Weird Junkie "Shooting/Fixing Up" Habits [POLL]

[gnossos (OP)]

I recently found myself observing some pretty strange HR habits among my fellow junkies. A friend I've been getting high with lately has the STRANGEST habits/quirks I've ever seen with anyone I've ever shot up with.

• NEVER COOKS/(HEATS) HEROIN! Ok, either this guy knows something EVERY other junkie I've ever shot smack with doesn't, or he's doesn't know how to heroin. lol. This is the weirdest junkie habit I've ever seen... Please tell me I haven't been missing something this whole time: You ARE supposed to cook your H, right? I argued with him on this and wondered outloud how the hell he shot so much tar without ever cooking it. He said he always just let it sit in the water for an hour or so and it melted... OPINIONS PLEASE???
• NO COTTON/FILTER. This friend of mine simply REFUSES to EVER use a cotton/filter when banging speed, sometimes he'll relent and use one for smack though...(I cringe as I watch him dull the fuck out of every needle tip he fixes up with, dragging it all over the spoon). *eeeekkk*!!!
• USES AS LITTLE WATER AS POSSIBLE. I also cringe as I watch him only use 10 units of water in some shots because he says that the more water you use, the less rush you get... which I can understand to an extent, but 10/20 unit shots, really???

A few of my own junkie quirks:

• I leave the needle in for just a few seconds after pushing the shot to prevent leakage, especially with speed and other shit that BURNS when you miss it. (Learned that from the TV show Intervention ).
• When asked to share rigs, I'm actually TRUTHFUL about my hep/disease status. (I say that's a quirk cause MANY people are not... And FYI, my body thankfully fought the hepatitis off on its own but I was told that I will always test positive for the antibodies).

Post some strange/quirky junkie habits you've seen or have done yourself and please post opinions about the weird shit I've seen my new friend do 'cause I told him I was gonna get the respected opinions of this community and let him know if he's junkie-ing wrong or not.

[Raine]

Ok, ok I'll play! 😸

I was not heating my dope for awhile because I was getting this powder that dissolved instantly and would cook up so cleanly that it felt like a waste of time.
Also I was also having a weird thing where I would puke
before doing a shot sometimes and it could cause problems...
especially when I was using around other people.
 For some reason knowing I was about to get well
Would just make my stomach heave.
Smelling the dope cooking was the real trigger
So if I skipped cooking it I could kinda trick myself Into not puking.
Weird, I know!!

I also do the thing where I keep the needle in for a sec after I've finished shooting
Like I don't want it to "leak" or something
And I knew another girl who did that too -
So that's actually not totally unusual afaik.
Or maybe you and her & I are just all weirdos

I used to use a lot of water but over time I started using way less
Because I felt like the shot was stronger with less
But I knew a dude who would use the tiniest bit of water
Like 10 unit shots! It would look like sludge
I don't understand that at all !! It doesn't need to be *that* small dude.

One of my other things is I don't like tying off
And I bruise easily so it's easy to tell if I've used because I get a bruise
Where the tie was.
So I use things like drawstrings
Or cloth belts from clothing, you know if you have like a dress/sweater/coat
That has loops on the side and it'll have a longass cloth tie that goes around your waist
Or like on a robe, the belts on robes? Those are the best and softest
I can wrap it around my arm 4-5 times.  it won't bruise.
And it gets my vein up way better than the strip of elastic tourniquet
Without being super tight and binding.

[LadyKalma]

Its not been necessary for me to tie off so i don't. Tried to back on my first few shots ever, but it seemed like a hassle and a good way to fuck up veins. Ive seen people not untie after they register too, which drives me insane because i have also witnessed somebody getting blood pooling under the skin like, after not unting and shooting. Like, it was different from a miss, looked really bad. i have great veins, bulgy and easy to see, so maybe im just blessed.
And i cook dope, especially tar. There may be some dope that looks dissolved without heat, but im paranoid about maybe wasting some that isnt dissolved if i don't heat it.
I have used tar rarely, prob less than 10% of the times but the tar ive had had left little black dots for years, so i wish i had filtered it even better than a cotton, would not use tar with no filtering, i want to keep having nice veins.
Early in my shooting era i got this pdf from my needle exchange called "getting off right". Its a great resource for trying to get people to use harm reduction practices, or just for people who want to see really how its done and not pick up the different quirks of whoever they were taught by.
Id reccomend looking it up and showing your friend, and just present it neutral like, look at this thing i just read about shooting dope... and leave it at that so he can not be defensive about if hes does it right

[Snout]

A few of the fine folks I used to do dope with would lick the needle before sticking it in their vein. Like, what the fuck? And some of these guys would take the rig after the shot and shoot the dregs of the heroin mixed with blood into their mouths.  I thought these habits were strange.

[traplord69]

I've never used tar so I can't really speak on that but from what i've heard its standard/even necessary to get the dope into a solution most times.  With ecp I have actually never cooked a shot at all, it always dissolves perfectly fine by itself or with a little stirring.  By heating a shot when its not a necessity you may be forcing cuts/particles that are not water soluble at room temperature into your dope solution and then injecting these into your blood stream.  AFAIK cooking a shot would be a last resort when all else failed to make the dope dissolve.  Also the no filter thing??? wtf is that.  Does this guy really think he's getting 100% pure dope with no other cuts or strange things that he wouldn't want to inject? Even if it was pure dope I would still think a filter of some sort would be necessary.  One thing I am guilty of is I usually don't untie after registering, I don't want the needle to slip out while I fidget around with the tie.  I've also seen a few people who after their shot, will draw up a bit of water into the bloody rig and then spray it their mouth, I tried it a few times but it tastes too bitter for my liking lol, not to mention the minuscule amount of dope present and the low oral bioavailability of heroin. 

[bignasty]

One thing I am guilty of is I usually don't untie after registering, I don't want the needle to slip out while I fidget around with the tie. 

I've also seen a few people who after their shot, will draw up a bit of water into the bloody rig and then spray it their mouth, I tried it a few times but it tastes too bitter for my liking lol, not to mention the minuscule amount of dope present and the low oral bioavailability of heroin.

I'm guilty of both. I don't untie til the dope is in my vein. I'll miss the shot if I try to untie when I first register. I untie a split second after pushing the plunger down though.

As for pulling up water and squirting it in my mouth, it's more of a thing to do to clean the rig than trying to get the most outta the dope by swallowing the left overs. I do it just to keep the blood from drying in the rig, and I don't mind swallowing a tiny amount of my own blood mixed with a tiny amount of dope and a lot of water.

[Raine]

I've seen people doing the "shooting into the mouth" thing too.
If I'm worried about wastage I just do a rinse shot.
If I gotta tie off I don't untie when I register but I do untie as soon as I hit.
I never used to tie off until I started having trouble hitting veins though.
I can't imagine not using a filter either. That guy is probably getting his rigs clogged
Quite often!

[bonedust]

Sometimes after my shot I will draw up again (the blood) a little to I guess rinse out the barrel and get every last bit of dope. Yea, I dunno.

I have an easy tie-off trick--I use a belt or tie from a robe and drape it over my arm then twist it and hold it between my knees so I don't have to use my hands to release the tie. Works great.

[bignasty]

speaking of the not using a filter deal, I had 2 buddies that used to back-load their dilaudid's then draw up water and just shake the shit out of it. These weren't the old legit K-4's either, they were the M4's and the purdue pink 4mg dilaudids.

They thought I was wasting some by using a cotton. I told them that I might be wasting some but probably only like .1mg if that. They wouldn't listen to me about HR though.

[dillydudeEL14]

I’ve never had tar but I’ve always heard it needs to be heated. I know of no junkies who could wait an hour for shit to dissolve lol that shit cray.

My friend always squirts a tiny bit of his shots into his mouth before he injectsbit. And the needle licking thing I just saw on tv yesterday for the first time. 

I don’t tie off cuz I don’t need to. My main quirk is I always raise my arm that I injected into up in the air until I fully feel the rush I guess to make gravity help it flow faster and to prevent blood and dope from being pushed back out the hole in the vein. I used to leave the needle in for a little bit to prevent leakage but for whatever reason I just don’t do that anymore unless I see some clear liquid come back out after I remove the needle. This will happen on a rare occasion and I always feel like I wasted some haha.

I usually do 4-8mg of dilaudid at a time and for those shots I usually use 70-80 units. I did go on a huge binge a couple weeks ago with a financial aid check haha and that fucked up my tolerance something fierce. I was doing like 16-24 my ata atime and not even feelin it cuz I didn’t wait long enough between shots. That was a really wasteful binge, but at least I bought a Nintendo switch and 2 games so I have a little to show for it haha. The new Mario game kicks ass!!

Another thin I do that I never see other people do is when I’m doing my wash I suck up all I can and then take the cotton with my fingers and wipe up all the wet residue from the spoon to “get it all”. Idk if it’s really worth it or not but it helps me to not try for a second wash as I know there is nada left over after that.

I never do this but I see a lot of people suck the blood off their arm after a shot. I never understood it cuz even if there is a tiny amount of dope in there there’s no way that ingesting thag tiny amount orally is gonna do a thing. But I understand it’s jjst different peoples rituals. They’re not meant to make sense. 

That’s all I can think of now.

[Michael]

Nothing that special. I used to suck my arm after a shot and I would still do it if I just shot heroin but it's always speedballs now and I've got a thing about any meth or methylphenidate solution and blood. Like I refuse to taste it. But that's kinda gross and is for the best.

I ALWAYS do a hot compress after shooting. Like after I shoot I apply pressure for ages with a tissue then hot compress it. I'm only 28 and my veins are going to shit. It's ridiculous. I'm trying to cut down on how much citric I add, I've become a convert to wheel filters, I've gone down a size in needles (26 to 27g) all in an effort to save my veins.

The only weird one I don't know other people doing is I let a few bubbles stay in my syringe. I use a 3ml with 27g luer lock and they have this neck on the needle. Anyway, if you do it exactly right, when you plunge it the bubbles are just small enough to push the last drop out of the neck but you don't actually inject any air.

[dillydudeEL14]

Michael the air bubble thing you said is interesting. It happens to me sometimes and I don’t bother getting it out cuz you’d have to shoot like a whole syringe of air to get hurt. The most I’ve ever shot in was probably like between 5 and 10 units of air and I never had any issues.

What is it like shooting adderall or Ritalin? Only stim I’ve ever shot Is coke. For some reason I’ve always been averse to shooting stuff other than opiates and coke, but I really don’t have any reason for feeling that way. I doubt I’m gonna donit anytime soon since I never get stims anymore but I’m just curious.

[radioactive_man]

I met a guy, his name was Mike in Kennsington. Ha, everyone over there is named Mike.

I had finished up a shift and went to the bar. After I had gotten a few in me I felt like going on a dope adventure.

Mike mumbled something to me about dope and he was white so I pulled him aside and asked what was good.

This was my first experience doing dope in a north eastern city. Before that I used to cop in the ATL.

Well within ten minutes we've got dope in hand and are off to fix by the railroad tracks.

He pours the dope into a soda lid, refuses to cook or even filter. I didn't even have a full rig of dope.

I don't know if it was fent dope or my tolerance was low or it was because I was a little drunk, but I fucking fell out after that shot.

I always wondered if it was more concentrated or what. Sorry for the rambling.

TLDR; I shot up while drunk and used a small amount of water and didn't filter then I fell out. Philly's finest found me unconscious on a corner with my belt in my pocket. I nodded off on the El and someone stole my Ipod and Billy Joel cassette, fuckers....