How to Make a Crutch, Tip, or Filler for Joints

Learning how to make a crutch can help ease your dread of rolling the perfect joint. A crutch, also sometimes referred to as a filter or tip, is essentially a mouthpiece for your joint.

Knowing how to make a decent crutch is something that everyone should learn. Some smokers believe that you can’t roll the perfect joint without learning how to roll a crutch first!

Benefits of Making a Crutch

Before we get into how to make a crutch, it can be helpful to learn why they’re so useful. Learning how to make a crutch offers many benefits, like:

• Helps the joint maintain its straight shape
• Prevents cannabis from getting into your mouth
• Makes it easier to use the roach without burns
• Helps keep the joint open
• Prevents a soggy tip
• Allows you to smoke more of the joint without a roach clip

If you’re familiar with a roach clip, a crutch serves a similar purpose.

Perhaps the best advantage of a crutch is that it helps prevent burnt flowers or buds from touching your lips or getting into your mouth. Joints use thinner paper than blunts do, which can lead to them easily losing their shape or to bud getting into your mouth or falling out.

How to Make a Crutch

Crutches are simple to make, even if you haven’t rolled a joint before. You can easily make a crutch with the following steps:

Step 1 - Collect Materials

First, you’ll need certain materials to make a crutch. Crutches are usually made with paper because that’s the material that is easiest to work with. A crutch can also be made with silicone or glass materials. Chances are, if you’re making your own, paper is the best option. Paper is easier to work with, cheaper, and you’re more likely to have it laying around the house.

We recommend stiff paper, or any type of thick paper that’s easy to work with. You can also use paper materials laying around the house, like a piece of thin cardboard or an index card. You can also buy pre-cut crutch filters. If you’re not using a pre-cut filter, you will need to first cut it to the right size. Try to aim for a piece of paper that is between three inches tall and up to one inch wide. The length affects the width of your crutch.

Step 2- Begin Folding the Paper

Start at one end of the paper, slightly folding it over onto itself. You don’t want the fold to be more than one centimeter in size. Continue doing this for a few folds in a zig zag motion. Aim for about three to four small folds that are 1/8 of an inch. The more folds that you add, the wider the crutch.

Step 3 - Roll the Leftover Paper Around the Folded Part

Use the leftover end of the paper or thin cardboard to roll it around the folded part. It should completely cover the crutch. It’s best to start with more paper than what you need because you can always remove the leftover paper. If the crutch is too wide, you can always unroll it and tear it off at the end. The crutch may feel loose at first, but once you roll it into your joint, it will stop the flowers from falling out.

Step 4- Roll the Crutch into the Joint

Roll the crutch into the middle of the joint by dropping it into the rolling paper. You can shape it by running your finger along each side and compacting the cannabis in it. Put the joint paper in between your fingers and roll the filled joint paper back and forth, into a cone shape.

Take the crutch side and tuck the non-sticky part into the cone to secure it. Once you get to the end of the paper, lick the sticky paper side and roll until you can secure it to the outside of the paper.

Congratulations! You just rolled a crutch.

Crutches can sometimes be loose. However, each time you make one, it will get better

If you hate rolling crutches or find that you don’t want to waste time, it’s possible to buy them pre-rolled. You can also buy a reusable tip. Whereas reusable tips are usually only a couple of dollars per tip, the cost of pre-rolled crutches can be a little more expensive.

Joints can look rough sometimes, but a cannabis crutch and some hard work will help you roll the perfect joint each time.

Want to skip all the prep? Pick up some pre-rolled joints and take the guesswork out of the equation!