Crutch

A crutch is a small rolled piece of stiff paper or cardstock inserted at the mouth end of a joint or spliff to serve as a filter and mouthpiece. In function it is identical to a filter (the generic term) and a tip (the commercial term), and equivalent to what is called a roach in the United Kingdom. The name evokes the filter's structural role — supporting the roll and keeping the airway open — and has been in North American cannabis usage since the 1960s counterculture era. DIY crutches are typically rolled from filter booklets, business cards, index cards, or manila folders, avoiding heavily inked or coated papers because of combustion concerns. The standard technique folds a rectangular strip (roughly half an inch wide and two inches long) in an accordion pattern at one end to create a mini labyrinth that catches particulate matter, then rolls the remaining length into a cylinder. Some community usage treats "crutch" as specifically the homemade paper version, reserving "tip" for reusable glass or ceramic variants, though these distinctions are loose in practice. → See also: Filter, Tip, Roach, Papers. ---