Jay Quintin has been hitting the slopes for most of his life. As a kid, he became a pro snowboarder, known as "Smokin Jay." Six years ago, Quintin got into the business of manufacturing snowboards, naming his business "Smokin Snowboards". What started in his Lake Tahoe basement has grown into an international business, based in Sparks. Each snowboard takes about 3.5 hours to build, made from a handful of materials like wood, fiberglass, plastic and epoxy.
"It's all made here at our factory from start to finish," Quintin said. "We do everything. We print the graphics here, we make the wood cores, we do the finishing and we do all the marketing here as well."
Quintin's snowboards have only gained in popularity, over the past few years. Smokin Snowboards has 18 series of snowboards for men, women and children. Two of those won awards for one of snowboarding's biggest tests, the Transworld Snowboard Magazine "Good Wood" Test. The Hooligan model won for men's "Top Ten Best Snowboards" and the Pretty Young Thing, or PYT, won the same award in the women's category.
"There was, I believe, 20 testers this year at Winter Park, Colorado and they had 40 different brands with over 400 snowboards that they tested," Quintin said.
Smokin Snowboards are sold all over the world, both online and through retailers. Regional stores that sell them are Bobo's Mogul Mouse, Tahoe Dave's and Shoreline of Tahoe. Quintin says the company sells snowboards to retail stores in about 20 states, and he is trying to expand into more stores throughout the country. He says Smokin Snowboards sales doubled in their biggest online stores, this year.
"I believe, right now, we're the third largest manufacturer in North America because a lot of stuff is done overseas," Quintin said.
Quintin says the last four years have made sales tough on the west coast, but he expects business to pick up with what he hopes will be a wet winter.
"It's snowing right now, in Colorado, the east coast is starting to happen, this year, and this year there's a lot of anticipation for El Nino," Quintin said. "The whole area, we need it to happen. Reno, Tahoe, we all need snow this year and it's looking like it's happening."
Ten people work, full-time, during the busiest times of the year. They also have six salesmen throughout the country. Smokin Snowboards may focus on winter sports, but they also started manufacturing skateboards, about three years ago. That allows the business to operate, year-round.
