Cannagar
What does “Cannagar” mean?
The term “cannagar” is a combination of the words “cannabis” and “cigar” and describes a cigar made from cannabis instead of tobacco. It appears as a large, blunt-like doobie that has been rolled using a carefully cured hemp or cannabis fan leaf instead of the typically tobacco leaf-based cigar papers or blunt wraps.Example usage:
““We smoked five or six cannagars yesterday and each one tasted better than the last.””
Read moreCannagars Throughout History
The precursor to the modern cannagar was the “Thai stick” — first popularized in the U.S. in the 1970s, Thai sticks are made with cured cannabis flower tightly packed around a thin stick of bamboo, which is then wrapped in a cured weed leaf and tightly wrapped up with a hemp-based twine. Consumers typically remove a Thai stick’s bamboo core before smoking, which leaves behind a small tunnel throughout the center of the product for easier smoking/air flow.
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Why Choose a Cannagar?
While many different cannabis consumption methods are espoused by cannabis aficionados of all stripes, there is something undeniably special about the cannagar. Similar to blunts: they are large, hand-rolled tubes of ground cannabis flower wrapped in a sturdy rolling paper made from a cured leaf product. But where blunts are usually rolled up in a repurposed cigar paper or commercial blunt wrap, which are almost always made using cured tobacco leaf, cannagars are rolled using the cured fan leaves of a cannabis or hemp plant. This makes cannagars particularly attractive for cannabis enthusiasts who wish to refrain from smoking or consuming tobacco products due to the health risks associated with that plant, including the possibility of developing a dangerous addiction — or lung cancer.
And because they contain purely weed-based ingredients, many aficionados might prefer smoking a cannagar to something like a blunt or mixed spliff (which contain tobacco products), or even joint (which often use rolling papers made from commercially farmed tree pulp, which are typically mass-produced and treated with chemicals).
Living the Luxurious Life
Cannabis is one of the most valuable substances in the world by weight, and — similar to blunts — the average cannagar will typically contain several grams of cannabis, far more than the 0.3-0.5 grams found in the average hand-rolled joint. This means most will be considered a stronger/more potent product than your typical preroll. Additionally, most commercially available products are made with top-shelf premium flower and some even contain added ingredients, like a drizzle of cannabis concentrate down the middle or even a dusting of kief, which is the most basic form of solventless cannabis concentrate.
Like its cousin, the tobacco-based cigar — must be cured carefully for a certain amount of time before consuming. This sets cannagars apart from joints or blunts, which are usually smoked immediately after they are rolled, and elevates the product as a more rich and deluxe experience.
These extra perks — as well as simply the image of holding/smoking/passing a green, enormous, and smoldering weed-based cigar — make cannagars feel like one of the most luxurious consumption experiences available on the legal cannabis market.
Can You Make Your Own Cannagars?
The answer is yes, you certainly can, although it helps enormously if you have your own home grow to source both the cured flower and cannabis fan leaves.
The trickiest step will be making your own cured fan leaves but you can do this at home by simply pressing the leaves for multiple days between the pages of a heavy book. Just make sure you remoisturize the leaf slightly before rolling it, and then properly cure the cannagar itself for several additional days to reduce the amount of chlorophyll in the leaf wrap, which is where most of the harshness of the smoke comes from.
If needed, you can purchase commercially available cannabis/hemp leaf wraps with which you can roll your own. You can even purchase molds that are specially designed to compress the cores of your cannabis, making them both easier to roll and smoother to smoke.