The cannabis culture is here to stay. In fact, for more than 50 years now, this urban subculture, illegal until very recently, has taken hold in the Western world.
And if we think about it a little, we can even go back to the 1920s, when the writer Gertrude Stein's companion, Alice B. Toklas, prepared her famous "hashish fudge" and offered it to the talented regulars at her Parisian gatherings, such as Picasso, Hemingway, Sherwood Anderson or Matisse (who were delighted to go and "taste" it).
Belonging to the cannabis culture not only means consuming marijuana, but also knowing the jargon and terms that are commonly used. There are many that coincide with other parts of the world, and there are others that are more our own, more regional.
Some marijuana words
Fumeta, fumón: someone who smokes marijuana every day.
Quemado: or burnout in English, refers to someone who smokes a lot, a whole lot, of marijuana and is constantly unfocused.
Ent: let’s say it’s a slightly nerdy term for stoners. It was taken from The Lord of the Rings, because Ents are trees, and whoever made the association was probably a stoner who was also a Tolkien fan.
Porro, canuto, churro: a marijuana cigarette.
Chusta: the butt of a joint, which has more resin.
Tiro: a single puff or inhalation.
Boca empastada: to have a dry mouth.
Munchies: the hunger attack after using cannabis.
Mota, hierba, maría: synonyms for marijuana.
Ganja, cáñamo, weed: more “botanical” ways of referring to cannabis.
Cogollo: refers to the plant’s flowers, although flores is also used. It’s the product once harvested, processed and ready to consume.
Morita: a small piece of bud.
Hachís: used to refer to the product obtained from cannabis resin, either raw or purified, by pressing it into a solid, brick-shaped mass of varying color (usually brown, but also reddish, yellow or green). It has been called this since the 1970s in Germany and Austria, and in the United States.
Bong: the glass pipe for smoking marijuana, which comes in various sizes.
Florista: a person who grows marijuana.
Vocabulary for the effects of consumption
Stoned, high: used practically all over the world to describe the feeling of "flying" after smoking marijuana: the person laughs, has red eyes, looks very relaxed and slow.
Trabado: what you call someone on whom marijuana has had an especially strong effect, so much so that they literally can't even move.
Frito: describes more or less the same thing as trabado.
Colgado, vegetal, dado vuelta: synonyms for the same effect of being extremely high.
Words referring to the act of smoking
Sesión o sesh: a get-together to smoke a joint.
Hotbox: obviously, the term comes from English. It's what you call lighting a joint in a small, enclosed space, like a bathroom or a car, which, as it fills with smoke, supposedly hits you harder with every breath.
Quemar o mechar uno: the act of lighting up a joint.
420: a code among stoners for inviting someone to smoke marijuana.
Bogart or chiefing: what you call someone who hogs a joint. Bogart, after Humphrey Bogart, who always had a cigarette in his mouth, and chiefing (from “chief”), also for someone who hogs the joint or takes huge hits instead of sharing.
With this minimal glossary you already know some of the most important words in the cannabis culture and you won't be lost without knowing what they mean.
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Want to get to know us? Discover The Cut, our weed club in Barcelona, see how to get to the club and request your invitation. Access for members aged 18 and over only.