How to make Thai Sticks at home

If you’re getting bored of smoking the same old joints, why not try spicing things up a bit and make your very own Thai Sticks?

For those of you that aren’t old enough to remember, Thai Sticks became famous in the 60’s and 70’s after American soldiers brought them back from Vietnam and Thailand. Many of you may have smoked Thai Sticks in the past, but its not so easy now to get your hands on a genuine ones now without travelling all the way to South East Asia.

If you want to learn how to make Thai Sticks at home and discover the history behind these legendary cigar joints read on….

How did Thai Stick weed get its name?

Thai Stick is a pure sativa landrace that originated in Thailand. Being a sativa landrace meant that its genetics remained the same for as long as we know. It grows tall above most other cannabis strains and thrives in hot humid climates that resemble Northern Thailand. Thai Stick weed has seen a revival in recent years, as old school growers scramble to get their hands on landrace strains to reminisce about that amazing weed they smoked back in the 60’s.

The strain became famous in the US during the 60s and 70s where soldiers brought it back from Asia shortly after the Vietnam war. It was given the name ‘Thai Sticks’ because of the way that it was made and smoked in Asia.

Traditionally Thai cultivators would dry their weed and then layer and tie it onto bamboo sticks before selling it, hence the name Thai Sticks. We will talk more about this later in the article including how you can make your very own Thai Sticks at home.

How is Thai Stick grown?

Traditionally Thai Stick was grown in the tropical climates of Northern Thailand where temperatures can soar to 45 Celsius and humidity levels are equally as high. Being a pure sativa, Thai Stick is a tall lanky plant with spindly branches and elongated fan leaves. Its buds are spread out and clustered along its bendy stick-like branches like little pieces of popcorn.

It is this uniquely tall and spread out structure that allows the Thai Stick strain to grow so successfully in such a humid climate without bud rot becoming a problem. Thanks to its tall thin build and lack of the typical dense buds you might be used to from growing indicas, the wind is allowed to freely flow through the plant preventing a build up of moisture and stale air.

Climate

For those of you looking to grow Thai Stick it is best grown in hot humid climates similar to that of Thailand. Don’t worry though if you are growing indoors you try to replicate this by using good quality HID lights, this will bring up the temperature, and a humidifier if you need to increase the humidity. Just make sure you keep a humidity monitor in the grow room so that you don’t overdo it.

Ideal conditions for Thai Stick weed during the vegetative stage:

• Humidity should be around 70-75%.
• Temperature should be around 25-30 °C.

Ideal conditions for Thai Stick weed during the flowering stage:

• Humidity should be around 50%
• Temperature should be around 20-25 °C.

What training methods are suited to Thai Stick weed?

Thai Stick weed can grow over 3 meters tall and so growing indoors you will need to train it. That being said its long easy to bend branches lend itself perfectly to low stress training, ScrOG or even some high stress training techniques.

Techniques such as topping or fimming which will require some post recovery time are perfect for strains that have long flowering periods, and at 12-14 weeks Thai Stick will have plenty of time to destress.

Is Thai Stick indica or sativa?

Thai stick is 100% pure landrace sativa, this means its genetics have remained unaltered for as long as we know, and it has never been hybridized.

What is Thai Stick weed like to smoke?

In typical sativa Thai Stick weed provides an uplifting high that allows you to be active, although it is a great strain to smoke while you relax during the evening as the sun sets. Thai Stick as a strain is not the most potent variety with THC levels around 17-20%, but many that have smoked this strain claim that it gives you the perfect high.

Do Thai sticks get you high?

Thai Sticks on the other hand are a different story. Thai Sticks certainly do get you extremely high, and that’s because of the way they are made. Thai Sticks traditionally are bud soaked in hash oil packed tightly around a bamboo stick. It is then smoked like a blunt, but not only are you smoking a huge cigar sized compressed chunk of bud, you are also smoking layers of hash oil which add to the potency.

There are a lot of places selling knock of Thai Sticks, that may look like the real deal but don’t give you the same high. The secret to the originals is that the Thai cultivators used to dip the buds in hash oil, and then bury the sticks for a month to cure. The result was a highly potent, great tasting Thai Stick.

Often in the 60s American soldiers would slide one off the stick and smoke it without any rolling papers. The buds would burn fast and sometimes there would be waste but at a dollar a stick it didn’t matter.

How to make Thai Sticks step-by-step?

Making your own Thai Sticks is a great alternative way to smoke some bud, to do so you will need a decent amount of Thai weed ideally from a strain such as Thai Stick.

To start with you will need some dried Thai Stick weed, if you don’t already have some you can pick up some Thai Stick seeds from our store and grow your own. You will also need a .

Make sure you trim your weed thoroughly, you don’t want any leaves or stems attached to your buds because they will not be ground up in the same way as you would if you were rolling a typical joint.

Step 1: Hopefully you are starting this after having a successful harvest from your Thai Stick weed. The first stage is choosing which buds to use for making your sticks. To do this you want to choose the fluffiest buds with the least stem attached to them. These will condense nicely around the stick and make it a smooth smoke.

Step 2: This is where things can get a little messy so grab some surgical gloves unless you want to get hash oil over your fingers. Get your bamboo skewer and coat it with a layer of hash oil. This will allow your buds to stick to the skewer.

Step 3: Take the buds you have collected and press them around the stick from top to bottom until the length of the stick is covered but with an inch left at either end for you to hold. Ideally you want the stick to be an even thickness the whole length of the stick.

Step 4: Now that the first layer is complete you need to let it cure overnight and secure the buds to the stick. Take the hemp string and use it to wrap around the buds tightly securing them to the stick.

Step 5: Take a sheet of parchment paper and use these to wrap around the Thai Stick to keep it tight. Then place it in the fridge for 2-4 days to cure.

Step 5: Now that your Thai Stick has been curing for a few days it is time to unwrap it and apply the final coat of hash oil. To do this you need to first carefully unwrap it and take off the parchment paper and hemp string that was used to tie it up. Be very careful when you remove the hemp string that the bud does not come off of the stick, if it does use more hash oil to stick it back on.

Step 6: Once you have removed the parchment paper and string, coat the entire Thai Stick with another layer of hash oil. Be generous with it making sure that all of the bud is stuck to the stick.

Step 7: Once your stick is ready and all of the bud is firmly stuck onto the stick you need to wrap it in cannabis fan leaves. Take some of the large fan leaves that you kept aside and carefully wrap the fan leaves around the outside of the stick applying more hash oil where needed to make them stick. You need to repeat this process three times so that the entire stick is covered with three layers of fan leaves and hash oil with all of the bud now covered. At this point it should now resemble a giant cannabis leaf wrapped cigar.

Step 8: Now wrap the Thai Stick with parchment paper once more. Now you need to head a large frying pan, and place the Thai Stick covered with parchment paper into the hot pan for just a few seconds each side. This melts the hash oil and helps to seal the stick more tightly during the next stage.

Step 9: Remove the parchment sheet used to heat the Thai Stick. Then tie it tightly with hemp string again to hold the buds tight around the stick. Then finally wrap it in another fresh sheet of parchment paper. Traditionally cultivators in Thailand at this stage would bury a Thai Stick wrapped in fan leaves for a month for the final cure. However, as an alternative to this if you then vacuum seal, it in a food bag (another simple way to do this is to tightly wrap it in saran wrap). Then place it in your refrigerator for 5-7 days.

Step 10: After 5-7 days of curing your Thai Stick is now ready to smoke. Carefully unwrap it and remove the hemp string and skewer from the middle. I find it is best to unwrap it, remove the skewer and then lastly remove the hemp string, this is the best way to prevent it from breaking.

Once it is unwrapped your Thai Stick is now ready for you to smoke.

We hope you enjoyed this read, be sure to share any images of your home made Thai Sticks and feel free to share this article with your friends so that they can enjoy a Thai Stick too!