The tradition of passing the joint has been shared among friends and family for generations, but maybe times should change. The COVID-19 pandemic made people question a lot, like how often their friends wash their hands. This becomes especially prevalent if someone is rolling a joint, passing the piece, or doing anything else that might make a person wonder about their personal hygiene choices. Turns out, there is some reason to worry.
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Moose Labs, a company that crafts products to reduce weed sesh germs, researched exactly how gross pieces can get. What they found out is pretty disgusting.
The company left a pipe on the table at two California consumption-friendly cannabis events and asked 100 people in each setting to sesh with the piece. The first 50 participants were given a Moose Labs MouthPeace to smoke with, and the second half was not for an A/B testing method. The pieces were swabbed at predetermined intervals and tested for bacteria.
A baseline was set using randomized swabs from other pipes, vapes, ATM keys, bathrooms, and more. The result surprised the research team as bacteria levels tested higher than they could have imagined.
“It was difficult to find a neutral object in daily life that was as contaminated as a cannabis pipe, which has, on average, almost one and a half times more bacteria than a public toilet seat,” the study reads.
Research says: disinfect your pipe
The toilet seat was the most visceral result, but it is joined by a bounty of gross comparisons.
These germs clocked in at:
- 1,304 percent more bacteria than a dog bowl
- 530 percent more than the average phone screen
- 92 percent more than a keypad
- 90 percent more than a dumpster
- 62 percent more than a shopping cart handle
- 49 percent more than a toilet seat
On top of this, the study indicated that few people are cleaning or taking precautions before hitting pieces, even at a big event after the pandemic. Only about five percent of participants utilized the provided alcohol wipes before packing and hitting the pipe. Their data also dictates that using a MouthPeace decreases the spread and amount of bacteria by almost 6000 percent.
Perhaps the days of puff, puff, pass are coming to an end. For those tied to the tradition, at the very least, consider adding a ‘wipe’ in there somewhere.
