B+Gel was developed in 1996 by Verne Smith, a partner in the BJ Wathen Company, at the request of an independent quarry that was in need of a new technique to increase the amount of stone yielded by its blasting efforts. The standard method of using detcord and water, low velocity dynamite, or heavy (200 gr.) detcord in dry holes or sand to blast dimensional stone causes radial cracks to occur in a block due to the inadequate compressibility of those mediums, thus rendering a large portion of the stone unmarketable. B+Gel circumvents this problem by compressing the force of the explosion within the blast hole and slowly building pressure along a line of pre drilled holes, thus separating these blocks via smooth, even fractures along the line of drill holes without damaging radial microcracks. The result of this being a substantially greater amount of marketable stone than was previously obtained prior to the use of B+Gel.

Viva Internation, Inc. was formed in 2002 in order to supply the worldwide dimensional stone market with a low cost, efficient product to increase the net yield in all stone producing quarries in the USA and abroad. Viva is the only authorized manufacturer and distributor of B+Gel Pre-Mix.