History of the Rolling Papers

The original rolling paper is believed to have been created in Spain around 1703 by a company called Pay-Pay. However, even earlier than that, a young man by the Name of Alexandro Rizlette de Cramptone Lacroix stumbled across many disparate varieties of papers carried by French soldiers who had been part of a violent conflict in Spain.

In 1660, Lacroix produced the first rolling papers & after 76 years of production, the family started their own company and set up their mill. Notoriously, the family supplied Napoleon with smoking papers when he was struggling to stop his military from tearing out paper from expensive books. The name Rizla+ was emblazoned across the packet, and this came from a combination of Alexandro's name Rizlette and from the french word Riz which means rice and reflects the paper's construction.

Over the subsequent decades, rolling papers continued along their development trajectory as various materials were used to construct rolling papers. Nowadays, rolling papers are available in a range of materials from paper pulp to hemp, flax or rice. In addition, in the early 20th century, the emergence of flavoured papers began to become more and more common.

Raw Rolling Papers

First up we have RAW; which is undoubtedly the biggest paper brand in the cannabis industry; founded in New York City by Founder Josh Kesselman. Josh is a unique case as his love for papers was born as a young five-year-old boy, watching his Dad light a rolling paper on fire and throw it up in the air before audibly exclaiming as he witnessed it vanish in front of his eyes. Raw is one of the rarefied few counter-culture brands stocked in every corner of the globe as it has reached cult-like status. Raw's long been referred to across the realm of pop-culture, from music to film and has been the staple rolling paper for cannabis connoisseurs for countless years.

As Josh got older, he began to buy every pack of rolling papers that he could get his hands on, much like a sneaker or baseball card collector, until Josh had far more than one could realistically smoke, and so he began selling them. Over time his collection became recognised as only a small group of Americans were sharing information & trading packs with European collectors. Whilst Josh had gotten into it for the love of papers, he was unable to smoke all the papers he collated and as such he decided to open a brick and motor. It didn't last long as he was selling bongs (which were illegal at the time), and after he was forced out of his first location due to troubles with the law, he came up with the ingenious idea of natural, unbleached papers with no chalk or additives! At the time, this was unheard of, and they became a hit with cannabis connoisseurs across the country. Marketing was slow, but Josh remained sure that he could influence consumers at a micro-level by just getting the papers in the hands of the odd consumer in a group, who would share joints with other smokers. From there, the brand would snowball into popularity. Nowadays, it is one of the biggest counter culture brands in the world & unbleached papers are increasingly common, showing Josh's & the Raw legacy.

Raw's papers are available in their original variety, which is a light brown colour, consisting of a hybrid blend of unbleached fibres in a translucent natural colour. Raw also features their exclusive cross pattern watermark, minimizing rungs and uneven burning pattern. They are also available as raw blacks that are ultra-thin so you can taste even more terps and an organic hemp variety.

Blazy Susan Rolling Papers 

Blazy Susan is one of the newer brands of rolling papers that hail from one of the modern cannabis mecca's, Denver, Colorado. Blazy Susan is known for its rolling papers and tips produced naturally in a light pink colour. Their signature pink design was initially intended to be a temporary promotional line to raise awareness and money for breast cancer charities. Blazy Susan papers are proudly vegan and free from GMO production, produced in France from premium materials that deliver high quality, slow burn with zero aftertastes so that you get the most from your smoke. Blazy Susan rolling papers are crafted from wood pulp that they certify to be 100 odour free when smoking; the papers are also highly durable and are far less likely to rip or tear.

Elements Rolling Papers

Elements rolling papers is a rolling paper brand that has been around for a long time and gained a reputation for being one of the most natural paper's options on the market. It was Josh Kesselman's first natural rolling paper brand, that is constructed from rice. The 4 natural elements power elements: Earth, Wind, Water & Fire, earth because they are made from environmentally friendly materials, wind as the papers are produced from wind-powered farms and fire as they designed for the fire to turn into smoke. Lastly, water features via Element's proprietary crisscrossed watermarks, which helps maintain the burn evenly runs and allows for a smooth and clean burn.

Elements rolling papers, have a unique sugar gum that turns into caramel as it burns and the actual paper itself leaves 0 fragments of ash behind. These papers are produced in a small region of Spain called Alcoy, located deep in the mountains north of Alicante in Spain. Alcoy has been widely accepted as the birthplace of rolling papers, so it is only logical to make these natural papers there. Each sheet's imprinted with the Elements proprietary crisscrossed watermarks, and this watermark helps maintain the burn evenly runs and allows for a smooth and clean burn.

OCB Rolling Papers

OCB is one of the world biggest paper brands, founded back in 1918 and has become one of the most established paper brands in the industry; and is notably recognised in Europe. From the first paper produced, OCB has exclusively extracted pure natural Arabic gum from the African Acacia trees and has stuck to their roots since (pun slightly intended). Acacia gum is produced by making sharp incisions in the bark of the tree & then cleaning and processing the extracted sap. OCB has long set the standards for being an ultra-slim rolling paper, so it's not hard to see why they have been the rolling paper of choice for so many smokers. OCB's are super premium and ultra-thin, made for all types of smokers and rollers of various skill levels, and such are available in slim, virgin, organic hemp or even bamboo materials so you can roll up to suit your preference. These varieties are available with 32 tips, which most consumers will make into 64 roaches, so why not check out the range today!

ROOR Rolling Papers

The Roor rolling papers brand is one of the newest brands we stock at Pure Sativa. We are particularly excited about this brand because of its fantastic technology allows CBD to be infused into the gum lining of the paper. Roor is a brand we've been stocking for years, which you've no doubt heard of from their prominence in the bong industry for producing the most luxurious, handblown waterpipes constructed from high-end borosilicate glass since the 1980s. After decades dominating the high-end glass art/ bong industry, they've decided that rolling papers are the next frontier to master. They've done so with these marvellous CBD infused papers for which they hold the exclusive patent. The papers have been designed using Roor's exclusive watermark pattern, allowing them to burn evenly and exceptionally slow.

The leaves come in packs of 32 and are also available with 32 filter tips; most people make 2 roaches out of each filter sheet so you are actually more likely to get 64 tips from each packet. The papers are free from calcium carbonate or any additives or dyes that may dampen your experience; this means you can be sure that the leftover material in your ash comes only from your smoking material. CBD has shown promise with multiple therapeutic uses so why not check them out? Roor's papers are available as regular unbleached, organic hemp or rice and hemp so you can be sure that they have the perfect CBD rolling paper for you!

Vibes Rolling Papers

Vibes is one of the newest rolling paper brands to make waves in the industry with a wide range of smoking papers and a dope clothing brand to match. Vibes is the brainchild of the influential cannabis mogul and raper from the US, Berner, the Taylor Gang artist responsible for the cookies brand that has taken the industry by storm. Vibes has a range of papers, including the king size ultra-thin, the rice and the organic hemp range. The papers are also available with tips and come with 33 sheets of rolling papers per packet, as well as 33 tip sheets and most people get two tips per sheet so you're more likely to get 66 roaches/filters per pack. Why not come and catch a vibe today and see why these papers are so popular!

Let us know in the comments what your favourite rolling papers are?