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I read MJ's book and started my business :)

JAJT

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Another idea - I'm quite frankly surprised at how few pipes are out there that offer some kind of topple-over protection. A triangle shaped bowl, for example.

I know one buddy of mine who smokes regularly is CONSTANTLY knocking his pipe over, picking up the ashes, putting them back in, then knocking it over again in 2 minutes.
 
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Steele Concept

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Good suggestion JAJT. My unit is very hard to tip because the center of gravity is so low, with the bulk of the weight being in the base. In terms of handheld bowls there are many flat glass or metal units already out there. Basically like MMA in the last 15 years or so there has been more innovation in this industry than ever before :).
 

Steele Concept

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Just a quick update... October went well, I have been expanding to NY, MI and CO and I'm currently sold out. I managed to get some great quality mouthpieces that can cut costs significantly and make life easier on my machinist. This month I have an ad out in Hotbreath magazine and next month it's Nuggetry Magazine and BIG Industry. I'm going to see what avenues produce the greatest ROI. Feedback from consumers has been great, people think its an awesome product and that makes me happy as that's why I'm in this business. I want to provide the highest quality indestructible water pipe on the market and be able to make a living doing so.

Currently working on a product upgrade and doing some further product testing tomorrow. Peace and love all.
 

Steele Concept

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Hey guys wanted to post a vid of the Percolator Plate we have been working on. After visiting my machinist we finalized the design. Like Mr. Chiesel says in Grandma's Boy... "Good things are coming." :smx1: Enjoy

Steele Concept - YouTube
 
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MJ DeMarco

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With marijuana being legalized in some states, I'd say the value of your business just increased dramatically.
There is a thread on the Inside about potential opportunities and I immediately thought of your business.

Anything new to report since the new legislation?
 

Steele Concept

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MJ - It's funny because lately I have been doing sales calls to CO. Head shop owners there are pretty happy for the most part :). My next model will have the percolator plate and possibly a different finish. High Times is going to put me in their gear section for February, which is great news. That's what's new, all sold out but new model should be available next week, it's pretty exciting stuff!

My product is for tobacco use only and the marketing will remain the same :cool:
 

Steele Concept

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Just got all the materials for the new percolator batch. Assembling them tomorrow and advertising will bring the product to a larger audience. Good stuff!
 
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Steele Concept

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Interesting! Is it any different to smoking cigis and build amount of fluid in your lungs? Health wise ;)

But yea best of luck!

A lot of customers utilize a vaporizer with the Steele Concept. So it's vaporization+water filtration+frozen heatsink = super smooth hits. Vaporization alone will drastically reduce combustion related lung problems, let alone coupled with a cooled water pipe.

Check us out in the Gear section of High Times February 2013, this months Hotbreath, BIG Industry and Nuggetry.

The new percolator plate model has launched and reception has been great :cool:
 

Steele Concept

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Here she is... Hot Product hell yea. High Times covering counter culture since before most of us were born :)

615077_145164308964441_772042918_o.jpg

The text reads:

Tough Bong

$319.99
steeleconcept.com

If you're as clumsy as we are, you'll aprreciate the idea of a smoking device that's impossible to break. Enter the Steele Concept indestructible water-pipe, a heavyweight contender that simply refuses to go down. Made in the USA using polycarbonate, and stainless steel, this sthing is built to last (and last ... and last). In fact, it might just be the last puffing tool you'll ever need to buy.
 
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JasonR

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Congrats in the success so far. I hope you get your production issues figured out. Good luck!
 

Steele Concept

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Congrats in the success so far. I hope you get your production issues figured out. Good luck!

Thanks man, it's going well. Had to do some problem solving but what entrepreneur doesn't? I should get a ton more exposure this month so I'm looking forward to it.
 

ChickenHawk

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Here she is... Hot Product hell yea. High Times covering counter culture since before most of us were born

Name: 615077_145164308964441_772042918_o.jpg Views: 3 Size: 73.9 KB

Impressive media coverage! And it looks like your product was featured as editorial content, as opposed to a paid ad, if I'm seeing it correctly? Very, very sweet.

By my quick calculations, this easily represents $5,000 or more worth of media coverage. This is calculated as follows: A full page ad in High Times costs about $5,000 (at least according to what quick info I could find on the Web). Your product is featured on approximately 1/3 of the page. This puts the exposure value at $1,667, until you factor in that this is featured as editorial content, as opposed to paid advertising. Positive editorial content is considered at least three times more valuable than pure ad-content because editorial content has much higher credibility. And this doesn't even factor in any resulting Internet coverage, or the fact you can now say, "...As Featured in High Times Magazine."

This is really exciting stuff!
 
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Steele Concept

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Thanks ChickenHawk. You are right a full page is ~5 g's. I can't forget the "...As Featured in High Times Magazine." That's important because it gives the product more credibility. High Times is a wonderful publication and is the original. I respect those guys there a great deal. Brave pioneers they are.
 

Steele Concept

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-Do any people actually smoke tobacco out of bongs?

I've seen it done and its' not pretty lol. Hookahs on the other hand are a completely different thing. If you have never tried a hookah with a nice Shisha (tobacco with flavorings and molasses) I'd recommend you try it. It's a very flavorful experience but if you don't smoke tobacco regularly it will definitely give you a head rush. Sometimes a headache if you partake too much.

Conversion is going as expected. Some shops shooting off emails grabbing units and some end users ordering. Currently I'm working on getting some YouTube video reviews up. As stated earlier, people that have units love em but I need word of mouth going on so people know it's a legit product.

Like anything when a product is new you gotta get the word out :D
 

Steele Concept

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Just a little update,

Last week I had my best week of sales to date. We are going to utilize polycarbonate injection molding to form a unibody mouthpiece, tube and perc plate which will significantly lower cost while making manufacturing easy.

This stuff is all about listening to the market and always improving :) It's been a ton of fun so far but certainly not easy. I can't think of a much more rewarding thing than to start your business and have people calling every other day about how they want your product. Very satisfying.
 

Steele Concept

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Hi guys,

Some great news! My product design/intellectual property has been acquired by a company called Transformer Tubes. We worked out a nice deal and I will serve as a part time sales contractor for them while I pursue another venture that I am starting :) I will sell my product and their stuff for a solid commission structure we worked out.

I am very happy because I am really a sales and marketing guy at heart, whereas the two founders of this company are an engineer and financial accounting kinda guy. They are young entrepreneurs as well and compliment my weak areas. It will be great to have manufacture, marketing, advertising etc. covered by an existing company with solid relationships with national and international distribution.

I've learned so much and know it will help me in my brand new venture which is in related industry... I've been working hard on that lately and I will reveal what it is soon enough. Thanks for stopping by this thread and checking the progress.

Oh almost forgot... You can see the 2013 Transformer Tube Spring Catalog at:

http://www.steeleconcept.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/TT-Spring-2013-Catalog.pdf

The official TT website is Transformer Tubes

Thanks for taking a look! TT definitely has some innovative stuff and our products will sell nicely together.
 

Steele Concept

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The Steele Concept has a really nice video review out now from The Herbal Review. It really highlights the product and it's functionality, it's great to include in sales emails so people know what the product is and how it works.

[video=youtube;5ZHw-aBAea0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZHw-aBAea0[/video]
 

Steele Concept

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Wow, it has been a while since I have updated this thread. We have been busy as hell working on the updated Steele Concept. Here are some recently sold Steele Concepts with new powder coated colors. Our engineer does all the machine work in house so we were able to save a substantial amount of money and pass that on to our consumers/retailers.

It feels real nice to have the MSRP $198... A far cry from $399.99 when the SC first launched around this time last year. A lot can happen in a year. Started off slingin units locally, now we are national and international. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed by any means but a person of reasonable intelligence who reads MJ's book and hustles can make shit happen. Pretty soon I will reveal my new venture on these forums which of course is in a related industry :coolgleamA:

Sales have been nice and people are happy.

job9o6a.jpg8S81c9q.jpgrdbrGOk.jpg
 
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MMatt

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Never smoked in my life but found myself watching that review with interest lol. Product looks quality, congrats on progress.
 

evlttwin

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Great looking product! I know a few people with alot of disposable income that would buy this in a second if they knew about it. I'm in Southern California and pretty much everyone here has a medical marijuana card. It's hilarious how there are still people out there who think that the only people who smoke weed are losers and can't afford this type of thing.

Ex: I was at in customers house who lived on top of a mountain in a private community. He was a multi millionaire from the stock market. Ferraris and an Audi R8 in the garage. He had some type of cancer and was doing some chemo, which killed his appetite as well as gave him body aches. Cannabis GREATLY helped both of these as it increases appetite and kills pain.

Another is a friend who owns his own equestrian service and bee keeping service, two strange niches that make him a TON of money. He plans to retire for good in 5 years. He smokes daily.

Of course you have stoners who get high all day and do nothing, but those people would be worthless anyway.
 
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Steele Concept

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Great looking product! I know a few people with alot of disposable income that would buy this in a second if they knew about it. I'm in Southern California and pretty much everyone here has a medical marijuana card. It's hilarious how there are still people out there who think that the only people who smoke weed are losers and can't afford this type of thing.

Ex: I was at in customers house who lived on top of a mountain in a private community. He was a multi millionaire from the stock market. Ferraris and an Audi R8 in the garage. He had some type of cancer and was doing some chemo, which killed his appetite as well as gave him body aches. Cannabis GREATLY helped both of these as it increases appetite and kills pain.

Another is a friend who owns his own equestrian service and bee keeping service, two strange niches that make him a TON of money. He plans to retire for good in 5 years. He smokes daily.

Of course you have stoners who get high all day and do nothing, but those people would be worthless anyway.

Thank you so much for the kind words evltwin, please feel free to spread the word to your friends. All forum members or friends are entitled to a 10% discount off MSRP :coolgleamA:

Although we can't blame some people for their ignorance of cannabis, we can understand where that ignorance comes from. The media, religious fundamentalists, conservative groups etc. sometimes decry cannabis as a devil weed which makes people dumb and unmotivated. In the early 1900s tincture of cannabis indica was a staple in American pharmecopeia, after racially motivated propaganda and political pressure from competing fiber industries cannabis was made illegal and has stayed that way. For anyone who is curious, please watch the documentary The Union for a much better view on cannabis.

The fact is that this devil weed is a natural plant from the earth which holds great medicinal value. This is particularly true for people who are going through chemo, have epilepsy, wasting, crohns/colitis, glaucoma etc. we have medical marijuana laws in a nutshell because marijuana IS MEDICINE. Big pharma is a player hater because raw cannabis or simple extracts cannot be patented.

Let me tell you a story... During graduate school I was diagnosed with a horrible disease called Ulcerative Colitis. It is very similar to Crohn's disease and sufferers will have it the rest of their lives unless they have their large intestine removed. During flare ups individuals undergo excruciating gut pain and bleed out their a$$ needing to run to the bathroom. During my worst I have been hospitalized, lost 20-25 pounds and become very weak and anemic. During bad flares the disease can literally cripple you, forcing one to become a prisoner to the bathroom and bed. Running to the loo and passing >15 bloody stools a day during a flair isn't uncommon.

I had a very eminent professor/businessman suggest smoking cannabis with friends instead of having a drink. I had smoked cannabis earlier in life but stopped for a couple years when I was very busy with school and work. I began to partake again and it helps - especially during flare ups minimizing painful gut spasms and trips to the bathroom. I would not wish Crohs/Colitis on my worst enemy.

Nowadays I see a much better GI doctor from Yale GI center. I have found eating primarily paleo and avoiding nuts, dairy, wheat, alcohol etc. helps as well as eating anti inflammatory foods like Kale, spinach, fish oil, coconut oil etc. Regularly practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and minimizing stress is critical. With inflammatory bowel diseases any upset to homeostasis can signal the gut to go apeshit.

Getting diagnosed with a lifelong affliction is very humbling and will change ones life and views. These diseases can paralyze even the strongest indidual and despite ADA or FMLA laws workplaces will discriminate against people who are having these issues. People everyday can lose their jobs, relationships and watch everything around them collapse from these afflictions... Ugh now I'm getting teary eyed lol. Tell your family you love them and live life with appreciation for what you have. Always take time to relax and give thanks. Stay humble and help your fellow man cause these are the things that really matter in life.

So for anyone saying medicinal cannabis is a farce - get F*cked, I have a passion for this industry.
 

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