How to Roll a Joint

May 24, 2015 · 25 comments
Faith (<br/>)
Thank heavens I saved my old metal Wyler's bouillon cubes tube to hold those (alleged) joints! And my Zig-Zag and Marfil papers.
Charles (San Jose, Calif.)
Take one sheet of rolling paper and fold it in half with the gum strip facing up.
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Good luck with that, at best you'll get a pinhead joint. Since pot does not keep burning when not being toked on, as cigarettes do (from an added accelerant), 2 papers are needed to make a joint that burns properly and does not fall apart.
Jaybird (Delco, PA)
I'm kinda old and live in PA, so where do I find the weed to go in that rolling paper? And do they still make Eazy-Wider 1.5s?
CarolT (Madison)
Surely this merits a video.
Tone (New Jersey)
And then there's the eternal debate: whether to roll up or down. Is it best to hold the paper and its contents in the air, twirling a perfect log freestyle, or should we roll on top of a flat surface, preferably an unused first edition In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album? The record choice is an obvious get-out-of-jail-free card. No self respecting narc would believe that the owner could possibly be cool enough to actually score a bag of weed.
S. Christensen (Vancouver, BC)
For Canadians, nothing really matches the TV spot filmed by author Pierre Berton's 2004 TV spot giving hands on tips from an old pro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjYcP0Gji20
offcentre (Vancouver, BC)
If you are using the NY Times to learn the techniques of rolling a joint, I am surprised you figured out where and how to buy weed.
MBernard (Maryalnd)
If you put your rolling paper on a dollar bill (or other denomination) it is easier to get the back and forth rolling action happening to make the perfect cylinder shape that is at the perfect density. Your welcome!
Jack M (NY)
Am I really reading this in the NYT, or am I stoned?
Judith C. (Guttenberg, NJ)
you're stoned.
Art (CA)
An inexpensive electric coffee grinder works great for preparing the bud for rolling. Don't roll too tight, or your joint will "canoe", burning unevenly.
Mikee (Red Hook)
Very hard to roll a joint on an MP3. Better save that vinyl, especially those double albums. It's all in the crease.
Tony Longo (Brooklyn)
Is the Times somehow under the impression that you can adopt this habit with harm to your health?
Thierry Cartier (Ile de la Cite)
God that was funny. I'm fairly sure they were stoned while penning it, just as I was when reading it. So cool man!
Steve (Greenville, SC)
What about all the poor kids spending their life's in jail?
bud (portland)
Oh thanks. I forgot about that.
chipscan (Pass-a-Grille, Florida)
When did the New York Times morph into High Times?
You rail against e-cigs, which are shown to help heavy smokers, myself included, to kick the nicotine habit, yet waste our time with a how-to piece for baby boomers who haven't fired up a doobie since college. Revolting.
Brian McDonagh (La Grange)
Please lighten up.
mbg (ithaca, ny)
Ha! No need for alarm. (You chose to read this upsetting little article in a huge array of other options but you didn't want something worthy of your time;) It's all snobbery. Example: food section can talk about wine, beer, cider, cocktails...but no, tsk tsk to the giggly plant. It's not classy. Yet.
Smoke, cape or whatever or don't, who cares.
Hans Nicolaisen (Maine)
Bruce, Those are pretty good rolling directions, but I found that sort of making two piles of grass toward each end resulted in a nice straight joint without the fat part in the middle.

Not really piles, but more grass toward the ends and less in the middle, rather than "Sprinkle the marijuana evenly..."

Been a long time since I rolled a joint, but years ago I rolled lots of them.
Technic Ally (Toronto)
Now that you have successfully rolled your joint, you may be wodering what to do next.

Choose one end that will go between your lips, strike a match and place the flame at the other end of the joint, and inhale the resulting smoke.

Exhale and repeat, or pass it to that hand waiting in front of your face.

Next in the series - What to do when you are stoned.
AB (Evanston)
It's been a long time, but I'm pretty sure there's supposed to be a record sleeve in there somewhere.
jan-bo (urbantosemirural)
Dark Side of the Moon.
dredpiraterobts (Same as it never was)
That was back when there were "stems and seeds that you don't need"

That's not product today. Today's bud based bag full is bereft of the lumps and bumps that caused "canoeing" in one's cannabis cooker.

Or so I've been lead to believe by CNN's series.
Alan Chaprack (The Fabulous Upper West Side)
Album cover....but your heart is in the right place