The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Pre-Rolls
WHAT IS A PRE-ROLL?
You may have heard people mention a “pre-roll” before, but what is it? When talking about cannabis, a pre-roll is just another way to smoke, but without all the preparation. It’s a joint, blunt, doink, doobie, or whatever else you want to call it, except it comes already made for you so you don’t have to roll it up yourself.
You can usually find a decent selection of pre-rolls in any legal cannabis dispensary. All of them have some selling point or another: some are infused, others not, some are long, some are short, and some are even endorsed by celebrities like Justin Bieber and Wiz Khalifa.
While you can find pre-rolls that don’t contain any trace amount of the federally illegal Delta-9 THC compound, most pre-rolls you find in cannabis dispensaries will.
ARE PRE-ROLLS WORTH IT?
The short answer is what it always is: it depends.
Pre-rolls are worth it if you value a well-made, easy-to-use joint or blunt over what you could roll yourselves. If you value your time and don’t mind spending an extra buck on a pack of pre-rolls, then they can make your smoking experience much faster and more seamless. All you have to do is take one out, light it up, and be on your way. After all, rolling can be a real chore, especially if you’re looking to save time and smoke soon!
If you still want to smoke joints or blunts, but don’t want to buy a pack of pre-rolls, be ready to spend a little extra time to make a doobie that may not be as perfectly rolled as the pre-roll you could buy.
Of course, if you prefer to roll your own joints or blunts, then we suggest you do that! Sometimes there is nothing better than enjoying something you made yourself.
HOW DO PRE-ROLLS WORK?
Pre-rolls work as are pre-made smoking instruments (usually joints or blunts) that are ready to consume upon purchase. They make the smoking experience quicker, easier, smoother, and sometimes more enjoyable.
They are by no means necessary; they are just there to make your life easier, if that’s what you prefer.
HOW LONG DO PRE-ROLLS LAST?
A singular pre-roll could last you anywhere from two minutes to two days, depending on your tolerance, the potency (and amount) of cannabis the pre-roll contains, and a bunch of other factors. If you’re a frequent smoker lighting up a one-gram pre-roll that is made from a 1:1 strain (let’s say 15% THC and 15% CBD), then you’ll likely be able to finish it by yourself in one go. However, if you’re a newbie smoker with a 3.5-gram pre-roll filled to the brim with the most noxious gas known to man, chances are you’ll need to put it out and save the rest for another time.
That’s another great thing about pre-rolls: you can use them on your own terms! If you light up and then remember something you need to do immediately, you can usually put out the light at the end of the pre-roll, put it back into its packaging, and save it for later. If you want to smoke a whole pack and get crazy, you can. You can also dose yourself incrementally as needed, which is much harder to do when consuming cannabis with a bong, pipe, or edible.
Because one pre-roll can last you anywhere from a 1/4th of a smoke sesh to a day or two, a box of five should last about … five times as long as that. Our premium pre-roll boxes come with 18 1.5g pre-rolls, which usually last for a couple weeks to months, and other times just a day (if you share *wink wink*). How long a pre-roll lasts depends on you and how long you want it to. You could easily kill five pre-rolls in a night (although you may be a bit sluggish after), or you could “microdose” a pack and stretch each one out over a whole day at different times.
That’s why they’re great: they’re made for you to use as you please, with none of the hassle.
DO PRE-ROLLS EXPIRE?
Yes and no: if stored properly, cannabis products should not “expire” in the traditional sense. However, with increased exposure to the air and other natural elements, cannabis can certainly degrade—terpenes lose some of their smell, flavor, and high-inducing powers as the flower becomes stale. Even if bud has been left in the open air, it should still work enough to get you about where you wanted to be.
But the more stale, and less fresh, the flower is, the less likely it is to do what it was made to do: its cannabinoids, terpenes, and other chemical compounds degrade, which disintegrates the effects for which the flower’s strain was specifically bred. An older, staler weed is less effective than a fresh one.
Luckily for our customers, we have some of the freshest flower on the market. Our flower all natural all the time, and it’s grown on a local family farm and is handled personally by the Lone Wolf team throughout the entire process, from planting and harvesting to rolling and shipping.
WHAT IS A PRE-ROLL WITH KIEF?
A pre-roll with kief is commonly called a kief-infused pre-roll, or sometimes just an infused pre-roll. (Infused pre-rolls can also refer to pre-rolls that contain cannabis concentrates (like dabs or oil) inside.) Sometimes these are also colloquially referred to as moonrock joints/blunts. Moonrock joints/blunts are much more potent than their uninfused counterparts. This is because kief is a more concentrated form of cannabis that has a much higher THC-percentage. It’s a bit like the Marijuana Midas, with everything it touches being turned to the loudest loud you can find.
Moonrock joints are common products in dispensaries, usually being sold to seasoned stoners and/or people looking to get as lit as possible. If you are neither of these, we suggest staying away from kief-infused cannabis products.
Luckily, Lone Wolf offers both infused and uninfused pre-rolls, so no matter who you are, you can be a part of our Family Farm!
WHY DO PEOPLE SMOKE PRE-ROLLS?
Most people smoke pre-rolls because of how easy and convenient they are. Pre-rolls are joints without the hassle of rolling. They’re a way to consume your bud without lugging around a pipe or a bong. They also usually come in boxes, tubes, or another type of packaging, making them easy to conceal and transport.
HOW DO I ROLL A JOINT?
Regardless of what form of cannabis the pre-roll contains, they are all made in a similar fashion.
1) BUY SOME FLOWER
First, you have to have flower, or “bud.” By flower or bud, we just mean the actual plant of cannabis, not any derivatives such as oil, tinctures, gummies, or vapes. We recommend buying flower from this little local company called Lone Wolf Family Farms, but you can get it from anywhere.
2) BREAK IT DOWN
Once you have the flower, you need to break it down. You can do this with a grinder, scissors, or your hands. Some of the simplest ways to break down flower without a grinder are also some of the most effective. For instance, you can rub two nugs together, and they will start to break into smaller pieces pretty easily with the help of some finger-picking here and there. You can also put a couple smaller nugs into a pill bottle, drop a coin in with them, and shake vigorously until the bigger buds break down into the more consumable flowery powder, commonly called ground flower. (As you grind up flower, you’ll also get some kief out of it—this is what we mentioned earlier as a more potent form of marijuana, so only add this to your smoke sesh if you wanna really take off!)
3) PICK YOUR PAPER
After you’ve ground your flower, you’ll need to decide what sort of pre-roll you’d like, whether it’s a joint, blunt, or something else entirely. Joints are also called papers (because, guess what, they’re paper), and are a favorite among both frequent and infrequent smokers alike. Blunts are made from the leaves of tobacco or other plants (sometimes hemp!) and can sometimes be too harsh or too large for one person to smoke comfortably. Whether you decide on smoking a joint or a blunt, you’ll want to grab the wraps from a reputable seller and a trusted brand. Joints and blunts—just like the people who smoke them—come in all shapes and sizes, so choosing the right one for you is important. A new smoker may prefer a smaller and less-harsh joint, while an experienced smoker might like a big ol’ military-grade doinker the size of Godzilla’s ****. There’s no objectively right choice—only choices that are best for individuals.
Another, easier way to end with a joint would be to use a cone. Cones are like papers that are already pre-shaped and ready for the flower to be put in. If you’re using a cone, you can skip all the rest of the steps. Just put some ground flower into the cone, pack it a little with a packing tool or pencil, and repeat. (You’ll want to make sure the flower is packed extra tightly at the beginning, so your joint has the support it needs. Otherwise, it may droop or bend.) After you’ve filled the cone, you “tip” the joint by either twisting the end closed or folding it in some way.
So you’ve got your flower and your paper, now what? Now, you have to do the rolling. This is the hardest part, and it’s why a lot of people prefer to buy pre-rolls instead of rolling their own. But don’t fret, there are a lot of ways to make this process easier. The easiest way to roll a joint is with a joint roller, which are offered by lots of companies in both manual and automatic models. With these, all you have to do is put your ground flower into the roller, insert the paper as instructed, and spin a wheel (or press a button), and voila! You have a joint!
If you’re not using a joint roller, you’ll want to gently hold your paper and spread your ground flower into the crease in its center. Put in as little as much as you’d like, but remember that more flower may make it more difficult to roll a tight, tidy joint. (You can also make a “spliff” by adding a pinch of rolling tobacco, if you’re into that.) Once your flower is spread, you’re going to pack it down as evenly as you can across the paper. People often use credit cards or business cards for this step, as it makes it easier to get a straight line and apply pressure evenly.
If you would like a filter in your joint, you can make one and put it in at this step. Some joint paper packs come with filters, but you can make your own with a thick paper or a thin cardboard slip. All you need to do is take that slip (rectangular shape, sized about 1-inch by 3-inches or smaller), and either fold it a couple times then roll it up, or roll it into a loose cylinder less than about a quarter-inch wide. Either way works! Then you just take that cylindrical paper and insert it into one side of the joint, which will be the mouthpiece for the joint when it’s time to smoke.
After the flower is spread and packed lightly, you need to roll it up. Most people grab the joint from both sides with the thumbs and forefingers of both hands and roll back and forth like you’re trying to make the tightest cylinder possible around the flower. If you fail, don’t get frustrated! It takes some practice to get it right, and no one rolls a perfect joint on their first go. Once the joint is rolled relatively tightly, you may need to lick the paper to get it to stick back to itself and complete the joint—most papers have a thin strip on one horizontal end that, when dampened, easily sticks to the other side of the paper. Most joint papers come in packs of 25+, so don’t be afraid to get in some practice before doing it for real! If you’re worried about wasting some of your flower, you can use a less expensive substitute to practice, or you can just keep dumping it back into your grinder and re-trying. There’s no shame in practicing!
Once your joint is rolled and closed, all that’s left to do is relax and enjoy!
HOW ARE PRE-ROLLS MADE?
Pre-rolls you see in dispensaries are likely rolled with the help of an industrial joint-roller, rather than using one’s fingers or an individual joint roller, like those offered by RAW.
Other than that, most of the steps are the same: first, you grind the flower and prepare your paper. We use cones for our joints, rather than traditional papers. This speeds up the process and provides more regularity across various batches of joints. But, unlike the majority of commercial cannabis businesses that use mass production machines like the well-known Futurola, we make our pre-rolls the old fashioned way, individually handmade with simple packing tools. This method allows us to ensure every Lone Wolf pre-roll is not only artisan by way of the top-shelf flower contains, but also by the construction and crafting of the flower into the cone.
WHY IS LONE WOLF SUPERIOR?
As mentioned above, Lone Wolf does not cut corners: we are always on the cutting edge of the cannabis industry and its regulations, and we strive to deliver the best possible product to our customers, no matter the time or energy it takes from our end. We ALWAYS grow the extra mile!
We are a small team created from a few mismatched families, and we are from all backgrounds of life—from smokers and farmers to artists and electricians. We take pride in the fact that we grow all of our flower in the tiny town of Lone Wolf, OK. It’s grown in accordance with the principles of Natural Farming: that means there is no trace of pesticides, chemicals, fertilizers, additives, or any other contaminants. It’s strenuously tested by a third-party lab, and meets all the requirements of medical cannabis products as stated by OMMA.
Lone Wolf pre-rolls are the best on the market. And if you don’t trust us, try it yourself! You’ll feel the freshness and taste the terpenes that only an all-natural flower can offer.
We appreciate you taking the time to read our message, and hope you learned at least a little something about pre-rolls, joints, or our farm!