The pre-roll boom continues in the U.S. cannabis market, with the category reaching $4.1 billion in sales from January 2023 through June 2024, according to a new report from Custom Cones USA.
While consumers across generations reach for pre-rolls, millennials are the category’s largest consumer, with that generation buying nearly half of pre-rolls sold. Gen X comes in second, buying roughly 25%, with Gen Z at 18.5% and Baby Boomers at 12.5%.
“The revenue growth of pre-rolls is undeniable,” says RollPros founder and CEO Kyle Loucks. “In basically every market in the U.S., regardless of maturity, pre-roll sales continue to grow quarter over quarter, year over year.”
Pre-rolls are popular for several reasons. Not only does smoking remain the most enjoyable way to consume marijuana, according to the National Institutes of Health, but pre-rolls also remove the hassle of needing to roll your own joint.
Lowell Brown, VP of retail operations at Planet 13 dispensary in Las Vegas, says pre-rolls are great options for tourists looking for grab-and-go products.
“I think there’s a lot of familiarity with pre-rolls that cause people to gravitate towards them,” he says. “We have other new and exciting methods of consumption, such as bake pans and edibles, but I think everyone really wants to experience the true essence of the flower. And the best way to do that, in my opinion, is through smoking a pre-roll.”
Pre-Roll Popularity State by State
RollPros conducts pre-roll market reports in a variety of states where they are legal to be sold. A recent report, which was released in October of 2024, states that Maryland’s pre-roll market is on the upswing and is forecasted to hit $148.2M by 2028.
Commenting on the report, Loucks says, “Anecdotally, there are indicators like the expansion of product variety and sales in Maryland that track with other, more mature markets. And not to mention hearing it word-of-mouth from clients and producers currently operating in the state. We’re in the midst of a strong growth phase.”
RollPros also notes strong growth in Colorado’s pre-roll market, stating that the category is a “silver lining in the state’s flatlining cannabis market growth.” With 94 active pre-roll brands in the region, the competition for quality products is likely driving sales.
According to the report, standard pre-roll sales in Colorado reached $10.91 million from January to March 2024. This is an increase of 6.3% compared to October to December 2023. On the other hand, infused pre-roll sales reached $13.28 million from January to March, increasing 2.6% compared to October and December.
Ever since Arizona legalized recreational marijuana back in November of 2020, the state has been experiencing a bountiful increase in sales — especially in the pre-roll category.
From September to November 2023, pre-roll sales within Arizona came in at over $36 million, according to another RollPros report. Standard pre-roll sales totaled just over $14 million, while infused pre-roll sales dominated at over $22 million.
Racking in a whopping $423 million in recreational marijuana sales in 2022, the California cannabis market is the largest in the U.S. RollPros’ market data found that from July through September 2023, pre-rolls brought in $222.5 million in revenue for the state. Infused pre-roll sales totaled $132.6 million during that same time frame, while standard pre-roll sales totaled $89.9 million.
The most recent RollPros pre-roll report is on the Nevada market, with a projected $164.8 million valuation by 2028. The state’s pre-roll market is thriving, with total sales reaching $34.4 million in Q3 2024, marking a steady rise from $31.7 million the previous quarter.
In Demand Pre-Rolls
Aside from the specific markets that RollPros has collected data on, cannabis dispensaries across the nation are seeing the impact that pre-roll sales have on their businesses. With locations in 11 states, infused pre-rolls drive nearly half of Sauce Essentials’ $2.7 billion in revenue.
“Pre-rolls are a perfect entry product for new consumers and are a leading option for tourists and anyone looking for a convenient way to consume flower. This appeal has made pre-rolls one of the most sought-after items in dispensaries, with budtenders frequently citing them as top purchases,” says Emma Shalaway, marketing director of Sauce Essentials.
While millennials are pre-rolls’ largest consumer group, as previously mentioned in the Custom Cones USA report, new cannabis connoisseurs seem to gravitate more towards these products than new users.
“New users seem to like to dabble in edibles,” explains Planet 13’s Brown. “They’re a little less invasive than smoking and consuming through inhalation, but every so often we do have some newer consumers that like to gravitate towards pre-rolls as their first introduction into cannabis.”
Planet 13’s Las Vegas location features a Dazed consumption lounge where guests can consume products on site. Brown notes that pre-rolls are the number one seller in the lounge.
“Pre-rolls are great for tourists coming in and also for connoisseurs that want to try some of our new flavors. Adults are able to go into the consumption lounge and experience them in a pre-roll format,” he says.
Pre-rolls are also a top-selling category across medical and recreational cannabis company MWG’s Northern California portfolio, including their Perfect Union and Wild Seed Wellness stores within the area.
“Year over year, our revenue from the pre-roll category continues to grow, and we see this as a lasting trend,” says Heather Copeland, Buyer, Perfect Union and Wild Seed Wellness.
Among MWG’s top-selling pre-roll brands is Jeeter, which “consistently stands out as the top revenue generator in all of our stores,” Copeland notes. “Other top-performing brands include Lime, Stiiizy, Blazy and Gelato, all of which are consumer favorites.”
Ben Burstein, an analyst and corporate development manager for LeafLink, a wholesale cannabis marketplace for retailers, notes that the most popular brands on the site in 2024 by total sales included Jeeter, Stiiizy, Cali-Blaze, Glorious Cannabis, Presidential and Good Day Farm.
“Margins on pre-rolls are higher than most other products at retail, largely due to manufacturers using lower grade buds, a longer shelf life than packaged flower and higher prices on a per gram basis than packaged flower,” he says. “On LeafLink, the retailers that sell an outsized portion of pre-rolls have higher retail basket sizes and margin velocity on units sold, which indicates that pre-rolls are strongly margin additive for stores.”
The Future of Pre-Rolls
Given the convenience and innovation of pre-rolls, many experts believe this category will continue to grow.
“Infused pre-rolls have grown at the highest rate of any product in U.S. cannabis, driven by consumer interest in live resin/resin product formats and new infusion technologies improving the consumer experience,” Burstein says. “We expect infused pre-roll sales to continue growing at a much faster rate relative to the rest of U.S. cannabis.”
As the category maintains an upward trend, Lawrence Perrigo, founder of Saints Joints, predicts the U.S. pre-roll market will resemble that of California’s. “Big brands will dominate, smaller artisanal ones will exist, and most customers will focus on variety and effects instead of growers,” he says.
Echoing this sentiment is Brandon Dorsky, California cannabis attorney and CEO of edibles brand Fruit Slabs, predicting that the pre-roll market will see further differentiation and segmentation.
“We’ll also continue seeing a lot of evolution in the infused pre-roll space,” he says. More specifically, brands will create more high-end pre-rolls as well as affordable products for every type of consumer.
To create high quality pre-rolls that can be either affordable or high end for certain users, automation is key. Machines are rolling out, such as the Blackbird from RollPros, that are creating pre-rolls more efficiently than humans.
“At Planet 13, we have a new machine called the Pre-Roller, which has dramatically increased our output of pre-rolls. It can do anywhere between 800 to 1,000 pre-rolls per hour,” Brown notes. “But even with all this new technology, it really comes back to the people that are operating the machines. You need that human element to do that final quality control and make sure the product is right.”
