The idea of taking a puff or two of weed to help relax before sex is not exactly a secret. But, thanks to cannabis company hmbldt, it's about to get a lot more precise: The company just released two new formulas specifically designed to improve your sexual experiences. Both are officially launching today and will be available at select dispensaries throughout California.
The company already has formulas for other specific needs, including sleep, relaxation, and pain relief. But the new formulas were made specifically with sex in mind. And, like all of hmbldt's products, they're sold in vape pens that provide a very precise dose of concentrated cannabis oil. (And, yes, you can recycle them.)
"For a lot of people — women especially — there’s anxiety around the initiation of sex and anxiety around climax," says Samantha Miller, hmbldt's chief science officer. "We sought to create formulas for whatever [your] area of need is."
Specifically, hmbldt created Arouse to ease anxiety leading up to sex, while Passion enhances the overall sensations of sex. "If you’re a little inhibited, maybe you have difficulty letting go and getting into the moment, the Arouse formula can be a great way for you to let go of the stress of the day and forget what your boss said to you so you can have a more open experience," explains Miller. "And then, with Passion, [users] want to have a more intense physical sensation and emotional connectedness — cannabis has a way of bringing two people who are using it closer together."
We already know that marijuana as a whole plant can really get you in the mood. But concocting formulas for that specific purpose required testing out different ratios of the two main psychoactive compounds in cannabis: tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Considering that THC has a long-established history of causing anxiety in high doses and CBD has a somewhat newly-established history of relieving anxiety, you might expect these to be heavy on the CBD. But that's not what hmbldt's extensive user testing turned up, Miller says.
It turns out that, according to both Miller's testing and previous research, it's mostly THC that's responsible for the arousing effects of marijuana. And, because CBD can actually inhibit some of THC's effects, adding a high dose of CBD simply serves to cancel those sexy feelings out. So, creating the new formulas became a game of balancing enough CBD to reduce anxiety without sacrificing the sex-enhancing effects of THC. The end result? Both Arouse and Passion have more CBD than you'd find naturally in marijuana (and Arouse has a little more than Passion), but both are still THC-dominant.
So, as you can see, there's still plenty of research to be done when it comes to marijuana and sex — and what we do know is surprisingly complex. We'd suggest you take part in some extensive real-world testing, you know, for science.
While we're arguably more in control of and confident about our sexuality than ever, there's still so much we don't know about female arousal. So this month, we're exploring everything you want and need to know about how women get turned on now. Check out more here.
(Refinery29 in no way encourages illegal activity and would like to remind its readers that marijuana usage continues to be an offense under Federal Law, regardless of state marijuana laws. To learn more, click here.)
While we're arguably more in control of and confident about our sexuality than ever, there's still so much we don't know about female arousal. So this month, we're exploring everything you want and need to know about how women get turned on now. Check out more here.
(Refinery29 in no way encourages illegal activity and would like to remind its readers that marijuana usage continues to be an offense under Federal Law, regardless of state marijuana laws. To learn more, click here.)