With the rapid legalization of cannabis around the world, the preroll has become a go-to format for brands and consumers alike. But behind the scenes, there’s an important distinction: this article is about empty preroll cones, not pre-filled joints.
Empty cones are the foundation of scalable preroll production. They’re made from thin rolling paper and a filter tip, designed to be filled later—often by machines. If you're a cannabis brand or a smoking accessories brand, learning how to create your own custom preroll cones is the first step toward better branding, efficiency, and quality control.
The Evolution of Preroll Cones
In the early days of legal cannabis, prerolls were rolled by hand—one by one. But as demand surged, brands needed to scale fast, while ensuring consistency.
This led to the adoption of cone-filling machines. These machines require standardized empty cones that are uniform in shape and easy to handle. Cones became the industry standard, replacing hand-rolled formats for mass production.
Today, creating your own custom preroll cones is about owning the experience from the very first touchpoint.
What Makes Up a Preroll Cone?
A preroll cone has two essential parts:
Rolling Paper
The cone is formed from thin rolling paper, often between 12–14 gsm (grams per square meter). The paper type affects everything from burn rate to mouthfeel.
Common materials include:
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Bleached wood pulp – Clean, bright white appearance.
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Unbleached wood pulp – Brown, natural look.
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Colored papers – Aesthetic appeal, offering the opportunity to match strains with coloured papers. .
⚠️ Printed papers should be avoided.
Almost all printed rolling papers use non-food-safe inks and petroleum-based pigment fixatives. When burned, these can release harmful substances—not safe for human inhalation. Responsible brands opt for safe, non-printed alternatives and focus branding elsewhere.
Filter Tip
The tip provides structure, airflow control, and comfort. Several options exist:
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Folded cardboard tips – W-shaped, spiral, or creative folds (like hearts or stars).
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Glass tips – Premium, reusable, and smoother on the lips.
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Corn husk tips – Natural, slightly textured, and often hand-rolled for artisanal appeal.
Some brands also add sticker bands around the tip, reminiscent of cigar bands. These can include logos, strain names, or compliance markings. It’s a discreet and elegant way to add branding without compromising safety.
Customization Options
Creating your own preroll cones offers a wide range of custom features:
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Paper Type & Color – Match your brand identity with bleached, unbleached, hemp, or colored paper.
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Tip Style – Choose between standard fold, spiral, corn husk, or glass.
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Cone Size – Standard (84mm), King Size (109mm), Party Cone (up to 180mm), or Blunt-style.
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Packaging – Individual tubes, multipacks, glass jars, eco trays, or retail-ready displays.
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Branding – Use band stickers, tip designs, and outer packaging—not the paper leaf—for safe, legal customization.
Why You Shouldn’t Print Directly on Rolling Paper
While printed cones may look attractive, they pose serious health concerns.
Most printed designs use pigments that require chemical fixatives to stay on the paper. These fixatives are often petroleum-based and are pretty much as long as they are not intended for combustion.
When smoked, they can release toxic byproducts, making them unsafe for regular use.
Brands that care about consumer safety and regulatory compliance avoid printed papers altogether. Instead, they use:
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Colored papers using food-grade pigments
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Unbleached or natural papers
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Custom tips or stickers to express their identity without health risks
How Are Custom Preroll Cones Made?
Preroll cones may seem simple, but their fragile conical shape and the thinness of the rolling paper (typically 12–14 gsm) make them particularly difficult to manufacture with machines.
For a long time, it was technically impossible to assemble rolling papers and filter tips into a cone shape using machines.
Unlike flat booklets or straight tubes, cones require perfectly aligned gluing, folding, and rolling—all with delicate materials that tear or wrinkle easily. Because of this, the assembly of empty preroll cones remained a fully manual process.
Automation existed only for filling cones—not for building them.
Only recently have a few manufacturers begun experimenting with solutions that exist for :
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Crafting automatically empty conical prerolls (but their costs, over millions for one unit, is highly prohibitive)
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Automatically rolling cylindrical preroll tubes filled with cannabis (They are the perfect solution for brands looking for quality, scalability and automation with more manageable costs, less than half a million dollars)
So today, most preroll cones are still made by hand, especially when custom features like corn husk tips, glass filters, or specialty folds are involved.
Where Are Most Preroll Cones Made?
Today, the vast majority of preroll cones—even those sold by well-known Western brands—are manufactured in:
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🇮🇳 India
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🇮🇩 Indonesia
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🇵🇭 The Philippines
These regions offer a combination of:
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Lower labor costs
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Manual assembly expertise
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Specialized factories that produce millions of cones per week
Even high-end brands often rely on third-party manufacturers in Asia to source their cones, which are then filled locally using machines in the U.S., Canada, or Europe.
This globalized model allows brands to balance cost, volume, and quality, but it also means the supply chain must be carefully managed for compliance, material sourcing, and reliability.
Final Thoughts
Custom preroll cones are more than a paper shell—they're the foundation of a repeatable, scalable, and safe preroll business.
If you're building a cannabis brand or designing premium smoking accessories, understanding the materials, manufacturing process, and regulatory implications of cone production is essential.
At Rolly Papers, we help brands design and source high-quality, custom preroll cones that align with their values—whether it’s sustainability, premium design, or consumer safety.
Want to launch your own custom preroll cones?
Let’s build something safe, scalable, and beautifully branded.
👉 Contact us to get started