Photo Credit: JTT Accessories.
Inspired by her love of cannabis, Mary Latreece created Just The Tip (JTT) Accessories in 2017 to provide cannabis consumers with germ-free smoking experiences.
Latreece created her hand-blown glass products by combining two existing smoking devices, a chillum and a smoke stone, into one reusable smoking pipe unlike others on the market. Her products give cannabis consumers a stylish option to enjoy sharing with others without contracting their germs.
Sharing Cannabis, not Germs
Mary Latreece, Founder of JTT Accessories, Photo Credit: JTT Accessories.
A frequent festival goer, Latreece was inspired to create JTT Accessories after attending a music festival.
Latreece explained, “I’m a frequent live music festival goer. I would go to these festivals where everybody’s smoking marijuana and we were all sharing. Deep inside I’m a germaphobe, so I was like ‘what’s going around in this session right here?’” she explains. “I was at a festival in Colorado, Mad Decent Block Party, and I had got this pre-roll that had some type of little plastic tip on it. I found myself reusing the tip because I didn’t want to smoke after anybody.”
Latreece wondered whether there were more reusable and visually appealing options on the market for consumers.
She told Emerald, “I just started doing a lot of research. [I didn’t] really see anything for joints, nothing pretty at least that’s specifically for cannabis. So that’s when I had the idea to just try to build my own.”
Since Latreece decided to go through the patent process, after over a year of developing a product, she created a functional design for a reusable glass tip for smoking. Thus, JTT Accessories was born.
Post from @jttaccessories on Instagram.
Chill Stones: Dual Functional Smoking Pipes
JTT Accessories’ Secret Garden and Fumed Chill Stones. Photo Credit: M Gerard Photography.
The design is a combination of a chillum and smoke stone, known as a chill stone.
She mentioned, “eventually, it turned into dual-functional piece where you could still use it as a chillum, which is where the chill stone piece came from, a one-hitter, or the traditional smoke stone, which is what people used to use way back when before there were joint holders or cigarette holders. There’s a stone with a hole in it and they will put the joint in it so that’s where the name chill stone came from.”
Consumers can use the chill stones as both a joint holder and a one-hitter pipe.
Chill Stones come in two different sizes, one for a blunt and one for a standard joint. Made with a tapered finish, the chill stone also acts as a natural smoke filter, cooling the smoke.
Smoking Made Easy
Users can enjoy smoking without sharing germs, burning their fingers or lips, or risking ruining a manicure, according to the company.
Each chill stone is made with functionality in mind. As such, they also come with a 32-inch gold chain so customers can wear it as a necklace.
“Just wearing it made sense because I’m at the festival and I don’t want to lose it or […] put it in my pocket,” she added. “So I wanted to make something that you could easily tuck away and hide or wear it if you want to.”
Chill stones also come with a dust bag and a prosperity bill. The business also provides cleaning instructions.
Post from @jttaccessories on Instagram.
JTT Accessories sells three different collections of chill stones: the Secret Garden Collection, Cloudy Collection, The Fumed Collection. The Secret Garden Collection features hand-blown insect, floral, and plant life designs. Pieces in the Fumed Collection are transparent and come in a variety of colors, whereas the Cloudy Collection chill stones also come in a variety of colors but are opaque.
Post from @jttaccessories on Instagram.
Producing the Chill Stone
Latreece works with a small glassblowing shop in Roswell, Georgia to develop the chill stones.
Together they “see what works, see what will break easily, and come up with a final design,” she explained.
According to Latreece, what makes her product unique is that each chill stone is individually hand-blown and not mass produced.
Further, Latreece collaborates with influencers. For instance, Latreece worked with cannabis influencer, Lunita, to create JTT Accessories’ recent Secret Garden Collection. Latreece was inspired by her loved ones to make the garden-themed collection.
Post from @jttaccessories on Instagram.
Challenges of Running a Business
In addition to running JTT Accessories, Latreece is a mother and works as a full-time IT consultant, making it a challenge to maintain a work-life balance.
“I’ve been trying to find that balance, growing my business and still maintaining my other life,” she said.
Further, Latreece mentioned that embracing the creative process and working with glass blowers on designs rather than outsourcing her products makes balancing her life and business manageable.
Latreece also mentioned that because she developed a new product, she learned a great deal about the cannabis accessory industry. This forced her to embrace failure.
Running JTT Accessories came with its own set of industry-related challenges. For instance, Latreece is barred from using traditional credit processors for orders. Latreece is not alone as several plant-touching and non-planting touching businesses struggle to find companies to accept payment for their products and services. Since cannabis remains federally illegal, many companies do not work with industry brands, whether they sell cannabis or not. Further, Latreece mentioned that she cannot run traditional advertisements for her products, since some may consider them paraphernalia.
Despite such challenges, Latreece is grateful to express her creativity through JTT Accessories.
“I’m proud to be making enough profit for me to continue to exercise the creative side of me and not get discouraged by the social media aspect and all the business things that come with being an entrepreneur,” she stated.
Giving Back to Customers and the Community
JTT Accessories gives discounts to customers as a way of rewarding them for supporting the business. For instance, customers are given 15% off for their next purchase.
Additionally, JTT Accessories offers special discounts. For example, the company had a 22% off sale on February 22 (2/22/22) and is planning a 4/20 sale.
Not only does the company give back to its customers, it also gives back to those incarcerated for nonviolent cannabis offenses. Latreece explained that the company is set to host a letter-writing campaign event next month to those in jail for cannabis offenders.
Further, JTT Accessories makes monthly donations to Broccoli Magazine’s Floret Coalition, an anti-racist collective of small businesses in and related to the cannabis space that supports and funds equity-oriented actions.
Moving Forward
Photo Credit: Vonte Vendetta.
In the meantime, Latreece remains focused on product development. She is currently creating joint cases and smell-proof joint holders for chill stones and joints.
In the future, she hopes to offer custom versions of her product.
“I want to work with more businesses to create their own design of chillum. They would have the exclusivity so that they could distribute [their unique chill stones] to their customers. That’s what I envision in the future: working, collaborating, and coming up with cool designs,” she said.
Further, Latreece aims to promote conscious consumption in the cannabis industry.
“We’re all about conscious consumption, not just from the standpoint of not sharing germs, but also just everyday consumption. As consumers, we’re looking [to buy] from brands that align with our values,” Latreece said. “Are we looking at how they’re farming or do they have sustainable practices? Or do they have social equity programs behind them, and are they recycling? Things like that are important to us.”
Written by Julia Meyer
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