Rose petal cones are a fun holiday novelty, but are they safe for consumers?
Table of Contents
Disclosure: At Cannabis Tech (cannabistech.com), we accept contributed content and guest posts from industry professionals. A nominal fee is charged to cover our time and administrative tasks associated with reviewing and publishing contributed content. However, it is important to note that all contributed content must meet our rigorous Editorial Guidelines to ensure quality and relevance. We value the contributions from industry experts and strive to provide our readers with informative and insightful content. If you have any questions or concerns about our contributed content process, please feel free to contact us.
Rose petal cones are likely popping up in the dispensary section of many area dispensaries; after all, it’s that time of year, and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Pre-rolls are one of the most customizable products in the cannabis industry, so they are the perfect canvas for creating unique or limited items—especially around the holidays.
From a purely marketing standpoint, incorporating rose petal cones into a joint seems like a good idea. Besides the obvious connection to Valentine’s Day, the pre-roll market is a rapidly growing competitive space, and producers are constantly looking for new ways to distinguish themselves. Going with a different type of rolling paper is an easy way to make your pre-roll brand stand out; however, not everything is as it seems with these “rose petal pre-rolled cones.”
ROSE PETAL CONTAMINATION
The real concern with rose petal cones involves contaminants like pesticides, heavy metals, and even microbials. There are strict testing requirements in most cannabis markets; however, some markets are only requiring that the cannabis be tested for things like heavy metals, pesticides, and mold – not the cone the flower is packed in. This means the paper surrounding the cannabis in a pre-roll will not be tested before it is consumed.
Even worse – there are no regulations around empty cones, blunt wraps, etc., in the consumer product space. That means if you buy empty rose cones from a local headshop, those have never been tested! Quality rolling papers typically do not have an issue with passing tests for contamination because most of these papers go through a refinement process. Rose petal cones and other natural products like palm leaf blunts are different. Since roses and palm leaves are natural and farmed, many risks exist.
It is tough to grow roses without pesticides, and considering most people are growing roses solely for their visual appeal, there isn’t an issue with using them. The issue comes when you want to smoke those flowers. As well as pesticides, the petals can carry heavy metals that they absorb from the soil, and, as a natural product, the petals carry a lot of moisture and can easily grow microbials during production and shipping.
The scary truth is there are most likely pesticides, heavy metals, and/or mold in your rose petal cones.
“We have done extensive sourcing and testing on rose petal cones and have yet to find a reliable option that will meet cannabis testing standards,” says Harrison Bard, CEO of CustomConesUSA.com. “You might find one in a batch that will pass testing, but it’s next to impossible to find an entire lot of rose petal cones that will reliably pass testing and be safe for customers to smoke.”
ROSE PETAL CONES FROM THE PRODUCER’S PERSPECTIVE
As a business, rose cones are too inconsistent and dangerous for production. In addition to having a concern for your customer’s health, using rose petal papers in your pre-rolls will put you at risk for product recalls, fines, and ruining the reputation of your company, and your reputation is all your brand has in this highly regulated market.
Yes, it is possible to source clean rose petals; however, because it takes so much more effort for rose producers to do it organically, the price you’d pay to get them would not make much sense for a cannabis producer. This is why many cannabis and paper producers have moved away from using real rose petals and, instead, have resorted to infusing other papers with a rose scent or extract. You might still find “real rose” on the packaging, but it’s probably not the rose petals you’re getting.
“We are still looking for a safe and reliable source of rose petal cones, but in the meantime, we have plenty of other festive options to create unique pre-roll products for Valentine’s day, like our printed heart paper cones,” explains Harrison.
At the end of the day, if you are looking to create a product that will stand out from the competition and delight the consumer enough so they’ll come back again, you want to make sure it is something that will get to them (pass testing) and be enjoyable to smoke. So, make sure you do your due diligence when sourcing your materials to ensure you give your customers something they’ll enjoy.
