WHEN THE TORCH IS LIT, WILL VANCOUVER HOLD ITS BREATH?

VANCOUVER--All hail -- or inhale -- the 2010 Olympic Torch.

Or, as it's jokingly known around Vancouver, the Olympic Toke.

Composed of stainless steel, aluminum and sheet moulding, the torch
was designed to evoke snow, ice, skiing and skating, but to many,
the metre-long white torch looks suspiciously like a marijuana
joint, especially when lit.

The observation has become so common in this city that it's hard to
know who was the first to say, "Hey, doesn't that look like ..."

But the torch's resemblance to British Columbia's biggest cash crop
was evident right away to Jodie Emery, editor of Cannabis Culture magazine.

"A lot of people come to Vancouver because it's marijuana-friendly,
so I think people who already enjoy a joint themselves will feel a
little more kinship to the Olympics," said Emery, who ran as a Green
party candidate in the provincial election this month.

"I'm sure the organizers didn't intend for it to look like a joint,
but that's what a lot of people are seeing."

The association between toking and the Olympics didn't begin with
the torch, of course.

At the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, Whistler skier Ross Rebagliati
won, then lost, the gold medal in snowboarding after testing
positive for marijuana. The medal was returned after Rebagliati
explained he had inhaled second-hand smoke. And Olympic
swimming sensation Michael Phelps was photographed in
February smoking pot from a bong.

Industrial designer Mark Busse said he doesn't see a joint so much
as a tweezer or scalpel.

"Sure, it may look a little bit like a joint, but I can tell you
that what they were going for was ergonomics, sleekness, modernity," he said.

Suzanne Reeves, the Vancouver organizing committee's director of
communications for the Olympic torch relay, said she has taken the
torch across the country and people's faces light up when they get
the chance to hold it.

At Nathan Phillips Square a couple of weeks ago, Reeves said she had
the torch in a bag when a cyclist went by and did a double-take when
he saw what she had.

Reeves said what she sees when she looks at the torch is the edge of
snow and an unfurling flag.

"It's quite magical. Most people's reactions are emotional," she said.

The torch will be carried by 12,000 people over 45,000 kilometres as
it makes its journey across Canada.

Because the torch will travel through the winter months, it had to
meet some tough technical requirements, including being able to
withstand high winds, cold temperatures and different altitudes.

The torch officially is meant to resemble the lines left behind by
skiers and skaters on snow and ice.

Any double -- or doobie -- entendres, officials say, are purely unintentional.