Best Commercial Solutions for High Volume Bulk Cone Filling

If you have a smoke shop or dispensary business, then you probably know by now how hard and time-consuming the process of filling cones by hand can be.

If you want to save yourself a lot of time and work, one proven way to do so is by getting an automatic pre-rolled cone filling machine.

Automated systems create fewer touch-points or opportunities for contamination. Further, production can continue regardless of labor shortages.

When finances are tight, a vibrating pre-roll machine can fill hundreds of cones in minutes as opposed to paying staff to fill the same amount in hours.

What Are Automatic Pre-Rolled Cones Filling Machines?

Automatic pre-rolled cones filling machines are devices that have slots for cones that you can fill up the machine with, and a place to insert the herb so that it can fill up all cones perfectly every single time, in a matter of minutes. There are two basic types of cone filling machines: the first one injects the cone with weed, while the second one uses vibration and gravity to fill the cone.

Pros and Cons of Automatic Pre-Rolled Cones Filling Machines

There’s a lot to consider when deciding on the joint or cone-filling machine to get for your smoke shop, dispensary, or for your personal use.

Busy dispensaries and other small-scale startups are most likely to get these pre-roll machines when they reach the point where filling by hand is no longer feasible.

With an additional investment on these joint rolling machines, they can drastically increase productivity as well as profitability.

Advantages

• Labor Costs: An automated pre-roll machine decreases labor costs. How long would it take one member of staff to fill 143 cones? Is it more than one minute? If so, you’re losing money. Some pre-roll machines can fill that many cones in 60 seconds flat. Not only does this efficiency create more shelf-ready cones in less time, but it also provides staff with more time to focus on higher-level tasks.

• Consistent Cones: Vibrating cone-filling machines are designed to create consistent pre-rolls. Some models guarantee no more than ten percent difference in weight from pre-roll to pre-roll. This is where it’s important to consider the quality of the machine one is purchasing. Some commercial pre-roll machines have a high variance in the weight of each cone, as well as a fluctuating fill rate. Some may only fill cones to 70 percent capacity, whereas others offer a consistent 90 percent fill rate. Consistent, quality pre-rolls will protect your brand and create lasting bonds with customers.

Disadvantages

There aren’t a lot of disadvantages when it comes to automatic pre-rolled cones filling machine.

The only possible downside is that they are usually a bit costly, but if you factor in the time and work it saves you and your business, and the return on investment and output from that one single device, you’ll realize that investing in an automatic pre-rolled cone filling machine is the best thing you can do for your smoke shop business.

All busy dispensaries rely on the efficiency of automatic pre-rolled cones filling machine. Manual rolling just doesn’t cut it sometimes which is why efficient rolling machines can quickly become your most valuable asset when it comes to saving time and money and most importantly meeting your customers’ demands.

So if you want to smoke out the competition by rolling out up to 100 or more perfectly filled joints at once, then you might want to consider investing in an automatic pre-rolled cone filling machine.

Choosing the Best Commercial Pre-Roll Machine

Now that you know the pros and cons, what should you look for in a quality pre-roll machine? Whether you just like to bulk-roll your own supply (shoutout to all you home growers out there!) or you are running your own business and are looking to diversify a bit and branch into the pre-fill market, there is a solution for you.

But before you go spending your hard-earned money, there are a few key pre-purchasing factors to consider:

• Life Cycle: How long will the machine last? Consider what materials were used in its construction. Those constructed from steel will last longer and require less maintenance than those made of plastic or foam.

• Daily Capacity: If your production requires high volume to remain profitable, a larger, commercial-grade machine will better serve your needs. Production capacity can range from 3,000 a day to more than 25,000. Keep in mind, you may wish to produce larger quantities in five years than you do today.

• Technology; Though vibrating pre-roll machines may seem like they’re using the same method to pack cones, each processor uses its own proprietary approach. Some machines vibrate flower into the cones in layers, eliminating loose joints, gaps, and air pockets. Others shake the material into the cones simultaneously and in bulk, potentially creating gaps or loose joints. What you save during the initial investment you may pay for later in lost customer retention.

Which is the Right Pre-Roll Machine?

With many options available, it’s up to you to decide which one will best fulfill the demands of your business. Size and intended scalability are important factors. Also, consider current labor and operating costs.

Look at the quality of your pre-rolls and determine if they’re consistent enough to keep customers coming back. Ask yourself how much time your staff spends on pre-rolls each week. Would your operation be more resilient if you incorporated more automated systems?

Futurola Knockbox 3/100 Standard Pre-Roll Filling Machine

Fill 100 Pre-Rolled Cones in 2 minutes with the Futurola Knockbox 3. The Futurola Knockbox 3 is compatible with 16 varieties of Futurola pre-rolled cones that range in size from .5 gram pre-rolled cones up to 2-gram pre-rolled cones. Futurola has developed the Knockbox 3 over many years to provide the highest level of client satisfaction.

The Knockbox 3 features many attachments to enhance the packing process. The attachments include 4 different variations of the filling kit, which is the upper portion of the Knockbox that holds the cones during the filling process.

The variants of the filling kit accommodate different diameters of pre-rolled cones. The Reefer Filling Kit is used for 9mm reefer style cones. The Standard filling kit holds 11-12.5mm cones, such as 1.25 sizes, slim size & king size cones.

Futurola also carries half-size mix trays, which allow the production of specialty cones with greater accuracy. The most popular attachments include cone loaders and unload stations, which enable much higher production volumes.

The KnockBox 3 will run you a cool $5,000 USD but it’s pretty much the Apple of filling stations so you can rest easy knowing your investment wasn’t in vein, particularly if you’re in the wholesale/retail game.

Check out all of Futurola’s products at their official website: https://futurolausa.com/

Cone Packer 300 Starter Kit

The Cone Packer 300 is a solid cone filling machine made from high-grade aerospace plastics. The Cone Packer 300 is for pre-roll brands ready to produce thousands of pre-rolls per week and they want a machine that will stand up to a cannabis production environment. Oh

The great step up from the Fast Fill to the Cone Packer 300 is the overall durability of the machine. The Cone Packer 300 is made from very heavy duty plastic materials which are food-safe and easy to clean.

The other great step up on the Cone Packer as a filling machine is that it uses a metering system, instead of dumping all the cannabis into the cone at once. The Cone Packer comes with a metering tray. The metering tray allows you to feed a pre-determined amount of cannabis-based on volume.

If you dial in your grinding process and do control tests you will be able to fine-tune how much you meter into each cone and reduce the amount of rework you have to do on the back-end to weigh the final pre-rolls and ensure they are compliant.

Custom Cones USA also has a rad selection of papers, filter tips, and cigar bands to take you branding to the next level if that’s something you’re looking to do.

Starting at $4,650 the Industrial Cone Packer 300 isn’t cheap, but considering its industrial build quality and 300-per-fill capacity, it’s a value proposition when compared to similar models by other brands.

Check out Custom Cones USA official website: https://customconesusa.com/

Sluice Box MJ

The Sluice Box is the cone filling machine that enables you to not only automate the filling of the cones but the tamping and sifting as well. The Sluice Box includes 2 attachments designed for producing the best possible pre-roll at scale – the tamping attachment and the sifting attachment.

The Sluice Box includes all the attachments that allow you to produce high-quality pre-rolls at scale but at the same time is incredibly simple to use. And while the attachments help and an extra element of control over your pre-roll production; they are not essential to using the Sluice Box successfully.

But it is that simple to run the sluice box – place the metal tray down, lower cartridge on top, fill the cones, place the upper cartridge on top, spread cannabis, and run vibration. Tamp twice with tamping attachment. Remove the cones and fold or twist the tops.

The Sluice Box MJ is all metal and built like a tank right here in the USA, so support a local business! With a 401 cone per run capacity it’s also no slouch in terms of sheer volume.

The Sluice Box MJ starts at $6,995 which may sound like a lot but it’s built to last a lifetime. …well multiple lifetimes probably. They also offer a rad discount if you bundle a industrial grinder and cones with your filler, saving you $300 total, which is a great deal if you’re just getting into the pre-fill game.

Check out Sluice Box MJ at their official website: https://sluiceboxmj.com/

PreRoll-Er

The Pre Roll-ER is the cone filling machine for those looking for total automation. The Pre Roll-ER can take 2 boxes of cones, 1 pound of cannabis and automatically fill, weigh, pack, tamp, twist, cut off excess twist and weigh the final joint. This is THE mac-daddy of fillers and complete overkill for any operation not processing high volumes of plant material.

The Pre Roll-ER produces 1,000 to 2,000 pre-rolls per hour so that means the machine can operate autonomously for up to 45 minutes. This frees up the operator of the machine to package pre-rolls into individual packaging stopping only to feed additional cones or cannabis to the machine.

The Pre Roll-ER took an incredible amount of research and development hours to come to a commercially viable machine. This is because the process of how a pre-roll is made by hand is perfectly replicated by the machine. It takes each step from the tamping to the twisting and replicates the handmade process and so produces a quality smoking experience.

This badboy is patent-pending, industrial grade, GMP compliant, UL/CSA approved, modular, and digitally integrated. You can’t dream of a filling feature that the PreRoll-Er hasn’t already researched and built into this system.

These suckers aren’t cheap and are highly customized to the application of the buyer, so you’ll need to reach out to PreRoll-Er for specifics at their official website: http://www.preroll-er.com/

HerbCEO Summary

Pre-rolled joints aren’t just for the major leagues. While some people like the ritual of rolling their own weed just prior to lighting up, others may prefer to have a whole bunch of sticks ready to burn when the occasion strikes. For those individuals, there are a whole bunch of manually-operated cone-fillers out there that are perfect for micro-small tasks.

On the other hand, if you are a cultivar and you primarily sell wholesale flower but are looking to grow your brand and diversify your product range in dispensaries, offering pre-rolls is a GREAT idea and when we’re talking commercial volumes, there are also electric machines that make bulk-filling a walk in the park.

Regardless of your scenario we hope this article provided you some potential solutions to your problems. If there are other bulk cone filling solutions out there we’d be happy to hear about them in the comments.