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Preparing weed to corner a bowl

How to Corner a Bowl & Why

January 25, 2022

What is cornering? Why do stoners do it, and how to corner a bowl?

Sometimes rolling a joint can be a bit of a hassle if you haven’t mastered the skill or don’t have the patience. For these occasions, many people opt for pipes and water pipes or bongs. 

Do you want to be there loading the bowl after each hit, or would you rather share one around? If you don’t corner the bowl, by the time it reaches the last person in the group, all the weed’s burnt, and they don’t get that tasty terpene flavor. 

For everyone to get a hit of fresh green, you need to know how to corner a bowl. Join us as we look at what the term means, how to do it, and mistakes to avoid.

Lighting a bong
Lighting a bong

What is cornering the bowl?

Cornering a bowl is the process of lighting a pipe, or bong, in a way that gives you multiple hits. As opposed to cherrying the bowl, where you spark it in the center, you light around the edges. If you cherry the bowl, all the bud goes up in smoke at once—cornering allows you to space it out over two or three hits.

The biggest benefit of cornering the bowl is allowing you to ration your stash—meaning you can share with others or just stretch it out if you’re smoking solo. 

Have you ever seen bits of fresh green bud when emptying a pipe? Learning how to corner a bowl helps make that a thing of the past. 

Why corner a bowl

Unless you’re a real bong monster who always rips a pipe to yourself, cornering the bowl is something worth having in your smoking collection. Why? 

  • Your bowls look better when cornered, simple as that. 
  • Cornering helps to save money and ration your supply better.
  • You can avoid (or minimize) coughing by cornering.
  • Sharing is caring. When you corner the bowl, it’s easier to share it around. 
  • Control your dose through cornering. Only take what you want. 

Below, we take a look at each reason a little closer.

It looks better

A simple reason to corner your bowl is that it looks a lot nicer. When you finish taking a toke and pass it on to the next person or set it aside for later, vibrant green looks much more appetizing than ash grey. 

Helps you save money

Buying your marijuana from a dispensary is convenient and easy, but it can be costly. Learning how to corner a bowl can save you a few bucks. Cornering enables you to ration out your stash a little better and be more strategic with that green.

Avoid (or minimize) coughing

Hitting a pipe or bong can be a cough-inducing experience. Many smokers prefer cornering the bowl to avoid coughing fits each time they take a hit—although it’s sometimes unavoidable. 

Easier to share

If you’re smoking and sharing with other people, cornering the bowl enables you to pass the weed around multiple people more fairly. It also means each person in the circle gets fresh bud instead of charred remains. It’s considered bad smoking etiquette among some groups to pass someone a bowl with no fresh green left.  

Control dosage

Another consideration is how much you want to medicate. Looking for a little hit before going into a meeting? Maybe a whole bowl will be too much for you, and cornering the bowl is the solution.

Preparing weed to corner a bowl
Preparing weed to corner a bowl

How to corner a bowl of cannabis 

It’s worth knowing that many smokers choose a hemp wick over a lighter to corner the bowl more effectively. If you don’t know what that is, check your local smoking supply store, or look online for more information and where to get one. 

Cornering a bowl is very straightforward with a bit of practice. Let’s look at the basic steps.

  1. First, quickly check the pipe or bong for any dirt or irregularities.
  2. Spark your lighter or hemp wick away from the bowl. 
  3. Hold your lighter or hemp wick at an angle to the bowl—imagine you’re going to pour the flame gently into the bowl. 
  4. Bring the flame towards the very edge of the bowl and slowly inhale. 
  5. To corner the bowl, you need to inhale hard enough to get a decent hit—we don’t want to torch the top layer of fresh weed.
  6. Move the lighter away as you inhale and finish your hit as normal. 

If you don’t get the technique right at first, try again. You may need to hold the lighter at a slightly different angle or keep it closer to or further away from the weed. Still finding a lot of the top layer of bud is burnt? Try inhaling a bit quicker. 

The technique needed to corner a bowl requires a bit of trial and error to start with, but you and your smoking buddies will appreciate the effort.  

What to avoid when cornering the bowl?

How to corner a bowl 101 means not scorching all the coveted top weed. Your objective is to smoke a regular hit while preserving as much fresh green on top. 

Some simple mistakes relate to the flame. Holding the heat source too close burns a lot of that herb sitting on top—exactly what you don’t want to do when you corner a bowl. 

Be careful not to light more weed than is necessary. Get yourself a hemp wick to control the amount of bud you’re burning and make it go further. 

Grinding the bud too finely leaves you with almost a powder; this can be great for other things but not for loading bongs. 

To easily corner a bowl, you’re looking for a nice even grind, with the weed in fairly even-sized chunks—too fine, and the bud burns super quick: if the chunks are too big, they burn too slow. A bit of experimentation helps you determine how fine you want your nugs ground up.

To avoid these common mistakes, keep the following in mind:

  • Hold the flame at a good distance to avoid burning your herb. 
  • Light only the necessary amount of weed, and leave some for your buddies. 
  • Look into a hemp wick to help with flame control.
  • Grind the bud well but don’t turn it into powder. 
Weed and pipe
Weed and pipe

Don’t get yourself cornered

Maybe you decided that you need to get better at cornering the bowl—or it could be one of your friends who needs some classes in doing it right. Either way, you’ve now got the information to become a cornering champion and spread this wisdom to everyone you meet. 

The next time you’re sharing a bowl with others, you’ll be ready to host your own masterclass in how to corner a bowl. We’re sure your friends will love any technique that saves weed and gives everyone fresh bud when it’s their turn

Cornering the bowl isn’t the only way to save money on cannabis. More and more Americans are growing marijuana at home every day. 

Here at Homegrown Cannabis Co., we’re not just a company selling seeds—we’re part of the US cannabis community. We pride ourselves on providing the finest product and impeccable service. Browse our selection of marijuana seeds, and start your homegrown adventure now.

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