Author: veritasstore

A look at some of the biggest winners in weed.

BY HIGH TIMES

DECEMBER 30, 2022

By Benjamin M. Adams, Jimi Devine, Ellen Holland, and Ashley Kern

Brand-building is big business, particularly in cannabis where customer loyalty reigns supreme when it comes to success. Whether it was in making new types of cannabis, growing quality flowers, or crafting terpy and potent concentrates and delicious edibles, here are our picks of some of the brands that defined 2022.

WEST

Compound Genetics 

Compound Genetics went into 2022 riding on a high and just kept on sailing along. Massive seed drops and a variety of people taking home trophies all over North America with their gear are seemingly commonplace for them at this point, but it’s still impressive.

We’ve had a front-row seat to their breeding efforts since the move to San Francisco a few years ago and then the eventual partnership with Node Labs where they phenohunt and stress test the new gear to make sure it’s commercially viable. From that work we’ve seen names like Jokerz, Red Bullz, and Pave explode onto the scene.

“2022 has been a year of adapting to my surroundings, opportunities, and adversities,” founder Chris Lynch says. “High levels of success bring new challenges that constantly test your ability to perform and stay consistent. I’m grateful for where I am in this industry and what I’ve achieved with Compound Genetics. Being in my position is something I take seriously, it’s a unique responsibility that’s driven by my passion for quality. I’m excited for the next chapters with this special plant and where they take me.” 

Don’t expect anything to slow down in the near future. This year for The Emerald Cup Compound is releasing the Jokerz line. The pairing of Jet Fuel Gelato and White Runtz was one of the strains that Compound used to launch their flower line earlier this year. The community is thirsty for a new round of crosses from it. 

It’s also fair to expect Compound’s international profile to continue to build. There are a few factors contributing to that including their collaboration efforts with Green House Seed Co. and their partnership with Paradise Seeds to facilitate European distribution.

As for what strains to keep an eye on, we saw a phenotype of Apples & Bananas x Pave that was batshit heat, but we’re sure you can expect a few more than that in 2023. -JD

Blueprint

As we mentioned in our strains of the year write-up, few have ever had a year similar to the one the Blueprint team had in 2022.

Even a couple months before they hit shelves in the summer of 2022, the hype was percolating hard. A lot of the biggest names in Sacramento, and hence elite cannabis in general, were saying to keep an eye out for what Blueprint had in store. They were not wrong.

The first drop featured names like P90 and Triple Lindy. They are still top of the food chain heat a year-and-a-half later as we noted in our favorite strains of 2022 where we highlighted the Triple Lindy.

One of the things that we got a kick out of about Blueprint was how close they’ve kept the cards to their chest when it comes to genetics. Most of the time lineage has a lot to do with what gets people excited. A lot of the hype we see in weed in general comes from the next generation of something with a known pedigree. Unlike these companies that push their genetics lines and work as the basis of their ethos, the fire behind Blueprint is pure heat. And the community figured that out quickly. Never will you hear anyone complaining because they don’t know the makeup of Blueprint’s genetics, they’re just happy they got to smoke it in the first place.

Blueprint sifts through roughly 140 new flavors every couple of months. We will continue to be wildly excited to try what they find and grow to some of the highest quality levels on the globe. We expect 2023 to see the same level of heat that won them the second edition of Zalympix and what a lot of people thought was the best flower at the industry mega show Hall of Flowers where they could be compared directly against the rest of the pack. -JD

Backpack Boyz 

Since its founding as a delivery service in the Prop 215 era between cannabis powerhouses San Francisco and Sacramento, the Backpack Boyz have had a complete dedication to the absolute flame.

“So what I was trying to do at the time, was I was trying to get all of the buds that everyone wanted to smoke but didn’t have access to,” Backpack Boyz founder Juan Quesada told High Times. “I wanted to get that all under one banner and kind of be that one guy that you can see and can get everything from. So, long story short, that was kind of really where it started.”

When he first got the ball rolling he had a lot of deep connections on the cultivation side, but a lot of the product he was moving was white label heat from Sacramento. Eventually, the people coming for that Sac heat started asking Quesada about the flavors he was curating more locally. It was a big confidence booster for him.

Most famously, he would pop Lemon Cherry Gelato from bag seed in 2017. (We go into the full tale in our strains of the year section.) This would catapult the Backpack Boyz into California’s elite. They would eventually open their first retail location in early 2021. Two more would follow by the end of the year.

The brand has done particularly well in making inroads in Southern California after its initial founding up north. Quesada says having the heat helped but he gave his SoCal partners a lot of credit for helping him handle all the local hurdles that came with expanding the company’s footprint across the state.

In 2023, you can definitely expect the Backpack Boyz to keep stocking all the most elite cannabis in the state while continuing to curate a few exceptional flavors of their own. -JD

Fidel’s 

The third and youngest son of L.A.’s favorite weed family (his older brother Serge is behind Cookies Maywood and his other older brother Aram is behind Gas No Breaks) saw one of the most epic 2022s of just about anyone and his new cultivation facility didn’t even open until the end of the year.

Helping backbone the big year was the rise of the hash hole, arguably the most exotic pre-roll currently available in California. Fidel first encountered the hash hole in Barcelona years ago at Spannabis. The locals would roll up an eighth with some rosin in it to celebrate the weed making it from California—or just to flex.

Back then, Fidel was already growing heat. After spending six years in Beirut from age 12 to 18, he returned to Los Angeles where he spent many years working in a hydro shop. Those years at the grow shop was where he dialed in his game and earned the name Fidel Hydro.

On a trip back to visit friends and family in Lebanon, one of his friends designed the now well-known logo. After that, the race was on. Things have gone so well with his brand that he’s even got his parents in on the act these days. He bought a printer for their house where they do quality control on all his packaging.

Earlier this year at Spannabis, he hosted one of the event’s most popping parties, the Hash Holes and Donuts event at Cookies Barcelona. Later in the summer, Fidel’s would take home top honors at The Transbay Challenge IV: Hollywood with his pairing of Kush Mints and Zkittlez.

And we can’t emphasize enough that all this happened before his facility was even open. Expect to see Fidel’s flower on even more dispensary shelves across California soon. Until that day, you can still get your hands on hash holes—if you see them on a menu, pull the trigger quickly. They don’t last long since they’re worth big money outside the state, they are one of the few packaged products there is true value in moving compared to bulk flowers in big quantities. -JD

710 Labs 

The name 710 Labs is synonymous with small batch quality with myopic attention to detail. Every good concentrate must begin with a good strain, and the company’s cultivation operations are steadily growing. 710 Labs attributes that growth to their commitment to integrity in the cultivation process.

“We’ve had a lot of growth in the past year, which wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t stay true to what got us here: quality focused small batches with a wide variety of flavors,” says Richard Sciascia, vice president of cultivation.

Even though 710 Labs has expanded from its homebase in Colorado to California, they still adopt the same principles they’ve observed since the beginning when they launched as a much smaller operation a decade ago. Part of that is allowing the unique and individual traits of cultivars to shine. That can’t happen when producers pump out mass amounts of a single strain. 

“We aren’t monocropping rooms with one genetic, we flower rooms with one cultivar per bench,” Sciascia says. “Other companies—a fraction of our size—are growing batches many times larger with one genetic. That doesn’t excite us.”

Some of that quality is lost when companies bank on strain yields alone, or other aspects that don’t necessarily benefit the consumer.

“We love this plant and all her expressions, and want to see cultivar diversity in our offerings to the consumer,” Sciascia says. “Palate is subjective, and if we limited ourselves to the 10 hottest strains of the year, we’d be doing a disservice to the connoisseur and casual smoker alike.”

710 Labs houses a genetic library that varies between 150-200 unique cultivars, rotating between old, new, experimental, and the tried-and-true. Some classics associated with 710 Labs—Ghost Hulk #25, Black Mamba #6, and Randy Watzon—are grown regularly, sometimes shelved for six months, and others are discarded quickly to make way for new additions. Over 80% of their library has been selected by the 710 Labs team from seed. Pheno hunting is part of the agenda and selections depend on whether the end result is hash or dried flower.

Currently the focus at 710 Labs is finding rare terp combos in newer cultivars.

“The never ending terp quest is what excites us, and we hope you feel the same,” Sciascia says.

Beyond flower, 710 Labs live resin pens passed the bar among highly critical vape reviewers. Their solventless water hash, rosin, and rosin sap are no joke, as they begin with flavorful flowers. Persy sauce is also a squishy new addition to their concentrate lineup, as the trichomes are preserved in the first wash to maximize flavor. -BA

Veritas 

“Veritas” is Latin for “the truth,” and it’s all about transparency at this Colorado-based operation. The Veritas team is currently working with Node Labs to produce new genetics, and with that, they will be producing healthy clones set to be released to the public in early 2023.

Narrowing down those clones is a long, meticulous process, and incorporating the right technology is key in keeping things organized and avoiding losing track of special genetics.

“We take about 400 different cuts, and then those have been removed from the mom and manicured [and placed] into our cloners,” says Jordan Plunkett, marketing director of Veritas. “And from there, it takes about 14 days.”

Part of their operations incorporate equipment that is exactly what you’d expect, while other processes are unique to the company. Veritas plants flower in atmosphere-controlled environments under high pressure sodium lights. The crew then adds as many as 100 bamboo stakes to help spread out branches and maximize trichome development.

“We have bamboo stakes that we use in our plants,” Plunkett says. “This is something that we have not seen any other cultivators doing. The reason behind it is that we believe it gives more stability. And then they actually utilize these stakes to track where it’s at in the process. So this is a very unique kind of opportunity to really take care of our plants the right way. It’s definitely not an easy process; We don’t take the easy approach to this by any means, but we do believe that this will give us a better quality.”

Veritas recently released infused joints, containing 1 gram of Veritas flower and 0.25 grams of ice hash. In 2021, they also released a limited-edition half-ounce offering that resembled a drink holder you’d get from a fast food joint and contained a four-pack of eighths. Stay tuned for more unusual products that you won’t find anywhere else. -BA

Viola Brands 

Al Harrington’s Viola Brands, named after his grandmother who turned to medical cannabis to battle glaucoma, is a blueprint for success in the world of cannabis. You can tell by the company’s high-end promotions, packaging, and most of all—their consistent quality flower.

This isn’t by accident. No spur-of-the-moment decisions are made when it comes to narrowing down cultivars at Viola. The company’s cultivation team will grow new genetics several times over before deciding if it makes the cut.

“When bringing in new genetics, we grade each on bag appeal, yield, and testing both THC and terpenes,” says Tanner Steele, Viola’s vice president of operations. “Generally, we like to grow new genetics three to six times before releasing them to market. This ensures everything we produce thrives in our environments to provide a consistent customer experience.”

Both cultivation and processing take place at Viola’s original 12,000-square-foot facility in Colorado. The company has expanded well beyond the limits of Colorado, however. In Falls City, Oregon, Viola operates an 80,000-square-foot facility. In Detroit, Michigan, Viola operates a 46,000-square-foot cultivation facility as well as a provisioning center. In Detroit, 40 cultivars are rotated each year. The process begins with the seed.

“When we look to bring unique or different genetics to the market, we start with seeds,” Steele says. “Most Viola strains are a result of several rounds of pheno hunting to get the best genetics for our environment.”

Clone mothers are rotated and replaced on a regular basis. “When re-populating our flower rooms we clone from moms whose genetics have already been proven to provide yield, appeal, and testing for THC and terpenes,” Steele says. “We keep our moms alive for two to three months maximum before replacing them with a new mom from the genetic line.”

Beyond cannabis, the Viola Cares community engagement branch works to reinvest in struggling communities and promote social equity inside the cannabis industry. Last year, the company launched the Harrington Institute of Cannabis Education, with the help of the Cleveland School of Cannabis to provide an online curriculum designed to prepare students to work in the cannabis industry. Viola also launched an accelerator to help cannabis start-ups get a foot on the ground, and it has a very specific goal: to create 100 Black millionaires within the cannabis space. This is because they believe Black business owners face the most challenges in this industry. -BA

Freddy’s Fuego 

Pirate-themed Freddy’s Fuego, a Tier 3 producer/processor in Washington state, adopts a more interactive way of narrowing down the finest fire in the state from an assortment of breeders. Freddy’s annual pheno hunt called “The Hunt” is a spectacle, as the public judges new cultivar cuts on the Hunt Scorecard with questions about visual aspects, taste, aroma, and overall appeal. It’s almost like hunting for booty and gold.

“Freddy’s embodies the pirate archetype—the fearless soul of exploration and a loyalty to evolution as we navigate the uncharted waters of the industry,” says Freddy’s Fuego Marketing Director Blake Stango. “Always on ‘The Hunt’ to find the freshest and rarest genetics.”

Freddy’s Fuego was founded in 2013 by Ben Davis and Tim Haggerty. Since then, Freddy’s has won numerous awards including Best Indoor Grown Hybrid Flower for a fire batch of LA Cookies at Dope Cup Washington in 2018 and three awards in one year at the 2019 High Times Cannabis Cup Seattle for Larry Cake flower and pre-rolls, as well as Guava Jelly, named after a sensual Bob Marley song.

Like High Times People’s Choice Cannabis Cups, during The Hunt, they don’t limit the judges to exclusive experts. Anyone can login, fill out a Hunt Scorecard and begin judging.

“This year in August, we popped 520 different seeds from about 10 to 15 different breeders—40 different strains,” Freddy’s Fuego Director of Cultivation Roger Hale says of the event that generates a fair amount of excitement in the Northwest region.

“Our process for running through the pheno hunt is we pop all those seeds out of the rockwool, grow them for X amount of time until they’re large enough to basically go into flower,” Hale says. “At that point, we take a bunch of clones from them to produce moms stock, throw them into flower, flower those babies out, get strain notes on them: how they grew, what the yield is, the output inside of our environment, how our feed was, everything.”

Judges choose their favorites in the Hunt Scorecard based on flavor, uniqueness profile, all the good things that everybody’s looking for.

The first iteration of The Hunt begins in January every year, with subsequent judging rounds taking place in the following months. “We release all of those flavors to the public right around January and let everybody try them out,” Hale says. “Everybody gets to vote on which strains they want to have go into the next iteration of The Hunt.”

They continue to narrow down strains in subsequent rounds going into the summer. Freddy’s Fuego then takes that information and advances to the next step of The Hunt, the harvest, when the team gets the strain data back. “The last iteration of our hunt, we run those through the end of summer, choose our top four to six cultivars that we’re going to put into finalists based on what the public chooses,” Hale says.

Then Freddy’s throws a big party at the end of the year and lets everybody check out the new strains and vote on their favorite phenos. The company then takes those and begins producing them for the next year under their exclusive Freddy’s Finest label which is basically their black label collection. This allows the public to take part in the cultivar selection and judging process. 

Consumers can buy limited edition eighths of The Hunt selections. -BA

Exotic Genetix 

Few companies have racked up as many Cannabis Cup wins as Exotic Genetix. This seed bank, based in Washington state, has produced so many classic cultivars that if you haven’t smoked at least one, you better start the roll up right now. A standout includes the 2018 classic Rainbow Chip, a winning combination of Sunset Sherbert and Mint Chocolate Chip. With Kush and Cookies in the family tree, Rainbow Chip has gas.

“That was pre-Runtz people wanted the gasses, the fuels,” breeder Mike explains of the older Rainbow Chip release. “They range in aromas, the gassy fuel to some of the Rainbows are kind of funky, soggy. Some of them have like a nice ice cream/sherby/gas element to it.”

Founded in 2008, Exotic Genetix also gave the world Kimbo Kush and Grease Monkey. In 2022, we tried a lovely version of Funky Charms, Rainbow Chip x Grease Monkey, grown by Wood Wide High Craft.

In 2022, Exotic Genetix released a line of Red Runtz crosses in feminized seeds, a follow-up to the success of a 2021 Red Runtz line release.

“It was super popular, it erupted,” Mike says of the 2021 release. “I told myself after that release, like I’m only going to once, I’m not trying to stick around on Runtz because, you know, it’s the hype thing. And don’t get me wrong, Runtz is hype, but also there’s a reason for it because it’s good shit.”

He says Runtz, when paired with his genetic line-up, gave it a different edge by providing that “Runtz flair candy” taste the market was craving.

“Now, I’m going to try not to do any more Runtz. It’s hard, because people ask me every day like when’s the Greasy Runtz going to drop and I’m like ‘Fuck. I’m not doing Runtz anymore,’ but I do have a Greasy Runtz line-up just waiting to be released,” he says with a laugh.

Working with feminized seeds has been a key in his success.

“When you do feminized seeds, you take an amazing strain in female form and you manipulate a few things and you can reverse that female and make it release male pollen,” Mike explains. “When you do that, and you use that pollen on your receiver, so to speak, all your other strains, it makes all those seeds that you made feminized. So, now you end up with seeds that you don’t get any males from.”

When creating new kinds of cannabis the results generally either suck or are amazing, there isn’t much in between, he says.

“Ever since I started reversing things that started awesome and making feminized seeds with those amazing starting plants, or the starting plant that I reverse, most of the things they come out amazing,” Mike says. “I don’t mean that like I’m full of myself. I mean like when you choose a male that you can’t see how it’s expressed in female form. It’s hard for you to get a predisposition of how that’s going to breed until you do it a couple times and see what your offspring do. But with the female that you reverse, you already know… it’s kind of a cheating step, but it’s there for a reason and ever since it’s been a told that I’ve used I haven’t turned back because it saves you a lot of time of hunting, going through stuff that isn’t what you’re looking for.”

Mike gained the nickname “Big Stimmy” during the pandemic for Instagram live broadcasts during the time of government stimulus efforts in which he was giving away seed packs. Big Stimmy hosted the “Milk Show” which was full of people pouring milk on unsuspecting victims for prizes.

In the future, look out for the next release of Gary Poppins, Gary Payton x Red Pop. -EH

Archive Seed Bank

Ask a legendary cannabis breeder what they’re smoking and they’ll likely flip the question around to the one thing that is ever-present in their mind: selecting, creating, and cultivating new types of flowers. That was the case when we caught up with Archive Seed Bank breeder Fletcher Watson as he drove to his grow room to continue sifting through what will become a new line of genetics, the Flavour Pack reversal feminized line. The journey breeders go through to bring new cultivars into our lungs are immense. When we speak, Watson’s getting down to the final stages of selection. He’s taken the Flavour Pack cultivar he created and reversed the plant to produce male pollen. Next, he took that male pollen and combined it with 60 different varieties of cannabis. He’s grown out 30 types from the seed stock so far, this is only the initial run. 

“I’ve got about 150 to 200 seed plants of those Flavour Pack hybrids with all kinds of other stuff that I’m literally on my way driving to right now, to go through the samples and start picking through the population,” he says over a phone call in early fall. 

Flavour Pack, which is only one of the seed lines Watson is working on simultaneously with others, blends together old and new genetics in the cannabis family tree. It’s a cross of Hollywood Pure Kush, an OG Kush cut, with a newer one of Watson’s creations, Moonbow (Zkittlez x Do-Si-Dos).

“Essentially what we do is try to improve certain cultivars that are either popular in the market—the terpene profile is popular in the market and I just like it personally a lot—and mix it with a bunch of old weird stuff that may not have market appeal,” Watson says. “The reason I breed cannabis is I want to, in one way or another, improve upon a variety.” 

Watson was 16 when he started growing weed and career-wise, it’s all he’s ever done. His nickname “ThaDocta” comes from a screen name he chose back in those days, one he gained from his time at the skatepark, where he hurt himself so often he started carrying a medical kit.

Archive was founded in Oregon in 2011 and has since blessed the world with many award-winning strains. Archive’s OGKB was one of the parents of Do-Si-Dos. Rainbow Belts (Moonbow x Zkittlez) came out in 2017 and is still crushing the competition scene. Watson sent out Rainbow Belts genetics to about 50 people in 2020 and once it reached the clone-seller market it exploded. It has the fruity Zkittlez terps that people love, combined with a kushy dankness. 

“The reason you don’t see too much Zkittlez on the market is it’s such a difficult plant for most people to grow,” Watson explains. “By expanding a line that has that terpene profile really well stabilized within the population, people are able to take advantage of that market that wants that smell and flavor, but get better plants, with better yields and higher [THC] tests making it more marketable to the broader consumer.”

And when an Archive cultivar reaches that stage it can really pop. In 2022, Archive Seeds released Dark Rainbow 2.0. On its website Archive explains the first generation, Dark Rainbow 1.0, used GMO combined with Moonbow and carried the gassy flavors of the GMO alongside the lime candy taste of Moonbow. The second generation is GMO combined with Planet Purple, the offspring of which is generally not sweet, but “raunchy stank breath rotten meat gas tank stank.” Watson says this one is great for hash, which Archive also makes and carries in its Portland, Oregon shop along with house flowers and clones.

“My breeding is less of knowing exactly what I’m trying to make, it’s more of throwing darts at the wall and seeing what sticks,” Watson says. -EH

Sunday Goods 

Sunday Goods (owned by its parent company The Pharm) is based in Arizona and focuses on producing quality cannabis combined with feel-good vibes.

Although Arizona is often associated with brutally hot temperatures, Sunday Goods and The Pharm’s flower is grown in a 7-acre, 300,000-square-foot Dutch glass greenhouse in Willcox, Arizona. The climate in Willcox is mild compared to other parts of the state and often sees more rainfall than Phoenix or Tucson, making it a good place to grow quality cannabis (although many other agricultural goods thrive there as well).

Some of the brand’s most high-demand products include high-potency THC strains, including one called Bangers x Mac.

“That’s a cross between Headbanger and Miracle Alien Cookies (MAC), and it’s a super dank, very diesely, piney strain,” says Matt Daley, vice president of marketing for Sunday Goods.

Not only does Sunday Goods flower take advantage of the mild climate, the location of the grow is also home to a geothermal well that The Pharm uses to reduce heating needs during the colder months, helping to reduce energy consumption.

Alongside its own flower Sunday Goods offers a wide variety of other local cannabis brands, all of which align with the brand’s desire to offer consumers with the best products to help them feel their “Sunday best.”

Sunday Goods is dedicated to the support of the cannabis community, having partnered with the Last Prisoner Project to raise funds and help the organization continue to fight against cannabis injustice. In November 2021, Sunday Goods joined with Arizona NORML to host expungement clinics for those who have low-level cannabis offenses on their records.

“We’re just looking to provide relief, a pathway to creativity, an outstretched hand to an elevated sense of being because I think all of us here at Sunday Goods believe that everyone stands to benefit from what this plant can deliver,” Daley says. -AK

Wyld 

Wyld is one of the most recognizable and popular cannabis edibles brands. Praised for its consistency across multiple markets (it began in Oregon but has since spread to Arizona, California, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Washington), Wyld earned its place as a top brand by producing a line of fruit-forward gummies.

According to Wyld Corporate Communications Specialist Rachael Smith, there are three flavors in particular that consumers have fallen in love with.

“Our top three national bestsellers are elderberry 2:1 THC:CBN indica-enhanced, raspberry sativa-enhanced, and huckleberry hybrid-enhanced gummies,” Smith says. “Most states follow this same trend with elderberry leading the pack. Recent sales data shows Wyld leading the country nationally with the top six edible products in the U.S. and with nine products in the top 20—more than any other single brand.”

The Wyld supply team goes to great lengths to ensure that each product includes the advertised amount of potency.

“We use a three-test process to ensure a high-quality end product,” Smith says. “Test one: cannabis extract is tested before we receive it to ensure quality and potency. Test two: Our cannabis-infused coconut oil is tested again in house to ensure appropriate dosing in our products. Test three: Once made, the edibles are tested again to certify they are consistent with our exacting potency standards. The last test also includes random selection of products for testing by a third-party lab. All of our third-party testing is conducted by state-certified lab partners.”

Wyld is also dedicated to sustainability, going as far as providing an annual social and environmental impact report (data for 2022 is set to be released during the first half of 2023).

“We’ll be launching our new solventless hash rosin gummy brand in select markets in the fourth quarter of this year,” Smith says. “In 2023, in addition to rolling out compostable packaging in the U.S., our plans include expanding further into the Midwest and East Coast and, as always, we look forward to offering new real fruit flavors with innovative cannabinoid content—keep your eyes on Wyld, we’ve got so much more to offer.” -AK

High Road Edibles 

Montana is known for its vast landscapes, pristine natural beauty, and as of Jan. 1, 2022, adult-use cannabis.

High Road Edibles predates this monumental shift from medical to adult-use sales, having established itself in 2019. The brand was founded by Michael Zens and Ben Miller, two college roommates who enjoy spending time outdoors and sought out to develop a cannabis brand exclusive to their home state.

All of High Road Edibles products are made with full-spectrum cannabis extract. Hybrid cannabis strains come from Sacred Sun Farms, and indica- or sativa-leaning strains come from Collective Elevation, both of which are farms based out of Bozeman, Montana, located in the southern part of the state. High Road Edibles is also partnered with a local dispensary, Dancing Goat Gardens.

The brand features an assortment of gummies, chocolate bars, and mints.

“We started with kind of trying to pick flavors that we thought match the mood state and the strain types we were using,” Miller says. “So more kind of bright, energizing flavors for things like sativa, and more kind of deep, rich flavors for the indica. And then for the hybrid, we kind of just tried to hit those quintessential candy flavors that we all really enjoy, you know, peach and green apple on the gummies, cinnamon on the mint, and then that coffee almond on the chocolate bar.”

Zens adds that their sativa-leaning strawberry flavor gummy sells the best in the Bozeman/southern Montana area, where people tend to be more active. However, in the northern part of the state, around Kalispell and Whitefish, there are more older consumers who prefer the indica-leaning blood orange gummies. This summer, High Road Edibles released a huckleberry flavor, in honor of the berry of the same name that populates the northern parts of the U.S. and is a celebrated summertime ingredient (Zens and Miller joke that huckleberries are a prominent food source for wild bears, as well as tourists).

While the state’s medical cannabis program was restrictive, Montana’s adult-use program has helped open things up. According to Zens, it has allowed the local cannabis community to develop and grow.

“It’s been really kind of fun to actually like, get out there and meet everyone,” Zens says. “Because in the restrictive market, everyone was kind of competing against each other a little bit more. We’re in this wholesale recreational market, everyone can kind of specialize in something and support each other and link up, and kind of create a community that wasn’t there before as much.”

Both Miller and Zens enjoy floating in the various rivers in Montana, but agree that cannabis consumption can be an enjoyable companion for numerous other outdoor activities including hiking. The founding duo alluded to new flavors and products coming out in 2023.  -AK

Aether Gardens 

Located in the northeast corner of Las Vegas, Nevada, Aether Gardens’ state-of-the-art facility covers 120,000 square feet divided into numerous sections including cultivation, extraction, manufacturing, and distribution. It was recently ranked #10 on a list of MJ Unpacked’s hottest Nevada-based cannabis brands, which is no surprise since it won two placements in the Cannabis Cup Nevada: People’s Choice Edition in 2021: 2nd place for best indica with Slurricane #7, and 1st place for indica concentrates with Banana ice water indica live rosin. Aether Gardens also has a 2019 High Times Cannabis Cup Nevada 1st place win for hybrid concentrates with Zweet Insanity.

According to Aether Gardens Cannabis Officer Justin Hernandez, consumers should keep an eye out for the popular strain MAC that has been thriving in the facility. Strains like Blue Cheese, Banana, and Blue Java are also popular. Online, Aether Gardens recently showcased its ultra-sweet, flavor-packed strains Mimosé (Mimosa x Rosé) and Terple (Tropicana Cookies x Slurricane #7).

Aether Gardens has been producing cannabis out of its facility since 2018, and, over the years, has continued to develop its tissue culture lab, which now houses 400 cannabis varieties. All of the strains are grown in a structure that takes advantage of sunlight through the use of glass panels. The company also formulates its own nutrient line.

Other areas of the facility are dedicated to the creation of numerous extraction products, from concentrates to edibles. Aether Gardens’ production also serves many other brand partners, such as house brand The Fifty Five as well as STIIIZY, Binske, Huni Labs, Pro Canna, and Hervé. -AK

Mountaintop Extracts 

Mountaintop Extracts has been helping patients gain access to clean, effective cannabis medicine since 2012, but now that adult-use sales is legal in New Mexico (effective as of April 1, 2022), the brand continues to offer quality cannabis products to a wider market.

The Mountaintop Extracts logo features a towering mountain inspired by the Sandia Mountains, which overlooks the city of Albuquerque where the brand is based. Mountaintop Extracts is 100% family-owned, and founder Eric Merryman holds his brand to the highest standard when producing cannabis products for consumers.

“At Mountaintop [Extracts] we really focus on clean, consistent safe medicine and are committed to the educational process so much needed in our industry,” Merryman says. “We are extremely passionate about what we do and have been very fortunate to attract like-minded employees who are making a difference in our industry.”

Joel Krukar, director of business development and marketing at Mountaintop Extracts, explains that the brand utilizes proprietary methods and techniques, which it’s been perfecting for years, to ensure that all of its products are of the highest quality.

“That’s what makes our edibles different. Our vape cartridges are live resin true full spectrum…We don’t cut it with anything. Nothing is reintroduced,” Krukar says. “And our diamonds became a huge success, [they were] really big in the beginning because we were one of the first [in the state] to actually really master growing large grade diamonds. I believe the largest diamond, it was like 7 grams, actually. So we have techniques to really grow very rich, large diamonds.”

And Mountaintop Extracts has the accolades to prove it too. At the 2018 Essie Awards hosted by Kurple Magazine, Mountaintop Extracts took home awards for best infused product, best edible, and best concentrate.

A longtime favorite of medical cannabis patients, Krukar says that the brand’s gummies are one of their biggest sellers.

“Our gummies are by far the highest velocity products we have. We are producing more units of gummies per month than anything else,” Krukar says. “But it’s also sometimes a condition of the market. And I personally love our vapes, and people love our vapes as well too, because we’re the only ones providing that live resin, true full-spectrum, full-integrity vape cartridge.”

In the very near future, Mountaintop Extracts has plans to reveal a new logo, new packaging, and a new patent-pending product to add to its current lineup. –AK

EAST

3rd Coast Genetics

There’s a reason behind why Michigan-based 3rd Coast Genetics calls itself “the swank of dank.” As purveyors of some of Michigan’s finest cannabis, 3rd Coast Genetics focuses on the strange and the unique. The team behind 3rd Coast Genetics are the creators of Smorez, Butterfingaz, and many other strains that are sought after in the Midwest. 3rd Coast Genetics cultivar names will grab your attention, and they’ll stand out from the typical strains that you see every day.

“I am the creative force behind 3rd Coast Genetics,” Max Yields tells High Times. “The 3rd Coast is the shore of beautiful Lake Michigan—the place where I call home.”

Yields is the creator of Oreoz, Pure Michigan, Tagalonz, and many other strains, armed with a passion for breeding and love for pushing the boundaries of quality. “3rd Coast” generally refers to the Great Lakes area in the Midwest. It’s too easy to ignore the fire that comes out of Michigan when it’s overshadowed by countless other brands.

Some of these rare finds include crosses like Walfredo (MAC 1 x Peanut Butter Breath) or Thick Strawberry Goo (Red Pop x Pure Michigan) with 10 beans per bag.

Some other strains that caught our attention—with a little help from the creative names—were Spock’s Brain (Grease Monkey x Peanut Butter Breath) and Wolverine (Animal Cookies x Pure Michigan). But don’t get distracted by the names, because 3rd Coast Genetics retains the quality you want, preserving those subtle traits.

“I feel the most important thing that I do, the one thing at the epicenter of all of my hard work, is the practice of selecting unique and amazing traits,” Yields says. “Everything is dependent upon genetics and being able to recognize the component that makes something so special or unique, even if those traits are subtle.” -BA

Pure Options/Pro Gro 

What makes Pure Options unique? Perhaps it’s the company’s connection to the local community in Michigan. “Our success ultimately is deeply rooted in our community here in Lansing,” says Pure Options Director of Pro Gro, Jacob Nelson.

Pure Options has been in operations since 2011 and has become a staple source of craft cannabis in Michigan. One of the team’s long-term goals has been to make it into the spotlight and operate a craft cannabis business at a larger scale.

“We built our foundation as a very small team operating in the traditional market taking great caution to keep our heads down and stay focused on this mission,” Nelson says. “It was during this time that we built our culture in preparation for our future. So, when people ask us what makes Pure Options unique our answer is always the same, it’s our team and it’s culture.”

Pure Options’ uniqueness isn’t defined by any particular special process or “secret sauce.” The entire team Pure Options are students of cultivation. Small details matter, and cutting corners for profit is never an option, Nelson says. Every day is an opportunity to learn, refine processes, and improve the final product. This mindset is fueled by passion for the plant.

“Thankfully for us our love for the craft and attention to detail hasn’t gone unnoticed,” Nelson says. “Our team’s passion and culture has helped us deliver high quality cannabis to the Michigan market at scale and along the way we’ve been able to secure some amazing partnerships by proxy.”

Some of Pure Options’ partnerships include collaborations with Archive Seed Bank, DEO Farms, Wizard Trees, and Skunk House Genetics. This has given the team the opportunity to raise their platform with exclusive strains from some of the best breeders in the industry.

“The entire Pure Options team is excited for what the future holds,” Nelson says. “We cannot wait to operate on the national stage next and are thankful for everyone who has helped reach our goals along the way. It was all a dream, and teamwork truly does make the dream work.” -BA

Aerīz 

Aerīz, pronounced like “arise,” is the producer of aeroponically grown flower, as well as full-spectrum hash oil, sugar, diamonds and sauce, budder, and many other products. They are “the largest aeroponic cannabis cultivator in the world,” according to their website. The company probably focuses on root health more than most typical producers.

Roots are misted in Aerīz’s custom-fitted tables, where cultivators have full control over nutrient uptake. The closed-loop system helps the team to minimize nutrient waste. While it’s a system that would cause a novice grower to most likely fail, the team at Aerīz have perfected the practice.

“We grow aeroponically, for basically two main reasons,” Aerīz Senior Producer Ian Krass tells High Times. “One is the quality of the flower. And the second is the environment. So the easier thing is the environment, which has an aeroponic growing process.”

Krass went on to say that the grow medium is recyclable, and that they’re not using any soil, so there’s a lot less waste. “Our water nutrient solution that the roots get nested with is recycled in a closed-loop system,” he explains. “So, you know, basically, it’s the least waste you could possibly generate growing cannabis. And, you know, being environmentally friendly is definitely at the core of our mission.”

Aerīz’s aeroponically grown flower is sometimes converted into full-spectrum hash oil, distillate, sugar, shatter, budder, and infused honey sticks.

Aerīz is currently partnering with a company called Pachamama, that does carbon offsets. Quality is achieved using a closed loop, computer-controlled nutrient delivery system. The team is very precise in terms of giving the plants exactly “what they need, when they need it.”

Aerīz has expanded beyond Illinois with operations in Arizona as well. Be sure to check out their powerful cuts of Jenny Kush (generally accepted as Amnesia Haze and Rare Dankness #2) and Pink Kush (King Kush x King Kush). -BA

Helios Hash

Helios Hash, a solventless hash producer based out of Maine, rocked the hash world in 2021 with a win at the Ego Clash. The winning entry, a mix of Rainbow Belts with a small amount of Ice Cream Cake, represented a major victory for the family-run brand. After all, they won the well-respected hash event with sungrown plants from their first commercial harvest, and 2022 was only their second season growing.

“It’s your classic Zkittlez,” Stav Anagnost says of the Ego Clash-winning entry. “It’s one of the more sought-after type of terps. We hit it at a good time. A lot of people are growing Rainbow Belts.”

Anagnost runs the company alongside two of his brothers, Alex and Demetri, and believes their Rainbow Belts edged out the competition because of their growing style, which he describes as “West Coast.”

“We grow sungrown and our entire operation is based off of sustainable regenerative farming,” he says. “What we do is we are resin farmers so we strictly grow outdoor plants one time a year, seasonally done for resin and our resin is for hash.”

Hash produced from the resin of sungrown flowers is incomparable and is more flavorful than hash made with indoor flowers, Anagnost says. In sunny California, sungrown flower is decidedly more common than in Maine, where the weather is colder and harsher. But Anagnost argues the weather challenges in Maine contribute to the quality of the hash.

“Resin is a defense mechanism to the plant,” he explains. “So the more that the plant gets certain stressors in its environment allow the plant to produce a better quality and more luscious resin.”

The goal at Helios is always full-melt.

“At the end of the day there’s nothing that can compete with the sun,” Anagnost says. “We’re strictly a hash-based company. Everything we do is sungrown and we believe that’s the best representation of the plant and of the resin.” 

Looking ahead, Helios is hoping to start a breeding project. Their hash, only produced once a year, mirrors the successful wine industry model of select year limited releases. -EH

Kolektor 

When it comes to building a brand built on hype, heart, and heat, Kolektor’s got it down. The only things this Bronx-based underground cultivator says he won’t put out is the stuff that you can find everywhere. Don’t look to Kolektor for Gelato or Runtz; he came up in the era of Platinum Girl Scout Cookies and started growing after getting tired of seeing the same old flowers. “I feel like the market is so oversaturated with those things. You can get them anywhere so there’s no point in me growing those cultivars,” he says over a phone call. “Everybody else is doing it and I’m trying to create my own lane.”

Right now, his lane seems wide open as he looks towards licensing and continues to mingle with California cannabis elite heading across the country to explore the burgeoning New York scene. He’s got West Coast growing experience and, through Instagram marketing, has already met a few major players in California cannabis.

“California knows that New York is a bigger market,” Kolektor says. “California has always been at the top of the game in production, and New York has been just buying. So now you have a bunch of local growers popping up, which is really cool.”

When we speak in early fall, Kolektor has just got through the last of other breeders’ genetics and popped 100 seeds of his own to grow out. The male he’s currently working with is a Black Mamba crossed with four different female cultivars. The results are just unnamed crosses for now, Candy Cane x Black Mamba, a Honey Banana x Black Mamba, a Grape Pie x Black Mamba, and an unrevealed fourth. Kolektor’s also creating his own genetics with Purple Taipan (Grape Pie x Black Mamba) pollen and says the hope is that the brand can create a menu “fully curated, bred, and grown by us.” When we connect, he’s just harvested a Sherb Breath, Sunset Sherbert x Mendo Breath.

“It’s super heavy on the Mendo Breath so you get a lot of that like savory terps, almost like a beef soup, beef stew or something, it’s real weird,” he says.

Kolektor grew up in the South Bronx and never thought he’d be able to grow cannabis. Serving in the Army in Afghanistan he saw acres and acres of weed growing in the desert and it hit him that growing it himself might be a possibility. After he got out of the Army, he took some seeds back with him to New York and started experimenting. He’s making plans in terms of gaining official state cultivation licensing and wants to stay close to the Bronx.

“That’s where we can serve the community the best,” he says. “A lot of investors want us to go upstate, but if we go upstate we’re just going to service a bunch of white folks, like our social equity plan will be shit at that point, you know? I’m from the Bronx apartments in Yonkers so we understand how bad the communities have got due to the War on Drugs and the Stop and Frisk era so we want to be able to offer some good opportunities to people in the city that we love.” -EH

Solar Cannabis Co. 

Solar Cannabis Co. grows indoors in its main facility in Somerset, Massachusetts within a 67,000-square-foot space. Its solar production allows the company to operate completely energy independent; solar panels cover the entire facility roof as well as an adjacent 4-acre lot. The cultivator also utilizes two high-efficiency CHP (combined heat and power) generators, making natural gas the only utility that Solar Cannabis Co. is hooked up to. It cycles through 10,000 gallons of water a day, but reclaims 90% of that water to be recirculated back into their fertigation watering system (a process which adds fertilizer into an irrigation system).

Solar Cannabis Co.’s Director of Marketing and Communications Derek Gould says the company is constantly striving to reduce its energy footprint.

“A lot of these states where you can only cultivate indoors, at least all year round, it’s definitely important to take a look at the energy footprint and the carbon footprint that we’re leaving, because, it’s huge, it’s massive, and we really just want to do it the right way,” Gould says. “We want to do it upfront, and be a model for other operators, whether current or upcoming, to take a look and identify that, hey, we have a corporate responsibility to operate in a sustainable way.” 

Solar Cannabis Co. is a vertically integrated company, but they also grow vertically to fully take advantage of their facility space. Cannabis plants are cared for on a three-tier rack system, allowing Solar Cannabis Co. to house anywhere between 2,200 to 2,400 plants per room. 

“The way that we have designed our facility is for constant production, we are harvesting a room every week-and-a-half and we’re pulling down. I would say close to 350 to 400 pounds of dried flower per room every one-and-a-half to two weeks. So, you know, we are constantly in mass production,” Gould explains. 

Solar Cannabis Co.’s Vice President of Cultivation Brendan Delaney has a background in cultivation in Trinity County, California and has helped make connections with West Coast cultivators like Compound Genetics and Humboldt Seed Company. A few of their current best sellers are recognizable cultivars like Cherry Punch, Gas Truffle, Hella Jelly, Jelly Runtz, Pink Certz, The Bling, Waffle Cone, and Wedding Cake. 

“What we’ve brought from the West Coast here to the East Coast, they’ve been game changers, everything’s been home runs, for the most part,” says Gould. 

In Massachusetts, vertically integrated cannabis companies are limited to having three retail licenses, and with Solar Cannabis Co. having two in operation and one coming soon to Dartmouth, the brand is expanding its ethos into other markets and holds a retail-only dispensary license in Rhode Island. -AK 

Good Green 

Using cannabis as a way to support Black and brown communities that have been disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs is a worthwhile commitment. Good Green (owned by Green Thumb Industries) strives to sell affordable cannabis flower while also providing funds to worthy nonprofit organizations.

Split between sativa, hybrid, and indica offerings, Good Green is in several markets: Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Earlier this year, Green Thumb Industries was one of seven multi-state operators to participate in New Jersey’s first day of recreational sales which began on April 21. As a vertically integrated company, Green Thumb has its own grow facility in New Jersey that supplies an “ever-growing portfolio of strains.” Strains like Banana Cream, Animal Face, L’Orange, Jack Herer, and Rebel Sour are a handful of popular strains in New Jersey.

Good Green isn’t just a flower producer though, it also offers its Good Green grant program to help support worthy nonprofit organizations (hence the brand motto “Green that does Good”). There are currently eight nonprofits that have been chosen to receive the Good Green grant, based in various locations such as Illinois, New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. 

Jai Kensey, director of social impact at Green Thumb Industries, explains why it’s so important that cannabis brands give back to the community.

“It’s an obligation and I always say as multi-state operators, it’s our duty to give back to the communities,” Kensey says. “This industry has been built on the backs of Black and brown people, and who have been the most harmed by it. Black people are four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis use. And so it’s definitely something where I say it’s very unique for our industry, where it should be part of every bit of our operation in terms of giving back to the communities that have been impacted by it.”

With an extensive, thorough, and rigorous review process, Kensey, along with Social Impact Program Manager Alyssa Estrada and the Good Green brand team, sift through many applicants and score them based on a number of factors. They closely examine each one, scoring them fairly based on three areas: expungement, employment, and education, as well as geographical location and the organization’s financial records to ensure that their funds go toward various programs.

When High Times spoke with Kensey, she shared that they were currently in the process of reviewing over 70 applications for the third round with the intention of choosing four, which will receive a split of $200,000 which was announced in November 2022. This amount helped the brand meet its goal of granting a total of $1.3 million to nonprofits by the end of the year. -AK

TERPENE-PACKED, EXPERTLY HAND-GROWN FLOWERS. THAT AND MORE IS WHAT YOU FIND AT VERITAS FINE CANNABIS.

Rachel Abela

How strains are grown and cultivated affects or enhances their quality and effects, and finding consistency across different brands can be difficult.

So, having a trusted brand where you always know that the product of your favorite strain will be the same is like touching the sky with your fingers. That’s why brands that are consistent with their products have a place in our hearts. 

Quality cannabis products are not a game and having a brand that gives full support changes the way you consume quality cannabis completely. This is where the Veritas Fine Cannabis brand comes in with a red carpet.

Veritas Fine Cannabis is a Colorado cannabis company that not only offers quality products but they make sure that everyone finds the right strain for their needs. It is not for nothing that they are one of the most trusted brands in the entire state and even the country.

About Veritas Fine Cannabis

Veritas Fine Cannabis is based in Colorado. Here they offer an assortment of hand-cut, terpene-focused flowers. They put special detail into every step of the cultivation process, from seed to sale. Cannabis consumption at Veritas Fine Cannabis is a personal matter. 

If you are looking for consistent effects and potent flowers with different terpene profiles, this is the place you were looking for. 

At Veritas they don’t just think about high-quality cannabis. They take into account all the other elements that make a good cannabis plant what it is. Like terpenes and cannabinoids. 

Terpenes are organic compounds present in all plants, including cannabis. Their role is very important as they determine how cannabis will affect a person, and at Veritas Fine Cannabis they understood this perfectly. 

In Roman mythology, veritas means truth or the goddess of truth, and at Veritas Fine Cannabis they honor this by always showing the true nature of rigorously grown high-quality cannabis and all the benefits it has to offer.

The cannabis cultivation at Veritas Fine Cannabis is carefully curated, from start to finish, with no exceptions. From the seed to the cultivation site to the packaging, everything is carefully reviewed and supervised, always taking care of the high quality and purity of each product.

The result is a cannabis experience of the highest quality, purity, and cleanliness in the United States. 

Close Relationship With The Plant And Its Cultivation

At Veritas Fine Cannabis they have focused on understanding the terpenes found in each of their strains, and from that exhaustive knowledge, they have done everything to maximize their benefits in their own flowers.

Veritas Fine Cannabis is not just another company growing cannabis, no. This company really cares about the process, from start to finish, guaranteeing quality and the best care for their products.

The cultivation process at Veritas Fine Cannabis is quite an art, no wonder they are one of the best cannabis brands in the country.

In general, the cultivation process has many phases and stages that are carefully reviewed and managed by the most trained staff. At Veritas Fine Cannabis they take special care of trichome formation, which is the basis of the terpene-rich flower that Veritas is known for.

Harvesting work is done by hand by careful experts who take care of everything, caring for each plant with the utmost love and dedication. 

Additionally, Veritas Fine Cannabis has a team of quality control masters. This specialized group uses their highly trained sense of smell, keen eyes, and years of experience to determine when the flower is ready to be cut.

Remember, everything is done by hand, by teams of highly skilled people with their eyes open to detail, delivering Veritas Fine Cannabis customers consistent, high-quality products time after time. 

The Key? Terpenes

What makes Veritas flowers so good? The brand focuses primarily on terpenes and that is the key to its success.

Veritas Fine Cannabis understood a long time ago that all the compounds in the cannabis plant make it what it is. That’s why they focus so much on having flowers with maximized terpene profiles that maximize those positive effects that each person seeks in their own way.

Veritas has a few different categories for their strains, some are as follows:

• Invigorate
• Invite
• Innovate
• Rejuvenate
• Relieve

Veritas Fine Cannabis also offers a wide variety of products. We already told you that one of their missions is for each person to find what will really suit their personal tastes and needs.

For more information about Veritas Fine Cannabis, visit their website at veritascannabis.com 

HERBERT FUEGO DECEMBER 16, 2022 8:01AM

Cannabis gifts for Christmas can range from cheap and fun to expensive and detailed. Flickr/Elsa Olofsson

Legal cannabis has been around long enough in Colorado that we can buy novelty presents and sensible gifts for everyone from a stoner roommate to an experimenting grandmother. Edibles are getting more precise and deluxe, cookbooks have moved on from cannabutter, and vaporizers have reached points of convenience and usability that we’ve never seen before.

We’ve spent the past year trying out a wide range of cannabis items, but some fit better under the Christmas tree than others. From stocking-stuffers to show-stoppers, here are ten cannabis gifts guaranteed to brighten the holidays:

The Puffco Proxy will ensure a win on Christmas morning. 

Courtesy of Puffco

Puffco Set
If you’re still looking for that “big” gift for a special someone who loves dabs, rosin and all things hash, look no further than Puffco. The electronic vaporizer manufacturer is known for easy, convenient dabs that replicate an old-school bong or pipe, consistently setting new bars with its Peak water pipe and the Proxy, a waterless “pipe” version that makes me feel like a 21st-century Sherlock Holmes more with each puff. Although it’s not cheap, the Proxy’s $300 price tag is attainable and makes for a smooth entry point into connoisseur concentrates. The heating element is adjustable and easy to manipulate, the bowl piece is simple to clean, and the charge lasts for multiple days of usage. If you really want to spoil someone, stuff their stocking with the Proxy flower bowl, water bubbler, silicone travel attachments or a Puffco Hot Knife — an electronic dab applicator that heats concentrate enough to slip it into a rig or on top of flower without combustion. (Add a surprise gram of rosin in the mix, and you’ll win next Christmas, too.) You can buy Puffcos online or at head shops, dispensaries and other retailers.

Simple Syrup
Cannabis edibles and drinks come in so many forms that it’s nice to find something flexible and easy. Infused simple syrups can go into hot drinks, cocktails, mocktails and anything else that needs sweetener, so they work as a novelty gift or for the regular cannabis user. There are now numerous options to choose from, with Highgrade and LePow Extracts both making THC simple syrups that will satisfy a sweet tooth and cannabis tolerances, while Dialed In produces a rosin-infused version, as well. Any of the three get the job done, but expect more of a kick from Dialed In’s rosin, which has more cannabis-forward flavor.

Canyon Suck-It lozenges carry a lot of cannabinoids in small packages. 

Herbert Fuego

Canyon Suck-Its
If you know someone who likes to microdose edibles, we recommend gifting them Canyon Suck-Its. Each lozenge comes with 2.5 milligrams of various cannabinoids; our favorite, the pink lemonade flavor, carries 2.5 milligrams of CBD, 2.5 milligrams of CBN and 2.5 milligrams of THC per piece. At less than 1 gram of sugar per lozenge and forty pieces per pack, these are low on sugar and high in value.

A Cut Above Strain Sampler
You can do this at any dispensary, but our favorite lineup of strain variety and caliber is at A Cut Above. The South Broadway dispensary has a who’s-who of Colorado growers and extractors, including 710 Labs, Bubba’s Kush, Cherry, Green Dot Labs, Olio, Single Source and Snaxland, as well as impressive up-and-comers Melody and SPCY Cannabis and well-established brands like Bloom, Cookies and Veritas. You can also find more affordable options from growers that still bring the heat, as well as some of the best in-house flower for medical marijuana patients. Get individual grams of a friend or family member’s favorite growers or strains, or just ask one of the budtenders for recommendations, which they’re happy to provide.

Robhots Plus gummies include strain-specific terpene information on the packaging. 

Courtesy of Robhots

Rosin Gummies
Rosin gummies have been all the rage at dispensaries over the past couple of years. With so many companies now jumping on the trend, you can finally buy a pack for less than $30 at most dispensaries.
Unlike distillate, a refined form of THC commonly used by edibles manufacturers, rosin needs good starting material because the extraction is essentially all about squeezing the good stuff out of cannabis or bubble hash. The process results in a more natural mix of terpenes and cannabinoids, and a very effective high. Check out our list of ten rosin gummies currently for sale in dispensaries if you need any help shopping, and don’t be afraid to search Jane, Leafly or Weedmaps for the best deal.

Cannabis Confectionery Art Cookbook
Making edibles at home is fun and financially prudent, but most at-home infusion processes lack the scientific precision to correctly estimate an edibles dosage. Cannabis Confectionery Art, a cannabis cookbook from local edibles maker Krystina VanCleef, teaches readers how to make impressive edibles at home with the cannabis oils and distillate sold at dispensaries. Using these concentrates instead of older at-home methods doesn’t just result in more consistent highs, but tastier edibles, too. Put VanCleef’s methods to the test this Christmas with recipes for brownie swirls, cheesecake bars and other delicious treats that fit right in during the holidays.

710 Labs Noodle Doinks are rolled with flower, not trim. 

YouTube/710 Labs

710 Labs Noodle Doink
We’ve never been high on most pre-rolls, but most pre-rolls aren’t rolled with real buds from high-end growers, nor do they usually come with a Rotini noodle crutch. Noodle Doinks from 710 Labs score points in style, substance and accessibility, providing fans with a more affordable option compared to the brand’s pre-packed quarter- and half-ounces, which are always on the higher end of the bud shelf. The one-gram joints of Boo Berry, Gak Smoovie and 710’s other face-melters don’t skimp on the flavor, are usually available for $20, and slip right into a stocking or someone’s hand when the rest of the family isn’t looking.

A Fully Assembled Hash Pen
Do you know a cannabis user who prefers a hash pen over a joint or bowl? A fully prepped hash pen could be the way to go. You can find a number of different battery and pre-filled cartridge options at dispensaries, with quality and prices both varying heavily. Flavored distillate tends to be the preferred route for novice users, while regular tokers prefer rosin and live extracts.

The 1906 Bliss Cup can be bought for less than $10 after tax. 

Courtesy of 1906

1906 Bliss Cup
You can still gift someone a tasty edible without breaking the bank or trying to make them at home. Available in packs of one or two, 1906’s Bliss Cups provide a fast-acting edibles high for low to mild tolerances, with 5 milligrams of CBD and 5 milligrams of THC per piece. You can find the single packs for around $5 at most dispensaries, allowing you to add a little pot to the holidays on a small budget, and the two-packs rarely go for more than $10.

ioVia Tincture
I never enjoyed receiving savings bonds from my grandma on Christmas, but they sure came in handy down the road. Think of tinctures as your cannabis savings-bond gift this Christmas. The liquid cannabis concentrate, intended for sublingual use, has never been the sexiest edible, but once used, your friend and family member will thank you for it. Tinctures come in all sorts of cannabinoid combinations, with high-CBD and CBN formulations for recuperation and sleep, and straight THC versions for a quick high. There are a handful of tincture brands out there, but if you’re trying to home in on one, we recommend ioVia. The Colorado tincture brand has roots stretching back to the state’s early medical marijuana days, and creates tinctures for a number of medical and recreational uses.

KEEP WESTWORD FREE… Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we’d like to keep it that way. With local media under siege, it’s more important than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our “I Support” program, allowing us to keep offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food and culture with no paywalls.

Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1.

HERBERT FUEGO is the resident stoner at Westword, ready to answer all your marijuana questions.

CONTACT: Herbert Fuego

As Colorado cannabis companies struggle with a glutted market and the end of the boom times, many marijuana operators who want to stay afloat and succeed are putting a strong focus on branding their businesses and products.

Colorado was the first state in the country to sell licensed recreational marijuana back in 2014, so it stands to reason these businesses have evolved to the point where they have established finely crafted and recognizable brands.

Some are using that branding acumen to gain a competitive edge in the competitive Colorado cannabis market.

Others have used that hard-won expertise to expand into other states where the market conditions might be more favorable and the homegrown companies there don’t have a similar head start in developing their core identities.

“As a brand, the idea of going to another state is great, because it provides some level of protection against the swings that could happen inside of a single state,” Jon Spadafora, partner and head of marketing at Denver-based Veritas Fine Cannabis, told MJBizDaily’s Bart Schaneman.

“So I think that you’re going to see a lot more of that.”

Check out Bart’s story to learn more about the tactics Colorado marijuana business owners are employing.

By Bart Schaneman, Editor
December 15, 2022

Be at the forefront of the latest cannabis scientific research. Submit a research abstract to present by Dec. 16, or register to attend the The Emerald Conference by MJBizScience, March 1-3 in San Diego.

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As Colorado cannabis companies struggle with a glutted market and the end of the boom times, many marijuana operators who want to stay afloat and succeed are putting a strong focus on branding their businesses and products.

Colorado was the first state in the country to sell licensed recreational marijuana back in 2014, so it stands to reason these businesses have evolved to the point where they have established finely crafted and recognizable brands.

Some are using that branding acumen to gain a competitive edge in the competitive Colorado cannabis market.

Others have used that hard-won expertise to expand into other states where the market conditions might be more favorable and the homegrown companies there don’t have a similar head start in developing their core identities.

“As a brand, the idea of going to another state is great, because it provides some level of protection against the swings that could happen inside of a single state,” said Jon Spadafora, partner and head of marketing at Denver-based Veritas Fine Cannabis.

“So I think that you’re going to see a lot more of that.”

Show on the road

Spadafora attributes his company’s longevity in the Colorado market to its focus on branding and packaging its flower.

“That was a huge decision that we made that others didn’t make early, and it’s certainly paid dividends,” he said.

Veritas’ flower is recognizable with its round cannisters and detailed labeling.

The company is taking the model to New Mexico next year, according to Spadafora, by selling its flower there via a licensing partner.

As the industry matures and consolidates, he expects consumers will see fewer brands, but those brands will be available in more places.

“You’re starting to see even some of those operators seek out relationships with the brands that they see being successful in the more challenging markets,” Spadafora added.

“Knowing that when their market becomes difficult, you’re going to have those tools that have worked for us in Colorado or others in California – they’re going to be applicable in any state.”

Another Denver-based cannabis company that’s expanding operations is Green Dot Labs, which is building a cultivation facility in the Phoenix area, according to Dave Malone, co-founder and chief creative officer.

It’s the company’s first out-of-state expansion, and Malone hopes to add more states in the next three to five years.

Green Dot Labs made its name selling craft extraction products and is now focusing on the craft flower market as well.

“We’re in no rush to get out over our skis, but it is absolutely in our plan,” he said.

Colorado terroir

It’s been 10 years since voters in Colorado and Washington state legalized recreational marijuana.

That might seem like a long time for this industry, but in that time, not many brands have become widespread nationally.

There’s still a lot of room for growth, said Brian Vicente of Denver-based cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg.

“There’s an opportunity with the right kind of marketing spend and the right branding approach to really establish some household names of cannabis,” he added.

“Colorado has been a groundbreaker. And I could see some of the creative minds that have a head start on other states launching some of those brands here.”

Brittany Hallett, vice president of marketing at Denver-based Slang Worldwide, which is the parent of the O.pen vape company, sees Colorado as possibly developing a terroir-like brand similar to how people think of Napa Valley wine or Kentucky bourbon.

“The notion of being from Colorado is a strong one to lead with from a national perspective,” she said. “And it’s something that we’ve seen good reception upon from both consumers and retailers alike as we’ve spearheaded some of our expansion efforts.”

Similar to what Veritas is doing in New Mexico, more Colorado cannabis companies might see opportunities in licensing agreements to help spread brand awareness and tackle other markets.

“The wave of the future is brands,” said Dan Pabon, general counsel for Denver-based, vertically integrated cannabis company Schwazze.

“And I think you’ll see a lot of licensing agreements across states.”

Schwazze owns and operates one of the Denver area’s bigger branded retail cannabis chains, Star Buds, as well as several other marijuana manufacturing and cultivation brands in Colorado and New Mexico.

Similar to Hallett’s point, Pabon sees opportunities for companies to capitalize on Colorado’s unique climate and weather to brand its flower and other products.

But branding is not just for export, he added. He also predicts there will be more companies from California or other states that want to sell into the Colorado market in the near future.

How it’s done

One of Colorado’s most well-known brands to expand to multiple states across the country is Boulder-based edibles maker Wana Brands, which manufactures and sells products in Colorado while licensing intellectual property in another 11 states.

Wana is the No. 1 cannabis edibles brand by market share in North America.

Joe Hodas, chief marketing officer for the company, said Wana has benefited from states outside Colorado maturing and developing their markets.

Wana sees its expansion efforts as making market share, not taking market share.

While some brands might try to disrupt a market with cheaper pricing, that’s not Wana’s strategy, according to Hodas.

The company is trying to bring in new consumers with new products, developments and innovations, he added.

For example, a lower-milligram gummy that works well for people who might have partied too hard the night before.

“We’ve had the greatest amount of time to perfect the brand and to establish a base of consumers,” Hodas said.

“It’s only going to proliferate in other markets.”

Bart Schaneman can be reached at bart.schaneman@mjbizdaily.com.

By Bart Schaneman, Editor
December 5, 2022

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When Colorado voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, no other state had launched a legal adult-use market, and there was no road map.

Dave Malone, co-founder and chief creative officer for Denver-based vertically integrated cannabis company Green Dot Labs, likened it to bushwhacking through the wilderness at night.

“We’ve been in the dark with a torch in our left hand and a machete in the right,” he said.

Since then, the market has matured, with some businesses succeeding and many others either shutting down or being gobbled up by bigger fish.

Colorado’s progression as one of the nation’s first adult-use markets offers plenty of lessons to marijuana business executives across the country.

Like marijuana entrepreneurs in other states, Colorado cannabis businesses saw some of their best sales months during the COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020, when people flush with federal stimulus cash had few other places to spend their money.

New cannabis consumers also turned to the plant for stress relief.

But that boom didn’t last.

And now Colorado cannabis companies are experiencing the worst downturn the market has seen, with month-over-month sales numbers on a steady slide amid lower wholesale flower prices.

Market conditions have gotten so bad that calls are increasing among marijuana growers to stop licensing new cultivation businesses in the state.

Another factor adding to the heartburn for Colorado businesses is that, for a few years, the state was the only legal adult-use market in the region.

Those days are over, as bordering states such as Arizona and New Mexico have their own adult-use markets, and people can get legal recreational cannabis in several parts of the country.

“It’s been a very tough time in the industry this year,” Malone said. “The market is down from its highs.

“It’s a real meat grinder right now.”

Malone characterizes the aftermath of the pandemic boom as a “hangover” that includes a “sour macro economy with a massively oversupplied cannabis economy.”

A few mistakes

Joe Hodas, chief marketing officer at Boulder-based Wana Brands, has been working with cannabis companies in Colorado since the beginning of the recreational market and was part of the lobbying efforts that helped shaped the regulations.

If he could go back in time and change anything, Hodas said, he would have made the tax rules final so that regulators and lawmakers can’t continue to layer on new state taxes.

“People don’t seem to understand that if we continue to add taxes and make legal cannabis more expensive, consumers will continue to (seek out) the black market,” he said.

Another mistake, according to Hodas, was not focusing on adding social equity elements to the business-licensing structure.

“We didn’t give an opportunity to people of color or those who have suffered at the hands of the war on drugs to appropriately get involved in the industry,” he added.

At the time, Hodas explained, the main effort was simply to get marijuana legalization “over the finish line.”

Alongside Hodas, Dan Pabon was involved in Colorado’s cannabis policymaking in the early days.

Pabon was elected as a Colorado state representative in 2011 and served in the Legislature for eight years.

During that time, he was an original sponsor of the first bill that legalized recreational marijuana in Colorado.

Now he works as general counsel for Denver-based, vertically integrated cannabis company Schwazze.

To Pabon, one measure of success is how many other marijuana markets have come after Colorado’s and how similarly they operate.

“Colorado’s model has been wildly successful,” he said. “And I say that because most of the states that have adopted recreational cannabis into their system have used, if not in whole, in part Colorado’s rules and regulations.”

What Colorado could have improved upon, according to Pabon, was in providing capital and opportunities for entrepreneurs trying to get into the industry.

Early on, he saw a lot of businesses falling prey to predatory lenders and bad business deals.

“A lot of that could have been avoided if the state would have invested more in an entrepreneurial fund,” Pabon added.

Market controls

Looking ahead, as the market becomes more consolidated and glutted with product – and wholesale prices continue to fall – some cannabis companies have appealed to regulators to enact a licensing moratorium on new permits.

They argue that would help curb market saturation and protect the existing businesses.

“We were always of the mind that this would not be an unlimited-license state forever,” Pabon said.

“When you have overproduction, you have a price pressure in the market, which can cause some operators to divert product into the illicit market.”

That’s why the regulators would be granted the ability to put in the caps, he added.

The ultimate goal of the licensed market has always been to completely eradicate illicit operators.

In the meantime, cannabis companies ramped up production during the boom times of the pandemic, and when prices fell off a cliff this year, people started closing up shop, according to Pabon.

“We’ve heard of some cultivation owners who said, ‘I’ll give you the keys to this place for free, as long as you take over my lease payments,’” he said.

Brian Vicente of Denver-based cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg praised what the market has accomplished over the past decade, including the billions of dollars in tax revenue, tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of businesses.

One sticking point has been trying to figure out the correct amount of canopy or plants that market needs to service demand, he added.

“That’s led to some price depression, which has made it somewhat of a challenging market, particularly the last six months for, for cannabis businesses,” Vicente said.

“We have too much cultivation for the state’s demand. So a moratorium on new grows is worth considering.”

The impact of brands

Several Colorado cannabis companies, including Wana Brands, have perfected their brand in the state and subsequently taken their show on the road, expanding into other state markets.

Brittany Hallett, vice president of marketing at Denver-based Slang Worldwide, which is the parent of the Open vape company, said Colorado has been the perfect proving ground.

“We’ve been able to grow and build a foundation for the brand,” she said.

“It’s been like a springboard to allow us to expand into different product categories and into additional markets over the course of the last 10 years.”

For example, the company recently acquired its longtime partner in Vermont, Ceres Med, and opened a retail store there in October.

“Nationally, and as you think about cannabis, Colorado has a special place in a lot of people’s hearts,” Hallett said.

“It’s the heartland of where cannabis started, at least in the United States.”

Being from Colorado is a strong notion to lead with from a national perspective, she added, noting it’s “something that we’ve seen good reception of from both consumers and retailers alike.”

Among the companies in the state, Hallett pointed out that, at one point, more than 300 different vape brands were competing in Colorado.

Now the market is less crowded, she said, estimating there are fewer than 100 vape brands in the state.

The price compression that has occurred in the flower market over the decade has also hit the vape sector.

Hallett said a 1-gram terpene distillate cartridge used to sell at retail for $90 before tax, and now it sells for $50-$55.

As for input costs, during the peak of the pandemic buying spree, Hallett said a pound of flower would wholesale for around $1,500. Now it’s down to $400-$500 a pound.

Taking a run at craft cannabis

The downturn hasn’t stopped Malone from targeting one specific area of the cultivation sector, what he calls the “ultra-premium” flower market, also known as craft cultivation.

Despite the flower market being saturated, Green Dot has pumped resources into a high-tech, state-of-the-art indoor grow facility to produce the best flower it can.

Malone said his flower now retails for more than $400 an ounce, which is steep considering entire pounds of lower-grade flower are selling for around that price on the wholesale market.

At the onset of the market, Denver-based vertically integrated company Native Roots was growing flower for quantity to meet demand, said Beth Kotarba, the company’s chief operating officer.

“We started to realize that we’re growing plenty, but maybe our quality is not stacking up to some of the competition,” she said.

“So we took a hard look at that and all of our processes.”

Native Roots started to focus more on growing the type of flower that its budtenders would be proud to recommend.

“Now we have a smaller grow that we’ve been able to utilize to do that and produce a higher level of flower,” Kotarba added.

Another marijuana company that’s been going after the craft market is Denver-based Veritas Fine Cannabis.

Jon Spadafora, partner and head of marketing of the company, said if he could turn back the clock the company would have made improvements to its facility early.

“We should have been more open to technologies that became available and different opportunities that would lower our cost of production as we went along the way,” he said.

Similar to other companies that have focused on their own brands, Spadafora said the smartest thing Veritas did was to brand and package its flower products.

“As a result,” he said, “we were very fortunate that we were able to connect with consumers much earlier than a lot of other companies were.”

Bart Schaneman can be reached at bart.schaneman@mjbizdaily.com.

Republished By Plato

Date: November 25, 2022

Views: 37

When it comes to agriculture, achieving a robust yield is always one of the main goals. For cannabis, it’s even more crucial. The plant has become the sixth most valuable commercial crop in the country, with an annual wholesale value of $5 billion.

With this in mind, growers are always seeking ways to optimize or boost production. There are plenty of tried and true methods, as well as cutting-edge techniques that can help improve crop health and protect profits.

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We spoke with cultivators across the country to discover the ten most useful tips to increase yields.

Automation and environmental controls

Cannabis is a fickle plant. In order to thrive, it must be grown in just the right conditions. Leaning into automation technology can benefit cultivators across the board by ensuring the environment is always perfect for the cultivars within.

Kurt Kinneman, a hemp grower and horticultural engineer at AI Grow, says automation is key to both improving plant health and mitigating issues at the same time.

“Automation can help monitor and control the environment and plant media to provide the optimal growing conditions by using sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, CO2, lights, moisture levels in plant media, and media runoff,” Kinneman said. “Integrated software sends alerts if conditions change, helping to prevent problems before they start.”

Use the right containers

The pot you use for your plants can make or break their life cycle.

Expert cultivators opt for air pots or smart pots. Made from breathable materials, these pots promote the aeration of plant roots. This breathing room equates to healthier and happier plants.

Plant training

There are many ways to gently manipulate cannabis plants and leaves to maximize their potential. These methods are usually broken down into two categories: low-stress training (LST) and high-stress training (HST).

Low-stress training techniques include tying down plant stems to force even and consistent growth. High-stress training is a bit more dramatic, and may see the colas of plants cut off in a practice called topping, or mainlining, which is a combination of topping and tie-down LST.

According to Michael Burns, cultivation manager at Massachusetts-based Nature’s Heritage, most plants could benefit from training but it all depends on genetics.

“Some genetics may require plant manipulation, whether topping, low-stress training, super cropping, fimming, scrogging, or strategic methods of removing branching to achieve a specific shape or uniformity,” said Burns. “There is no right or wrong way to go about any of these practices, and it all comes down to the cultivar, the setting you are growing in, and what you are attempting to achieve.”

Dial in your nutrients

Cannabis plants need plenty of nutrients to promote growth. Some of the most critical include nitrogen, calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc. However, it’s important to find a healthy balance to avoid nutrient burn, which can cause big problems for your plants.

For example, high amounts of nitrogen and potassium are needed during the vegetative stage. Once the plants reach the flowering stage, however, the nitrogen needs to be scaled back.

If you see burnt leaf tips, it could be a sign of nutrient burn. Remove any heavily damaged leaves and flush the plants with pH-balanced water to prevent further issues—and reconsider your current fertigation ratios.

Use healthy soil

The type of growing medium you use can also play a big part in how the plant develops. As it turns out, not all dirt is created equal.

Ted Blair, the owner of Emerald Triangle-based CannaCountry Farms, believes living soil is the best for his plants.

“It’s a microbe-rich soil,” he said. “The plant and the soil have a symbiotic relationship. Fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and many more organisms within help cannabis thrive. The plant is able to take what it needs when it needs it—this is the magic of living soil.”

Increase light intensity

Lighting is key to boosting cannabis crop yields. Having powerful lights hitting the plant at every angle will ensure they produce the biggest buds possible.

While lights can eat up a good chunk of indoor cultivation budgets, the investment may be more than worth it. The team at Nature’s Heritage recommends LED lights to help promote growth as well as energy efficiency.

“When it comes to increased light intensity, our research has shown positive spikes regarding increased flower production with LEDs,” said Burns. “With a hyper-focus on our LEDs, we have not only seen an increase in yield, but with the overall higher spectral composition of light, we have also seen an enrichment in cannabinoid and terpene content.”

Find the proper pH

Cannabis plants perform best in acidic-leaning soils. The sweet spot for most cultivars is somewhere between 6.0 and 7.0 pH. Too high or too low and the plant roots will struggle to absorb nutrients.

The nutrients used and the contents of the soil determine your pH in cannabis. Levels can be monitored through automated sensors, handheld pH meters, or lab testing.

Crank up the CO2

Cannabis plants require lots of carbon dioxide (CO2). The element is the backbone of photosynthesis, where CO2 is converted to energy. While you do not want to overdo it, adding some additional carbon dioxide to the growing environment may help increase yields.

Boosting CO2 levels in commercial grows can be done through the use of special generators. Compressed CO2 may also be applied via tanks. The element should come from above the plants as the molecules are heavier than oxygen and will sink to the ground. Grow rooms should be properly sealed to increase efficiency and protect workers.

It’s important to note that CO2 is toxic for humans at high levels. This means novice home growers may want to avoid this tip and leave it to the pros.

Track your results

Keeping detailed records of plant life cycles can help cultivators determine if they want to stick with a certain strain or move on to another cultivar. It can also pinpoint problem areas that could produce better results if modified.

Technology providers like AI Grow make crop tracking simple, storing analytics in a database that can be accessed at any time. This information is critical to facility efficiency and should be reviewed regularly.

“We actually have an analytics department—they measure the performance of every strain,” said John Spadafora, president of Colorado-based Veritas Fine Cannabis. “They look at how that strain produces every time that it’s planted, and in which facility and in which room. Once a quarter, we sit down and take a look at how the genetics are performing.”

Time the harvest right—and listen to the plants

When plants are ready for harvest, it’s hard not to jump into action. While the harvest window is typically between two and three weeks, pushing it a tad longer will allow the buds to increase in size considerably.

David German, general manager of Commonwealth Alternative Care in Massachusetts, notes that harvest timing boils down to two things: the plant’s life cycle and the facility’s overall operations.

“Harvesting may be the last step, but harvest timing is also the first step,” German said. “It is a continuous cycle, so as harvest kicks off, we look ahead. It is important to plan genetics ahead and stay on schedule to maximize the facility output.

For Lelehnia DuBois, a legacy cultivator and founder of Humboldt Grace, being in tune with the Earth matters most.

“When we listen to nature well, we can understand how to support our outdoor garden throughout the year,” she said. “For example, the old-timers I grew up with used to look for the wildflower lupin to plant their guerilla grows. The presence of Lupin tells you the soil is high in nitrogen, which boosts plant health.

“Understanding these signs from nature guides you on what amendments are needed, and when you look around, you can see that many of those amendments are provided for you by nature as well.”

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• Source: https://mgmagazine.com/business/growing-horticulture/cultivation-techniques-to-increase-yield/

• John Frank

As the new kid on the block, legal marijuana knew no bounds.

• Annual sales in Colorado grew exponentially since launching in 2014, and peaking at $2.2 billion in 2021.

Yes, but: The party’s over. The industry faces its first real crisis as sales and wholesale prices plummet, a double supply-and-demand crunch that’s leading to significant retail closures and layoffs.

Why it matters: Colorado’s legal cannabis industry has evolved into a major economic player with $13.4 billion in sales, as well about 900 retail businesses and 40,000 employees, government figures show.

• Moreover, it contributed $2.3 billion in state tax revenue through September. Much of that went to education, as originally intended, but the dollars now support affordable housing, substance abuse and treatment, law enforcement and agriculture, too.

State of pot: Medical and recreational retail cannabis sales hit new highs amid the pandemic with consumers spending more time at home and receiving federal fiscal stimulus checks.

• The combined sales broke records at $226.4 million in July 2020.

Now, the broader rebalancing of consumer spending and time, as well as rising prices on everyday goods are snuffing the highs.

• Marijuana retail sales in Colorado were down 22% in June, compared to the prior year, and the wholesale price of cannabis flower fell to an all-time low, down 46% to $709 a pound. The record price came in January 2015 at $2,007.

What they’re saying: What makes it most difficult is seeing supply increase but demand fall. “You’re getting squished from both sides, both walls are coming in at the same time,” Andrew Livingston, an economist at Vicente Sederberg, one of the nation’s top cannabis firms, tells Axios Denver.

What to watch: Jon Spadafora, president of Veritas Fine Cannabis, wondered aloud whether the industry believed its own hype too much. Veritas closed a cultivation facility in June and laid off 33 people, a quarter of its employees.

• “We went from an environment where growth was all we ever knew,” he told us. Now, he’s predicting “substantial downsizing across the industry in Colorado.”

The other side: Joe Hodas at Wana Brands, a leading cannabis edibles company, tells us he’s optimistic that sales will soon plateau and eventually rebound.

• “To build a healthy industry, you have to cull the herd, you have to get rid of the sick players that quite can’t keep up and that allows the stronger players to continue to grow,” he said.

THOMAS MITCHELL NOVEMBER 2, 2022 7:07AM

Good luck walking away from Sherb Crasher without losing steam. Herbert Fuego

Smoking a deep bowl after a long day is a desirable self-treatment, but every once in a while the high makes me regret what I wished for. Occasionally, the weed is too good at its job.

You know the scenario: The bong on the coffee table is packed, and the munchies and entertainment are already in motion. The only thing left to bring it all together is a nice, fat rip. Five minutes after you’re done coughing, everything seems to be going well. But then your peripherals start tightening up, and the eyes get heavy. Sitting up feels tiresome, and walking to grab more food or turn off the bathroom light is simply too strenuous. The soft, euphoric descent into the relaxation you planned for has turned into a plummet into sleep. In other words, you crashed.

It’s not like I wasn’t expecting a stiff punch to the gonads when I bought Sherb Crasher, a child of Sunset Sherbet and Wedding Cake.  A clear example of the new school, the buds are dense, frosty and not there to fuck around  — but so is every strain that Wedding Cake bears, and it’s not like Sunset Sherbet was a pushover, either. I bought Sherb Crasher so that I could melt away a random bad Tuesday in front of the TV and fall asleep early. Only instead of an early bedtime, I was given the red-light treatment in Men in Black.

Every time I smoke Sherb Crasher, I forget how to be a human being and am content with being a rock instead. Not Dwayne Johnson, but a sedentary object with no thoughts or feelings. Thinking is too exhausting, and the trip to the kitchen may as well be five miles. All signs point to Sherb Crasher being highly effective for physical highs and the medical needs that come with them, but this one puts me in the ground too deep, and too soon.

Looks: Straight out of a sci-fi movie, Sherb Crasher’s buds are bright green with intermittent purple spots, dense and fuzzy to the point of prickliness. A classic tropical tree warning if I’ve ever seen one, and a clear indicator that your stoned plans may not go according to plan.

Smell: Sherb Crasher smells surprisingly minty given its genetics, with noticeable hints of lemon, roses and a fruit cocktail medley that goes anywhere from berries to peaches.

Flavor: A mixture of citrus, menthol and (sometimes) berries, Sherb Crasher reminds me of a skunky, fruity tea with a heavy lemon wedge. It starts out sour, ends earthy and floral, and remains dry throughout.

Effects: Some users report a blip of energy after smoking Sherb Crasher, but the mental disorientation is too strong for any real action to be taken. I go straight to comatose, and can do little more than change positions on the couch. Even if you don’t feel the physical relaxation immediately, it’s best to keep Sherb Crasher for when minimal thoughts and movement are required.

Where to find it: 1136 Yuma, Altitude the Dispensary, Colorado Harvest Company, Elements, Emerald Fields, Helping Hands Herbals, the Herbal Cure, Higher Grade, Kaya Cannabis, Lightshade, Magnolia Road Cannabis Co., Nature’s Kiss, Oasis Cannabis Superstores, Pig ’n’ Whistle, Rocky Road, Solace Meds, the Stone and Twin Peaks Dispensary have been spotted with Sherb Crasher, but there’s a good chance you can find it elsewhere.

Veritas Fine Cannabis is responsible for most, if not all, of the wholesale Sherb Crasher in Denver, while Higher Grade grows an in-house version with the same genetics. The two cuts are very similar and represent the strain well, but Higher Grade’s unbranded version is the better deal. Harmony Extracts, Kush Masters and Olio extract Sherb Crasher, too, with several live options available.

Sophia Koch

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Jonathan Spadafora knew that April 20, 2022, the cannabis high holy day, when used for Colorado’s marijuana retailers, failed to wind up. Across the state, dispensary sales fell nearly 25 percent compared to 4/20 a year ago. But it wasn’t until last May, when demand continued to decline, that Spadafora, president of Veritas Fine Cannabis, realized the industry was in a free fall.

Two years after legalization, the first time since the sale of licensed recreational weed began in Colorado in 2014, Centennial State’s cannabis sector is experiencing a prolonged recession. Mid-2022 saw sales decline for the fourth consecutive quarter, a nearly reversal of record-setting revenues the industry saw in the early days of the pandemic. (The medical and retail sectors have experienced roughly similar slowdowns.) In response to declining demand, dispensaries that had stockpiled for 4/20 found themselves stuck with excess inventory and fewer purchase orders to producers such as Veritas. Turns out, which flower and pre-rolled additions to stores across the state. Large companies are also struggling; The chains Buddy Boy and Tweedleaf closed seven stores each during the summer.

Spadafora believes that several factors have contributed to the tailspin of cannabis. To start, the pandemic boom was a bubble driven by the fact that people were stuck at home – and often bored or stressed. “People weren’t in the office,” Spadafora says. “They were at home and had the ability to roll a joint and do their emails all day.” Then there were stimulus checks, which helped fund Noss’s run with total sales hitting an annual peak of $2.2 billion in 2021. Fast-forward to today, and people are worried about inflation, Spadafora notes. In addition, nine more states have legalized recreational weed during the past two years, making a dent in Colorado’s cannabis tourism trade, says Truman Bradley of Denver-based Marijuana Industry Group, a cannabis trade association. New Mexico’s market entry in 2021 has been particularly painful, with cannabis sales down 40 to 50 percent in Colorado’s southern border towns.

Graph Illustration by Sean Parsons

Veritas, one of the state’s larger marijuana growers, couldn’t cope with a downturn without size: In June, the company decided to close one of its three farming facilities and lay off 33 staff members—its employees. about a quarter of the number. “It’s hard because it wasn’t the people who were making the mistakes,” Spadafora says. “I think one thing we’ve learned is that Colorado isn’t a $2.2 billion market. It’s probably a $1.8 or $1.7 or $1.6 billion market.” Producers and sellers alike have to expect the market to collapse before their companies go up in smoke.

Read also: ‘Wonderful’: Cannabis sales in New Jersey bring in excited shoppers

This article was originally published on 5280 November 2022.