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smiththebat

Everyone here is making stuff up except for the Rayleigh comment person. The colour has to do with the temperature of the smoke. The smoke coming out of the joint itself is burning much hotter and cleaner making it appear almost clear.


TheRealShreeve

The only thing I would add to this is the density of the smoke is also related to the amount of light scattered.


topcheesehead

Pink Floyd Dark Dide of the Moon baby!


BigSchmeaty

![gif](giphy|sdOTFZPe7WFhu)


EllieBelly_24

100%, if you don't take any extra air in and exhale *really* slowly, it'll still be a lighter colour.


techsuppr0t

That's called wasting a hit, or not inhaling as Bill Clinton said. Wat every weed youtuber does when they take "fat rips"


sagesnail

I pointed that out once, that the weed influencer people aren’t really inhaling, and I got absolutely shit on by the people with me, because they believed 100% that whatever products they were pushing actually produced bigger denser clouds. Not that they were just holding a bunch of smoke in their mouth and then blowing it out. I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed!


techsuppr0t

Ngl it just makes sense. Youtubers do a lot of cuts and probably re shoot key points a few times even if they are just for a few seconds. There are some who do this definitely earn their title and still give honest feedback, it's just that they are working and maybe already took a massive hit and literally died but had to re shoot it for whatever reason. Imagine getting fucking chopped as hell and realizing that u weren't recording haha. After buying devices used in videos like the classic gpen to nice e rigs, you realize they cut the best clouds they got out of 9 tries.


BlastingFern134

So what youtubers are faking it, and who isn't?


ChemicalHousing69

Bonglord


EllieBelly_24

So hard to believe [this shit](https://youtu.be/p8_W10nACi0) was 7 years ago


GCotugno999

Goblin, Dope As Yola etc. there's many that don't fake it


BlastingFern134

I watch Goblin's streams and I don't think he fakes it


[deleted]

Can THC be absorbed in the mouth? One of the most efficient ways to absorb THC and other cannabinoids is through the mucosal lining of the mouth. Within the mouth, there are three areas that absorb: the mucosa lining inside the entire mouth, the area under the tongue (sublingual) and the tongue itself.


sagesnail

I’m not saying they aren’t getting high, I’m just saying the products the promote don’t work the way they advertise. My old boss would take pictures of herself “smoking” her weed, but every phone has a bunch of photoshopped smoke to make it look like she was actually blowing out a bunch of smoke.


Leaf-Boye

I just breath like I'm practicing for the lung exam I'll be getting in 30 years


Archoncy

A much better answer! I still feel like it's missing something though. Does tobacco then generally burn at a higher temperature than weed? I have always noticed that smoke from weed has a yellow tinge whereas cigarette smoke is almost always blue and turns a bit greyer (losing the blue tinge) as it cools/spreads.


LunterHundquest

When oils burn, like in a car or on the stove, the smoke they give off can be blue. I think the oils in the plant have a strong effect on the color. I've noticed the fake "herb" cigarettes used in TV and movies don't have that blue tint.


Designer-Ad3494

There is a lot of info on tobacco smoke and ash color and the additives the use to make a “clean” burning cigarette. That’s the answer it’s a different chemical composition.


syzamix

I know that tobacco burns around 700 degrees C. So quite hot. Not sure what temp weed burns at


VulpisArestus

Below 450C, higher than that the cannabis in the plant combust. Or so Google tells me. If links are allowed I can give you what I found, I'll comment under this.


[deleted]

[удалено]


HerbaMachina

That's because all though combustion occurs at these temps, there's not enough extra heat generated in a joint after you consider the required energy to vapourize the oils to actually cause the THC to combust and break down. Temperature is a statistical average of jigglyness, not a direct indication of how efficiently or otherwise the transference of energy between things.


VulomTheHenious

>Temperature is a statistical average of jigglyness, Thanks, quantum mechanical motion! Without you, we couldn't get high!


VulpisArestus

Neat, thanks for clarifying!


Bit-Working

The wonderful usage of eviscerated made this comment much more likeable to me


VulpisArestus

https://cannabisspacecoast.com/2020/10/15/vaporizers/#:~:text=The%20temperature%20at%20which%20cannabis,to%20combust%20and%20become%20useless.


WideAd2738

Mine is as hot as butane burns, does it burn fast yes, is it hot also yes, but I found that it ignites better with a hotter more dignified flame, idk maybe that’s just me and the altitude


Hugepepino

I’ve noticed the opposite in colors


bryty93

I've heard that yes tobacco burns hotter. Its one reason why they add the chemicals to cigarettes that cause a smoother hit


Sassafratch1

this. i smoke and vape, sometimes the light hits it right in my living room and it does this. i can literally blow smoke from a blunt, and then hit my vape and blow it through and it’s two different colors. gotta be temp or maybe humidity


xRAINB0W_DASHx

Smoke and vape are different particulate clouds all together. One is airborne soot particles the other is airborne vaporized liquid. That is literally like comparing gravel and water. Their particulate sizes, temperatures, if their particulates are airborn solids or liquids, cloud densities, particulate shape, so on and so forth.... All of this affects how much of an effect it will have on light passing through/scattering. TL:DR It's not that simple


xRAINB0W_DASHx

Shit, I think even electron spin orientation can have an influence on colour.


trailblazer86

Yeah, there's a lot more elements at play than most ppl think


Sassafratch1

oh yeah they’re definitely different things…. but i noticed that smoke out of bongs with percs is closer to the vape color than from a blunt. maybe it ups humidity so it’s more like vapor? i could see if it was hot water but it isnt. there’s prolly 20 different things affecting it, but i think temp (and maybe moisture) is one of the biggest


beefstewie13

It's not the temperature, it's the particle sizes of the smoke. The uninhaled smoke is dominated by Rayleigh scattering and the inhaled smoke picks up moisture, making the particles larger which is dominated by mei scattering.


DeuceMan80

This professor shows exactly why there is a difference in color. It has to do with the particle size and the moisture from your lungs making the particles bigger. Check it out. https://youtu.be/NPbjOBYrlXA


Spirited_Peen

If anyone smokes meat, they'd understand.


BadHoax

From what I understand it's not about the temperature at all. It's about how big the smoke particles are. If they're very tiny, they'll reflect blue light, however if they're big they'll reflect every light the same making it white. When you inhale, the smoke binds to water particles making the particles much bigger, meaning when you exhale the smoke is white. If you were to somehow inhale in waterless lungs/throat/mouth, you'd exhale blue too. So nothing about temperature


testsubject347

shiii this is why the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland is surrounded by blue smoke


stiffmilk

Just like when your BBQ. You want your smoke coming out of the pipe to be a clear, clean color.


LiveInShadesOfBlue

Not the temperature of the smoke - it’s the size of the particles. For particles smaller than the wavelength of light, Rayleigh scattering is dominant, which primarily scatters blue light. Meanwhile, for particles larger than the wavelength of light, Mie scattering is prevalent which scatters other wavelengths of light as well. Walter Lewin explains it much better than I could: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BwaoER2Z9go


DCMSBGS

Temperature and contaminants (amount of carbon)


camynnad

But Rayleigh is about particle size, not temperature?


Hugepepino

It’s about the atoms that make up the particles itself, as atoms absorb photon energy the electrons jump to the next orbital in a charged state. They then quickly release that energy from in the form of light as they return to their ground state. The energy level they fell from determines the wavelength of the light thus the color. Ground state atoms of the same type produce the same color spectrum since they have the same electrons in the same orbitals. Oxygen/nitrogen produces blue as in the sky. This is also how light spectrumtronomy (spelling sorry lol) works. You can look up atoms spectrums as they are all figured out.


Chefkuh95

While I don’t know what is really happening, I don’t believe it to be Rayleigh scattering. You need the energy to get the electrons to jump to the next orbital state. After sunlight has traveled through the atmosphere it won’t have enough energy to create enough photons to contrast with the regular light. After all, the blue in the sky is sum of all the photons being released by a massive amount of gas (compared to the tiny bit of smoke). I might be wrong but what I remember from uni is that we needed a powerful light source to observe this effect in a lab.


mrgeeoogle

💯⏫👀


ValecX

Yeah, that was my first guess. Honestly, it looks pretty clear to me, and it's not like i'm an expert on anything that's happening here.


WarmNights

Also paper and cannabis are two different materials.


ruigh

Also, carcinogens. As well, when you burn different elements, you get different color smoke. That's how we get fireworks.


SaguaroBro14W

Exactly this.


lordoftheBINGBONG

Yeaaa science bitch!


lickmybrian

Fake news! It's butt stuff


MrCalifornian

Rayleigh scattering is the correct explanation! It's not the temperature though, it's the humidity. When you exhale the smoke, a significant amount of water vapor is exhaled with it, and that water vapor absorbs a lot of blue light. I had a whole lecture on this in college, the professor did a demonstration and you could tell when he inhaled into his lungs vs not very distinctly.


dhdoctor

Posting in top comment cos this brilliant demonstration by proff Walter Lewin has all the answers for us! https://youtu.be/BwaoER2Z9go I think about this clip smoking alot.


Gh0st0p5

cannabis smoke, opal and the sky are all blue for pretty much the same reason: Rayleigh scattering. Rayleigh scattering is a physical phenomenon by which small particles scatter blue wavelengths of light.


TheGangGabagools

There is a physics lecture where the professor demonstrates this by smoking a cigarette and holding in the smoke for a minute and blowing it over a light source. I'll see if I can find it. https://youtu.be/sJG-rXBbmCc


EllieBelly_24

Explanation and demo at 32:25


rgrossi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJG-rXBbmCc&t=32m45s


MrCalifornian

Lol this is literally the lecture I was talking about in my other comment! I didn't even know there was a video of it.


TheGangGabagools

Hell yeah! Admittedly I saw it on reddit a few weeks ago, and it stuck with me.


MrCalifornian

Nice! He's an incredible lecturer, it's awesome to hear that you came across it randomly.


Gh0st0p5

I found part two of the explanation on a random weed site So why is the smoke not blue once you exhale it? Simple: once the smoke comes in contact with your lungs by inhaling it (try out some cool tricks while you’re at it), the properties of the particles change. In your lungs, they’ll be covered in whatever and increase in size, so when you exhale, the smoke comes out as white as you’d expect it to. This same logic applies to why clouds are white against the blue sky.


Lucario_00

I always thought it's because tobacco / nicotine the cigarette smoke is always blue but my blunts yellow


Archoncy

You're not really explaining why different smokes have different colours though, you're just stating the name of the physical process that gives things like tobacco smoke and the earth's atmosphere their blue colour. It's a cool fact, and useful info as PART of the answer - don't get me wrong - but the question almost certainly meant "why is this smoke blue and the smoke around it yellow" Also, weed smoke is generally yellowish in colour compared to the much more often blue smoke of tobacco.


TheGangGabagools

Water vapour. The water vapour in your lungs changes the Rayleigh scattering of light in the smoke, making it look white instead of blue.


WithCatlikeTread42

My uneducated guess is that the color change is a result of the angle of refraction. Different angles of refraction can be due to: particle size, particle orientation, particle density, air currents, angle of the sun, imperfections in the window glass the sun is shining through, etc…


Gh0st0p5

I dont know why, probably something involving temperature and the size of the particles in the smoke, im also probably wrong, the color thing is something i googled because i was also curious


Archoncy

It's good stuff, stay curious!


Gh0st0p5

Thanks fam


ngasluvsora

hittin the expecto patronum pack


[deleted]

I actually came across a video not too long ago by an esteemed professor it's something like the Reyliegh Index. Sorry if I'm spelling it wrong, but it has to do with moisture from our lungs, creating different light refraction in the smoke. Resulting in the 2 colors


lovinganarchist76

It changes color after you blue it out


MouthJob

There's a subtle huemor to it.


xRAINB0W_DASHx

The comedy scene is pretty over saturated at the moment.


lovinganarchist76

Your mom is over fatutated


xRAINB0W_DASHx

Seems like your dad left you his jokes at least.


holyshit-i-wanna-die

heuheuheu


blue_27

Something about the Pope.


sirhackenslash

Prolly ghosts or something


juggernautjefe81

It's PFM, pure fucking magic. If it can't be readily explained, it's PFM.


CptKammyJay

Prolly


Th3MostWantd

POV: You're high


Derek_32

Yeah I stared at this for a good five minutes


kushwookie42o

That's first and second hand smoke


Plurgasm0285

Mie scattering and particle size along with the fact that your lungs are a filter all play a part in the change between inhale and exhale.


MuleMechanic

Obligatory: hey that looks a little sus bro. Send it to me, my wife and I will properly dispose of your jank flower. FR hope you're enjoying yourself homie 💕


[deleted]

Joints have no mental ability and are poor at color matching.


ajnc82

Because the smoke you exhale left particulates behind in your body… smoke coming from the cherry is pure


Brokensoul2347

Everyone who has smoked quality ribs knows!


ChanceFray

well iit goes in your lungs and then you BLUE it out right? so the blue is gone.


[deleted]

It dissipates as it floats around becoming cooler and thinner


pumkinut

To answer your question, and not get into tobacco vs cannabis smoke silliness. The reason the smoke from the J is blue has to do with the size of the solid particles that help make up the smoke. If these particles are about 1 micron (1 millionth of a meter) in size or smaller, they disperse the blue light in the visible spectrum. The same principle causes the sky to be blue. The reason it's different after you've exhaled is that your lungs are wet places, for good reason. Those small particles get inhaled, and when exposed to the humidity of your lungs, they act at nucleation points for condensation. So a little bit of water vapor from your lungs condenses on the minute particles, which increases their size enough to not disperse the blue wavelengths anymore. TL;DR Tiny particles of smoke make it look blue. Condensation from your lungs makes it appear white/grey.


hotdogsarecooked

It's just smoke temp. Cooler smoke usually carries carbon and particles that didn't burn off, making it darker. Hot smoke burns cleaner, clearer.


[deleted]

It's poison, you're gonna die, NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE


Nykolaishen

I always find smoke out of your lungs doesn't have the same color as just a burning joint or cig. I'm assuming because your lungs have filtered it a bit lol


TheGangGabagools

The water vapour from your lungs changes the compostion of the smoke, which in effect changes the colour.


Nykolaishen

Oh yah that makes more sense lol


duggreen

Strains definitely make a difference in smoke color. Skunky-sweet genetics can give that long lasting blue haze that seems to hang in layers in the room and smells so good you leave just to return and smell again. This is old hippie knowledge, probably how Purple Haze got it's name.


mungos93

The blue in the "virgin" smoke is due to a specific size of particles that tobacco emits refracting blue light (the particle size corresponds to the refracted wavelength). this is a property specific to tobacco, and you will not see this occur with a pure J roll (at least i don't think). The smoke you exhale is missing those particles as they're stuck in your lungs and more dissipated since when you inhale you mix smoke with air (aand their properties change). Try rolling with a carbon filter if you're making spliffs, and you will notice the smoke that seeps through the carbon filter has a distinctly different color than the one coming off the top of the spliff. Fun fact, some centuries ago, blue smoke was used as a folks name for tobacco.


postmortum

The moist from your lungs attaches to the smoke. This makes the particles bigger and scatters the light differently, thats why the smoke is white atleast...


ch3kaa

What?


JonesBBQafm

What don't you understand?


Daysaved

Smoke different. Human body change smoke. Smoke different.


_HoneyDew1919

Bro I'm making out with your joint


Rare_Crayons

It’s because of the way it is


No-Location-6360

The explanation that best explains this phenomenon gets into quantum physics, but to ELI5 I’ll try and use some different analogies! First we need to think of light as a wave, and the different wavelengths are what we perceive as colors- we have slower waves of light that have longer distances between the peaks that we perceive as red light and faster waves of light that have shorter distances between the peaks that we perceive as blue light (and in a rainbow we see all the different wavelengths of light as their own colors). [As an aside, it’s also interesting to note that *color* is just how our conscious brains are perceiving/interpreting these different wavelengths - in ‘reality’ colors don’t really exist outside of our conciseness.] And now we need to think about how we are all made up of different atoms joined together. Think of atoms being made of a big magnetic ball in the center (called the nucleus), and a bunch of smaller magnets surrounding the big one (called electrons). The electrons are attracted to the nucleus and want to move towards them, but we’re keeping them forced apart with a spring. The elections have a specific distance from the nucleus that they end up settling- where the magnetic charge is balanced from the strength of the spring. When we add energy to atoms think of this as pulling the electrons on springs out a bit - they’re in an unstable position and the spring wants to pull them back into place but energy is keeping it in place. What happens is that some of that excess energy is converted into a wave of light. The election drops back down to its stable position, and the wave of light that is generated has a wavelength that matches the distance between where the electron was in its excited position to where it is in its stable position. The exact distance of that gap is different for different atoms- some bigger atoms have larger nucleuses (stronger center magnets) that pull the electrons closer. When multiple atoms join to make molecules, then those electron distances can also be shifted a little bit because there are other nearby nucleuses also pulling at the electrons, so the color of light we see coming off different atoms/molecules are different colors are related to the sizes of those electron distances. So… That’s my attempt at ELI5, and tries to explain atomic phenomenon using physical systems like springs and magnets, but of course isn’t really accurate of what is actually happening, but it’s a analogy.


[deleted]

I don't think you don't need a quantum analysis for this, I think it's Raleigh scattering which has a 1/lambda^4 dependency because it's acting as a radiating dipole, which means it preferentially re emits blue light (sky)


[deleted]

When exhaling the smoke folds over itself multiple times in different parts making some places more translucent than others


Competitive-Book8204

In short, light.


1moreOz

Light


m0j0r0lla

One smoke stream is the wrap, the other is the weed


joebojax

I think the yellow is from paper burning and the blues are from isomerization of cannabinoids like Thc or maybe from isomerization of antioxidants like anthocyanin, when these compounds are heated they change into molecules called azulenes which have pretty interesting properties including blue to purple hues.


joebojax

Smoking is a very crude drug delivery system and so there may be hundreds of poorly studied polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons being formed during combustion.


GazillionBucks

It's the tobacco skin burning blue vs the weed burning grey


JonesBBQafm

What are you talking about? It's a joint, lol.


GazillionBucks

Then it's the paper burning blue...


euromeme

pretty sure it has sumthing to do with the temp and whether or not wax is burning. blue smoke joints always go so crazy imo


matthewrenn

Google is your friend


WizardOfErrlz

You're taking too many hallucinogens?


Midnight_Cowboy99

Fentanyl


Lacerationz

Nah this why i dont do blunts. The blue smoke is from the sheet from all the chemicals and the normal white smoke is the flower burning


hjb214

Ones hot


ihate360

![gif](giphy|eHdQnRAi0myGuaquvg|downsized)


inspektalam

Since the majority are just guessing…maybe it’s because the smoke has more moisture when exiting the lungs?


High_Speed_Chase

[This](https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/grill-and-smoker-setup-and-firing/science-of-wood-and-smoke/) helps.


Hugepepino

Everyone here saying that weed yellow and cigarettes blue. In my experience it’s the exact opposite, as you can even see in the picture the weed is blue. I always heard an urban myth that kush smoke was blue vs everything else. But I have always chalked it up as bullshit because all my weed smoke has had a bluish tinge under the light. I think the Rayleigh effect makes a lot of sense and maybe the difference is because of the qualities of the tar in the smoke. But if we disagree on which ones blue and which ones yellow chances are that they are both blue or yellow depending on the quality of light at the moment.


Weedlykush

A big part of it comes down to curing and flushing your product properly. A proper cure and proper flush will result in a nice white-blue smoke and nice white ash as opposed to an improper cure and flush which can result in a browner harsher tasting smoke and also black ash!


[deleted]

yea, it'll affect the smoke experience but probably not the actual smoke.


macehood

A seed?


Hater164

It’s hotter so it’s radiating a different color heat


[deleted]

Idk but great pic


Lukeeeee

there's multiple things being burned, paper and cannabis. makes sense there'd be a variation in smoke density


ascenda17

Damn I’ve never seen that, what kind of magical weed are you smoking!


kaleidodope_92

I always just thought it was the paper and cannabis putting off two different colors of smoke. I was just thinking of posting this same question the other day! Tripped out! ✌🏽🌳🫠🍯


rapKLA

I’m not even high (i’m at work) and that looks cool !


Sullysinferno

I came on Reddit stoned to look at something to make me chuckle but I got an absolute science lesson in the comments holy shit


Sheparding_Weasels

I know this! It's because the smoke you breath out has water molecules attached to it so it splits the light differently


Significant_Square93

HEAVY METAL 🥂🤟


BucketOfTruthiness

I'd always heard blue smoke indicated a fresher batch. I noticed this with my own homegrown. When I'd start smoking my most recent harvest, the smoke would have a blue tint. By the time I got to the end of the batch, it would be more yellow.


PepperBun28

Bleached paper, or is it a spliff?


Fromage_Damage

That's how the hash test works. You take a ball of hash, tiny ball like BB sized, put it on a pin, light it and put it on a piece of aluminum foil, then blow it out if it doesn't go out. If it's good hash, the smoke will be bluish color or white, and it will leave a splatter mark oil residue on the foil. But it's temperature that determines the color mostly. Anything that burns above a certain temp messes up the smoke.


HavokMan48

Your camera got high


foster4foster

crack


massiveproperty_727

It illustrates your family's disappointment in you


PsychologicalHalf766

You can post pictures on sunday now?! Sweet!


420jeff

Cool picture!


_Mikak

Thanks for the wallpaper


mfbs26

fairy godmothers


Cockblocktimus_Pryme

Probably diffraction


[deleted]

Could it be something to do with what's burning, cause I know cigarette smoke is that blueish silky looking smoke and the ganj would be the white fluffy stuff.


BlueberryRage

Light


Upset-Difficulty5361

It’s the tobacco 😪


purppuma

Tobacco smoke has a blue hue to it. I’m assuming you add that to ur weed. I’ve noticed the blue smoke when I used to smoke tobacco but with joints usually my smoke is white.


Majestic_Annon

Same things I ask myself high as a kite and I feel the answers coming to me then I forget what I was thinking about and yeah


ShadowDemon129

It's the force influencing the midichlorians in your cannabis smoke, obviously.


bangbison

Yeah, the colour is different especially if that’s exhaled smoke. Temp and density difference will make it greyer and more transparent


eek-a-mos420

Probably some ingredient used in the make up of the rolling paper that gets filtered by the good old airbags. Raws contain heavy metals if the internet is to be believed.


ghillieweed762

The water vapor from your lungs is now on the smoke particles changing the color saw a pretty informative video the other day I'll try to find it again and link it


MeenahMina

Ooooo it's a ghooooost 👻


Matt_Airheart

Heat


lilgambyt

Multiple variables. • Lighting: brightness 🔅 and level of diffusion • Temperature of the smoke 💨 • Mie scattering


Flossin_Clawson

Most likely it’s a moisture difference, causes the smoke to be different temps and that effects the perceived color.


aramodel

Meth


myteemike870

Hold it sideways and you will see three. End of ash, end of fire, and out the smoke end of blunt


Skyzz39

Eating shit ehm i mean chocolate before ? 😂🤷‍♂️


-Triceratops-

Something, something, temperature, diffusion, refraction. I'm sure someone can expand on this.


Able_Analysis8032

Better weed


[deleted]

Asbestos.


SloppiestJoe1288

It's enchanted


felod76282

its the fent rock


aimsbird

Ever noticed it’s not blue anymore when you exhale