Paper contributes three things to a session: how fast the joint burns, how much flavour it adds or hides, and how forgiving it is to roll. Everything else — the branding, the packaging, the celebrity endorsement — is decoration. A brand that sells you a paper that suits your grind, your rolling ability and the way you like to smoke will feel better than a fancier paper that fights you.

Thickness is the single biggest variable, and it cuts across all materials. Thin paper (roughly 12 to 14 gsm) burns quickly, adds almost nothing to the taste, and shows every flaw in your roll. Heavy paper (20 gsm and up) burns slower, is easier to handle, and contributes a noticeable paper taste that some people like and others find distracting.

Most papers on the market are wood pulp, either bleached white or unbleached brown. It is cheap, rolls predictably, and holds a gum line well. Bleached paper is neutral in taste; unbleached paper carries a faint woody, slightly sweet note that reads as "traditional" to a lot of smokers.

If you are learning, wood pulp is the kindest place to start. It is stiff enough to hold its shape while you tuck, and a mistake costs you a paper rather than a whole session's worth of flower.

Rice paper is thin and slightly translucent, with a crisp feel and a very clean burn. It contributes next to nothing to flavour, which is the point: if you are trying to taste terpenes rather than paper, rice gets out of the way.

The trade-off is that rice paper is unforgiving. It tears if you manhandle it, it shows every ridge from an uneven grind, and it burns hot. Grind a little coarser than usual and pack slightly looser than you would with wood pulp.

Hemp paper is thicker and more textured, with visible fibres. It is the easiest of the plant-fibre papers to roll with because it behaves closer to wood pulp, and it burns slowly and steadily. It does add a faint grassy note, more noticeable on a long joint than a short one.

Hemp is a good middle ground for anyone who has outgrown beginner papers but does not want the fragility of rice.

Flax paper is fine, crisp and slow burning, with a dry, neutral taste; it is often sold as a premium option and behaves a bit like a stiffer rice paper. Bamboo is dense and extremely thin, so it burns very slowly and contributes almost no flavour, but it is slippery to tuck until you have rolled a few.

Both are worth trying once you have a consistent roll, because their differences show up in the second half of a joint rather than the first.

Short solo smoke with a fine grind: a thin rice or bamboo paper, rolled snug. Longer session with company, or flower that is a little coarse: hemp or a heavier wood pulp, packed slightly looser so it stays lit. Something worth tasting: the plainest, thinnest paper you can roll reliably, and let the flower do the talking.

The one rule that holds across all of them is that a paper you can roll consistently beats a paper with better specs. Consistency is what makes an even burn.