Hemper: Unboxing of Hemper, Classic to Custom, Building a Smokers Business

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to bring a product like a glass piece or accessory from an idea to the manufacturing line and scale it to 20k+ orders, this episode is for you.

Blackleaf is joined in the studio by the young legends behind the Hemper brand, Bryan (founder,) and Thai (lead designer,) to discuss their steady growth alongside the industry for the past decade, their wins vs losses in terms of dropping a new piece and accessories every single month for years, how market demand drove them into taking over the cone industry on a side hustle turned overseas pre-roll empire, and of course, all of the crazy stories in between.

For the uninitiated, Hemper is an herb accessory brand known for its high-quality smoking products, including glass b0ngs, rolling trays, and subscription boxes. The company was founded in 2015 with the goal of delivering curated smoking essentials directly to consumers. Hemper collaborates with artists and influencers to create innovative, limited-edition designs that appeal to both casual and experienced smokers. The brand has grown significantly, becoming a go-to source for affordable and stylish smoking accessories.

The story of how Bryan essentially graduated from college on the East Coast while simultaneously building the dream team to scale Hemper is one that you truly can’t miss. You’ll also hear about Thai’s background working with Hypebeast and Karmaloop on countless creative endeavors from creative design to music videos and more before Karmaloop’s imminent demise and bankruptcy around the time Diddy got involved.

A name of interest that comes up in this pod is Rama Mayo, an entrepreneur and visionary known for his significant contributions to the herb and music industries. He co-founded Hall of Flowers, a premier herb trade show, and Green Street, an herb brand agency. Before his ventures with the plant, Mayo spent 15 years in the music industry, working with renowned artists such as Jimmy Eat World, The Hives, and At the Drive-In, and co-founded the record label Big Wheel Recreation.

You’ll hear about Rama reaching out to Bryan only 15 months into the business running, insisting they come to Los Angeles to live in the same building as him and run their operation at the Green Street building. Bryan divulges crazy stories surrounding their time at Green Street and running with Rama, meeting essentially every key player in the LA scene pre-2020.

One of the biggest topics of conversation in this episode is easily product manufacturing and merchandising. Thai and Bryan weigh in on a number of topics surrounding deciding which glass pieces and accessories to mass produce in the thousands to tens of thousands, doing all their CAD design in-house, which ideas are even worth pursuing, and what goes into developing a full product line for an MSO.

The true gem of this pod is when Bryan and Thai talk about their cone side business that’s driven them to set up shop in India. Getting in during a cone shortage around 2017-18, they were able to rapidly scale their factories overseas to now own and operate over a dozen. Bryan will divulge exactly how they were able to meet crazy demand in the millions and presently produce around 30-40% of the world’s pre-roll cones.

Any aspiring entrepreneur who loves the plant should sit down for this inspirational episode about how you can build massive empires in this industry without ever having to grow, trim, or cure anything.

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