It all started in 1995 in a basement in Borlänge where the founder started the company together with his two young sons, Alex and Simon. The business was mainly concerned with bag repair, and the sale of bags is still kept up. Sales of Rizla paper and some pipes took place discreetly under the counter. It might be hard to imagine, but at this time smoking accessories were more taboo than they are today when the debate is constantly burning hot in the media. The small family business soon noticed that there was a greater demand for unique and high-quality products for herb and smoking enthusiasts and realized that something had to be done. So at the beginning of the 2000s, the company went online with worldtrading.se, and in 2004 they moved their premises to Stockholm where Nordic Trade Tower HB was formed. Three years later, the joint-stock company Nordic Trade Tower AB was formed, which today has Smoketower.com, CBDapoteket.se, and Sweseeds.com as its largest domains. Here you can shop for everything you could possibly need as both a beginner and an expert herbalist, with over 4,000 articles at Smoketower and over 500 options of luxury bird seeds from the world's best seed banks at Sweseeds.

The product range includes vaporizers - which have become an increasingly popular and healthier way to use your herbs through vaporization - along with designer and branded bongs, pipes, grinders - everything from budget-friendly to lifetime grinders from Kannastör - herb mixes, presses, and rolling papers, etc. In 2018 Smoketower became the exclusive distributor for OCB - one of the world's largest manufacturers of rolling paper - in Sweden and has also the country's widest range of RAW products, which are still better known abroad. Smoketower was also early on the market with brands such as Real Leaf and Honeyrose, which are now found in stores and kiosks in several parts of the country, that also have taken the step to broaden their range of smoking accessories in recent years. If you look into the CBDapoteket, you will find everything from hemp skin care, CBD snus, flowers, facial liquids, oils, and disposable vapes with as wide a range of cannabinoids as Swedish law allows. After the popularity of disposables skyrocketed in 2022, a new exclusive and unique collaboration was established in 2023 with the well-known American supplier TRĒ House, providing industry news on disposables and edibles of the highest quality.

As the company has grown it has developed its own brands in almost all product categories with Fred's familiar face on several products such as paper and grinders. ST bongs, Terazo scales, 7Oil, and DOD are some examples of brands developed by the founders themselves in order to continue to guarantee good quality at reasonable prices. The road ahead has been anything but easy, colored by long working days and business trips worldwide to make contacts and find everything the customers' hearts could possibly desire. In a different industry in one of the world's most restrictive countries, it has been a challenge to create and maintain stable collaborations with different actors, get hold of the best products at the best prices, and be on top to always be able to offer the very latest together with the traditional range typical of the culture. But despite opposition over the years, Smoketower has survived and has today grown bigger than ever as one of Europe's largest distributors of high-quality herbal and smoking products. For almost three years now, there is also the only real Headshop in Sweden - one of the largest in all of Scandinavia on Solna Strandväg in Stockholm - where customers can get expert help directly over the counter. Reviews are posted daily with customers' positive feedback on the range, shipping, discretion, and service.

It is the persistent and hard work together with the customers' devotion that made the most improbable possible. Smoketower can today proudly present itself as Industry Winner 2023 - an award given to the limited companies that have developed the most in their industry during the past year. This is only distributed to 11% of all Swedish limited companies. It is not only a win for Smoketower, but just as much a symbolic win for the entire Swedish cannabis market. It was with both joy and surprise that the team received the news. Could it really be true? After a noticeably high-intensity year with newly launched products and almost 24/7 ongoing work to meet demand, Alex himself talks about what it was like to receive the award when they first called from Branschvinnare Sverige AB.

– It came unexpectedly. I might have understood if we were in a more commercial industry when it’s only a matter of numbers. We are often overlooked precisely because of the sensitive nature of our industry so this was clearly a surprise. It will be a recognition and a confirmation that it pays off to persevere despite all the setbacks. It gives extra energy to continue working for a more widely accepted view of the use of medical cannabis in Sweden.

Alex explains that there is a common misconception about the people behind Smoketower, CBDapoteket, and Sweseeds.

– Over the years, there has been an image or perception of us that we would be criminal gangsters, or unserious "stoners" who run this, but that is completely wrong. The Swedish market is strictly regulated and requires seriousness and dedication for a company like this to succeed and survive as long as we have. It hasn't been easy, but if you do it with your heart and don't give up, you always move forward. Perhaps a milestone like this can be a start to change the view of who we are, and what we stand for, and strive for so that more people can feel comfortable shopping with us. But we want to say a big thank you to all customers - some have been with us ever since we opened in the mid-90s and supported us through all the years with everything from orders, tips, and requests for products and how we can constantly improve. A big thank you must also go to all twelve of our employees and consultants who are involved in making Smoketower what we are today.

The fact that the company encountered skepticism from both actors and private individuals has played a massive role in how it has had to develop in order to continue to grow and survive - a strong will that has permeated all decisions that have been made and will continue to have to be made. Simon further shares what was required to keep the company's future secured with a view to world-class.

– It is with a delicate balance that the company has trudged through PK Sweden's business life in the beginning. The fact that we today can run a serious, representative business that measures up well against other serious actors, as this award proves, has certainly not been a cakewalk. To succeed in building a business that should work as automatically as possible so that competitors and other actors ask us how we have done certain things, and also to do it against all odds where partners and suppliers who even heard about the industry we were in turned at the door, has forced us to roll up our sleeves and build entirely our own solutions for a modern limited company where we could secure our existence with all that it means to be able to deliver our customers' products and packages on time and with the best quality regardless of other factors.

Numbers don't lie and that has been the goal of the business, to show such good numbers that the establishment cannot turn a blind eye to either us or the industry. We are here to stay and so is the industry and the culture. We thank you for the award and see it as a joint prize with everyone who supported us in this journey.

All resistance ultimately creates character and if you manage to get someone to look for completely different ways of survival and feel "It's me against the world" then it is a very dangerous combination or a perfect recipe for success.