Wait, Teens Are Smoking Coffee Now?

You've got to hand it to teenagers — they constantly outdo themselves when it comes to thinking up bizarre ways to consume things that can and should be consumed in perfectly normal ways. They are the ones who brought us "butt-chugging," after all. In fact, it's probably the aforementioned butt-chugging that makes us not at all surprised by reports surfacing that teenagers have started to smoke coffee.

Oh yes. Apparently, just drinking a cup of coffee is not enough anymore. It gives you far more of a hit to roll up beans or grounds into a "caffeine stick" and smoke it. Because that sounds like way less effort.

Smoking coffee is not a particularly new idea — many are drawing attention to a 2011 Reddit post offering instructions on how to make a caffeine joint. One Reddit user, who had apparently tried smoking coffee, said that it definitely works and offers a "long-lasting burst of energy" that could go a long way to helping you stay up all night to write that term paper you have due.

What is unclear is how much this can really be considered a "craze." According to Las Vegas ABC affiliate KTNV, this "dangerous trend" could be "going viral" with teens, and websites are sprouting all over the place teaching them how to roll these caffeine sticks.

According to KTNV, smoking coffee can cause some serious side-effects, such as trouble breathing, vomiting, dizziness and hallucinations. Basically, all the side-effects of caffeine poisoning.

But after a little probing, others have found that there's not much evidence to suggest that this is actually a craze. For starters, none of these coffee-smoking teens featured in the news report. Gawker also points out that the majority of these sites instructing teens on how to make coffee crack pipes are clearly satirical.

There's also not that much of a social media trail, which you would expect if this were actually a viral trend. Teenagers love to use social media to brag about the dumb shit that they do (sex with a Hot Pocket, anyone?) so we're pretty sure smoking coffee would have made it if kids were actually doing it.

It's probably safe to keep your coffee on your counter for the time being, parents.