Often the best inventions and innovations are born out of necessity—which is exactly what sparked the creation and development of the Grasshopper. Grasshopper Co-founders Luke Daly and Jesse Bloomfield shared why they had to build the tool they needed—because it didn’t exist yet.

The Grasshopper can be used as an all-in-one tool to pack bulk. The Grasshopper saves time and protects the quality and integrity of product—i.e. cannabis—during the crucial bulk packing stage, preventing spills and cutting labor costs. This allows you to perfect the process and create a stronger finish for your product—an asset in any cultivating, processing, and/or provisioning facility small or large. 

The Grasshopper was born from humble beginnings, and it has taken a while to develop. It is an ongoing learning curve in cannabis, with many unique challenges because of the state laws. Many of the burden falls on the shoulders of dispensary workers and processors.

“[It] was a problem many in the industry didn’t even realize they had—the weighing, managing and packing process,” said Daly. “With over a decade of cultivating experience, one thing that was seen as a constant was that every grower had their own makeshift ways of weighing, managing and packaging final product. [They often are also] balancing mixing bowls, Tupperware, buckets and anything else on top of a scale that was too small, finding ways to see the digital reading on the scale getting covered by these bowls and buckets, then awkwardly filling bags and often spilling product on the ground.”

The cannabis industry is a great place to work as an engineer, and they need a longer-term solution when handling bulk flowers.

The two of them began designing their own invention. Daly and Bloomfield built their first stationary hopper using wood screws, tape, ductwork, ductwork, and a slew of other materials. It was cumbersome, heavy and cumbersome with sharp edges. “It was not pretty but it made all the difference in the world when it came time to getting product into the bag,” Daly said.

“It saved us an enormous amount of time, and kept product from being spilled on the ground. For the longest time we viewed our makeshift hopper as just another random tool to make our job easier and was not something we envisioned manufacturing.”

Embrace the adage, “work smarter, not harder.” This leads to the other proverb that you need the right tool for the right job. A business can lose a lot of money by using the wrong product bagging tool, particularly when it is bulk quantities.

The hopper attracted a lot of attention from those who saw it, so Daly realized that everyone could profit from this. Daly decided to find a product design team and refine his idea to make a product that his group could produce and distribute to everyone.

“We spent the first few months expanding on this idea and how to potentially turn this into a product line,” the co-founders shared. “We broke down the process and looked at everything we could design to make life easier. There were many options for buckets, stands, scoops and bags. Then, after thinking about it for some time, we came up with a different idea. Instead of creating a line of products separate from one another, how could we consolidate these different ideas into one unique product?”

This led to four major adjustments: Make the bucket large enough to comfortably hold one pound of finished product—as most cultivation facilities have their own custom bags for shipping product to dispensaries and processors in one-pound increments; Design an attachable funnel lid that fits most every type of packaging; Make the funnel lid capable of flipping over to use as a scale stand to prop the bucket up and easily see the readout; and finally, Keep it lightweight, portable, easy to keep clean, comfortable and fun to use.

“At this point, we started the product development process over from scratch to refine this new concept,” the duo said. “We spent time looking at every detail: how the lid attaches, how the bucket rests on top of the funnel, measurements/angles, handles, thumb caps, colors, logos, etc. After a few 3D printed prototypes and working through all the details, the Grasshopper was ready to move into manufacturing.”

This name seems to be simple. A hopper can be described as a cylindrical or pyramidal container that is used for industrial purposes. Add the bulk flower material, and voilà—we present to you the Grasshopper.

The Grasshopper’s versatility allows the user to use the product in a variety of ways. Its greatest benefits include time savings, the prevention of spills and a reduction in operational labor costs. The following are the three main benefits of this technology:

Cultivators – Weigh and package product faster and without spills. They can then establish standard operating procedures for employees or packaging managers who are responsible for packaging the final product to be distributed.

Processors – Weigh and manage flower and biomass. It’s useful for filling 6” and 8” extraction columns.

Dispensaries – When breaking down large quantities of flower into smaller prepackaged amounts, it is helpful to transfer bulk product from bag into the Grasshopper to work out of. You can easily keep track of the weight and then transfer any leftover product into a bag after you are done.

Farmers on a Small Scale – Weigh, manage and determine where a dry process is, or determine how much a yield is. The Grasshopper can be used to handle any amount of cannabis.

The Grasshopper can be used in conjunction with Bags, extract columns and scales. This includes vacuum seal (11” and 15”), Ziploc (1 gallon and over) and turkey bags, to name a few. It’s also compatible with 6” and 8” extraction columns. It can be used with all scales provided they are able to handle the Grasshopper’s weight (approximately 800g).

FDA-approved High Density Poly Ethylene is used to make the Grasshopper. The Grasshopper’s thumb-cap is ergonomic and provides comfort. It also has a texture finish that ensures a secure grip.

“When we launched the Grasshopper, our vision was to help others in the industry by offering a simple solution to standardize the bulk packing process—a lasting product in an ever-evolving industry making easy work out of a task that was once awkward, time consuming, and messy.”