NUWU Sessions: Dr.Dabber Sale's Team discusses making dabbing products accessible to anyone

"Welcome to NuWu Sessions, where we invite guests to enjoy one of our top-shelf table packages in Las Vegas' first and only cannabis consumption lounge: The Vegas Tasting Room. On today's episode, we've invited DANIEL MARSHALL and DANE BALEDES from DR. DABBER to come by and get high. Watch as we learn how these guys joined the DR. DABBER team, all while trying a new DR. DABBER device hitting shelves soon. It's only here on the NuWu Sessions Podcast, so let's get into it!" 

About Dr. Dabber

Dr.Dabber was created in 2013 to solve the issue of questionable quality and dated technology. The brand's goal was simple, to make the best quality vaporizer, which they built out of the best materials and backed by a customer support team. The team at Dr.Dabber focuses on creating products tailored to customers' needs. Dr.Dabber has grown since their early days. Since then, they have made several award-winning vaporizers! Their entire design/engineering process is done in-house to ensure that all proprietary equipment is designed to give you the best experience possible.

Now, let's meet two of the faces of Dr. Dabber's sales team, Daniel Marshall and Dane Balede, as we discuss all things Dr.Dabber! Since joining the team at Dr.Dabber, they have built a team that believes in its products and spends grueling hours perfecting the vaporizers we know and love. Their dedication starts with their customers and the care they pour into their award-winning customer support team. As the official Dr.Dabber website mentions, "We will always go above and beyond to make sure the people that invest in us feel taken care of, no matter what the situation is. We don't just want you to buy a Dr.Dabber product, we want you to join the Dr.Dabber Family!"

Interview Q&A

Q - Why don't you guys tell the people at home who you are and what you did before you linked up with Dr.Dabber?

Daniel: My name's Daniel Marshall, and before Dr.Dabber, I worked at a local smoke shop in town, Mr. Bill's. Before that, I was in the floral industry for a little bit, and I've always been passionate about cannabis. I was happy to make that leap into the cannabis space.

Dane: I'm Dane. I started the same way, Mr. Bill's Smoke Shop, transitioned into a budtender and then found my spot in sales. 

Daniel: We grew up in Vegas and went to the same middle & high school. Dane actually plugged me in with the job at Mr. Bill's, bringing me into the industry. 

Since you have been in this industry for a while, do you consume cannabis?

Daniel: Yes, long-time cannabis user and cannabis advocate. Getting kicked out of school for cannabis, but now it's more socially accepted. 

Is there a specific strain or terpene that you guys usually go to?

Dane: I'm on the myrcene side. That's my favorite terpene.

Daniel: I do like more Indica-leaning terpenes. For Sativa terpenes, I love terpinolene, a nice Durban Poison. I also like myrcene or caryophyllene.

When you're smoking at home, what's your preferred method of consumption?

Daniel: I do consider myself a purist. I love smoking out of a quartz banger and rig at home. I just picked up a Control Tower from Highly Educated. I feel like it's the cleanest way to consume your concentrates. But when I'm on the go, I take my Dr.Dabber XS with me if I'm not at home.

Dane: I'm the same way, man, traditional quartz banger, to get the taste. But if I'm on the go, my Dr.Dabber for sure.

 What sparked your interest in this industry? 

Daniel: General love of the plant itself. I've always loved working at the smoke shop, wanting to be involved in the cannabis space. I definitely used that to propel me into the industry. Just the overall love of the plant. From my teenage years into adulthood, I've just found the benefits of it just calming me down. Of course, they try to put you on socialized medicine, so if you have ADHD, they give you Ritalin or Adderall. I always found that cannabis is far more pleasing to my mindset and more effective. 

Dane: I've been around it since I was a kid, so just having that passion for it, seeing how it's working. I love every part of the plant, from seed to bag. It's all amazing. 

Can you tell us the story about Dr.Dabber and how it started?

Daniel: I worked at Mr.Bills for many years, going to the Champs Trade Shows as a consumer and as a buyer. Just trying to break into the industry. I actually purchased multiple Dr.Dabber pens from the booth. I bought a Dr.Dabber Ghost and 2 light pens, and they filled me up. 

A couple of years later, Dr.Dabber moved out to Las Vegas. I was actually at the DMV renewing my license and smoking on my Dr.Dabber pens. I got a call from Andy, our Operations Manager. He said we had met at Mr.Bills. He'd seen me wearing a Dr.Dabber hat, remembered me from the Trade Show, and offered me an interview. The next day I went down, brought my resume in, had an interview, and landed a warehouse job. I was one of the first to get hired for the warehouse here in Las Vegas, and we built the team from there. Being that they're from Florida, I had a lot of good, reputable friends here that work hard. So we brought a couple of people into the warehouse and got Dane in since he brought me into Mr. Bill's, and I wanted to return the favor to your friends. 

I started with the warehouse and worked my way up to events and activations, and now I'm the Head of Sales here at Dr.Dabber. You never know who you're going to meet, so always be on your best behavior, and represent yourself, which rings true for me every day.

Dane: I was working at Bill's, then Daniel and my other guy, Eric, came to me with a job offer. Started in the warehouse, worked there for about a year, and then got promoted to sales. Where I am loving and it.

How have sales been?

Daniel: Sales have been great. We've gained control over our nationwide distribution, so building those relationships with our shops provides them with the Dr.Dabber products they've been looking for. It's really helped us a lot. We've grown our sales team over the last year to about six people, and we're looking to grow even more in the next year.

I heard you mention Florida. Is that where your headquarters is based?

Daniel: We're based in Las Vegas, Nevada, but Dr.Dabber was founded in Boca Raton, Florida. We moved down from Florida to Vegas in 2016 and have been here ever since. 

There are a lot of e-rigs out there on the market. What separates Dr.Dabber from everybody else?

Daniel: Consumption should be simple, clean, and efficient for everyone. Not just someone who's a heavy user or a very tech-focused person. So we put our devices out there. They will operate for anyone; your grandma, your brother, your sister, your mom, or your dad. And that really sets us apart, our ease of use, our quality, and of course, we have that Quartz Atomizer, right? So the glass stands out. We always break through to the reference point of a Quartz Banger at home; we're all using that here. So we want to give that same philosophy to our E-Rigs.  

We've been collaborating with artists or athletes who align with our mindsets. As you guys know, we collaborated with Sugar Sean O'Malley on the Boost EVO and the Switch most recently. It's very exciting. I can't wait to announce some cool collaborations in the works. In the past, we've done some incredible collaborations with Aaron Kai and Ahol Sniffs Glue. Aaron Kai is a Hawaiian-based artist. He's most known for repeating wave-like patterns, while Ahol Sniffs Glue is from Miami.

We also reached out to Sha'Carri Richardson, but her team never reached out to collaborate. She did get in trouble for having cannabis in her system. I believe she had lost someone near her and was using cannabis as a coping mechanism. Even though cannabis is a great coping mechanism. I can't wait until we live in an age where if athletes want to use self-medication after the clock, let them. Why do they have to be penalized? We're seeing that with Brittney Griner now too. 

Are there any new products that you guys have coming down the pipeline?

Daniel: Yeah, we're always looking to further consumption methods. We got the Dr.Dabber XS, which is a very small nano rig. That's the newest vape that we put onto the market. It fits in your front pocket and still operates with that quartz-to-glass philosophy. But we're really trying to tap into the beginner user, the grandmas, the moms, and people who want to use concentrates as a medicine. So, with just a simple push-button operation, we have the XS available for them. Temperatures are much lower, going from 475 to 625, so if you're smoking hash, this device will be perfect for you. 

The XS is designed for someone who wants to take their performance anywhere. The Boost Evo will go with you in a cup holder on road trips, and then the Switch is something you have at home on your desktop when you're working from home. You can put it beside your computer and use it as needed.

What are the advantages of using the XS over the Boost Evo? 

Daniel: The Boost Evo hits most like a traditional Dab Rig. It hits really strong. You can get lower temperatures and more terpenes, or you can crank it up, and it's really going to hit you in your throat. The XS is much smoother, it does not hit like a traditional dab rig, but it's still going to kick clouds. It's a smooth and pleasing experience. It's the lower temperatures, and there's nowhere for the smoke to travel except right to the user. So, if you're trying to be ultraportable, going to music festivals, going hiking, this is less space in your bag, or this can be used for traveling. It can go anywhere with you. It's a question of portability versus something more practical. The water in the chamber of the XS is also spill-proof glass, so if you want to have this in your bag, it will make it really easy to not have to take the water out. You don't have to worry about this falling off and breaking. 

What have been some of the hardest aspects of scaling the company?

Daniel: Dr.Dabber got started in 2013, and I feel like with any business, it's finding people that are passionate as you, that want to work in the cannabis space, that aren't trying to get messed up all day. Unfortunately, we get a lot of people like that who try to enter this industry. Yet, fortunately, there are a lot of people out there who are looking for us. I'm trying to scale and grow as a team. That's probably the hardest aspect, trying to find people who are professional but are also cannabis passionate.

We're like a family. We're a tiny company, about 30 people. Anything you see us do is between those 30 people, so we're really close-knit. COVID messed a lot of things up just because everybody's been working from home. But it's nice that everyone is getting back into the office. It feels very communal when you come into the office because it feels like family. 

Trying to find people that fit into that, not just trying to take dabs all day. Some people smoke dabs, and they can't function. Especially in Nevada, it can be hard because, throughout the pandemic, it was made easy for people to not work. So finding people who are motivated to work is also a problem.

Can you describe the team that you guys have cultivated as Dr.Dabber? 

Daniel: I can speak mainly about the Sales team since that's what I do directly. So, we're very diverse at Dr.Dabber. We have people from all walks of life. We are a diverse bunch of people from all parts of the country. And I mean, we're people who love cannabis and being outdoors. But ultimately, we have a strong team. We're working on a creative team, we're expanding that right now. So definitely, check the job boards. We're looking for people who want to push out the sickest apparel that aligns with the culture. Whether it be skateboard culture, music culture, or cannabis culture. Our warehouse team, those guys absolutely crush it. That's our smallest team, just two or three guys pushing out every package Dr.Dabber puts out there. So whether it's the website, a wholesale, and then upper management really started the company back in 2013. They got a couple of guys there who are creative minds pushing out all the ideas you see from us. So, it's a very diverse, eclectic group of people we got here.   

As far as cannabis culture, where do you see it heading? 

Daniel: The people we are associated with are about the community. We're not just trying to have the end result. I always ask people, "Why do you do what you do? Why do you wake up in the morning, get out of bed, come to work, and grind?"

For us, it's because we love to make consumption simple, clean, and efficient. And we do that with our devices. We happen to make vaporizers, so I like to operate from the inside out, not the outside in. To quote Simon Sinek, "People don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it."

If you can communicate why you're doing what you do, it's really easy to see the people who are just trying to come in. People that are purely focused on the community and the culture make it easy to consume. That's where I see it shifting. We're going to be the ones that are going to be here for a long time. A lot of the snakes will get weeded out. 

Lastly, do you guys have any message for anybody trying to carve a path in this industry? 

Daniel: Absolutely, one of my good friends actually used to work selling cars, and he really wanted to get into the cannabis space. His name's Dylan Bell, and he actually works processing rosin right now for one of the leading cannabis cultivators here in Las Vegas. He wants to get into the space, and I told him, "Think about it like a culinary industry." You want to get inside at the bottom and work your way up by showing your passion. Similar to how a lot of us got into this industry. You get your foot in the door, you show how passionate you are, you demonstrate your knowledge and skills, and you can work your way up and propel through the industry. So, start at the bottom, never give up, believe in yourself, and manifest whatever you want. 

Dane: I'd like to piggyback off of him too. No matter where you start if you're checking in IDs or starting at the top. Just take in all that knowledge, whatever you can get from whoever you can, and take it because it will stay with you forever. 

Conclusion

This has been another NUWU Sessions blog post, where we update you on all that's happening with NUWU Sessions. Don't forget to follow Dr.Dabber on Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. Check out their Website to find the latest cannabis vaporizers, and as always, we'll catch you in the next Session!