While more and more places around the world are relaxing their draconian laws and becoming less cannaphobic there still may be situations in which you find yourself where a bit of 007 secrecy is required.
Yup, we’re talking about the art of flying high while still staying under the radar.
It’s not an easy mission, especially if you’re used to smoking on the super dank, which, along with it’s heightened high comes a heightened pungentness.
While fellow flower lovers sniff top shelf buds like someliers sniff prehistoric bottles of wine, the general population tends to crinkle their nose at both.
So, in order to avoid confrontation with Airbnb owners, hotel managers, or your cranky straight laced aunt, here are a few tips for chiefing without setting off the alarm bells of every Karen in a 10 mile radius.
Best Solutions Involve Avoiding Causing Problems
Yes, we have to play mom here and say, particularly when it comes to things in legal grey areas like cannabis use (depending on location) the best action plan is one that avoids causing a problem altogether.
No, we aren’t saying that means you can never enjoy cannabis outside of your own home, but there are some little tricks and tips that, with a little forethought and planning can mean you never have to worry about covering up marijuana odors ever again.
1. Make friends with vaporizers
While we never ever really considered vaporizers superior to old fashion jays and bongs, we do definitely recognize their ability to be more practical in a variety of settings.
Because vaporizers don’t actually create any smoke as they simply heat herb material to a high enough point to release cannabinoid containing moisture they are perfect smokeless solutions.
We like pocketing a PAX herb vaporizer for downtown jaunts in the city, mostly because the flavor bomb you get from a rip of freshly ground premo flower at a precisely dialed in temperature.
But it’s also great because the vapor is confined to a smaller total radius when exhaled and very very quickly dissipating into the air with minimal scent.
Vape pens with cartridges work too, although we personally you’re missing out on a bunch of entourage effect terpene goodness with the cheaper distillates and recommend purchasing live resin whenever possible, it’s as close to fresh ground flower without actually grinding anything.
Vapes are also small in size and can easily be pocketed or slipped into a purse on the down low, making for quick and discreet ripping pleasure.
2. Make friends with edibles
We’ve met a few budtenders now who say edibles are pretty much always their pre-work go-to cannabis ingestion method.
Edibles are almost entirely scentless (unless you have a dog nose), can pack a punch, are highly portable, and don’t visually attract any attention because of their common food shapes.
Herb CEO Tip: Invest in a flower vaporizer like the Pax or Davinci and then save your vaped bud. This ABV or “already been vaped” leftover can be cooked into cannabutter or cannabis oil which you can use to bake your own edibles, for free!
The downsides are dosing can be tricky for amateurs and you also have to plan your high out ahead of time (30min up to 2 hours for some people).
3. Make friends with strangers
The ancient brotherhood and sisterhoods of cannabis defenders is a global network of people from all walks of life and all age groups who understand the benefits of cannabis and thus, are your ally in finding ways to smoke discreetly.
If you’re worried about making smells then your best way to prevent problems is to remove yourself from the area where your threats are and more to an area where your allies are.
If you are staying in a city hotel, this would be down the block by the local watering hole or perhaps the back alley where the kitchen staff go for smoke breaks.
Chances are, if you hang out where the working man hangs out (in 420 friendly states at least) you are bound to bump into another evangelizer of the herb.
The added bonus of finding safe places to smoke is the potential to share and make new friends, which, is one of the most ancient and in our opinion, underrated benefits that come with using cannabis.
4. Make friends with nature
If all else fails and you want to light up a joint without worrying about getting kicked out of wherever you are the best thing to do is to escape to a little bit of nature to partake in enjoying your rolled up nature.
Most cities have parks every few blocks. Looking for water ways or drainage areas is another way to find a little bit of nature. Googling hiking trails near you may also present opportunities to go native in pursuit of a peaceful puff.
An added benefit of nature is it’s really good at naturally camouflaging things. Finding some trees, a bit of shrubbery, can provide you much needed cover for a quick toke.
Sure, people in the area may smell it, but if they can’t see you then they can’t blame you and even if they did want to alert the park security (is that a thing?) you can easily rip a jay and evacuate the scene before any fun-ruiners show up.
So, again, instead of panicking last minute and try (and potentially fail) at covering up cannabis smoke in a place you really know you shouldn’t be smoking, like inside your car for example, try the above avenues first.
If the above options are NOT available to you for whatever reason, there are a few little stoner tricks of the trade that you can use to minimize the smell and risk exposure of getting high outside your home.
Best Marijuana Smell Eliminator Sprays
If going outdoors is not an option then you best be prepared with something strong enough to do battle with your sticky icky. The stickier the icky the stronger the sprayer.
Below are a mix of some of the most popular, well-reviewed air deodorizers popular within the cannabis community. We found all 4 of the below brands referenced the most in stoner communities.
Veil: Cannabis Specific Friendly Non-Toxic Option
Veil has made huge waves, both within the cannabis industry and in mainstream media, partially due to it’s made sexy branding, but also because of it’s aggressive cannabis-user specificity.
Only one other air deodorizer spray on this list was created specifically to mask cannabis smells, which, if you’re going to trust someone to cover up the ganj, it should be somebody familiar with the ganj no?
Here are a few reasons to consider Veil for your on-the-go cannabis smell suppressant:
- Developed by odor spray brand with 30+ years of experience
- Made in the USA
- Eco-friendly essential oil-based formula
- Non-toxic
- Comes in convenient travel sizes
The crux of Veil is it’s unique cationic surfactants that actively alter odor (burnt cannabis terpenes) molecules and render them non-smelly.
The inclusion of sweet orange (citrus), black pepper, and cedar wood make this a perfectly tailored option for eliminating smell and overlaping already naturally occuring cannabis terpenes smells with more safe, friendly bases.
The heavy citrus notes make this perfect for absorbing, eliminating, and covering up already citrus-packed fruity indica dominant strains.
Cannabolish: Full suite of natural cannabis-scent formulated options
Cannabolish smoke odor eliminator spray is the other spray recommended in toker communities as a great option for on-the-go coverups.
Similar to Veil, Cannabolish is developed with stoners in mind, but is wrapped in friendly, non-attention grabbing label, making it a great option for tossing in your baggage without worrying about raising any unwanted suspicion.
Cannabolish scent neutralizers feature:
- Essential oils mean it is free of harsh chemicals and non-toxic
- Small travel size
- Candle and gel options as well
- 30 years of experience
- Manufactured in the USA
- Shipped in recyclable packaging!
There is a misconception out there that Cannabolish is an air freshener but it’s actually an odor eliminator, like Veil, are specifically designed to cover and dissipate cannabis smells.
Since both of the above lean heavily on essential oils for their smell profiles we think they’re great for masking juicy indica hybrids in general as they have a lot of overlaps with the terpenes found in each plant.
- Cannabolish smoke odor eliminator spray instantly and naturally removes unwanted smells from air, fabric, and other surfaces.
- Natural ingredients, like water and plant oils, are non-toxic and safer around people and pets, and for the planet.
Crown Choice Natural Cedar Spray: Cover Up By Blending In
This is the first odor-fighter on the list that wasn’t specifically engineered for cannabis smells. It is however packed with natural cedar and fir pine tree oils, making it both strong as hell and also perfectly suited to blend in, infiltrate, and co-opt the naturally piney smells of fuel-heavy sativas.
You see, one of the dominant terpenes found in potent skunky sativas is alpha pinene. This is the same pinene found in pine trees, hence it’s name.
When dealing with odors, sometimes it’s not best to try to eliminate them entirely (as creating perfectly fresh smelling air is a unsolved challenge for mankind) but instead reduce them and then blend them into a natural smell to avoid arousing suspicion.
By leveraging a natural air deodorizer that contains the same terpenes as your bud, you can easily explain to someone “oh that strong smell was probably my essential oil spray”, as opposed to using an artificial freshener that only conflicts with the terpenes scents emitted in cannabis smoke.
- CEDAR OIL SPRAY: The cedar spray scent is nice and gentle. Not overpowering. The cedar essential oil scent is calming & helps with focus. Cedarwood air freshener's...
- CEDAR ESSENTIAL OIL SPRAY: This cedarwood spray doesn't mask odors & that's why it's efficient as a cedar spray for any space. The special formulation gets rid of odors....
Ozium: Most Powerful Industrial Air Sanitizer
We aren’t big fans of chemicals and always default to shop local and natural when possible, but in effort to be journalistically transparent we had to mention Ozium simply because it seemed like every forum we jumped on there were always multiple peopel recommending this product for odor elimination.
Unlike the above, Ozium was not developed specifically with cannabis smoke in mind. Instead this product was designed for, and gained cult like popularity in hospitals because of it’s ability to not just neutralize odors but to actually kill airborne bacteria as well.
It does this by mixing triethylene glycol, proylene glycol, isopropyl alcohol, tri-ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, and… “fragrance”.
Would we want to stand around in a small room with a bunch of this sprayed in the air? No way.
Would it make an industrial-strength odor-destroying solution while making a quick exit from the scene or checking out of a motel room? Most definitely.
- Proven to eliminate horrible odors
- Attacks airborne germs and bacteria
Additional Secrets To Fight Smells From Spreading
In addition to avoiding the situation altogether and investing in a quality air deodorizer that is going to remove the marijuana notes from the air, there are a few other quick tips you can employ to minimize the total air volume spread of your smoke.
Shower: Steam Clean Your Smoke
If you can’t get outside and must blaze inside then going in the bathroom is going to be your safest bet.
Most modern bathrooms will have a one-directional air flow, usually being pulled upwards by some sort of exhaust fan, meaning that your smoke should be quickly and efficiently lifted right out of your room and outside.
There’s a reason you don’t have to smell everyone’s poop on every floor below you.
To maximize the bathroom setting you can also turn the shower on hot to create steam. The smoke particles will become trapped in the much bigger, viscous water droplets, eventually collect, and drip down somewhere harmlessly.
Smoking with some warm steam is also just pleasant as it sooths the throat a bit and can keep eyes moistened for a little bit.
Door Cracks Are Grand Canyons for Air
While we’re on the topic of the bathroom, paying attention to the door cracks, particularly the bottom one, is worth highlighting.
If you’ve ever lived in a cold part of the world and put your hand down by the crack of your outside door you’ll know just how much air can move under these cracks.
Air is a sneaky thing, and with disparate pressures, can flood in through the tiniest of cracks.
Laying down a towel, both blocking your main door’s crack (say hotel room door connecting to hallway) as well as having a towel blocking your bathroom door (two layers of protection) you can relax knowing your smoke ain’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Window Caution: Air Flows Both Ways
One note of caution that a lot of people don’t seem to understand well and ultimately ends up getting a lot of people in trouble is how windows work.
You see, particularly in large buildings, negative pressure can accumulate inside (do to the design of the building, building ventilation system, time of year, the weather, all can impact air pressure) so that when windows are opened they actually suck air instead of releasing air.
So, if you fill up a hotel room with weed smoke and think opening a window will save you, you may actually be making the problem worse by letting in a rush of air volume that will only push your smokey air out into the hallway in greater volumes.
Before deciding on keeping the window open just crack it a bit and put your hand in front of the crack to detect air flow. If you feel the outside air (hotter or colder than inside air) moving into the room, you’ll know what will happen.
If you can feel escaping that means the pressure inside is greater than outside and by opening a window you will be evacuating the smokey air rather than pushing it further inside.
Herb CEO Summary
The best thing to do to promote the benefits of the cannabis plant is to be a responsible and aware ambassador. This means not setting a bad precedent or creating a negative image of cannabis users.
If a location is smoke-free then you should respect that rule. Just like you probably wouldn’t be too happy about checking into a hotel room that wreaked of cheap cigarette smoke so some people would feel about weed smoke.
Getting caught smoking where you shouldn’t be can also result in everything from being kicked out, to potentially security or police being called, depending on what manager is on duty at that time and how stringent the companies policies are.
So, take into account all of the options available to you (vapes and edibles) before going all in and only go all-in if you think you can do it without being a complete nuisance to everyone else.
Last update on 2023-05-31 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
