All the Funky Tea Rolls
Like the old Virginia Slims tobacco tagline, “You’ve come a long way, baby,” blunt wraps have come a long way. While some people still prefer the necessity-based old-school method of buying a cigar, slitting it open, dumping out the contents, adding weed to the casing, and rolling it back up, plenty of newer products have evolved so smokers no longer have to do the work. While blunt wraps aren’t necessarily a new concept, they are evolving to become more prominent, better, and more creative than ever.
The Rise of Botani and the B2B Market
Alex Boone, Managing Director of Botani, a “strictly B2B brand,” turns biomass, such as hemp, into sheets. Botani manufactures the raw materials and white-labels them so converters and brand owners can create branded blunt wraps.
According to Boone, the demand for rolling papers has increased, especially over the past few years.
“We’ve seen a shift in how paper is used. It’s moved from booklets and rolling your own to pre-rolls and cones. This is largely driven by consumer demand for convenience. In the U.S., most people don’t want to roll their own—they’d rather buy pre-made options, while in Europe, it’s the opposite.”
While the format has changed, the overall demand for paper has remained steady.
Hemp-Based Innovation and Tea Leaf Wraps
Also read: RAW Passion: How Josh Kesselman Revolutionized Rolling Papers
Botani’s rolling papers contain organic hemp, wood pulp, and bamboo, if necessary. The company started with tobacco wraps but has since switched to hemp. Botani uses hemp flowers and leaves to create wraps. The company is also launching a new product made from tea.
Not to spill the tea, but B2C company Blazy Susan has beaten Botani to the punch. The ubiquitous bubble gum pink brand with its Nurse Betty-meets-Rosie the Riveter icon produces a venerable cornucopia of tea leaf cones and wraps, including Honey Lemon flavor and Russian Cream Tea Leaf Wraps, made from black tea, chamomile, and cacao. (There is no word yet on whether smoking, rather than reading Russian tea leaves will help consumers divine the future.)
The upside to producing tea wraps is that tea is not as heavily regulated as hemp and tobacco. This provides a workaround that allows brands to create new products without worrying about the same regulatory hurdles.
While Botani has experimented with chamomile, the company is “focusing on black tea,” said Boone. “Each type brings a different flavor profile, and black tea offers the most consistency for now.”
For those curious Redditers, a black tea blunt wrap probably won’t provide a caffeine jolt like its namesake beverage.
“Our process involves a water extraction method, similar to brewing tea, and we reintegrate the extract into the paper. While the flavor compounds are retained, the caffeine is mostly removed. So, you might get a tea-like flavor, but no real caffeine effect,” said Boone.
If dumping out and re-rolling a Backwoods, Black & Mild, or even a Cohiba Cuban cigar has lost its appeal, there are plenty of tea rolls and wraps to choose from.
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