Let’s Be Blunt: Cannabis Is Missing a $67 Million Pre-Roll Opportunity

Pre-rolls may be the fastest-growing product category in cannabis, but new research suggests the industry’s most popular segment may be built on incomplete data, and a major growth opportunity is hiding in plain sight.

According to a new market report from Custom Cones USA, developed in partnership with Headset and New Frontier Data, roughly one in three cannabis consumers (33%) say blunts are their preferred way to smoke.

Yet when retailers and investors look at standard sales dashboards, pre-rolled blunts appear almost invisible, representing less than 1% of reported pre-roll sales.

That disconnect isn’t a matter of taste. It’s a matter of tracking.

When Consumer Behavior and Sales Data Don’t Match

On paper, blunts look niche. In reality, they’re anything but.

Custom Cones USA’s analysis found that the top 200 blunt-labeled products alone generated more than $67 million in sales in 2025, totaling nearly 3.5 million units sold. That figure excludes a large portion of infused blunt-style products, which are often categorized under “infused pre-rolls” or “connoisseur” segments rather than blunts, effectively fragmenting the data.

The result?

Retailers under-allocate shelf space.

Brands underinvest in innovation.

Investors misread consumer demand.

In a category where data guides everything from production runs to M&A strategy, misclassification becomes more than a reporting issue; it becomes a growth bottleneck.

Blunts: A Cultural Staple, Not a Passing Trend

Blunts have deep cultural roots, rising to prominence in the late 1980s and 1990s through East Coast hip-hop and urban cannabis culture. They offered a slower burn, fuller flavor, and a communal smoking experience that joints often couldn’t match.

While traditional tobacco wraps defined the category for decades, the legal cannabis era has reshaped the blunt. Today’s pre-rolled blunts rely on hemp, tea leaf, palm, and botanical wraps, eliminating tobacco while preserving the ritual.

Modern designs now include wood, glass, and ceramic filter tips, larger gram weights, and infused formats, pushing blunts into the premium pre-roll conversation without alienating longtime consumers.

Why the Blunt Opportunity Matters Right Now

Pre-rolls have become cannabis’ most reliable growth engine. They’re affordable, portable, and perfect for experimentation, making them a top add-on at dispensaries nationwide.

What’s often overlooked is that blunts don’t require brands to find new consumers. The audience already exists. They’re just underserved.

When preference data and sales data are viewed side by side, the conclusion is difficult to ignore:

Blunts represent one of the most underdeveloped growth opportunities within the pre-roll category.

For brands, the barrier to entry is low. Many blunt cones fit existing pre-roll filling machines, allowing producers to test the segment without retooling entire operations. Tubes and premium filter formats offer higher margins and shelf differentiation, particularly in competitive markets.

A Data Problem — And a Strategic One

As cannabis becomes more institutional, strategy increasingly follows spreadsheets. But when those spreadsheets fail to reflect real consumer behavior, entire segments risk being undervalued.

Blunts aren’t underperforming. They’re undercounted.

Fixing that blind spot could unlock a blue-ocean opportunity for brands willing to read between the data lines, and for retailers ready to meet consumers where they already are.

Photo by Elsa Olofsson on Unsplash