Toke
A single inhalation of cannabis smoke or vapor, and by extension the act of smoking itself.
A toke is just one inhalation off a joint, pipe, bong, or vape. That's it. The word has been floating around English since at least the 1950s and is now generic slang, not tied to any specific device or technique. Despite what stoner lore says, holding a toke in longer doesn't get you meaningfully higher — most THC absorbs in the first few seconds. Deep, breath-holding tokes mostly just deliver more tar and irritants to your lungs.
Definition
Toke (noun): a single inhalation of cannabis smoke or vapor. Toke (verb): to inhale cannabis, or more broadly, to smoke cannabis.
"Pass me the joint, I want a toke" uses the noun sense. "We were toking on the porch" uses the verb sense. The word applies regardless of the device — joints, blunts, pipes, bongs, and vaporizers all involve tokes.
Origin
The Oxford English Dictionary traces "toke" in the cannabis sense to mid-20th-century American slang, with printed examples from the 1950s onward [1]. Earlier British slang used "toke" to mean a piece of bread or food, an unrelated sense now largely obsolete [1]. Merriam-Webster lists the cannabis noun and verb senses as standard informal English [2].
The etymology beyond that is uncertain. Some sources speculate a link to older tobacco-smoking slang, but there is no confirmed derivation. Disputed
What a toke actually does
When you take a toke of cannabis smoke or vapor, THC and other cannabinoids cross the alveolar membrane in your lungs and enter your bloodstream within seconds. Peak plasma THC levels typically occur within 3–10 minutes of inhalation, and subjective effects follow shortly after [3][4]. Strong evidence
Bioavailability from a single toke varies widely — studies report inhaled THC bioavailability ranging from about 10% to 35%, depending on smoking technique, device, puff volume, and how much cannabinoid is lost to sidestream smoke and pyrolysis [3][4]. Strong evidence
What tokes don't do
Holding a toke doesn't get you higher. A controlled study by Zacny and Chait found that breath-hold durations of 0, 10, and 20 seconds produced no significant difference in subjective high or heart rate effects [5]. Most THC absorption happens in the first few seconds of contact with lung tissue. Strong evidence Longer holds mainly increase exposure to tar and combustion byproducts.
A bigger toke isn't proportionally stronger. Puff volume matters, but there's a ceiling — very large tokes can trigger coughing, and unabsorbed cannabinoids are simply exhaled. Weak / limited
"Cornering" a bowl — burning only part of the packed cannabis so the next person gets green — is real etiquette, not folklore, but it doesn't change what a toke is chemically.
Usage in context
"Toke" appears in headlines, product names, and cultural artifacts — the underground comic The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers helped cement it in 1970s counterculture vocabulary [6]. It's neutral in register: less clinical than "inhalation," less coded than "puff puff pass," and understood in virtually every English-speaking cannabis scene.
Related but distinct terms:
- Hit: near-synonym, often used interchangeably.
- Bogart: to hold onto the joint too long instead of passing it — the opposite of a courteous toke.
- Micro-dose toke: informal term for a very small inhalation, popular among low-tolerance and daytime users.
Sources
- Book Oxford English Dictionary, entry for 'toke, n.' and 'toke, v.'. Oxford University Press.
- Reported Merriam-Webster Dictionary, entry for 'toke'.
- Peer-reviewed Huestis MA. (2007). Human cannabinoid pharmacokinetics. Chemistry & Biodiversity, 4(8), 1770–1804.
- Peer-reviewed Grotenhermen F. (2003). Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cannabinoids. Clinical Pharmacokinetics, 42(4), 327–360.
- Peer-reviewed Zacny JP, Chait LD. (1989). Breathhold duration and response to marijuana smoke. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 33(2), 481–484.
- Book Shelton G. (1971–). The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Rip Off Press. Cultural reference for 1970s cannabis slang including 'toke'.
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