What’s In Your Papers?

 Most of us wouldn’t think twice about picking up a pre-roll and lighting it up like a Christmas tree. Have you ever considered what exactly it is you’re lighting up? In my 10 years of cannabis consumption, I can’t say I’ve ever given it much thought.

If you’ve ever been into a head shop then you’re no stranger to the fact that there is a different paper for everything. Mini cones, Kings Size, 1 1/4, bleached, unbleached, flavored, or color-coded, the options are endless—so endless it’s impossible to know where to begin. For those newer to the plant this can be incredibly overwhelming and the goal is to medicate not agitate. Allow me to be your guide and demystify the world of rolling papers. 

What are you made of?

When it comes to what makes up a rolling paper, the answer is relatively simple: wood, rice, or hemp. These are the most common types you’ll encounter. What’s the difference? That my dear comes down to the burn. Wood pulp papers will be thicker and tend to burn slower while rice and hemp (the 2blindhippie choice) are thinner and tend to burn faster. Some companies do choose to blend some combo of options to create a hybrid paper. Both rice and hemp papers are offered in the 2blind Hippie store, those two are a great starting place if you’re inexperienced. 

The only option that comes naturally white is rice paper; the others typically come in bleach and unbleached options. What’s with the bleach anyway? Besides removing the color it also affects how it burns, there are some suggestions that it makes for a stronger paper. Unfortunately, a quick Google search doesn’t turn up much but a bunch of fear-mongering-type posts. The validity of why we bleach the papers in the first place is still beyond me. Especially, when rice papers are available. 

To Roll Or Not To Roll?

Once we get past what they are made of there is yet another decision to make. To roll or not to roll? Cones aren’t some magical tool unless like me your fingers simply can’t be fingers when it comes time to roll. Glass isn’t always a great or convenient option, and just simply rolling one up would take an act of god. That’s where cones come in—-they are the same papers pre-shaped for you with a crutch. Lucky for you 2BlindHippie has both rice and organic hemp cones available and as far as cones go those two options are all you need.

So, does it make a difference?

Art Courtesy Of Casey Renteria

Well ultimately no you’re still smoking either way. But, if you give it a wider lens there’s a key difference and that is accessibility. Not everyone can hand roll but I envy those who can. If I was dependent on my ability to hand roll I would be forever unmedicated and pissed off. Cones are just a modified way for me to enjoy the convenience of a pre-roll without the frustration of hand rolling. 2blind hippie gets it and offers packs of cones in a tube for safe keeping because no one likes crushed cones.. 

Size Does In Fact Matter

This is in my opinion the most important part of picking papers. Why? Because size absolutely matters! I’m not going to need the same amount for one person as I would for three people. When you’re talking about cones there are three most common sizes: Minis(.75g-), 1g, and king size ( 1g+). For the most part, these are what you’ll see and for the average consumer, this is perfect. 

Minis are great for the casual consumer, entry-level stoners, or if you’re just trying to be more conscious about your consumption. 1g is what I’d call standard, most cones are roughly this size, and most pre-roll you get from a dispo will be this size. For heavier consumers, this may still be a solo venture but can still be passed around with a friend or two. King size is meant for sharing, it’s typically over 1g and can be a little more difficult to pack consistently but great when the group is a little bigger. 

When we flip the script over to papers it’s a similar story. You have single wide, 1 ¼, and king size. Most of us are familiar with those sizes but when it comes to hand rolling single wide or the trusty 1 ¼ will be the easiest to handle. If you use a rolling machine make sure your paper will fit the machine you are using. Not all papers come with crutches, this isn’t the end of the world but if you like the support then it’s something to take note of.

Ready For A Puff?

When it comes to papers the options can be mind-numbing and confusing at best. When we are talking about consuming medicine it makes sense that we would care to know what we are inhaling when we spark up that joint. Does any of this matter though? The short answer is kind of. For the occasional user, they probably won’t notice much of a difference from one sesh to the next. For those of us who consume all day every day and cannabis is just a way of life the difference is a little more apparent. 

The paper itself will help control how fast or slow your joint burns, you may notice a difference in the flavor profile of your flower between rice and wood pulp paper. The biggest difference is between bleached and unbleached papers, to air on the side of caution it’s best to avoid bleached papers whenever possible. If you’re looking to add papers to your stash 2Blind Hippie is a good place to start. This is by no means an exhaustive guide on all the options but it gives you the basics to start enjoying a dose of plant medicine. 

How Visually Impaired People Experience The Cannabis Industry

 What would you do if you woke up one day to discover you had lost your vision, for 43 million people globally, living with blindness is a reality. 295 million have moderate to severe visual impairment and that’s no small number of people. While there aren’t any stats I could find on how many stoners are also blind or visually impaired, it did raise a question. How do the visually impaired navigate their relationship with cannabis? 

 

The Dispensary Experience

When you first walk into a dispensary, you’re typically met with a pungent aroma of cannabis. You can tell a lot about the bud by how it smells, especially when visual inspection isn’t an option. What happens when you’re not able to let your consumers smell the products? I’ve seen it all too often where you can look at it, but you can’t touch, smell, or use any other sense to determine what you want.

Doesn’t this leave out an entire group of adult consumers?

I get that sometimes you just can’t offer certain accommodations for whatever reason. However, it’s easy to put together an audio or tactile menu that describes scent notes and terpenes. This information needs to be available, especially when you don’t allow consumers to smell the flower beforehand.

Let’s say you take the bud tender’s word for it. But then you face another problem. You have no way to know which strain is which, or which gummy was meant for sleep. There’s no way to know THC% if it’s a pre-roll, a blunt, or a vape. This seems like a pretty big issue, doesn’t it?

I’m sure you’re starting to see the problem here. After all, what good is an edible if you can’t reliably dose it yourself? This doesn’t mean you need to rebrand entirely, but there are things you can do to help. Most of which are in the packing and labeling department.

Art Courtesy of Casey Renteria

Branding for the blind

The first thing that comes to mind is tactile branding—making your brand feel different from others, literally. This can be as simple as adding a raised or textured logo to your products. The goal is if you close your eyes, you’d be able to feel your product or packaging and know it’s yours. It’s about adding some unique feature that to the sighted person is a fun Easter egg or unique aspect of the design. To a blind or visually impaired person, that is how they identify your brand. 

Another great option is adding braille to your labels for strain info like THC% or how to find COAS, etc. Like I mentioned before, if the packaging is smooth, there is no way to know where the QR code is on the label for the COA. This leaves the safety and legitimacy of the product a big question mark to the consumer. Unless they have someone around to help. 

Let’s be honest though, no adult blind or not wants to be reliant on someone else to dose their medicine.

The easiest and most cost-effective way to create these labels is with a hand-braille labeler. This could even be done at a dispensary level, printing the strain name, THC% or MG, and dots to indicate the corners of the QR code for the COA. This doesn’t seem like much for those of us who have sight, but when you remove that from the equation you realize the cannabis industry is designed 100% for the sighted cannabis user. That becomes even more obvious when you start looking at the products themselves

Safe Dosing Practices

Some edibles are 25 mg and higher per piece. That alone would knock some people into next week much less someone with a lower tolerance. If the edible is 100mg brownie and the dose is ¼ how can a blind person know they are supposed to quarter it? How do you safely and consistently dose yourself when you can’t see the product? 

This solution in this instance is simple, doses need to be separate. At the very least dispensary staff need to know how to assist visually and physically impaired people in navigating cannabis products that are designed to be easy to consistently and safely dose. 

That doesn’t mean it stops there. Tinctures are the same way there isn’t a great consistent way for visually impaired people to be consistent with their dosing. When you look at the majority of cannabis products they are designed to be fun to see. We have forgotten that some people don’t experience cannabis that way. This just places a barrier between them and plant medicine.

What Does This Mean?

The goal anytime anyone has a disability whether it’s mental, visual, or physical is to maintain independence. This is critical because a disability doesn’t change the fact that you’re a person and a unique individual. It just means you function differently in society. 

The cannabis industry is still in its early stages in the US and some aspects need to catch up. It appears as though this is a rather larger gap in consumers who are missing out on the benefits of plant-based medicine. It’s time for at the very least dispensaries to start bridging this gap for their customer.