How to Roll a Joint
Joints are arguably the most iconic way to consume cannabis. Small and portable, you can take them anywhere and spark up where you please.
They consist of cannabis rolled up inside a thin rolling paper that is usually white, but novelty papers come in all colors and flavors. Papers can be big, small, made out of hemp, rice, paper, etc. There are all kinds of variants.
Joints often have a crutch, or filter, which adds stability to the roll and allows you to smoke your joint to the end without burning your fingertips.
How much weed is in a joint?
When starting out, we recommend using a 1/2 gram of weed and normal or 1 1/4-sized rolling papers. This is a good amount of weed for a couple of people and starting off on the smaller side will make rolling the joint more manageable.
For reference, most of the prerolls you buy at the store are a full gram, although some come in 2-packs of half-grams.
When you get good at rolling, you can move up to King sized papers and full-gram joints and widen your smoking circle.
What do you need to roll a joint?
To help you hone your own craft, we’ve prepared a simple seven-step guide on the easiest way to roll a classic cone joint, even for beginners. You’ll be rolling a perfect joint in no time.
Begin by gathering your rolling supplies:
Cannabis strain of your choice
Rolling papers
Crutch (for the joint crutch or filter)
Cannabis grinder
Optional: A pen, or a similarly shaped object to help pack the joint
How to choose rolling paper
Natural Hemp Rolling Papers
Skill level: Easy
Hemp is an easy choice for rolling a joint—you’re essentially covering your cannabis in more cannabis, although it’s gone through a few extra steps. Since they’re sturdy and easy to roll, hemp is a great choice if you’re venturing away from wood-pulp papers for the first time. Hemp papers have a mild flavor that doesn’t get in the way of the taste of your herb. There’s also an added bonus that the nerds amongst us might enjoy.
Thin Rolling Papers
Skill level: Medium
Rice papers are like selecting a professional mode for rolling because they are more delicate and thin. But once you get the hang of them, get ready for tidy, smooth-smoking joints.
Ultra-thin Rolling Papers
Skill level: Hard
Once you trust that you can manipulate thin papers, ultra-thins are your next challenge. Ultra-thin rolling papers can be made out of several materials, but the idea behind all of them is the same: minimize the amount of paper when you smoke.
Ultra-thins help limit combustion for cleaner hits, less coughing, and less ash. They can be a little harder to handle than papers with more density there’s slightly more risk for more tearing as you handle them, but with a little practice, you’ll be rolling joints that smoke like there’s no paper at all.
Steps to Rolling a Joint:
Step 1: Prepare Cannabis
Break down your cannabis into shake. If your cannabis is dried well, it should break down easily. A grinder keeps your hand from getting sticky and thus sticking to the joint paper.
If you don’t have a grinder, you can grind the herb down by hand, using scissors, or any number of other breakdown methods.
Step 2: Crutch
Make a crutch, also called a tip or filter. You can make a crutch out of just about anything, but thin cardboard or business cards are solid go-tos. A lot of joint papers also include crutch material with their packaging.
Start with a few “accordion” folds at the end of the cardboard, then roll the material to the desired thickness of your joint. The crutch isn’t absolutely necessary, but it does help keep the shake from falling out of the end or into your mouth as you smoke. It also adds some stability to the joint and allows you to enjoy every bit of cannabis without burning your fingertips.
Step 3: Pack the joint
Fill the paper with the shake and the crutch (if you’ve made one). Once the paper has the right amount of shake (a half gram to a gram usually does the trick), you can begin to form and shape the joint with your fingers.
A quick note on papers: There are a lot of different types and flavors of joint papers available. Many people prefer hemp papers because they tend to be thin but strong, and burn evenly without affecting the flavor of your weed.
Step 4: Roll the joint
This step can make or break the quality of your joint. Tuck the unglued side of the paper into the roll, roll it up, and use the glued edge to tack down one end of the paper, using just a little bit of moisture.
Step 5: Seal the deal
Finally, pack the end of the joint to help ensure an even burn. A pen is great, but you can use just about anything.
Some good options if you’re on the go: the tip of your shoelace, the drawstring on your hoodie, or a small stick. If you’re not planning on sparking your joint right away, you may want to close the tip with a twist.
Tips and Tricks for Joint Rollin’
Paper Size
The right size rolling paper is a situational decision based on a few key factors: How many people are you smoking with? How high are their tolerances? How many joints do you intend to roll?
If you show up at Snoop Dogg’s house with a pack of single-wides, you won’t be able to roll ’em fast enough. The most popular and widely available sizes are 1 ¼” size and King Slims. 1 ¼” is generally considered to be the ‘standard’ cannabis rolling paper and suits one to three people with moderate to low tolerances. King Slims are better for moderate-tolerance groups of two to five people or high-tolerance groups of one to three people.