Ready? Set? Roll! I’ve created this step by step guide for how to roll a joint, so you can follow along if you have all the supplies.
Step 1: Gather the Supplies
Sure, it sounds obvious, but make sure you have everything you need to sit down before you roll. It’s great to be able to get into the zone and focus on mastering your roll rather than worrying about what you forgot to grab.
Step 2: Break Down the Cannabis
This is an essential step. Because joint papers are so thin, having thicker nuggets of cannabis will make the joint harder to roll and harder to smoke. Taking the time to grind or cut up your cannabis will also ensure your joint burns evenly, giving you a much more enjoyable smoking experience.

Step 3: Grab a Joint Paper
Joint papers can tear easily, so choosing the right type for you is important. For beginners, I recommend using natural hemp rolling papers; they’re thicker and provide a better grip than rice papers, which makes them easier to use. Hemp papers also have a lighter flavor, so they don’t get in the way of being able to taste your cannabis. I find cigar papers such as backwoods the easiest to roll with, but using those will graduate you from a joint to a blunt.

Step 4: Add a Filter (Optional)
When rolling a joint, you can proceed with or without a filter. If you already know that filters aren’t for you, you can skip this step.
Pros of using a filter:
- Help keep your joint intact
- Prevent cannabis from getting in your mouth
- Improve airflow throughout your joint
- Create space between your lips and the “cherry” (lit end) to prevent burns
Cons of using a filter:
- An extra step in your rolling process
- A little less room in your joint for cannabis (although some may argue adding a filter allows you to smoke more of the joint)
If you choose to add a filter, you can use any form of hard paper as your filter material, such as a piece of the package your joint paper comes in. To create the best and easiest filter, I recommend folding the paper back and forth like an accordion into a cylinder’s shape to ensure the filter does unravel.
Step 5: Stuff the Joint
Now, the fun part – stuffing your joint. While you can use as much cannabis as your joint paper will allow, the typical amount is about half a gram. For a bigger joint, you can stick together two joint papers to create more space.
When packing your joint, be sure you fill it evenly across the paper so it will burn evenly. How to roll a cone joint will differ slightly because you’ll want to add less weed close to the end with your filter and more weed towards the end of the joint that you’ll light. Whether you like a joint of uniform thickness or not is a personal preference.
Also, be sure to keep the sticky part of your joint paper on the outside–this will be important when it comes time to seal your joint.

Step 6: Roll the Joint
If you don’t remember anything else from this article, I ask you to remember two words: press and pull. As you roll your joint, press and pull (push) the cannabis to be sure it’s nice and compact in your joint as you roll it up.

Step 7: Seal It
Once your joint is almost completely rolled, it’s time to lick the paper’s sticky line like an envelope to seal it up. You can finish things off by twisting the end of your joint into a stem, which will make it easier to light and help it burn more slowly and evenly.

Step 8: Light It Up
And there you have it, that’s exactly how I roll my joints. The only thing left to do is to light up and enjoy it.
