Hitoki Co-Founder Joe Tran explains his innovative elevation of the bong space

Joe and Jack Tran. // Photo Courtesy of Hitoki

When it comes to cannabis consumption, there are countless ways to get your fix. Whether it be through tinctures, edibles, concentrates, or the classic combustion of flower, there’s something for everyone looking to be soothingly stoned.

As far as indulging in the plant in its rawest form goes, there are a few different ways to ignite the high. Over time, consumers have developed numerous ways for individuals to indulge in flower. An ancient and popular way to get to the end of the rainbow is through the use of bongs.

Bongs come in various shapes and sizes, and, for some of the most devoted users, can become staple art pieces within the home. While the roots of bongs date back centuries, originally serving as a form of tobacco consumption, the advancement of the niche smoking method has developed into eccentric inventions.

Hitoki is one of the companies at the forefront of finding new ways for stoners to catch a vibe. Hitoki crafts high-tech bongs that have completely reconceptualized the practice. Through the use of laser technology, the company has curated products that allow individuals to enjoy a smoother, cleaner, and more efficient way of consumption.

The Trident V3, the company’s most recent release, is an all-in-one device with over 280 laser ignitions that spark joy. While it has a similar look to a salt or pepper grinder, the Trident V3 is just a bit spicier. Listed at $599.00, the device is probably not going to be a necessity for those who are not everyday consumers. But, for those high-volume users, this form of hitting herb could be fundamental in elevating the entire experience.

The Pitch recently had the opportunity to speak with Hitoki Co-Founder Joe Tran to discuss the company’s roots, why this specific technique of smoking is appealing, and, of course, the Trident V3 itself.

Photo Courtesy of Hitoki

The Pitch: I know it was you and your brother who started the company, so where does the passion stem from for you? Tell me a little bit about the journey of getting it going with your brother.

Joe Tran: This all came along pretty much because me and my brother felt like we needed to become worthy of the blessings that we’ve had. My parents came from Vietnam during the war, and so they had a lot of hardships coming over here. The lady that was sitting next to my mom on the boat got shot while they were coming over here. My dad got caught when he was trying to come over here, and they beat the crap out of him, like the soldiers did. They’ve had so much going on in their life, and they worked really hard to give us what we have now.

I was probably like 22 years old, and I was like, ‘Bro, you’re a fucking loser. You need to do something with your life. You got so many blessings, and you just are not doing anything with it. Find something you love and just go after that. Go listen to that cliche. Find something you love and you’ll never work another day in your life, and just go after that.’

I was like, ‘I love weed, but everybody’s doing weed, so how do I make it my own?’ I just thought about it for a moment, and, honestly, it was all life happenstance—When I was in elementary school, my mom had this Chinese restaurant on the same plaza with a Dollar Tree. I used to go there and I’d buy laser pointers there, and I’d sell them to my classmates. I just always loved lasers. When I found weed, I just loved weed because it made you giggly. Who doesn’t like to laugh? So it came from that.

Half of much of where it came from was also trying to do something to make money to take care of my dad because my dad is very, very sick. This journey is a way for me to learn and become the leader that I want to be, but also provide a way to take care of my dad. He just had, like, quadruple heart surgery a few years back, and that wasn’t even the beginning of it. It all started when my brother was in my mom’s stomach, and, at that time, he had to get a new liver. Now, we’re waiting for a new kidney. It’s easier to say the things that he doesn’t have than anything that he does have—He’s a fighter. My dad is the heart. That’s the journey—It’s born from love and trauma.

Who is the brains behind it all because this obviously isn’t an easy project to execute? It’s pretty hard to just come up with this invention sitting around one day.

That’s kind of how it happened. I was sick of myself and I was just trying to figure things out. To be honest, I was doing a little bit more than smoking, and it just came to me and I had been mellowing on it for months. I finally got the courage to talk about it, and I pulled my brother to the basement garage at my mom’s old house, and I was just like, ‘Laser bongs.’

Photo Courtesy of Hitoki

What was your brother’s initial reaction?

He was basically like, ‘Tell me more, and let me poke holes into it.’ That’s our dynamic—I’m the dreamer and he is the logical moral compass. He was like, ‘How would you do it? What’s it look like?’ I was just like, ‘Well, we like minimalist designs, so we would do a minimalist design and kind of techie. Then, if we use the laser, it would not only look reallycool, it probably tastes really freaking good because it’s only light that’s used to light it. No butane, not even hemp wick or anything to contaminate it. All it is is the plant that you want to inhale.’

He was like, ‘You know what? It could be a good idea. We could try it.’ The next day, I Googled the best patent attorney in Georgia, and then we’ve just been going at it ever since. I’m a high school dropout, he’s basically a college dropout, and we just found other people that were smarter than us, and then we looked at different designs to put it together.

For instance, this looks kind of like a salt and pepper shaker. We looked at a salt and pepper shaker—It was kind of a cool design. We could make it look similar to that. Then we have these interlocks where, when I first made this, it didn’t have this; It was just magnetic. And I didn’t know enough to do testing and stuff. I had built the whole product already, and then I found out that I needed to do FDA testing and stuff. So when I did that, the guy was like, ‘You got to start over. That thing is not going to be good. It’s not safe enough. We looked at—’Okay, how do I redesign this because we don’t have any engineering background. I tasked him with figuring it out, and then he goes, ‘Blenders have interlocks.’

Wow, you just keep rolling off of kitchen appliances. So, are you the older or younger brother? 

I’m the older brother, he’s the younger brother. We’re basically one person. We like to joke around and be like, ‘As separate people, we’re not that good, but we’re okay as one person.’ I could do this with somebody else, but I don’t trust them as much as I trust my brother.

Can you touch on the benefits of using this method in comparison to any traditional ways of smoking with butane or a hemp wick?

The thing that I like to tell people about is that laser combustion with Hitoki is a good in between of vaporization and smoking. People who enjoy vaporization, for the most part, it’s because it’s a healthier method. You’re not having to inhale all these carcinogens. But the downfall with a lot of vaporizers is they don’t exactly get the job done. It only heats to a certain amount, which means it only releases certain compounds, so you don’t get that full entourage effect.

It doesn’t really get you as high as smoking, and also it can have that kind of burnt popcorn flavor unless you invest in something very high quality like a Volcano. So with vaporizers, again, people do it because it’s more healthy. With combustion, obviously, a lot of people prefer that because it gets you higher. With the laser, we’re able to give you a cleaner experience without the butane. It’s still not as clean as vaporization, I will 100% say that, but it is an in-between where you’re not getting that butane intake, you’re getting that higher feeling from it being combustion, and you’re also getting that better flavor as well because you’re not getting any contaminants.

I feel like it enhances the three main things that people look for when they are looking for an enjoyable smoking experience—that’s potency, being able to really enjoy their flower, and not having to burn up a whole blunt to be able to do it. It really extends the life of your stash. It really stems life through potency. The second thing is, it’s really smooth because you’re not having any other carcinogen, any other contaminants, like butane, that makes the experience harsher.And then again, without the butane, it tastes a lot better. So, flavor, potency, and smoothness are the three main things that people would appreciate.

Can you tell me a little bit about the differences between the Trident V3 compared to the V2? What was the feedback that you were getting from the last version, and how did you implement that into what you guys went with this time?

Photo Courtesy of Hitoki

The last version, it had a plastic acrylic piece, and you had to unscrew it. Customers were saying that they would prefer a glass one for the purity, and they also would like for us to be able to have different glass in the future. For one, we made it glass like they asked. And then, they wanted us to be able to have different glass, so we made it a magnetic connection so that we could make easy glass to attach to it.

We didn’t have this lip that flared out before, so it was a little bit easier to tip over. We listened to customers about that, so we made this flared-out lip. There is a second stem in here so that you can flip it upside down, and it makes it spill-resistant. It still spills a little bit, to be honest, but it’s more spill-resistant. We made it to where you can actually remove that stem in this one. The reason why we made it so that you can remove it, is because, you can imagine, sometimes that stem can act like a straw and suck up water. Consumers have been asking us to make it to where they can put more water in it, so we made the stem removal so that you can put more water into it.

Our last gray hose, the way that it was stored, made it kink and then it kept that kink. Our consumers wanted a better quality hose that doesn’t kink even when they use it. So we went from a gray hose to a black hose that works a lot better and it doesn’t pick up as much dust as the gray hose as well.

They requested that our laser burn radius be bigger, so I increased it slightly, but not by a lot. The reason why is because I designed this toward how I liked to smoke in the very beginning when I started, which is very conservative. I feel like, for the most part, most people want to be pretty conservative with their stash as well. I mean, there’s definitely going to be some guys that just want to burn through it, but not everybody has that ability. I designed it so that I can get a really big hit out of it, stir it up, and get another really big hit out of it.

I can normally crush the bowl in one to two hits. But, my lady, for instance, she’ll take like four or five hits before she crushes it. It’s like when you smoke with a group of people—some people might curb it so that one person can hit a corner, somebody hits that corner, somebody hits this corner. Basically, you’re getting the same effect with this, where we’re burning the middle, and then you’re able to just stir the green back together and then get another good hit out of it.