Even if you are only tangentially involved in the business of cannabis, it would be hard to avoid the rising popularity of pre-rolls. Pre-rolls, or pre-rolled joints, are a consumer-friendly and convenient way for individuals who choose to smoke cannabis to have a ready-made product, available for use immediately. Sometimes, called “cones”, due to their shape (their shape makes them easier to fill), pre-rolls are pre-packed with flower, wrapped in rolling paper, and ready to be sold or consumed.
Though there is variation in the “filler”, pre-rolls are fairly consistent across the market. Each contains, most importantly, flower in a wide range of aromas and flavors. Pre-rolls contain a filter, also known as a “crutch”, which not only keeps the cannabis out of your mouth when you inhale, but also provides structure to the pre-roll, keeping it straight and giving a more even burn. Finally, each pre-roll is wrapped in rolling paper of some kind. These papers may be made of hemp, flax, or other materials which do not add any unwanted flavors so that only the taste of the flower can be discerned.
Pre-rolls are proving to be extremely popular because they provide a convenient way for consumers to enjoy cannabis without needing to go to the trouble of grinding, rolling, and packing their own joints. They are also a hit with many smokers because of their consistency, packaging and variety. Because they are ready to smoke, they are great for consumers who aren’t interested in rolling their own or going to the trouble of having to keep a grinder and papers on hand as well as learning the skill to roll a good joint.
Additionally, because they are uniform in size, customers can expect a consistent smoking experience. Traditional joints are susceptible to being bent or crushed. Pre-rolls often come in protective packaging which not only ensures their freshness, but prevents damage from too much handling before smoking.
Pre-rolls are available at most dispensaries. They are often available in a wide variety of strains, and package sizes. Customers can choose among indica, sativa, and hybrid blends. Infused pre-rolls are another option. Infused pre-rolls can contain other cannabis concentrates such as wax, kief, or shatter. These concentrated extracts add different flavors, aromas, and potency levels to the pre-roll options.
Recent (2024) Market Info
Pre-roll sales are the fastest-growing product category on the cannabis market. While other categories are declining, or leveling out as the market gets more saturated, pre-rolls remain a hot item that keep setting sales records. The state of California alone saw $750 million dollars in pre-roll sales over the last 12 months. And while they lead the US market, there are very robust pre-roll sales in other states as well.
Michigan, even with an average, individual pre-roll price less than half ($6.25 vs $14 per pre-roll) of that in California, realized an impressive $555 million dollars in pre-roll sales over the last 12 months. Additionally impressive about Michigan’s numbers is that year over year numbers have almost doubled from 2023 to 2024. Massachusetts rounds out the top 3 spots in the US, racking up almost $300 million in pre-roll sales in the last 12 months. This represents an impressive 48 percent increase over the prior 12 month period ending in 2023.
Other states have impressive numbers too, especially relative to the length of time that pre-rolls have been legal to sell in their respective markets. Arizona and Illinois combined saw over $400 million in pre-roll sales in the past year. Maryland’s pre roll sales have jumped to almost $10 million per month as of April 2024.
New York and Florida markets are due to see a huge increase in pre-roll sales as their markets begin to open up. Pre-rolls are big business! Billions of dollars are being spent each year in the pre-roll market in the US. As more states legalize recreational cannabis, this number is only going to continue increasing.
Role of Equipment in the Burgeoning Pre-Roll Market
Advances in cannabis equipment have driven the pre-roll market. In addition to the desire to break into this emerging market, and a supply of harvested and cured flowers, investing in some of this equipment is the key to driving profits in your business. Traditionally, pre-rolls had been labor intensive, and thought to be filled with the leftovers of the production processes. Advances in not only the means of production, but the quality and innovation of what fills them, has driven sales and increased profits for those in the business of making or selling them.
It is not magic or any secret that equipment lowers the cost of production. With pre-rolls, there are several equipment options available to help you make your business more efficient. With the addition of any of them, you will be making a more cost-effective and competitive product. The more that you can invest in these products, the greater the volume of product you can put out there with accompanying sales and profits commensurate with your investment.
Pre-roll machines improve your efficiency in several ways. Depending on what machinery you invest in, you will be able to attain consistent products, lower labor costs, and be able to produce more diverse products. It can take mere minutes to fill hundreds or even thousands of joints depending on the size of your equipment.
Automating will also allow for accurate weighing, filling, compacting, twisting and trimming of pre-roll cones. Packaging of multi-packs can also be done by various equipment types. Waste reduction is an additional benefit of investing in equipment to automate your pre-roll operations. Paper and flower use will be optimized as compared to manual rolling methods. Another benefit to adding equipment is safety. Reducing repetitive manual tasks, reduces the incidence of worker fatigue and injury.
Fortunately, it does not require vast amounts of space or capital to get starting in automating your pre-roll operation. You don’t even need to grow the material yourself. On just a tabletop surface, you can crank out thousands of pre-rolls per day.
While a pre-roll filling machine is the most important piece of equipment for producing pre-rolled cones on a large scale, if you want to control all aspects of production, consider investing in a grinder or milling machine, as well as a sifter. A quality grinding machine will create consistent-sized particles without damaging the trichomes. The next step, sifting, will ensure that any particles that are not a consistent size, and could potentially damage the pre-roll, will be excluded. Then, the material can be fed into a pre-rolling machine, which, as the name implies, will evenly fill empty cones and then seal them.
Grinding/milling machines will process plant material to a fine and consistent particle size, as mentioned. This allows for greater packing density in each pre-roll, as finely ground material will have less air space between particles. This is also the stage where oils can be extracted from the flower. Up to 20 percent of the raw material may be oil.
These grinding and milling machines may have a rotating impeller that forces the product through a screen where the particles are sized. Other types may have a hammer mill that breaks up the clumps of raw material where a feeder will then sort the product by size. Either way, this step is necessary to create a quality experience for the end consumer. Sifting machines will further sort the process flower into precisely the diameter-sized particles necessary for a quality pre-roll. Next, the material will get fed into a filling machine.
There are dozens of manufacturers of pre-roll filling machines. Within these, there are several options as well. Some options are just a matter of capacity, with various length and width options, such as diameter adjusters. It is important to consider what the characteristics and complexities of each are before selecting the right one for your business needs. There is a filling machine designed to meet the needs of every size of operation.
Automation and machinery have driven the advances and high sales of the pre-roll market. With the range of available equipment, catering to all sizes and stages of production for pre-rolls make entry into this profitable market within reach for most individuals and businesses in the cannabis market. If the decision is to invest in more labor or to invest in equipment for your operation, the answer should be obvious. With the right equipment, you can reduce costs, churn out a consistently high-quality product, and grow your business to any scale you can accommodate or achieve.
Future Market Outlook
No one can say for sure where the pre-roll market will go, but signs for continued growth are all around. Pre-rolls have proven to be one of the most resilient categories in the cannabis market. Over the entire US market, pre-roll sales have seen an average of 12 percent increases year over year. For the Canadian market, the growth has been even higher, at 38 percent year over year. If pre-rolls remain on their current trajectory, they will be the dominant product category in the next five to six years, if not sooner.
As technology and mechanization continue to bring down the cost of production, retail pricing on pre-rolls have remained low, while quality and innovation continue to climb. The fact that these convenient and ready-to-use products seemed to fill a market void, cemented them into a product that consumers now expect to be readily available. So long as they continue to be on the shelves, they will continue to fly off of them.
Concerning price, pre-rolls remain affordable. Even with wide ranges in a single joint that can span between $2 and almost $20 each, they still represent a low-cost opportunity for cannabis consumers to experiment with different strains, potencies, flavors, and aromas, before they devote more of their disposable income into a larger purchase.
Retailers on their part, have leaned into pre-roll sales. They are now devoting large parts of their retail space, especially at the point of sale, to stock and display a wide range of different pre-roll types and package sizes. A recent innovation has been to offer mini pre-rolls, known as “dog walkers”, which has encouraged many consumers to stock up on pre-rolls at each purchase.
It should be noted that a lot of these innovations and major sales bumps occurred during the COVID years, when dispensaries could not hold large events. With the ability to hold promotions and gatherings, the opportunity to increase pre-roll sales is limited only by a particular venue’s space and creativity.
Looking at just the United States, and Canada, it is easy to be bullish on the prospect of continued sales increases in the pre-roll market for the foreseeable future. Pre-roll sales in the US markets continue to evolve. Where they may level out in high sales volume states like California and Michigan, they are likely to continue to soar in emerging and established markets like Maryland, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado.
Products that are likely to continue on a growth trajectory in US markets are multi-packs, which continue to enjoy about a 20 percent growth year over year and higher volume packs. In the last three years, packs containing both two grams and five grams have seen an incredible 400 percent increase in sales volume in the US markets.
Pre-rolls dominate in Canadian markets as well. Between 2022 and 2023, the pre-roll market saw a whopping 37 percent increase. They became the second most-sold cannabis product in Canada, behind dry flower in retail dispensaries. They account for almost one-third of all Cannabis sales in Canada and are only poised to grow.
The Canadian Cannabis market is responsible for over 5 billion dollars in sales. Some of that is due to the 38 percent increase in pre-roll brands that have sprung up on the market and the innovation of infused pre-rolls. Infused pre-rolls are now accounting for over one-third of recent pre-roll sales and are projected to keep increasing their market share.
Canadian consumers are also quickly becoming overwhelming supporters of buying pre-roll multi packs. A staggering 83 percent of consumers buy multipacks of pre-rolls as opposed to just buying singles. They are also not surprisingly, favoring products containing at least 1.5 grams of cannabis at a time.
With pre-rolls representing (on average) the third lowest-priced retail item in dispensaries, they are poised to continue to grow and dominate cannabis sales in Canada. They have room for continued increase in pricing, at a time when some other cannabis products are starting to see decreases in pricing. They are forecast to retain their perceived value to consumers for the foreseeable future and are a smart investment for Canadian cannabis businesses all along the supply chain.
Final Thoughts
Historic data and trend-modeling suggest that the pre-roll market will continue to be an area of growth, and even when it levels out, will be a consistent performer for some time to come. Convenience wins out over cost time and again in almost all markets, regardless of the product. With such a relatively low up front cost, there is no reason not to get started in the pre-roll market, especially if you are already in any aspect of the cannabis market.
Pre-rolls are an easy sell and an ideal “add-on” item at the point of sale. Even if a cannabis customer had no intention of purchasing a pre-roll, data shows that up to 25 percent of the time, because of cost and convenience, they will add a pre-roll (or more than one) onto their order. It does not seem to take much convincing for folks to buy pre-rolls, even when it was not their initial intent to do so.
With their growing popularity, sales of pre-rolls are becoming much more than a trend. They are quickly becoming a “staple” purchase. For this reason alone, there is no reason not to make the investment, and get yourself involved in the profitable area of the cannabis market of pre-rolls.
