you don't have to start with leaves...although it would probably be advisable...you might get lucky and feel somthing off of it...but i sure didn't, if you do start with extract tread lightly....until you learn it's affects and stuff only take it a hit at a time...take a hit give it a bit to kick in, take another and so on....you realy don't want to do more than you can handle because a bad trip is realllllly not fun... you need a torch lighter when you smoke it too becasue the active ingredient is released at a much higher tempature than regular butane lighters put off...although it will release it with a regular lighter if you keep the lighter on it the whole hit it won't be as effective soif you want the most out of it invest in a torch lighter.