CBD Hemp Cigarettes and Pre-rolls Spreading Fast

Through online sites or local convenience stores, Hemp-filled CBD pre-rolls and hemp cigarettes are finding their fans. Casual weed smokers are enjoying these flavorful hemp smokes. These offer the familiar ritual at times when the inebriating effects aren't welcome. Cigarette smokers are looking to the same product as a nicotine-free tobacco cessation alternative. left behind are nicotine patches and vape pens. In a bit of cosmic timing, the recent vape scare and subsequent bans of vape and flavored tobacco products have freed up retail shelf space. CBD hemp cigarettes have shown up in convenience stores, gas stations and smoke shops throughout the Country.

Also known as Hempettes, these cigarettes are made using smokable hemp flowers rich with cannabidiol (CBD). CBD is now legal to produce as long as the amount of THC is limited to a trace amount of 0.3 percent or less.

CBD Cigarettes For Smoking Cessation?

Experts believe that hemp cigs act as more than just a tobacco alternative. CBD may help smokers quit by providing biological support as well.
Researchers at University College London conducted a small study in 2013 of 24 smokers and gave them an inhaler with CBD or placebo for one week. They were told to use the inhaler when they felt the urge to smoke. Those given the placebo showed no differences in the number of cigarettes smoked. Those using CBD significantly reduced the number of cigarettes they smoked by 40%.

Market research firm Brightfield Group surveyed more than 5,000 CBD users, found that 24 percent have used pre-rolls to quit smoking. The same report found that 41 percent of successful quitters have used hemp CBD to quit tobacco entirely.

Popular CBD Smokes

Growing demand for cbd hemp cigarettes and pre-rolls has also drawn the interest of celebrities and cannabis enthusiasts alike. The Grammy-nominated musician Post Malone and renowned cannabis breeder Mario “Sherbinski” Guzman are teaming up to release a brand of American-grown hemp pre-rolls known as Shaboink, according to Forbes.

Guzman, the cultivator behind iconic contemporary THC cannabis strains such as Gelato, Sherbert and Mochi, believes that this product can allow users to legally enjoy flavors commonly associated with cannabis, regardless of their state laws. “Gelato has created a great name for itself in cannabis. Not just nationally but globally,” said Guzman in the Forbes interview. “This is a way for people to be connected and try Gelato, to experience what everybody’s been talking about. A customer may not have access to a cannabis dispensary in, say, Kentucky — but they can go to a convenience store and get Gelato hemp pre-rolls. They can connect with us.”

Shaboink and other early comer brands such as Wild Hemp, out of Texas, and OG cannabis brand Bhang, have moved fast. All have turned to tobacco equipment and packaging to manufacture their smokable hemp.

Better Tasting Hemp Cigarettes

Although consumer interest is clearly there, feedback from consumers and reviewers has been mixed. Taste has been the main challenge for these tobacco-style hemp cigs. Product shortcomings seem to stem directly from tobacco equipment, which does not work with sticky or resinous flower. Cannabis and smokable hemp can look and even smell identical. Both are much stickier than tobacco. Smokable hemp processed with tobacco rigs tends to be dried out and pulverized to a consistency and humidity level closer resembling the tobacco in cigarettes. This leaves dry product mostly void of natural terpenes and taste. 

Hearing customer sentiment, new entrants are looking to build on the momentum of the smokable hemp wave. Brands are launching better tasting products, and veering away from the cigarette style format.  One such player, Lucy's CBD Hemp Pre-rolls, have been seen in Smoke Shops and online with funky 7-packs of high terpene California hemp strains rolled in cannabis style cones. They look and smell...like weed. 

Other products resemble neither a traditional cigarette or a joint. LVL Hemp is sold in a slick five pack of cylindrical hemp cigarettes rolled in unbleached hemp paper and a natural filter made from hemp fiber. LVL Hemp, based in Moss Landing, California’s central coast, come in three varieties based on unique terpene profiles.

A Purpose-Made Hemp Cig

Ben Arreguy, LVL Hemp's Business Development Director recently spoke to GreenState. “Cannabis and Tobacco smokers alike love our purpose made hemp cig format. The filter provides a perfect pull and accentuates the natural terpenes of our great tasting, Cali-grown and bread flower. It’s just a great tasting smoke minus the nicotine or [significant amounts of] THC”. LVL Hemp cigarettes are 100% biodegradable, another point Arreguy says customers are embracing: “we worked for over a year to come up with an ultra functional, sustainably made filter, something we knew cannabis users wanted, and tobacco smokers would appreciate.”

The verdict is out on which format and brands will prevail. Or even what we’ll call these smokable hemp rolls. One thing is clear through the smoke: the hemp revolution is bringing new, dank smoking options to a corner corner store or gas station near you.