ABSTRACTAims  Blunts are hollowed‐out cigars used to smoke marijuana (and perhaps other substances) in the United States. We investigated rates of blunt use; whether cigar use reported in surveys may actually be blunt use; the relationship of blunt to cigar use; characteristics of blunt users; brands of cigars used to make blunts; and drugs added to blunts.Design  A school‐based survey of youth, the Cigar Use Reasons Evaluation (CURE).Setting  Eleven schools across Massachusetts.Participants  A total of 5016 students in grades 7–12.Measurements  CURE items assessing blunt, cigar and cigarette use, brands used to make blunts, drugs added to blunts and demographics were used.Findings  Life‐time blunt use was reported by 20.0% of the sample, with use greater among high school (25.6%) than middle school (11.4%) students, and among males (23.7%) than females (16.6%). Self‐reported cigar use rates were not influenced strongly by blunt use being misreported as cigar use. In a multivariate model, blunt use was associated with male gender, higher grade in school, lower GPA, truancy, lower school attachment, not living in a two‐parent family, being of ‘other’ race/ethnicity and current use of both cigarettes and cigars. ‘Phillies’ was the most popular brand of cigar for making blunts, used by 59.$% of users. ‘Garcia y Vega’ (18.0%) was the second most popular. Twenty‐eight per cent of blunt users had added drugs other than marijuana to blunts.Conclusions  The use of blunts as a drug delivery device is a serious problem. Efforts to address it will require the cooperation of the tobacco control and substance abuse prevention systems.