How Lowell Herb Co. makes 4 million joints a year

• Lowell Herb Co. is one of the largest retailers of pre-rolled joints in California.
• It sells over 4 million pre-rolls a year along with jarred flower.
• We visited the Lowell Herb Co. factory in Los Angeles to see how it's done.
• Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Joe Avella: Lowell Herb Co. is one of California's largest marijuana companies. Lowell specializes in producing packs of pre-rolled joints. Last year, it rolled and sold over 4 million joints. In order to do so, Lowell needs a lot of cannabis. This is David Elias, CEO of Lowell Herb Co.

David Elias: Right now, we're selling about 1,100 pounds a month, soon to be up to almost 1,300 pounds a month. We're rolling 25,000 joints a day out of this facility.

Joe: The recent legalization of cannabis in California for recreational use has allowed companies like Lowell to grow at a rapid rate.

David: As of last year, our revenues have increased by just over 300%.

Joe: Lowell let me take a peek inside its facility to see how they make so many joints a year. Thank God, because I roll maybe two or three a year, and they're all terrible. Let's check it out. How you doing?

David: Right now, we're best known for our one-eighth pack of pre-rolls, which is seven pre-rolls in one-eighth of an ounce. We also have a quarter-ounce pack, which has double the number. We have jarred flower, which we sell one-eighth jarred flower as well.

AJ Fay: So, this is where we store all of our flower. When it comes in, it goes into a quarantine container, which is where we do our initial R&D lab testing. When that comes back clear and it passes our quality-control standards, it moves over into these other two joined containers, which is all usable material.

Joe: Each container holds about 2,000 pounds of marijuana. My new LinkedIn profile pic.

Joe: Strawberry Banana, Mimosa.

AJ: Some Gorilla Glue.

Joe: Silky Johnson.

AJ: The Rude Boy.

Joe: The Rude Boy. You got any favorite strains?

AJ: Sour Diesel. I love Durban Poison, and I love that Strawberry Banana; it's a great indica.

Joe: All right, cool.

AJ: Really relaxing.

Joe: You seem like an indica guy. The cannabis is put into this shaker to separate the big buds from the little buds. The big ones will be put in jars like these.

Employee: This is 77 eighths in total.

Joe: Seventy-seven eighths?

Employee: Yeah.

Joe: So... that's... gonna be 7 pounds?

AJ: No, that's, like, less than half a pound.

Joe: The first step in making so many pre-rolled joints requires this machine: a knock box. One-hundred paper cones, pre-attached to filters, are loaded into the machine. Lowell starts with a blend of flower, which is added to a loading tray. Each tray holds 1 gram of cannabis. The tray is placed on top of the knock box and the machine vibrates and bounces, pulling the flower down into the paper cones. Once the joints are filled, the trays are brought over to a roller.

AJ: So, we have about 40 rollers working each day on one tray per hour, so 100 joints per hour per roller, and that's where we get our about 25,000 joints rolled per day.

Joe: Then the joints are brought over to another station where they are placed in packages and sealed.

David: When you think about pre-rolls, pre-rolls are very convenient. It's easier for the user; they don't have to buy the flower and roll it and then put it into a joint.

Joe: Lowell also sells flower in jars if you like to roll your own joints.

David: Here in California, we test for pesticides, microbials, and potency. So, when a customer gets our product, they can actually see the THC potency right on the pack and know that it's been tested for all the other items that are mandatory here in California.

AJ: So, once everything's produced and packaged, it moves into this container, which is our quarantine container.

Joe: Gotcha.

AJ: So, the lab comes here on site, they send their reps, and they do a random sampling based on the batch size.

Joe: So, they just go in, they grab one of these.

AJ: So, this was a box of 25, they took two or three out of there for lab testing.

Joe: Yeah, "lab testing."

AJ: And in a few days we'll get the results back, which means if it passes it's able to be labeled and sold to the retailers.

Joe: OK. How often do they come through with tests?

AJ: We test every single Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Joe: After it passes, the products are labeled, boxed, and shipped out. Got his newest product. They're coming out with 17-pound joints.