In Search of the Best Online Head Shop: One Man’s Quest

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a place you could go online to get most, if not all your smoking needs?

First Off, the Important Stuff

Back in the day, like a whole ten yrs ago, people had to go to the store to buy rolling papers, flint and other articles necessary for combusting their favorite foliage. I don’t know about you but where I grew up we would have called that a head shop.

When I started smoking, I asked myself, “what is the best online head shop?” I might be a tad slow but I know how to perform an internet search and I think it took me close to a yr, maybe a little more before I finally figured it out and that’s why I’m writing this blog today.

I’m going to explain a few things in this article:

  1. The one website that I use for all the smoking paraphernalia that I buy online.
  2. How I figured out it was the best.
  3. How the flow of products has changed the way business is done and will be changing even more radically sooner than we may think.
  4. How you can use the changing global marketplace to your advantage, if you’re so inclined.

Now, in the grand scheme of things I understand that the best place to buy our papers maybe shouldn’t be our priority but it is what you searched for so let’s get that out of the way first.

Almost All Your Needs In One Place

Rolling Paper Depot is the one website where I consistently found the products I needed for the best price with the best shipping terms(often they were running some sort of promotion for free S&H.) They have more papers than I can imagine ever having enough time to try but that’s okay because I already have a favorite and they carry them.

I personally like the Raw brand of papers, specifically the King Size Slim Creaseless. They are cut to about the perfect width for a square paper, smoke very cleanly and least important to you but most important to me, I like the texture and the way they feel in my fingers.

Rolling Paper Depot offers all their papers for sale by the pack or by the case, which from what I have ordered, the cases were suitable display for retail sale. I’m not going to tell you they stock everything I’d like them to because they don’t. But they are the one place that carries most of it. Just a sampling of what they offer:

  • Most offerings include hemp products when available
  • Cases, doob tubes, stash/storage containers
  • Pre-rolled and flat material filter tips
  • Rolling machines, trays, grinders, packing tools
  • Cones, funnels, loaders
  • Ashtrays, apparel, incense
  • Pipes, screens, deodorizers and cleaners
  • Fuel, flint, wicks, hemp wick
  • A decent selection of lighters of varying quality(of course, I’d suggest checking out my working vintage lighters first, there are several that would love nothing more than to be taken off the shelf and put back into service)

Now for the first link in the chain, how did I settle in at Rolling Paper Depot?

I Googled It

I Googled something similar to what we talked about earlier and time after time I
ended up on Amazon and then searching there for papers or pipes or whatever I happened to be curious about that day. So pretty soon, I was skipping Google and just heading straight to Amazon.com.

Amazon sells everything! You ever notice that? I mean, you get on there and start filling up your shopping cart and then when you go to checkout you don’t even think about it, you just pay and wait for the stuff to arrive.

Over time, I began to realize that most of the items I was receiving in the mail had actually been shipped from Rolling Paper Depot. And most of the packages that were not from Rolling Paper Depot took much longer to arrive.

Long story short(this is part of the flow of product and I’m not going to have enough space today to explain it all in detail,) those other packages on Amazon were usually being drop shipped from China. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing but it is definitely a bad thing if you’d like to receive your purchase in a timely manner. That was the most important discovery I made and not only because it was the quickest, least expensive way to get my papers.

Never Pay More Than Necessary

You might ask, “Why don’t you just run down to your local head shop and pick up what you need?” I’ll give you one example and then I’ll shut up about it.

I walked into a shop recently and discovered a device that I had to own. I paid $25 because I had to try it even though I knew I could find it much cheaper online. I would have had a tough decision to make if it was priced at $50. This was a chillum but the design was like none I’d seen before and I was sure that this thing was going to change my life.

It is an excellent pipe, I’m still using it over a yr later but you can buy them online all day every day for $10 with free drop shipping from China. I’ve learned a lot of things about drop shipping, affiliate marketing, SEO and a dozen other terms I was clueless about just a short time ago. Some of it is good and some is bad and this is when we get to the point of if your so inclined.

Time Waits for No Man

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Author: Joseph

Be cautious when anyone tells you what you need or have to do...

10 thoughts on “In Search of the Best Online Head Shop: One Man’s Quest”

  1. Great post, I am not a smoker of the marijuana but I do have a couple of people in my life that will love this page, so I will be sending them your way. Thanks for the honesty in your post it was very refreshing to read.

  2. Here in California, it is now legal to have an ounce of weed on you, can you believe it? It’s about time but I have a feeling there will be some sort of blowback by the government regarding smoking and being ‘intoxicated in public’. another way for the powers at be to make their monies. You’ve got a great site and I’ll be back to check it out some more!

  3. I use Raw Natural Unrefined Hemp Papers all the time. I buy them at my local head shop IF THEY HAVE THEM…they are always sold out and it’s so annoying. I prefer using them because they are 100% hemp. Come with 300 papers! And only cost a few bucks.

    Versus Joker papers or Zig Zags which come with only 30 papers if I can remember correctly..it’s been so long since I have went to the convenient store to pick up a pack. They also cost about the same, so 300 papers or 30 papers for the same price…come on!

    I’m comparing my pack with the pack you have an image of. Mine says “Organic Hemp” and yours says “classic” I’m assuming they are still the same.

    I also love the slogan “Authentic Purest Natural Hemp Fibers Unrefined”

    It’s almost time for me to re-up my supply. I’m about to follow one of your links. =)

    1. Thanks Drake. RPD really does have the best prices, especially if you can buy them by the case. And you are right, it seems like the locals never have what you want and when they do they charge an arm and a leg. I wish they had a little better pipe selection but overall Rolling Paper Depot is the best.

  4. I am not surprised that a smoke shop is online now. Since a lot of states are legalizing marijuana. My only concern would be the time it takes to come. I think it easier to go to the store.

    1. That concern is the exact reason I wrote this article, Maurice. You don’t have to worry about that with Rolling Paper Depot. They ship from the US, so your supplies arrive in a few days unlike those Asian drop shipping outfits that take weeks for your package to arrive. They also give everyone the ability to purchase at bulk prices and their shipping rates are excellent, sometimes free. Customers who purchase from RPD know there papers will arrive in a timely manner and are a terrific bargain when purchased by the case. Single packs are reasonably priced as well.

  5. I gave up smoking a long time ago but I came across your site and found what you’ve got to say very interesting I, I live in the UK and you can get smoking products in the supermarkets but these days they are covered up you have to ask for the brand you want because they are not allowed to be displayed I don’t see the point of doing this

    I believe people should be able to do what they want to do as long as it is legal

    good luck to you with your site

    1. There are a lot of things in this world that make no sense, Maurice and the way society perceives cannabis is at the top of the list. There are people out there that would kick my ass if I took away their coffee or pain pills but they want to put all kinds of restrictions and penalties on anyone using cannabis.

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