produces a fairly conical spliff.
There are striking differences in spliffs prepared in various parts of the world. In America, for example, spliffs are generally made without tobacco and roaches, usually with small rolling papers. In Europe, however, spliffs are often rolled with tobacco and roaches, and the large rolling papers are used.
Several songs have mentioned spliffs such as
Note that the possession and use of cannabis is illegal in many jurisdictions. It has been decriminalised in some areas, and legal in others.
See also
External links
Last updated: 05-17-2005 23:30:07
