ColoradoSkins Rolling Papers in Colorado

Rolling papers are sold in Colorado to adults 21 and over. The rule is federal: FDA regulates papers as a component of a tobacco product, so Tobacco 21 applies, retailers check photo ID for anyone who appears under 30, free samples are prohibited and vending is limited to adult-only premises. Colorado adds no separate papers statute.

The state's cannabis framework is the oldest operating adult-use market in the country. Amendment 64 passed in 2012 and licensed stores opened on 1 January 2014. Adults 21 and over may possess two ounces and grow up to six plants each, no more than three flowering, with a household cap of twelve. Retail is through licensed private stores regulated by the Marijuana Enforcement Division, and local governments can opt out, so some counties on the eastern plains have no stores at all. Use in public is not permitted; a number of cities license hospitality businesses where consumption is allowed on the premises.

Skins is a rolling paper and sells nothing else. In Colorado it is described as a tobacco accessory for adults 21 and over, and its retail material stays within that description.

Denver's paper retail runs along its main corridors: convenience stores and fuel stations on Colfax, Broadway and Federal, tobacconists in LoDo, Capitol Hill and Cherry Creek, and smoke shops on South Broadway and East Colfax that stock the thin and king size formats. Licensed stores across the city sell accessories, and most keep papers at the register. Aurora, immediately east, is served largely by convenience and fuel retail along Colfax and Parker Road.

Colorado Springs is more conservative in its retail mix and has fewer licensed stores, so tobacconists and smoke shops downtown and along Academy Boulevard carry more of the weight. Boulder, a university city at 1,655 metres, has a compact set of smoke shops and tobacconists on and around Pearl Street and the Hill. Fort Collins to the north is similar, with retail clustered around Old Town and Colorado State University.

Skins is launching in Colorado through independent retailers in Denver first, then Boulder, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs. Every confirmed stockist is listed on the stock page.

Altitude is the variable that sets Colorado apart. Denver at 1,609 metres, Boulder and Fort Collins a little higher, and the mountain towns far higher still all have thinner air with less oxygen per breath and per burn. Combustion slows in thin air, and a heavy paper that burns cleanly at sea level tends to burn slowly and unevenly at a mile up. A thin, low-mass sheet has less material competing for oxygen, and a cross-weave watermark keeps the burn line straight rather than running down one side.

Dryness is the second variable. Colorado's Front Range is semi-arid, winters are cold and dry and indoor heating drives the humidity down further. Paper left open goes brittle, cracks at the fold and the natural gum loses tack. Keep the booklet closed, keep the pack in its wrapper, and moisten the gum lightly before sealing rather than pressing harder. Do not leave papers in a vehicle; a summer car interior in Denver will bake a booklet and a winter one will freeze it, and both leave the paper worse.

Skins is an ultra-thin, chlorine-free paper with a natural gum line and a cross-weave watermark, 55 leaves to a booklet, offered in a medium and a lightweight weight. It is made in Spain and verified in a UK laboratory. There is no tobacco, nicotine or additive in the sheet.

Paraphernalia law turns on intended use and representation rather than on the object, and Colorado's cannabis advertising rules bind licensed cannabis businesses, not the brands of accessories they may stock. Rolling papers are a lawful tobacco product component sold in every convenience store in the state.

Skins is sold and described in Colorado as a tobacco accessory for adults 21 and over. Its packaging, website and counter material never depict cannabis. Where a licensed store carries Skins in its accessory range, the store's Marijuana Enforcement Division licence conditions govern the in-store display, and Skins keeps its co-operation with such retailers inside those conditions rather than running co-promotion.

Any Colorado retailer already selling tobacco can stock Skins on the same terms: 21 and over, photo ID for anyone under 30, no samples, no vending outside adult-only premises. Colorado sales tax applies at the register with substantial city and county additions, and papers sit outside the state's cannabis excise. Licensed stores may add papers to their accessory range within their licence conditions. The range is unflavoured.

Distribution is through the Front Range tobacco and convenience wholesalers, with mountain and Western Slope accounts served on their regular runs. Skins provides tobacco-only counter material. Retailers can register on the stock page, and distributors and multi-store groups can start on the partners page.

Colorado opened the first licensed adult-use cannabis stores in the United States on 1 January 2014, and the market has run continuously since. Denver International is the largest airport by land area in North America and, like every airport, is federal ground: rolling papers are an unrestricted item in any bag, while cannabis is prohibited from the terminal onwards.

Rolling papers can be carried anywhere in Colorado and across its borders with neighbouring states. Of Colorado's neighbours, New Mexico is a Skins wave-one market with the same sale age of 21 for papers; its page sets out the local rules.