Rolling a joint/spliff (London, UK)

Is this the right section?

In no way do I consider myself a 'good roller', especially in comparison to my friends, I've been smoking for 4 years since I was 14, I don't usually roll as I'm normally surrounded by superior rollers (my mum, brother, and friends). For the past 4 years I've basically been exclusively smoking joints and blunts. It's the norm here in London and nobody uses much glassware. There's something beautiful about sharing a joint, and rolling too, it's somewhat sacred and a bit of a ritual for me.
Although I was motivated to make this after seeing countless topics in the 'apprentice tokers' section, asking whether their rolls were 'good', and then seeing countless replies saying they were 'better than I could do'. And some people asked for guidance. So here it is, a quick guide how to roll, for those who are new, learning, or those who have been toking for a while yet never got round to perfecting their rolling abilities!
I now realise there are a few guides for rolling. I did do a search and didn't find anything, but apparently there is. Oh well, no harm in another guide.

Ingredients:

A cigarette, or Golden Virginia (or other) tobacco (optional, will be an easier smoke, rolls better, easier to light, easier to smoke outdoors).
A rolling paper, kingsize, thin as possible (smoke less).
A piece of card (white) without writing.
A peice of paper.
A pencil.
Bud.



Fold your piece of paper in half so it has a nice crease in the middle. Rolling your joint over this piece of paper will catch any spillage, allowing you to utilize anything you drop, and the crease in the middle will allow you to gather it all easily.



Making a roach. This will give your roll structure, it doesn't filter the smoke, it allows the smoke to flow and cylindrical shapes condense smoke. A roach is a must have and will improve your smoking experience greatly.

Get a piece of card (not too thick) and cut a piece roughly this size:



By rolling this piece of card round a peice of wire or a pencil like so you'll give the card a nice circular shape



After getting your card in a nice circular shape, roll it tighter so you achieve a roach which will remain in this shape:



Place your roach on the left of your rolling paper like so, the rolling paper should be bent in the direction as shown, and the 'sticky' strip should be away from you at the top of the paper:



Add a bit of tobacco onto your rolling paper, you are now filling in your joint. This is an important step and vital in getting a nice roll. All your mix should be finely ground up (unlike in the pictures) and evenly spread down the paper. You can put mainly tobacco near the roach, as when you're nearly finished with the joint, you can chuck it earlier because only tobacco remains, so if you've done a bad roll you won't get lip-burn trying to smoke your remaining bud. Although some people don't mind and save their roaches for later, I prefer not to! All a matter of personal choice.



Add some herb, remember everything should be evenly spread to give it a nice shape. Too much, and it will be tight and you won't be able to smoke it properly, too loose and it will burn poorly and fall apart, and won't smoke properly either.



Hold the paper like this, rolling from each end is easiest.



You should be holding the paper like so, you should not be touching any bud or the roach, your fingers should be above it clinching the piece of paper above it.



This is now the most important step. You're going to be rolling the mix into a nice cylinder. You do this by rolling the paper together above the weed you should be rolling the mix itself, just the papers above. Rubbing the two papers up and down while simultaneously putting a bit of pressure down on the mix you should achieve a nice cylindrical shape. You should move your fingers up and down the paper rubbing the papers together to get a consistent and even cylinder. If you spread it evenly down the paper, it should be a consistent size, you should have enough mix by the roach so it doesn't get weak and the whole joint collapses on itself.

Once you have the following nice cylinder, you are going to close it off. The area you want to make sure is the 'best' rolled is that closest to the roach, as this will decide whether you get lip burn and a shitty roll. You will proceed to rub the papers together as before, and you will bring the side closest to you, down, like so: (I borrowed the pictures from a website since I couldn't depict myself doing it)



You bring the half facing you lower and you wrap it around the mix like this:



You should end up with something like this:



Don't worry about further down the joint, that can be fixed and filled later, it's the tight wrap around the roach and around that area your should be focusing on. As you can see in the picture above I wrapped the half of paper closest to me around the cylinder and I have the sticky side still up as before. You now roll your wrapped cylinder around the rest of the paper until you get to the sticky strip, then lick it and wrap it tight.



After licking the joint nice and tight and fixing the paper at the top it should look something like this:





Your roach should be tightly secure in the paper and shouldn't be falling out. If any paper is coming over the roach (they aren't in alignment) you can gently burn off any rolling paper coming over.



Your joint probably isn't very full, so we're going to fill it up with the shit you spilled! And any more bud depending on how big you want the joint and who it's for.

Collect your spill in the middle of the paper and add more bud if necessary.



Pour that shit into the end of the joint or place it in with your hand (preferred). Or scoop it up!



Gently push the added mix into the joint with the end of a pencil or anything similar.
WARNING: Do not push too hard, you don't want to pack it so tight that you can't take any pulls, air needs to be able to flow through for you to smoke it.



I forgot to take pictures after this as I just smoked it straight away, but I posted these the other day, close off the joint by pinching and twisting the end. Burn this off and start toking









It takes time, and lots and lots of practice. Just get some mix and roll, take it apart, roll another, you'll get the hang of it. Ask a friend to show you, alot easier! Good luck to all.

Feel free to ask any questions or advice, or criticisms.
Fire away!

 

Rizla blue slims kingsize.
Or OCBs.
Thinnest possible, I usually use blues, they're the same thickness as rizla silvers but the silvers are treated with chlorine so they look thinner.
But among people my age (18) everyone uses Rizla because they're more readily available than any other brand.

 

It isn't, it just forms the notorious 'spliff' shape. With a cone you can make it bigger and fit more weed.

 

Yeah. I've never smoked out of glass in my life.

 

Among teenagers and the young, no one uses glass, I don't know about older smokers. I've been smoking since I was 14 and it's just the norm to smoke spliffs exlusively, maybe the occasional purey, as I have done for the past 4 years.