Table of Contents
- What is a Joint Crutch
- Types of Joint Crutches and How to Make Them
- Joint and Spliff: Making vs. Buying
- Where to Buy the Best Joints and Spliffs Online
- Joint and Spliff Crutch: FAQ
For many, a crutch, also known as a filter, is an integral part of a well-rolled joint. If quality flower from your dispensary is the essence of your perfectly rolled joint, the filter is the foundation. A joint or spliff without a well-structured and placed crutch just isn’t the same.
Here’s everything you need to know about how to make a crutch for a joint.
What is a Joint Crutch
For anyone who’s ever rolled a joint – or even just smoked one, it’s apparent that joints are made up of three main components. Your classic spliff consists of rolling paper, weed, and a crutch tip (or “filter”).
The crutch in a joint is a small piece of paper, cardboard, or another material that sits at the mouth-end of the roll. While a crutch or tip isn’t absolutely necessary, it’s a small step that significantly improves the cannabis smoking experience.
There are a few other benefits and reasons you might want to include a crutch in your spliff.
The Purpose Benefits of Spliff Crutch
A few reasons that joint smokers will often add a filter or tip to their rolled joints include:
- Keeping the mouth-end of the joint open. This is useful when the joint is being passed around, and wet lips cause the rolling paper to get soft and soggy. Not only is this icky – it makes it hard to get a decent inhalation from the joint.
- A crutch added to a rolled joint prevents bits and pieces of the cannabis flower from going into your mouth. Nothing worse than a mouth full of dried weed.
- A joint tip adds much-needed support, which is especially helpful for joints on the larger or smaller side. The structured crutch makes it easier to hold the rolled joint.
- Filter tips provide an added safety feature that ensures you don’t burn your lips or fingers as the joint gets down to roach status.
Some old-school joint smokers would use a roach clip when getting high. This is a small tweezer-like device that helps you grab onto the small roach.
Adding a crutch means that the roach clip is no longer necessary. You can hold onto the joint as it gets burned down, making sure you take advantage of every last toke.
Types of Joint Crutches and How to Make Them
Joint crutches can be made from a variety of different materials – many of them easily found around the home. The key is to use something slightly thicker than paper to add stability to the thin paper used for rolling.
Joint filters are available online, and pre-rolled joints (like the Kootenay Botanicals Pre-Rolls) come with one included.
Many cannabis enthusiasts will tell you that the perfect material for a tip filter is one specific kind of paper – but the truth is that it all comes down to personal preference. Here are a few materials you can use for making a crutch for a joint or spliff:
- Index cards – cardstock materials like that used for index cards can make a great filter tip for a joint.
- Manila folders – yellow file folders are made from stiff paper perfect for your spliff crutch.
- Business cards – thinner business cards (the kind we all have tons of lying around) are the perfect thickness for filters.
- Rolling paper package – the stiff paper packaging your rolling papers comes is coincidentally ideal for making filter tips.
How to Make a Spiral Spliff Filter Tip
One of the most common methods for making a crutch or filter tip is rolling your cardboard or paper into a spiral. This is considered the easiest way to make a tip – but also poses some issues once you get into smoking your joint.
A spiral tip is a simple and easy method, and with practice can be achieved relatively successfully. The downside to this type of crutch is that the spiral opening can still be big enough for fragments of flower to get through. The mouthpiece can also become soggy, clogging the joint and reducing the overall experience.
How to Make an Accordion Joint Crutch
Accordian-style filters can be a more effective method for ensuring the flower doesn’t get in your mouth while you’re inhaling. To make an accordion crutch, take your piece of filter paper, fold the short end of the paper one way, then the other, and repeat two more times.
When the end of the paper is in a four-part accordion, proceed to roll it into a spiral. The accordion portion of the paper will act as a barrier for the flower rolled in the joint. The spring-like quality of the crutch will also keep the paper in place once the joint is rolled.
Filter Tip Designs
Once you get the hang of rolling a tight and effective joint crutch you can get creative with your filter tip designs. Advanced rollers are known for making their filters into works of art. Some filter tips you may have seen include heart-shaped tips, peace sign designs, and even weed leaf-shaped crutches.
The Joint Filter Debate
Whether you roll your joint with the filter inside or add it afterward is subject to some debate within the toking community. While some consumers swear that including the filter from the beginning makes rolling the joint easier, others agree that adding it at the end makes more sense.
Despite what many self-proclaimed experts might say, there’s no one right way to roll a joint. Try a variety of methods to find the one that works for you. And if all else fails, you can always reach for your favourite pre-rolls.
Joint and Spliff: Making vs. Buying
Now that we’ve gone over how to make a crutch for a joint or spliff, you might be wondering whether the effort is worth it. While making your own joint tips might require a little trial and error, it can also save your some money in the end.
Rather than only buying pre-rolled joints, you can also buy cannabis flower in larger quantities and roll your own joints with homemade filters. And luckily, there are many different paper materials around the house that you can use.
That said, it’s a good idea to have some pre-made joint filter papers on hand just in case you happen to run out of appropriate paper. Here’s a great one that you can try:
- HMP Filter Tips – All natural, high quality, pure organic hemp, 100% unbleached paper
Where to Buy the Best Joints and Spliffs Online
Whether your a joint-rolling pro or just getting started, pre-rolled joints are a popular choice. Pre-rolled joints save you time, and you don’t have to worry about getting the filter exactly right – because it’s done for you! Here are a few pre-rolled joint options to try:
- Oso Fuego Pre-Roll Pack 10 x 0.5g – Available in Organic Polynesian Thin Mint
- Oso Fuego Pre-Roll Pack 5 x 1g – Available in Organic Polynesian Thin Mint
- Kootenay Botanical Pre-Rolls – Available in Afghan Kush, Alien Cookies, Birthday Cake, Blueberry, Critical Kush, Death Bubba, and more.
Once you get the hand of rolling your own joints at home, you can gather your favourite materials and get down to it. For many people, the process of rolling the joints becomes part of the ritual, and is even an enjoyable part of the cannabis experience.
You can grab your rolling papers, filter tips, and flower from your dispensary online. Here are some high-quality Sativa and Indica strains you should add to your must-try list:
- LSO LA Kush Cake Albatross – AAAA Craft Flower Indica Strain
- LSO Mint Chocolate Chip – AAAA Organic Craft Flower Indica-Dominant Strain
- Fruity Pebbles Cream of the Crop – AAA Sativa-Dominant Strain
- Purple Blueberry – Jungle Ridge – AA Sativa Strain
And don’t forget to grab rolling papers. Here are two high-quality options:
- Pure Hemp Unbleached Rolling Papers (Also available in King Size)
- Smoking Brown Unbleached Rolling Papers – Available in Single Wide
Photo by Elsa Olofsson on Unsplash
Joint and Spliff Crutch: FAQ
What can I use for joint crutches?
Joint crutches can be made from a variety of paper materials. The key is to find cardboard slightly thicker than paper. Index cards, manila folders, and business cards can all make great joint tips or filters.
How big should a crutch be for a joint?
Ideally, a joint filter should not be too wide or too narrow. When ripping your piece of paper to roll into a crutch, aim to start with a strip that is around 2 to 4 inches long, and less than an inch wide. For bigger joints, add a slightly bigger crutch.
How do you make homemade joint tips?
Homemade joint tips can easily be made by taking thicker paper from around the house, or ripping a strip off of your rolling papers package. Spiral the strip of paper to the width of the joint’s mouth-piece, adding an accordion fold to one end to act as a filter between the ground flower and your mouth.
Does a joint need a crutch?
A crutch is arguable an essential part of a joint or a spliff. Without a crutch the joint can be unstable and difficult to hold. The crutch also acts as a barrier between the weed in the joint and your mouth. It can add stability to to the joint and help prevent the tip from becoming soggy.
Resources:
https://www.leafly.ca/learn/consume/smoke/how-to-roll-crutch
