An Egg Blinker is a vaping technique that involves multiple long inhales with breaks until it feels like an egg is stuck in your throat. Sometimes called “the egg blinker method,” this is meant to produce a more intense high when smoking cannabis with a vape pen. The term “blinker” refers to any inhale that lasts long enough to make the pen’s indicator light blink.
A TikTok user credited a friend for inventing the new technique in a video posted to the platform in 2024. Extended hits like this are not for beginners and can produce adverse short and long-term effects.
What is the egg blinker method?
Standard marijuana vape pens come with an indicator light to warn users of things like low battery and inhalations that are longer than normally recommended. Many cannabis experts advise only inhaling on any device for a maximum of three or four seconds, warning that any longer won’t produce a greater high and can increase tar and resin build-up in the lungs.
Vape pens therefore tend to blink if they detect a user inhaling for longer than this, which led to extended hits earning the nickname “blinkers.”
@448smokes YT: 448Ghosts #448smokes #eggblinker #blinker ♬ Dust Collector – lucas
The egg blinker method ignores the previous advice. This technique requires first inhaling for five seconds before taking a “quick break,” then doing four more inhales of four seconds each with breaks in between and without exhaling. After the last inhale, you’re supposed to hold in all that smoke for eight seconds before finally releasing it.
The term “egg blinker” comes from the tight sensation it causes in the throat, making it feel as though you have a whole egg caught in there.
Who came up with the egg blinker method?
According to TikTok user @448smokes in a video posted on May 18, 2024, his friend “Fez” and “his peoples” came up with this technique and named it, though the TikToker does not state the exact date of its invention.
Since May, the video has gained over 6.1 million views and over 130,000 bookmarks.
Does the egg blinker method work?
While we haven’t personally tried this, or at least refuse to admit to it, many users claimed to have tried this in the comments and reported that it did get them incredibly high. Other such comments are jokes, however, with some claiming that it put them directly in the hospital with a collapsed lung.
While it’s possible that multiple inhales without exhaling could intensify the effects, experts have long warned that holding smoke inside one’s lungs for periods longer than a few seconds does not get you higher. The blood vessels in the lungs absorb the THC from cannabis smoke quickly, sucking up 95 percent of the intoxicant in three or four seconds.
Spread and meme-ification
As word of the egg blinker method spread, TikTok users began to make meme videos referencing the technique in addition to entries that showed people trying it out. Many of these memes are centered around the theme of the method’s alleged initial impacts—leaving people high out of their minds.
Some discussion of the method also appeared on other social media platforms like Reddit and Twitter around late May and early June 2024.
Potential adverse effects
Smoking any substance comes with negative health impacts, and that does include marijuana, according to many studies. Research has found that vaping is no better for the lungs than smoking cigarettes or joints and comes with its own unique problems.
Holding smoke in for long periods allows tar and resin to build up in the lungs at a much higher rate than if you only hold for a few seconds. The egg blinker technique advises keeping those irritants in your breathing sacks for up to eight times longer than recommended.
Potential side effects of long-term or intense cannabis smoking can include:
- Chronic bronchitis symptoms
- Increased risk of chronic psychiatric disorders
- Altered brain development
- Cognitive impairments
- Addiction (cannabis use disorder)
- Lung scarring
- Increased risk of vascular diseases
Related trends
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- Faced with harsh censorship, TikTok cannamoms fight against the stigma around weed and motherhood
- Why you’re seeing a stoned Ghostface on TikTok
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