It was about 4,, 5, feet of paper on a bobbin. The paper would be produced in Europe on a foot roll and then they would re-wind that to these bobbins that would be maybe 80 mm wide. And they would apply the glue during that slitting and rewinding process. We looked at different glues. At one time actually we played around with flavored glues, flavored paper, strawberry, banana, and stuff so that people had a better taste in their mouth.
One of the things we realized was that the paper was a little bit too wide and we started doing a little bit narrower width. And then we went to Joker which was another brand, and another paper called Roach. I think we also were the first ones to develop really innovative packaging.
We really approached this from a business point of view. For a tobacco retailer, the space around the register is very limited, so we asked, how can we get our product there without taking up counter space and interfering with anybody else? And we came up with gravity feed dispensers, a little carousel-type rack that held four gravity dispensers with different products—like a double wide, a size and a half, and a Joker paper.
Burt and I went to Europe together visiting other manufacturers, trying to get more production, and we visited Job company in Paris, and they were very inquisitive, like, how is it going and would you do anything differently if you did it again and it was very strange questioning. So we said well, if we had it to do all over again, we would make the paper wider yet, you know, it was still too narrow was. And of course we were then looking to make it less wide— MG: —so you told them that to keep them out of your turf?
And two months later, they came out with a paper that was 10 mm wider than ours. And we cracked up. MG: What was the milieu like? Were there head shop trade shows? Was there a group of people who all knew each other?
BS: There was head shop trade shows but if we had limited ourselves to head shops we would have been nowhere. So we went to the tobacco and candy distributors. Actually we had trouble [getting into those outlets]. They were a little resistant to carrying them. Everybody knew what they were for. Because of resistance to the product, we developed a box with tobacco in it—E-Z-Wider tobacco, to legitimize the papers. And as soon as we got acceptance, we forgot about the tobacco.
Which was enough paper to stretch from New York to California and back twice in one month. MG: Did the political climate affect your business? BS: Well, there was a lot of resistance to some of our ads. We had a little trouble getting into some of the straighter magazines. MG: I remember your ads. They were every good. BS: We had ads that positioned the paper against cookies and milk. And also with stereos.
We had a race car that we used to race in the formula V, we sponsored Howdy Holmes who later was the rookie of the year at Indy. When they were going around the track everybody would hold up their lighters or matches. The races were a really big party scene. MG: Aside from resistance from strait-laced magazines, did you encounter other resistance to what you were doing?
BS: We actually got kicked out of Yeah, we were still growing. MG: Were you aware of trends in drug use? Was that the sort of thing you kept tabs on? I mean we were aware of trends but not from a market size point of view. We felt the market was you know pretty substantial and were focused at capturing our share. MG: Did you have competitors who screwed up their business because they were fucked up on dope?
Anybody that we were really aware of, had to be substantial. You explored it and you moved on. BS: I have no regrets. I mean we give it our best shot at the time. MG: What made you sell the company…? BS: We had some problems getting along. We wanted to do different things and go different directions and we ended up auctioning the company off to the highest bidder. MG: You sell the company just as Ronald Reagan is about to become president. I would say it was time to get out and we happened to get out at the right time.
It was destiny—or luck. I actually wanted to retain the business. We auctioned the company off to the highest bidder and I thought I would have the most money. I was able to raise a couple million,a nd I thought I would be able to buy it.
But Burt brought Rizla in, and they were able to get tax-free money and used that to buy the company. BS: It was a lot more money then, yeah. I took about a year off but I was looking for something to do. And I wanted to do a consumable product. I was not much of a coffee drinker at the time and one day I had some really great coffee. There was a couple that had just opened a shop up in Vermont.
I had a ski house up here. And this coffee was great, a different product from what coffee normally was—really good fresh-roasted coffee. Talk about synchronicity! It was the dawn of the Yuppie era, the coffee achievers.
Were you aware the culture had shifted and you were surfing the crest of the wave? BS: I just saw that great coffee had a huge market potential. We bought coffee from around the world. Roasted it and you know packaged it. But I lost millions of dollars in the starting of this company. It was expensive setting the plant up. We also have mail order. MG: Do you end up in financial trouble? BS: In the first 2 years? It was borderline. Twenty years later, hip-hop icon Dr. One company that sprung out of Cannabis culture was E-Z Wider.
Established in , they were the first papers designed specifically for rolling weed, rather than tobacco. The past few decades have ushered in yet more innovations in this centuries-old industry: the addition of built-in wire roach clips and tear-off filter tips attached to the booklet; the creation of clear, cellulose papers, and even 24k gold leaf paper.
For more on this topic, listen to Episode 15 of our Cannthropology podcast at worldofcannabis. This content was originally published on worldofcannabis.
View our archive on issuu. Billed as "the nation's only technical journal for the marijuana industry," Sinsemilla Tips was created in Main Menu.
During this period, it was identified that having paper that has less porosity by increasing refined fiber bonding and making the fibers tightly wound in turn limited the air that passes through it , it would burn much slower and smoother than other rolling papers in the market. Initially, there were many additives in white paper however as the rolling paper industry has progressed refined white paper has become a clean, additive free, unbleached rolling paper option.
While Rizla has largely dominated in Europe, it could not maintain its stronghold on the entire market. Even in its native France, it began to see competition from JOB and OCB, who saw the success Rizla was having, and began to manufacturer world class rolling papers themselves. Companies such as JOB also started using creative advertising through art posters to give their brand an identity. Bambu, one of the most identifiable brands, began to manufacture rolling paper in from Spain.
From then on, countries like Canada, Turkey, and even China began producing their own rolling paper. With new countries making their own rolling paper booklets, there was also an increased diversity of rolling paper thickness and paper types on the market.
The paper thickness was a feature that brands like Rizla improved on, by making their paper ultra-thin, you could produce less ash and provide a better smoking experience. However, this paper thickness is not universal and varies based on the country of origins, as countries like China and Turkey have kept their thicker papers in favor of the ultra-fine French, making them less ideal for premium flower.
Additionally, the French and Spanish branded papers are often watermarked thin lines on the paper , which give them a distinct aesthetic look to prevent counterfeiters. Due to their refined way of manufacturing the product, the French and Spanish papers generally are the highest quality paper, as their decreased porosity airflow in paper still make them, the slowest burning rolling paper compared to counterparts. As more and more brands began to spring up and new machines for automated rolling paper booklet production were made, the price of each rolling paper booklet began to steadily decrease to make them more affordable.
While all these brands were made for tobacco, they began to be used for marijuana consumption, and become an iconic symbol of the culture. The United States also began to see its own brands start to arrive with E-Z Wider hitting the market specifically for marijuana. Cheech and Chong album made to look like a pack of Bambu rolling papers. G in their verses. These, among many more pop culture references think Snoop Dogg and Dr.
Dre made rolling paper booklets ubiquitous with pot smoking, making them even more popular among the youth.
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