ISSUES:
I’m not going to lie. When I was younger I had a penchant for getting...creative...with how I smoked weed. There were the obvious apple bowls, hot knives and empty aluminum beer cans (don’t judge me). But I can also distinctly remember fashioning neon-coloured pipes out of chewed up starburst. Building massive bongs out of pumpkins or watermelons. Spending needless hours crafting joint-like effigies reminiscent of tridents or spiders that were basically papier-mâché monstrosities. What can I say? I was young, immature, and a little foolhardy.
It wasn't like I had some grand aversion to rolling “normal” joints. I didn’t find them boring or inconvenient. No, I was just naive. I didn’t really comprehend or fully appreciate the simple joy of hand rolling the perfect joint. Years have passed and I’ve grown up, grown wise, and grown to be a bit more mindful with how (and what) I chose to inhale. Gone are the days of complicated smoking apparatuses and breathing in the burnt sugars of fruit juice or the aluminum vapors of what should firmly remain in the recycling bin.
Nowadays I just want a joint, plain and simple. One that’s all natural. One that burns smooth and evenly. One that is crafted with care and a delicate hand, using paper that’s raw and pure. So when I discovered Canadian Lumber Rolling Papers, I was an instant fan. Based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canadian Lumber offers three unique rolling papers - The Woods, The Greens and The Hippy - all completely natural, unbleached and unrefined, with intact fibres that you can actually see in each paper. Designed with the “mindful smoker” in mind, all three burn slow, smooth, and are a joy to roll with. We reached out to Beau-Brandon Cleeton, CEO and founder of Canadian Lumber to learn a little more about the company and their collection of all natural papers:
Continued
What inspired Canadian Lumber and how did it get started?
Well the idea started at a friend's place when I asked if he had any papers. As I’m choosing a pack from a wide selection I realized they were all American brands. Why wasn't there even one Canadian brand? That was the moment when I felt I needed to do this.
That’s where the idea spawned from, but the real inspiration came once I started doing the research and product development. I learned real quick that Canada and the U.S don't have regulations for what can and can not be used to create rolling papers. That’s why you have some brands with products that have high levels of bleach, chalk, lead, arsenic and even asbestos.
I felt the need to make a paper that I would be proud to use. I wanted to make a paper that was clean and I knew I had to be as transparent as possible about the process. I wanted everyone to ask questions about what was being used to make their papers.
Can you describe the process of creating your papers?
Most papers on the market are refined and overly processed. We are the exact opposite. The pulp of most papers looks sort of like a smooth yogurt. This is because it’s bleached white and heavily blended to the point that it’s smooth and almost strainable. While our pulp looks more like oatmeal with wet caterpillar cocoons, unrefined and all natural. This does a number of things, but keeping the fibers intact is a necessary step in maintaining the all natural paper. The other major part of the process is water. Your sourced materials could be clean but if you use water that carries heavy metals and other contaminants your paper will hold them. Making sure the water source is clean is a key step in the paper making process.
Why is all-natural important?
Nature knows best. It’s simple really, we have the tendency to complicate things. I remember in grade school making paper as a class project. Now it wasn’t anything fancy and it was super thick but I bring this up because we as children made paper without any harmful chemicals or additives. So why is the rolling paper industry adding so much crap that’s bad for us in a product that we inhale?
Can you describe a “Mindful Smoker”?
A Mindful smoker is an individual who cares about what they consume. Someone who carefully chooses the cannabis that they smoke. They put effort into how they select their cannabis and what factors matter to them. When we see this type of person, we know that they also care what their cannabis is wrapped in. If you care about your cannabis, you should care about your consumption tools.
If you have a chance to support a small Canadian business like Canadian Lumber, do it. The Canadian cannabis industry has been going through some pretty big changes lately and we can all do our part to support it. It’s grown up before our eyes and matured into a sophisticated business with sophisticated smokers, like you and me. We care more about what we smoke and how we smoke it. We all grow up, and we all deserve to smoke the best.
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