How Much Is a Pack of Joints Likely to Cost?

At Fast Company,
writer Thor Benson
calculates how much a pack of joints—or marijuana
cigarettes, if you prefer—would be likely to cost should a
major cigarette company decide to get in on the game soon. As of
now, rumors that Marlboro is going to pot (I’m sorry) are just
that: rumors. But as the weed business begins booming legally in
more states, “don’t be surprised to see big tobacco turn into big
marijuana,” writes Benson. Until then, pricing a pack of joints is
purely a thought exercise. But who hasn’t wondered what a 20-pack
of Camel Greens might cost? 

In June of 2013, a company named BOTEC speculated that the
production cost of marijuana ranges from $2 to $3 per gram, which
“implies a price to retailers of $6.25, which is broadly consistent
with current access points paying about $5 per gram.” The average
Marlboro cigarette has just under one gram of tobacco in each of
the 20 cigarettes contained in a pack. So at the low end of things,
you’re looking at a production cost of nearly $40 per pack of Mary
Janes.

… But production cost also does not factor in what the company
must charge to make a profit. The Economics of
Smoking, written in 1992, declared that production costs are
often half of what cigarette companies wholesale their product for,
so what costs a large corporation $40 per pack could result in a
$70 or $80 retail price.

Bummer. But Benson is optimistic that economies of scale could
bring the cost down. Another price-lowering solution might be for
companies to mix tobacco with marijuana.

If marijuana cigarettes were to be mixed with tobacco, at a
50-50 ratio, it would bring the cost down significantly. Many
tobacco farmers will wholesale
a pound of their product for less than $2. With a 50-50 ratio
of marijuana to tobacco, the cost of producing a pack of 20
pre-rolled joints could be brought down to just a little more than
$20—so a $40 pack at the store.

But adding in tobacco would likely bring on more state sin
taxing, so perhaps not a terribly cost-saving measure for
consumers. Plus we’d have to endure a lot of concern over how
half-marijuana and half-tobacco cigarettes would normalize
marijuana, or re-normalize tobacco, or something. Heaven help us
should anyone make one cherry flavored.  

Of course, with the kids all going e-cigarettes and vaporizers
these days, perhaps the more savvy route for businesses would be
selling e-joints. Electronic cigarettes are “now regularly used as
a way to consume marijuana,” according to Benson. (I am marginally
ashamed that I didn’t know this.) There’s apparently a
booming underground and
legal market in THC oil e-cigs already. 

Marlboro’s parent company, Altria,
recently acquired e-cig manufacturer Green Smoke, a move which
Quartz writer John McDuling thinks signifies its interest
in the marijuana business. One e-cigarette manufacturer told
McDuling that use of the products for smoking pot is “an open
secret,” and that “all the big tobacco companies” are looking into
marijuana vaping technology. If you’d like to learn more about the
technology yourself, meet John: