I think it's pretty ridiculous that people look down upon coughing. I personally don't see what's wrong with it.. you still get high. If you have to cough then cough don't sit there holding it in red faced for 20 seconds.
If you don't cough that just means you aren't pushing your limits. I'm not saying that I cough every hit, or that I take so much I'm choking my brains out, but I know when I cough that I'm taking a big hit. The more I push my threshold the more I know I'll be able to smoke without coughing if I so feel like it.
I never really knew anything about growing/drying/curing until I became a medical patient. When I first got hooked up with my caregiver (the man who legally grows pot for me), he had to rush the first few batches of weed to me so I had some stuff to smoke right away. He told me he dried the stuff properly but did not have time to cure it properly, so the weed would be a lot more harsh. I did notice that the first two batches of the G 13 PP he gave me were considerably harsher than the G13 PP he gives me now that it is properly dried and cured. I got equally high off both the properly cured and uncured weed. Both looked amazing, but the properly cured shit looked alot more sparkly/thc covered. I did cough a TON more with the uncured shit. So, I have to agree with the people saying the harshness is dictated by the cure.
Coughing is a reflex. While the quality of the bud/curing process has something to do with it, it is not the complete answer. Some people are gonna cough their shit up no matter if it's schwag or dank. Some people don't have that reflex as strongly or get used to it as they smoke more often. Personally, I'm a bong guy and so I'm totally used to taking huge fatty bong rips without the hits even phasing me. However, if I go two weeks of just bongs and then I go to smoke a joint of the same dank, I will cough, simply because a joint is harsher than a bong rip that's been filtered through water multiple times/diffused. Once I smoke joints for a couple of days though, I'm used to it and then when I go back to my bong it feels remarkably smooth. Also, I'd just like to point out that I pick up a lot of different strains and a lot of them are cured very nicely. I have never noticed a correlation between the weed's potency (all of the weed I get is pretty potent) and how much I've coughed, but I have noticed when the nugs just weren't cured properly they were a lot harsher. So I'd say whether or not you cough has to do with a number of factors, mainly: 1. how familiar you are with the act of smoking 2. the method of smoking 3. the herb 4. how much of a pussy you are
maybe i have just been smoking shitty weed. (or at least not cured too well). so now i gotta grow my own. but yeah, bongs can kill me sometime. (my friend has a generic black one, you can NEVER tell when the chamber is filled and who wants a crappy hit? no one. so you go all out until you cannot possible breathe any more air in, then cleaarrr thatt biittcchh hahaha)
curing does play a huge part in the overall flavor and taste/smoothness of the buds. BUT, it really depends on strains bro. some strains just have a harsher smoke than others. take a cured bud and milk it and find a nice soothing fruity sweet flavor after exhaling. now take a milk of a cured bud that has a hashy earthy musky flavor and im sure you would be coughing just a bit at least from hashy heavy hits. curing definitely plays a huge part in how the overall buds are, but i really think it is strain depending.
Of course genetics of the strain play a huge role. I shouldn't have overlooked that... thanks. Also I can't speak for everyone else, but I don't look down on coughing. I didn't mean to imply that if I did.
I fing good bud makes me cough more not because of it being harsher, most of the bud I smoke is cured really well, but because of the feeling of it '"expanding" in your lungs.
First off, coughing does not get you higher, it merely deprives your brain of oxygen (as well as cannabis having an effect on ones blood pressure) which will cause a headrush. This head rush is what's usually attributed to feeling "higher" Coughing is also a healthy bodily function, its nothing to avoid. Infact it would be bad to avoid coughing, as that's how your body naturally cleans out its airways.
nah i dont think you were implying that you look down on coughing, you were just stating that if your buds are nice and well cured, than coughing shouldnt be a problem. and i totally agree. i fuckin hate when you can tell the buds are immature and harvested/dried way to fast. because you know that blunt is gunna have a harsh taste.
its hard to explain but what I do, always and it works is, if you feel like you have to cough or if your throat is killin you from a hit, try making your throat go 'inside out' I cant explain it, but Im sure some other people here do it and they know what Im talking about