Written by Joshua Sosin

There’s a common belief in the world of cannabis that coughing after taking a hit from a joint or pipe can make your high more intense.

Is that true, though?

Whether you’re new to cannabis products or a seasoned vet, you’ve probably heard this one before. We’re here to help you figure out whether it’s just an old stoner’s tale or a real piece of advice for smoking cannabis more enjoyably and effectively.

Let’s take a look at the science behind how that cannabis cough can affect your experience of smoking.

Table of Contents

• What Gets You High When You Smoke Weed?

  • Factors That Affect Your High

• Why Do People Cough When They Smoke Weed?

• Coughing and Getting High: Fact vs. Fiction

  • What’s Actually Happening?

  • Does Holding in Smoke Get You Higher?

  • How To Stop Coughing While Inhaling Cannabis Smoke

• FAQs About Coughing and Smoking

• The Verdict

• Premium Cannabis Flower From Mood

  • Pluto

  • Dark Rainbow

  • Gushers

What Gets You High When You Smoke Weed?

The cannabis plant contains over a hundred different cannabinoids, which are naturally occurring chemical compounds that give the plant its psychoactive effects. Without cannabinoids, weed wouldn’t get you high — and it wouldn’t be nearly as fun to smoke it.

The most abundant (and popular) cannabinoid in weed is Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This compound is the main psychoactive component in weed, which means it’s the one primarily responsible for getting you high.

THC and other psychoactive cannabinoids enter your lungs when you take a hit from a bong, vape, or other smoking device. From there, they bind to the CB1 receptors in your body’s endocannabinoid system, producing effects like relaxation, altered perception, and, sometimes, a case of the giggles.

Factors That Affect Your High

Smoking or vaping cannabis can produce a wide range of effects that vary based on multiple factors. Here are some of the ways that your experience with cannabis might be affected by your body and the products you choose.

• THC Content: The main determining factor behind the intensity of your high is the amount of THC in the cannabis flower you smoke. The more THC, the more powerful your high will be.

• Method of Consumption: Smoking weed often has faster-onset but shorter-lived effects compared to ingesting products like edibles. This is because cannabinoids take longer for cannabis users to absorb and metabolize when eaten.

• Your Tolerance Level: If you’re a more experienced cannabis user, it might take more THC to get you high. Prolonged cannabis use can increase your tolerance for THC, which you can mitigate by taking a tolerance break from time to time.

• The Way You Inhale: When you take a deeper hit while smoking and hold the smoke in your lungs for longer, more THC might reach your lungs and bind to the receptors in your endocannabinoid system. We’ll talk more about this phenomenon below.

All of these factors can impact the intensity and duration of your high, and they’re worth knowing when you first start using cannabis.

Learn more about how getting high feels from the Mood Blog.

Why Do People Cough When They Smoke Weed?

Coughing is a natural human response to irritation in your body’s respiratory system. Inhaling cannabis smoke or vapor can trigger this cough reflex, but that doesn’t mean it’s dangerous.

When you cough while smoking, there’s nothing to be afraid of; it’s just the way your body responds to some of the irritants in the cannabis plant.

However, there are some factors that can make smoking more irritating to your lungs, like:

• The Temperature of the Smoke: Smoking a joint or standard glass pipe sends hot smoke into your lungs, which can definitely be irritating for some folks. If the temperature of your smoke is a recurring source of irritation for you, a bong might be a better option.

• The Quality of the Cannabis: When cannabis flower isn’t processed properly, it can bother your lungs and lower the quality of your high. If you've ever had a full-on coughing fit while smoking weed, you probably weren’t loading the good stuff into your joint.

In addition, some stoners claim that holding smoke in their lungs for longer increases the intensity of a high. We'll talk more about this phenomenon later and see whether it holds water.

Does Coughing Make You Higher? Fact vs. Fiction

Where did the idea of coughing to get higher come from in the first place?

The notion that coughing increases the effects of cannabis might have originated from the way a cough after a hit makes you feel.

For example, if you rip a bong and start coughing hard, it can make it seem like you’ve just taken a massive hit — even if there wasn’t anything special about that specific hit. This is because the physical sensation of coughing can make you feel lightheaded and a little disoriented, making the smoking experience even more intense.

Keep in mind that just because you feel like you’re getting higher when cough doesn’t mean you are. In many cases, this feeling is just a classic example of the placebo effect.

What’s Actually Happening?

When you cough, quite a bit happens in your body. A cough involves muscle contractions and forcefully sending air out of your lungs, which drops your oxygen levels, increases blood flow to your brain, and — most noticeably — makes your airway feel uncomfortable.

Lots of coughing can temporarily cause a lack of oxygen flow to your brain, which might make you feel a bit dizzy. That sensation mimics some of the physical feelings associated with getting high, but don’t be fooled — it’s just a cough.

In addition, coughing makes your heart work a little harder to send blood to your organs, which can slightly increase blood flow to your brain. The result of this rush of blood to your head might be a temporary feeling of euphoria, which might also make you feel like you’re getting higher.

Finally, coughing can clear out phlegm from your throat and make your airways feel a bit more sensitive and irritated. This change might make you notice the feeling of the smoke in your lungs, altering your perception of the intensity of each hit you take.

Based on this natural response to coughing, it’s easy to see why you might feel like you’re getting higher when a hit makes you cough. In reality, though, that’s probably not the case.

Does Holding in Smoke Get You Higher?

We often hear stoners talk about another phenomenon that we mentioned earlier — the effects of holding smoke in for longer.

The idea here is that taking a “deeper” hit can increase the amount of psychoactive compounds that reach your lungs. The truth, however, is that the impact of holding smoke in your lungs is pretty underwhelming most of the time.

Research tells us that most THC absorption happens just a few seconds after you inhale each hit. That means that holding in smoke after a hit won’t do much good. In contrast, this “technique” can actually expose your lungs to more irritants and increase the risk of hacking and coughing.

How To Reduce Coughing While Smoking

Now you know that coughing or holding smoke in your lungs won’t do much to improve the quality of your high — and it might make you feel pretty uncomfortable. That means the best step to take to improve your smoking experience is to eliminate coughing from the equation.

If smoking often makes you cough, we recommend giving these tips a try and seeing how you feel:

Try a Vape

A disposable, rechargeable vape is a fantastic alternative to a standard joint or pipe. Vapes heat cannabis to lower temperatures, which can be less irritating and stop that pesky cough from showing up.

The vapes in the Mood Shop are made with premium ceramic coils, which provide even heat for a consistent smoking experience. They’re fun, discreet, powerful, and easy to use.

Hydrate Before Your High

If your airways are dried out, you’ll be more prone to coughing while smoking. Drinking some room-temperature water is one of the best ways to take care of this issue almost instantly.

As a side note, staying hydrated while smoking is always smart. Plenty of fluids (and maybe some nutrient-dense food) will make your high more balanced and enjoyable.

Take Smaller Hits

If smoking seems to always make you cough, skip the massive rips. Smaller, more controlled hits can help you limit the amount of smoke that goes into your lungs at a time and reduce airway irritation.

Use a Bong or Water Pipe

Bongs and water pipes filter smoke through water, which leads to cooler, cleaner hits. The result is a much less irritating experience that many cannabis fans say is the best way to smoke.

Another option is a dab rig, which is similar to a bong but is used for vaporizing and smoking concentrates. This smoking tool can get you a powerful high and help you avoid coughing.

FAQs About Coughing and Smoking

Q: Is it bad to cough a lot while smoking?

A: A chronic cough — one that is persistent and lingers long after you smoke — is never a good sign. We’re not here to offer you medical advice, but it’s always a good idea to visit your doctor and get your respiratory system checked out if you have a persistent cough that doesn't go away for several days.

On the other hand, a short-term cough after a hit is totally normal. Do whatever you can to make yourself comfortable, but don’t worry too much.

Q: What should I do if I can’t stop coughing after a hit?

A: If you’re having a full-fledged coughing fit after taking a hit, the first thing to do is put down the joint or pipe. Give your body some time to readjust. Take a sip of water and try to take some deep breaths. You should feel better in just a few minutes.

Q: I seriously can’t stop coughing when I smoke. What do I do?

A: If coughing is a consistent problem for you when you smoke, we recommend trying a different form of cannabis consumption.

Edibles are always a fantastic alternative to smoking. They’re tasty, powerful, and full of the same active compounds that make smoking so enjoyable. Plus, there’s no inhaling involved (except breathing in and out like you always do).

Q: Is smoking weed legal?

A: Great question! Thanks to the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, also known as the Farm Bill, many cannabis products are now legal in parts of the US.

Under this bill, cannabis goods are separated into two categories: hemp and marijuana. Products in the hemp category contain 0.3% or less of Delta-9 THC by dry weight, while marijuana goods cross this threshold.

Smoking marijuana is still federally illegal in the United States, but you can order hemp-derived THCa flower online from the Mood Shop and get it delivered directly to your door, depending on where you live.

The Verdict

There’s an ongoing debate about the effects of coughing on your cannabis high, but it looks like all signs point to this myth being fully busted.

Coughing is just a natural reaction to cannabis consumption via smoking, and there’s no reason to avoid stopping it from happening. Drinking water, changing your smoking method, or just taking smaller hits can help you stop coughing — and keep your lung health in check.

Premium Cannabis Flower From Mood: Our Picks

If you’re ready to level up your smoking experience, make sure you grab some top-shelf flower from the Mood Shop.

Grown in the USA and delivered directly straight to your doorstep, our flower is all you need to get in your ideal mood.

Pluto — For Creative Stimulation

This strain provides a cerebral high that will help you relax and get into a focused and inspired headspace. With 27.62% THCa content, it’s a high-potency flower that we recommend for beginners and seasoned vets alike.

Grown in California, Pluto is a crossbreed of Gelato #33 and 1991 Triangle Kush plants. It’s a 70/30 Indica-dominant hybrid with a scent of sour lemon, fresh pine, and spicy diesel.

Grab 1g of Pluto for only $17. Subscribe to save 15% on your order.

Dark Rainbow — For a Chill High

At 27.67% THCa, Dark Rainbow is a powerful strain that produces a soothing, sedating high. It’s an Indica-dominant hybrid with a funky, gassy scent and hints of grapefruit and sage.

Grown in Washington, Dark Rainbow is a crossbreed of Girl Scout Cookies, Chemdawg, and Rainbow Belts F1 strains.

Save $25 or more when you pick up 7g of Dark Rainbow for only $93. Subscribe to save 15% on your order.

Gushers

This strain provides an easy, happy high with 22.30% THCa. Its scent is like sweet citrus, spicy diesel, and tropical berries, a mood-boosting combination that fills the room as soon as you light up.

A 60/40 Indica-dominant hybrid, Gushers is a crossbreed of Gelato #141 and Triangle Kush plants grown in California.

Grab 7g of Gushers for only $93. Subscribe to save 15% on your order.

Looking for something else? Check out our full selection of edibles to satisfy your sweet tooth while enjoying a powerful high.

Prices subject to change.