Operators are finding that smaller joints have massive appeal
Rows of Selfies fresh off the production line at Heshies manufacturing facility in California. Photo courtesy of Heshies.
A self-described “clean freak,” Kristen Heschong was tired of all the roaches littering the ashtrays around her California home.
Her husband Chad and brother-in-law Tyler had just launched a cannabis manufacturing business and kept bringing home pre-rolls to try out after work. At that time, most pre-rolls on the market were 1 gram.
“The format was just too big,” Kristen says. “I kept asking him to bring smaller and smaller joints until we got to the 0.25 (gram), and we said, ‘I think we’re on to something here.”
Often referred to as mini pre-rolls, micro-joints or dogwalkers, joints with roughly 0.5 grams of cannabis or less have become massively popular across nearly every legal cannabis market.
Selfies
For the Heschongs, their Selfies brand of micro-joints has been continuously growing in sales month after month since launching in 2017.
The product line was slowly taking root with consumers with sales of around 400,000 joints annually, Chad says. But when the pandemic hit, that’s when the personal-sized joint suddenly made a lot of sense, Kristen adds. Sales have increased to about 4 million units annually since the product’s release.
“We were thinking back about how many joints we’ve shared with random strangers at shows, and as we got older, we thought it was just kind of gross,” Kristen says. “Once COVID hit, Selfies just took off. No one wanted to share.”
Dogwalkers
Photo courtesy of GTI.
In the Midwest, the Dogwalkers brand was inspired by the long walks Green Thumb Industries CEO Ben Kovler would take with his dog Bailey.
Todd Bellucci, vice president of brand equity at GTI, says the Dogwalkers brand, which launched in 2016, has expanded rapidly in markets such as Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada and New York to a point where the brand has become an eponym for the entire product category, much like Kleenex, Band-Aid or ChapStick.
“We’re flattered to be recognized that way in the industry,” Bellucci says. “Dogwalkers helped popularize the concept of smaller, sessionable pre-rolls, and if the name has become shorthand for that format, it speaks to the strength of the brand.”
Miss Grass Minis
Photo courtesy of Miss Grass.
In the Northeast, the Miss Grass Minis were created to meet the demand from customers who were asking for smaller, premium-flower pre-rolls, says CEO Kate Miller.
The Miss Glass Minis, which debuted in 2020, are packs of five 0.4-gram joints in a matchbox. They’re the company’s top-performing product in each of its seven markets (Arizona, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey and New York).
“We sold over 1 million units of Minis last year in 2024,” Miller says. “We consider that kind of our hero SKU.”
Saints Minis
Photo courtesy of Saints.
And in the Pacific Northwest, the half-gram, hash-infused Saints Minis were originally an experiment for the Seattle-based pre-roll manufacturer Saints.
“We can’t keep them on the shelves,” founder Lawrence Perrigo says. “Now we’re looking at launching 0.3 (grams), even tinier packs soon.”
Perrigo says the company has been rushing to keep up with the demand for Saints’ 0.5-gram infused joints.
“We’re going through batches of hash of about 2,000 to 3,000 grams every month,” Perrigo says. “And for each 1,000 grams, that’s about 2,000 boxes.”
Casting a Wide Net
Initially, the Heschongs thought Selfies would find its niche with casual smokers, but realized the micro-joints were a universal hit.
“We were thinking it would be for people like me, who enjoyed using cannabis daily, but in a small amount,” Kristen says. “But as soon as we launched, we realized the market was way bigger than what we anticipated.”
From soccer moms to budtenders, the smaller joint was almost universally accepted by consumers across California, Kristen says.
While the branding behind Dogwalkers has caught on among consumers, it’s not actually an apt description of its consumer base, Bellucci says.
“Dogwalkers attracts a diverse adult consumer base, but our core audience includes professionals, social consumers and active lifestyle enthusiasts who appreciate high-quality, portable cannabis experiences,” he says. “While the name ‘Dogwalkers’ was inspired by founder Ben Kovler’s walks with his own dog, the brand resonates beyond pet owners. Many consumers simply love the idea of a perfectly portioned pre-roll that fits into their daily lives.”
Miller says she was not surprised at all by the near-universal acceptance by consumers. Miss Grass initially launched as an online community, and when it reached around 70,000 followers, the company began polling its audience to help decide what kind of products it should produce, Miller says. A survey of more than 3,000 respondents said that smoking was their top form of consumption and more than 50% said they preferred to smoke pre-rolls. In addition to that, Miller learned the vast majority of her community wasn’t getting through a 1-gram joint in a single sitting.
“So we knew, right from the beginning, that Minis were going to be the play,” Miller says.
For Miller, the only question left was, “How big should a Mini be?”
“The 0.5-gram joints were creeping up to the size of a full-gram joint,” she says. “Ultimately, we went with the 0.4-gram, because we didn’t feel 0.35 was long enough. When you light it, you’d almost burn your nose off.”