How To Make Your Own Infused Pre-Roll

These days there’s no hotter item in cannabis dispensaries than the infused, or “connoisseur” pre-roll. And it’s easy to see why. Combining cannabis with a concentrate boosts the potency and flavor of any pre-roll making them a fun, high-end option that really pack a punch.

But you don’t have to drop any additional cash or even head to a dispensary to enjoy one of these potent little gems. If you have flower, a concentrate and some rolling papers, you can roll up your own infused treat at home.

Concentrate choices for infused pre-rolls

First let’s talk about concentrates.

Sometimes called extracts (though they are technically different things), these products are a concentrated form of THC, often made using solvents or pressure to remove the trichomes and cannabinoids from a cannabis plant, causing them to have highly elevated THC percentages in the same way that letting a sauce bubble on the stove enhances its flavor and thickness. Whereas most cannabis has THC percentages in the 15-30% range, concentrates can run as high as 90%, packing a serious punch for even the most experienced stoner.

The easiest form of cannabis concentrate is kief, which isn’t really a concentrate at all. Kief is the name given to the golden dust made of loose cannabis trichomes that are accumulated by being sifted from cannabis buds with a mesh screen or sieve. Because it is the straight trichomes, where cannabinoids are made, kief has a high percentage THC without using any solvents or pressing. Plus, most people have some just sitting in the bottom section of their grinders at home.

The oldest concentrate is probably hashish, made from pressing kief and other trichomes into cakes that can be crumbled or rolled into joints or added to bowls, bongs and other smoking devices. Though more popular in Europe than in the states, hash has a dedicated fan base and is growing in popularity as more states go legal. Modern versions of hash, like bubble hash, use ice water to help separate the trichomes from cannabis flower instead of sifting and pressing.

Rosin is another cannabis concentrate made without using an extraction method. Instead, heat and pressure are applied, squeezing the trichomes out of the plant and into a gooey, golden, sap-like product. Live rosin is rosin produced from flower that has been flash-frozen after harvest, further preserving terpenes and cannabinoids before being concentrated.

From here, we get into actual extracts; cannabis products made by using a solvent and mechanical equipment to separate the cannabinoids and trichomes from the flower into an oil. These often produce viscous, sticky substances of varying textures like badder, budder, wax, sauce and resin, all of which are sticky, putty-like substances of varying texture. Shatter is a glass-like extract that, well, shatters and crumble is a waxy, sand-like version that, yes, crumbles. All of them contain elevated potencies and are consumed in similar ways so it comes down to matters of taste as to what people call favorites.

There’s also hash oil, like the stuff found in vape cartridges, which will come into play later on one of our home infusion methods.

How to Infuse your joints with oil concentrate

The first key to rolling your own infused joints is being able to roll your own joints in the first place. This takes some practice to get good at and if you’re looking for tips and tricks to get better, check out our post on rolling the perfect joint and then come on back and we’ll get to the infusing part.

Good to go? Cool.

How to Infuse Pre-Roll with Kief

The easiest way to add some punch to your joint is to infuse it with kief. Smart money says you have some of this in your grinder right now, but if not, every dispensary should have a selection of kief options at a pretty good price (though be sure it’s actual kief, which is a golden yellow color, and not flower that’s been ground to look like kief, which will be greener). Simply combine some of the kief with your ground flower and use the mix when you roll your joint.

How to Infuse Pre-Roll with Hash

Using hash is another easy way to infuse a joint at home. The two main methods for using hash in an infused joint is to either chop and crumble the hash or roll it into a snake. Chopping and crumbling the hash is a little easier and is a lot like using kief; just mix in the hash with your flower and then roll it all up in a single joint. Just be sure to chop the pieces small enough so they don’t have any chunky edges that could punch through your rolling papers or not burn all the way through at the same time as your flower.

The other method is almost as easy. First, chop off a small piece of hash and roll it into a snake like a kid playing with clay. Roll it thin, so it fits inside your joint and will burn evenly along with the flower around it, then just lay it in your bed of ground flower before you begin to tuck and roll your joint. It might take a little trial and error, however, to make sure your "snake" is the right size to burn properly with your flower and doesn’t end up sticking out of your joint like a tail.

How to Infuse Pre-Roll with Hash Rosin

This infusion method also works pretty well using rosins, resins and other stiffer but malleable concentrates and creates the cool visual known across social media as the "hash hole." The process is essentially the same for each extract type and as the flower burns around the rosin, it too will vaporize, leaving the namesake "hole" in the middle of your ash.

Many of these extracts, particularly resins and rosins, can also just be smeared on the inside of a rolling paper like peanut butter before the flower is added. It can make the paper itself a little tougher to roll up and doesn’t provide the social media flash as a hash hole, but it’s a lot easier and adds the additional potency to get you where you want to go just as well.

How to Infused Pre-Roll with Live Resin and Distillate

For a stylish presentation that even some professional infused pre-rolls use, you can simply wrap the extract snake around the outside of the joint, though it may not burn as evenly as one that acts as a core surrounded by flower.

Some of the most popular infused joint brands on the market, like STIIIZY in California and others make their products by painting the outside of their joints with hash oil and then rolling it in kief dust. This can also be done at home. It's a bit messy, but the final product will certainly pack a serious wallop.

First, you’re going to want to heat your extract a little using a candle warmer until it turns to a liquid oil. This will not only help re-mix the oil, which will separate in storage, but reduce the oil’s viscosity and make it easier to paint on to your joint. When at a temperature that allows it to flow easily, simply grab a food-grade paintbrush and brush the outside of your joint with the oil. Try to be as even as possible. Next, sift your kief onto a paper plate then simply roll your oil-painted joint in the dust.

Watch yourself though, putting the oil on the outside and rolling it in kief will cause your joint to burn a little hotter and could be a harsher smoke than when the extract or concentrate is mixed in with the flower.

Infusing pre-roll cones or tubes

If rolling joints is not your thing, but you still want to enjoy an infused pre-roll at home, most of these methods can also be done with a pre-roll cone or tube, particularly the painting and rolling method. In fact, you can even use a Perfect Pack machine to pack flower infused with kief or hash – or even sprayed with oil – into a cone, just be sure to thoroughly clean your machine afterward so the resins and oils don’t gum up your works permanently.

Or, you can use a syringe to inject the oil into the center of a pre-rolled cone or tube, though this works best with larger size cone or tube, like a king-size 109mm cone or the Fill-a-Blunts hemp-wrap tubes.

Puff, puff, pass

As you can see, there’s no one way to infuse a joint at home, so experiment and find out what works best for you and what concentrate suits your needs. It just takes a little practice to get it right, but even the practice results in a powerful smoking experience, so it’s well worth the time.

Whatever your method of infusing your joints at home, the combination of flower and concentrate always provides a bit extra kick to your joint and an infused joint or pre-roll is guaranteed to make your session a memorable one!