A Gentleman's Rolling Paper Revue

[Gentlemancorpse]

Nine out of ten doctors recommend smoking marijuana cigarettes, so thats why its my preferred method of consumption!



Now don't quote me on that statistic ... but I do enjoy a good doobie more than all other forms of cannabis consumption...

But theres so many rolling paper choices! And they all claim the same thing ... slow burning, great tasting ...

So when I finished my last case of Skunks I decided to have a little fun, and order all these different brands...



and then shit talk the ones I dont like and way over-hype the ones I do!

I'm going to choose one brand and style per week and only smoke that paper for that whole week... I smoke a minimum of three joints a day so that should be just about a pack a week, which I'm fairly certain constitutes a statistically viable sample size...

Let's see how they do...

Oh, as a side note, this adventure was entirely inspired by @Jewels and his rolling paper dilemma

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

This week I started with Chills Alien 1 1/4" hemp rolling papers (side note, these are all hemp and rice papers... cardboard ass tasting Zig Zags and their ilk have been relegated)

Chills is apparently owned by HBI Brands which I just learned owns basically all these rolling paper brands I thought were competitors ... RAW, Elements, Skunk and Chills amongst others

Initial impression ... they have a decent heft, not super thin like some hemp papers... kind of an interesting pattern to the papers



They roll nice and easy, no slippage ... glue works well ...

I've rolled about a half dozen of the ol left handed cigarettes with these so far and they do have very little taste which is nice, but I find they burn a little fast... not so fast the weed doesn't fully combust but faster than I like, especially as the cones get wider

We'll see how they hold up as the week proceeds!

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

If anyone has any rolling paper suggestions they think I should try or want to see me waste my money on first shout em out by the way ... Im on the hunt for the perfect paper! If such a thing even exists ....

 

[Jewels]

Highly inspired.
We need a weighting system.

One museing,
The most nifty feature coming to mind is the "cut corner"
I often smoke in the dark, and my eye sight it not getting any better.
By candlelight , I can turn some brands over and back again. Cant find front from back top from bottom.
With a zig zag cut corner, I can roll on horseback by starlight.
The paper knows what to do.

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

Highly inspired.
We need a weighting system.

One museing,
The most nifty feature coming to mind is the "cut corner"
I often smoke in the dark, and my eye sight it not getting any better.
By candlelight , I can turn some brands over and back again. Cant find front from back top from bottom.
With a zig zag cut corner, I can roll on horseback by starlight.
The paper knows what to do.

This is a very good point sir... while I'm not a fan of traditional zig zags for their burn the cut corner is a brilliant feature...

With some of these "natural" papers I can barely see the glue even in a lit room!

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

So I rolled 25 joints from this pack of Chills Aliens this week and my initial impression stands.... this paper is fine, but it would never be my go to rolling paper choice. Its also the most expensive paper in the group, which I didn't realize at first, because the pack price is fine at $2.25... but theres only 32 papers in the pack, which is far and away the least of any pack I purchased. Fifty appears to be standard for 1 1/4" papers, one brand has 62.

I think this was a good paper to start with though, its a good base to measure the others against ... it just seems very average.

Taste: Mild
Burn: Medium-Fast
Glue: Medium Hold
Ease of Use: Good
Cost: High

TLDR; Price and burn time hold back an otherwise solid rolling paper.

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

This week were rolling with the Irie 1 1/4" papers



These dudes at least appear to just be their own company.

The papers look exactly like the Chills





Roll fairly easy but not as smoothly as the chills so far... the glue is also slightly less adhesive

But ... over these first few joints the Iries have actually smoked better ... same mild taste, slightly slower burn and almost no ash

Theres also 64 papers in this pack which is virtually double the Chills, and the packs cost the same $2.25.

So far I'm pretty happy with these papers, especially considering the price.. we'll see how they do the rest of the week

 

[coste]

Man, you're a genius for compiling this kind of comparison. Though, statistically speaking, there are far too many variables at play to be "scientific".

That being said, thank you for educating me on the ownership monopoly of the "good" papers. I'm a RAW loyalist myself, used to be all about Elements. Now it's no coincidence they're owned by the same company.

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

Man, you're a genius for compiling this kind of comparison. Though, statistically speaking, there are far too many variables at play to be "scientific".

That being said, thank you for educating me on the ownership monopoly of the "good" papers. I'm a RAW loyalist myself, used to be all about Elements. Now it's no coincidence they're owned by the same company.

Thanks man, though genius may be a strong word haha

Your totally right about being scientific in this endeavor, its impossible to be quantitative, which is why I'm sticking to just being descriptive in my little rating system (that I definitely made up on the fly...)

When @Jewels said we needed a weighting system my first instinct was to do a normal x/10 thing, but what the hell do those numbers even mean? Its all subjective ... you may love a paper and I hate...

And then ya ... I was pretty surprised to find out all those papers were owned by the same company ... I went RAW - Elements - Skunks without ever realizing they were all made by the same people!

 

[coste]

Your totally right about being scientific in this endeavor, its impossible to be quantitative, which is why I'm sticking to just being descriptive in my little rating system (that I definitely made up on the fly...)

So, this got me thinking. What about this:

Measure the first real paper (not that filler shit they put for the first one in a pack) with a micrometer. Label the thickness. it'll average out; obviously paper products are going to have a variability regardless of the base material. Guaranteed they have a tolerance of 0.001" across 10k papers.

Label the material. Most of the premium brands brag about "100% hemp/rice/cellulose/etc". You may even be able to contact a rep that would disclose rough percentages of content.

Weigh out the amount of material. I don't know about you, but I can easily roll a gram in a 1 1/4" paper. Standardize that to the same harvest on the same strain/dry/cure dates.

Light each joint the same way. A ceramic or electrofilament lighter for absolutely no introduction of hydrocarbon input to alter the flavor or burn.

Then the remaining variables are how you roll on a given day, your health, barometric pressure, humidity. temp, etc. Essentially most of it outside of your control, aside from burning in a clean room.

Now, that's a comparison I think. Ok, done ranting and getting all scientific and shit.

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

Damn @coste you got me thinking about all kinds of things ... Id have to find a micrometer that had small enough increments to tell the difference between different papers ... but also I could probably just reach out to the different brands and see if they did in fact have a target thickness and tolerance...

And scaling out the amount of weed being rolled is a great idea as well... I have been using the same two strains for testing so far ... Monkey Juice and OC x CD

 

[coste]

A super low micrometer, with reputable accuracy, can be had through any major tool supplier. I used to have a set from Snap-On that was phenomenal (checking feeler gauges was a primary use for the smallest one). They're pricey, like $50 for the smallest one, but incredibly useful.

Or, something like Amazon product ASIN B000GSLKIW would provide enough detail to accommodate a loose scientific analysis.

Obviously there is much more left to perception, but this could become a hell of a stoner science project haha

 

[Amos Otis]

This is a very good point sir... while I'm not a fan of traditional zig zags for their burn the cut corner is a brilliant feature...

Cut corners - how I roll, and what I roll with.

I barely toke any other way than a joint, and use the same paper. I'm used to it, so I'm more able to compare different weed flavors accurately.

 

[OldG]

When i was younger...so much younger than today...I never new that papers came in any other way.

And then i found 1 1/4s. Raw papers I love them...I used to hate them when i loved that bleached white flavor but i just buy them by the 300s now. Peforated tips for the luxury factor..fill it until it wont close and then give it a squeeze and a spin and BOOM....1 to 2 gram doobs.

2 of them starts the day off just right...and gets things started.

If you are aware of a tastier paper that is unbleached and awesome...not too thin so i can spin them with my kobassa fingers.

I dont need a micrometer...i make them until the gum touches the paper...as big as they get.

A blunt should look like a giant cannon on a dog walk.. then my cloud obscures me from view...nothing to see here.

 

[GCG]

Biggest difference I've ever noticed is Zig zag and JOB's smoke clings to you more and seems to linger in the car for way longer than RAW or Element. Car after Zig Zag smells smoked in even after weed smell is gone.

 

[LittleDabbie]

Review those clear plastic ones that were all the rage for 15 mins!!!

I hated those fuckin things lol

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

I agree... these days the Zig zags and their ilk taste too papery for me, and the smell lingers almost as bad as an actual cigarette...

I like a real thin paper for the nice slow burn but @OldG brings up a real good point about the ease of rolling... im loving these Iries but even I struggle to roll them with the precision I'm used too... my girl hates them because she can't roll with them for the life of her... all her joints have hung short, shriveled and slightly to the left... to quote the poet.

The Chills were WAY easier to roll with. So just an example of how subjective my rankings are! And how hindsight may make me view some of these papers differently... may have to do a second round of tests to revisit the papers I'm starting with after I've worked my way through all the brands.

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

Review those clear plastic ones that were all the rage for 15 mins!!!

I hated those fuckin things lol

Ah yes... the vegetable cellulose "papers"... I definitely rolled with those for a minute.. ill try to grab a pack and see how they stack up to all these hemp options!

 

[TreeFarmerCharlie]

have you tried King Palms or Lucky Eagle palm rolls? They are expensive (up to about $1 each), but they come ready to stuff and have a corn husk filter pre-installed. The thing I love about them is that they burn slow like a cigar and you can pack them pretty tight. The palm leaf also adds a nice taste to the burn that is nothing like the taste of burning paper. I used to buy King Palms but recently bought some of the Lucky Eagle brand, because they are less expensive, and I think they are just as good. The 0.5g "Little Minis" are also great to use as tasters. I pack those up for friends to try my latest harvests once they finish curing.

Here's the info for the Lucky Eagle brand and the sizes they come in.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Those remind me of optimos