How The Pandemic & Millennials Influenced Pre-Roll Sales

We’ve all had our share of messy experiences rolling joints. You grab your rolling paper, take your fresh flower, and try to roll it properly. But unless you’re really experienced, it’s likely that you will lose some of the flower and end up with a wet mess of a joint. Luckily for you, pre-rolls and pre-rolled cones are more popular than ever! Not only do pre-roll cones, such as RAW cones, save you time, they also prevent you from wasting those precious buds. The pre-roll is one of the most innovative inventions to come into the cannabis community.

There’s a ton of different ways to roll a joint. You can try your hand at rolling a cross joint, or you can roll a classic doob. There are many different ways to roll and enjoy your weed. But lately, Millennials and Gen-Zers really don’t care about the different customizations you can have when it comes to rolling. This new generation is all about convenience! Convenience is king when it comes to the marijuana industry. Plus, those Millennials and Gen-Zers are the leading cannabis consumers in the nation. If you mix their demand with a decrease in supply during the pandemic, you’ve created a unique situation.

A young woman smokes a pre-rolled cannabis joint.

It’s much like the tobacco industry’s switch from selling packaged tobacco to selling pre-rolled cigarettes. The same trend is happening in the world of marijuana, led by the purchasing habits of Millennials and Gen Z. For pre-rolled cones, all you have to do is stuff your weed into the already rolled paper, twist the top closed, light it up, and voila! You’re all set to go.

Many companies use hand rollers to produce pre-rolled cones and pre-rolls. During the pandemic, regulations and social distancing rules led to a shortage of hand rollers being allowed into factories. This, in turn, led to a shortage in pre-rolls and cones all around the world. However, as supply fell, demand rose.

When you roll a joint or blunt, there’s quite a bit of saliva involved. Licking the papers can be a quick task, or a tedious one, depending on the roller and the paper. During a pandemic, people don’t really want to be licking and sharing joints. This only boosted the popularity of pre-rolls and cones. They are more sanitary and more efficient. In the instance where you DO want to share a smoke with someone, you wouldn’t have to lick the heck out of a paper and pass it. Instead, you can pack a pre-rolled cone, and each smoker could use their own mouthpiece.

As supply dwindled for pre-rolls and pre-rolled cones, demand kept going up. In fact, in 2020, pre-roll sales increased by 50% despite the pandemic (or most likely, because of it). And although many companies had shortages, RAW did not. They were able to keep the supply chain going.

Because of this, RAW cones has been able to capitalize on the market during this unique time. However, soon enough, competitors will take larger pieces of the market as well. As the years progress, remember this article. Rolling bud will be a thing of the past, and the pandemic helped fuel the demise of the personal roller.

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