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Best Cone-Filling Machines of 2023

Best Cone-Filling Machines of 2023

Posted by Custom Cones USA on Dec 13th 2023

Pre-rolls are the fastest growing category in the U.S. cannabis industry; in 2023 overtook flower as the top-selling category in Canada. And the best way to produce a consistent, top-quality pre roll is with a professional cone filling machine.

Designed as a mass-produced, consistent and consumer package goods version of the hand-rolled joint, the pre-roll has become a standard for a business that has evolved from hiding in basements to become one of the fastest-growing and most innovative industries in the world.

Today, the market share for pre-roll joint cones continues to grow, reaching a record-high of 15.4% in June 2024, up from 13.2% in January 2023. During that time frame, pre-rolls accounted for more than $4.1 billion in sales, selling more than 394 million units across the 13 states tracked by cannabis analytics firm Headset.

Led by popular innovations like infused pre-rolls and mixed strain pre-rolls, the category continues to drive the entire industry. From June 2023 to June 2024, pre rolls saw an 11.89% year-over-year increase in sales revenue, the highest of any category in the industry, with monthly revenues reaching $257 million in June 2024.

As pre-rolls have grown and evolved with the market, pre-roll machines have had to keep pace, evolving and changing with the industry and the product they produce. From tabletop bumpboxes to modern, automated pre-roll infusing machines, there are now pre-roll machines for every level of production, each with their own pros, cons and nuances that must be taken into consideration to find the one that’s right for you and your business.

Table of Contents

  1. Cone Filling Machine Type

Cone Filling Machine Types

The first decision any cannabis business looking to get into the pre-roll game has to make is to decide what kind of pre roll machine is best for their needs. The two main considerations when choosing a cone filling machine are electronic vs non-electronic and tabletop versus fully automated pre roll machines. Finally, pre-roll manufacturers need to consider whether or not their machines can fill pre rolled cones, pre roll tubes, or both shapes of pre rolls.

The basic difference is how the cannabis material is packed into your pre rolled cones and tubes. There are pre rolled cone fillers with no moving parts or electricity, which rely on you thumping the device up and down, like the Bumpbox or the Fast Fill cone filling machine (which also can be used with an optional electronic vibration table). An electric cone filling machine, on the other hand, uses either a series of vibrations or bounces in order to pack the flower evenly into pre rolled cones.

Electronic machines use a motor to pack pre rolled cones, and while usually a more expensive investment, allow for quicker production runs, cut down on labor requirements and also create a more consistently high-quality pre-roll by removing the possibility of user differences from cone to cone.

Tabletop machines are just what they sound like: pre-roll filling machines that are small enough to fit on a table. Whether electronic or not, they are an excellent first foray into pre roll manufacturing, providing multiple options for users with minimal investment.

Automated pre-roll machinery usually requires a larger investment, as well as more floor space, but are able to produce more pre-rolls faster. Automated pre-roll filling machines are best for brands that are already established and need to increase their capacity in a scalable way.

Non-Electronic Cone Filling Machines

The simplest and smallest machines are non-electric tabletop pre-roll cone filling machines, like the Buddies Bumpbox, a simple Styrofoam box with holes designed to hold pre rolled cones (which are the empty rolling papers with filter tips), or the Fast Fill series. Users simply fill a pre-measured amount of flower into the top of the box and then, well, manually bump the box against a table to pack the flower into the cones.

All pre-roll cone filling machines have pros and cons. Among the pros of non-electronic machines is a low start-up cost and ease of use, requiring almost no training time for employees.

As for cons, the small size and mostly manual nature of the machines can lead to increased labor costs and smaller production runs.

Electronic Cone Filling Machines

For pre-roll producers, the best tabletop machines are small, electronic devices capable of producing at least 100 pre rolls per run, like the King Kone or Fill N’ Fold.

The King Kone Cone Filling Machine

The King Kone machine is a tabletop machine that takes up very little room, but unlike similar machines, includes an adjustable motor that provides the up-and-down bounce to perfectly pack up to 169 cones at a time. It is perfect for both small and large farms, as its modular design and versatility provides a simple, user-friendly option for manufacturers.

What sets the King Kone apart from other cone filling machines is that it uses a motor to drive the platform up and down, instead of just vibrating. This motion creates a tighter pack at the bottom, providing a superior pack with just the right amount of flowability for a smoother, even burn.

The King Kone’s motor has recently been upgraded for the recently released King Kone 2.0. It maintains the ease of use and versatility of the King Kone Classic, but replaces the traditional motor with a new stepper motor, providing more torque and control over the strength of the vertical bounce.

Because the new motor also requires less cooling, the new King Kone 2.0 also features an enclosed motor compartment, to prevent flower from falling through and potentially slowing the process or jamming up the motor.

Both King Kone machines can pack a variety of sizes of pre-rolls with ease and there is also an available tube conversion kit, which is compatible with tube inserts to pack pre rolled tubes. You can also get a King Kone Tube Tray to pack more sizes of tubes including 9mm, 10mm, 11mm, 12mm, or 13mm.

And all accessories work with both the King Kone Classic and the King Kone 2.0.

Additionally, the King Kone’s fully modular design allows it to come apart for cleaning and maintenance, and each piece can be replaced on its own if anything happens, so you won’t need to invest in a new machine.

Functionality, Quality, Versatility

The King Kone pre roll machine comes fully assembled and ready for use. It is user-friendly and easy to use, so any staff member can easily be trained to use the machine.

Its fully modular design allows it to come apart for cleaning and maintenance, and each piece can be replaced on its own if anything happens, so you won’t need to invest in an entirely new machine.

Made in the U.S.A. of high-quality stainless steel, this metal cone filling machine is built to endure, made with high-quality materials that will keep up with the pace you set so you never again have to sacrifice quality for quantity.

The King Kone can also pack a variety of sizes of pre-rolls with ease. The base tray is able to pack half-gram 84mm cones and three-quarters gram 98mm cones. An extension attachment tray also comes in the box, which will allow you to pack full-gram 109mm king cones. More sizes are available for purchase and custom-build trays are available.

The adjustable motor also allows you to select your desired intensity for your desired pack. A higher intensity will result in a more densely-packed pre-roll, and a lower intensity provides a looser pack. The intensity can also be changed based on different strains of flower used to fill your pre rolled cones.

What Comes with It?

The King Kone Classic and King Kone 2.0 come ready to use, right out of the box, with the following accessories:

  • Vibrating base with control panel
  • Two overflow collection containers to catch excess material
  • Cover shield to secure the overflow collection containers in place
  • 84/98mm cone tray
  • Extension tray to fill 109mm cones
  • Lid to prevent spillover

The Fill N’ Fold Cone filling Machine

The Fill N’ Fold is another small, tabletop cone filling machine. It is a fast, easy-to-use cone filling machine that uses a vibration motor to fill and pack up to 121 pre-rolled cones at a time.

The Fill N’ Fold comes in various sizes to accommodate any size pre rolled cone, but requires different work trays for each size, used with a single vibrating motor that packs the cones.

What makes the Fill N Fold unique among tabletop cone filling machines is its special tamping and folding tool that allows a user to fold over and close the tops of 11 pre-rolled cones at a single turn. The easy-to-use tool is a simple way to create a Dutch crown-style finish without the complications of working each pre-roll cone individually.

In fact, because the tamping and folding tool addresses what pre-roll manufacturers consistently tell us is the biggest pain point in the production process – closing the pre-rolls – the Fill N’ Fold won our Battle of the Pre Roll Machines challenge, producing more finished cones in an hour than either the larger King Kone or a KnockBox and proving the Holes Fallacy wrong.

Fast, Easy, Durable

The top selling point for the Fill N’ Fold is its start-to-finish speed for packing pre-rolls. The Fill N’ Fold can fill 121 cones in a single cycle, but its speedy packer and its tamping and folding tool allows it to easily outpace other machines when it comes to creating completed pre-rolls.

Made from high density plastics, this high quality, well-built machine is ready for the toughest work environments. All the Fill N’ Fold’s parts are made from machine-grade materials and handmade by an engineer using a CNC milling machine and other power tools.

What Comes With It?

Each Fill N’ Fold machine comes with:

  • a packing base (the motor);
  • One (1) color-coded work tray designed to hold a single size of pre rolled cone;
  • a volumetric metering tray of the same color and size as the work tray;
  • Two (2) metering adjustment shims;
  • a bucket with lid;
  • a tube brush;
  • a catch tray;
  • a scraper; and
  • One (1) of the special folding/tamping tools.

Large Electronic Cone Filling Machines

For companies interested in investing in an electronic tabletop machine that’s a bit different, the Hummingbird PR-1 Pre-Roll System is an excellent option. A newer machine, the Hummingbird eschews vibration entirely in favor of using centrifugal force to fill pre-rolled cones.

The spinning motion used by the Hummingbird helps pack higher-density material near the crutch for support and lower-density material near the tip for ease in lighting and a smooth density gradient in between to help create a more consistent-burning pre roll.

Designed, built and used by successful pre-roll manufacturers, the machine can pack dozens of cones in every 60-second cycle, using specially designed, color-coded pods of various size to hold pre rolled cones or pre-rolled tubes of different lengths, from dogwalker mini-cones to 109mm king cone pre rolls and, using different pods, tubes up to and including 2-gram blunt tubes.

The pods also make for a quick and accurate metering system that add to the versatility of the Hummingbird, and with the ability to run multiple pods at the same time, you can pack multiple cone or tube sizes at the same time.

The Hummingbird PR-1 cone filling machine fits all standard size pre-rolled cones and pre-roll tubes through its innovative, color-coded pod system. The pods are all color coded, so the green pods, for example, fit 84mm prerolled cones, which fit about a half-gram of flower. The blue pods support 109mm pre rolled cones that hold a full gram and red pods support 98mm pre-rolled cones for pre-roll joint of about .7 grams. The PR-1 also offers pods to fill pre-rolled tubes up to 2 grams with pods for every pre-rolled tube size in the works.

Automated Cone Filling Machines

Fully automated pre-roll machines are the ideal solution for large brands looking for total automation for their pre-roll production process.

What are Automated Cone Filling Machines

Automated pre-roll machines can take boxes of cones and ground cannabis and automatically fill, weigh, pack, tamp, twist, cut off any excess paper and even weigh the final joint, delivering a level of consistency and automation unmatched by traditional pre-roll manufacturing methods.

Automated pre-roll machines can typically produce between 1,000 and 2,000 pre-rolls per hour depending on the size and level of automation. Pre-roll machines like this can autonomously run for hours with minimal human supervision, potentially creating labor savings and freeing up employees to package the pre-rolls or finish other projects.

There are cons to automated pre-roll filling machines, however. First, the cost can often be prohibitive for smaller operations. Additionally, they can be finicky. Machines are designed to operate in a uniform and repeatable fashion, but as an input, cannabis is anything but uniform. Different strains – and even different harvest of the same strain – vary greatly in stickiness and density and the changeover from one strain to another can take time because recalibration may be needed, taking your pre-roll production offline during the process.

When to Automate and Other Considerations

Because of their cost and level of production, automated machines are not right for every business, only the biggest.

When it comes to buying an automated machine, the math for most companies begins to make sense when production reaches more than 50,000 pre-rolls a month, which is pretty rarified air for a producer; less than 10% of companies make that many.

However, there is more to think about than just the upfront cost.

One consideration is the type of flower and/or oils you plan on packing into your pre-rolls. If your flower is too sticky, automation may not work as well as other cone filling methods and machines. Additionally, automated machinery works best with consistent inputs and if you are planning on making pre-rolls containing multiple of strains of cannabis – or if your cannabis source is not consistent – then automation could increase your turnover time between production runs and ultimately slow you down.

It makes sense to start using this automated cone filling machines when you need to work with the same cultivar and size of pre-rolls for extended periods of time. Extended down time can eat into profits, so it’s ideal to run these machines when you only need to adjust for 1-2 different SKUs in a day. If you are trying to manufacture 3-5 different sizes of pre-rolls, with multiple strains per week, you are best using table top pre-roll machines, and we can still help you scale production and reduce labor costs.

Automated Infused Cone Filling Machines

Automation can also help pre-roll manufacturers break into the fastest-growing segment of the pre-roll market, infused pre-rolls. Featuring a combination of ground flower and a concentrate, infused pre-rolls carry the higher potency consumers search for with the comfort and convenience of a traditional pre-roll. As markets mature and prices for flower drop, the cost of producing these premium items continues to drop while still commanding a premium price at retailers. Sales have skyrocketed in recent years with the segment growing 22% in the U.S. and a massive 1426% in Canada in 2022, quickly becoming more than 50% of all pre-roll sales.

While the simplest infused pre-roll can be made by hand-painting oil on the outside of cone and rolling it in kief, new machinery is making infused pre-rolls easier to produce. Some automated pre-roll making machines can now handle flower that has already been infused with a concentrate while others are designed to inject a concentrate core through the center of a traditional pre-roll, boosting the value and price point while reaching a new, growing market.

As the cannabis industry grows, the pre-roll sector continues to grow with it and no matter how big your cannabis business is, pre-rolls are must-have in your product line. Choosing the right machine to meet your needs is not always easy, but knowing the pros and cons of each can help ensure you find the right pre-roll filling machine to meet your needs.

Cone filling Machine Production Tips

There are several steps before and after the cone filling machine itself that can affect the overall quality of the pre-rolls you are producing, as well as the performance of the machines themselves.

Quality Grind

When it comes to creating a top-quality pre-roll, it all starts with the grind.

Properly grinding or milling your cannabis flower is not just another step in your production process — it’s a foundational piece that can make or break the quality of your pre-rolls.

Poorly ground cannabis leads to inconsistent particle size and gaps inside the cone, often resulting in pre-rolls that run or “canoe” due to disrupted airflow. This not only affects the smoking experience but also impacts the potency that customers can expect from your product.

A poor grind also leaves you with chunks and nugs that can wreak havoc on your pre-roll machines. These larger particles make it difficult to produce evenly packed pre-rolled cones and tubes, which can ultimately hurt your bottom line. It is important to choose the right grinder option for you,

Sifting

Often overlooked but also vitally important to creating quality pre-rolls with a cone filling machine is sifting.

Sifting is a crucial step that removes any stems that get through the grinder, along with any other foreign material or large particles that might tear or break your cones when you go to fill them. It's a simple step but if skipped, it can lead to uneven, broken and overall poor-quality pre-rolls.

More important than removing stems from the material, the sifter helps ensure an even particle size distribution across the ground material. That means that each individual particle is a similar size to the particle next to it.

And in commercial pre-roll production, consistent particle size is more important than you might think.

By controlling the size of our particles through our grind and narrowing our particle size distribution through our sifter, you can create a free-flowing powder, which will allow you to make pre-rolls that are well packed throughout from crutch to tip. Not only will you make better pre-rolls, but you will make pre-rolls faster.

Using a King Kone machine, we conducted an experiment using sifted and unsifted flower. We did a run with un-sifted material and the weight variance was 65% higher than the sifted material. The number of pre-rolls that had a hole due to stems was 488% higher than the sifted material. The number of pre-rolls with an unsatisfactory pack was 194% higher than the un-sifted material.

So in a cycle of 169 pre-rolls, you will get 27 more pre-rolls when you use sifted material versus un-sifted material. When you start to think about scaling up your production, the value of a sifter becomes clear.

Quality Control

Since compliance is critical to the success of any cannabis business, quality control (QC) is an essential practice in pre-roll production.

At the most basic level, quality control ensures consumer safety by eliminating low quality and contaminated cannabis products. In turn, operators avoid product liability issues that might arise if subpar products are consumed by end users.

On the business side of things, QC measures like pre-roll metering and post-fill weighing help ensure the output of uniform and consistent products. Careful controls also help ensure that no flower material is wasted.

Cone filling machines like the King Kone or Fill N’ Fold provide consistency and efficiency when filling joints, as well as accurate weigh-outs. And since automated machinery standardizes cannabis pre-roll manufacturing and reduces human error, it can greatly help out with quality control efforts.

The Holes Fallacy

As noted earlier, one of the pitfalls that pre-roll manufacturers fall into when deciding on what cone filling machine(s) to purchase is what we call The Holes Fallacy, or the belief that buying a machine that holds more cones per filling cycle means more pre-rolls being produced per hour of operation.

The truth is that there are a variety of factors that go into throughput. And while it begins with the number of pre-rolled cones or pre roll tubes any given machine can produce during a single packing cycle, it also includes employee experience, run time and, most importantly, how you close and finish your pre-rolls.

In fact, that last step – closing the pre-roll – is what we hear all the time as the biggest pain point and time-consuming part of pre-roll production. And you are only going to be able to produce pre-rolls as quickly as your slowest station on your production line.

To prove the Fallacy wrong, we conducted an experiment using three different pre-roll machines, all with a different number of slots to hold cones.

Experiment Results

We ran our trials on three cone filling machines: the King Kone, The Fill N’ Fold and the Futurola Knockbox 100. While similar, each machine has its own unique properties and method of filling.

The Fill N’ Fold cone filling machine uses vibration to fill up to 121 cones per cycle. It comes with a special tamping tool designed to help tamp down the flower and then fold down the tops of all your filled cones at the same time, creating a “Dutch crown” style finish.

The King Kone is a versatile cone filling machine with the ability to pack up to 169 pre-rolled cones in each cycle. It comes with a tamping tool that was used as part of the experiment. Cones must be closed by hand (we used a twist).

The Knockbox 100 uses vibration to fill up to 100 pre-rolled cones per cycle. It is compatible with multiple different cone sizes. A volumetric “filling kit” can be purchased, though it is not size-specific, so any flower that does not fit in the cones you are filling falls around the machine during use. Cones were closed by hand with a twist.

In the single operator test, the Fill N' Fold produced an average of 837 pre-rolls with a Dutch crown finish per hour, the King Kone produced 585 pre-rolls that were twisted closed per hour, and the Knockbox produced 529 pre-rolls with a twist close per hour.

When we added a second operator and spare parts, the Fill N' Fold's output increased to 1,361 pre-rolls per hour with a Dutch crown finish. The King Kone followed with 1170 completed pre-rolls and the Knockbox produced 1000 cones per hour, both with a twisted finish.

So as we see, the machine with the most holes – the King Kone – did not win. In fact, it got smoked by the smaller Fill N’ Fold and its tamping and folding tool, producing a similar number of completed cones to the Knockbox, disproving once and for all the “holes fallacy” that more cones per cycle results in more completed pre-rolls.

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Fill N’ Fold is the right machine for you. It just means you can ignore the Holes Fallacy; more holes does not always mean more pre rolls.

Attachments and Spare Parts for Cone Filling Machines

For maximum efficiency, we recommend buying additional attachments and spare parts to allow your staff to continue producing pre rolls throughout the day, no matter which pre roll machine you chose.

WIP Trays for Cone Filling Machines

Of foremost importance are Work In Progress Trays, a simple and convenient tool to hold pre-rolls, perfect for those that have been filled but not yet closed.

The pre-roll Work In Progress tray can hold up to 96 pre-rolls at once in an upright position to ensure that they keep their shape and don't get damaged before the final weighing, tamping and folding. This simple tray is an easy addition to your pre-roll filling process as it adds an additional layer to keep track of how many pre-rolls are being filled and keeps your pre-roll filling process streamlined and organized.

Perfect for Quality Control, these trays are also great for infused pre-rolls, so you can paint and kief the sides, without creating a mess or ruining the sides of the pre-roll.

The pre-roll work in progress tray works with all cones and 1 gram hemp wrap tubes.

Metering Trays for Cone Filling Machiness

A volumetric metering tray is a simple way to speed your production by providing a consistent fill amount that perfectly fits on top of your cone filling machine.

And the key word here is "volume" - the metering tray is not actually weighing the flower, but since each hole is the same volume, in theory, the same amount of flower should be getting dropped into each cone. That said, some strains are naturally denser than others, so a denser strain will weigh more in the same volume as a lighter, fluffier strain.

Both the King Kone and Fill N’ Fold utilize metering trays, though there are some differences. The King Kone offers three sizes of metering trays, 0.35 grams, a half-gram tray and .7 grams. To use metering for a 1-gram pre-roll, you’ll have to use the half-gram size twice. The King Kone also comes with a clearing tool to help remove sticky cannabis.

The Fill N Fold, on the other hand, comes with a work tray sized specifically for a single cone size, and the corresponding metering tray to go with it. Though the motor will work with any sized work tray, each size must be purchased separately, including the metering trays, which are available for all sizes.

The Fill N’ Fold also comes with 2 thin, plastic shims to add a little height to the metering tray, providing a little more filling volume on a single metering tray, making each tray slightly adjustable for different flower types.

Tube Conversion Kit for The Cone Filling Machines

As mentioned, the King Kone can be used for both cones and tubes, with the addition of the pre roll machine’s tube conversion kit. The kit fits right on top of the King Kone and is compatible with tube inserts to pack pre-rolled tubes. To get the most out of your King Kone conversion kit, purchase multiple inserts of varying sizes so you can pack wider diameter or narrower pre-rolled tubes in the same pre-roll machine you use for pre rolled cones.

Spare Parts for Cone Filling Machines

To keep things running smoothly, all pre roll machines have to be regularly cleaned, which can lead to downtime. Unless you also have spare parts on hand to continue production, of course.

From additional hopper pans, bucket chutes, bucker attachments and extra cannabis containers to additional screens of all sizes, these will keep your industrial cannabis grinderrunning smoothly.

There are additional work trays, buckets, catch trays, metering adjustments and a metering tray cleaning tool available for the Fill N’ Fold.

The King Kone also has a range of options from additional metering trays to cones size kits and tamper attachments to keep you up and running with minimal down time.

Cone filling Machine Starter Kits

As you can see, there’s a lot more that goes into preparing and producing high-quality pre rolls than just choosing a cone filling machine, which is why we have created several Starter Kit options to help get your pre-roll line off on the right foot.

The primary benefits of purchasing a starter kit are getting the primary pre roll machines you need at one time, as well as the price discount that comes with bundling all the machines into a single purchase.

At Custom Cones USA, you can buy starter kits that include our Industrial Grinder, a sifter and your choice of either the King Kone (Classic or 2.0) or Fill N’ Fold cone filling machine. If you choose the Fill N’ Fold, you must choose a single sized set of work trays and metering trays as part of your kit.

The King Kone Starter Kit also comes with $100 in store credit, while the Fill N Fold Starter Kits come with $150 in store credit. We also offer Fill N’ Fold Double Kits that package two sets of work trays and metering trays with a single vibrating base, though those kits do not come packaged with a grinder and sifter.

Cone Filling Machine Maintenance and Cleaning tips

For your pre-roll machine to work properly, regular maintenance is required. If too much resin and plant material builds up inside, the motor might overheat from working too hard. In worst-case scenarios, this can lead to your motor getting burned out.

If your pre roll machine breaks down due to a lack of cleaning, it will bring joint production to a standstill, and, when you can’t get products to market, it negatively impacts your bottom line. The best way to keep pre-roll production at 100% is to ensure your equipment is properly maintained. This notion is particularly true with an automated pre roll machines that have many moving parts.

Be sure to wipe down with isopropyl alcohol all of the metering trays on your cone filling machines, as well as the machine itself. Grinder blades and screens are easy to remove for cleaning. Since they are made of stainless steel, wiping them down with isopropyl alcohol will quickly loosen resin and plant material. After that, give your grinder blades and screens a quick scrub and they are good to go!

And don’t neglect the grinder blades and screens on your industrial cannabis grinder or the screens and funnel on your sifter. Sifter screens and funnels are simple pieces of equipment that are very easy to clean. These stainless-steel pieces of machinery can be wiped down with isopropyl alcohol to quickly loosen resin, and the bottom tray and funnel can be easily cleaned with a brush.

Just be careful not to get the motor wet when cleaning. If the sifter screens are clogged with resin and flower material, your sifting process will be less accurate and significantly slowed down.

Personal Cone Filling Machines

But while many of the cone filling machines out there are designed for businesses and manufacturers, there are smaller machines for people who want to pack their own pre rolled cones at home.

The smallest cone filling machines are mostly designed for home-use, like the Perfect Pack machine, which uses a unique augur system to fill a single cone or tube at a time in a matter of seconds.

While perfect for the home-packer, and certainly a step up from hand-packing your pre rolled cones, its size has limitations that make it less than ideal for pre roll manufacturers.

It's time once again for our annual round-up of the best joint-rolling machines.