Mountain Remedy's Joint Rolling 101

What is a Joint?

Think about a joint like a hand-rolled cigarette. The main difference being that cigarettes use tobacco, and joints use cannabis. However, there are plenty of ways to blend the parts you like about joints and cigarettes, which usually results in more of a buzzy, energetic feeling.

Blunts are rolled in gutted cigars papers or heavy, dark tobacco leaf wraps.

Spliffs are rolled with both cannabis and ground tobacco inside the joint.

• People love joints because they're:
  Easy to carry around (you don't want to carry a bong around)
  You can save the leftovers (if you don't mind the taste)
  Minimal cleanup
• The real test of a great joint is a smooth, even burn that allows you to taste and genuinely appreciate the flower's flavor.

 

 

Joint Rolling Materials List:

• Cannabis Flower
• Rolling papers
• Lighter

 

Optional Materials:

Filter/ Crutch: A small bit of stiff paper rolled into a tube about 1” long. They're placed at one end of the joint and help to filter smoke.

Grinder: A tool that helps you break down your cannabis flower into a consistent texture. They can be metallic cylinder herb grinders, plastic cases with teeth that pull the flower apart, or perforated cards that grind up bud like you're grating cheese.

Pen: When you touch shake, the moisture from your hands causes the flower (and most importantly, the THC crystals) to stick to your fingers. To avoid, use a tool (doesn't have to be a pen) to spread the shake and pack down the joint's open end.

Rolling tray or book: Joint rolling can be messy, even for experienced consumers. So, rolling your joint on a smooth, easy-to-clean surface makes a big difference- especially when the shake starts falling out.

Joint Roller: A small contraption that makes rolling joints 1000x easier. Highly recommended for those that cannot be bothered.

 

What kind of rolling paper should I use?

You can't use just ANY paper when rolling a joint. We've heard of rolling up with everything from receipts to textbook pages, but please don't do that. Print on paper uses inks with toxic chemicals, so smoking with them would mean inhaling those chemicals into your lungs! ALWAYS use a rolling paper intended for rolling joints.

Dispensaries and head shops will offer a wide selection of joint papers, including those made from hemp, unbleached paper, and tobacco. Thicker papers will burn slower. Rolling papers also come in different sizes and flavors to try. If you find yourself in need of any supplies your Mountain Remedy delivery driver has papers, grinders, and lighters you can purchase upon delivery!

 

 

How to Roll A Joint

Step 1: Grind up your flower

When you're breaking down your cannabis into shake, you can use your fingers to pull the buds apart or use any herb grinder.
Fingers are the free choice, but touching the flower with fingers is known to knock off some of the THC crystals, also called keif, and it doesn't always provide the most consistent or broken down shake.

On the other hand, many herb grinders will store your keif at the bottom, which allows you to add the extra potent keif to your bowls or joints once you've accumulated enough! Grinders are also really good at evenly separating flower for consistent size and texture, which helps to produce a joint with a clean, slow burn.

 

The shot glass hack:

If you find yourself without a grinder but cannot bear to think about losing any precious THC, grab a shot glass and a pair of scissors. Toss your flower in the shot glass, stick the scissors inside, and start chopping away. Your flower will be ground-up in no time.

However you grind up the flower, getting it to the right consistency is essential. You want your weed to be crumbly and free of stems and seeds.

 

How much flower should you grind up?

The real question is, how many people will be smoking? It doesn't need to be an exact science, but the average size of a joint uses ½ gram of flower for average-sized rolling papers. However much you're rolling up, remember that anything you don't finish now will taste like trash later. So when in doubt, take some out.

 

Step 2: Roll a Joint Filter (optional but highly recommended)

Joint filters, also known as crutches or tips, aren't essential to joint rolling, but they are good at a few things:

• Help keep shake from falling out one end
• Add stability
• Improve grip
• Boost airflow through joint
• Reduce the risk of burning fingertips or lips

Filters can be purchased with your rolling papers or made from everyday household items. You can use most kinds of stiff paper, cardboard, or non-plastic packaging, but business cards and (toll?) tickets are the go-to.

Start with a strip of cardboard about 1 inch wide and 2-3 inches long. Fold the first third of the paper into an accordion shape; you only need 3-4 folds. Then, starting with the folded up accordion, roll the paper into a tube with the folds at the center. And you're done!

 

Step 3: How to Roll a Joint

The Easiest Way to Roll a Joint- Joint Roller

This video will give you a good idea about how simple it is to use a joint roller. The steps are as easy as:

1. Load the joint roller with your crutch and ground flower
2. Close the joint roller and give it a couple of spins towards yourself to give the flower some shape.
3. Insert the joint paper, with the strip of glue facing up and towards you.
4. Spin the joint roller until just the glue is visible above the surface, give it a lick and keep on spinning.
5. Open up the joint roller, and you should have a lovely joint ready to smoke!

Until you get the hang of rolling joints by hand, the joint roller method is the fastest and easiest method with the best results.

 

Minimalist Joint Rolling (Just papers and cannabis)

1. Lay your rolling paper on a flat surface with the strip of glue facing away from you. If your papers don't have an adhesive, don't worry, this will still work.
2. Crease the paper along the pre-folded line, or at the center of your paper, making a shape like the bottom of a boat. The fold creates a center of gravity, which makes the shake a little easier to control.
3. Put a twist at one end of your paper. That's the front of your joint. This pre-step prevents the shake from falling out.
4. Evenly spread the flower through the joint. Gently squish it down with your finger as needed.
5. Pinch the paper to make a teardrop shape, with the cannabis sitting in the little tube you created.
6. Roll or sift the paper back and forth, compressing the marijuana into a smaller tube shape until there is enough slack in your paper to securely tuck in one side. Airflow is critical here. We don't want it packed too tight or too loose.
7. At one end, tuck the unglued side of the paper into the roll and tack down the glued side over the top using a small amount of moisture.
8. Work your way down the rest of the seam by tucking and sealing the joint to the end.

Here's a great video tutorial

Joint Rolling Tips

• If your joint is too loose or breaks loose halfway through rolling, start over with a tighter pinch around the crutch.
• Uneven burn could mean your flower wasn't ground enough.
• If your joint feels so tight that you're having trouble pulling smoke through, you may have ground the herb too loosely.

If all else fails, purchase your cannabis pre-rolled! Mountain Remedy carries a variety of flower rolled into the perfect joints for you!

Once your joint is rolled check out our blog 7 Ways to Reduce or Eliminate Cannabis Smell!