Every scene has its own language, and smoke culture has one of the richest. Some of these words go back almost a hundred years, to jazz clubs and dance halls. Others were born on internet message boards. Here's where 10 classic stoner slang words actually came from, plus the one we use every day at Smoke Trap.
The Jazz-Age Classics: Reefer, Joint and Roach
Reefer. One of the oldest words on the list. The "marijuana cigarette" meaning dates to the 1920s. Etymonline says it may be an alteration of the Mexican Spanish grifo, a slang word for marijuana, as the Oxford English Dictionary suggests. Another theory: it comes from "reef," because a rolled joint looks a bit like a rolled-up sail.
Joint. The word comes from French joindre, "to join." By 1877, "joint" was American slang for a place or establishment, especially an opium den. Its first recorded use for a rolled cannabis cigarette came in 1938. A popular story says the name comes from friends "joining" together to share one, but there's no real evidence for that.
Roach. The little end of a joint. One theory ties it to the folk song "La Cucaracha," which reached American culture through Mexican immigration in the 1910s and 1920s. One of the first mainstream uses showed up in a 1938 New Yorker article about Harlem's jazz scene, and by 1944 there was a song called "Save the Roach for Me."
Spliff vs. Blunt: The Rolling Words
Spliff. A West Indian word of Jamaican English origin, recorded as early as 1936. Nobody knows exactly where it came from. Today it usually means a joint rolled with a little tobacco, and it's especially common in the UK and Europe.
Blunt. A much newer word. It's said to have started among Jamaican communities in New York City in the early 1980s and was documented in print by about 1993. The name comes from Phillies Blunt cigars, which people hollowed out and refilled.
Don't Bogart That Word
Bogart. Yes, it's named after Humphrey Bogart, the actor famous for keeping a cigarette dangling from his lips. Before it meant hogging a joint, "bogart" was slang for bullying or pushing your way into a place. The smoke meaning took off in the 1960s and was made famous by the song "Don't Bogart Me" by Fraternity of Man, which played in the 1969 film Easy Rider. Fun twist: according to the band's singer, the original meaning wasn't smoking too much. It was holding onto the joint and letting it burn without passing it.
Stoner and Munchies: The 60s and 70s
Stoner. Etymonline dates this slang sense to the mid-1960s, right in the middle of the counterculture era.
Munchies. "Munchie" meant a snack as far back as 1917, and "munchies" meant snack food by 1959. The meaning we all know, that sudden need for chips after a smoke, is U.S. stoner slang recorded by 1971.
Dank: From Damp Basements to Memes
Dank. This one has had a wild ride. In the 1300s, "dank" described places that were unpleasantly damp, like caves and cellars. In the 1980s, slang flipped it into a compliment meaning "excellent." By the 1990s it was tied to high-quality, extra-pungent bud. Then around 2013, "dank memes" took over message boards like 4chan and Reddit, where the word was used ironically for memes so strange they loop back around to good.
Our Favorite Words: 420 and Sploof
420. We already did a deep dive on this one, and spoiler, it's not a police code. Read the full story in Where Did 420 Come From? The Real Story Behind the Number.
Sploof. A handheld filter you exhale through to cut down on smoke and smell. The classic version is a homemade toilet paper tube stuffed with dryer sheets. Nobody has pinned down where the word itself came from, but the idea is simple: keep the smoke and smell from filling the room. Want the full story? Read From Dryer Sheets to Smoke Trap and The Science Behind Sploofs.
The Sploof, Upgraded: Smoke Trap
The toilet paper tube had a good run. Smoke Trap is the modern take: a patented design with real HEPA filtration plus activated carbon, built to keep the smoke and smell out of your space.
Smoke Trap+: 4-stage HEPA + coconut activated carbon eco filter, 500+ exhales per filter, hydrophobic screen, in black, silver and bubble gum pink.
Smoke Trap 2.0: about 4 inches long, 3-stage HEPA + carbon, 300+ exhales per filter, in black and silver.
Both use replaceable, recyclable filter cartridges that swap in 10 seconds or less: Smoke Trap+ replacement cartridges and Smoke Trap 2.0 replacement cartridges. Every order from smoketrap.com ships in our eco-friendly box with free stickers.
Keep Reading
- Where Did 420 Come From? The Real Story Behind the Number
- How Long Does a Smoke Trap Filter Last? 7 Ways to Make It Go Further
- From Dryer Sheets to Smoke Trap: The Evolution of Stoner Stealth Tactics
No Smoke | No Smell | No Worry. Shop Smoke Trap
Sources: Wikipedia, "Joint (cannabis)", Wikipedia, "Roach (smoking)", Wikipedia, "Sploof", Etymonline, "reefer", Etymonline, "blunt", Etymonline, "munchies", Etymonline, "stoner", Mental Floss, "Did Humphrey Bogart Really Hog Joints?", Dictionary.com, "dank". Please enjoy responsibly, follow your local laws, and be 21+.