As the youngest of seven siblings, Sam Jurist grew up in a dynamic family environment that helped hone his survival instincts from an early age. By middle school, Sam was already exploring online sales on eBay. Those experiences set the stage for a career defined by entrepreneurial drive. After college, he launched his first major endeavor: a real estate brokerage called MyGradPad, which focused on helping recent graduates secure housing in New York City. Many CEOs in the Cannabis space can be titled suits or chads that sit behind desks and don’t interact with their employees. Sam is an anomaly: whether he’s budtending at the Hashery, washing in the lab at Rosin Tech or filming content for Focus V, Sam is active in all phases of his businesses.
Determined to pivot toward a tangible, product-based business, Sam found an opportunity in the burgeoning “rosin tech” movement on Instagram. At the time, people were using hair straighteners to extract rosin — a labor-intensive and inefficient method. Recognizing a need in the market for better equipment, Sam and his team retrofitted T-shirt presses, transforming them into purpose-built rosin presses for both home and commercial use. Within a week of launching, the business took off, with sales skyrocketing and a growing waitlist for their products. This success marked the genesis of Rosin Tech Labs, which soon expanded from New York to Los Angeles.
From there, Sam continued to build — acquiring Focus V, a company that has become a leader in vaporizer technology, and later opening Hashery, a dispensary in his home state of New Jersey. Today, Sam’s diverse and innovative business ventures are united by a singular passion: driving the evolution of hash and creating products and services that promote the education and expansion of solventless hash oil.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I never wanted to have a 9-to-5 job; I always wanted to start my own business. My dad had his own company in the printing industry, and going there as a kid… it struck me as an amazing atmosphere, which made me want to start my own thing.
Was there Cannabis in your house growing up?
My mother was 13 years younger than my dad. She introduced him to “pot” when he was 50 years old. He has been smoking ever since, now 86. As the youngest of seven kids, my older siblings were also doing their thing, so I’ve always been exposed to the plant. The first joint I ever had was one I found in my dad’s briefcase.
It’s been 10 years since you began your venture into the Cannabis game. Do you see a ceiling to how good and effective concentrates can get?
Certainly not yet. It has been constantly evolving in process and technology and there is still a lot that we hash makers don’t know. Most of us who take this seriously are all in that constant pursuit of excellence, continually finding better ways to grow, extract, preserve and consume the trichome head.
You’re on the precipice of developing new gadgetry through Focus V. Do you see yourself expanding into new territories of vaporizing?
Right now, we’re focused primarily on dabbing devices. We’ve had some brainstorming sessions on vaporizers built specifically for flower, but this is not in the immediate pipeline. There are more devices we want to bring onto the concentrate side first but there are a lot of crossovers. The PCB boards, the battery tech, the heating necessary for vaporizing flower — most of it is transferable, so we can take a lot of what we’ve learned and apply it to a great flower vape in the future.
Where do you see Focus V landing on the global stage in the next decade?
We do a ton of local events with Focus V in L.A., and internationally, have a strong presence in Spain. We are always looking to support quality events and event organizers that represent the culture we stand for. Our goal with the community is to keep it inclusive for all and make those looking to join the community feel comfortable getting involved.
If you could fire up a dab for anyone in the world, who would it be?
Probably Elon Musk. It would be interesting to see what his brain does when he’s dabbed out.
