Weed & Cannabis Cigars: 4 Best Marijuana Cigars Reviewed [2022]
If you haven’t noticed by now, pot can be used to create just about any kind of product – chocolates, candies, thc lotions, weed tea, kief edibles, bottles of water… if it can be infused with oils and flavor, chances are someone is infusing it with cannabis, too.
That being said, plenty of luxury cannabis companies are popping up with innovative products and newer, more decadent ways to consume your bud. One option for a luxurious product that will have you seeing space is the cannabis cigar, aptly known as the “cannagar.” Imagine bringing a box of those next time your best friend has a baby – you’re upgraded to the role of godparent immediately.
What is a Cannabis Cigar?
Cannagars are basically extra large joints that offer fatter hits are full flavor, are packed with premium flower, rolled in resin, hash, or another concentrated cannabis product, then rolled in cannabis leaves and left to cure. It’s one way to include nearly every part of the plant in your product.
Cannagars typically involve several layers of plant material, so the price can vary from \$100 for a small cannagar to hundreds or even thousands for a luxury piece made with the finest top shelf ingredients. But with that much potency packed into each hit, chances are it will take you some time to smoke the whole thing down, giving you plenty of time to savor it.
Best Cannabis Cigar Brands
There are many different weed cigar brands on the market, but not all are created equal. We’ve tried some cannagars that taste as smooth and rich as they hit, while others leave you with a bad taste in your mouth wishing you just went for the extra large blunt. When you’re spending possibly hundreds of dollars on a 6-inch cigar, that’s not a risk you’re going to want to make. Here are some of our top recommendations for when you want to get your hands on a quality cannagar.
Lobo brands itself as the “ultimate craft cannabis experience.” Their premium, hand-crafted cannagars are made with top shelf organic indoor grown flower, selected according to terpenes and potency. They’ve created a system of stages that each batch of cigars go through in the curing process to ensure their quality standards are met every time, with a minimum 2-week aging time depending on the size and batch of cigars. If you have a humidor, the curing time can be extended (if you can handle the wait).
One of the cool things about Lobo is that they experiment with different drying and curing techniques to create what they call “easter egg” cannagars, which are made with colorful leaves and patterns and available in their custom boxes.
Leira creates beautifully crafted, hand-rolled cannagars that are made using organic Gold Leaf cannabis flower that’s glazed with an all-natural, solvent-free rosin, then wrapped and sealed with leaves that are cured for at least one month. They smoke amazing and you can find and purchase their products in dispensaries across the state of Washington.
Artisan Canna Cigars offers premium handcrafted cannagars and “thai stick”, cigars that are made on a wooden stick and wrapped with layers of cannabis plant materials. If you’re in the California area and want to learn how to make your own cannagars, follow Artisan Canna Cigars on Instagram to find one of their workshops on crafting your own weed cigars.
E4P cannabis cigars are made in San Diego with locally grown flower from expert growers, which is molded into a cigarillo-shaped core and then rolled in a solvent-free extract. The cigars are then wrapped in washed and dried fresh cannabis leaves and cured for a minimum of 30 days in high-quality humidors. E4P maintains strict quality guidelines that each cigar must pass after it is cured to ensure a clean, smooth smoke every time.
Cannagar Price: How Much Is It?
Cannagars can range in price for $25 for a simple weed cigar like those sold by Lobo, to well over $100 or $200 for a luxury cannagar, such as the luxury products by Leira. For a truly premium experience, expect to spend at least $100 for a cannagar that’s made with high-quality bud and rolled in all the best trimmings.
Where To Buy A Cannagar?
You can purchase cannagars in dispensaries as well as online for local pickup or delivery. If you live in a state where medical or recreational marijuana is legal, anyone over the age of 21 can enter a dispensary and purchase products like cannagars. We recommend using the Weedmaps app to browse the menus at your local dispensaries to see who has cannagars available.
If you live in a state where only medical marijuana is legal, you will need a state-issued medical marijuana card in order to enter a dispensary and purchase products on the legal market.
How to Make a Cannagar
Making your own cannabis cigar definitely takes some skill and experience with different pot products and plant materials, but much like rolling a joint, a little practice goes a long way and with some of our tips you’ll find yourself creating crafty cigars in no time.
Here’s what you’ll need to make a cannagar:
- Fresh or slightly cured cannabis flowers
- Hemp or bamboo skewers
- Twine or another type of binding cord
- tincture oil or wax
- Fresh pot fan leaves
- Remove any stems from your buds.
- Firmly shape your buds around the stem of the skewer in the desired length of the cigar. Press firmly enough to shape them against the wood, but avoid packing them down so tightly that it prevents air flow.
- Bind the flower in place with your twine. Don’t worry about making it pretty, this will be removed before you smoke your cigar.
- Wrap the bud, skewer, and twine in parchment paper and allow it to harden in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
- Remove the sticks from the fridge and undo the twine. The flower should be hard enough to retain its shape without the twine at this point.
- Prepare your pot leaves by laying them out for rolling.
- Lightly coat your stick in the cannabis oil. This will require gloves and patience, as you’re basically adding glue to your flower.
- Wrap the leaves around the stick, using the oil to adhere them. Repeat this until the glue is covered and the stick is completely covered in leaves.
- Store in an airtight container. After 5-7 days, repeat the process with the oil and leaves, and then again after a few more days of curing.
- Cure the final product for a minimum of 2 weeks. The longer you cure it, the smoother your smoke will be.
- Light it up!
What To Know Before Buying a Cannabis Cigar
When buying weed cigars, brands will often try to lure you with flashy packaging and clever promises, but it’s important to do a little research to ensure you’re getting a product that’s as high-quality and pure as it appears. If you’re making your own cannagars, this applies to sourcing your own materials as well.
First, make sure all the cannabis materials, including the flowers in the core, the extract dip, and the leaves used to wrap it, are grown and harvested organically. The last thing you want when enjoying a luxurious cannagar is to inhale unnecessary chemicals, pesticides, solvents, or other residues.
It’s also important to consider the type of weed resin used to roll the core. For the highest quality, purest resin, look for one that’s extracted from organic plants using a solvent-free, butane-free supercritical CO2 extraction method. The resin should be pure plant extract that’s free of chemicals and residual solvents.
Lastly, you’ll want your cigars wrapped in organic cannabis leaves that have been washed and dried before the wrapping. This will remove any dirt, dust, or other impurities. If they’re organic, you know they haven’t been sprayed with any questionable chemicals.
We hope this makes it a little easier for you to find a quality cannagar, whether you’re shopping or making one yourself.
Have you tried a cannagar or made your own? Share your experience in the comments!
Cannagar Mold
If you're interested in making your own cannagars, one of the easiest ways to do it is with a pre-shaped mold. Cannagar molds are a rolling device designed to evenly portion your weed and help you roll your paper and/or leaves into a perfectly shaped cigar. You can buy molds in various sizes at Purple Rose Supply.
Cannagar Press
A cannagar press is designed to help cure your cigar after it has been rolled in a mold. If you like your cannagars tightly packed and you plan on using leaves as part of the wrapper, you’ll want a press to help curate everything into place.
Cannagar Kit
Cannagar kits have both a mold and a press in one, so you can complete the entire process with one handy device. This dual-cavity cannagar mold and press kit is a low-cost rolling device that’s great for beginners.
Thai Sticks vs. Cannabis Cigars
If you like Cannagars, then you must try a Thai stick. Although similar in a few ways, they promise much more potency and add a craft flair to the Cannagar scene. Cannabis cigars are not for everyone, but nobody can turn down a Thai stick. It hits hard. It hits fast. One of these babies can smoke for a surprisingly long time up to two hours.
There are two primary differences between cannagars and thai sticks. As the name suggests, a Thai stick has a literal stick skewered through its center. A kebab stick, to be exact, or a skewer, if you like. They are handmade joys of art, wrapped in cannabis leaf and glued with potent extracts. Unlike cigars, Thai sticks sometimes come dusted with kief, hash, and other decorative concentrates.
You can make Thai sticks yourself. At between $50 and $100 a pop, many people are constructing them at home, even if these knockout delights are worth every dollar ever spent. A kebab of tightly compressed buds cured to perfection, lovingly rolled, and sprinkled with added potency ready for your smoking convenience, well, that deftly explains the dreams of every weed connoisseur.
What Is A Thai Stick
Originally, “Thai Stick” was a strain of marijuana grown by northeastern hill tribes in Thailand back in the 1970s. It was of exceptionally high quality, some of the best at the time. Traditionally, these tribes would tie their buds together by wrapping them in silk line around either hemp stalks or bamboo sticks. This is how the name came to be. Back in those days, Thai sticks would come dipped in opium.
During the Vietnam War, surfers deflecting to Thailand were moving shipments of Thai sticks into the United States from farms in northeast Thailand. Considered “Draft Dodgers,” these war-avoiding wave-hunters created one of the biggest, most complex smuggling networks in history. They also have the honor of introducing the United States to one of the trippiest rides imaginable.
Today’s Thai sticks contain pure cannabis. Buds, concentrates, leaves, even the string is hemp wick, nothing else. Keeping the basic method of tying weed to a stick, creative types have transitioned this old-school style into the mind-melting sticks you see today. As weed explorers continue to improve on the original concept, These are sure to become ever more potent.
How To Make a Thai Stick
Making one is a very time-consuming process. You have to leave it to dry and set a few times throughout. Fortunately, it is not difficult to do. When you have four or five high-quality nugs, skewer them onto a kebab stick. Without squashing the buds, pack them tightly together and fill any gaps with small, popcorn buds. Set a few cannabis leaves aside to cure.
Then, wrap the skewered buds semi-tightly with hemp wick. Not so tightly that you damage the buds, but just enough to keep it firm. Place in a paper bag and store somewhere cool and dry for at least five days, preferably a week. Afterward, cut the ends off the cured weed leaves and unwrap the hemp wick. Melt the cannabis concentrate into a glue-like consistency.
Paint the “marijuana glue” onto the leaves and coil them tightly around the buds. The goal is to create a rolled skin, without gaps, to make smoking it easy, much like a cigarette or a cigar. Glue all leaf ends down and then rewrap, less tightly, in hemp wick again. Leave it in a brown paper bag for another full week. When ready to smoke, remove the hemp wick, pull the stick out, and light it with a blowtorch.
Cannabis Cigars: FAQs
Most frequent questions and answers
Your cannagar can be lit just like a cigarette or joint. Put the cannagar to your mouth, bring the flame to the other end and lightly inhale until the end is fully lit.
Depending on the size of your cannagar, it can can contain anywhere from 1 gram of flower to 5 grams of flower for a large cigar.
Cannagars are similar to smoking a joint, but typically much more potent so you will not need very much in order to get high. The combination of dried bud, pot leaves, and rosin or concentrate means the THC content is higher than a bowl or joint, making this more of an indulgent smoke that’s perfect for passing around a circle of friends.
Yes, you can roll a cannagar the same day you plan on smoking it. The longer you let your cannagar cure the better it will stay together, so stick to smaller sizes if you only plan on curing for a couple hours.
This will depend on the type of mold you buy. Typically, these products are made to help you pack your bud evenly, while also wrapping them in rosin-coated leaves. The device will use a shaft and packing tool to pack your bud into a cigar shape that’s optimal for curing and smoking.