A typical joint usually has about a 3rd of a gram or 333 mg of marijuana. I searched around and found out that cannabis is made up of about 10 to 20% of cannabis. This means that an average joint contains 33 to 66 mg of THC. Let’s go for the midpoint and say each joint has 50 mg of THC.

When you smoke marijuana, a huge amount of it is lost on pyrolysis (the heat from the fire) and the sidestream smoke. So if you’re taking in 333 mg of marijuana, you breathe only 20-37% of that. Again, let’s go for the mid point: 28.5%.

Now going back that there’s 50 mg of THC in a joint, your average THC intake should be about 14.25 milligrams. This 14.25 milligrams of THC is not completely absorbed by your body. Only a percentage of it enters your bloodstream. The estimate amount of THC comes up to about 5-8 mg per joint.

On the other hand, studies show that ingesting THC gummies is more effective as your body retains 70-80% of the THC that you take in. THC gummies take longer to take effect because it must first pass through your digestive system then be processed by your liver. However, it has a much higher absorption rate which makes them more worth it.

Let’s do the math again. This time I will use my own personal experience.

I buy my Delta-9 THC gummies from an online store (Kandygirl). (sidenote: Please buy THC gummies only through companies that follow FDA regulations to avoid any legal problems)

There’s 20 peach rings inside, each one contains 10 mg of THC in it. Since I absorb 70-80% of the THC, I get about 7 to 8 mg per Peach Ring. That means one 10mg THC gummy is as strong if not stronger than one joint.

Eating edibles is a much more efficient way of ingesting THC. I also find that the effects last longer than smoking.