Gear

'Holy Smokes' Loads Cremation Ashes Into Shotgun Shells

Possibly the very best thing about this company is its name: Holy Smoke. That might sound quite so great until you find out that its business is taking the ashes of your loved ones and packing them into rifle cartridges and shotgun shells. Holy Smoke, predictably based in Alabama, will divide the ashes between 250 […]
Image may contain Weapon Weaponry and Ammunition
Bullets like these could be loaded up with the ashes of your loved ones. Photo Wetsun/Flickr

Possibly the very best thing about this company is its name: Holy Smoke. That might sound quite so great until you find out that its business is taking the ashes of your loved ones and packing them into rifle cartridges and shotgun shells.

Holy Smoke, predictably based in Alabama, will divide the ashes between 250 shot-shells, 250 pistol cartridges or 100 rifle cartridges. All can be had in standard calibers, and all can be had in handcrafted "mantle-worthy" wooden boxes should you decide you don't want to pump slugs full of Grampa into the local fauna all at once.

I love that Holy Smoke is positioning its service as environmentally friendly, and I guess it is compared to burial. I also love this tale of the company's beginnings when it was founded by two state law enforcement officers "several years ago."

I was talking with my friend and co-worker at work one evening. I told my [...] that I thought I wanted to be cremated and in some fashion, have my ashes tossed into a river or spread through the woods.

My friend smiled and said "You know I've thought about this for some time and I want to be cremated. Then I want my ashes put into some turkey load shotgun shells and have someone that knows how to turkey hunt use the shotgun shells with my ashes to shoot a turkey. That way I will rest in peace knowing that the last thing that one turkey will see is me, screaming at him at about 900 feet per second."

I don't know why that guy hates turkeys so much, but as corporate origin stories go, it's up there with the best.

Should you decide to send your cremated friends or relatives off at "900 feet per second," a box of shells (in the above-mentioned amounts) will cost you $850, plus an extra $100 for the wooden case. Available now, or whenever you might need them.

Holy Smoke product page [Holy Smoke via Werd]

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