Tag Archives: smoking

White Lighter

Informant: Samantha is a 23-year-old artist living in Southern California. She uses marijuana and is an active participant in cannabis culture.

Main Piece: “Okay so…the white lighter myth is all about how a bunch of famous musicians, like Kurt Cobain and I think Jimi Hendrix, died when they were 27. And then, when they did the autopsy, they all had white bic lighters in their pockets. So, the idea is, if you’re 27 and you’re smoking, you shouldn’t use a white lighter or you die. For safety you probably shouldn’t ever use a white lighter, just in case.”

Background Information about the Performance: This piece was originally told to the informant by her friend and drug dealer at a party. The informant finds it important to remember in order to not make a mistake and use a white lighter, thus instigating bad luck.

Context of Performance: This piece is told at parties or among marijuana smokers as a warning. It is very serious, and smokers will be upset if somebody brings a white lighter to a party.

Thoughts: I have actually heard of this superstition as part of the belief of the 27 Club, alluding to the group of celebrities who have died at age 27. Although some sources have attempted to dispel this superstition – finding, for example, that Bic only began making white lighters after Jimi Hendrix’s death – it still remains popular.

For another version of this myth, see Jack Pendarvis’ Cigarette Lighter.
Pendarvis, Jack. Cigarette Lighter. London: Bloomsbury, 2016. Google Books. 28 Jan. 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

Cigarette Ritual

My informant states that he and his close friends share the practice of choosing a cigarette in a freshly purchased pack of cigarettes and flipping it over, so that out of all the cigarettes that have the butt sticking out, there is one odd white one. This supposed cigarette that is odd one out is a lucky cigarette. My informant states that he always save this cigarette for a bad day and once he smokes it he will either have a good day or a great night. But the one catch is that the buyer of the pack cannot choose the lucky cigarette, a friend must always be at the time you purchase a new pack and also choose it at the point to get the luck charm.

My informant believes in this whole-heartedly and thus tells this to all of his friends and makes sure that they follow the rules and also reap the benefits of this superstition. He states that he was told about this through his older friend, when he bought a pack of cigarettes for the first time.

This is an interesting piece of folklore, as it is a fun practice for such a bad habit. I believe whoever started this piece of folklore was trying shed a positive light on smoking cigarettes. It is also an interesting ritual started by visuals as the image of a cigarette just being the odd one out in a pack of cigarettes is like finding a four-leaf clover in grass. The visual of picking a certain “blessed object” appeals to people to brighten up their day.

The Meaning of Greens

This piece of folklore is actually a custom among Marijuana smokers. This custom states that whenever it is someone’s first time smoking that they get to “greens.” Greens is basically a name for a custom where a person gets to light the marijuana first whether it be in a pipe or a rolled up joint. My informant states that he heard this through his friend who is a big fan of marijuana. He states that offering the person who either put the weed in the pipe or rolled a joint is a huge deal and demonstrates a large amount of respect for the person that did the tasks.

He states that greens is important to smokers as it demonstrates their kindness and also is a common courtesy for guests when the smoke for the first time or smoke with the group for the first time. He states that it is comparable to offering someone a drink of water when they enter your home. He also states that by explaining greens and passing it on, that everyone now is a part of it and keeps the cycle going.

I think this is a very interesting piece of folklore due to the stereotypes users of marijuana have in our culture. They are known as lazy and selfish people, yet this illustration demonstrates that friendship and courtesy that there is in smoking. It is also interesting that the drug culture always seem to have rituals or ways of order to not mess something up. It basically proves that among drug users that there is a personal courtesy or secrecy among them, thus users can decipher first timers from consistent users easily. For example if a first-timer did not offer greens or did not know what greens was.

Flipping two Cigarettes, “One for luck…”

When you buy a new pack of cigarettes, you take two out and flip them upside down, and smoke those two last. It’s “one for luck, and one for fuck” — one for good luck, and one to smoke after you’ve had sex, often to share with the person.

This is a common tradition among many smokers, especially in New York. My informant first heard it in early high school, from girls that would smoke between classes. She’s been doing it as long as she’s been smoking.

Since smoking is generally considered a vice, I think it’s probably a way to ‘negate’ that, and make it something ‘lucky’ and good.