Commercial roses that you buy at the store for holidays are not regulated for human consumption. They might look pretty but they’re often sprayed with pesticides and/or hazardous chemicals to keep them looking fresh, so only use organic roses or roses from a trusted garden when rolling rose blunts.
[dropcap size=big]A[/dropcap] couple days after Mother’s Day, I noticed a rose drying up on my kitchen counter. Rather than let it go to waste, I decided to roll a rose blunt.
After successfully rolling my first rose blunt without any instruction, giggling to myself like it was my first time getting blazed all over again, and let out a huge billow of smoke, signaling success. I was surprised by how well the blunt burned – slowly and smoothly similar to a real cigar – which got me thinking, why don’t more of us smoke rose blunts if roses are so plentiful?
Rose blunts first reached viral status in September of 2017 when YouTuber @Savvy_Sasha uploaded a 2 minute tutorial video to Twitter, explaining the process. The video was viewed more than 7 million times and rose blunts quickly became the latest rage in alternative rolling papers, following a surge in hemp, gold and palm leaf wraps. The Internet was captivated by the innate beauty of a rose combined with cannabis.
Rolling a rose petal blunt is a lot like rolling a Backwood. Kind of awkward and extremely disappointing if not done right. But when rolled correctly they’re one of my favorite ways to smoke.
Roses have drawn people’s attention forever, appearing in religion, art, medicine and culture since the dawn of civilization. The flower is believed to be more than 35 million years old, according to fossil evidence.
Today, roses are seen throughout California and neighborhoods all over L.A. Our city’s sprawling landscape and moderate climate make it an ideal place to grow the flower, and it emerged as an unofficial symbol of Los Angeles in the 1920s, when the city was desperately looking to bolster its national image. In 1927, the city spent $15,000 to erect what was called “the greatest rose garden in the world” at the time, at Exposition Park.
Today, the Rose Garden is a designated Nation Historical Place that draws more than a million people from all over the world annually. Exposition Park’s collection of roses has grown to include 200 different varieties (but not for picking, of course). Then there's the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, which has been held since 1890, after its founder Charles F. Holder said, “In New York People are buried in snow. Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let’s hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise.”
RELATED: The History of Sativa vs Indica ~ Why Everything You've Smoked is Technically a Hybrid
Similar to the varied cultures of L.A., there’s an incredible amount of diversity among roses. They are varied in shap, from the traditional slender rose that you hand to a lover on Valentine’s Day, to roses that look more like cabbages. Smells can range from sweet and citrusy to earthy and spicy and colors from bright primaries to muted hues. In the wild, it’s tough to find two roses that look and smell exactly the same. All of these different varieties make the rose petal the organic version of a flavored blunt wrap, each providing a unique experience.
Remember: Do not use a commercial rose to roll a rose blunt. Not only is it unsafe to smoke commercial roses, you don’t see the same diversity in commercial flowers. And now, it’s time to roll a rose blunt!
HOW-TO ROLL A ROSE BLUNT:
To roll a rose blunt you need an organic rose, some weed, and heavy duty paper to build a crutch or filter.
My strongest recommendation is to start small and be patient. You don’t need to roll a massive cannon the first time you roll a rose blunt, especially if you struggle to roll regular joints or blunts. Start with a single large rose petal and then work your way up to combining petals.
Pluck a large, healthy-looking rose petal from an organic rose. It’s important that you dry out the rose so it burns properly. You can either let the petal sit in the sun for a few days or accelerate the process with an oven. Preheat your oven to the lowest setting possible and prepare a small cooking tray. Place your rose petal on the cooking tray and put the tray in the oven. Wait about 10 to 20 seconds and then take the tray out and let the petal cool.
Repeat this process a few times or until the rose petal starts to change color. At first, it might feel moist when you take it out of the over but after you let it sit, it should dry out.
Be careful of over drying your petal, if it starts to crack you’ve dried to too much. Leaving a rose petal in an oven longer than 30 seconds to a minute will lead to over-drying. If anything, leave your rose petal on the wet side, you can finish “curing” your final product in the oven or simply by letting it sit.
Break up about half a gram of weed using your hands or with a grinder. Just make sure not to over-grind your bud. Keeping buds more intact will help the rose blunt maintain its shape. Build a crutch out (filter) of a business card or some paper. A crutch will make it easier to roll the petal and help the blunt keep its shape when lit.
Disperse your weed evenly on one side of your petal and fold it tightly into itself to roll the blunt, the same way you would roll joint. Any excess petal can be cut off with scissors.
Seal the blunt, the same way you would a Swisher or Backwood, with saliva or use a natural adhesive, like honey.
Place the final product in the oven for 10 seconds or so to help cure. Run a lighter a couple inches underneath the final product, moving the lighter back and forth quickly to finish curing. Let the blunt sit for as long as you can stand before lighting, and enjoy!
Let us know if you attempt to roll a rose blunt by tagging us on social media @LATACO!
RELATED: Are These Already the ‘Good Old Days’ of Legal Weed? ~ Commercialized 4/20 Pays Dividends
