For all the latest smoking equipment that’s available, at the end of the day sometimes all you want is an honest-to-goodness joint using nature’s best and most natural herb.

In order to enjoy it at its fullest, you need to get a paper that rolls easily, sticks well, and will not add anything nasty to your smoking experience. I’ve found that there are now plenty of papers available that fit these criteria, but my favourite of all would have to be the range produced by RAW.

Many papers contain bleach, and some are even rumoured to contain gunpowder rings. These, coupled with other additives that may be used in conventional rolling papers may increase your carbon monoxide intake whilst smoking.

RAW rolling papers are unbleached (although they may be lightened slightly using sunlight!) and contain no chemical additives to detract from your smoking experience. The papers are incredibly thin, thin enough to see through, so you smoke more of your mixture and less of the paper. They also contain a special criss-cross watermark that helps prevent pesky side-burning.

RAW papers come as traditional papers, Rips, and also as an organic hemp variety. I am very much in favour of hemp paper, as this is not only a fantastically easy way of saving trees, but hemp paper itself is structurally sounder, meaning your joint is much stronger.

A strange ‘side-effect’ of the RAW papers is the different taste. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked it, and couldn’t quite put my finger on what the difference was. However, after smoking a pipe I realised the different taste comes purely from the lack of chemicals; you really do taste the mixture and not the paper when using RAW. After smoking a few choice doobies without added chemicals I much prefer this experience to using traditional bleached papers, and ultimately if it is slightly better for me it’s a win-win situation.