Meet Evo B. | Founder/Owner – SmokeHouse Sensei

We had the good fortune of connecting with Evo B. and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Evo, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Back in 2012, I noticed that many lounges/clubs had started to establish hookah into their experiences. My social life with peers always had some sort of influence with hookah embedded into it. I couldn’t escape it. This is where I embraced searching for many styles of hookahs and different flavor combinations, offered at many establishments within the tri-state. I started assisting multiple small businesses that were catering hookah to private events/parties within the area. People would book us to serve hookah to their clientele, and leverage our presence to enhance their brand. I then noticed that I was constantly buying hookah and accessories from a major company based in the West Coast. One day I messaged the company in regards to an order I had recently placed at that time. After a hour conversation on the phone and me pitching him on why I feel I can be a value add to his company, we decided to form a partnership to expand his brand amongst the public and smoke shops here on the east coast. He became a mentor to me in the business, and I gained a lot of insight on how to run the business; from research, territory management, import/export, wholesale distribution, shipping, invoicing, etc. I told him I wanted to eventually branch off on my own, and he was very supportive of my aspirations and leveraging his company in order to gain the confidence and some capital to move closer to my goals. In the end of 2019, I put together a business plan and brainstormed a name for the business, and decided to jump all in for my pursuit of entrepreneurship.

What should our readers know about your business?
SmokeHouse Sensei was established and built around PASSION. Initially when I first launched in May 2020, it was purely focused on wholesale distribution / online retail. At this time, the pandemic was in full force, especially here in New York, with many people uncertain of their upcoming days with the lockdown being enforced. Luckily, my business was pandemic proof, with retail sales tripling within the course of 5 weeks after soft launching. I pivoted the business with expansion into a new sector, with offering hookah catering services to people who booked for private events. During this campaign, I was able to train and develop a team of people who would assist me with these local private events. It was at this time I also noticed the educational aspect / science behind hookah smoking, or “shisha” as commonly referred to in other geographies, was very misinformed amongst the general public.

I’ve worked with and collaborated with many tobacco companies within the industry, such as Zomo, Al Fakher, and Fumari. In June of 2021, I had launched my first annual unlimited hookah event, where I would bring brand awareness to a tobacco company and provide exclusive tobacco flavors and mixes to all attendees while they smoked out of the latest hookah products that my own company released. The exposure my company has presented to the general public has give them both educational gems as well as diversification to which personal brands and flavors of tobacco they would utilize within their own sessions.

Business wise, the status of where my company is today took a lot of hard work, perseverance, consistency, networking, prospecting, whether it was through social media or door to door sales at local smoke shops, and providing the best customer service in a most efficient way.

What I am most proud of as of today is the brand becoming recognizable amongst the hookah community as well as from the local crowds. Currently, my products are in 18 smoke shop stores, with tons of upside potential. My services have been provided to many major companies, influencers, restaurants, clubs/lounges.

What I would love the world to know is that my brand is embedded in me, and my story is wrapped on my sleeves.

I hope my journey makes an impact on people’s lives in a motivational way. I know there are many aspiring entrepreneurs that want to take that leap of faith, and feel like they are being held back, whether it’s from financial capital, support and encouragement from family and peers, etc.

There is never a right time to start pursuing your goals, but if you let the passion build your business and be passionate about the process, the money will follow tenfold, the support will be visible, and the freedom will present itself.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My answers are going to be very biased because these spots have to have hookah lol. There are many hookah lounges that provide great ambiance, food, drinks, music, live DJ, and many options of different hookah flavors and hookah pipes.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The business doesn’t scale without the support of everyone within my network. To my family, especially my older brother, who would constantly give me advice on my ideas and campaigns to run the business and provide feedback on how to take the best approach. To my friends, who would assist me with when boxes of new inventory came in, picture / video marketing, to training and having them be part of my support staff when I would get booked to provide hookah services at private / public events. To my friend Asia, who is the backbone to running any graphic designs, website maintenance, etc for the business, she is a vital part to keeping the business alive. To everyone who has showed support towards my company, whether its monetary value or through word of mouth and/or social media, every action has built the baseline for the business to grow as time progresses.

Website: SmokeHouseSensei.com

Instagram: @Evo_B_ : https://instagram.com/evo_b_?utm_medium=copy_link

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCap4GqebVfS1x48HQl4M_3g