Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Hudson.
Hi Brandon, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up always fascinated with creating things on my own. From music to products, I’ve always have been obsessed with putting my own unique spin on creative projects. After moving to Atlanta from my hometown of Buffalo, NY in 2016, I decided that I wanted to build a business around designing and creating cool futuristic feeling products. I decided to start with inventing a new type of hookah device for people that love the great taste and calming feeling of smoking hookah but don’t want the adverse health effects, the lingering after taste/smell and the fire hazard thats associated with using traditional hookahs. I also wanted to combine this idea with creating a hookah that’s compatible with CBD, marijuana and cannabis oils. Over those next five years, I spent time learning some technical skills of product design and educating myself on the process of taking an invention to market. Over the course of that time, I also taught myself graphic design, 3D design, sewing, tooling, photo/video editing, 3D printing and created and tested over 60 different versions of our products until I got it just right. Thats when the Exoh Hookah was born. Now in 2022, I own a cannabis and vapor accessory company that launched a line of multifunction hookahs that don’t use coal or shisha tobacco but instead are powered by Exoh Hookah vapor flavor pens and/or cannabis oil pens, making Exoh Hookahs 95% more safe for consumption than traditional hookahs and still provide smooth flavorful clouds.
Alongside building my cannabis accessory company, I’ve also been working at my other passion which is music. I’ve always written raps and poems since I was young but never fully stepped into releasing music on a regular basis. But over the past few years, I’ve been able to build my own home studio and creative space where I’ve been recording the music I’ve always wanted to and releasing it to the world. The same passion and attention to detail that I put into my product design is the same energy I bring when I’m making music.
Since I first started releasing music in 2021, I’ve been blessed to see people enjoying my music and see my audience growing. My music has already had being streamed in over 100 countries and I’m excited to release my newest and best project to date, titled “The Quiet Storm”, set to be released this May 2022!
It’s been a long process to get to this position even though I still feel like I’m just getting started, and that’s in music, the cannabis industry and just product design as a whole. I’m truly enjoying the process.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Everything that’s happened that may have been hard to deal with in the moment has been a learning experience that ultimately helped me or I believe will help me in the long run. For example when I first moved to Atlanta from Buffalo in 2016, I found myself struggling and in a position where I had to live out of my car for a couple of months. It was during this time just riding around the city that I realized the popularity of hookah lounges in Atlanta and how the industry seemed to be growing. I later did some research to find out just how popular hookahs are worldwide. I knew that I enjoyed smoking hookah but I had no idea of how popular they were both here and internationally. Another thing I noticed is even with the popularity of hookah, the average person has difficulty naming more than one hookah brand if even that.
When I wasn’t at work, I’d spend my time in my car strategizing on my next move and brainstorming on how I was not only just going to create a new looking hookah but trying to figure out how to make a hookah that’s a complete upgrade from whats traditional. While living out of my car, I’d always be stopping by random gas stations to grab food before work. One day at the counter I noticed a product that I’d never seen before. They were called “hookah pens” and there was a bucket of them in all different kinds of flavors. I was able to purchase 1 of them and when I used it I noticed it started automatically when I inhaled and didn’t need any manual action like pressing a button to get it started. From that, I thought what if you could just combine a few of those hookah pens into one central device.
That was the seed that grew into the company that have today that I’m blessed to say I’m able to do full time. If it wasn’t for the difficult times of living in my car just trying to figure life out, I may have never came across those “hookah pens” and never created the company I have today.
I make an effort to try to never look at problems as roadblocks and only see them as hurtles to get over. I’m really a believer that anything possible and anything that anyone wants to do is just a puzzle the person has to put together.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
EXOH Hookahs is a cannabis and vapor accessory company dedicated to inventing modern, innovative products to enhance your everyday life. At EXOH Hookahs, we’re hyper-focused on creating innovative, high-quality products for the consumption and enjoyment of cannabis, hookah, and vapor products. We’re the makers of the world’s first and only multipurpose hookah. The first of its kind, our signature EXOH hookah allows users to combine our nicotine free EXOH hookah pens with CBD, THC, and liquid oil cartridges to create their own personalized flavor combinations. No coals, no water, no tobacco, and it’s ready in 30 seconds or less. Also our hookahs are up to 95% safer than traditional hookah smoking due to the tar, CO and thousands of other toxins that are produced from burning tobacco.
Our goal as a company is to improve upon everyday life by innovating the products and accessories that people use. We hope to bring more joy, ease, harmony and relaxation into the life’s of people worldwide through our products.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
I’m hesitant to give out any advise about how start out in any pursuit. I can only talk about my own journey, and I’ll say that what’s made me most happy so far in life is to bet on myself and go all in on all of my dreams. But also realize just because we see something working for someone else doesn’t mean it’s going to work for ourselves. So if I had to give any advise though it would be cliché, I’d have to say to believe in yourself in the biggest way possible, in disregard to any outside influences or self-doubt. Success is subjective to whatever helps you sustain happiness in life.
Contact Info:
- Email: exohhookahs@gmail.com
- Website: ExohHookahs.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exohhookahs/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExohHookahs
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/exohhookahs
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rssKUBCgrmY&t=170s
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0UXDvCynUXz4BxPrGBwKP8
Image Credits
All headshots from: Queen Tut Instagram: @queentut_photography @queen__tut
