Fighting the Recession with Kiefboxes

Welcome to Mary Jane - Earth's Marijuana Magazine

We are very thrilled to be based in pot-friendly Seattle, Washington U.S.A.!

CONTACT | MISSION STATEMENT | FACEBOOK

Fighting the Recession with Kiefboxes

An interview with woodworker and potrepreneur Mr. Kiefbox

Mary Jane: What is a Kiefbox?
Mr. Kiefbox: Basically it's a two level box, separated by a fine screen. You store your product in the top of the box and you can shake it -- or not -- but regardless, it collects all the trichomes on the glass bottom of the box. And you take a little razor or a scraper and you scrape it up. And fire kills kief (a smoking preparation from hemp leaves), so what you gotta do is get a pollen press and you press it and make it really hard so that it burns really slow like incense. It's not new: for thousands of years they have been using silkscreen to process all kinds of herbs.

It's kind of funny, when I first started making them ... I was a head back in the day, and I had never heard of a kiefbox. Then five years ago I was carpooling with a guy, discussing my woodworking, and he said, "Dude, you should make kiefboxes." And he explained what they were. I didn't really even think about it too much after that, and then later I got laid off and then my buddy said, you know, "Hey dude, you should make kiefboxes."

MJ: So that's how you are making your living right now -- you started your own business. It's the American dream. But can you make a living making custom kiefboxes?
Mr. Kiefbox: The answer is yes. But it's tough. It's a matter of getting your name out there. I list my boxes on eBay, anywhere I can, all of the marijuana sites ... 420magazine.com, all these forums where I register as Mr Kiefbox.

MJ: You do a good job with marketing, I see you on Facebook all the time.
Mr. Kiefbox: That I gotta give to my wife. She's on there all day, adding people, cold-contacting different headshops across the country, and she does a really good job.

Kiefbox custom-made for Nug Magazine.

MJ: These are custom pieces, you're not just re-selling junk that you order from China.
Mr. Kiefbox: Right. They're not buying what I got, they're buying what they want. For example, this morning I got a call from someone that wanted a six-by-nine coffin box, they wanted a lid, they wanted a hinge and a lock. So I'm able to accommodate what it is they want. They can send me wood if they want. Of course, it costs them, but I'm able to do that. And if they can't find it in a store, they just call me.

MJ: If someone sends you their logo or art, you can burn that onto a box, right?
Mr. Kiefbox: Yeah, and all the logos are hand-burnt. I don't have a laserprinter or anything like that. I sit down with one of those old Boy Scout woodburners and I actually hand-burn every single box.

MJ: So the CottonMouth Kings invited you to the Showbox? You made them some boxes, right?
Mr. Kiefbox: My buddy Darren down at Chief Cottonmouth (no relation to band) down on River Road loves the Kings.

MJ: I'm guessing Chief Cottonmouth sells your Kiefboxes?
Mr. Kiefbox: Yeah, Chief Cottonmouth is the premier headshop in the northwest. He's got it all. (1111 River Rd, Puyallup, WA, 98371 (253) 848-0260)

MJ: I like how you started your own business, instead of trying to plug in to the degrading corporate trap of "job hunting."
Mr. Kiefbox: With the economy the way it is and as a woodworker, nobody's really buying furniture. Nobody wants to spend the money for quality shop furniture right now. That's why I joined this new and up-and-coming industry, you know.

There are people out there, with the medical industry, they are no longer hiding their stuff in a shoebox at the bottom of their closet. That's my passion, that people are proud of their boxes and display them.

MJ: Is there a wood that is really good for storing pot, that absorbs the essence of the pot?
Mr. Kiefbox: My humidor boxes, that store at a humidity level of 68-72 percent, are made of Spanish Cedar. That's a good wood.

mrkeifboxwoodworking.com

- Mary Jane

This story originally published in Mary Jane Magazine #3, Winter 2011.