8-minute read Let's start with a number: $1.2 billion. That's how much illegal cannabis California has seized since Governor Newsom launched his Unified Cannabis Enforcement Task Force (UCETF) in 2022. In 2025 alone, the state nabbed over $609 million worth of illicit weed — an 18-fold increase since the task force's first year. Nearly 400 tons were destroyed. Over 670 search warrant operations. 75 arrests. Sounds impressive, right? Sounds like the system is working? It's not. Because here's the number nobody in Sacramento wants to talk about: roughly 60% of the cannabis consumed in California is still purchased from the unlicensed market. The state's own Department of Cannabis Control estimates that of the 3.8 million pounds consumed annually, only about 1.4 million comes from legal operators. The rest — 2.4 million pounds — flows through a shadow market worth an estimated $10 billion a year. California's licensed dispensaries, by comparison, sold about $4.7 billion in 2024. So let's be clear about what's happening. California is spending enormous resources — multiagency task forces, hundreds of search warrants, SWAT-style operations across dozens of counties — and all it's managed to do is skim roughly 5% off the top of the illegal market each year. Meanwhile, the legal operators who played by the rules, paid their taxes, and jumped through every conceivable regulatory hoop? They're getting crushed from both sides.   The Great Exodus The licensed cannabis industry in California isn't just struggling. It's hemorrhaging. As of early 2025, the state had only 4,805 active cultivation licenses — down 43% from the 8,493 licenses that were active at the end of 2021. In the most recent 12-month reporting period, California lost 740 cultivation licenses — to put that in perspective, that's more licenses than Arizona and Nevada have licenses now outnumber active ones by a ratio of roughly 10,800 to 8,500. And what does the state do in the face of this collapse? It raised the excise tax. On July 1, 2025, combined. Inactive California bumped the cannabis excise tax from 15% to 19% — a 26% hike triggered automatically by a 2022 law that was supposed to "stabilize" things. Genine Coleman, founder of the Origins Council, which represents small growers in the Emerald Triangle, described the mood as a level of collective malaise she'd never experienced before. The timing was almost comical in its cruelty: taxable cannabis sales had already dropped to $1.09 billion for the first quarter of 2025, a 30% decline from their peak in early 2021 and the lowest quarterly figure in five years. For context on just how absurd the taxation situation is, consider what Cal NORML pointed out: the excise tax on a single cannabis pre-roll is $1.24. On a glass of wine? One cent. A glass of beer? Two cents. A shot of liquor? Five to eight cents. A cigarette? Fourteen cents. And when you stack state excise, sales tax, and local cannabis taxes on top of each other, consumers in some California cities were paying up to 48% in total taxes on a legal cannabis purchase during the three months that the 19% rate was in effect. At that rate, it's honestly surprising that anyone was still buying legal. Credit where it's due: Governor Newsom did sign AB 564 in September 2025, rolling the excise tax back to 15% effective October 1. The bill passed the Assembly 76-0 and the Senate 39-1, which tells you just how obviously necessary the rollback was. But the damage from those three months at 19% — and the years of regulatory pain that preceded them — had already been done. As one industry advocate put it: "You can't fund social programs with revenue that doesn't exist." And Then Came the Raids If the tax situation is the slow bleed, the Glass House Farms raid on July 10, 2025, was the gunshot wound. Glass House Brands is — or was, depending on how you look at it — one of California's great cannabis success stories. The company operates up to 6 million square feet of cultivation across its Southern California facilities, making it one of the largest licensed cannabis operations in the state. Its Q1 2025 earnings had impressed analysts, with retail sales up over 18% year-over-year at a time when the broader California market was declining 13%. They were, by most accounts, doing everything right within the legal framework. Then ICE showed up with the National Guard. Federal immigration agents executed search warrants at two Glass House sites — one in Carpinteria, one in Camarillo — and the day descended into chaos. Over 360 people were arrested at the two locations. Smoke bombs and flash grenades were deployed into crowds of community members and elected officials who had gathered in protest. A U.S. Congressman was denied entry. Twelve people total were hurt, with eight hospitalized.  And a 57-year-old farmworker named Jaime Alanis Garcia was in progress and fell 30 feet from a greenhouse roof while the raid died from his injuries days later. His family said he was hiding from federal agents when he fell. He'd been working on the farm for a decade.  The Department of Homeland Security characterized the raid as an immigration enforcement action and claimed to have found migrant children on site — allegations that Glass House vigorously disputed. The company pointed out that the California Department of Cannabis Control had conducted a site visit in May 2025 and observed no minors. Glass House also stated it had always paid competitive, legal wages, with farm labor contractors averaging about $18.60 per hour — over 12% above California's minimum wage.  None of that mattered when the federal agents came. The financial fallout was immediate. Glass House executives told investors that third-quarter revenue would be between $35 and $38 million — roughly $25 to $30 million below where the company had been tracking before the raids. Full-year 2025 revenue was expected to drop about 15% from prior projections. Greenhouse expansion plans were delayed. Construction on a new facility was shelved.   And here's the thing that should make every cannabis operator's blood run cold: Glass House was a licensed, state-legal operation. They were one of the good guys, at least by California's rules. But cannabis remains federally illegal, and as long as that's the case, every licensed operator in every legal state is one warrant away from this kind of destruction. The company has since hired former ICE Director Julie Myers Wood as a compliance consultant, moved all workers to E-Verify, and signed a labor peace agreement with the Teamsters. Glass House's COO told investors he'd rather have "first-mover advantage" on these compliance measures than be caught flat-footed again. Which is a pragmatic move, but also kind of a grim thing to have to say about running a business that's entirely legal under state law.   The Absurdity Machine So let's zoom out and look at the full picture.  California legalized recreational cannabis in 2016 via Proposition 64 — a law that voters enthusiastically supported. The promise was straightforward: create a regulated market, generate tax revenue for education and public health, and shrink the illegal market. Nearly a decade later, here's where things stand: The illegal market still dominates. Six out of ten cannabis sales happen outside the regulated system. Cultivation licenses have dropped 43% in three years. Taxable sales are at a five-year low. Over 57% of California cities don't allow any retail cannabis businesses, giving the state one of the lowest dispensary-per-capita rates in the country among legal states. California led the nation with 12,600 cannabis jobs lost in 2023 and another 5,000 in 2024 And while all of this is happening, the state is spending hundreds of millions on multiagency enforcement operations that, by the state's own metrics, seize the equivalent of a rounding error's worth of the total illegal supply. The operations generate impressive-sounding press releases — "Operation Grab Bag" seized 2.2 million pieces of illegal cannabis packaging in LA's Toy District! — but the math doesn't change. Two-thirds of the market is still illicit. Licensed operators keep closing. Something is very, very broken. What Would Actually Help To be clear: the Blazer isn't saying enforcement against genuinely illegal operations is wrong. The unlicensed market creates real problems — untested products, environmental damage from illegal grows, labor exploitation, and the involvement of transnational criminal organizations. All of that is bad.  But the current approach is like trying to drain a swimming pool with a teaspoon while somebody else fills it with a garden hose. You're not going to arrest and seize your way out of a $10 billion illegal market. You shrink the illegal market by making the legal market actually competitive.  That means lower taxes. That means fewer regulatory hurdles. That means opening up the 57% of California that still refuses to allow cannabis retail, which forces consumers in those areas to choose between a long drive to a legal dispensary or a quick text to their dealer. It means federal rescheduling — or better yet, descheduling — so that licensed operators aren't living under the constant threat of federal raids and can access normal banking, insurance, and tax deductions like every other legal business in America. Michigan, with a 10% state excise tax and no additional local cannabis taxes, is regularly pointed to as the model for how this should work. If California had Michigan's per-capita cannabis sales, it would be generating an estimated $13 billion annually — and collecting substantially more tax revenue than it does now. Sometimes the way to make more money is to charge less per transaction and let volume do the work. It's basic economics, and for some reason, Sacramento keeps getting it wrong. The signing of AB 564 was a small step in the right direction, but it's a band-aid on a broken leg. Until California — and the federal government — fundamentally rethinks how it regulates and taxes cannabis, we'll keep seeing the same pattern: press conferences about record seizures, licensed operators going out of business, and working people caught in the crossfire of a war that shouldn't be happening in a state where cannabis has been legal for almost a decade.  

You know the stats. You know RAW is the market leader in natural papers. You know about the proprietary Criss-Cross watermark that prevents runs. You trust the tech. But do you know why the tech works? What is the actual vehicle carrying your smoke from the ember to you? It's the cellulose fiber. The Simple Truth Here's what most people don't realize about the composition of rolling papers: cellulose is the purest form of plant energy, and when you keep it unprocessed, you get the cleanest possible smoke transfer. Think about that. Cellulose is literally what plants use to build themselves; it's nature's construction material, perfected over millions of years of evolution. When RAW creates their additive-free cones from unbleached hemp and flax fibers, they're not inventing something new. They're simply refusing to mess with what nature already got right.   The Audio Cable You Never Expected Think of your rolling paper like an audio cable. Cheap papers (filled with chalk, bleach, and burn additive) are like those flimsy wires that come free with abargain-bin TV. They carry the signal, sure, but they add static, hiss, and interference. You lose the details of the music. The bass gets muddy. The highs get harsh. Cellulose fiber is a gold-plated, high-fidelity audio cable. Because cellulose is a long, continuous chain of glucose molecules—the purest form of plant energy—it conducts the heat of the burn smoothly and evenly. It doesn't create "static" (harsh smoke) or "interference" (bad aftertaste). It simply carries the signal from the source to the receiver with zero loss in quality. The science backs this up. Cellulose consists of long polymer chains, sometimes containing 5,000 to 10,000 glucose units linked together. These chains align side-by-side to form cable-like fibrils strong enough to build everything from delicate flowers to redwood trees. When those same fibers make up your RAW pre rolls, they create a structure that burns consistently and predictably. No hot spots, no runs, no surprises.   An Unexpected Truth About Signal Purity Another thing most people don't think about: the distinctive light brown color of RAW papers isn't a design choice. It's what natural plant fiber actually looks like when you don't try to hide it. Back to our audio cable analogy. When engineers design high-fidelity cables, they obsess over what to leave out. Every unnecessary component is potential interference. Every additive is another place where the signal can degrade. RAW applies the same philosophy. Most rolling papers are white because they've been bleached with chlorine. That bright, "clean" appearance? It's a chemical treatment; interference added to the signal path. RAW skips that step entirely, using unbleached fibers and natural gum from Acacia trees instead of synthetic adhesives. The additive-free approach means saying no at every turn. No chlorine bleaching. No chalk to artificially whiten the paper. No dyes. No burn accelerants. Each "no" is one less source of static between you and what you're actually trying to taste. What you see is what you get: natural cellulose fiber, sealed with tree sap, rolled into a cone. RAW's Organic Hemp papers use certified organic hemp milled in Southern France. The Classic line blends unbleached plant fibers—hemp and flax—into papers thin enough to see through, yet strong enough to hold their shape. That's signal purity. That's high-fidelity.   What Makes It Credible The manufacturing happens in Alcoy, Spain—a region in the mountains north of Alicante where papers have been produced since around 1764. The dry Valencian winds create optimal humidity conditions for paper production. Every RAW paper features a patented Criss-Cross watermark that prevents runs and maintains an even burn. Each paper is so thin you can almost see through it, yet strong enough to hold its shape. The molecular structure of cellulose itself explains why. Those long glucose chains form hydrogen bonds with neighboring chains, creating a rigid, stable network. This is why plant cell walls can withstand internal pressure without breaking. It's why cellulose fibers have high tensile strength, they can be stretched without breaking. When you're smoking, this means consistent burn rates and structural integrity from first puff to last. Every time you choose an additive-free paper, you're choosing not to inhale things that don't need to be there. RAW pre rolls contain no added chalk. No dyes. No harsh chemicals. Just unbleached plant fibers and natural Acacia gum. Your lungs didn't ask for calcium carbonate fillers. Your taste buds didn't request chemical burn accelerants. And your experience shouldn't include interference from substances that have nothing to do with what you actually want to smoke.   The Story in Every Cone Picture Josh Kesselman in 2004, investing $1 million into natural, unbleached hemp fiber when the entire industry was racing toward cheaper, faster, more processed alternatives. Everyone else was cutting corners. He was cutting chemicals. That decision—to slow down, to invest more, to wait that extra 24 hours for the gum to dry—created a category. It proved there was demand for something real in a market full of shortcuts. Every RAW cone tells that story. Not through words, but through what's absent: no bleach residue, no chalk dust, no chemical interference. Just cellulose doing what cellulose does—carrying the signal with zero loss in quality   Green Blazer is your go-to source for premium RAW cones and pre-roll supplies. Whether you're a casual smoker or stocking up for the long haul, we've got the cones to match your style. Shop our complete RAW Cones collection or check out our RAW Cones Size Chart to find your perfect fit.

Ever wondered if cannabis makes you more creative? Take a look at what we found in the fuckstorm of research on cannabis and creativity.

The bartender slides a glass across the counter. "Fortaleza Blanco," he says. "No caramel. No glycerin. No sweeteners. Just agave, water, and time." You nod. You know exactly what he means. You've spent the last few years learning to read labels, avoiding mass-market bottles that mask their shortcuts with additives. You've developed a palate for the real thing—the earthy pepper, the bright citrus, the mineral finish that only comes from 100% Blue Weber agave processed the traditional way. Now here's a question: Why does that same discernment disappear when you reach for a pre-rolled cone? The Movement You're Already Part Of Something is happening across every category of consumables. Call it the purity movement. Call it the transparency revolution. Call it consumers finally demanding to know what's actually in their products. In tequila, it's the explosive rise of additive-free bottles. Mexican regulation NOM-006 allows producers to add up to 1% of their volume in caramel coloring, glycerin, oak extract, and sweeteners without disclosure. For years, drinkers had no idea their "100% agave" tequila was being manipulated to taste smoother, sweeter, or more artificially "aged." Then the curtain got pulled back. Brands like Fortaleza, G4, El Tesoro, and Tequila Ocho started loudly proclaiming what they weren't adding. Third-party verification emerged. Enthusiast communities began sharing lab results. Suddenly, "additive-free" became the mark of authenticity, and consumers responded by paying premium prices for purity. The same revolution happened in pre-rolled cones. And the science behind it comes down to one word: cellulose. The Additive Problem Nobody Talks About Here's what most smokers don't realize: the rolling paper industry has its own version of caramel coloring and glycerin. Standard papers often contain calcium carbonate (chalk) to make them appear whiter. Potassium nitrate to accelerate burn rate. Dyes for color consistency. Chlorine bleach to strip natural fibers of their brown hue. Some colored and flavored papers have even been found to contain heavy metal contamination. These aren't disclosed on packaging. They're industry-standard "processing aids" that consumers never think to question, just like tequila drinkers never questioned why their añejo tasted like vanilla syrup until someone pointed out it was literally flavored with vanillin extract. RAW pre-rolled cones took the additive-free approach before the term was trendy. No chalk. No dyes. No chlorine. No burn accelerants. Just plant cellulose fiber—the structural material that forms the cell walls of every green plant on Earth—sealed with natural acacia gum. The result is paper that does exactly one thing: carry your smoke from ember to you without adding anything to the experience. Cellulose: The Agave of Rolling Papers Here's where the tequila parallel gets interesting. In additive-free tequila, what you're tasting is terroir—the mineral character of Jalisco soil, the slow-cooked sweetness of mature agave, the subtle influence of wild yeast fermentation. When producers remove the artificial sweeteners and flavoring agents, the plant speaks for itself. Cellulose fiber works the same way. Pure cellulose is a long-chain polymer of glucose molecules, essentially crystalline plant sugar with no flavor and no aroma. When RAW processes hemp stalks into paper, they're isolating these glucose chains and weaving them into sheets so thin they're nearly translucent. What they're removing matters as much as what they're keeping. Standard paper production leaves in lignin, the aromatic compound that gives wood its structure but releases harsh, smoky flavors when burned. That "papery" taste you've experienced with cheap rolling papers? That's lignin combustion interfering with your session, the same way caramel coloring interferes with a tequila's true agave character. RAW's unbleached cellulose fiber retains its full molecular integrity while shedding the compounds that would compete with your flower's terpene profile. The paper becomes invisible. Your strain—like single-estate agave—gets to express itself fully.   Why Discerning Consumers Choose Both The person ordering Tequila Ocho at the bar and the person loading RAW pre-rolled cones at home are often the same person. And that's not coincidence, but a philosophy. They've learned that purity requires intention. Mass-market products cut corners because consumers don't know to ask questions. They add sweeteners because sweetness sells to undeveloped palates. They use chalk and bleach because white paper "looks cleaner" even when it's chemically more processed. But once you've tasted a blanco that's pure agave—peppery, earthy, alive with character—you can't go back to artificially smoothed spirits that taste like vanilla extract and simple syrup. And once you've smoked through a RAW cone made from nothing but plant cellulose and tree sap, you notice every off-note in papers that contain burn additives and processing chemicals. Your palate evolves. Your standards rise. You start reading labels or researching brands that don't require labels because they've built their reputation on transparency. The Cellulose Difference You Can Actually Feel Pick up a RAW pre-rolled cone. Notice how impossibly thin it is. Notice how you can almost see through to your material inside. That translucency isn't a gimmick. It's proof. The paper is thin because it doesn't need chalk or fillers to hold together. The cellulose fibers are strong enough on their own—interlocked chains of glucose molecules providing tensile strength the same way they hold up flower stems and tree trunks in nature. Now light it. Notice the slow, even burn; no runs, no canoeing, no racing down one side. That's the patented criss-cross watermark working in concert with intact cellulose fiber to regulate combustion. Finally, taste. Notice what's missing: no papery harshness, no chemical interference, no off-notes competing with your flower's flavor profile. What you're experiencing is the rolling paper equivalent of additive-free tequila. A pure vessel that disappears, letting the contents express themselves completely. The Standard Is Changing Five years ago, "additive-free" wasn't a category in the spirits aisle. Now it's a movement driving premiumization across the entire tequila industry. Consumers demanded transparency, and producers responded. The same shift is accelerating in pre-rolled cones. More smokers are asking what's actually in their papers. More brands are being forced to justify their processing methods. And products built on purity, like RAW's plant cellulose fiber cones, are becoming the benchmark against which everything else is measured. Here's the bottom line: if you wouldn't put caramel-colored, glycerin-sweetened mixto tequila in your glass, why would you put chalk-filled, chlorine-bleached paper between you and your flower? Purity is purity. The category doesn't matter. The standard does.     Ready to elevate your smoking experience? Green Blazer offers premium RAW cones and accessories for every type of smoker. New to cones or curious about sizing? Our RAW Cones Size Chart breaks it all down. If you're stocking a dispensary or need bulk quantities, check out our wholesale page for competitive pricing. Got questions? Reach out anytime—we're happy to help. Frequently Asked Questions What is cellulose fiber in rolling papers? Cellulose fiber is the structural material found in plant cell walls, made of long chains of glucose molecules. In RAW pre-rolled cones, purified cellulose fiber provides strength and clean burn characteristics without added chemicals or flavor-interfering compounds. Why are RAW cones considered additive-free? RAW pre-rolled cones contain no chalk, no dyes, no chlorine bleach, and no burn accelerants. They're made from unbleached plant cellulose fiber and sealed with natural acacia gum—similar to how additive-free tequilas use only agave, water, and yeast. How does the additive-free tequila movement relate to pre-rolled cones? Both movements prioritize purity and transparency. Additive-free tequila rejects caramel coloring, sweeteners, and artificial flavoring to let agave express itself naturally. RAW pre-rolled cones reject chemical processing to let your flower's terpene profile come through unaltered. Do additives in rolling papers affect taste? Yes. Standard papers containing lignin, chalk, and burn accelerants can release harsh flavors and interfere with your smoking experience. Pure cellulose fiber burns neutral, allowing you to taste only what you've packed inside.