In olden days, we'd smoke stems and seeds out of pure desperation. That is, if smoking the black goo in our pipes was not an option. Had a neighbor who took a blowtorch to the metal bowl and stem on a heavily used bong and shared with me. And there was always the option of getting drunk, though I don't recommend ethanol maintenance as a substitute for the real thing. Long "droughts" were common, when you couldn't find reefer to save your life no matter how much money you had to spend. Totally sucked.