All About RAW

All About RAW

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About RAW Rolling Papers with Josh Kesselman

The RAW brand has established itself as the premier paper brand in our current market. The CEO and brand spokesperson Josh Kesselman has founded the brand out of pure passion and amazement for his craft. The kind of love Josh demonstrates for the art of rolling is felt palpably while watching his videos on youtube or social media. Aside from being one of the few tycoons who truly cares about his workers and his product he's also a dedicated philanthropist, providing water to many impoverished communities throughout Africa and much more. 

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Throughout his career Josh has innovated and designed dozens of different papers and gadgets to aid in your smoking enjoyment, some you would think are pretty wacky  admit but the idea is to cater to all the smokers out there wacky or not.

 

The History of RAW

 

When the company was founded around 1995 it was to create a new cleaner, more natural option for the average smoker, free from tar, free from chalk and preservatives. His journey brought him to Alcoy Spain and to larger companies whom he may now regard competitors to ask for help in the endeavor though they were set in their ways and he was laughed out of boardrooms one after another, told quote “No one will want to smoke a paper bag Josh” as his paper was naturally brown. This infuriated him and strengthened his resolve. Following this Josh risked everything to start the RAW brand we know today. 

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In the beginning he struggled to find funding and to move product but as time started to pass the popularity of the all natural unadulterated paper rose, soon allowing Josh to branch out and experiment. He made larger papers, then travel packs that include filters and before long Josh had developed his famous raw cones. He used those cone techniques not only in his raw brand but also in his hemp wraps and blunt wraps which inspired much change amongst his competitors and the industry as a whole but that will be a story for another day.

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Beyond Papers - RAW Cones, Rolling Trays, Rollers and More

Since that time he has refined many designs of papers and cones such as his totally organic line of papers. Their most recent addition takes the natural feel even farther the RAW Black Papers are their thinnest and personally Shell Shock's fave RAW rollies yet! RAW currently boasts a very wide array of cones as Josh is pretty vocal about his personal love of cones. They range from standard 1¼" size 6 packs or Kingsize 3 packs to the more elaborate Peacemaker cones, Emperador cones or even their 98 Specials and Lean cones not to mention the 24” inch challenge cone just to name a few.

Josh is always busy thinking of things to make rolling easier or faster ways to pack cones.  RAW released his RAW cone loader scoop tool and for more frequent smokers the  RAW six shooter cone filler allowing you to fill 6 cones at once with ease. He's also got the RAW reserva stash which is not only a portable stash tube but a cone filler that works off centrifugal force and inertia you generate by swinging it to pack your product into the cone, pretty wacky right? 

 

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Josh didn't stop there he even made trays to keep your mess contained, the story goes that one of his fellow connoisseurs and friends had a CLUB brand metal tray and though Josh was of course familiar with rolling trays he could tell this one was supremely made with no seams, no corners to get product stuck in, no chipping paint getting into your material absolutely a perfect tray and when he soon tried to get his hands on one he found a collector selling one for $500usd which was obviously exorbitant for a rolling surface. Josh did what he had to and acquired the tray and quickly sent it off to his manufacturers and had them replicate it without skimping on any aspect of the quality.

This was the birth of his RAW trays as we know them now, a staple in our industry and an essential on every smokers table. You can read the whole in depth story on RAW’s website and I'm sure on many other corners of the internet if you are interested. Since then Josh has not stopped designing from the now widespread pocket ashtrays, portable ashcatcher, premium herb grinders, numerous types of filters and even to the smell proof backpacks and bags the creativity never stops.

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If you're interested in more cool RAW products or facts come by any of our 3 locations in YEG or visit us at www.shellshock420.com to see all our RAW accessories! For more info about the history of rolling papers, history of RAW and Josh's journey specifically check them out on youtube or Instagram for lots of really sweet smoker science and instructionals. 







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