What Does Hotbox Mean?

Hotboxing is an activity that involves someone smoking cannabis in an enclosed space, like a car or closet. Since there is no way for the smoke to escape, the second-hand, exhaled smoke is repeatedly inhaled causing the participants to get increasingly intoxicated. While initially, stoners began smoking in enclosed spaces to avoid detection, enhanced potency later became their motive as they realized they were getting far more intoxicated when consuming cannabis in this fashion.

The Hotbox Case Study

Yes, you read that right.  A study at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine confirmed that secondhand cannabis smoke can intoxicate even non-smokers in unventilated spaces. The study took seven smokers and twelve nonsmokers and placed them in 10-by-13ft enclosed rooms. One room was ventilated and one non-ventilated. The non-smokers in the unventilated room indeed became intoxicated from second hand smoke. In fact, many participants were unable to pass the equivalent of a workplace drug test after being subjected to it.

Get Creative

While the majority of hotboxing occurs in already constructed venues, many stoners get creative, building hotbox igloos on their driveways and in their backyards during the winter months (we knew those years of fort building as a child would payoff someday). Greenhouses, sheds, blanket forts or even parachutes can also make for a great hotbox setting.  Use your imagination.

Since the goal is to trap as much smoke as possible in the enclosed space for as long as possible, hotboxing is best done with several participants in an area that won’t easily allow smoke to escape. One joint is often not enough to create the intoxicating haze veteran hotboxers seek, however, the more the merrier!

Proceed with Caution

Like with any form of consumption, hotboxing has its share of dangers. As can be expected, the activity generates an enormous amount of carbon dioxide in an enclosed space. This may lead certain users to be oxygen deprived and pass out. It is also well known that the many people hotbox their cars. Hotboxing an illegal substance in public is always risky, but driving afterwards is definitely not recommended – especially for inexperienced users.

When asked, many cannabis users look back on hotboxing as an activity that brought them closer together with friends in high school and also lead to romantic experiences. In an enclosed space, where people are blurred by smoke and inhibitions are low, it is not difficult to see how this could happen. Looking to try it yourself?  Go slow, and be sure to be comfortable with the people you proceed with.