Go Green with Green Cigars! Founder of Cannagar Tools Chats on Inspiration Behind Brand
It’s 2019 more and more people are trying to live a more organic lifestyle and because of the matter, some may consider cutting out toxic things from their life such as alcohol or cigars. However, what if there were organic cigars?
Cannager Tools motto is, “Go Green for Green Cigars”. The company produces tools and accessories for making form-factor perfect cannabis cigars and blunts. Their tools and accessories are manufactured with plant-based plastics derived from corn and other renewable resources, including Hemp!
They offer home Cannabis Cigar/Blunt making kits, rapid prototyping and custom designs, and commercial and non commercial digital licenses.
I recently interviewed the founder of the brand. Check out the interview below:
Can you tell myself and the readers about yourself?
I’m a technology geek, music lover, guitarist and eccentric goofball
The logo for Cannagar Tools is a symbol – the two circles representing “big ideas”, but together as an “infinity loop”, and the leaf in the middle is the connector. In this way, the brand itself is more than a symbol of the tools, but my greater intention and view of the cannabis community. Cannabis bridges many gaps, and forms bonds between very different people – much like music, It’s also rather uncanny just how many things can be made from hemp, if we only try! Cannabis brings things together.
Growing up and still to this day who are your inspirations? How did they impact your life?
My main inspirations are musicians and magicians – too many to list, so to condense them: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Per Nilsson, John Petrucci, Carlos Castaneda, Jack Parsons and Kenneth Grant.
The musicians impacted my emotions by making my experience of them far deeper and the magicians altered my mind and rational experience of the world, in more or less the same ways.
To give credit where it is disproportionately due – Steve Jobs had the most impact on how I view aesthetics, branding and customer experience.
How old were you when you first started smoking cannabis?
13 when I tried it. I started somewhat regular use at 19.
How many years have you used cannabis before getting involved in the industry?
25 or so off and on.
When did you develop the passion to get into the cannabis and cannabis accessories industry?
2015-2016.
What motivated you to start your company Cannagar Tools?
Neccesity = the mother of invention I needed tools so I could produce cannagars much faster than I was able, and ended up not finding many options online at the time – this was back in 2016. I bought a few wooden cigar molds, some plastic molds, but the sizes and quantities available weren’t ideal. So I decided to make my own. People started asking me for them and wanting to buy them so I decided to make them available on a website.
What inspired you to make such a impactful product like a cannagar making kit?
1) I wanted to de-mystify the cannagar making process and create something where the results were consistent, reliable, and easy to do at home.
2) The cannagar market didnt exist when I started.There were a handful of people making cannagars online, but pretty much none in retail shops. Conundrum. How do you sell a larger volume of cannagars, when most people dont know what they are yet? (Let alone how to value them?)
Answer – you have to seed the market. For the market to exist, cannagars must become popular, and everyone has to want one. For that to happen, lots of people need to be making them. I hoped the tools would help push the cannabis world in that direction.
When I can walk into most cannabis shops at random and find a little selection of cannagars there, my goal will be fulfilled. They are far more common now than they were 2 years ago. Not there yet, but getting closer…….
Can you walk us through the process of developing your unique kit?
The process was mostly customer feedback actually. I launched my Pro series way before I launched the Home tools. I was selling the largest full size cigar press before anything else. I had someone ask for a custom personal mold. I immediately wanted my own personal mold too.
How long did it take you and your team to develop the perfect kit?
I’ve added more accessories in the past year or so, but the primary kit remains the same – a dual mold press for my two-gauge method, and a rolling stand with a silicone mat and concentrate tool. I’ve been developing the 1X1 tool for 2 years or so and – my custom shop makes many things that never make it to my webstore. The perfect kit is the one tailored to your own needs and desires!
Could you tell us the process/procedure for properly using the kit and getting a perfect cannagar?
Certainly the basics : I use a two-step process. Packing a solid flower core on a skewer, followed by wrapping, and curing. This is why the 1X1 personal cannagar press has 2 molds inside. The smaller mold is for packing the flower core, the second slightly larger mold is for finishing it after you have wrapped the core.
1) grind flower, or use small buds whole
2) Place the skewer inside the mold
3) Use the BudDriver to pack flower down into the mold around the skewer. Pack evenly and firmly – the end result needs to be “brick solid”. The solidity is the key to its smoking characteristics and long burn time.
4) once the core is packed, set aside for a few hours, or overnight (depending on how sticky your bud is. The stickier, the sooner it is ready). If you remove it too quickly, the flower will expand and stretch and become hard to wrap.
5) Remove core from the mold. Use the Rolling Platform to hold the skewered flower core if you want to wrap it with leaves / concentrates, it can also free to rotate while on the stand.
Note // The rolling platform is really only for leaf-wrapping. If you are using wrappers or papers, it is best to use the non-stick table mat, and a little distilled water to apply your wrappers/papers.Concentrates are totally optional.
6) method for applying concentrates is a wild card. I know what I do, but so many people have different processes, its hard to reduce it to a single step. I use a hot plate, and rosin, personally. Very easy to apply the oil rolling the core across a hot plate with warm rosin on it. Smother in oil, bing, and ready for the next step.
7) Wrap with leaves, or wrappers.
8) Place wrapped cannagar into the second larger mold – which I call the “finishing mold”, and let it cure. The cure time totally depends on the method.
I use pre-cured leaves now, instead of fresh ones, so I only need to let it sit for 3 days or so before its ready to smoke.
If using wrappers – they dont have a cure time, they just need to be dry. Depends on how long until its totally dry and can smoke.
How many products does your brand make and sale?
100’s of possible configurations.
HOME tools are the personal presses and personal starter kits. PRO Series are the larger tools aimed for commercial production.
For the Pro – I have 5 different cannagar shapes, each shape available in a wide range of sizes. All Made to Order.
I also make low-priced cone packing tools for pre rolls as well – the Cone Buddy and Cone Daddy.
What great advice and words of wisdom can you offer our readers and Cannabis enthusiasts?
Whatever you are doing do it for the love of doing it and all else falls into place, and collaboration is a key to success in a field where competition is plentiful.
Follow Cannagar Tools