Avoiding Dry Mouth: Tips for Cannabis Stoners

With how marijuana is now on a rapid growth due to the massive wave of legalization that has been sweeping the world, there are now more tips for cannabis stoners who are using weed legally. That said, these people are not mere casual users but have become regular avid cannabis fans who cannot help but love and support marijuana and its effects. As such, there are now more stoners today than there has ever been.

If you are a stoner or if you want to be part of the stoner culture that is now on the rise today, you probably already know the many basic health benefits that marijuana provides to people who regularly use it. After all, those therapeutic and medicinal benefits are what most stoners are after when they use marijuana on a regular basis.

However, even stoners also face a common problem when it comes to using marijuana and we are here to give tips for cannabis stoners. While people may react differently to the kind of side effects that weed has, there is almost no arguing the fact that most stoners are left with dry mouths every time they use cannabis. That has become a really big problem for stoners today. Dry mouth might not lead to long-term health problems (except for when you do not try to rehydrate), it is very uncomfortable even to the most experienced stoner. As such, you won’t be able to enjoy the high when you have an uncomfortable feeling in your mouth.

Tips for Cannabis Stoners: Things You Need to Know

What is dry mouth?

Dry mouth is often called cottonmouth. Stoners know it really well as they experience this on a regular basis when they smoke weed. The term explains itself in the sense that dry mouth is when your mouth is left too dry, sticky, and thirsty when you are smoking weed. Sometimes, this is accompanied by a sore and itchy throat. All of those symptoms of dry mouth combine to make you feel very uncomfortable when you are trying to enjoy the high you get from the weed you are smoking. No matter how good your blunt is, you might be left with a subpar experience because of how uncomfortable cottonmouth is.

Since cottonmouth has long been a common problem for cannabis smokers all over the world, people slowly and steadily accepted it as an unavoidable side effect when smoking marijuana. There really was no real understanding as to how and why dry mouth happens during a regular pot session. However, studies have now understood the science behind this minor inconvenience.

What causes dry mouth?

In the past, it was believed that cottonmouth was merely a minor inconvenience that was caused by the harsh smoke that is produced by cannabis. Most people thought that by inhaling the smoke, the harshness tends to make your throat itch and force your mouth to go dry during the entire duration of the pot session. However, science has already debunked that myth and has proven that there is a more scientific way of looking at why and how smoking marijuana causes dry mouth.

If you are knowledgeable about marijuana, you would know that the cannabinoids found in weed are responsible for its many effects regardless of whether we are talking about the recreational effects or the medicinal effects. These cannabinoids are the main cause of the psychoactive high, as well as the therapeutic benefits you get from weed. However, the cannabinoids are also responsible for, you guessed it, dry mouth.

The human endocannabinoid system and its interaction with the cannabinoids found in marijuana are what causes the different types of effects of weed. Marijuana cannabinoids bind with the receptors in the endocannabinoid system and produce all sorts of reactions depending on which type of cannabinoid receptor the cannabinoids interacted with. This is primarily how and why you get high from marijuana as THC binds with the CB1 receptors.

Meanwhile, we also have cannabinoid receptors which are responsible for a lot of other bodily functions. Surprisingly, saliva production is one of the functions that those cannabinoid receptors affect. Saliva production is actually an automatic function that we subconsciously do. This function is part of what we call the rest and digest system, which makes our mouths water whenever we eat something we like or if we think of something we are craving for. Since this is an automatic function, the cannabinoid receptors in our brains will automatically send signals to the saliva glands to produce saliva.

To that end, there are certain cannabinoids in marijuana that bind with such receptors. THC is the main culprit in this case as it has a chemical structure that is very similar to anandamide, a compound that will stop our saliva glands from producing saliva. As such, when THC binds with the cannabinoid receptors found in our brain, its similarity to that of anandamide will force the saliva glands to decrease saliva production.

Without saliva, our mouths will turn out dry, and our throat will start itching due to how dry and parched it is. In that regard, THC, which is responsible for the high you get from smoking marijuana, is actually what is also responsible for drying your mouth up during a pot session. For stoners, it is kind of a double-edged sword because you might be enjoying the high that THC produces, but you will feel annoyed and uncomfortable because of how it will leave your mouth dry and parched throughout the entire duration of the pot session.

How To Fight Off Cottonmouth: Tips for Cannabis Stoners

While THC might be the main cause of dry mouth, and that is something that is almost unavoidable, there is still some sort of good news because you can still minimize the uncomfortable experience you get when your mouth is dry while you are smoking your favorite marijuana strain. Here are some things that will surely help when you are experiencing cottonmouth:

Use Vaporizers and Avoid Using Joints and Pipes

Joints and pipes produce a harsh smoke that can only contribute to making your dry mouth worse. Instead, try using vaporizers because the vapor they produce is not as harsh as the smoke coming from combusted marijuana. The vapors are quite cool and will help to make your mouth feel more hydrated when it is suffering from cottonmouth.

Chew Gum while in the Middle of a Smoking Session

Chewing gum of different brands are effective at producing saliva because there are actually specialized types of gum that can activate the saliva glands. To that end, the gum helps in fighting off dryness in the mouth as it stimulates saliva production. It might be a weird kind of experience to be chewing gum while you are smoking weed, but that is still better than the inconvenience brought by a dry and parched mouth.

Eat lollipops
Sucking on lollipops or hard candies have the same kind of saliva-producing effect as chewing because the mouth will be forced to produce saliva as that is the only way for you to be able to slowly eat your way through lollipops and other types of hard candies. So, in between each smoke, you might want to keep a lollipop handy so that you can suck on it if you feel that your mouth is getting too dry. It is suggested that you go for sour flavors instead of sweet ones since sourness is great at forcing our saliva glands to produce saliva.

Eat a slice of lemon
If you are brave enough and if you can handle its sourness, lemon is a great way of forcing a stoner’s mouth to produce saliva. As mentioned, sourness helps saliva production. Is there anything more sour than a slice of lemon? Probably not. So if you want to go hard on your saliva glands, go for that lemon.

Avoid caffeinated and alcoholic drinks
Caffeinated drinks such as coffee and tea can worsen your sour mouth. That is because caffeine is also known to dry your mouth and will only serve to make your cotton mouth more uncomfortable than it already is. The same could be said about alcoholic drinks, which are known to dehydrate you. If you are dehydrated, there is no possible way for your saliva glands to produce saliva. And speaking of dehydration…

Drink plenty of water
If you ask any expert, they will always tell you that there is no better way to rehydrate yourself and fight off dehydration than drinking water. When you feel that your mouth is parched during a pot session, then the quickest way of rehydrating it is to drink water. Always keep a large bottle of water nearby whenever you are smoking weed because that is the most effective way of rehydrated your entire body and fighting off the parched feeling you have in your mouth. It also rehydrates your saliva glands enough that they will be able to produce more saliva again. That is why most stoners will always tell you to never forget about water when you are smoking weed. It becomes more important for a large bottle of water to be nearby when you are too stoned to walk all the way to the kitchen to get a glass of water.