Of all of the things you have heard about—but not tried yet—hemp wicks should be on the short list. For those of you who may not know, hemp wicks are these clever bits of hemp string dipped in wax. They burn cleanly and they are, of course, all natural. Cigar smokers have understood the concept for years: aficionados light their cigars with small strips of cedar wood instead of directly lighting from a lighter or (say it isn’t so) a match. This preserves the flavor of the tobacco and prevents the first few puffs from being full of gaseous dinosaur bones (butane) or sulfur (matches).

Bic makes a good product, no one is arguing that point. But before you flick your bic, check out all the great things that hemp wicks have to offer. The process is simple: light the wick, and use the wick to light your bowl.

Hemp Wicks offer a more pure Light

The first and foremost advantage of using hemp wicks is that you’re keeping the smoke ‘in the family’ so to speak. No burning dinosaur bones for hemp wick users. The use of a hemp wick means that you won’t be inhaling any of those nasty fumes that come from the combustion of butane. It also means that there won’t be hot pieces of the lighter’s flint in your bowl. There’s no reason to take something pure and natural and add all kinds of unwanted adulterants to it.

It’s no secret that butane is combustible, but what you may not realize is that it burns at a much higher temperature than a hemp wick will. Since it is a gas, and since the valve on your lighter is open while your thumb is depressed, the flame burns steady and it burns hot. Any gas that escapes the valve is consumed immediately and as a result the flame burns hot, much hotter than is necessary.

Get Higher with Hemp Wicks

The second advantage that hemp wicks confer to your smoking experience is that the lower burn temp means less harsh hits. You can take much more intense bong hits without keeling over, which should be enough to change your mind right there. Consider this as well: lower burn temps mean that more of the cannabinoids are preserved which will potentially get you higher.

It’s not just your lungs that will thank you, or your state of mind; your thumb and your wallet will too. Normally, thumbs and wallets aren’t in the sentence but hemp wicks bring the two together. First, the small burning tip of the hemp wick is smaller and more precise. This means much more effective cornering of your bowl. No more scorching the hell out of the weed in your bowl and leaving bits behind. Unless you are baked out of your mind, you stand little chance of burning yourself, and you can really make sure that every last bit is consumed—saving a buck here and there never hurt anyone.

Taste the Rainbow

If you are a true connoisseur, you will also appreciate the flavor experience. Hot burning butane, while more or less odorless and flavorless, certainly confers a flavor to your experience. Once it is gone, its absence is noted, and you will appreciate the fuller, cleaner flavor that hemp wicks provide. Or, you might just enjoy getting higher, and that’s okay too.

What’s handy about hemp wick, is that it sticks to itself without being sticky to the touch (thank you beeswax and the industrious bees that supply it). This means that you can coil it around a lighter and it will stay in place. Simply pull away the lead end of the wick and light that with the lighter. Using the lit hemp wick, touch flame to green and smoke, toke, hit, or rip. As the wick is consumed, you can pull more away from the coil around the lighter, and your new best friend will always be handy. That is, assuming you don’t misplace your lighters.

Wait, what am I talking about? If you’re anything like me you have a small fortune in misplaced lighters secreted inside the couch alone. Until next time friends, many your fields always be green.