Summary
I tested Alive & Kicking cigarettes against 11 other brands. I researched all 12 companies, looked at lab reports, cut them open to look inside, had them independently tested for potency, poked, prodded, and squeezed, and finally… I smoked them.
Below you’ll find my full and honest review of Alive & Kicking, which resulted in me choosing them as one of my top recommendations for best CBD cigarettes for 2022.
See the 12 best CBD cigarettes of 2022
Pros
- A real pleasure to smoke, especially for “light” smokers
- Ideal portion size (for me)
- Well made and very high quality
- Nice packaging with humidity pack
- Strain specific smokes
- As of March 2022, full panel lab results are available
Cons
- Too small to share
- Not the cheapest
Great quality and taste
Great quality and tasteTheir packaging and service is second to none. For example, their hemp flower, which includes both high-CBD and high CBG strains, is delivered in cool snow-globe looking type jars, complete with humidity packs to keep your nugs super fresh. They also have real people available to answer the phone and reply to emails, which I love.
Their packaging and service is second to none. For example, their hemp flower, which includes both high-CBD and high CBG strains, is delivered in cool snow-globe looking type jars, complete with humidity packs to keep your nugs super fresh. They also have real people available to answer the phone and reply to emails, which I love.
Intro
Alive & Kicking is a premium CBD brand, based in Los Angeles, that offers some really great quality hemp flower, pre-rolled joints, slimline CBD cigarettes, and a nano hemp drink mix in their product selection..
Their packaging and service is second to none. For example, their hemp flower, which includes both high-CBD and high CBG strains, is delivered in cool snow-globe looking type jars, complete with humidity packs to keep your nugs super fresh. They also have real people available to answer the phone and reply to emails, which I love.
I tried their nano hemp drink mix recently and was bowled over by how fast their “nano hemp” works against a typical oral consumption method. It’s a lower dose than I usually take in the mornings, but seems to be just as effective, but faster-acting than my usual capsules.
But I don’t want to get too side-tracked here, because I’m actually supposed to be writing about their slimline cigarettes, which we recently tested for our “best CBD cigarettes for 2022” article.
We chose Alive & Kicking as our overall winners in 2021, so let’s see how they stacked up in 2022.
Alive & Kicking: Best CBD cigarettes winner
The first thing I should point out is that Alive & Kicking are the only cigarette brand I have ever come across that offers strain-specific CBD cigarettes. At $29 for a pack of 14, they’re not the cheapest options around, but you can literally choose the hemp strain you want, whether you’re a big fan of the CBD Lifter strain, Oregon Sweetgum, Canna Tsu, ACDC, Special Sauce…
Or, if you don’t have favorites (yet), then why not start by looking for the cannabinoid and terpene profile you want (by taking a look at the lab reports for each strain) and buy the best hemp cigarettes to suit your symptom-specific needs (for example, look for beta-caryophyllene for inflammation or heavy myrcene for more intense muscle relaxation).
I’m going to be testing their ‘78 Llamas strain for this “best of” feature, so I pull up the batch-specific lab reports on ‘78 Llama and find out that, according to the CoA’s, there is roughly 60mg of CBD per cigarette in each cigarette.
Unfortunately Alive & Kicking were not able to provide any evidence of purity or safety testing for the hemp flower they use in their cigarettes, although the company did say that this would be changing very soon, so watch this space.
March 2022 EDIT: Full panel lab reports are now available on all of Alive & Kicking’s CBD flower and cigarettes – great work guys!
First impressions
As I mentioned previously, A&K’s packaging is a cut above the vast majority of the competition. The box these ciggies come in has a slimline design, is very sturdy, and aesthetically pleasing. The front of the box lifts open, reminiscent of an old-school cigarette case, revealing 14 cigarettes split into two sections, presumably to help protect them from rolling around too much when you start to run low, which is thoughtful.
The cigarettes appear to be perfectly rolled, with a super dense structure and no excess hemp spilling out.
The cigarette box/case also included a humidity control pack to keep their cigarettes as fresh as the day they were packed and you can tell immediately how much of a difference this makes as you can smell the high quality hemp as soon as you open the box. I’ve only ever come across two other CBD smoke brands that help their customers enjoy this kind of freshness (Toast Emerald and Vance Global), so I really appreciate it when I see it.
Experience
Alive & Kicking cigarettes are an absolute pleasure to smoke!
As mentioned, these cigarettes are slimmer and shorter than the average cigarette, and I think that this helps to make them much gentler to smoke than your average CBD cigarette.
In fact, I’d say that out of all the cigarettes I tested, these are the most enjoyable for me to smoke, physically, as they’re not in the least bit harsh. They were also the favorites with two other testers.
I love the taste of them as they taste like actual hemp flower, which (surprisingly) is harder to find in the hemp cigarette market than it should be, and they offer enjoyable, balanced effects. I feel relaxed and calm after smoking one, but also pleasantly uplifted and energized.
I think they’d be ideal for people that are looking for an effective CBD smoke with the gentlest action on the throat. If you’re used to smoking “light” cigarettes as opposed to “reds”, then you’ll love these.
What’s really inside?
I grabbed a boxcutter and sliced open up an Alive & Kicking cigarette to look inside. It was obvious that it was made from pure hemp flower and, out of 12 cigarette brands, A&K was one of just three brands to impress me in this test. The flower is ground up well, which I guess helps it pack into the cigarette roll so tightly, but it’s obvious from the color and texture that it’s pure, premium quality hemp flower.
I also sent some of my (precious) A&K cigarettes to an independent lab to conduct a little of my own potency research. My independent lab testing (with ACS Labs) came in a little lighter than theirs, with just 13.309% total CBD (instead of 14.4%).
A 6% variance is not unusual and certainly nothing to worry about and the results mean that each ‘78 Llama strain cigarette does indeed contain approx 60mg CBD, which is a mighty punch for such a small cigarette!
Final word
Alive & Kicking CBD Cigarettes are a high quality, tasty, strain-specific smoke that I think most people would enjoy. Their smaller size makes them a manageable portion size and I can’t wait to try more strains from this company.
Unfortunately, they’re not able to provide comprehensive purity testing on the flower they use to manufacture their smokes, but hopefully this will change soon, and in the meantime you can access all of their strain-specific cannabinoid and terpene profiles online.
Great quality and taste
Great quality and tasteTheir packaging and service is second to none. For example, their hemp flower, which includes both high-CBD and high CBG strains, is delivered in cool snow-globe looking type jars, complete with humidity packs to keep your nugs super fresh. They also have real people available to answer the phone and reply to emails, which I love.
Their packaging and service is second to none. For example, their hemp flower, which includes both high-CBD and high CBG strains, is delivered in cool snow-globe looking type jars, complete with humidity packs to keep your nugs super fresh. They also have real people available to answer the phone and reply to emails, which I love.