Can the Start-Up Nation design a new joint that will get cannabis smokers to leave their rolling papers behind? A Haifa-based start-up called Hadek thinks so.
“We have designed a unique glass cylinder that delivers exactly the same experience as smoking a joint, without the need for rolling papers,” said co-owner David Magen. “It features patented valves which allow oxygen to flow in the same way as in a joint so the user can enjoy inhaling as much as he wants and enjoy it the way he likes it without the paper expenses, environmental costs and the effort of rolling a joint.”
The new product is called MUJU, an acronym for Multi-Use Joint Unlimited, and retains the best aspects of a marijuana cigarette, Magen said. “It’s not like a pipe, where the air flows into your lungs differently. The cone shape of a joint delivers the smoke in a very specific way. And you don’t need any prior experience to enjoy it.”
Magen referred to a movie scene in which a youth tries to roll a joint for the first time but can’t get it to work. “Now, you won’t need to know how to roll a joint to enjoy a joint anymore,” he said.
While marijuana smokers have no shortage of varieties of pipes and bongs they can use to inhale the goods, Magen insists that a joint is the preferable way to smoke.
This author is a few too many years out of college to comment, but an online search yielded mixed opinions on the matter.
Hadek is waiting for the final patent approval of its design and expects to begin manufacturing the product in about a year. While the design is already protected by intellectual property laws, the company was reluctant to publish a photo for fears of patent theft.
The product is very durable and long-lasting, and will be inexpensive, probably around $5 to $6, explained company head Israel Savion, adding that it will be sold wherever cannabis usage is legal.
If the MUJU is successful, the financial potential is incredible, Magen said. The United Nations estimated that nearly 200 million people around the world were using the drug in 2019, and Magen believes the number is probably significantly higher. In Israel, nearly a million people are believed to smoke pot every year, including tens of thousands of medical cannabis users.
As more and more countries legalize recreational and medical uses of the drug, those numbers will likely continue to rise. Israel is a global leader in medical cannabis research and innovation, and the proposed budget currently being debated in the Knesset includes measures to remove restrictions on medical cannabis exports.
Recreational use at home in small doses has been legal in Israel since 2019, and several politicians in recent years have promoted efforts to allow for much more widespread usage.
“Every smoker will buy our product,” Magen said. “Even if you like rolling a joint yourself, you need to keep it on standby in case you run out of rolling papers.”
The five founders of Hadek, all experienced businessmen, named the company after a line in a Talmudic passage about the preparation of the incense in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. “As [the priest] would grind the spices, he would say, ‘grind (hadek) well, grind well,’ because the sound is beneficial for the fragrance” when it would go up in smoke, reads the 2,000-year-old text that many still recite every day.
In fact, Magen added, the English word “cannabis” is likely a distortion of the Hebrew term for fragrant cane, “kaneh bosem,” which modern scholars have tried to link to the hemp plant.
The company is currently seeking to attract investors.
“Just remember what happened to homemade coffee once espresso machines became available,” Savion said. “It became just a capsule and push of a button away.
“We are the first to succeed in making a viable product that mimics the smoking experience as a whole with only the pros and none of the cons, allowing consumers to consume cannabis the way they want or need. The market potential is massive.”