Clear rolling papers
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Clear rolling papers are a recent trend in rolling papers. These papers are made from cellulose and are packed much like normal rolling papers. Each pack has between 20-50 sheets and is available in a multitude of sizes.
There are many new brands of these cellulose papers. The most popular are Aleda, Glass, 1Back, Trip, Invisible and Klear. There are also perhaps 20 more brands as each week another company comes out with their own brand (Pure, Invisible, Higlass, Higloss, See-through, Smokeclear, Smokinclear, Roomba, Skuma, Eco, Zero and many more). Most are currently made in Brazil and would therefore be made from 80% Eucalyptus based cellulose, 14% glycerin and 6% water. The brand Aleda, however mistakenly printed false statements and claimed to use 100% cellulose (see below). The Glycerin in these papers causes them to burn very slow as the Glycerin does not burn (thus it slows the burn rate of the surrounding cellulose). A cigarette burns at a much lower temperature then what would be required to burn Glycerin, which is what causes the effect. Glycerin if it could be burned would produce possible toxic chemicals[1]. The Trip brand may use agar instead of glycerin. The inherent properties of this special cellulose film paper cause it to slightly shrivel when heated. Thus it wraps even tighter around tobacco as it is being smoked and therefore provides a tighter draw with less air-pull. The only drawback is that the paper is smokier then most thin white papers.
There are also some brands of clear rolling papers available interleaved (Chrome & Crystal). This means each paper is folded in half and then placed in the pack. The problem with these papers is that the interleaved crease never smooths out - so you are left with a line in your cigarette which burns at a different rate then the rest of the cigarette. Plus the cigarette is not as perfectly oval due to the crease - thus it can draw more air during inhalation.
There has been some controversy surrounding clear rolling papers. This is mostly because some brands have incorrectly advertised their clear rolling papers as being more natural then regular 'white' rolling papers and have even gone as far as to claim that regular white papers contain lead and arsenic whereas the 'clear' ones do not[2][3].
Some companies such as Pure have gone so far as to claim that ALL paper is clear during the production process and then companies add white dye to make paper white. That is patently false and should not be believed. Regular Paper is naturally brown until a whitening agent is added. Clear papers are made using a process like that of non-plastic generic Cellophane which is entirely different. The problem with the marketing by some smaller companies of clear papers is that many continue to market them as being safer then 'white' papers. This is also patently false. Burning Clear papers has not been proven to be healthier or safer then burning a regular paper. The safest rolling paper is an unbleached brown paper according to research (ref)
