The Power Hitter
My name is Allen, one of the co-founders of The PowerHitter Co™
along with my wife, Daphna - and our good friend Jonathan and I’m thrilled to tell you 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.
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 much fun and easy to use! I
rolled one up, lit it and inserted it into the custom holder inside
the 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. 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 r egularly, the life of the party!
Until I lost it. Such a sad day.
Devastated. I searched for a replacement. My hunt continued for
over a decade. Later on, I found and bought a knock off online. Of
course, the cherry fell off and burned a hole in the bottom the first
time I tried using it. Disappointed but undeterred, I kept searching.
Finally, an eBay listing for a vintage version ended my search. I
found two of them and paid over $250 a piece. … and then almost
instantly, I had an epiphany!
If I wanted one so badly then I believed others would too. However,
not at these prices or made so poorly. I figured that there was
an entire generation who vividly and fondly remember having one,
using one or knowing someone that did. People with a lifetime of
great memories all attached to their experiences using a power hitter.
Plus, there are generations that have never even heard of one
yet. I believed the market had to be huge!
That was it. I was convinced that I had to figure out how to produce
the best quality PowerHitters™ and make them affordable. Utilizing
my years of expertise in product and business development I pulled
my team together. We had some serious work to do.
Tons of research and development went into producing our first
new proto-type. We wanted to make sure that it squeezed properly
and definitely needed to insure a cherry popping off wouldn’t burn
a hole in the body. 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 joints today vs 30+ years ago --
so we had to make the joint 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 take huge streaming hits -- and be
ready to hit immediately again and again. Year after year. Tooling/
Mold revisions were numerous and costly. We had to get
them just right AND WE DID! We found the magic formula! It
wasn’t cheap or easy to improve a nearly perfect product - but
we did it. In the end, we built the perfect smoking accessory that
works even better than the original.
It was time to test the market.
We launched a successful crowdfunding campaign on our own platform.
The hype was real. Old school legacy users from the 1970s
and 80s came out in droves. We also found a supportive and excited
new audience in younger people that had never even heard of the
PowerHitter™ before. No advertising. Zero social media. Nothing
whatsoever. We killed it.
It was time to scale the business. We set up our shipping and logistics
infrastructure and launched our online store, dropshipping and
wholesale programs. Tens of thousands of PowerHitters™ began hitting
the retail markets.
The positive feedback was overwhelming.
We started getting emails from people after they received their
PowerHitter™ telling us how much they loved it. “My dad had
one of these!” “I haven’t seen this in ages!” “Boy do I have a story
for you!” “I was at a Dead show…” (you know how those stories
go). The most popular theme was, “I’ve been searching for one
of these for years!”
Everyone was stoked to finally “hit it”!
“I just got my order and my husband is near tears he’s so happy!! I didn’t know he used to have 2 of these way back when. He loaned both out and both never returned. He looked for new ones and couldn’t find them so he just gave up the hope he would ever have one again. This one arrived today and he is absolutely THRILLED!! Thank you for helping to make me the wife of the century!”
Our Social Media fan base began growing exponentially. Younger
people who previously had no clue PowerHitters™ ever existed not
only embraced the product - they love it as much as the old timers.
Videos from users consuming and having fun with theirs came in
from around the world ... even from multiple generations, like the
father and son who record and post “Old school vs New school”
PowerHitter™ sessions they enjoy together almost weekly!
It’s always entertaining to see people taking Power Hits, squeezing
and shotgunning for others providing a seemingly safer way
to share a smoke, especially with today’s social distancing. Nobody
wants cooties these days - more than ever! In an uncertain time
where health and safety are paramount, we are ecstatic the public
has discovered The PowerHitter™ and its many benefits. The Power-
Hitter™ blasts a steady stream of smoke directly into your mouth (or
nose) with zero contact on the nozzle required, making it is seemingly
one of the most sanitary ways you can smoke a pre-roll.
Since the PowerHitter™ captures 100% of the smoke, there is
zero waste – which means the only smoke you’re putting in the
environment is coming from your lungs. Plus, you can smoke
every millimeter of a pre-roll without worrying about roach
clips or burning your fingers.
Do you enjoy smoking in bed? No worries! Avoid burn holes in
your comforter or sheets, clothes and your skin. Since the PowerHitter
™ is a totally self-contained unit, you won’t have to worry
about ashes or hot embers hitting your bed ever again.
Last, but certainly not least, since the PowerHitter™ is virtually unbreakable,
you can literally toss it across the room – giving new
meaning to ‘Puff, puff pass!’
Today, business is brisk as more head and smoke shops discover
they can now find high quality PowerHitters™ with deep margins.
Reorders are often almost immediate and requests come in for
more POS materials daily. We ship large posters, as well as, small
4x6 display cards that fit neatly on shop shelves or counters showing
instructions on how it works. We listened to our retailers as shelf
space is a premium and they discovered quickly these help lift sales.
Everyone on our team is committed to helping our retailers sell
through. You can place an order online, over the phone (we love
meeting new people and talking shop), or through a select number
of distributors. Whether you are a large chain or a mom and pop
shop, every one of our customers are part of the PowerHitter community
and we are all committed to our mutual success.
You’ve heard of the Ten Commandments, right? Well, we only have
ONE: “Don’t lip it! Just grip it and rip It!”
The PowerHitter Company™
Email: Wholesale@ThePowerHitter.com
Phone: (415) 949-0420 EXT 701
Follow: @PowerHitterCo on social media