A cross joint is the Mona Lisa of joints. This rare and epic form of joint was popularized by the 2008 movie Pineapple Express and it is definitely a fun choice for parties where you are smoking with friends. You will without a doubt turn a few heads.
A cross joint consists of the union of two joints fitted together in the shape of a cross. As a result, you have three ends to be lit, so you will enjoy the novel experience of smoking two joints at once. While it may look like a hard technique to master, the process is quite simple.
If you are looking forward to enjoying this heavenly smoking experience, we have the best step by step guide on how to roll a cross joint in just a few minutes.
How to Roll a Cross Joint
Materials:
- Cannabis strain of your preference (use twice the amount you would usually have for a single joint)
- KLIP or grinder of your preference
- Large rolling papers
- Small rolling papers
- Scissors
- Filter tip
- Pin, needle or paperclip
Instructions:
Step 1: Grind your herb
Since you have to roll two joints, a big one and a smaller one, it is important to have enough herb. For instance, a gram and a half of bud can be just enough, depending on the size of your rolling papers.
A KLIP is one of the best grinders you can use to have a perfectly cut herb. However, you can use the regular 2, 3 or 4 piece grinder you have at home. Additionally, you can check this article on which other methods you can use for grinding your herb properly when you don’t have an actual herb grinder. However, because rolling this joint requires a bit extra bud to be ground, we highly recommend trying to use a grinding method that allows you to grind more bud at the time.
Step 2: Place your filter
The filter or crutch establishes the joint’s general shape and size, providing a stable area to hold the joint while arranging the herb. Crutches, or rolling tips, provide a perfect cylinder which makes the process of giving form to the joint even easier. In addition, they also prevent your joints from clogging up, keeps pieces of ground cannabis from falling out, allowing the smoke to flow through. In this sense, it filters out tar and also prevents joints from dissolving in your mouth when it burns down to the end.
To make a perfect filter for the tip of your cross joint, the first thing that you have to do is tear a thin strip from an index card or business card. Fold it three times to make a pleat and roll the rest of the unfolded filter around the folded part of it. It should look like a “W” in a circle at the end.
The width of your joint filter is always a matter of personal preference. Wider ones let more smoke through, which produces a rougher smoke, while thinner ones cool the smoke a bit but run a more probable risk of clogging. This time, because you need to make this filter the tip of the thick joint, your filter should be thick as well.
Step 3: Roll a thick joint
To make the vertical structure of your cross joint, you first have to roll a thick joint. Grab one of the large rolling papers and fill it with your ground herb. This joint should be a bit thicker than you would do for a solo or regular smoking session to make a standing structure.
If you are trying to make this kind of joint for the first time, it will be easier to build up if you have more weed to work with. For that reason, we recommend rolling this first joint fat enough so that it looks more like a blunt than the regular joint you would smoke by yourself. When you roll this fat joint, leave a bit of empty twist at the tip end of it, since it makes your joint easier to light when it is time to smoke.
Step 4: Roll a slim joint
This slim joint will be the crossbar of your cross joint. First, start by grabbing a small rolling paper and rolling a spliff slim enough to pass through the fatter tip of the thick joint you just rolled up. The slimmer you can make this joint, the easier will be to put together the cross joint.
However, try to make it proportional to the size of the thick joint you just did so your final result looks like an actual cross. After you finish rolling this slim joint, do the same you did with the larger one, leaving an empty twist at both ends of your thin joint to make smoking easier later on.
Step 5: Make a hole in the thick joint
After you are done rolling both the thick and the slim joint, take the bigger one and poke a hole at three quarter of the length starting from the bottom of the joint where the crutch is.
Try to be very gentle and careful not to rush while you are doing this. If you don’t have a needle, you can use a pin, a sharpened pencil, a paperclip, or anything that is relatively sharp at the tip. Once the hole on your thick joint reaches both sides and you pass your needle or paperclip completely through it, make the hole just a bit bigger so you can pass your slim joint throughout it as gently as possible.
The hole in your fat joint doesn’t necessarily have to be huge. In fact, the smaller the better, since it will form a better seal when you insert the slim joint into it. Best thing you can do is eye-calculate or measure the size of your slim joint and make the hole in your fat joint just a little bit smaller.
Step 6: Make a hole in the middle of your slim joint
This next step is one of the most important ones to guarantee the even burning of your cross joint. After you are done with doing the hole on your fat joint, pick your slim joint and proceed to make a hole through the middle of it. Same as you did on your thick joint, work the hole to make it slightly bigger.
If you have the legitimate concern about your ground herb falling out of the little hole on your slim joint, wait to poke it until the middle is just about ready to enter the thick joint. That way, you won’t have to worry that much about your weed falling out of the slim joint.
It is really important for us to highlight how important this small hole is in the whole process of rolling a cross joint and the success or failure that you will experience when trying to smoke. This small hole through the slim joint is going to allow the air to flow from the tip of the thick joint to the butt end of the entire cross joint, including the crossed section. If you forget to poke this hole in the slim joint, your cross joint won’t be able to deliver an optimal smoking experience.
Step 7: Place the crossbar joint
Now you are ready to start assembling your cross joint by putting the crossbar in place. Insert one end of the slim joint through the hole of the thick joint. Then, slowly work the slim joint through the larger one using both pulling and pushing while applying soft and gentle rotating movements.
Try not going too fast when you are doing this or you may rip either the slim joint or the thick joint, or even both. What you must look forward to is inserting the slim joint far enough into the thick joint until the small hole you made in the slim joint is completely inside of the thick joint. It is important to remember that that little hole in the slim joint is there for airflow. So, the closest you can get that little hole to the center of the thick joint, the better and evenly your finished cross joint will burn.
Step 8: Seal the air cracks and reinforce
Put your cross joint aside for a moment and grab your scissors and two more rolling papers. Next, cut the glue strips off the rolling papers and wrap them around the area where your thin joint passes through your thick joint. This will give your Cross joint a bit more of a structural reinforcement, but is primarily used to seal any air cracks that can compromise the final burning.
The reason why you need to seal this area is because when you inhale your cross joint, the air and smoke will leak out the sides rather than traveling from the burning ends to your mouth. For obvious reasons, this makes it extremely difficult to get a good hit.
Step 9: Light it
Now that you’ve sealed your cross joint air cracks, you are ready to light it up. Lighting up a cross joint is almost the same as lighting a regular joint but repeatedly. All you have to do is light the empty twist on the thick joint, gently puff on the butt end, and then light the twist ends of the slim joint. Continue to take small pulls as you do this.
Instead of doing an empty twist on the ends of your joints, you can also pack them with the help of a pencil or the removable flint of your clipper lighter and then just burn up the remaining paper. However, we recommend to use the empty twist end method to prevent ground weed falling off your joints as you assemble the cross joint. Plus, the empty twists at the ends of the joints burn easier than the weed itself, and they will stay lit while you light the remaining ends.