aLeda is a new brand of rolling papers that originated in Brazil. The aLeda brand is used mostly on tobacco-related products such as cigarette rolling papers, cigarette tubes and accessories, though it could be used (albeit illegally in most countries) for Marijuana products.

aLeda products

Cigarette papers: - Made from 80% wood based cellulose, 14% [Glycerin] and 6% water, aLeda is transparent, biodegradable, odorless and innocuous and combusts slower than traditional rolling papers. It uses the chemical [Glycerin] to remain pliant. Clear papers are identical to [Cellophane] (packaging material), remarketed as rolling papers. In older times, Cellophane was made from natural sources such as wood-based cellulose combined with glycerin and water. Nowadays most [Cellophane] is made from plastic. In Brazil a company had the idea of remarketing cellophane as rolling paper and has done very well with this. The product is natural except for the 14% glycerin - which makes it somewhat controversal as burning glycerin can lead to extremely toxic carcinogens.

Most ads for Aleda state it is of 'vegetal origin'. This strange term 'vegetal' means of plant origin and technically a tree is a plant. It seems to be a misguided attempt to hide the fact that the papers are 80% wood. This high wood content leads to a very smokey burn. Other papers such as TRIP claim to use agar instead of glycerin which would make them less controversal.

Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of processed cellulose.

Cellulose fibers from wood, cotton or hemp are dissolved in alkali to make a solution called viscose, which is then extruded through a slit into an acid bath to reconvert the viscose into cellulose. A similar process, using a hole instead of a slit (a spinneret), is used to make a fibre called rayon.

Cellophane was invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger, a Swiss textiles engineer in 1908. After witnessing a wine spill on a restaurant tablecloth, Brandenberger initially had the idea to develop a clear coating for cloth to make it waterproof. He experimented, and came up with a way to apply liquid viscose to cloth, but found the resultant combination of cloth and viscose film too stiff to be of use. However the clear film easily separated from the backing cloth, and he abandoned his original idea as the possibilities of the new material became apparent. Cellophane's low permeability to air, grease and bacteria makes it useful for food packaging.

Whitman's candy company initiated use of cellophane for candy wrapping in the United States in 1912 for their Whitman's Sampler. They remained the largest user of imported cellophane from France until nearly 1924, when DuPont built the first cellophane manufacturing plant in the US. In 1935 British Cellophane Ltd was established, a joint venture between La Cellophane SA and Courtaulds, which opened a major factory producing cellophane in Bridgwater in 1937. Cellophane is also used in gift baskets and flower bouquet.

Cellulose film has since been manufactured continuously since the mid-1930s and is still used today. As well as packaging a variety of food items, there are also industrial applications, such as a base for self-adhesive tapes like Sellotape and Scotch Tape, a semi-permeable membrane in certain types of battery, and as a release agent in the manufacture of fibreglass and rubber products. Typically, however, the use of the word "cellophane" has been genericized, and is often used informally to refer to a wide variety of plastic film products, even those not made of cellulose.

Cellophane sales are now dwindling heavily, through use of alternative packaging options, and the fact that Viscose is becoming less common because of the polluting effects of carbon disulfide and other by-products of the process.

aLeda products and cannabis culture

Cannabis joint are a standard method of smoke delivery for marijuana.

References

Official US Website

Official Brazilian Website