Regardless of whether weed is legal where you live, we still have to contend with roommates, parents, and neighbours, some of whom might take issue with the conspicuous scent of smoking cannabis.
So, strike a compromise: Continue smoking but take actions to minimize the risk they’ll smell it in the first place.
We all know about the trick of stuffing a towel under the crack of your closed door. But there’s something else that helps that you need to look into: a sploof.
These are handheld devices that typically contain carbon filters. You blow through one end, and out the other comes a whisper of the smoke you exhaled into it. They’re never 100% effective but using a sploof should be the difference between having happy roommates and getting an eviction notice.
Smokebuddy
Photo by Jesse Milns for Leafly
We couldn’t write a sploof review without first bringing up the Smokebuddy. You’ve probably seen them being sold at your local headshop—this brand really seems to have a stranglehold across North America, as you can find the device in smoke shops across Canada and the US.
While the SmokeBuddy can be held in your hand, it is probably too big for your pocket.
It comes in a variety of visually designs, including tie-dye, camo, or your favourite primary and secondary colours.
The company boasts that it can last up to 300 exhales through regular use, at which point you’ll find a ton of resistance when you try to blow into the Buddy.
We won’t lie, we didn’t count how many exhales it lasted us, but the Smokebuddy easily lasted more than a month of regular use.
What didn’t we like? The plastic packaging is a real pain to open: You’ll need a pair of heavy duty scissors and a calm mind. And Smokebuddies are for one-time use: there is no replaceable filter system and the device’s outer plastic shell makes it nearly impossible to recycle.
Americans can buy the Smokebuddy right on Amazon for $12.50 USD, while Canadians will need to shell out $24.95.
The Smokebuddy also has a smaller “junior” model as well as a larger “mega” model. So if portability or long-lasting use are your top wants, you might want to try those variations.
Eco Four Twenty
Photo by Jesse Milns for Leafly
This small, cylindrical, device is a heavyweight that exudes, “I am unbreakable.” It’s billed as a sploof made with “aircraft grade aluminium casing” and including a “2 stage medical grade filter.” While it costs a bit more than the Smokebuddy, the Eco Four Twenty also boasts a replaceable cartridge system that uses activated carbon as well as HEPA, good for 500 exhales.
The Eco Four Twenty feels good in your hand. And the thought of buying replacements that are cheaper than purchasing a new Smokebuddy really piqued my interest.
There’s just one problem: The filter lasted for less than a week of regular use—we tried twice. There is no way in hell this thing lasts anywhere close to advertised 500 exhales. If we had to guestimate it lasted us a fifth of that, at most. Maybe they’re testing it on bong-smoking ants?
Still, the Eco Four Twenty does have some positive points, especially due to its small size and the sleek design that makes it the sploof you would most want to see on your coffee table. That replaceable filter, also makes it one of the more eco-friendly options.
The creators behind the EFT are Canadian, so if you live north of the US border chances are you can find it in your local headshop. You can also expect fast shipping from Toronto if you order it directly from the company.
The device costs $26.95 USD and a pack of two replacements
Sploofy
Photo by Jesse Milns for Leafly
One of the first competitors of Smokebuddy, the Sploofy, has a legion of fans. The device has now gone through three iterations, begging the question—how much did the first version suck? Well, pretty badly, at least when we first tried it. A significant amount of smoke leaked from the front of the device before it even had a chance to go through the filter.
Having recently released a third generation, the V3 redeems itself with a re-designed mouthpiece, and in our tests it alleviated the problems that we had with the first version. The V3 also boasts a HEPA filter that the Smokebuddy doesn’t.
While Sploofy’s website doesn’t estimate how many exhales you get, this bad boy lasted us quite a while. It’s even taller in size as the Smokebuddy and just as wide, and it appears that the filter is bigger than the SB—meaning you may get even more use out of it.
The device is covered with a sheath of hard plastic, which reveals an ugly undercarriage containing the filter and a big wad of glue holding a mesh screen on to the filter. But hey, does anyone’s car look clean under the hood?
The bulky filter cartridge is also replaceable. The Sploofy V3 retails on online for $19.99 USD.
Angel
Photo by Jesse Milns for Leafly
A new competitor will soon be on the block, and Leafly was able to snag its hands on a prototype. Coming in a hot-red plastic casing, Angel hopes to disrupt the commercial sploof market and take on the Sploofies and Smokebuddies of the world with a design that easily slips into your pocket and allows for a tight grip when being used.
We didn’t test it to its limits, but if we had to guess, its smaller size likely makes it last for a shorter period of time than the Smokebuddy and Sploofy (but hopefully more than the Eco-Four Twenty).
Flow Filters, the developer behind the device, tells Leafly that they are hoping to sell it at the same or lower price than the Smokebuddy.
While not on the market just yet, we’re cautiously optimistic that the Angel sploofy will turn out to be a big hit: the team is taking months to perfect the design and the filtering medium, so you have a sense they want to put out a quality product when it comes time to hit the shelves.
A DIY Solution
Photo by Jesse Milns for Leafly
Need a sploof fast and at practically no cost?
All you need to McGyver your own is: a finished toilet paper roll, dryer sheets, and elastic bands.
Stuff the roll with dryer sheets, and then take a few more dryer sheets and lay them flat on one end of the roll. Use the elastic bands to secure the dryer sheets snuggly on to the end of the roll.
And there you have it, a sploof that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
You can even decorate it too. Want to call it “David Blowie,” in honour of the rockstar’s 1976 arrest for marijuana? Go right ahead! You can even bedazzle it with fake jewels if you’re into arts and crafts.
What’s great about the home-made sploof is that it masks and freshens the air around you, something none of the store-bought sploofs can do (we smell an opportunity). Conversely, the store-bought units may not do as good a job at masking but it
Look, your home-made sploof isn’t going to be as air tight as the chamber holding the filter of a manufactured sploof, so you’re always going to have at least a little bit of smell linger. But if you have marijuana-skeptic roommates or parents in your residence, the decision between no sploof and a home-made sploof is easy.
Which sploof is the best? That’s a hard question because there’s so many factors, and each sploof has its own pros and cons. In our tests, all of them were able to dissipate the smoke, leaving only a very transient whiff of cannabis odor. So whether you’re looking for something that fits in your pocket, starts a conversation while sitting on your coffee table, or that provides a long-lasting solution, there’s a sploof for you.
