Wood Pulp is, throughout history, the most popular choice for manufacturing rolling papers. Many believe white papers are bleached wood pulp and brown are unbleached, but this is false. In the rolling paper world, any material can be refined enough to produce a white or near-white paper, even wood pulp. Wood-based rolling papers are often blended with other fibres, like flax, to improve the texture and make them easier to handle. These papers are regularly thicker than ones made of a different material, with a medium-fast burn rate, and are perfect for those just learning to roll.

Despite being called rice papers, most manufactured nowadays are not made of actual rice and are generally made of wood pulp, hemp, flax, or a blend. The term ‘rice paper’ denotes wafer-thin papers and is often marketed as tasteless and slow-burning. These points make them ideal for many smokers, but the thinness makes rolling these difficult since tearing can occur effortlessly. Another downside to so-called rice papers is that the coveted thinness makes them challenging to use when the weather is damp due to moist air permeating the thin paper.

Hemp papers are often made of pure, 100% organic hemp – that’s typically what the companies producing these papers say anyway. These rolling papers often have colour, but they can be made white by removing the green and brown plant matter. For some smokers, the only way to consume cannabis is with hemp paper since it keeps the plant matter similar on a different level to other materials. Using hemp as the primary material over wood pulp helps reduce the impact that the cannabis industry has on forestry and hemp offers a sturdy paper that is exceptionally similar to the thickness of wood rolling papers. Rolling papers made with hemp are not tasteless, but the flavour imparted is very subtle, often accents the cannabis nicely, and is undetectable to most smokers.

Flax papers are produced by processing the plant stems into flax fibre and refining the fibres into durable, lightweight, ultra-fine rolling papers. These are likely the most comparable to rice papers, as flax is often one of the included materials used to manufacture ‘rice’ rolling paper. Rolling papers made from flax are usually very smooth and easy to use, though the thinness makes them prone to tearing between sweaty or shaking fingers. Compared to the other materials, flax papers are the least popular, and 100% flax papers are harder to find than blended papers.

Bamboo, a super-sustainable product due to its fast growth rate, makes sturdy but thin, often unrefined papers perfect for the eco-conscious smoker. Bamboo rolling papers, like hemp, are not marketed as tasteless; they produce a delicate woody flavour while burning. A notable plus of bamboo-based rolling papers is their slow-burning quality, which increases the smoking time and gives one a better opportunity to enjoy the flavours.

There are many styles of novelty papers made from materials like gold-flake and cellulose. Pre-rolled cones or rolling papers made of a hemp blend and coated in edible gold-flake are well-suited for adult parties of any variety. These are often sold as pre-rolled cones since the higher price makes them riskier to roll by hand. Cellulose fibres, on the other hand, are typically processed to a transparent state. Many people find them off-putting and are reminded of plastic wrap while using them, but an equal number prefer the slow-burning properties and the ability to see the flower as it’s being consumed.