To legalize or not — that seems to be a burning question for most of America’s 50 states in the 21st century. The legalization of marijuana for both medicinal and recreational use has not only saturated politics within the United States, but has opened the floodgates for American entrepreneurs looking to stake their claim on potential gold mines of cannabis sales. Today, we're interested in how to grow weed in the apocalypse, in a world where legality is not a question. 

According to Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics, “Spending in the legal cannabis industry worldwide is expected to hit $57 billion by 2027. The recreational market will cover 67 percent of the spending, and medical marijuana will take up the remaining 33 percent.” More states are joining the movement to legalize cannabis, not only to control its recreational and medicinal use, but to get a piece of the financial pie through taxation and regulatory fees. Cannabis is unlike many other drugs, such as heroin and other opioids, in that it has created its own counterculture that elevates marijuana as a symbol of mental and physical freedom. 

Above: Many times, users of marijuana turn to the drug to escape stress. During times of massive disaster, many may use cannabis to deal with the anguish of a societal meltdown. Photos by Lars Smith.

But is the use of marijuana as liberating as the cannabis industry claims it to be, or will their arguments for its benefits eventually go up in smoke? Moreover, if America suffers a national disaster of apocalyptic proportions, what could the role of marijuana play in society when resources dry up and hope fades? Advocates of cannabis’ vast array of potential uses could have an opportunity to test their claims if the American grid collapses and traditional healthcare is no longer an option. 

Aside from the notion that Americans could exist without power for any number of reasons, the possibility of living in a cashless society would be symptomatic of total grid failure. Rather than using the exchange of money that so many of us are accustomed to, bartering needed items in a post-disaster America would rather be advocated within our nation’s populace. For its plethora potential uses, including recreation and comfort, marijuana could be near the top of the bartering food chain as a form of apocalyptic currency. Alcohol and cigarettes are commonly considered to be high-value trade items, and cannabis clearly falls into the same category.

There are several philosophical paths that could be traversed in any apocalyptic scenario, but adding the use of alternative medicine and recreational drugs only makes those paths a bit more interesting to travel. Discussions on the potential uses of cannabis in any large-scale survival situation should be more theoretical in nature at the time being. History, however, has shown that where there’s need, there’s much demand — the development of speakeasy culture during the Prohibition period in America is one of many examples. For those who demand a product, whether legal or illegal, there’s a “will to find a way.” While the debate of legalizing marijuana infiltrates debates within our government, more philosophical discussions should be had on “mega-disaster” levels which begin with one question: how high are the stakes that marijuana plays in a post-disaster America?

The Versatility of Cannabis

Regardless of what side of the fence you stand on regarding the use of cannabis, its physiological effects are clear. It has been used for ages as a result of its ability to induce the sensation we refer to as a high. However, it’s also known for its wide range of medicinal uses, as well as its proficiency to reduce stress as a coping mechanism. While FDA studies on the medicinal uses of cannabis are ongoing, advocates of marijuana claim that the plant contains more than one healing property that can be utilized in post-disaster situations. 

To further explore the medicinal qualities of cannabis, agencies, such as the National Institute on Drug Abuse, develop scientific data on the plant’s biology and how it intimately interacts with humans. Marijuana contains chemicals known as cannabinoids that are related to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — marijuana’s active ingredient responsible for inducing a high. Each plant contains over 100 cannabinoids, and these have been synthetically created to varying degrees of strength within manufacturing laboratories. The body also produces its own chemicals known as endocannabinoids that may play a role in regulating pleasure, memory, thinking, concentration, body movement, awareness of time, appetite, pain, and senses such as taste, touch, and smell.

According to Tamara Thorn, founder and CEO of Heal Thyself Gardens in Lake County, California, our brains — amongst many other components — are guided by the endocannabinoid system “which plays a crucial role in regulating our physiology, emotions, and everyday experiences.” 

Thorn adds that when one consumes cannabis, it overwhelms our endocannabinoid system and can either kickstart it or make it sluggish, depending on your own endocannabinoid deficiency. But according to Thorn, the benefits of cannabis far outweigh its negative consequences in post-disaster situations. “I see it widely used for people who are distressed or suffering anxiety and depression. Cannabis helps the body’s adrenals relax and communicates with the rest of the body’s systems to alleviate large amounts of stress. For example, with many of the wildfires that we saw in the Western states, cannabis was used for many of the effects of PTSD people suffered through that time.”

If overused, marijuana can cause our endocannabinoid system to become dependent on THC and stop making its own endocannabinoids. It becomes lazy because the cannabinoids are already present in excessive quantities. This is where the potential for using marijuana can interfere with our physical and emotional functions, becoming more hazardous than pleasant. 

Above: Marijuana remains the most widely used drug in the world, both for its proposed medical abilities as well as the stereotypical “high” that marijuana is infamous for. Photo by Henry Glover.

Psychologist Neal Olshan has repeatedly observed psychological and physical drawbacks associated with the overuse of marijuana. “There’s another side to pot that a lot of people don’t look at. If you have a propensity for being psychotic or schizophrenic, or are suffering from severe depression and panic attacks, utilizing pot has been shown to have the ability to trigger an underlying condition that you may or may not be aware of.” Users who are unaware of underlying psychological conditions might experience psychotic reactions, panic attacks, and extreme levels of fear. 

Research has proven that one of recreational marijuana’s predominant effects is a decrease in the ability for a user to see the need for action, as well as diminished desire to acquire new information needed to fuel problem solving. According to Olshan, “One of the most important detriments to smoking pot is that it inhibits the ability to evaluate future consequences of behavior. Keep in mind, these are the abilities that humans possess that separate us from other members of the animal kingdom.”

This is the foundational debate as to whether marijuana is a medically efficient choice during times of extreme disaster and survival. On one hand, marijuana is widely used as a relaxant or anti-inflammatory, which are vital in times of extreme duress seen in apocalyptic conditions such as war. The other side of the debate, in which our psychological and physical systems become impaired by the drug, leads to doubts about the value of marijuana in disaster scenarios, especially when our judgment and senses need to be functioning at the highest possible levels. 

Most current scientific studies, which have been anecdotal at best, show that marijuana’s effectiveness tends to vary widely depending on the person using it. Dr. Jeff Wigand, an expert witness on several tobacco-related issues and founder of Smoke-Free Kids, Inc., believes there’s considerable evidence that marijuana does impair judgement and ability. “A drug that’s been proven effective by the FDA is a drug where you know what you’re going to get. With marijuana, you’re not totally sure what you’re going to get.”

One of the major issues found with marijuana is that it sedates certain warning centers of the brain. This can put an individual in danger during a catastrophe. Olshan adds, “We live in societies today where we don’t fear for our lives on a daily basis. Most of us don’t fear the environment or live in a war zone where those senses are heightened. Add to that the potential overuse of pot during a disaster, and you could have a real danger on your hands.”

Preserving the Pot

If we’re to debate the effectiveness and psychological attributes of marijuana, then questions concerning the health and safety of cannabis should also be fair game. Much like any other consumable, public health measures should be addressed on both the legalized and illegal distribution of marijuana. Within the public health spectrum, safety questions should be addressed as they would with any standing food or drug on the open market. 

Specific analysis of long-term storage capabilities, such as freeze-drying or vacuum sealing, may reveal that long-term storage of marijuana may not only affect the quality of the drug, but the health and safety of it as well. There’s currently no clear research-based consensus on any possible adverse health effects of storing marijuana in the long term. However, cannabis, like most other herbs, doesn’t fare well under extreme temperatures, including cold and freezing temperatures.  

Drying and curing cannabis buds before storage is just as much an artform as growing it. Many growers feel that drying buds slowly with proper curing will make buds feel more potent to a point. Growers also report that properly cured buds are much more pleasant to smoke, vape, or turn into edibles. This is likely due to how cannabinoids are altered during the curing process. To properly store cannabis long-term, most growers, such as Thorn, shy away from freezing the cannabis buds. As cannabis sits, it continues to decarboxylate, which is the process that transfers THC-A into the psychoactive THC most marijuana users know and love. 

Lower temperatures will slow down, if not completely halt, the decarboxylation process and lead to less potent cannabis over time. If someone is in the business of selling legalized marijuana, then product effectiveness is key, as well as the availability of its multiple consumption methods. Marijuana is famous for its alternate forms of consumption, and can be delivered via vaporizers, edibles, and oils. In fact, while many American states haven’t legalized the sale of cannabis, consumers often turn to the closest legal product that offers some of the benefits of marijuana, CBD oils. As in most cases, those purchasing items such as CBD oil should approach sales with a “buyer beware” attitude. Authentic and effective CBD oil is a great deal more expensive than the bottles found at most corner gas marts, and is typically sold by those in herbal remedy stores governed by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). 

Marijuana’s Wild West

While federal and state governing agencies have worked a great deal in developing avenues for the legalization of marijuana in both the medicinal and recreational markets, there are going to be some who refuse to play by the rules. This especially holds true in a post-disaster situation in which the populace may have to fend for themselves due to a collapse of governmental institutions. If the worst-case scenario happens, money may have little to no value, which may institute bartering systems as the main source survival commerce. Some apocalyptic movies, such as The Book of Eli, may not be far off in their interpretation of the national bartering system if an apocalyptic scenario happens. Many survivors will do what they must to ensure their survival, and trading “products” — not money — will more than likely be their means to live.

Above: Currently, a handful of American states have legalized the growth and sale of cannabis for both medicinal and recreational purposes. Businesses in these states have the advantage of securing a product that may be highly sought-after during times of national distress.

John Nores, a tactical surveillance and covert/overt special operations instructor, believes that the demand for marijuana will greatly increase in a massive, post-disaster scenario. “In a disaster situation, when you lack water or power, and food sources are limited, it makes logical sense that cannabis users would use it for pain relief to deal with the uncomfortable scenario that they’re in. An argument can be made that there will be a greater demand for use. Depending on what state you live in, you may have greater access and desire to use cannabis if the legalization and availability of marijuana has already been established within your state.” 

As long as the Yellowstone Park super volcano doesn’t erupt and cover the nation in a cloud of ash that blots out the sun for three years, chances may be good that vegetation will still grow for the foreseeable future. This would be fantastic news for crop producers, especially those who grow marijuana, as their product will always be a renewable resource with sustained growth. Marijuana may actually be a more sought-after drug, because unlike other drugs that must be processed, marijuana is much easier to produce and use. Whether it’s bartered for medicine, recreational use, or as a control measure, cannabis will be a hot commodity in a post-disaster situation where money would’ve lost its value. 

In times of need, however, citizens may take it upon themselves to revert to more rudimentary measures of acquiring sought-after items. The increased demand for stress reduction that would follow a mega-disaster may push many to resort to crime to secure needed drugs, especially if the initial demand is low. Crime may not only increase with individuals, but also against those who are currently growing legalized crops of marijuana, such as Thorn. She explains, “I think that the most sought-after commodities could be food, tobacco, cannabis, and alcohol. These would all be powerful bartering tools that I think people would look for after a massive disaster. But any drawbacks to bartering such items would most likely revolve around thievery and securing cannabis crops because they would be such a large commodity during those times.” 

Above: In a society where the infrastructure has fallen, marijuana may become a bartering token. However, its value as a resource may lead to crime, such as killing or stealing from those who have it. Photo by Lars Smith.

While post-disaster theft may increase on several levels, other circuits of crime may arise in the form of big business. Just as a thriving black market developed to illegally sell alcohol during the days of Prohibition, a similar circumstance could envelop the illegal sale of cannabis more so than it does today. The concern isn’t without validity. California is one state where the legal sale of cannabis is regulated. Currently, California growers must register with the State and be overtly “on the grid,” with their facilities and crops inspected through environmental compliance measures. 

Many in California feel that government intrusion only dampens their efforts to make a viable profit. In turn, they prefer to stay in the black market because the cost and visibility of regulation is something they want to escape, and therefore refuse to sell their product legitimately. Nores has seen his share of illegal cannabis sales in the Golden State, especially through multiple encounters with drug cartels. “If it’s a problem today, it’s going to be a huge problem in a post-disaster situation where a black market has already been established. There will be even less pressure for growers to distribute their product since law enforcement and first responders will have focused their efforts on life-and-death objectives, rather than cracking down on the distribution of cannabis. The cannabis black market will be very low on their priority list when people’s lives are at stake.” 

Above: According to retired game warden, Lt. John Nores, black-market marijuana crops are often sprayed with toxic and illegal chemicals to protect them from wildlife. The potential health and environmental damage could escalate a public health crisis. Photo by Henry Glover.

There are several health and safety issues to be considered as well. If the sale of marijuana is delegitimized and deregulated after a disaster, then all regulatory inspections and oversight would cease, potentially leading to the proliferation of unsafe or contaminated crops. Wigand insists that while the control of marijuana distribution is difficult today, the control of cannabis would all but cease in a post-disaster situation. “If you decide to purchase marijuana in any apocalyptic situation, then it’s going to be buyer beware. Before you buy it, you’d better know what it is. There’s going to be some real health consequences in using marijuana, especially when you don’t necessarily know what you’re buying or using.” 

Nores agrees. “We currently have a black-market cannabis industry in America, a lot of which is generated out of California by international drug cartels. This stuff is very potent and gives a really good high. What buyers don’t realize, however, is that the marijuana plants have EPA-banned insecticides and rodenticides on them that contains the same active ingredient that the Nazis used for their nerve-agents in WWII. These same chemicals are distributed on marijuana buds throughout the entire U.S. cannabis black market, with no knowledge to the buyer.”

If there would be a lack regulatory control over cannabis dispensaries, then the public health ramifications of poisoned cannabis might be immense. Little could be done to help mitigate or respond to the illegal sale of poisoned marijuana, aside from spreading warnings slowly through word of mouth. In a post-disaster situation, lawlessness could increase to the highest levels this nation has seen, yet the efforts of law enforcement would decrease on exponential levels as they respond to more urgent scenarios with a decreased workforce. Much like the spread of heroin tainted with deadly levels of fentanyl, this could give unscrupulous black market cannabis pushers free reign to distribute poisoned marijuana to American communities, and potentially place citizens at severe risk.

Another potential issue is the notion that everyone, whether for personal or business-related ventures, may want a piece of the cannabis pie. The likelihood that individuals would grow personal crops would only increase, especially with a diluted law enforcement presence. This not only increases health risks, but also the probability that crime would increase to steal crops. 

Basic economics dictates that if the market becomes flooded with too much product, then the value of the product goes down. The same would hold true with increased marijuana growth and sales. Whether this would be a positive or negative influence to a disaster-torn America falls to the realm of social theory. However, in a vacuum, there’ll be another product that fills the void if marijuana isn’t the drug of choice. This potential drug could fall more in line with drugs like heroin, and exacerbate the growing opioid crisis that America is currently facing. 

Lighting Up the Debate

As discussion points are laid out within this article, readers may be disappointed that there are no strong conclusions. They don’t exist. As with most forecasted apocalyptic events, discussions are based mostly on theory, which should include current data to support or discredit social estimates. There’s always one fact that rings true with disaster-based theoretical discussions: “It’s not if, but when.” Disasters happen every day. America could have its final day due to a plethora of theoretical doomsday scenarios. We can base similar principles on the current social tendencies that surround the marijuana culture. It’s, as theory goes, the best we can do. While chances are more than good that cannabis could be the drug of choice during an apocalyptic situation, it’s difficult to forecast what society’s “escapism” might look like in those times. 

Above: In many cases, the cost to become a government-sanctioned marijuana grower is so exorbitant that farmers continue to maintain an unregulated operation. Photo by Henry Glover.

In the realm of psychology, Olshan completely understands the state of anguish that his patients experience when emotionally pushed to their brink. “People are not going to know how to deal with the pressure of hopelessness. A lot of people don’t have a contingency plan in life, and people will turn to marijuana to dull their pain and fear. Rather than wait for legislation to pass to give them permission, they’ll take it upon themselves to self-medicate in a post-disaster scenario.” 

We currently live in a society where citizens are quick to grab anything to dull their senses. If America is decimated by any level of disaster, it may not be our greater sense of judgement that enables us to work through the emotional and physical pain. It may come in the form of a drug, such as unregulated, and potentially tainted, marijuana.

Olshan continues his thoughts that “social pressures will be an increased burden during a post-disaster situation, because as a society, we’ve become soft. We are constantly waiting to be rescued, and matters don’t seem as severe. This is one of the false leads associated with marijuana. In a dire scenario, the growth and distribution of marijuana could escalate to a point where we lose control of it, only exacerbating the effects of the disaster.” 

Meet Our Panel

Jeffery Wigand

Dr. Jeffrey Wigand spends his time and efforts around the world as an expert witness and consultant on various tobacco issues, and on his nonprofit organization, Smoke-Free Kids, Inc., where he concentrates his energy on helping kids of all ages make better health decisions regarding tobacco use. In 1995, Wigand achieved national prominence when he became the tobacco industry’s highest-ranking former executive to address public health and smoking issues. He made the truth known to the public about the industry’s disregard for health and safety during an interview with 60 Minutes. This situation went on to be depicted in the film, The Insider. 

jeffreywigand.com

John Nores

Lt. John Nores has investigated environmental crime and wildlife resource destruction for the last 28 years as a Game Warden for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and was awarded the Governor’s Medal of Valor for lifesaving and leadership efforts in 2008. His first book, War in the Woods: Combating the Marijuana Cartels on America’s Public Lands was published in 2010 with the stand-alone sequel, Hidden War: How Special Operations Game Wardens are Reclaiming America’s Wildlands from the Drug Cartels. Nores also recently co-authored a national cannabis issue book, Where There’s Smoke, released in 2018. Nores is a tactical surveillance, and covert and overt special operations instructor and operator throughout California. Nores has allied with the U.S. Secret Service in rural and urban protection details for Barack Obama and former Israeli President Shimon Peres. In 2007, Nores codeveloped and instructed at an overt and covert wildlife investigators' school in Cambodia. 

johnnores.com

Tamara Thorn

Tamara Thorn is the founder and CEO of Heal Thyself Gardens in Lake County, California. The work done at Heal Thyself Gardens is committed to empowering well-being through the offering of educational opportunities in regenerative farming, food and medicinal herbs, products, and community collaboration. Thorn has a background in alternative health, working in the fields of massage therapy, yoga, and herbalism. She has spent years in a variety of off-grid living situations, including crossing the country living on a bus, traveling through Mexico with a horse caravan offering environmental education, and participating in a number of intentional communities. Each new experience fueled her passion and taught her more about sustainability and community. She has been growing clean, sustainable, organic food and medicine, including cannabis, since 2009. 

heal-thyself-gardens.com

Neal Olshan

Dr. Neal H. Olshan is psychologist, award-winning photographer, freelance writer, author of seven nonfiction books and a novel, The Panama Escape, with his wife, Mary. He has also been a competitive glider pilot. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

More on Survival Gardening

• Fruit Choices for a Survival Garden: Fruit of your Labor.
• Nutrient Survival: A Fresh Take on Survival Food.
• Rugged, Homemade Survival Food.
• 10 Long-Lasting examples of Survival Food.
• Prickly Pear Cactus as Survival Food.
• In the North Woods? Here's how Acorns and Black Walnuts can keep you alive.
• Landscaping: Survival Garden Layout.

From theatrics to tactics, smoke has many uses other than perfecting roasted meat and getting in our eyes around a campfire. Whether to obscure movement or to signal allies, the use of smoke long predates firearms, harkening back to the days of large-scale maneuver warfare. In the 21st century, as both technology and industry have permanently changed the appearance of war and conflict, so too have combat units in the military adapted to smaller unit structures. While the concept of a whole army in conflict once dominated the scope of war, we now live in the age of small unit tactics. Across aeons, smoke has had its uses, here's how to make a smoke bomb.

And that both translates to — and is enabled by — the increased abilities of the individual. Infrastructure has adapted to accommodate small teams of highly capable individuals, providing vast resources to a smaller and smaller roster of combatants, further augmented by more extensive training as well as technology such as drones, global positioning systems, and night vision. Yet at the same time, operators are still deploying age-old tools like knives, axes, and hammers to accomplish their missions. As long as fire has been in the hands of man, smoke has had its place in war, be it the symbol of danger on the horizon or a sacrifice rising up to please the gods.

The modern military has two primary purposes for smoke: as a signal for medical support, supply drops, or target identification, and as a way to obscure troop movements. Video games frequently capitalize on both of these by imitating the use of smoke to call for reinforcements, or the completion of a task or mission. While not too far off from reality in this aspect, the use of smoke in high-paced first-person shooters leans toward the fictional, evoking the illusive disappearing act of a ninja. Outside of an organized team, smoke grenades belong more in fiction and film than reality.

That being the case, they add a certain panache to any range day, theatrical event, or training operation. And while the military supplies their operators with those iconic canisters, making a smoking compound really isn’t as difficult as safety-worshipping fearmongers would imagine. The trick is matching the tool to the job and stoking the fires of one’s imagination to make it work.

Using a pastel marker sugar as base, some color will be applied to the smoke grenade itself.

Legally speaking, smoke grenades, or smoke bombs, should fall under the category of pyrotechnics, not destructive devices, unlike other home-made improvisations such as Molotov cocktails. That being the case, it falls on each individual to know their state and local laws. Playing too much with fire will likely get you burned once or twice, and playing too much with smoke will certainly catch the attention of neighbors, if not law enforcement. A friendly word of advice: Courtesy and Situational awareness will go a long way.

How to Make a Smoke Bomb: Ingredients and Tools Required

The easiest part of making a smoke grenade is finding out what you need. Common table sugar and potassium nitrate, generally known as saltpeter, constitute the smoke-making compound. In rural areas, you can likely buy both in the same store, but for urban dwellers, there’s the internet. Potassium nitrate is cheap, used for various gardening tasks like removing stumps, but that doesn’t mean every form of stump remover is made of the right stuff. Check product labels before buying. As for kitchen tools that you use to create your concoction, assume that they’ll all be forfeited for future use. Thankfully, cooking utensils abound in most big-box stores. A medium-sized pan and a wooden spoon or spatula are all that you’ll need. If given options, choose a smaller spoon.

Once you’ve sourced the base ingredients, you must choose how to carry and deploy the smoke, and how to ignite it. Luckily, various forms of fuses can be purchased online, and with the popularity of fireworks for films and festivals, there’s plenty to be learned from those who spend their time imitating their idols instead of becoming them. If options are available, choose the slower-burning varieties in order to better ignite the compound. Our first attempt ended up comically resembling cartoon dynamite, with results that were much more show than bang. We used thick cardboard tubes designed for fireworks as the body, with cardboard plugs supported by heavy-duty tape to create a good seal. When constructing a smoke canister, limiting the airflow arrests the compound from burning too fast, producing more smoke along the way.

Most of your work will be done around a stove top. Throughout our trials, it became so apparent that an open flame should be avoided at all costs that we suggest purchasing a budget hot plate in the event that your home is equipped with gas burners. To spice things up, depending on the intended use, you can add oil-based pastels or capsaicin extract. More on these later.

How to Make a Smoke Bomb: Construction

Preparation is key to success here, so begin by pre-building the tubes. If you recycle, empty aluminum cans of the thicker soup and vegetable variety are most of the way there, the only challenge being the open end. If opting for fireworks cardboard tubes, insert the bottom plugs and wrap the whole canister in tape. Stage the tubes near the stove top or cooking surface, along with pre-cut fuses. Then, begin heating the sugar.

Our tests confirm that a 2-to-3 ratio of sugar to potassium nitrate makes the ideal smoke sauce. Making smaller batches takes more time, but they’re so much easier to control that we quickly stopped using a 10-inch pan in favor of a more wieldy 8-inch one. After dumping ½ cup of sugar into the pan and setting the burner to medium-high, we added ¾ cup of potassium nitrate and stirred it into the mixture. For about 4 minutes it felt like nothing was happening, but soon the sugar began to melt and clump together. With the first batch, we completely caramelized the mixture, but we got the hang of it after that. Go for a sticky, slightly grainy texture, like sandy dough.

Once the smoke compound is complete, spoon it into your tubes, filling them to about ¾ inch from the top. That space accommodates a top plug if you use one, as well as providing the oxygen needed for the mixture to start burning. Packing it down tightly, use a skewer or similar disposable pointy thing to stab a channel in the center for the wick. Then proceed to cap the newly created smoke bomb, keeping some of the wick exposed.

Let it cool and test them out, someplace that you know you won’t attract too much attention, especially considering 2020’s massive spike in arson.

Adding Flavor

Achieving different colors comes at the cost of buying the right materials. At a local art store, chonky pastels are sold for the artistic-minded. While the military may use different colors to mark different situations such as medical or troops in the open, for us, it’s all for appearances. Don’t expect to nail perfect color combinations the first time. To add a particular color to a smoke bomb, melt the pastel in the base of the pan before adding the dry ingredients and follow the same procedure described above.

While it’s technically not illegal to own pepper spray and the like, making an eye-watering, cough-inducing smoke grenade may attract the attention of those whose attention you don’t want to attract. To turn a smoke grenade into a dispenser of spicy air, add capsaicin extract to the smoke mixture. The extract is an oil, so it’s supposed to vaporize as the compound burns. Just a little flaring up in the pan was enough to clear out our kitchen, so this is a perfectly reasonable time to wear your damn mask.

The legality of tear gas, as it’s listed in various penal codes, is dubious at best, but we couldn’t find consistent prohibitions on making or possessing peppered smoke. In many cases, it appeared that difference between legal and illegal would come down to chemical compounds, primarily ones that belong in a lab. Since a smoke bomb self-identifies as a pyrotechnic apparatus, not a destructive device, and adding spice to one wouldn’t make it a biological weapon, you can give it a try. But double check your local laws, and don’t be surprised if it’s not looked on lightly if used for a prank, even by the law.

How to Make a Smoke Bomb: Testing and Evaluation

While our testing produced varied results, marking the tubes allowed us to narrow down the variables and make adjustments for our second batch. First and foremost, the consistency of the smoke mixture determined if the bomb would merely bloom or turn itself into a sugar rocket. The tubes filled with the more caramelized mixture tended to treat the smoking agent like a propellant, launching themselves in a cartoon-like random pattern. Conversely, the less melted and subsequently less bonded compound burnt itself out quickly to the tune of 30 to 40 seconds, producing less smoke along the way. One tube was more of a cannon, launching a glob of sticky, burning anger. Thankfully, nothing was lost but a 6-inch circle of lawn grass. Take this as a warning, though — home-made smokes shouldn’t be deployed without taking proper safety considerations. They’re not like Roman candles; you can’t hold onto them. Always have a fire extinguishing source on hand.

As to adding color, again we were met with mixed results. Blue color added minimal visible difference — easy to identify on a sunny day, but unnoticeable at dusk. Red added more optical flare, but as the bloom dissipated, the color blended into the expected gray of uncolored smoke. If you’re looking for vibrant colors, consider buying commercial options. Sadly — and also thankfully — the capsaicin tended to burn off in our tests, adding a little agitation to our spicy air cans but not nearly as much as expected.

Finally, regarding cost, making smokes is analogous to cooking food. Large batches are cost effective, but don’t justify making less than 10 servings. A medium-sized batch will easily produce upward of 20 small canisters, with the key limiting component being the throwable body. Soup cans make an excellent, albeit bulky option.

If you’ve ever wanted to pop smoke, this is a cool weekend project. Be safe and have fun.

Here is a list of ingredients that you can buy on Amazon:

• 4 Lbs of Potassium Nitrate for $16.75 on Amazon.
• Expendable Sugar on Amazon.

For other Supplies, look to Cannonfuse.com

This article and more can be found in DIY Guns: RECOIL Magazine's Guide to Homebuilt Suppressors, 80% Lowers, and More.

MORE DIY ARTICLES ON RECOIL AND OFFGRID

• DIY Home Security Systems.
• DIY Double Barrel Slam Fire Shotgun.
• Solvent Traps and True DIY Suppressors.
• DIY High-Vis Targets.
• DIY 80 Percent Arms: The Condo Lower.
• DIY Trigger Job on a Springfield Hellcat.
• Walking through the ATF form 1 eFile process: Death and Taxes.
• True Gunsmithing: DIY Bolt Action Build.
• The Anti-G19x: Polymer80's PF940CL.
• How to Cerakote: a DIY guide.
• DIY Suture Guide
• DIY Knuckle Duster from Spent Brass
• DIY Off-Road Vehicle Recovery