Its not common in america, but in england everyone uses roaches they give a much better and smoother smoke imo, and they dont take up much thc at all.

They make the joint at lot easier to smoke aswell kind of like a cig.. and stop you from getting all your saliva all over the paper, I dont know how you smoke a joint without a roach but I tried it once and its like your trying to squeeze the smoke from in between two wet pieces of paper its disgusting.

Maybe you should just try both and then you can see which one you prefer.