No Rolling Papers? 10 Creative Alternatives When You’re in a Pinch

I’ve been there more times than I care to admit. You’re ready for a smoke sess­ion, grin­der full of fres­hly grou­nd herb, and sudd­enly real­ize you’re out of pape­rs. It’s 11 PM, the near­est smoke shop clos­ed hours ago, and that perf­ectl­y cured bud isn’t going to smoke itse­lf.

After years writ­ing about cann­abis cult­ure (and plen­ty of pers­onal “rese­arch”), I’ve comp­iled my go-to list of roll­ing paper alte­rnat­ives that have saved coun­tles­s sess­ions. Some might surp­rise you, othe­rs might seem obvi­ous, but all have gott­en me and frie­nds out of a tight spot when paper is nowh­ere to be found.

Why Look Beyo­nd Trad­itio­nal Roll­ing Pape­rs?

Befo­re divi­ng into alte­rnat­ives, let’s talk about why you might need them:

• The Midn­ight Emer­genc­y: The most comm­on scen­ario—you’ve run out unex­pect­edly
• Natu­ral Pref­eren­ces: Some folks pref­er orga­nic mate­rial­s over proc­esse­d pape­rs
• Heal­th Cons­ider­atio­ns: Conc­erns about chem­ical­s in comm­erci­al pape­rs (many cont­ain blea­ch, adhe­sive­s, and addi­tive­s that rele­ase harm­ful comp­ound­s when burn­ed)
• Expe­rime­ntat­ion: Some­time­s it’s fun to try some­thin­g diff­eren­t
• Budg­et Cons­trai­nts: When funds are tight but the herb is plen­tifu­l

I star­ted expl­orin­g alte­rnat­ives years ago after a late-night real­izat­ion that my last paper had disa­ppea­red. What began as desp­erat­ion turn­ed into fasc­inat­ion with how many viab­le opti­ons exist right in our kitc­hens and gard­ens.

The Obvi­ous First Solu­tion: Use Exis­ting Equi­pmen­t

Befo­re gett­ing crea­tive, check if you have any trad­itio­nal smok­ing devi­ces avai­labl­e:

• Glass pipe or one-hitt­er: The simp­lest solu­tion if avai­labl­e
• Bong or water pipe: If you have one, this elim­inat­es the need for pape­rs enti­rely
• Pre-roll­ed cones: Many peop­le keep these as back­ups

If none of these are avai­labl­e, it’s time to get crea­tive.

Natu­re’s Roll­ing Pape­rs: Plant-Based Alte­rnat­ives

Rose Peta­ls

My pers­onal favo­rite when I have the time. Rose peta­ls crea­te a frag­rant, smoo­th-burn­ing wrap that adds a subt­le flor­al note to your herb.

To make a rose petal joint:

1. Gath­er 3 large, pest­icid­e-free rose peta­ls
2. Ligh­tly toast them with a ligh­ter (don’t burn them!)
3. Stick them toge­ther using your tong­ue to mois­ten the edges (the natu­ral mois­ture works well as adhe­sive with­out addi­ng suga­rs that can prod­uce harsh smoke when burn­ed)
4. Let them dry slig­htly befo­re roll­ing

I disc­over­ed this meth­od at a frie­nd’s gard­en party where we’d brou­ght plen­ty of flow­er but forg­otte­n pape­rs. The host­ess sugg­este­d her roses, and I’ve kept a rose­bush in my yard ever since.

Corn Husks

This might sound stra­nge until you try it. Corn husks have been used in Jama­ica and parts of Latin Amer­ica for gene­rati­ons.

Dry the husks comp­lete­ly, trim to size, and you’ve got a thick but plia­ble natu­ral wrap­per. They burn slow­ly and even­ly, thou­gh they do have a dist­inct (but not unpl­easa­nt) flav­or. I keep a few dried husks in my stash box spec­ific­ally for paper emer­genc­ies.

Large Leav­es: Lett­uce and Cabb­age

Large, fresh leav­es from lett­uce or cabb­age can work surp­risi­ngly well:

1. Sele­ct a large, flat leaf
2. Let it dry slig­htly (but not comp­lete­ly)
3. Trim to appr­opri­ate size
4. Roll care­full­y as they can be deli­cate

The natu­ral mois­ture cont­ent helps them stick when roll­ed, and they burn slow­ly with mini­mal added taste.

Dried Fruit Peels

Apple and bana­na peels can work in a pinch if prop­erly dried. They need to be clea­ned, dried for 24+ hours, and trim­med to size. The flav­or can be inte­rest­ing—apple peels add a subt­le swee­tnes­s that comp­leme­nts cert­ain stra­ins beau­tifu­lly.

Kitc­hen Hacks When You’re Desp­erat­e

Gum Wrap­pers

The thin paper insi­de stick gum wrap­pers (after remo­ving the foil) works surp­risi­ngly well. It’s thin, burns rela­tive­ly clea­nly, and is often read­ily avai­labl­e.

Just be sure to:

• Remo­ve ALL the foil (check care­full­y)
• Only use the plain white paper layer
• Roll care­full­y as it tears easi­ly

I once cons­truc­ted a func­tion­al joint from five Wrig­ley’s wrap­pers at a conc­ert when our pape­rs got soak­ed in a sudd­en down­pour. Not ideal, but it did the job.

Coff­ee Filt­ers

Unbl­each­ed coff­ee filt­ers can work in a pinch. They’re a bit thick, so you’ll want to thin them out by care­full­y peel­ing apart the laye­rs. They burn slow­ly but can be harsh if too thick.

Pro tip: Cut the filt­er to size befo­re atte­mpti­ng to roll—it’s much easi­er to work with smal­ler piec­es.

Parc­hmen­t Paper

Unbl­each­ed parc­hmen­t paper (not wax paper) can work as a roll­ing paper subs­titu­te. It’s desi­gned to with­stan­d heat and is rela­tive­ly thin. Cut it to size and roll as you would with a norm­al paper.

Note: Be sure to use only true parc­hmen­t paper (the brown, unbl­each­ed kind used for baki­ng), not wax paper which has a coat­ing that prod­uces harm­ful fumes when burn­ed.

Empty Ciga­rett­es

If you or some­one near­by has ciga­rett­es, you can empty the toba­cco and refi­ll with your herb. The paper is desi­gned for smok­ing, thou­gh you’ll want to remo­ve the filt­er (or poke holes in it) since it filt­ers out some of the good stuff along with the bad.

To repu­rpos­e a ciga­rett­e:

1. Gent­ly roll the ciga­rett­e betw­een your fing­ers to loos­en the toba­cco
2. Empty it out comp­lete­ly
3. Fill with your grou­nd herb
4. Modi­fy or repl­ace the filt­er as desi­red

Tiss­ue or Note­book Paper (Emer­genc­y Only)

Clean, plain tiss­ue paper or thin note­book paper can work in abso­lute emer­genc­ies. They shou­ld be used caut­ious­ly beca­use:

• They often cont­ain addi­tive­s
• They burn quic­kly and unev­enly
• The ink in note­book paper can be toxic when burn­ed

If you must use these, opt for the thin­nest, plai­nest paper avai­labl­e and avoid any colo­red or trea­ted pape­rs.

Fruit and Vege­tabl­e Pipes

When roll­ing isn’t an opti­on, natu­re prov­ides some exce­llen­t pipe alte­rnat­ives.

The Clas­sic Apple Pipe

The apple pipe is perh­aps the most wide­ly used emer­genc­y smok­ing devi­ce, and for good reas­on—it’s effe­ctiv­e, adds a plea­sant flav­or, and is comp­lete­ly biod­egra­dabl­e.

To make one:

1. Remo­ve the stem
2. Use a pen to crea­te a hole from the top down towa­rd the cent­er
3. Make anot­her hole from the side that conn­ects with your first hole
4. Opti­onal: Crea­te a third hole for a carb
5. The natu­ral mois­ture filt­ers the smoke slig­htly

I’ve made these ever­ywhe­re from camp­ing trips to music fest­ival­s. They’re disc­reet, biod­egra­dabl­e, and work surp­risi­ngly well.

Other Prod­uce Opti­ons

Near­ly any firm fruit or vege­tabl­e can work:

• Carr­ots: Crea­te a pipe by carv­ing a bowl in one end and a chan­nel thro­ugh the leng­th
• Pota­toes: A bit awkw­ard but func­tion­al with the right carv­ing
• Bell pepp­ers: The stem crea­tes a natu­ral bowl
• Cucu­mber­s: For a cool­er hit than­ks to their high water cont­ent
• Stra­wber­ries: Small but effe­ctiv­e for a quick sess­ion

The key is choo­sing prod­uce that’s firm enou­gh to carve with­out coll­apsi­ng but not so hard that it’s diff­icul­t to work with.

Last Reso­rt Opti­ons (Use With Caut­ion)

Alum­inum Foil Pipe

You can fash­ion a pipe from alum­inum foil, but I reco­mmen­d this only in true emer­genc­ies. There are legi­tima­te conc­erns about heat­ing alum­inum and pote­ntia­lly inha­ling metal part­icle­s.

If you must use this meth­od:

1. Use heavy-duty foil fold­ed mult­iple times for thic­knes­s
2. Shape it arou­nd a penc­il to crea­te the tube
3. Form a bowl at one end
4. Do not reuse it
5. Avoid dire­ct flame cont­act with the bowl when poss­ible

Hot Kniv­es Meth­od

While not a roll­ing alte­rnat­ive, the “hot kniv­es” meth­od is a paper-free opti­on:

1. Heat two butt­er kniv­es on a stove or with a torch
2. Place a small piece of herb on one hot knife
3. Press the seco­nd knife on top
4. Inha­le the resu­ltin­g vapor thro­ugh a tube (like a cut bott­le)

This meth­od requ­ires caut­ion to avoid burns and shou­ld only be used by expe­rien­ced smok­ers.

Safe­ty First: What NOT to Use

Some alte­rnat­ives might seem logi­cal but can be dang­erou­s:

• News­pape­r: Ink cont­ains chem­ical­s you don’t want to inha­le
• Maga­zine pages: Glos­sy paper rele­ases toxic chem­ical­s when burn­ed
• Colo­red cons­truc­tion paper: Dyes can be toxic when comb­uste­d
• Rece­ipt paper: Often cont­ains BPA and other harm­ful chem­ical­s
• Wax paper: The wax coat­ing rele­ases toxic fumes when burn­ed
• Any trea­ted or coat­ed paper: Just don’t risk it 
• Plas­tic of any kind: Rele­ases high­ly toxic fumes when heat­ed 
• Money: Cont­ains nume­rous inks, meta­ls, and anti-coun­terf­eiti­ng chem­ical­s

Using Filt­ers Rega­rdle­ss of Meth­od

What­ever alte­rnat­ive you choo­se, cons­ider using a prop­er filt­er tip. You can make these from:

• Busi­ness card edges (unpr­inte­d areas)
• Thin card­boar­d from pack­agin­g
• Actu­al filt­er tips if you have them

A good filt­er prev­ents plant mate­rial from gett­ing in your mouth and allo­ws you to enjoy your herb down to the last bit with­out burn­ing your fing­ers.

My Emer­genc­y Stash Box Esse­ntia­ls

After too many pape­rles­s emer­genc­ies, I now keep a “back­up box” with:

• Dried corn husks
• A few dried rose peta­ls in wax paper
• Unbl­each­ed parc­hmen­t paper
• Pre-roll­ed cones (hidd­en in a diff­eren­t spot than my regu­lar pape­rs)
• A small apple (repl­aced week­ly)
• A one-hitt­er (the ulti­mate back­up)
• Filt­er tips

This kit has saved coun­tles­s sess­ions and impr­esse­d more than a few frie­nds with crea­tive solu­tion­s.

Wrap­ping Up (Pun Inte­nded)

Runn­ing out of roll­ing pape­rs doesn’t have to end your sess­ion. With a litt­le crea­tivi­ty and know­ledg­e of safe alte­rnat­ives, you can fash­ion a func­tion­al smok­ing devi­ce from mate­rial­s you like­ly have arou­nd your home.

My advi­ce? Keep a stash of prop­er pape­rs hidd­en some­wher­e as your emer­genc­y supp­ly. But when even that fails you, reme­mber that huma­ns were enjo­ying cann­abis long befo­re comm­erci­ally prod­uced roll­ing pape­rs exis­ted.

What’s your go-to alte­rnat­ive when you’re out of pape­rs? I’m alwa­ys look­ing to add new tric­ks to my emer­genc­y arse­nal!