"Amongst the densely rich landscape of cannabis culture, the blunt, an enduring symbol of cannabis, has entranced and enveloped many smokers young and old.The weighted delivery of rolling a blunt and lighting it up. The camaraderie of passing it around. The deep high accented by the buzz of tobacco. The many songs to play while burning. The essence of what a blunt truly means is vibrant, layered, colorful, and deserves an origin story to match the mosaic.
We must trace the origin of cannabis to understand the blunt. Although archaeological studies have found that cannabis plants had been cultivated for thousands of years before this, around the fifth century B.C. is when cultures in Central Asia began burning cannabis as incense.As the world grew more connected and as cannabis proved itself to be an incredibly useful (and enjoyable) plant, it became a commodity. Travelers spread it via the Silk Road and other trade routes to other parts of Asia, Europe and the rest of the world.Eastern India was notable among these trade destination. It was home to many indentured servants that were eventually sent to the Caribbean as workers. According to Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana, servants brought cannabis with them to the Caribbean in the 1800s. People in the Caribbean adopted the Hindi term “ganja,” which is english for “hemp,” which eventually became part of cannabis vernacular. ..."Read the full story by John Lee at Emerald Magazine.
