Are you 21+ years old?

Have you ever wanted to get high with your cat? Of course you have! 

Introducing the magic of catnip - not just your cat’s favorite herb but a powerfully calming addition to our own smoking blends.

Catnip is one of many herbs that affects both humans and cats the same way, making it the purr-fect smokable herb for a shared chill-out sesh.

Here we dig our claws into smoking catnip and share a catnip bonding ritual for you and your furry familiar.

Calming Effects of Smoking Catnip

Smoking Catnip for Nervous Tension

If you’ve ever watched a cat erupt into a euphoric frenzy after having some catnip then this may seem like a strange choice for a calming herb. Watch your whiskered friend after the high has worn off, however, and you’ll notice catnip’s latent calming effect.

Catnip is a calming herb for most animals, but cats are the only ones whose calm is preceded by euphoric and/or aphrodisiac effects. This is likely due to the essential oil nepetalactone in the plant that mimics a cat’s sexual pheromones.

Since us humans don’t get this same initial buzz, we just feel the calming effects. Catnip is a nervine herb, which means it’s an herb that has an affinity for our nervous system, calming nervous tension which can look like restlessness and difficulty sleeping (more on sleep below).

Catnip, whether smoked, steeped in tea, or taken in tincture, also has a particular affinity for dissolving nervous tension and tightness that rises upward from the stomach and builds in the chest. Think of it like a cat chasing away the butterflies in your stomach.

Smoking Catnip for Sleep

Once you’re feeling calm, it’s the perfect time to curl up for a catnap. 

With catnip quelling restlessness, you’ll feel comfortable just being still - key for falling asleep! No more late night zoomies trying to get stuff done before bed. Catnip pairs especially well with chamomile for this reason. 

By softening tension held tightly in the chest, catnip helps to move your breath downwards. Short, high, and nervous breaths, the ones where it feels like you just can’t inhale enough air, become long, slow, and deep from the stomach.

This is the type of breathing that prepares us for drift off and is why we’ve formulated catnip into our Sleepy Collection.

How To Smoke Catnip

Catnip is more of a supporting smokable herb rather than a base herb, which means you want catnip to be sprinkled into your smoking blend rather than comprise the entirety of it. It would be too harsh to smoke an entire joint or bowl of catnip on its own.

A good rule of thumb here is to start with catnip being roughly 25% of your smoke and seeing how that feels effects-wise and flavor-wise. From there, you can play around with crafting the ratios of the herbs in your blend to your personal liking.

Catnip has a nice, light grassy flavor when smoked and is easy to grow in a garden or pot on the windowsill. When harvesting your own catnip, pick the leaves and flowers and dry for smoking. No seeds, no stems, no sticks!

Can You Smoke The Catnip That You Buy For Your Cat?

It depends. Are you trying to rip open a catnip-filled cat toy from the pet store and smoke the catnip inside? Then NO, don’t smoke that catnip.

And what about smoking the little plastic baggie of catnip that comes along with your cat's cardboard scratching pads? Then NO, don’t smoke that catnip either.

Now, did you buy some organic catnip from your local apothecary or your trusted online herb shop? Then YES! You can go ahead and smoke that catnip.

It’s important that your catnip, as well as ANY herb you smoke, is organic. But if you’re buying directly from a local farm then catnip ‘cultivated without chemicals’ is fine too (getting organic certified is expensive and cost-prohibitive for many small farms).

How To Get High With Your Cat: A Bonding Ritual

Step 1: Your herbal a-paw-thecary

Stash your catnip with your smoking herbs and supplies. This way, every time you reach for your herbal smoke, you’ll create a paw-sitive association for your cat. The clinking of jars and the rustling of bags will be like feline fanfare, announcing it’s time to get whisker-lickingly excited, and your cat will come running.

Step 2: A sprinkling for you, a sprinkling for me-ow

It’s catnip time! While preparing your purr-sonal herbal smoking blend, sprinkle a little catnip into your joint or bowl and sprinkle some, separately, for your cat.

Feeling like a lazy cat? Our Sleepy Collection is pre-blended and pre-rolled with the perfect sprinkling of catnip.

Step 3: Clean up, step out, and purr-ff away

Once your catnip smoking blend is prepped, be sure to put everything away so your cat doesn’t get into it. Cats love cleanliness. Light up and enjoy the moment outside the cat flap - we don’t want our feline friends being exposed to any smoke!

By the time you come back inside from your smoke break, your cat’s euphoric buzz will only be a whisker away from nap time. Now that you’re both feeling nice and relaxed, strengthen that bond with a treat or two, too. 

Use code "CATNIP" for 15% off our Sleepy Smoke loose-leaf herbal blend and Sleepy Cigs filtered herbal cigarettes.

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For educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.