| Sharon Letts |
Review & Photos
By Sharon Letts
The ancillary business of tobacco has been relatively small, and aside from the occasional “Joe’s Smoke Shop,” relatively quiet. For, without a black market, the “grow-your-own, indoor tobacco” movement never really took hold.
While the hardcore roll-your-own peeps of tobacco have been content using the same tried and true rolling papers, not knowing or caring where they come from or what they are made of, within the world of cannabis, consumers have become savvy.
For cannabis is medicine, and patients are now testing strains for strength and safety. They are also pioneering myriad ancillary businesses in the process.
Though papers have never been manufactured in the U.S., many rolling paper businesses have risen up on U.S. soil in an attempt to find a place in the growing market.
Jaspen rolling papers is one such company, complete with the sustainable “Jaspen Headquarters Cabin” just outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range.
| Sharon Letts |
Founder and owner Pennington H. Way, IV is one of many who have left corporate America in search of a better life. In a testimonial from Jaspen’s website he writes, “After 15 years of soul crushing managerial work for big defense and tobacco companies, I wanted to do something different… I wanted to have fun… I wanted to be myself… and I wanted to make a difference in the world.”
The difference is a business-to-consumer model, with distribution of Jaspen papers available via the company’s website only, giving three percent of all profits made towards sustainable and needful entities.
“Next week, we kick off our ‘company responsibility’ activities… giving some profits to non-partisan social and environmental causes,” Way explained. “We especially like international micro loans for female entrepreneurs in tough regions of the world. It helps them learn, grow, and get access to capital they normally would never have access to.”
As is the trend, Jaspen papers are a fine quality, Vegan paper. The discriminate shipping box held beautifully packaged papers with a little list of shipping contents, complete with the recyclability of each item, a complimentary drawstring tobacco bag, and a cloth patch — swag at its finest.
Noted in its website is information on the manufacturing facilities, which are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FCS). What that means is, the most discerning smoker can rest assured knowing their papers were manufactured using reclaimed heat captured from compressors, exhausts and pumps – with “aggressive waste recycling as standard operating procedure.”
Its website further boasts other sustainable details, such as gum “harmlessly harvested from the Acacia tree,” but the proof is in the pudding, and the truth is Jaspen papers rolled well, smoked even, and there was nary a trace of taste other than the sweet bud used to medicate.
If it’s true cannabis and hemp can save the world, small businesses such as Jaspen just may rise to the top and become models of the industry. With sustainability and responsibility a cornerstone, the future looks lit and glowing.
Jaspen papers are available online via its Web site, www.jaspenpapers.com. Find them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter @JaspenPapers, or telephone (866) 444-5168.