How To Roll A Blunt: Easy Step-By-Step Guide

Blunts have been a staple of the marijuana community for decades. From Snoop Dogg to Rihanna, cannabis icons have held these savvy rolls dear, but blunts aren’t just a commodity for the rich and famous. As a matter of fact, blunt wrappers are available almost everywhere for anybody to purchase and enjoy—anybody of legal age, that is. 

Cheap, convenient, and easily accessible, blunts are one of the best—and most fun—ways to smoke weed. If you want to learn more about the iconic cigarillo wraps, how they compare to other smoking methods, and how to roll a blunt like a pro, read on! 

What Is A Blunt?

In short, blunts are cigars that have had the tobacco removed and replaced with cannabis. They can also be rolled using tobacco leaf wrappers. 

Wildly popularized and widely available (like most tobacco products), some familiar blunt wraps you may be able to find at any gas station or convenience store include:  

• Dutch Masters

• Backwoods Smokes 

• Swisher Sweets 

• Zig Zags 

• King Palm

• White Owl 

None of those, however, gave blunts their name. According to various sources, blunts originated in mid-1980s New York. Pioneered by Caribbean immigrants, blunts were created as a way to smoke pot discreetly, and they got their name from the Phillies Blunt cigar brand—the OG blunt wrap. 

What Are The Benefits of Smoking Blunts?

Unlike other smoking methods, blunts have something that others do not. Because they’re primarily rolled using cigar and tobacco wraps, which provides an extra nicotine high that some find heightens the effect of lone weed. 

Additionally, some prefer blunts due to their flavor and aroma. The dank and resinous flavors from the blunt wrap mix with cannabis’s citrusy and pine-like notes, making the taste and smell very pleasurable to some. This, combined with a typical blunt’s slow burn, make the experience extremely enjoyable. 

Like a joint, a blunt is portable and can be taken, rolled, and smoked virtually anywhere. Although they were originally meant to be discreet, blunts have become so popular that they no longer fool anyone! As a matter of fact, it’s surprising to see someone using a Backwood to actually smoke tobacco and not marijuana.  

Are There Any Downsides To Smoking Blunts?

Because blunts are typically rolled with cigar or tobacco wrappers, they contain dangerous toxins that wouldn’t be present in a joint or a bowl hit. The same thing that gives blunt that extra nicotine buzz also adds the carcinogens and harmful chemicals usually associated with smoking tobacco. Nicotine is an addictive substance, so those who smoke blunts have a higher chance of developing dependence. As a matter of fact, researchers found that mixing tobacco and weed greatly contributed to “cannabis dependency.”

Weirdly enough, the benefits of smoking blunts can, to some, be downsides. Many people don’t like the taste or smell of tobacco, and they also don’t like the nicotine high that blunt wraps provide. At the end of the day, people either love or hate what makes blunts, blunts—the only way to find out which type you are, is to try one! 

Blunts vs. Other Ways to Smoke: What’s the Difference?

Blunts are different from other ways to smoke mainly because of the inclusion of tobacco. It may seem pretty obvious how a blunt differs from a bong or a pipe, but is a blunt really all that different from a joint?

Yes, it is! While the primary difference may be using regular rolling papers versus tobacco-based wraps, another critical difference between the two is size. Blunts are usually thicker and longer than a standard joint, making them a little more challenging to roll. 

Additionally, researchers concluded that those who smoke blunts use more cannabis and present higher symptoms of withdrawal when compared to regular joint smokers. This is, as previously mentioned, likely due to the presence of tobacco in blunts.

Below, you can find some more key differences between the four main cannabis smoking methods: 

What Will I Need To Roll A Blunt?

To roll a blunt, you’ll need to gather a few materials. 

• Blunt wrap

• Grinder

• Lighter

• Weed

There are many blunt wrap options available for you virtually everywhere, and which one you pick will depend on the size and flavor you’re looking for. People can be vocal about their personal favorites, and they’ll remain loyal to just one brand if they can. As a novice, your favorite blunt wrap will become the one that can fit all your needs. 

Do you want a strong tobacco flavor? A big nicotine buzz? If the answer to these questions is yes, you’ll probably like Backwoods or Dutch Masters, but if you’re all about size and not so much into the whole tobacco thing, hemp wrap options would be a better fit. 

We all know you need weed to roll a blunt (duh!), but how much weed should you set aside to roll the best blunt possible?

How Much Weed Should I Put In A Blunt?

As previously mentioned, blunts are bigger than an average joint, so rolling a “fatty”—or a thick, tightly-packed blunt—will take more weed than any ol’ joint. Blunts usually hold anywhere between 1-2 grams of weed, though it can sometimes be a little less or more depending on the size of the blunt wrap and how fully it’s rolled.  

How to roll a blunt and how much weed to use for it depends on the size of your smoking circle. Are you smoking alone? With friends? How many people will you be sharing your dope blunt-rolling skills with?

A good rule of thumb is that the more people are invited to the smoke sesh, the bigger you want to roll your blunt. We don’t want the blunt running out before everyone gets a chance to buzz high! 

How To Roll The Perfect Blunt

Now that you’ve heard all about them, you’re probably wondering how to roll a blunt. Read this simple guide and learn how to roll the perfect blunt! 

How To Roll A Blunt: A Step-By-Step Guide 

1. Grind your cannabis: Getting your herb to the correct coarseness is essential in rolling the perfect blunt. Using your grinder, ground your cannabis to a medium grind—oversized nugs will be too large to burn evenly, and a finer ground will cause the blunt to burn too hot and quickly. 

2. Prep the blunt wrap: If your cigar still has tobacco inside, you’ll need to carefully cut the cigar lengthwise and dump out the tobacco. If you’d like to smoke a spliff instead, sprinkle some ground tobacco with your herb. But more on that later. 

3. Add a little moisture: Blunt wraps are usually dry and crisp, so slightly wetting the leaf will make it flexible, pliable, and harder to tear. An easy way to do this is to run your wet fingers across the blunt paper. 

4. Fill your wrapper: shape the flat wrapper into a “V” or half-cylinder shape so it can easily hold your herbs. You’ll want to distribute your ground cannabis evenly across the wrapper. If you want to make your blunt even stronger, now’s the time to do it. Sprinkle tobacco, kief, or crumbled dabs across the middle of the blunt. 

5. Roll the blunt: After filling, you’re ready to roll your blunt! Start by squeezing and shaping the blunt with two fingers from the mouth end towards the lighting end. Keep the movements up, going down the length of the blunt to ensure the blunt keeps its correct shape. Once shaped, tuck the bottom side over and behind the cannabis to get a cylinder shape. Remember that wetness? That should keep it together once it’s folded over, but it may need to be remoistened at the edges so it sticks well. 

6. Bake n burn: Baking, or sealing, the blunt is an extremely important step that could dictate your whole blunt-smoking experience. Smoking a moist blunt will result in uneven burning and constant relighting—remember, a good blunt burns evenly and remains lit throughout the whole smoking process. You can let it sit in the sun for a few minutes or quickly run a lighter along the edges but be sure to hold the flame a few inches away, so your blunt doesn’t burn. 

7. Light up: Congrats! You’ve successfully rolled a joint and are now ready to reap the rewards of your hard labor. Just light up one end, inhale through the other, and enjoy your sweet-tasting, long-lasting blunt! 

Like with many other trades, rolling blunts can be hard the beginning. But if you've ever rolled joints--or even sushi-- you may have the transferable skills to succeed!

What About Spliffs?

So, we mentioned spliffs in passing before. What are they? 

Now that you know what a blunt is, and hopefully also know about joints, their cousin, the spliff, is the only family member left for you to meet. Spliffs may look like blunts or joints, but they have an added twist: they contain a blend of cannabis and tobacco. 

In essence, spliffs are the lovechild between cigarettes and joints (or cigars and blunts). Making a spliff is extremely easy: all you need is some weed, some tobacco, and something to roll with. The process of rolling isn’t any different with spliffs than it is with blunts or joints. All you do is sprinkle as little or as much tobacco as you want when filling up your wrapper. 

Spliffs may be a little more subtle as the smell of tobacco helps mask the smell of cannabis. At the same time, the nicotine buzz combined with THC’s psychoactive properties makes users feel even higher. 

Although spliffs can be a fun way to smoke, their obvious disadvantage is that they contain tobacco. A known carcinogen, commercial tobacco is rarely earthy and all-natural in the same way as cannabis. The chemicals in a spliff could be harmful to your health. 

How To Roll A Blunt: Final Thoughts

How to roll a blunt is a valid question in today’s cannabis culture. Some people take great pride in their own rolling skills; others don’t really appreciate the effects of a tobacco-based wrapper. If you’re new to weed and wondering if blunts are for you, trying them is the only way to tell for sure!

With our step-by-step guide on how to roll a blunt, you’ll impress your friends, learn something new, and most importantly, get high as a kite!