Wooden dugouts have been a toker favorite forever. The perfect size to carry a one-hitter (aka “bat”) and just enough flower for a single sesh, these pocket-sized tools are discreet way to smoke, which is a major part of their appeal —- but Shocked Boxes are any but inconspicuous. Woodworker Chris Smaltini handcrafts his pocket-size carryalls from sustainable materials such as reclaimed lumber and locally felled trees and embellishes them with an electrifying technique (literally) known as fractal burning. The process scorches lightning strike patterns into the wood by applying an electrically conductive solution, then hitting it with high voltage current. Smaltini gives Shocked Boxes their distinctive designs with a Tesla-esque wood burner he built out of a microwave transformer and a bunch of other parts in his West Long Branch, New Jersey garage turned workshop. Is it dangerous? Hell, yeah. And that’s one of the reasons Shocked Boxes are so cool.
“It’s basically a natural phenomenon of finding the path of least resistance to keep the circuit complete,” Smaltini explains. The extra step that brings the wow factor is the addition of vibrant phosphorescent resin to fill the lines carved by the discharge.
“When it comes to smoking accessories, people are fascinated by things that are new and different they can add to their collection,” Smaltini says. “No two Shocked Boxes are ever the same. They’re a unique twist on an age-old device.”
