Thinner, Darker, Curved: The Evolution of Rolling Papers

Paper is not just paper; and perhaps there is no other segment within the tobacco industry where this simple adage holds more truth than among rolling paper companies. TOBACCO ASIA peeks at what’s currently trending in the product segment.

By Thomas Schmid

Rolling papers don’t seem to be a very exciting product, yet they increasingly are becoming a much sought-after accessory in a world where retail prices for ready-to-smoke cigarettes continue to skyrocket.

Of course, there always have been consumers who preferred self-rolling their smokes, but in that tax-heavy environment, their numbers are now steadily rising. European premium brands like Rizla, OCB, Miquel y Costas, RAW, Gizeh, and Zig-Zag have traditionally dominated the global market, but in recent years a number of new Chinese firms have caught up fast.

This is somewhat surprising because, strictly speaking, rolling tobacco is illegal in mainland China, where the market is tightly controlled by the state monopoly, China Tobacco. Hence, local rolling paper manufacturers have no choice but to primarily focus on exports. And in order to wrestle some market shares from the big European brands, they must deliver a product that is both of high quality and innovative.

The right paper for the right experience

Based in China, SK Concepts DBA was founded in 2011 and is among these new Chinese trailblazers.

“Paper is definitely not just paper,” insists the company’s managing director, Sam Chattlani. “The right paper is key to the whole smoking experience, and it is why you are currently seeing a whole shift in the global market towards ever thinner papers.” Chattlani knows what he is talking about. Like most other manufacturers worth their salt, SK Concept banks on extra thin papers with a weight of just 15gsm (grams per square meter) and less, whereas the previous production standard usually settled at weights of between 20 and 25gsm. “In fact, our thinnest 100% natural and unbleached hemp paper weighs in at only 13gsm,” he says. “Thinner papers tamper less with the flavor profile of tobacco.”

One size doesn’t fit all

SK Concepts also understands perfectly well that in the rolling paper business the outdated moniker “one size fits all” does not apply. Consumers demand a choice. “Hence, we offer different paper blends, sizes, and shapes. It is all about making sure the customer has the best possible smoking experience.”

A variety of paper and packaging formats gives the company the crucial marketing edge, particularly when considering that consumers in different regions appear to have certain preferences. “Middle Easterners lean towards longer and wider papers; South Americans generally prefer longer papers but with a narrower width; and North Americans normally go for short and narrow papers,” Chattlani elaborates. ”As a small company, we are able to listen to our customers and provide them with what they need and want rather than dictate to them what they can have and what not.” Another key trend that has emerged in the rolling papers arena in recent years are unbleached papers and natural gums. “Modern consumers tend to gravitate towards natural blends of tobacco, therefore they also want their rolling papers to be as natural as possible,” Chattlani observes.

Thinner is younger

Although the company’s core business is to supply OEM clients with custom-designed private label brands, SK Concepts also markets its own brand, Power Papers. “Our key market is North America, where we are facing a generation shift in the RYO paper industry,” Chattlani says. “The older generations [of rollers] may still be content with basic 20 to 25gsm bleached papers. But that is no longer the case with the younger generation.

They want all-natural smoking solutions packaged into a premium product.” While also being available in the Middle East, SK Concepts so far hasn’t established a presence in northern Africa. “But we are eyeing places like Morocco and Libya, as there is a growing younger population that is getting more and more influenced by the West. I strongly believe they will start demanding premium papers and look for more than just plain booklets.” India, on the other hand, is one market that SK Concepts wouldn’t even dream of entering. “India is awash with counterfeit products. It’s just too much of a risk for us,” Chattlani has resolved.

Reaching for the moon

Another Chinese company, Moon (Shanghai) International Trading Co. Ltd., has likewise created quite some buzz in overseas markets; and not least because of its congenial company founder and general manager, Thomas Liu. He is determined to prove that not all of China’s rolling paper manufacturers are producing sub-standard quality and pump out cheap counterfeits of established brands but that some among them can indeed compete on the world stage with their very own branded quality products. “We are very concerned about customer trust because we are located in China. It leads many potential customers to think that Moon products are sub-quality. They are not and we are working hard on changing that notion,” Liu explains.

Well received in many countries

Liu’s company has accomplished a commendable job in that regard, as the four products within the Moon range (see table) seem to be well received abroad. They are readily available in many Asian countries, as well as in Europe and the MENA region. The latest market the company was able to enter was Portugal in 2018. This year, Moon is also targeting Australia. Sales are generally handled through importers and distribution partners in the respective countries.

And there is, of course, the company’s burgeoning OEM business as well, which in fact generates more than 80% of Moon’s annual sales (the remainder being sales of the proprietary brand). ”For example, we produce private label products for JaJa in the Netherlands and Aleda in Brazil,” Liu discloses, but adds that he cannot mention any other names due to confidentiality reasons. “[Those OEM customers] are not famous global brands, but small or medium-sized brand owners in their [respective] countries and we help them to build up and promote their private labels,” Liu asserts, adding that company’s own proprietary brand is exported to the tune of well 90%.

The China phenomenon

However, that obviously leaves a few percent in Moon papers’ turnover that according to Liu are indeed sold within China. But as we’ve already learned, China Tobacco actually prohibits sales of rolling tobacco in the country, hence there should be practically no sales of rolling papers either. But Liu has an interesting answer ready for this strange phenomenon: “Moon papers are in fact sold in many small village stores across the nation. Moon isn’t selling its rolling papers in China officially, nor is the company pushing its brand there at all. Those sales occur on their own because in fact there always has been a low-level rolling culture persisting in China despite it being illegal.”

Liu continues that although tobacco farmers in rural villages are required to sell their harvests to China Tobacco, they always retain some leaves for their own use. “Hence they need rolling papers,” Liu says. While these more often these country folks resort to rather rudimentary rolling papers (like strips of old newsprint, for example), the better-off ones are apparently going for more sophisticated papers. And that explains those rather surprising sales of Moon and other brands. On the other hand, Liu asserts, it is extremely difficult to find rolling tobacco in most Chinese cities, where the government can maintain much more vigilant controls. “Accordingly, the rolling paper market is practically zero in urban areas.”

But even without these rural gray market sales, Moon has in the meantime matured into the country’s largest rolling paper manufacturer, an extraordinary accomplishment in such a short time span (as the company was only founded in 2011). “We operate four fully automated producing lines that adhere to European standards, our annual capacity being 100 million booklets,” Liu explains. All raw paper is supplied by Mudanjiang Hengfeng Paper Co., Ltd., which is the top manufacturer of cigarette papers as well as tobacco packaging materials in China and in fact the second-largest paper manufacturer for the tobacco industry in the world. “Owing to that superb supplier, the quality of Moon rolling papers is really very good,” reiterates a visibly proud Liu.

A student’s epiphany

Taking a huge leap from China across the Pacific to the US, we venture to the small town of Plainview in the state of New York, home to Curved Papers, Inc., a company whose very name already hints at the nature of its branded product. But in order to understand why it is so noteworthy, Curved Papers’ co-founder and current president, Michael O’Malley, takes us on a little ride back in time.

Sometimes an ingenious idea draws inspiration from an already existing innovation. O’Malley had his epiphany in 1977 when he was a young architecture student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In that year, Zig-Zag had introduced rolling papers with cut corners, which made it easier to use them in Zig-Zag’s portable pocket rolling machines. “I immediately realized that it would be better if that whole edge was curved [instead of just the corners cut],” O’Malley recalls. “So I simply started doing exactly that with a pair of scissors, naming my new invention ‘Mike O’Malley Designer Rolling Papers’ and trying to impress and amuse fellow students.”

From simple beginnings to a full-blown company

But what began as a student’s modification and improvement of already significant innovation, would eventually turn into a legitimate business quite a number of years hence. For it was in 2014 that O’Malley embarked on more serious research and testing the viability of establishing his own brand of rolling papers brandishing the easy-to-roll curved edge. Later that year, he filed his patent applications and also formed the company.

“Our first product was ready in 2016, launching it in a test market in Toronto, Canada. And everyone loved our curved papers!” he vividly remembers. After that initial, highly encouraging market test, Curved Papers was subsequently also introduced in the US in 2017, enjoying consumer acceptance practically right away. “By 2018 our papers were already commercially sold in 15 cities in North America and we also started internet sales. In 2019, we will be rolling out Curved Papers to more cities, including some in the UK as well as at cannabis and music events across Europe.”

“Green lights” at 100%

So what makes the curved edge so special? “It’s simple,” says O’Malley, “it makes a cigarette so much easier to roll right up, without the paper crinkling, creasing or tearing. It solves the same classic RYO problem as cut corners, but even better! Every actual user of our papers can certainly testify to that.” And that O’Malley is on the right track is proven by the steady sales increases Curved Papers has enjoyed since its launch. “In an innovation career, where I have introduced a number of novel products and solutions, I have never seen 100% ‘green lights’ the way I have with Curved Papers,” he says. Still, Curved Papers currently are so far only retailed in the US (99% of all sales) and Canada (1%). According to O’Malley, the company does not feel ready yet to tackle Europe head on, but will start introducing its products there this year in a sort of “soft launch.”

But regardless of whether a full-blown market expansion to other continents will eventually be on the books or not, the company is not sitting idle, twiddling thumbs. Instead, the product portfolio is being continuously expanded. “We just came out with rice papers in two sizes and hemp papers in KSS format,” O’Malley explains. All are fitted with the iconic curved edge, of course. Furthermore, he and his team are currently working with hemp and bioplastics to make some other ancillary products. “We are an innovation company and the easy-to-roll curved edge is a real advantage that we would like to deploy in future products as well.”

But, isn’t he a tiny bit concerned that some black sheep – and they certainly do exist in the industry - may sooner or later misappropriate his idea and produce copycats? “No,” he says resolutely, “We have the proper IP and have even extended it globally through the PCT and Madrid protocol. We also have a patent litigator. We are tracking the people who are [potentially] capable of knocking us off at scale. Besides, we have long term NDAs in place with most of them.” It’s just as they say: Watch your enemies close, but watch your (perceived) friends even closer.

Pack That Snus!

Unlike chewing tobacco, snus most commonly comes filled into sachets (or pouches) made of permeable cellulose material that somewhat resemble tiny tea bags. To accomplish that job, specialized pouch packing machines are indispensable. One world leader of snus pouch packers is M/S. Sidsam Formilan Machines Pvt. Ltd., an Italian-Indian joint venture established in 2008.

According to director Sunjay Nayyar, his company’s sole markets for snus packing machinery currently are Scandinavia and the US with some sales also going to Central and South Asia. Most recently; Sidsam has also started exporting equipment to Russia to pack non-tobacco snus products. Sidsam’s packing machinery is more reasonably priced when compared to European machines.

Thanks to its many years of engineering expertise, the Sidsam brand certainly is the selection of choice when it comes to reliable equipment. Nayyar asserts that Sidsam offers state-of-the-art machinery for portion snus including a complete automated line to pack loose snus in bags or cans. Furthermore, the line is capable of can filling (either portions or loose snus), capping, labeling, sleeve wrapping, shrink wrapping, and affixing bar code stickers, among other customizable functions.