Our Story
Back in the 1970’s, the legendary power hitter was the quickest, easiest and most fun way to extract maximum hits and enjoyment from a smoke. We’ve taken cues from that classic design and upgraded it with modern materials to create this generation’s ultimate smoking experience.
Hi, I’m Allen - and along with the help and support of my lovely wife, Daphna (and a series of pivotal life events) we felt compelled to elevate the lives of fellow cannabis lovers by reintroducing the most incredible smoking device you will ever have the pleasure of enjoying - THE CLASSIC BY THE POWERHITTER CO.™!
Don't want to read? Watch this long ass video:
Once upon a time...
When I was in college I discovered this crazy “thing” from a friend's older brother in the parking lot at a Grateful Dead show. I had never seen anything like it … he called it the “power hitter” -- and it blew my mind!
It was so fun and easy to use!
- I rolled one up.
- Lit it and inserted it into the inside back-end of the cap.
- Then, I screwed the cap back on and just covered the carb hole and squeezed.
It blasted me with a steady stream of smoke from the nozzle. MY FIRST POWER HIT!
… and, it was a moment of enlightenment!
I knew I had to have one of my own.
As fate would have it, by the end of that concert my friend's older brother graciously gifted me his. (pivotal life event #1)
For the next ten years, I took my power hitter everywhere - from festivals and concerts to whitewater rafting the Colorado River and hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, my power hitter was a constant and reliable companion. It was a conversation starter wherever we went and quite regularly, the life of the party!
…until it blew away out to sea at Maho beach in St Maarten — where the airplanes literally land over your head just off the beach. Crazy as it sounds, the jet wash blew the power hitter out of my hands and into the distant surf and out to sea. Such a sad day.
Devastated. I searched for a replacement, tracking down the original people first. They weren’t producing them anymore! Saddened, my hunt continued for over a decade.
One day, I decided to make my own with a squeeze ketchup bottle. It was an utter failure.
Later on, I found and bought a knock off online. Of course, the cherry fell off on my trial run and burned a hole in the bottom of the bottle.
Disappointed but undeterred, I kept searching.
Finally, an eBay listing for a vintage version ended my search.
Huzzah!
I found 2 of them and paid over $250 a piece.
… and then almost instantly, I had an epiphany!
In the timeframe of about 1 day, I realized THIS was really happening. He reached out to a friend and began tinkering with updated designs to improve the power hitter -- and that began the process to reintroduce it to the world.
Allen was frantic. In a good way. He was a little all over the place but so excited about this project. It just felt right. How could I not support a guy with so much passion for his shotgunning, power hitting, smoking device?
Throwing caution into the wind, I told him, “I’m in for the ride. What’s next?”
I began speaking with everyone I could to gauge interest in the project. I mean, I knew how much Allen enjoyed his power hitter(s) and what he went through to get HERE, but overwhelmingly - so many people were excited to use one, loved ‘em once they did … and said they’d buy one if we had them to sell. The responses kinda blew me away.
We were now out of stock but motivated more than ever. Of course, Allen believed with some tweaks - we could make them even better.
Hell yeah - that was a crazy time!
I was psyched! What we experienced (pretty much daily) leading up to this was beyond proof of concept.
It is what it is. It’s that rare “thing”. It brings people together because it’s fun. People just gravitate towards and love the PowerHitter™.
It wasn't cheap or easy to improve a nearly perfect product - but we did it.
We learned many nerdy things as we moved towards production.
Perfecting the smokability was quite a chore. Material safety was an important factor.
We scoured studies helping us discover the average size of rolled smokes today vs 30+ years ago -- so we had to make the holder a bit bigger to accommodate today's pre-rolls and tastes.
We learned that the average temperature of a “cherry” of a lit smoke sitting idle is 1112 deg F (580 deg C.) and when your taking hit: 1292 deg F (or 700 deg C.)
Shore hardness AKA how squishy/squeezable the body is - was one of the keys.
We want the PowerHitter™ to deliver a easy to use hand operated device -- and be ready to enjoy another drag immediately again and again.
We found the magic formula!
Tooling/Mold revisions were numerous and costly. We had to get them just right AND WE DID!
We decided to decrease the bottle volume by 50ml so that it would hit harder and go back to shape.
In the end, we built the perfect smoking device that works even better than the original.
After numerous revisions we produced the final product 10/04/2019.
Only a 1000 were made because even with all the positive response and all the work we put in, we “hedged our bet” a little.
Well, hot damn! We sold out in just over 3 weeks!
No advertising. Zero social media. Nothing whatsoever. We literally just reached out to some of our contacts over the past couple years and emailed the people who had inquired since we initially tested the market.
To top it all off, 20 stores picked up initial orders and 100’s of people somehow Google’d and found our website that was sort of still in development but semi functional.
That was the most insane part to both Daphna and I ... between the stores and inquiries over the years, those only accounted for about 300 PowerHitter™ sold.
So, logic dictated that the people who found our website were searching Google and were actually looking for it.
YES! Just like I did when I found those two overpriced originals on eBay. So amazing!
We started getting emails from people after they received their PowerHitter™ telling us how much they loved it. And the most popular theme was, “I’ve been searching for one of these for years!
Everyone was stoked to finally “hit it” so, we took a big leap of faith and reinvested everything and ordered more … 5,000 more to be exact!
NOW, Daphna was the one who was frantic!
The problem was, due to the overwhelming response - we sold out all our inventory. I mean, it’s the best and worst kind of problem to have, I guess?
We just really needed to be smart about next steps.
Cash flow was now an issue.
We had enough to reinvest and order more for the upcoming holiday season BUT we need new molds for future versions.
Not only do we want to stamp our own logo on the PowerHitter™ instead of using the stickers (which are rad regardless and we love them) - but we’ve been approached by big brands, head shops and others to do co-branded collaborations -- and we’re now in preliminary talks about doing a huge Festival with 60,000 people attending!
I looked at Allen and said “Where are we going to get money for that? We need to sell the 5,000 we ordered, which are supposed to arrive December 15th”
So, that led to contacting our good friend, Jonathan - and asking for feedback and help.
He already knew what we were working on. He and Allen bonded over the PowerHitter™. His immediate response without missing a beat, “Killer problem to have! You need to set up a Crowdfunding Campaign ASAP!”
Allen and I looked at each other like, “Crowdfunding? What? Could it really work?”
We were definitely intrigued!
Jonathan proceeded to explain how it could help us get through this cash flow issue, but also - in his opinion, it could be the spark that lays down the foundation for what (he felt) could be a PowerHitter™ movement.
He got all animated and excited, on the fly - basically laying out what would become the framework for THIS Crowdfunding Campaign.
The way he broke it down made sense. It sounded like a no brainer
First, he walked us back through our history.
“Allen, remember your first power hitter at that Dead show -- when you drew that first huge smokey drag on your smoke? You had that moment of enlightenment and knew you had to have one, right? Over the years, how many people would you say felt the same exact way when you turned them onto their first PowerHitter™? I’m guessing most wanted one too?
Daphna, remember when you first started to speak with every person you could to gauge interest in the project -- and overwhelmingly, the replies were people of all ages that genuinely loved ‘em or had awesome nostalgic memories? It still blows me away whenever I speak to people about them - and the stories I’m told!
Now both of you, think about The Cannabis Cup and the results from that. I know you didn’t produce that many in that first run -- but you sold those out, right?
The end-result was people got on your list and waited for about a year and a half -- and actually bought them when you notified them new PowerHitter™ were available, right?
Also, 20 stores picked them up and sold out … AND … even more promising, were the nearly 700 you sold through your website with no advertising, zero social media and no PR or marketing whatsoever
You know what that tells me?
First of all, there is an entire generation that vividly and fondly remembers having one, using one or knowing someone that did. People with a lifetime of great memories all attached to the PowerHitter™.
Now, think about that at a magnitude greater than the number of people you spoke with over the years.
Let’s take it one step further and focus on those people that found it searching Google. They are part of that “magnitude greater”, aren't they? They really are but I don’t think they even scratch the surface!
How many people do you think exist that have these same fond memories but haven’t yet thought to search? I think the number is huge.
I also believe if they knew PowerHitters™ were available again now, they would want one too! Don’t you?
Let’s talk about people who are old enough to legally smoke now but have no clue PowerHitters™ ever existed. The experience today is exactly like Allen’s over the span of the 10 years he took his original one with him everywhere -- it’s a conversation starter wherever you go, and quite regularly becomes the life of the party!
Doesn’t it?
It’s always a blast to watch people taking their Power Hits, squeezing and shotgunning for others and puff puff passing it around like a football. It draws people in and brings them together because it’s fun.
All this tells me the PowerHitter™ can be “a movement”! Yeah, I might be a little grandiose about calling it “a movement” BUT the reality is, people want it. The other reality is there is an entire world of people that don’t know they want it yet - until they see it.
And, that’s why you need to set up a crowdfunding campaign ASAP!
This is about as ideal any situation could be for crowdfunding consideration.
- You have produced an excellent product that works incredibly.
- You’ve proven there’s demand beyond the obvious sales.
- There is apparently a real/emotional connection many people feel
- The timing is excellent.
- You have 5,000 PowerHitters™ on order that can be delivered to supporters by Christmas.
That is so huge!
In my humble opinion, it’s a great story.
I know there’s a lot of fun and passion behind what you guys are doing. I think anyone else that hears it will sense that too AND support you by buying one for them … or for that stoner friend they know will love it too!
… and then, they will freely share your story.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the PowerHitter™ Crowdfunding campaign was one of the most shared stories across social media.
At the very least, I can see every day people sharing and talking about it with like minded friends.
With all that said, there is virtually no reason why 5,000 people wouldn’t snap these up and help you guys fund the new tooling/molds.
I can definitely envision you guys doing everything you said.
Growing.
Working with well known big brands, head shops and creating co-branded collaborations. Selling at Festivals and whatever else you can do to take PowerHitter™ to that next level.
Do it!”
Hey. Both Allen & Daphna here again.
Well, we took Jonathan’s advice and DID IT! But things didn’t go according to plan.
Ever hear of “Murphy’s Law”? It basically states, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong". And a lot went wrong!
We were supposed to launch this campaign by December 1st. We weren’t ready.
Once we were ready, we found out our shipment wouldn’t arrive until December 24th!
That’s right! Christmas Eve!
So, then delivery by Christmas was impossible.
Now, we just heard it will be January 3rd and have it tracked in customs!
That said, we are undeterred!
Everything might not have worked correctly BUT we’re so excited to bring these to you guys!
CHECK OUT OUR LATEST UPDATES BY CLICKING HERE
So, we are here today … FINALLY -- asking for your support.
So, we are here today - asking for your support.
Please help us reintroduce THE POWERHITTER™
How can you help?
- Please pick up one for yourself and join the PowerHitter™ Movement (had to, Jonathan lol)
- Give and get some good karma - go ahead and get one for yourself and one for a friend.
- Get more if you have lots of friends.
- If you don’t have friends you need to get one because it will definitely help you get new friends.
- Back us whatever you can afford. Anything helps. Truly.
- Share this page and our story with your marijuana smoking friends (this one is for everybody and super duper greatly appreciated).