RAW® Rolling Papers continues to prove its cultural dominance and unmatched brand loyalty with a staggering 300 million+ organic views across Meta platforms during the month of April 2025. Without a single dollar spent on paid ads, the brand’s content spread like wildfire — shared, reposted, and celebrated by fans across the globe through its official Meta handles: @rawlife247, @raw, and Josh’s @rawkandroll.

The numbers are more than just impressive — they’re a testament to RAW®’s unwavering connection to its community and its ability to organically drive mass engagement in an era dominated by paid media.

“Our audience is the algorithm,” said Josh Kesselman, founder of RAW®.
“We don’t chase trends — we set them. This kind of reach isn’t luck, it’s love. RAW is powered by real people sharing RAWthentic moments, real culture, and a passion for smoking. When you build something authentic, people don’t just follow — they amplify.”

With over 300 million organic views tracked in April 2025 alone, RAW®'s reach on Meta is a case study in how purpose-driven brands can lead global conversations without relying on traditional media buys. From viral rolling tutorials to behind-the-scenes exclusives, philanthropic shoutouts, and the unmistakable RAW® energy, the brand’s content continues to resonate with a new generation of cannabis consumers and culture lovers.

RAW’s social success also underscores its position as not just a leader in rolling papers, but as a movement rooted in creativity, justice, and community.

“This isn’t just a flex — it’s proof of purpose,” Kesselman added. “We built RAW® for the people, and now they’re carrying the flame.”

About HBI International

HBI International, now HBI Innovations, is an independent, world-famous provider of high-quality rolling papers, cones, and other smoking innovations, including the legendary RAW® brand, the unbleached rolling papers that are used by millions worldwide. In addition to RAW®, HBI distributes incredibly popular brands such as Elements, Juicy Jay's, and Kingpin and has grown its portfolio to more than 2,500 SKUs and numerous patents. Under the leadership of its founder Josh Kesselman, HBI is dedicated to operating under a philosophy that prioritizes both product excellence and ethical business practices. The company’s humanitarian effort, RAW Giving, has donated more than $2.5 million in direct cash contributions, plus in-kind contributions of about $200,000, to a wide variety of charities and causes, including clean water, animal rescue, reforestation, and more.

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HBI Innovations (HBI), the independent, world-famous provider of high-quality rolling papers and smoking innovations, issued a statement about today's ruling in favor of HBI in its nine-year court battle against Republic Tobacco. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected Republic Tobacco’s attempt to overturn the June 2021 jury verdict finding that Republic/OCB illegally copied the trade-dress packaging design HBI uses for its RAW® Organic Hemp rolling paper products and infringed the copyright-protected design of RAW® advertising.

In the April 25, 2025 ruling, the Court affirmed the jury’s verdict that Republic willfully copied RAW’s trade dress and ad design for its OCB® Organic Hemp products.

By rejecting Republic’s attempt to escape liability for using HBI’s RAW® trade-dress packaging design for Republic’s .99 OCB® Organic Hemp product packaging by simply using a different brand name, HBI has successfully proven that authenticity and innovation can't be stolen with a letter-swap — even by Mega Tobacco.

“As we’ve said in the past, our industry benefits when people in this space are truly familiar with the products and consumers’ preferences,” said Josh Kesselman, founder and president of HBI, in response to the ruling. “We hope this ruling helps Republic accept that its litigation assault was a waste of time and money. True innovation benefits everyone. We can all do better by helping those industry pioneers who are struggling to compete in the legal marketplace. We all get higher together.”

“Over the last 20+ years Don Levin and Republic Tobacco have tried to eliminate RAW® as competition, because we completely disrupted their business model of older, thicker, white papers,” Kesselman continues. “But instead of competing in the marketplace with innovation and quality, Levin and Republic seem to be trying to litigate their way to it, by exploiting the judicial system to control the marketplace and eliminate their competition. They’ve sued me three times so far and sued the Spanish factory and the previous factory before that. It’s wild.”

Kesselman notes that all of the net award proceeds – totaling in the high six figures – were donated through the RAW Giving initiative to various charitable groups from social justice organizations to animal rescues with a goal of helping uplift people that were negatively impacted by cannabis laws.

“RAW is here to stay, and we won’t roll over to Republic or any of Mega Tobacco’s attempts to sue us into silence.” says Kesselman. They may sue us, or try to buy us, but RAW will never sell out.”

Case Background

This case began in 2016 when RAW® contacted Republic to point out the similarity between RAW®’s distinctive Organic Hemp product packaging and Republic’s OCB® Organic Hemp paper packaging.

The RAW® brand of rolling papers, pre-rolled cones, and related accessories has a consistent look across products and is arguably one of the most recognizable and popular with consumers. In 2009, RAW® launched its RAW® Organic Hemp line of products. In 2010, Republic Tobacco introduced in Europe OCB® Organic Hemp, which to RAW® and HBI looked remarkably like its RAW® Organic Hemp package. Republic Tobacco also created merchandising that RAW® believed infringed its copyright-protected design.

When Republic introduced the OCB® Organic Hemp product in the US in 2014, RAW® reached out to Republic to discuss the matter. Republic responded by suing RAW® in federal court in Illinois, seeking a declaratory judgment saying it had not infringed on anything. RAW® counterclaimed for infringement, and then Republic brought a series of allegations, including that RAW had made misstatements on its products and marketing materials, and that RAW was “marijuana paraphernalia,” and therefore illegal.

Republic alleged that RAW® papers and cones were illegal products because of their association with cannabis (a claim that did not survive to trial), false advertising under the federal Lanham Act, and deceptive trade practices and unfair competition under Illinois state law.

After five years of discovery and a multi-week trial, in 2021 a jury concluded that Republic had willfully infringed the RAW® Organic Hemp trade dress with Republic’s 99-cent version of its OCB® organic hemp product, and that Republic had willfully infringed RAW®’s copyright-protected “Sold Here” sign. The jury awarded over $1 million in damages to RAW, which along with prejudgment interest brought the total award to nearly $1.5 million.

The jury also found that none of RAW’s product statements violated the federal Lanham Act. But, the jury simultaneously found for Republic on the Illinois Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the claim for unfair competition based on the same factual allegations. Republic then sought disgorgement of RAW’s profits – totalling in the tens of millions – which in 2023, the Court ruled that Republic Tobacco was entitled to neither damages nor disgorgement of profits.

Read more about the trial and previously entered judgment here https://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/OpinionsWeb/processWebInputExternal.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2025/D04-25/C:23-3096:J:Hamilton:aut:T:fnOp:N:3364605:S:0

About HBI Innovations

HBI Innovations (formerly called HBI International), is the independent, world-famous provider of high-quality rolling papers, cones, and other smoking innovations, including the legendary RAW® brand, the unbleached rolling papers that are used by millions worldwide. In addition to RAW®, HBI distributes incredibly popular brands such as Elements, Juicy Jay's, and Kingpin and has grown its portfolio to more than 2,500 SKUs and numerous patents. Under the leadership of its founder Josh Kesselman, HBI is dedicated to operating under a philosophy that prioritizes both product excellence and ethical business practices. The company’s humanitarian efforts, RAW Giving, has donated more than $3 million in direct cash contributions, plus in-kind contributions of about $200,000, to a wide variety of charities and causes, including clean water, animal rescue, reforestation, and more.

This press release is distributed by the Newsworthy.ai™ Press Release Newswire - News Marketing Platform™. Reference URL for this press release is here.

Two icons of the legacy cannabis industry and culture – RAW® Rolling Papers and its visionary founder Josh Kesselman – are coming to Los Angeles at Kushstock on 4/19 to celebrate two major milestones – Josh’s birthday and the 20th Anniversary of RAW® and its place as a favorite rolling paper of the cannabis community.

“I can’t wait to see the Los Angeles community at Kushstock for our ‘highest’ of holidays!” says Kesselman, who is also CEO of HBI Innovations, the company behind the RAW® brand of rolling papers and accessories. “RAW wouldn’t be where it is today without events like Kushstock. This year is extra special as we are celebrating 20 years of RAW® and my birthday! There’s no place I’d rather be on April 19!”

Kesselman will also be debuting the latest edition of the RAW® Fireblazer Helmet, his ingenious invention for the extreme cannabis blazer that allows the wearer to light and smoke six joints at the same time. As part of Kesselman’s RAW Giving initiative, Kesselman donated a portion of the proceeds of the initial rollout to a major animal rescue non-profit severely impacted by the Southern California wildfires earlier this year.

Tickets to Kushstock are free and can be reserved here at EventHi.

About HBI Innovations

HBI Innovations is the independent, world-famous provider of high-quality rolling papers, cones, and other smoking innovations, including the legendary RAW® brand, the unbleached rolling papers that are used by millions worldwide. In addition to RAW®, HBI distributes incredibly popular brands such as Elements, Juicy Jay's, and Kingpin and has grown its portfolio to more than 2,500 SKUs and numerous patents. Under the leadership of its founder Josh Kesselman, HBI is dedicated to operating under a philosophy that prioritizes both product excellence and ethical business practices. The company’s humanitarian efforts, RAW Giving, has donated more than $2.5 million in direct cash contributions, plus in-kind contributions of about $200,000, to a wide variety of charities and causes, including clean water, animal rescue, reforestation, and more.

This press release is distributed by the Newsworthy.ai™ Press Release Newswire - News Marketing Platform™. Reference URL for this press release is here.