I’m fortunate to have enjoyed a very special gourmet cannagar, made all by hand for a captivated party. Myself!
Why do I call a cannagar gourmet? Because experiencing a hand-crafted Leira Cannagar is an other-worldly experience that surpasses the appreciation for the finest cuisine and wines in my opinion. How does a humble plant raise itself to the pinnacle of ultra-high end food and wine? When you experience the kindness of a Leira Cannagar your overall experience will approach the studied depth of fine cuisine. And the appreciation of fine wine. You just have to try one! This is cannabis raised to a “higher” level, one ebullient puff at a time.
Raw Garden represents to me a certain coherence with the plant. The highest possible quality flowers are extracted through technology into each of their brilliant products.
Now, Raw Garden is offering a new education program for budtenders. Each session raises the bar on the sense of superiority and their taste of the place or terroir.
Raw Garden’s portfolio of experiences offers a timely and tangible vision into the healing art of cannabis.
These are some of the best examples of what your money can buy in the art of cannabis concentrates.
Warren Bobrow=WB:
Please tell me about yourself and your passions. What are you working on right now?
Khalid Al-Naser=KAN:
I am currently the Head of Product at Raw Garden but have worn many hats since the company’s inception. Whatever hat I have on, the passion has always been about constant process improvement and delivering the best Cannabis products we can. This is the driving force behind the entire team at Raw Garden.
WB: How are you training budtenders? Do you talk to them about terroir? What about aromatics/terps?
KAN: Raw Garden has launched The Raw Garden Social Club which is an interactive trade education program designed to champion budtenders and build community.
We love engaging with budtenders and letting their questions and curiosities guide the conversation. When it comes to training, it usually revolves around aromas and getting the audience in tune with how we do what we do, and what makes Raw Garden different. We want to convey that controlling the process from seed to finished product allows for greater quality control. The result is a more consistent product for the consumer.
The conversations about quality and supply chain usually center around cultivation, our drive to perfect cultivation, and our push to innovate with the ingredients the Cannabis plant provides. This is one place where I often talk about aromatics and terroir. I like to highlight the fact that we depend wholly on the Cannabis plant to provide our product ingredients. For instance, we are one of only a few companies that do not use non-cannabis flavor additives to their vape oil. We depend solely on the natural aromatics that come from the plant we grew.
Aromatics are an important part of what the Cannabis plant produces, and just like other agricultural commodities, the terroir and growing process impact the outcome. With higher value goods, like wine, those outcomes are usually enhanced by the recording of vintage and provenance (or location).
One of our goals is to help guide budtenders and consumers toward entirely Cannabis based products, and away from the mass of non-Cannabis flavored THC products in the market today. We want to elevate the experience through using nothing but the plant’s natural aromatics. These aromatics drive the cannabis connoisseur, and by association, the budtender is expected to be that connoisseur.
WB: What was your inspiration for this path in cannabis training?
KAN: The inspiration comes from my love of craftsmanship, artistry, food, and aromas! You pair that with a hunger to learn about the things I enjoy –like getting high and providing great products to the consumer– and the training just happens naturally and with serious pleasure. The Cannabis plant truly facilitates the joys of learning.
I think there are a lot of similarities between cannabis and wine, and cannabis and food. When you consume something and form a close relationship with it, the “art” of consumption (in part) becomes about the critiquing of that “thing” and the willingness to slow down and assess it, savor it.
I believe this awareness enhances the experience and I want the consumer and the budtenders to have the best experiences possible.
WB: What is your favorite food? Made by whom? What’s your favorite wine?
KAN: Right now, I am really enjoying the food made by Chef Budi at the Gathering Table, which is a great little place at the Ballard Inn in the Santa Ynez Valley. — They make dishes inspired by the Chef’s experiences and likes. He often leans into Asian infusion creating incredible dishes that are unique, fresh takes on traditional dishes. Everything from the Hamachi to the Pan Fried Noodles, the Sliders with Pork Belly and Quail Egg or the Lamb Chops are all winners! Everything on Chef Budi’s menu is great! I usually like to go with a group and order as much of the menu as possible. I always recommend the Chef’s Caramel Budino to anyone looking for a real treat at the end of the meal.
(Wine) I would have to say more broadly, the Pinot Noir from the Sta. Rita Hills AVA in the Santa Ynez Valley (where we farm) has been where I have spent most of my time recently. I have found that I really like the medium bodied pinots with notes of date and caramelly raisin. I also really enjoy the diversity of the grape; it offers lots of different experiences. — I have also been enjoying drinking and learning about Tokaji. It’s a Hungarian dessert wine with a long and storied history that inspires me to want to learn more about its process and history.
WB: What is your favorite, indoor or outdoor grown?
KAN: Outdoor and indoor grown THC is the same molecule. One method may produce slightly more or less of this active ingredient within the same plant. However, the biggest differences in the two methods can be recognized by the richness of the aromatics produced. Anecdotally, most of my favorite aromas have come from the plants we’ve grown outdoors.
Baker’s Cannabis offers a premium cannabis experience within your budget.
Iknow cannabis is expensive. Every time that I visit a dispensary it’s very difficult to leave without spending many hundreds of dollars on the good stuff. That’s right, I hate to skimp when it comes to cannabis. That’s exactly why Baker’s Cannabis Company offers something different than the fray. It’s less expensive than their peers.
What do they do well:
What they offer is creativity, something not everyone can do. I think they do a great job and I want to tell you why.
Baker’s talent involves the agility to build a product that’s different than their colleagues. Baker’s is much more than just a sum of its parts. They use really funky strains rolled in cannabis oil and kief. Like a well-made bowl of Andalusian gazpacho soup, each heady pull from their fat, kief dusted pre-roll joints reveals different flavors and a myriad of lavish effects.
It’s really remarkable what Baker’s has created in the cannabis realm for less money than their peers.
Baker’s offers a uniquely creative solution to this vexing cannabis purchasing difficulty.
How to acquire something that gets your really stoned for less money and something that doesn’t suck.
Baker’s really surprised me. Each one gram joint lasted me several days because it is that convincing in effect. I would take a hit or two and let the joint go out. It’s only me smoking, so I can make a joint last quite a while.
Each experience was delightful and the money I saved… At the end of the day that really matters too. I believe this is part of their overall marketing strategy. Make something really good for less money. A consumer’s win/win, and a smile to the universe.
What it is:
Baker’s Cannabis Company is more than just a company that uses esoteric cannabis strains. None of the varieties I’d ever heard of prior. They utilize strains like Meat Breath (l love this name), Garlic Breath, just as it sounds and Peach Ozz. Which is, quite literally like biting into a juicy summer peach, the way the warm, sun-drenched liquid drips down my chin. That is the experience here, but more of the descriptions in the tasting notes…
What it is not:
Expensive. Baker’s is not an expensive, nor is it a pretentious cannabis brand!
This is carefully grown and most importantly gently cured flower. They do their technical job very successfully. Each of their pre-rolls come gently filled. These joints burn evenly and very slowly, each one lasting a long time. Smart and savvy!
Some say that meat breath smells dank, like soil and earth. I’d definitely agree with this accurate description. I’d also add descriptors like bursts of lamp oil, turned loam, diesel fuel, dried Mt. Rainier cherry skins and crushed, salt-slicked stones to the mix. Meat Breath is not for the cannabis beginner. I’d take my time smoking this whether you are a neophyte or even a seasoned toker. The high comes on slowly but with great resolve. If you are having trouble sleeping or if pain needs to be gone, may I please recommend this strain to you.
Sure, it’s got a strange name, but smoking the Indica leaning Meat Breath really works the magic of the plant upon your healing experience. I love it!
Tasting Notes:
Garlic Breath is a pre-roll, kief, oil and flower.
If you’ve ever peeled and crushed garlic with the palm of your hand, then you’d be very familiar with the first whiffs of Garlic Breath. It’s the literal description of oily Gilroy garlic, the way it melts against a slice of sourdough toast. That is what I smelled when I opened the pre-roll tube. Garlic Breath is Indica in derivation and the pleasure that I got when I smoked this doobie was deeply amusing. Darkness envelops the outer space with the vernal equinox well past, yet the inner space was stimulated at first, then the persuasive aromatics and flavors slowly oozing through the synapsis of my brain into that deeply mesmerizing couch-lock experience that I seek. Garlic Breath takes your hand gently and leads you down to the river where ducklings are frolicking peacefully in the cool water. Try some and experience this phenomenon.
*Just my impression*
Tasting Notes:
Peach Ozz is a pre-roll, kief, oil and flower. If summer peaches are your thing and you seek cannabis strains that remind you of opulent stone fruits, perfectly ripened by the sun. This is California cannabis personified. The peach juices that drip down your chin are warm and sensory in volatility. Each pull of the Peach Ozz preroll captivate the consumer, but don’t let your guard down too much. This is a Sativa strain. You may find yourself doing things that you haven’t done in a while, like cleaning the entire house top to bottom. Peach Ozz is reminiscent of that first burst of cool fall air when you throw open the windows. You are refreshed, full of energy and ready to smoke this joint with fervor. It’s that good and what a mind-stimulating high. Chock-full of all the reasons why we smoke cannabis in the first place. To heal what ails us, even if there is nothing wrong with us at all. It helps us with all life’s problems. Sure, that sounds incredibly intimate, each person perceives the buzz differently. Always keep firmly in mind that healing with cannabis is well rooted in history.
Peach Ozz unlocks that creativity in my brain in a peaceful, yet pertinent manner without putting me to sleep afterwards.
The Stone Age Potcast interview with the CEO of Klaus Apothecaire LLC, 6x Author and Master Mixologist Warren Bobrow. We had a great time getting to know Warren and learning about craft cannabis infused mocktails. In fact, you can learn from home by purchasing one of his books off amazon. There are hundreds of recipes he has created that are sure to make to your next party a huge hit. Coming soon to California, Warren created Klaus which is a drink infused with 10mg of live resin. You can expect a unique terpene profile to accompany this craft drink along with a kick of fresh frozen thc extract to put you in that right state of mind. Available soon in Cali. Check out his column in the Cannabis Cactus Magazine online or print, an Arizona based cannabis magazine full of culture, entertaining stories, news, and much more. Make sure you check out their website and follow Warren to learn how to get cross faded the correct way.
Last month was my sixtieth birthday. And with this said, for my birthday I enjoyed a particularly wonderful cannagar, one completely hand-made by Artisan Cannagars. It was a six gram version, all flower and no extracts. I smoked it over several days, it was that succulent. Patience is a virtue with a cannagar, especially if you smoke it without the assistance of another person. Artisan hand-crafts their cannagars using the finest ingredients available. I’m particularly happy to announce that I had taken a break from smoking for a week or so because I had some work done in my mouth. My dentist told me to stop smoking for a bit. When I finally started using cannabis again, the first thing that I smoked was the six gram Artisan Cannagar. Impressive to say the very least. They do amazing work with the plant. There is something really sophisticated about smoking a luxury cannagar. There is no mistaking what it is and what a cannagar represents. Pure indulgence!
Warren Bobrow is the CEO of Klaus Apothicaire, a 6x Author, Chef, Barman, Cannabis Alchemist, Master Mixologist. Some of his cannabis awards include: SXSW Cannabis Disruptor 2018, Berlin Bar Convent-Cannabis, and Moscow Bar Show-Master Class-Rum. He is the author of Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics, Available in Indie Bookstores, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indigo Books. See his cannabis creations on instagram.
I was recently over in Germany (back in 2019) for the Berlin Bar Convent and while I was there, I led a panel on combining cannabis and intoxicating beverages. Afterwards I spent some time wandering around the city parks. I had many opportunities to purchase some European hashish, but I didn’t do it this time and it’s too bad because European hashish is completely different than most of the stuff that is called hashish in the United States. The last time I smoked some Middle Eastern hash, I was in Paris, and it was about twenty years ago. The little “Temple Ball” felt to my hands like warm oil and the fragrant cannabis flowers were softly pressed (all by hand) until they combined to make a paste, which was then further rolled into a tiny ball which got me really, really high. Like a wet wool blanket on a hot summer’s day. All enveloping.
The source of this hand-made hashish was impeccable, And this sample was not purchased in a park but came to me through some really tuned-in locals who knew the European hashish trade well and only smoked the very best.
It’s funny to me as a world traveler, just how relevant hashish is outside the USA, not just for recreational purposes, but for deeply sociological ones too. Most of it is smoked in cigarettes with really stinky, (to me) Turkish-style tobacco, a practice that I cannot enjoy because of my historic bias against tobacco. Thus, I’ve missed out on some incredible Middle Eastern hashish varieties for this reason. Tobacco just gives me a massive headache, especially with the addition of hashish.
The traditional hashish in Europe is completely different from the “Ice-Water method” of powdered hash found here in the USA. The powdered stuff is hash in name only. It doesn’t represent hash to me at all. I hardly ever see real hash in the United States. The experience is completely different, like the concept of terroir in fine wine. The taste of the place. It happens by osmosis.
Frenchy, I cannot wait to share a smoke with you, mon amie.
Editor’s note: Frenchy left this earth on Sunday.
The same intellectual agility holds true for makers of gourmet hashish. But without further ado, may I please introduce, Frenchy Cannoli, Gourmet Hashish Master.
Warren Bobrow=WB: Please tell me about yourself. What is it that makes you the most renowned at your craft? Why Hashish?
Frenchy Cannoli=FC: Once upon a long time ago, I was a child dreaming of adventures, travels, and discovery, the child, grew to be a rebellious teenager holding on to his childhood dreams of adventures. Traveling the Silk Road, sailing the Red Sea, or sharing the life of tribes in the Sahara and the rain forest was more appealing than the 9-to-5 life my family and society wanted for me. My first experience with Hashish at 17 was a revelatory experience of pure and extreme wellness, joy, and pleasure. But, because Hashish was perceived by society as a dangerous drug, seeking a state of well being made me a reject, a danger to society, only the misfits of the world smoked Hashish in the early 70s and lengthy prison sentences were the deterrent of the time. The pressure of society on a rebellious teenager dreaming of adventures was bad enough, the pressure on a hashish smoker was unreal and unhealthy, and as soon as I became an adult, on my 18 birthday, I left France to travel the world, never looking back.
I’ll answer the third part of your question before getting back to my craft. Hashish is not only a part of the culture of producing countries, but it was also part of most western cultures since the 18th century. We simply don’t smoke the flower as you do in the U.S. The rest of the world focuses its cannabis consumption on the resin, so Hashish it is.
What is it that makes me the most renowned at my craft?
My love, passion, dedication, and attitude coupled with my scientific approach to traditional hashish methodology and my association of cannabis and Hashish with wine and wine-making, is what makes me stand out in the western world. The quality of the resin I work with is what makes me stand out in producing countries.
WB: How did you learn your craft? Is it something that is passed down from generations, like a great pastrami recipe? Do you have a mentor?
FC: I spend many years in the Hashish producing regions of the world. But I never had a mentor per se or look for one for that matter. The goal wasn’t learning at that time. I was young and clueless. Acquiring the finest quality Hashish available in the region was the goal. The quality I was seeking was never for sale. The highest grade of Hashish was kept for the family whose members have been smoking for generations. I spent months working alongside local Hashishins. And, while I wasn’t consciously learning the craft, I was nonetheless absorbing their knowledge and passion for it. The art of collecting trichome heads from live cannabis plants on one’s hands called making Charas in Northern India, or from dried and cured plants using a sieving methodology which is making Hashish, are very ancient practices that have been passed down over countless generations in producing countries. Traditional Hashishin knowledge is not based on science but on learned experience and cognizance spanning possibly the whole evolution of humanity.
I have never looked for any type of mentor in my life. I have always been too rebellious and independent for such dedication. However, I have had many teachers. I have been mentored by every family that ever shared their life and fields and harvests with me. Now, I hope today to close the circle and go back to share the knowledge I have gained since.
WB: What is your most memorable experience in the cannabis craft? Indoor or outdoor grown? Regions that are good for hash production? Countries?
FC: I don’t have to think long about that one. Collecting live resin from wild cannabis plants on my bare hands in remote valleys at the feet of the Himalayas has been by far the most engaging and extraordinary experience of my life. I did not have much contact with the live plants before I went to India. I always worked with bundles of dried and cured plants. The plant matter was of little importance, it was all about the resin. The tropical climate at the feet of the Himalayas makes drying cannabis plants to gather the resin an impossible task without electricity and modern technology like dehumidifiers, so the local practice is to collect resin on the palm of one’s hands. This is certainly the most ancient methodology devised by humanity to collect cannabis resin, the only tool necessary is your bare hands. It was truly a revelation to collect resin directly from living plants that first season in the Parvati valley. It was a full sensory epiphany that lasted weeks, and when it was time to get back to civilization, I knew that in the future that there was nothing that was going to keep me away from these valleys come September to late November and the first snows.
As a child, living a survivalist type of adventures in the wild was one of my dreams, so living in these remotes valleys was very enticing. Living in a cave or makeshift shelter at 8,000 feet for months at a time, days away from civilization is not the type of vacation most people would enjoy, but I thrived. I was not only living my childhood dream; I was also living a Hashishins dream. Collecting live resin is quite simple, remove the fan leaves from the plant. Caress the flowers gently between your hands. Clean your hands by brushing off any leaf matter that has stuck to them after rubbing each flower and start again. A layer of resin will build up on the palms of your hand, little-by-little with each plant worked. The first hand of Charas will be shiny and transparent. Slowly the color will darken as the layer thickens with each successive flower worked. To remove the resin from your hands, press and turn your thumb on the most resinous part of your other hand. Snap the resin off and repeat the process until your hand is clean, and your thumb holds all the resin mass. Change sides and repeat the process with the thumb on your other hand. It is a straightforward technique perfectly adapted to the region and the climatic conditions.
The technical part of collecting live resin is easy enough to share, the experience, on the other hand, is impossible to convey with mere words, but I’ll try. Imagine a small, remote valley, lushly green with a river coursing through the middle streaming from a chain of mountains topped with eternal snow. Imagine fields of semi-wild cannabis plants sporting every imaginable shade of color and fruit flavor with each plant expressing its own unique aroma. Imagine the feeling of collecting delicately, layer-after-layer of resin on your hands, going from flower-to-flower in the full heat of the tropics. Imagine a constant overload of terpenes so intense it feels like your whole body is absorbing the aromatic essence of the valley. The intensity and magic of the experience brought me back season-after-season, a place in my nomadic life where I could feel grounded. I truly belonged to those valleys.
With all the respect I have for growers in general, indoor plants are, in my eyes, a domesticated evolution of the wild landraces of the producing regions of the world at best. Like a dog is to a wolf, and in the worst-case scenario, an indoor plant is much like a caged animal.
WB: What are the differences in Hash? Are there gourmet varieties? Who makes them?
FC: The differences in Hashish are as diverse as the difference in the cultivars available today, and the growing regions of the past and present. When I was young, we had a limited choice of flavors. Our options were confined to the producing countries of the world – Morocco, Lebanon, Turkey/Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indian/Nepal. The cannabis plants in each of these countries had a very distinct terpene profile, specific and unique to each region. The diversity of cultivars and terpene profiles of today’s market has changed my world in a rewarding way. Every cultivar I work with transports me into a new reality. It is very much like traveling to a new producing country. Making Hashish from each of these new cultivars is a dreamlike adventure in foreignness and the most exciting and satisfactory experience I could have wished for my senior years.
A Hashishin is like a winemaker, a cheese-maker, or a three-star Michelin Chef. Our craft is to present an expression of the quality of the agricultural product we work with that is defined by the land, the climate, the genetics, and the farmer that grew the product.
*Terroir*
WB: What is your passion?
FC: My passion is living a life that brings me joy and pleasure. Traveling was everything for 20 years. Then it was and still is fatherhood. However, I have carried the stigma as a Hashish smoker all my life. And, as much as it was part of the thrill of living outside the boundaries of society during my nomadic life it became a scary and dangerous pleasure when I became a father and I had to hide this aspect of my life from everyone but my wife and my dealer for fear of losing my family.
Hashish was the balm that healed my childhood scars. It has been the key to a feeling of belonging, of pure positive energy, of immense joy and purpose, and I would not relinquish it even if it were still considered evil in the eyes of society. So be it. I was seen as a pariah in society during my teenage years in Europe for smoking hashish. When I started to travel in producing countries where Hashish was part of the culture, and I was accepted. Then in India, it became spiritual, smoking cannabis resin is an act of devotion to the God Shiva. And, finally, I came to California and discovered that cannabis was actually a medicine. After all these years, Hashish has become much more than a grounding and benevolent force in my life, it has become my life.
Warren Bobrow=WB: One of the gifts that I’ve received while working in the cannabis industry is the ability to taste cannabis as if it was wine. Wine reviewing was where I started in the “tasting” business. The flavors and aromatics that are present in terroir-driven wine translate easily to cannabis and it has unlocked my brain in ways previously unknown to me.
Out in California, cannabis is grown in soil that may have held grapes. It’s uncanny to drink wines from places like Mendocino, then smoke cannabis from these micro-climates. They taste nearly the same. It’s the soil at work. Enter the indoor growing scene with hydroponics and LED lighting entering the fray. Geneticists in cannabis in conjunction to soil scientists use specific techniques to emulate the power of the sun and the richness of the soil without using any soil at all. Places like Colorado with limited outdoor growing are leading the way towards making indoor grown cannabis every bit as pertinent as their outdoor grown brethren.
Enter to the cannabis cultivar scene Danny Murr-Sloat, Founder of AlpinStash. Digging a bit deeper here with some germane questions pertaining to cannabis propagation and his craft.
WB: What are the earliest cannabis names, who was responsible for naming them, and why were they given such names?
Danny Murr-Sloat=DMS: Some of the earliest names include cultivars familiar to those alive in the ‘60s and ‘70s: Panama Red, Acapulco Gold, Thai Stick…just to name a few. These were all heirloom/land-bound cultivars with names reflecting the geographic area they were originally from and physical descriptions of the flower itself. As these heirloom cultivars began to be hybridized, the resulting progeny had names such as Skunk, Big Bud, Blueberry and Haze. These cultivars, as well as cultivars today, are originally named by the breeders who created the cultivar. These names, again, often reflect physical traits of said cultivar. Big Bud, for example, grows big buds and Blueberry smells and tastes like blueberries.
WB: What makes a name most successful, and are there limits to a name?
DMS:This is a good question and there is an art to naming a cultivar, for sure. A successful name needs to be memorable and roll off the tongue. Names that are clunky and hard to remember often fall by the wayside. If a name can implant a pleasant or funky image in one’s mind, all the better. Many of the dessert-themed cultivars, such as Girl Scout Cookies, Wedding Cake and Lemon Biscotti, do just this. If you get a cultivar called Lemon Biscotti, you already have a preconceived and pleasant notion of how it will taste and smell. Just like the old school cultivar names I mentioned above, many of these also have roots in the physical description of the cultivar, usually taste and/or smell.
DMS: Most breeders try to include some homage to a parent cultivar in the new name. Our cultivar Grape Grimoire, for example, is a cross of Grape Ape and Moxie Dog. It was important for us to include “grape” in the name not only as a smell/taste descriptor, but as a nod to the Grape Ape mom. Another example would be our cultivar Emperor’s Breath, a cross of our AlpinStash Original Lemmiwinks and a cultivar called Pug’s Breath by Thug Pug. When we were naming this cross, we wanted to include “breath” in there, an obvious inclusion once we realized that she smells like an emperor’s breath after a feast. We settled on “emperor” because Lemmiwinks is the Gerbil King, and “emperor” is a synonym for “king.” There really is no limit to a cultivar name and picking out a good name is one of my favorite parts of the breeding process. Sometimes this style of naming doesn’t work, and we just go with what inspires us and what seems to fit, like we did with Lemmiwinks.
WB: What’s the future of cannabis names, given now that cross-pollination is rampant?
DMS: We will see a lot more copyrighting of cultivar names, and there will be lots of drama in the industry as this begins. Issues are already popping up when two different breeders name a cultivar the same name.
WB: What inspires your breeding program at AlpinStash?
DMS: First and foremost, we breed for ourselves. We want to create cultivars that excite us and then share them with the market. While traits like bud/growth structure, cannabinoid profile, and coloration play a role in what we select to cross, terpene and flavonoid profile are the most important traits we seek. When it comes to selecting something, I want to smoke, I always follow my nose. After all, if it smells and tastes like crap, it doesn’t matter how sticky or pretty the flower is, I wouldn’t personally ingest it again.
WB: How do you choose what becomes an AlpinStash Original?
DMS: This is an easy question to answer: the cultivar/phenotype has to tick every one of our boxes: smell, flavor, coloration, bud structure, and quality of the high. We’re not looking for A cultivars, we’re only interested in growing A+ plants.
WB: Which ones are your favorites and why?
DMS: I love all of the AlpinStash Originals we grow for different reasons! We rotate some cultivars and always grow others, though. The ones we always flower are Lemmiwinks, Sparrow King, Emperor’s Breath, Cookie Confundo, Orange Creamsicle, and Tegridy Cookies — these cultivars are our most popular and are always requested by our customers.
WB: Any tips for breeders just getting started in their journey?
DMS: If you start with parents, you like and show the growth traits you’re personally interested in, you will have a higher chance of being successful. Just go with what moves and inspires you and ignore the buzz behind many of today’s “hype strains,” unless you absolutely love said cultivar because of its physical characteristics!
Danny Murr-Sloat, Founder of AlpinStash
Danny Murr-Sloat inspires many as the famed owner of AlpinStash who credits consuming and growing cannabis with losing 70 pounds, transitioning off over 19 prescriptions including opiates for an array of medical issues, and eventually becoming one of the most revered micro-cultivation brands in Colorado. He’s also a prolific breeder. Since 2014, he’s steadily built the AlpinStash brand through his meticulously bred in-house cultivars, several of which are cult favorites among Colorado connoisseurs. Murr-Sloat’s Lemmiwinks, Sparrow King, Falkor, Grape Grimoire, and Platinum Tiger Cookies cultivars are flying off the shelves, which is especially notable in a state where the retail system pays little homage to growers, if at all. Danny’s secret is keeping operations small-scale, paying attention to the finest details, and adding his personal touch to everything AlpinStash grows. To learn more about the Alpinstash breeding program and Danny’s exclusive in-house cultivars, please visit: https://alpinstash.com
Today I had the great fortune of finding something that I thought was lost in the shuffle. It was a little vacuum jar from Canlock. Inside the still vacuum sealed glass container was a very special nug. Something that came from a friend, not yet met. The man who calls himself Green Bodhi.
John Bayes is Green Bodhi. He practices a very personal cannabis growth methodology known as Intentional Horticulture.
Quite simply, this is his own, very personal methodology. I believe he is deeply influenced by Rudolph Steiner, the father of Biodynamics. I don’t think that Green Bodhi is Biodynamic, but I do believe that the flowers are nurtured using the highest respect for the earth and the individual ability to find them in the realm of healing. Whatever the true inspiration for John, I can assure you that the experience of smoking his cannabis transcends the usual, into the deeply personal. That of course is my experience. His cannabis unlocks my brain and allows me the benefit of the cultivars as not anticipated by my pen. Or in this case, my keyboard.
It’s cannabis that helps my creativity and takes the path of inquisitiveness. Cannabis like this makes the art of the word a thing of rare beauty. You do get thirsty for just one more hit when you are in Oregon. Lucky is the person to smoke the herbs that John Bayes nurtures. It truly does magical things to my brain.
Back to that nug. The nose is spicy, Pacific Rim-style spices like cardamom, garlic oil and lemongrass intertwine with dark, bittersweet chocolate and gobs of pine sap. There is an element of crushed rose petals each whiff is woven deeply into treacle based pudding. Further whiffs remind me of late-summer peach jam smeared on brioche toast.
The smoke is pure milk chocolate that leaves a thick veneer of pine sap on the inside of my teeth and under my tongue. This is cerebral cannabis that rivals the finest herbs that I’ve smoked in my pursuit of excellence.
The stone is not an afterthought, it is the reason why you arrived here in the first place. The high is Excalibur. You’ve searched a lifetime to discover something that was always here, yet undiscovered. The experience is clarity, wit, and wisdom. You may take up glass-blowing or some other creative pursuit. I mentioned that smoking Green Bodhi is akin to unlocking the brain. Cannabis smoking is a deeply personal experience. The art of cannabis is similar to wine in this regard. What I taste may be only my reflection on the integrity of the plant, or glass of wine. The terpenes, or flavors and aromas are the paints inside the paintbox.
In the wine world, especially the garage-wines that I crave, a very similar process takes place. This hands-off elegance commands the attention of the cognoscente. Not normal is this style, therefore I want to drink it. Think Abe Schoener and get back to me.
And what about this cannabis that is in the little jar, the Green Bodhi? I have to smoke it. It compels me. This cannabis exposes my creativity and gives the act of smoking cannabis of this quality a certain level of authenticity. At least that’s what it does for me.
I hope if you are fortunate to taste Green Bodhi, your experience will also be deeply introspective and kind. It’s the way of the plant. Intentional Horticulture.
What John has achieved is unforced, yet vividly imaginative.
Warren Bobrow has been a dishwasher, the owner of the first company to make fresh pasta in South Carolina , a television engineer and he even worked at Danceteria in NYC, then a trained chef which led to a twenty year career in private banking. A cannabis, wine and travel aficionado, Warren is a former rum judge and craft spirits national brand ambassador. He works full time in the cannabis business as an alchemist/journalist. Cocktailwhisperer.com Drinkklaus.com Instagram: warrenbobrow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Bobrow
Morristown, NJ is a nice mid-sized town located about an hour drive west/northwest of New York City. I’m born and raised here, which offers the opportunity to share some of my hidden places to get high.
The list is a long one, as I’m not just born. I graduated from prep school, Morristown-Beard in 1980. You can do the math on that one. I’ll be covering a couple at a time. So, you can enjoy the visuals of my walking tour.
Cannabis has only just become quasilegal in Morristown, NJ. I’m still pretty careful about smoking weed in the street. This isn’t New York City where all you smell these days is the stickysweet taint of weed burning. Not that I don’t like it, far from that- smoking cannabis in Morristown, NJ is probably still not such a great idea.
No matter what the voters have said in New Jersey regarding cannabis legality. The long-standing stigmas against smoking cannabis in public still rules the roost here.
But all is not doom and gloom. I’m sharing with you my hidden “underbelly” of where I like to smoke weed where I probably won’t get arrested, nor frowned upon by strangers. I own a gnome. His name is Klaus. Klaus is my mid 19th-century drinking gnome. He used to follow me around the globe when I was a master-mixologist and rum judge in the on and off premise beverage trade. Klaus traveled with me everywhere and he became quite famous for his rum fueled antics, but all that came to a crashing halt during Tales of the Cocktail in 2018. The halt was my leaving the liquor industry, forever when I quit drinking distilled spirits.
It was at Tales that Klaus suggested that I enter the cannabis industry, both as a journalist and as an author of the book, Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics. This suggestion probably saved my life because I’ve dropped nearly sixty pounds since leaving the liquor industry. Sure, he’s a drinking gnome, however Klaus enjoys the weed business much more. Travel is in his little terracotta heart and he loves getting stoned with me.
Klaus is starting this local journey today with a little bit of foot travel around two favored places in Morristown, NJ. This is the place where George Washington rested for a very cold winter during the Revolutionary War.
The first place that I got high over the years, where it was so risky to get stoned there, getting arrested was a probability. The Green in Morristown. The fountain, pictured is a good place to start any respectable journey into getting High in Morristown, NJ. I paused for a one-hitter (Green BodhiTenzin Kush) and remembered that just around the corner on the Green stood the pre-Colonial courthouse, long gone, and the Hanging Tree, also long gone.
The energy in this place is pronounced as this was quite the historic town during the Revolution. I’m sure many unsavory characters throughout history met their end at the bottom of a rope in this spot. You can feel it in your bones if you pause long enough.
On the back side of the Green is the First Presbyterian Church and just behind this grand stone edifice is the historic Churchyard and their preColonial cemetery. Back when I was a teenager, this wasn’t a place where you wanted to walk around in at night. It still may have that stigma with vestiges of a recent homeless camp off set just off into the poison ivy laced underbrush.
But during the day it’s a pretty place with headstones dating back to the early part of the 1700’s. I like to pay homage to the long-departed by smoking cannabis in this cemetery. It’s a serene place to get lit up and reflect on the residents who once graced the town. Their names are often intriguing in the study of history. I’m convinced that very few Morristown residents even know that this place exists… Much less come here to get stoned. It’s part of the journey in this town. To find places that are just off the beaten path, excellent for catching a fire.
