Canoeing, burning too fast, falling apart mid-session — none of that is a normal pre-roll experience. Here's what causes it and what it might mean about the product.
Canoeing is when one side of a pre-roll burns faster than the other. The burn line goes diagonal instead of straight across, the paper on one side chars ahead of the rest, and you end up with something that looks like a dugout canoe — wasted flower on one side, unburned on the other.
It's one of the most common pre-roll complaints, and it has a few different causes.
Uneven packing is the main culprit on our end. If the ground flower isn't distributed consistently through the cone, airflow follows the path of least resistance — which means one side burns faster. A well-packed pre-roll should offer even draw resistance from tip to filter.
If your pre-roll canoeed badly and consistently — not just slightly on one side but dramatically, or repeatedly across multiple pre-rolls from the same pack — that's likely a packing issue.
Even a well-packed pre-roll can canoe in the wrong conditions. Wind is the most common external factor — even a light breeze pulls heat unevenly and starts a lopsided burn. How it's lit matters too. Running a lighter across the tip to light it evenly, rather than holding a flame to one spot, makes a real difference.
Storage can play a role as well. Flower that's too dry burns fast and harsh. A pre-roll that's been sitting in a hot car or a dry environment loses moisture and burns less predictably.
Beyond canoeing, there are other signs a pre-roll may have had a quality issue: the whole thing burns through in minutes with almost no vapour, large chunks of material fall out during smoking, it goes out repeatedly and won't stay lit even indoors, or the flavour is harsh or off-profile for the strain.
One bad session might be environmental. A pattern across multiple pre-rolls from the same pack is more likely a product issue.
If you believe the burn quality was a product issue rather than a situational one, let us know. Tell us which product, which lot number, what happened, and where you bought it. We'll look into it — and if it points to something at the batch level, our quality team needs to know.