How to Roll a Fake Cigarette for Costume Props or Pranks

Before many of us were born, fake cigarettes were as easy to find as candy at the corner store. Nowadays, they are a lot rarer, but with a few materials and the right methods, you can make your own with things around the house and look like the Marlboro Man without having to suffer any of the health effects that come from smoking tobacco.

Making a Fake Cigarette

Get rolling paper or cut a piece of thin paper the size of a cigarette. Use herbs from the kitchen or cotton balls to fill the paper, then roll it into a cylinder. Lightly lick the end of the paper to seal it closed. Burn one end slightly with a lighter to give it a just-smoked look.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Rolling a Fake Cigarette with Herbs

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1
Roll a piece of paper about 2.75 inches (7.0 cm) by 1.4 inches (3.6 cm) around a pencil. This size is known as a single wide size and is the standard Soup Chrono Trigger size of a regular cigarette. Wrap the paper around a pencil tightly, allowing some paper to be loose to be glued down.
- If you want to make a larger size cigarette, you can use a piece of paper about 3.1 inches (7.9 cm) by 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) for a wider and slightly longer style, or 4 inches (10 cm) by 2 inches (5.1 cm) for a king size cigarette.^{[1]
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Glue down the paper with a glue stick and remove the pencil. Carefully use your glue stick to apply a thin layer of glue to the excess paper and glue it down while the paper is still wrapped tightly around the pencil.^{[2]
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Research source} Then, very gently remove the paper tube from the pencil and set the pencil to the side.
- If you use too much glue, you could end up with a cigarette that looks lumpy on one side, making it much more noticeably fake. This is also why you should avoid using liquid glue.
3
Roll a piece of paper about 3 inches (7.6 cm) by .5 inches (1.3 cm) into itself for a fake filter. Roll the paper between your index finger and your thumb tightly into itself to create a small and sturdy cylinder of paper with a spiral shape on the top and bottom. Insert this into the bottom of the paper tube you rolled around a pencil to create a filter or crutch. It will unfurl and fit the tube perfectly.
- You can use a cigarette roller instead of rolling the paper with your hands if you wish, but be sure to buy one that is purposefully made for the cigarette size you are going for.^{[3]
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- You can skip this step if you have pre-made cigarette filters, which can make the cigarette appear more genuine as pre-made filters have an orange color and are made to be used in real cigarette rolling.
4
Add finely ground kitchen herbs, such as parsley or oregano, to the paper tube. Grind up about 1 gram (0.035 oz) of cooking herbs and carefully pack the cigarette with it. Use the pencil from earlier or a cigarette packing tool to pack the herbs in as tightly as you possibly can.^{[4]
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- This will act as the filling of your cigarette and will give the cigarette structure and stability.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Creating a Fake Cigarette with Cotton and Baby Powder

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1
Buy rolling paper about 3.1 inches (7.9 cm) by 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) and crease it in half. This is wider than a normal cigarette, which will help the rolling process with cotton and baby powder.^{[5]
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Research source} It is important to buy authentic rolling papers so that you can roll it with your hands effectively.
- Cotton is harder to load and pack into a tube than loose herbs, so you will need to roll this as you would a hand-rolled cigarette.
- Be sure that your crease is down the middle of the paper, not skewed or out of alignment. This will make the loading and rolling process much easier.
2
Lay a cigarette filter on one end of the center crease of the paper. Position the rolling paper so the glue is on the opposite side from you. Place a real cigarette filter on the left end of the paper so that it touches the very edge.
- A real filter is best as you will be able to blow through it to create convincing smoke with baby powder later on. If you don't have access to one, you can load the cigarette with a thick wad of cotton tightly packed where the filter would be placed.
3
Load cotton into the paper to fill it, then sprinkle baby powder lightly near the tip. Use just enough cotton to cover the white area of the paper that is uncovered by the filter. Then, sprinkle a very light amount of baby powder at the "smoking" end of the cigarette — take care not to get too much where the filter or mouthpiece will be, as it can be much more difficult to roll it and stick the paper together later on.^{[6]
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- Avoid using loose pieces of cotton, as this can affect the structure of your cigarette after you roll it. Opt for thick pieces of cotton instead as this will make your cigarette more stable and will not get flimsy when packed.
4
Roll the paper into a tube with the fillings between your thumbs and index fingers. Roll the cigarette between your thumb and index finger to pack and tighten the fillings together. The cotton can be compacted easily this way.^{[7]
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Research source} Once it feels tight enough to hold itself together, tuck the paper underneath the cotton, lick the glue on the exposed piece of paper, and stick it together.
- It may take several attempts to get a good, tight roll. Don't worry if it takes a few tries — almost nobody can roll a cigarette well on their first go!
- Alternatively, if you have a cigar or cigarette roller, you can simply load the filled paper with the filter into the roller and follow the brand's guidelines on how to make it come together. This will be much easier for people with little to no experience in rolling.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Making Fake Smoke and Embers

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1
Burn the tip with a lighter to give your cigarette a "just smoked" appearance. If you want your fake cigarette to look like it was just put out, or you pulled a few drags and then put it out, simply light the very end of the paper with a lighter and let the flame die on its own. This will create ash at the end of the cigarette and a few seconds of real smoke.^{[8]
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- This is best done with a herbal filling, as the "cherry" at the end will stay burning for longer than other fillings.
- If you need to use the fake cigarette for a performance, light the tip moments before the camera starts rolling for the best fake smoke.^{[9]
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2
Use reflective orange or red plastic to imitate a freshly burning tip. Stuff a tiny piece of reflective orange or red plastic into the very end of the cigarette, allowing some of it to poke out of the end. From far away and in direct light, this will look like a glowing burn at the end of your fake cigarette.^{[10]
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- You can use orange or red paper instead of reflective plastic, but it may look more amateur and will be harder to fool others.
3
Attach a mini-sized orange LED to the end to give it a glowing tip. Thread a mini LED wire through the top of the cigarette and leave the orange light at the end of the paper. Use a button to make the cigarette glow, or use an LED that is permanently on for a convincing orange "cherry" at the tip. Look for "mini LED lights" at the hardware or electronics store. Wire the LED before adding anything else, then fill the insides around the wire.
- You can keep the button or battery in your pocket with the wire threaded through your sleeve. It may get hot, so keep the battery away from your skin.
- You will find it easier to wire the LED before you fill the cigarette with filling, as the insides can make it more difficult to get the wire threaded through without breaking the paper.

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Do fake cigarettes harm you?

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This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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Yes, smoking anything can harm you, since the smoke itself is harsh on your lungs. It can be especially dangerous to use counterfeit cigarettes when you don’t know where they came from or what is in them.

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How do you make fake smoke?

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This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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Try rolling powdered sugar into your fake cigarette. When you pretend to smoke the cigarette, blow out gently through the cigarette rather than inhaling. You’ll create a puff of dust that looks a bit like smoke.

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What are fake cigarettes made of?

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They can be made in a variety of different ways. The kinds of fake cigarettes you see in movies are usually “herbal cigarettes,” which may contain herbs such as rose petals, dried lavender, or clover.

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Fake cigarettes look the most convincing on camera or on stage, where someone won't be able to tell the subtle differences between a real cigarette and your fake one

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Warnings

If you are underage, avoid using these at school or in public, because even though you know they are fake, others will assume you are smoking and you could get into trouble.

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