For those of you who don’t know my own professional background in Food and Beverage, all you have to do is spend the better part of several decades working your way from the bottom up. In my case, that meant starting as a pots and pans “engineer” better known as a pot-scrubber, then graduating to the exalted place known as the dish sink. After languishing in front of a soapy sink full of greasy dishes for a couple of months, my path to the line… (That’s what we call the actual place where cooking is done in the professional kitchen…) And then, if that wasn’t enough education after college, I took it upon myself to become a bartender, from bar-back on up. Thank you to Chris James for seeing to my education become something actually tangible.
To really learn the food and beverage business, it’s essential to make yourself as well-trained as possible so you can do anything that needs to get done. From taking out the trash to making drinks, this is the way that you become essential to your employer. Otherwise, you’ll be washing dishes for the remainder of your restaurant career. And no… When you graduate from culinary school you are not a chef. Period.
The grunt labor thing in a restaurant was not where I wanted to be for very long. Fortunately, the dish sink was a short-lived adventure into doing really hard work. Manual labor if you will. Which framed the next forty or so years of my life into the person I am today. Working hard, doing something I love. That’s the key to life in my opinion. But that’s just my path, the one of Sara Stewart is quite succinct and I know she is going places. Read her words, Sara is a success story waiting to be discovered, yet again.
Warren Bobrow: Please tell us about your journey into cannabis and how you got into cannabis hospitality.
Sara Stewart: My initial journey into cannabis started in 2019 at Lowell Cafe, the first true cannabis restaurant in America, serving cannabis alongside food, coffee, juice, etc. I had been in the restaurant, nightclub, and event space for almost 15 years, working for some of the most successful companies in Los Angeles, and I was ready for a change. Although I had been a cannabis consumer for most of my adult life, I was unfamiliar with the legal market. I learned METRC from a hospitality viewpoint, which was incredibly unique. I had also been documenting several of the pain points this kind of business underwent, and I wanted to help others avoid some of these headaches in the future.
Upon leaving Lowell Cafe, I started Highspitality to consult for other lounges and eventually joined Green Thumb Industries full-time as a lounge specialist. My time with GTI opened the door for me to help lobbyists and public officials create some of the regulations in new markets, such as Las Vegas. In October of 2021, I opened my second lounge in Mundelein, Ill., making it the first licensed cannabis lounge east of the Mississippi River.
Photo: Sara Stewart
Warren Bobrow: Why do you think consumption lounges are the future of cannabis?
Sara Stewart: We know Americans are consuming more cannabis than ever before, and taxes from the sales of Cannabis are surpassing alcohol in many legal states. As someone who is incredibly passionate about hospitality and customer service, I believe that what we are experiencing now is prohibition 2.0.
In my opinion, cannabis lounges will play an important role in normalizing cannabis use, just as bars did for the reintroduction of alcohol post-prohibition. They will provide a social place for safe cannabis consumption and educational opportunities for curious consumers. Although cannabis usage looks much different than alcohol, I hope onsite consumption will elevate the cannabis industry by implementing hospitality-driven operations that create a familiar environment replicating a social club or lounge.
Warren Bobrow: What concepts do you think will define cannabis hospitality and lounges?
Sara Stewart: I believe the defining concepts in lounges will be hospitality-driven first and cannabis second. Most cannabis companies buy retail buildings with additional square footage and assume they can just “build a lounge” attached to it. Imagine buying a liquor store and then trying to build a cafe or restaurant out the back — you simply wouldn’t do that.
Many lounges that aren’t open yet are grappling with how to make money, struggling to build out unique customer experiences, and aren’t working with their local governments to create and implement appropriate and necessary regulations. This is a major issue, and in my opinion, the concepts that will win won’t just focus on cannabis as their main offering.
Warren Bobrow: What do you want people to know about visiting a lounge for the first time?
Sara Stewart: Start low and go slow — you can always take more, but you can never take less.
If the rules or process seems unnatural or different, it’s most likely a regulation that the company has to comply with (for example, we don’t want to charge cannabis and food on separate checks, but we have to).
Lastly, do some research on the lounge you’re visiting. Every lounge is different; some allow you to bring your own products while others prohibit it and require reservations, so you should know what to expect upon arrival. Keep in mind these models are new and destined to change often.
Warren Bobrow: What are your top 3 favorite cannabis products and why?
Sara Stewart: I love flower, and I’m typically a Sativa diva, so I have to say Lemon Trill by Lumpy’s in California. I also can’t live without the Snoozeberries Chocolate Bar from Incredibles and my long-time love, Cereal Milk by CBX.
Recently I had the good fortune to taste through the line of Rove cannabis products, specifically the vape cartridges. These ultra-luxe products are by far, some of the most authentically reproduced cannabis vape carts I’ve ever enjoyed. I think what makes them so intriguing is the “taste of the place” or in layman’s terms, the terroir of the plant. These carts are so good. They taste like smoking a fat bud, instead of layering your palate with candy flavors. Rove has harnessed the art of the plant, in a simple-to-use format, its well-designed vape pen. Kudos to them!
Warren Bobrow: Chris, please tell me about yourself. Where are you from? Why cannabis? When did you first discover the plant? Do you remember what you were listening to?
Chris Marroquin: I am the Director of Manufacturing here at Rove. I grew up in Nevada after my family relocated from LA in 1993, and Las Vegas will always feel like home. I first discovered cannabis in high school, when my classmate’s dad was growing it and introduced my friend to growing. I was fascinated with all aspects of the plant: how to grow, cure and store it, its effects, how to cook with it, and how to make extracts. Back then Green Day, Bush, and MxPx would be spinning on my portable CD player.
Photo Courtesy of Rove
Warren Bobrow: Tell me about your Ice Hash and Live Rosin. I’ve been sampling the goods and they are incredibly terroir-driven. I can really taste the plant and I find that quite beguiling. Your thoughts on the process?
Chris Marroquin: We are lucky to have strong relationships with our farm partners, and I’m regularly out in the literal field meeting new and up-and-coming farmers and touching the plant. When I do this, I’m looking at both the overall health of the grow and focusing on the terpene profile’s potential for becoming a well-balanced flavor profile in any one of our different Rove product lines.
The process for our rosin starts with perfectly ripened plants. Once ready for harvest, they are picked and immediately flash-frozen. This technique preserves the flavor profile of the plant at its most pristine without degrading any core properties. From this stage, the plant is ready to be mechanically separated into bubble hash using water as a carrier. The hash is then filtered and freeze-dried before being pressed into rosin. Terroir is a huge part of rosin. Growing medium, growing practices, environment, and light affect the plant’s ability to achieve its genetic potential.
Cannabis production, when optimized through a careful and hands-on process, can produce high levels of terpenoids, flavonoids, and cannabinoids. Creating the perfect environment and set of protocols, combined with some of our proprietary Rove techniques to decrease degradation and maintain freshness and purity is what gives the rosin that lip-smacking taste. The result is that the original plant profile can be experienced on a level far beyond its original plant form.
Warren Bobrow: Do you have a mentor? What are your six and twelve-month goals? What obstacles do you face? How do you anticipate removing them?
Chris Marroquin: My dad has been a lifelong mentor to me, for pretty much everything. His attention to detail and empathic intelligence really resonate with and inspire me. As far as work goes, our CEO Paul Jacobson has been an integral mentor in helping me understand the business side of cannabis. And beyond my family and close colleagues, I’ve followed The Rev for a long time, reading his books and articles. Haven’t met him yet, but True Living Organics is my favorite cultivation book.
Personally, in six months I’d like to have closed on at least 10 more acres of land. I believe land gives you freedom, and because it’s a finite resource I see it as an investment, too. My twelve-month goals are to maintain balance at Rove while expanding the brand to other states and possibly internationally.
Currently, we are in the final stages of R&D to infuse our Drink Loud with Live Rosin. Edible rosin is a fast-growing market for good reason, it provides a full-spectrum experience in edible form.
I am also researching the potential for CBG eye drops. I’ve had success in microencapsulating the CBG to allow it to blend with water, but the formulation and process still need work. My father lost his vision in his right eye due to glaucoma, and ever since I’ve looked for ways that cannabis could help others struggling with what he did.
Photo Courtesy of Rove
Warren Bobrow: What is your favorite food to complement your creative extractions? Do you have a go-to restaurant that you want to share?
Chris Marroquin: I go for hydrating fruits like watermelon, passionfruit, mangoes, and berries. I tend to eat in excess when complementing with extracts, so I keep it light and hydrating to remain productive and maintain mental clarity. As far as favorite restaurants, I love Garden Grill in Las Vegas. It happens to be vegan, and my favorite thing on the menu is its crispy chicken sandwich and beer-battered avocado tacos. It’s my favorite sandwich, vegan or not.
If we are talking about a bigger meal, say after enjoying several joints or a cannagar, I like to start with a palate cleanser because I know instead of getting “fuller” my appetite will increase. If I’m consuming live resin or rosin it’s a lot easier to go with a richer dish, such as croquetas or a ribeye steak. With edibles, I like to keep the dishes light and nutritious until I’m ready to ‘give in’ to the edible and eat something heavier, like lasagna or pasta.
Warren Bobrow: What is your passion?
Chris Marroquin: I love to garden and cook. It’s about the experience for me, whether it’s growing heirlooms/rare genetics of a plant/fruit, or learning a new cooking technique. The most recent cooking skill I’ve been learning is Mornay sauce. It’s basically a béchamel sauce with grated cheese. I love nachos and this is the perfect consistency of nacho cheese sauce. It’s a pretty basic technique but I just recently learned both. It’s so satisfying for me to learn new techniques and then make a beautiful meal using the best ingredients.
I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit Denver a few months ago. While I was participating in the Cannabis Marketing Summit (I sat on two panels), I was able to reach out to some very interesting people in the cannabis business. One person, in particular, stood out to me, probably because of his New Jersey roots- I still live in New Jersey, born and raised. Chris Chiari has the ambition and the fortitude to do something completely different from anything I’ve ever encountered in my cannabis journalism career.
What he has achieved is the Patterson Inn; The intrinsic synergy between history, continuity, and political balance makes this story worthy of your attention. Of course, stigmas play deeply into this sage of hospitality vs. City Hall, but that’s what makes the Patterson Hotel passage more than just a metaphor. The people who lived in this house are part of the story of politics and rules.
It is the circumstance and the candor of doing what you love, even if the career is in cannabis. Someday it won’t matter so much, and these stigmas will be a thing of the bad old days. I know Chris is on his way to that place of success, doing what he so clearly loves.
Thank you. WB
Photo Credit: Warren Bobrow
Warren Bobrow: Please tell me about yourself. Where are you from? Living now? Tell me about The Patterson. What brought you to cannabis?
Chris Chiari: A kid from New Jersey, raised in New York City and currently living in Denver. I own and operate the historic Patterson Inn, the keystone property of The 420 Hotels portfolio and the first legally licensed cannabis consumption lounge attached to a hotel as an amenity. I’m also the producer of the documentary Public Enemy Number One, a film about the U.S. War on Drugs, which won the Seattle Film Festival for best U.S. Doc in 2020 and is available on Amazon Prime, Tubi and Pluto.tv.
Back in my mid-twenties, after the removal of a large melanoma a doctor told me, “Don’t make long-term plans.” After a decade of staying one step ahead and removing over 70 moles, I heard the reverse. Within weeks of this new lease on life, I was in Denver for the first time standing on the street in front of what’s now the Patterson Inn. At the time it was this abandoned castle. The combination of its curb appeal, the address over the door, ‘420,’ and a commitment that the next chapter of my life would focus on cannabis inspired that moment. And on March 7, 2011, I pointed up to the house and said out loud, “I’m going to turn you into a cannabis bed and breakfast!” I missed out on buying the property by two weeks.
For 22 months from March ‘11 – January ‘13, I was on what can only be called an adventure of a lifetime. Over 115,000 miles by car and another 100,000 in the air brought me coast to coast and a lap around the world. At every stop I started all conversations with an image, a simple card. But the King of Clubs holding a bong proved an effective conversation starter and the generosity of cannabis and its community welcomed me and graciously informed me about a plant I’d consumed for years by that point, but a process and economy that I had never been exposed to before except as a consumer. From cannabis cups and contests, to bong and pipe trade shows, and down the occasional dirt road to see legacy operations, I learned about and was exposed to some amazing, innovative, and bold entrepreneurs. I learned about strains and terps, made bubble hash in the forest and experienced cannabis as it was transitioning from purely legacy markets to the emerging legal markets, we have in many states today.
I finally made the move to Denver in January of 2013 and over the last nine-plus years have been active in local politics serving in several leadership positions in the county Democratic Party. I spent eight years on the board of Colorado NORML and served as both deputy director and interim executive director. You will also find my name listed as one of the five-person petitioning committee for the successful 2015 Denver initiative that decriminalized psilocybin.
In 2016 an almost unrealistic life ambition became a reality when I was issued an owner’s badge in the regulated Colorado cannabis industry and then in 2018, an idea inspired by a house became an opportunity when the property at 420 E. 11th Avenue in Denver was once again on the market. Renovated and turned into a boutique hotel by the owners who had beaten me to the property seven-year early by just two weeks, the purchase put me back on the path to taking the hotel and adding the most exciting and unique amenity in hospitality, the addition of a licensed cannabis consumption lounge.
A multi-time, multi-state failed political candidate, I’ve made a career of doing marketing and messaging for startup companies and I’ve never been afraid to lean into the arena on policy and issues. Putting my career experience, as well as an over 30-year passion for cannabis into this company, I’ve made the work of normalizing and de-stigmatizing cannabis possession and consumption my life’s work for over a decade. The addition of this first cannabis consumption lounge attached to a hotel is meant to be just the beginning and where I once was told to not make long-term plans, I can share today that there is a long-term plan, and it includes expanding The 420 Hotels from our first keystone location in Denver to a dozen gateway cities in America and around the world.
Photo credit: Chris Chiari
WB: What are six and twelve-month goals?
CC: Within the next six months, I intend to have the first consumption lounge attached as an amenity to a hotel open to guests at the Patterson Inn. The twelve-month goal includes further improvements to the property, including the kitchen and the addition of two more guest rooms. After that, the intention is to expand to gateway cities across the country and around the world.
What obstacles are you facing? How do you anticipate removing those obstacles?
International standards around clean air in a smoke-filled environment have created the biggest obstacles. The greatest obstacle has also been the greatest learning experience. Thinking through and working through the challenges with the design of the HVAC system has been the biggest hurdle to date, but finding the solution and building a design that can grow with the company, has offered a great degree of reward as well.
WB: Who is your mentor?
CC: I have had three great professional influences in my life. My boss in an internship in my third year (of five) in college, Bobby Clark. My boss during my last year in school, Calvin Gould. And a securities attorney who imparted way more than even he may have realized, Richard Lane.
Bobby offered me an opportunity, but he told me to go out into the real world and take a risk first. I’ve never looked back.
Cal was retired and near the end of his life. I became the assistant manager (great title; there were only two of us) for what was left of his supermarket beer & wine business. He’d also have me drive him from Worcester to Tanglewood every Thursday in August and come pick him up on Monday. I remember the first drive; he told me he was going to teach me everything he knew about negotiating the close on commercial real estate. Said the world was changing, and I’d never get to use it, but maybe it would be good to know. The world has changed, it has proven good to know, and I think of Cal every closing, and I smile.
Richard was just kind. It wasn’t anything specific he imparted. Maybe in sharing the true room available for creativity in the structuring of a company. Certainly, that full transparency and full disclosure really do go a long way in business and in life.
WB: What kind of food do you enjoy for breakfast at your hotel?
CC: We offer complimentary sweet and savory options every day at the Patterson Inn. I order both daily. Hospitality is about the experience. We pride ourselves on offering a bed you don’t want to get out of and breakfast you’d never want to sleep in on. A typical day might include fresh baked challah French toast with strawberry compote and whipped cream or biscuits with fried chicken and country gravy.
WB: Who is your core customer?
CC: For the Patterson Inn, our most discernible guests are parents of people who live within walking distance. As one of the few hotels in the heart of Capitol Hill, we are the guest room to the neighborhood. Our other most recognizable guests are couples looking for a romantic getaway. Patterson Inn is housed in an old Victorian French chateau castle. The curb appeal and finish to the rooms (many with clawfoot tubs) give the property an air of whimsy that guests mention in reviews.
For the consumption lounge, we are pairing sophisticated, licensed, legal cannabis hospitality with four-star overnight hospitality, which the Patterson Inn already delivers. The lounge will offer guests something they currently don’t have access to when they visit the Mile High City: the ability to consume cannabis legally in a commercial business. So, for someone new traveling to our state to engage with legal cannabis for the first time, especially if they’re from a state still traumatized by prohibition, they’re looking over their shoulder. They’re looking around for that safe space. They’re still aware that what they’re doing, at least where they come from, is illegal. And that sensation, that awareness — we forget that as cannabis consumers here in Colorado, but it’s no less true still for the tourist. The consumption lounge at the Patterson is not meant to be a place to party. This is an upscale, sophisticated lounge for cannabis connoisseurs and canna-curious alike.
WB: Tell me about the cannabis lounge.
CC: We are blazing a place in history: The 420 Hotels, and our lounge at the Patterson Inn, The 420 Denver, is the first licensed cannabis consumption lounge as an amenity to a hotel.
The plan since I first set eyes on the house in 2011 was to turn it into a cannabis B&B. While the last owners beat me to the property, did the renovations, and opened the bed and breakfast, the final hurdles were still left when I bought the building over four years ago. These hurdles included: navigating through an unexpected closure and the realities of the world the last few years, the rezoning of the property from residential to commercial (required for the cannabis hospitality license), and refinancing the property with two years of the worst unexpected financials factored into the appraisal because of covid and that’s how the real world works. With all the unexpected and expected challenges, we are on pace to open the lounge by late 2022 to early 2023.
The lounge will be a sophisticated space that offers the Patterson Inn guests and annual members a chance to experience legal cannabis on their terms. We look forward to welcoming the canna-conscious and canna-curious consumers looking for a space that doesn’t require sneaking around and allows for the open and responsible use of cannabis in a safe, legal and social environment. As a bring-your-own-cannabis (BYOC) venue, we will center the experience around consumption methods and its many variations, we will have staff that is engaged and informed to help guests make good decisions with an awareness of potential effects or intensity, and we intend to focus on food & beverage.
WB: Will you do food geared to the cannabis scene?
CC: The Patterson Inn is a licensed restaurant and supports food & beverage service for the hotel guests, 12 Spirits Tavern, and will support the cannabis hospitality lounge as well. We already feature sweet and savory, made-to-order breakfast for our hotel guests, and we intend to expand this breakfast service into the lounge, as well as opening to the public for a once-a-week service we are calling our Blazy Brunch.
On a daily basis, we already produce a number of simple syrup infusions that support the craft cocktails in our 12 Spirits Tavern. These simple syrups are an easy way to offer terpenes, added to various beverage options, and will be part of our regular offerings in the lounge, along with light tavern snacks and regular specials.
Cannabis pairs well with food. The national cannabis community has a number of extraordinary chefs that have been working with pairings long before it became fashionable. Conversations with friends in this space have already begun. We intend to expand into fine dining on a regular basis with scheduled guest chef events. Since we are a BYOC venue, chefs will not be limited to our inventory but will be able to bring together the best producers of products to showcase their culinary artistry and maintain control over the experience they are looking to curate.
WB: When was the first time that you discovered cannabis? Do you remember who you were with?
CC: I remember the first time I smelled cannabis and knew it was something different. I was in NYC on the balcony of a movie theater during Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. I was in first grade.
I also remember very clearly the first time I consumed cannabis. I was with a sibling in their first year in college. It was Boston, and it was in late winter. It was the first time I used a dryer sheet tube to mask the odor. Ended up at a house party where Blues Traveler was still a house band, and the next night was in Albany to see the Grateful Dead for the first time.
WB: Tell me about the music you listen to.
CC: Live Music feeds the soul; I’ve learned that over the years. Music and cannabis pair as well as food and cannabis. At my core, I listen to jam bands mostly. Judge me all you want. I’m also an unwavering TWIDDLE fan. Grateful Dead, Phish, Twiddle, Eggy, and lespecial keep me occupied most days.
WB: What is your passion?
CC: I have committed my life to my passion: I am a cannabis consumer and a productive adult, and making that realization normal is the work I join so many amazing people in this industry and space in spreading. The normalization and destigmatization of cannabis is my passion. I also love storytelling and film and am proud to have created and produced the award-winning film Public Enemy Number One, a feature documentary about the War on Drugs.
About the Patterson Inn
Located at 420 East 11th Avenue, the Patterson Inn is a stately and distinguished National Landmark situated in the heart of Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Historically intriguing yet complete with all the comforts of modern amenities, it offers a luxurious reprieve in one of nine uniquely themed bedrooms. The Patterson Inn is also home to The 420 Hotels, the nation’s first legally licensed cannabis consumption lounge in a luxury hotel. Slated to open in late 2022, this high-end, members-only cannabis consumption club that will be merged with luxury overnight accommodations will provide a sophisticated location to consume and onsite guest service representatives who can advise consumers on safe consumption practices. For more information or to make reservations, please visit www.pattersoninn.com or call 303-955-5142.
I’m not from Charleston, South Carolina. But I lived there in the late 1980s and spent Hurricane Hugo huddled with others in my former kitchen house on Charlotte Street, wondering if the roof and the rest of the home would survive the biggest storm I’d ever lived through. This experience would go on to serve as more than a metaphor for the rest of my life. Big storms followed by the loss of everything I worked hard to achieve and accomplish. Gone with the tides, just like the little story I want to recount here. In simple terms…
I am very lucky to have friends who are from Charleston. In this case, born and raised. My friend Witt Rabon is that Charlestonian (the name for someone born there, unlike myself- a Yankee Carpetbagger…) Through the guidance and friendship of Witt, he introduced me to a couple of gentlemen who look like they stepped out of a mid-1970s rock and roll band. Friends of his, Thomas Cutler and Barry Foy, are on the cusp of great success within the very business that got Barry removed from civilization for ten years. Unfair? Absolutely when you consider people convicted of major financial crimes would serve much less time behind bars. The Last Prisoner Project is their deep métier.
A calling is something you learned from experience, not just read in books. That alone gives authenticity and a little something called lagniappe. That little something extra. And what would that be?
Read on for the answers to these clues. Gentlemen Smugglers, it’s now their success story…
Cheers! WB
Barry Foy. Photo Credit Post and Courier, Charleston, SC.
Warren Bobrow: Please tell me about yourself. Where are you from? How did you discover the plant? Do you have someone who introduced you to smoking in your family?
Barry Foy: My name is Barry Foy. I was born in Charleston, SC, but I’ve lived in many locations, from Canada to France to the Caribbean to NYC to the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. I grew up in a conservative Catholic family; my dad was a banker, and my mother was a nurse. My first encounter with the plant was the summer of Woodstock in 1969, right after high school graduation, when I smoked a joint with my buddy. I was the first and basically the only cannabis user in my family. Man, I loved it right away and continued smoking through my first year of college. It didn’t take me long to realize the financial possibilities, and by the summer of 1970, I was selling pot from the back of a local bar in Columbia, SC, to the GIs at Fort Jackson basic training base before they were shipped off to Vietnam. Flash forward a dozen years, and I was running the East Coast, smuggling over 250 tons valued at close to $1 billion, which, of course, led to my crew becoming the main targets of Operation Jackpot, the first Presidential Sting in Reagan’s War on Drugs. I was eventually convicted under the Kingpin statute (§848) for running a continuing criminal enterprise smuggling marijuana and hashish into the US from Jamaica and Colombia. I served 11 years in prison from 1985-1996.
Warren Bobrow: Please tell me what you’re working on right now. For whom? Where? Do you focus on flower? Do you like indoor or outdoor grown cannabis?
Barry Foy: Currently, I’m working on building the Gentleman Smugglers cannabis brand with my team members Thomas Cutler, Kevin Harrison, and Gary Latham. We are based in Charleston, SC. At present, we are launching the brand in Massachusetts with our partner Root & Bloom, a state-of-the-art facility that handles cultivation, processing, packaging, and distribution. The last two years have been devoted to picking up where we left off – bringing the brand to the people and supplying premium product, only this time legally! My focus is on the flower because all products originate from the plant. Start with premium seeds and flower and you’re going to have a premium product in the end, whatever it may be. I personally prefer outdoor when available because organic soil and natural sunlight create a superior, flavorful product.
Photo Credit: Kevin Harrison
Warren Bobrow: What kind of obstacles do you face in your business? How do you anticipate removing them? What are your six and 12-month goals?
Barry Foy: As we all know, cannabis remains illegal at the federal level. This places the burden on individual states to create regulations. This variation in laws from state to state causes obvious complications. It looks like the US Congress is close to passing legislation in 2023 that will clear up the ambiguity caused by these state-level differences. Having said that, we have an authentic story to tell, and I think it will resonate. Our six-month goal is to establish the Gentlemen Smugglers brand of premium flower and pre-rolls in the Massachusetts market. Within 12 months, we hope to launch the brand in New York and New Jersey and expand the product line into edibles, vapable concentrates, and beverages.
Warren Bobrow: What is your favorite cuisine or restaurant? Do you cook? What’s your favorite thing to prepare? Why?
I have always enjoyed fine cuisine and have a special place in my heart for the Southern specialty known as Shrimp and Grits. After spending a decade in prison and having friends who never made it out, I really savor a good meal. I love food and, having owned a restaurant in Charleston, can serve it up with the best of them! Using fresh local shrimp, heads off, I sauté them with butter and garlic for no more than one minute. The grits need to be stoned ground yellow grits cooked slowly with water and butter and finished with heavy cream. Serve the shrimp atop the grits with a side of sliced and chilled Johns Island tomatoes with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Pair this with a Belle Glos Clark and Telephone Vineyard Pinot Noir. Bon Appetit!
Warren Bobrow: What is your passion?
Barry Foy: My passion is and has remained the same for 40-plus years: to bring premium cannabis products to the masses. From the Blue Mountains of Jamaica to the Sierra Madres in Colombia, South America, I’ve always taken the high road and gone the extra mile to find and procure the best cannabis. As we developed the Gentlemen Smugglers brand, it was important to lean into the legacy of what I did so many years ago – to that end, our first Sativa-leaning treat is called High Tide, and our first Indica-leaning delight is called Low Tide, so named because the tides were crucial to smuggling. On a personal level, it’s critical to give back, and we recently partnered with the Last Prisoner Project to support ending needless incarceration for nonviolent marijuana crimes. Down the line, I want to develop specific Gentlemen Smugglers cultivars but for right now, I’m all about working with the best partners in the business to help our friends out there enjoy great flower. And you can always count on me to deliver.
I’d like to discuss some really fine cannabis for a moment. No, it’s not from my usual array of fine flowers from California, Colorado, Oregon, Massachusetts, or even Michigan. This flower, showing beautifully, jam-packed full of juicy terps, oozing liquid droplets that coat the inside of my nose- extending up into my nasal passages… Well, it has to come from someplace, right?
I’ve been fortunate to write about the fine flowers from Rythm in New Jersey a few months ago, but the flowers that are filling my small office with their perfume are even on a “higher” level than the ones I tasted several times before. These beautifully cured, perfectly trimmed buds elevate my experience with flowers grown in… New Jersey!
Guess what? I’m impressed by Rythm and how their flowers treat my brain and body.
Tasting Notes for two Rythm strains:
Ice Cream Cake. This Indica dominant strain is not my usual forté. My taste buds usually call out for cultivars that are less sweet-smelling (and tasting). It’s just my way. But maybe I should re-examine this metaphor for sweet- the name Ice Cream Cake, to me, says sweet. And although the words do carry meaning for me, I’m undecided that the name means candy sweet. Because this strain is not like candy. It has a deep earthiness and a tinge of milk chocolate at the very finish. It is not off-putting in any way, quite the opposite, really. This is another intellectual high, reaching deeply into the nether regions of my foggy brain, unlocking rationality and inquisitiveness in equal doses. The flowers are perfectly cured. This is truly gourmet cannabis that is on par with anything grown in Southern California. Care is definitely shown here. The dark labels are stunning against black glass jars protecting the fragile buds held within.
Nose: Salty sweet notes of freshly cut garden herbs, stone fruits, crushed stones, European diesel, tangles of freshly shaved papaya doused in Vietnamese caramelized shallots, and tarragon. This is lip-smacking cannabis that sings a song not yet translated from a place not yet discovered. If cannabis like this quality is grown in New Jersey, I want more of it. This is the good stuff.
Palate: Richly textured against the tongue and lips, the curing of their flowers is lovely to experience as it is patiently executed. Fissures of Asian spices come into view, offering scrumptious mementos that what you are smoking, however cleverly it is named, is not like biting into a heaping slice of ice cream cake. Quite different in reality. I smoked my small sample out of a Stonedware-“purse” pipe so I could get the pure flavor of the flower deeply into my brain without tainting it with a nasty tobacco wrap or sucked through flavor dulling water in a bong. As disappointing as it seems, I cannot roll a decent joint, nor do I enjoy vaporizing my cannabis, too much of a disconnect from the plant for me. This sample of Ice Cream Cake has a richer element that reveals itself over time. You need to take only a couple of hits to experience this rationality. Be patient, and you’ll understand the flavors at work here.
The Stone: As you can tell, I’m enjoying this excursion into the realm of dream time. Ice Cream Cake from Rythm is more than just a panacea for your ills, the pleasure of feeling yourself transcend the normal to some deeper place inside your mind, well, to me, it’s fun. I cannot say it makes me younger or more intellectual, but I can say that it is very encouraging to smoke cannabis of this quality. The experience comes on slowly but with deep reverence. This is a mind experience, leading to the body and a nice colorful expression within my mind’s eye. Lucky to experience this cannabis? Anyone can. Just go somewhere that sells Rythm Ice Cream Cake in New Jersey, and let me know what you think about this strain.
I have some “Brownie Scout” cannabis in front of me right now. Also carefully propagated by the mad botanists at Rythm, this strain says Indica, but to my palate, it feels like a sativa-dominant strain. No matter because it’s absolutely ravishing to my brain. If you remember walking through a freshly mowed field on a hot summer day, you’d understand the all-enveloping experience that shines through every puff of this beautifully sourced strain. Really talented growers are at work here. They are dispelling the axiom that New Jersey cannabis has a long way to go because it is here, and now you can buy it legally.
Brownie Scout is a combination of Platinum Girl Scout Cookies and something called Kosher Kush. These strains usually offer a more sedative effect on my body, but today for some reason, they are doing just the opposite. I’m excited not to spend the rest of my day IN DA Couch. I have things to do and words to capture. This is how we should always get things done, puff a bit of Brownie Scout and watch your day become a much more adventurous place!
Nose: Hints of bittersweet chocolate abound along with earthy, floral notes. There is plenty of plum pudding escaping up my nose, sizzling hot, fried hush puppies woven of cornmeal and bathed in duck fat. That golden ticket of aromatics offers a superhighway to my brain. Succulent ribbons of late summer slaw swirl around my nasal passages. I haven’t coughed at all. Curing is job one at Rythm. Patience, weed hopper!
Palate: Brownie Scout is a “wee heavy” against my palate and not in a bad way. As mentioned above, their curing is spot on, humidity, time, and patience. It’s all there. The buds are carefully trimmed and very pungent. If I were to smoke this in a public place, there would be no doubt about what I was involved in. The clouds that emanate from the compact, fluorescent green buds are impressive, to say the least, and no coughing at all!
The Stone: Brownie Scout offers a richly surfaced experience for your tongue and throat. This is not like other “fruit salad” style California Cannabis strains that offer and deliver on their lineage. What Rythm has created here is purely New Jersey. It is not like any other place that I’ve experienced recently. Tough to say one is better; Brownie Scout, grown here in New Jersey, tastes like it hasn’t been handled as much. Maybe it’s the distance to my home from the dispensary? I see it kind of like seafood or poultry, or beef… Keep your hands off of it, gets tough that way. Brownie Scout brings me to a place of calm as well for my head and neck, and shoulders. This is very relaxing, yet not sleepy time for me as it’s still morning.
I’m nicely stoned and still able to work for a bit longer without the need for an early lunch, either. Really nicely done!
You really must try their Gumbo. Rythm’s strain library is far more than just the sum of its parts. It’s educational and just stupendous indeed. Click on through.
Just one more thing!
With a tip of my hat to the TV Show; Columbo, I’ve been overdue writing some thoughts on Cannabolish, and there is no excuse for me. I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long because this is the very best cannabis smoke-eradicating product that I’ve ever had in my life. It may have made my entire prep school experience different because no one would have known I was getting high out in the barn on our farm in 1971, I was, and they smelled it. It wasn’t pretty. They yelled and didn’t get through to me, obviously…
I can be smoking a joint in my small office with this little candle burning, and even I cannot smell the often skunky/gassy aromas from whatever I happen to be smoking for very long. It’s truly uncanny.
Their lavender scent is also quite beguiling and not too sweet; both the original and the lavender are really nice candles, well poured, including nice heavy, quality glass. I’ve bought several for myself, and they are really incredibly well engineered to work every time. I do have a suggestion.
When burning your candle for the first time, make sure that you burn it until the wax is completely melted on the top. That will take about twenty or so minutes, maybe longer. Be patient…
Candles have a memory… If you burn it the first time and then blow it out immediately, the candle will never burn correctly. Let it gel over completely before blowing any candle out. You’ll get a better burn!
Rythm’s strain library is far more than just the sum of its parts. It’s educational and just stupendous indeed. Click on through: //rythm.com/strain-library
I’m a massive fan of something we call in the wine business, terroir. Quite simply, the taste of the place. This terminology holds true in the cannabis industry as well. There are subtle differences between cannabis grown in natural, living soil, outdoors- under the sun, and that which is grown indoors under lights. I’m rather fond of the kind that is grown outside under the sun, Biodynamic- when possible- and at the very least, organic. I was introduced to the Humboldt Seed Company several years ago, and their relentless hunt for quality strikes me to this day as the good stuff. I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to smoke the results of their hard work. Very impressive indeed.
Warren Bobrow: Please tell me about yourself. What do you do? Local? Global?
Ben Lind: Humboldt Seed Company (HSC) started out as a local Humboldt County seed seller back in 2001. Our mission has always been to provide the highest quality cannabis seeds to both home growers and commercial cultivators. HSC has grown by leaps and bounds since our humble beginnings. We are now the largest licensed cannabis seed seller in California, have seeds for sale in multiple U.S. states, and as well a provider of seeds to multiple countries abroad, including Canada, Jamaica, Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, the UK, Malta, Thailand, and South Africa. As the Chief Science Officer, I head up our international program focusing on R&D, generating global partnerships, and overseeing exports.
I spend a lot of time talking with government officials and regulators around the world to help start conversations, provide education, and help to develop international seed regulations with the goal of cementing cannabis seeds as a legal, regulated global commodity. This role has led me to travel quite a bit, mostly between Colombia, Jamaica, and Europe at the moment. We are currently going through the extremely rigorous and time-consuming process in Colombia with our partners at Natureceuticals RX to register over 40 of our varietals. Colombia is treating cannabis like corn or soy, or any other traditional agricultural commodity. They have the highest bar of entry in the world for cannabis genetics, with the Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA) requiring producers to grow a suite of genetics in multiple climate zones for evaluation before being granted registration. This process involves a large capital outlay and a significant amount of time as the plants must be grown to maturity, analyzed, and then destroyed. Agronomists then look at the overall health of the crop, assess the growing methods, consider disease resistance, and perform extensive lab tests. Once this official evaluation process is completed, all the crops are destroyed. Yep, you heard me right. All that choice, high-quality cannabis is destroyed. Once a genetic meets all the government requirements, then it can be officially registered and grown legally.
WB: What obstacles do you face? How do you anticipate removing them? Please tell me about your six and twelve-month goals for HSC.
BL: The biggest obstacle is probably how the decision-makers in different countries often view cannabis very differently. Addressing each country’s specific government needs and requirements can be daunting. My approach has been to start the conversation by asking a lot of questions about what the specific country’s needs are and then to identify what the documentation requirements and regulatory impediments might be. I try to focus on building a bridge to a common goal and then work step by step to create a workable plan to get there so we can move forward. If you have trust and a shared vision, I find that things tend to move in the right direction.
In six months, I’d like to have achieved global seed exports to all legal jurisdictions worldwide. As far as the twelve-month goal, I’d say it would be taking that next big step and having it be possible to export tissue culture and living plant material. Seeds being shelf stable for long periods of time don’t come with the same challenges. Exporting living plant material can be difficult if plants are held up in quarantine or shipping is delayed. We see the beginnings of relationships developing that will hopefully lead to this becoming a reality. Some of the first conversations between South Africa and Canada and Jamaica, and Mexico regarding agricultural imports and exports centered on cannabis. The Mexican and Jamaican governments recently reached an agreement to start exchanging cannabis as well as other agricultural products. It’s kind of cool that this conversation started with cannabis and will hopefully lead to a multifaceted, mutually beneficial trade arrangement.
WB: What are feminized seeds? How do they differ from non-feminized? Do you have favorites in this regard? Indoor or outdoor grown?
BL: With regular cannabis seeds, you have a 50/50 chance of male/female plants. Using feminized seeds from a reputable breeder will guarantee close to 100% female plants. This streamlines the process, and you don’t have to worry about sexing your plants or having half of them be unusable. It’s also a nice space saver, as you’re using all your prime growing space for plants that will yield buds.
Feminized autoflowers will revolutionize the industry in the next 3-5 years. Unlike traditional photoperiod varietals, autoflowers don’t rely on light cycles to determine flowering and can be harvested within 100 days or less of planting. A favorite for indoor growing would be Hella Jelly. It’s a productive, fast-flowering Sativa-dominant varietal high in THC with a fruity cotton candy terpene profile. For outdoor, my pick would be Emerald Fire Auto. Anyone can beat the weather with this one. It has a super-fast flowering time and looks and smells the same if not better than its photoperiodic counterpart. It’s a bit like a side-by-side Coke, Pepsi taste test.
WB: Do you have a mentor? Who taught you the craft? When did you first discover cannabis?
BL: I was exposed to cannabis at a pretty young age by my aunts and uncles. I remember pulling weeds in my aunt’s strawberry patch when I was around six years old. She would intersperse the cannabis plants between the tiered strawberries to hide them. I have this vivid memory of her telling me, “no, don’t pull that out!”. She had to show me the difference between the weed and the weeds. I didn’t make that mistake again. She taught me early on that cannabis was just another plant in the garden with many benefits.
My uncle is quite a character and a cannabis breeding enthusiast. He has kept the same landrace Oaxacan clone alive since 1978. He bred it to not smell like weed to evade detection. It started out in his backyard in Arizona and then got trucked around every time they moved. He used to be a researcher at the University of Tucson and would sneak parts of the clone in for lab testing.
WB: What is your passion?
BL: Preserving indigenous varietals and using ancient genetics as a foundation for creating new, unique strains is something I get excited about. I feel strongly that it’s important that we carefully consider all the past varietals and respect the qualities that are often both special and beneficial. Many contain unique compounds of great value, along with novel terpene profiles and unknown cannabinoids. They are like the rainforest of cannabis. We don’t want to lose all that amazing diversity.
Our South Africa R&D project focuses on crossing the high-THCv (Tetrahydrocannabivarin) Transkei landrace strain that grows well in the highlands of South Africa with our signature strain, Blueberry Muffin. We are just now starting to gain a better understanding of these less well-known cannabinoids. High THCV strains may provide a viable alternative to a variety of pharmaceuticals in the future. Multiple studies have shown possible potential for THCv in diabetes, Parkinson’s, and seizure disorder treatment.
We will be releasing what I like to call our newest unicorn in the barn this fall. Black Beauty is a high THCv strain with appetite suppressing qualities that could potentially be a viable alternative to caffeine and Adderall. It could be a healthier energy booster and perhaps cut into the Red Bull market. We’ll see…
Lauren Gockley, Chief Innovation Officer/ Co-Founder, Coda Signature Digs Into Five Questions
The second time I ever went to Denver was roughly 2019, and I had a chance to visit Coda Signature when they were still in their infancy. That’s not to say they were inexperienced, far from… Just new to the world of fine cannabis edibles. A tangle of aromatics and flavors, leading into an opus of sweet to tangy to memorable. This company is interested in quality over sheer “tonnage” … I mean, anyone can get you high. Coda Signature takes the experience of cannabis and raises the bar to another level. It’s really a pleasure to introduce you to Lauren Gockley, the CIO, and Co-Founder of Coda Signature. Thank you, WB
Warren Bobrow: Lauren, would you kindly tell me about your company? When did you get started? What was your inspiration? Did you have a mentor/advisor in business? Who? Did you have a culinary or retail background before taking on a project such as Coda Signature?
Lauren Gockley: Coda Signature was founded in 2015 with a clear vision: To set the standard of excellence in the cannabis industry. The brand is inspired by the language of music—a coda is the chef’s kiss that completes the story of the musical composition with an expressive flourish all its own. We believe the experience of cannabis should begin simply with the highest quality cannabis oil. Coda Signature’s collection of infused edibles and topicals tells a story through exciting colors, bold flavors, and luxurious aromas that harmonize seamlessly with impeccable craftsmanship and quality ingredients.
My father has been the biggest inspiration and mentor in my life. He committed his career to immortalizing the world of opera by creating the space for new and innovative productions of opera classics as well as opportunities for contemporary composers to tell their stories through song. He is a masterful listener and compassionate leader.
I have been working in the culinary world for almost 20 years. I have been blessed to have a wealth of different experiences, from my time in France at Valrhona’s L’ École Du Grand Chocolate and the Parisian pastry shops of Pierre Hermé to the fine-dining restaurants of Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Thomas Keller. I also spent several years as a raw vegan chocolatier where I gained a totally new understanding of chocolate and flavor creation using unconventional ingredients. As I focused my work more on chocolate in the 2010s, I saw an opportunity in the regulated cannabis industry, which had just started taking off in Colorado. The chance to combine chocolate with cannabis was too amazing to pass up, and I knew I was in a unique position to bring my culinary expertise to an industry that was ready for it.
WB: Please tell me about your six and twelve-month goals? How do you intend to deal with obstacles regarding stigmas surrounding cannabis and edibles?
LG: Over the next six months, we will be expanding both our luxury and wellness product lines. In the next year, Coda is planning to expand into at least two new markets.
According to BDSA Consumer Research, 73% of adults nationwide are now “bought-in” to consuming cannabis. Understanding that many such individuals are unfamiliar with today’s infused products, Coda believes strongly that microdose products are an essential factor in safe and customizable experiences. We are one of the few companies in the edibles category to defy the industry “standard serving size” with our new 1mg THC Fruit Notes that launched earlier this year. We continue to introduce products into the market that showcase minor cannabinoids such as CBN, CBG, CBC, and most recently, THCv. The market is no longer driven solely by milligrams of THC per dollar. Innovative products with minor cannabinoids are rapidly taking top-selling positions, allowing consumers to curate a cannabis experience that is just right for them.
WB: When you enjoy (Coda Signature’s) products, do you have any suggestions for their use? The bath products obviously are self-explanatory, but the chocolates? Maybe pairing with some kind of beverage or food? Or after a meal? Or during the day. What are your thoughts?
LG: There is a ton of opportunity to find culinary inspiration with our edibles. I love hearing when our customers develop their own creations using our products. In fact, that was a huge motivation behind our Fruit Notes line. Even though our Fruit Notes are a sweet confection, I love to pair them with a savory canape or a cocktail/mocktail. This elevates the cannabis edibles experience beyond just popping a gummy and invites cannabis consumers to join us in the kitchen. Some of my favorite pairings include the Strawberry & Rhubarb Fruit Note with goat cheese on a cracker and Coconut & Lime Fruit Note with grilled shrimp.
WB: What are your favorite foods for your cannabis journeys? Do you cook? What is your favorite thing to prepare? Do you have recipes from your family history that inspire you?
LG: When I am preparing for a cannabis journey, I always want to make sure I can have lots of different tastes and textures available. This may sound like a bizarre pairing, but a cheese plate and fresh oysters may be one of my favorite things to eat while experiencing cannabis—or anytime, for that matter. I am eagerly awaiting the invention of the cannabis-infused oyster. (Author’s Note: Maybe down in Charleston; deep-fried in a cornmeal crust and napped with a canna-beurre blanc?)
Yes, I do cook a lot. I really enjoy making sauces. I love that in French kitchens there is an entire position, the Saucier, dedicated to just making sauces. It demands rigorous technique, a delicate hand, and a wealth of patience. A great sauce can elevate any meal, and as my grandmother, Mimi used to say, “can hide a multitude of sins.”
Mimi was a chef and caterer, and she made such incredible food. The one mainstay at every meal was her “Mimi Rolls.” Every time I make them, I am transported back to her dinner table. That simple roll is a perfect example of how food can act like a time machine bringing memories to life.
WB: What is your passion?
LG: Simply put, my passion comes from creating beautiful things and sharing them with others. Every day brings new opportunities to create. This industry is a constant source of inspiration, driving us to find new and exciting ways to exceed the desires of our customers for delicious flavors and bright experiences that elevate one’s well-being.
Lauren Gockley: Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Coda Signature
Let me tell you about Ben Larson, or better yet, I want Ben Larson to speak for himself. And what an opportunity I had to crawl inside Ben’s head, even for a short while.
Interviewing someone as busy as Ben Larson can be a problematic adventure. But with the help of brilliant overseers, I could capture what I believe is Ben Larson unbounded by your typical corporate double-speak messages. After all, I have a deep interest in what Ben does for Vertosa. Ben has achieved a certain level of nirvana working in weed. Being able to share his passion for the plant with fervent entrepreneurs who have dreams but not necessarily the ability to harness THC-based technology, Ben has brought boundless enthusiasm into this nascent space. What Ben is talented at doing is a thing of dreams. He should know that deep in his heart, as he has achieved amazing things by being a deeply talented entrepreneur in the nano-technology space.
Ben is doing what others can only imagine doing. His deep passion for the plant is evident in his ability to capture the essence of cannabis alchemy. To me, he has truly woven straw into gold.
The things I’ve tasted spun out of the minds at Vertosa are nothing short of brilliant.
Thank you, Ben, for listening to my dreams and helping me achieve drinkklaus.com.
WB: Please tell me about yourself. Where are you from? Where are you living now? Tell me about Vertosa. Where did the name come from?
Ben Larson: I was born and raised in Northern California – setting aside a brief high school career in Utah. After graduating from CalPoly, San Luis Obispo, with a Civil Engineering degree, I spent the first six years of my career as a professional engineer working in the transportation planning and engineering sector. Having moved to the Bay Area and immersing myself in the Silicon Valley community and culture, it wasn’t long before I took the leap of faith into tech startups. Like a true, ill-advised leap where I abandoned my professional license and cashed out my 401K.
While I never did prove myself as a successful tech startup founder – I had my fair share of tries – I did discover my love of the creation phase and the startup community-building aspect. After managing global operations for Founder Institute, mentoring many early-stage founders, and directing programs around the Bay Area and beyond, I decided to take my expertise and passion to the cannabis industry where my business partner and I launched California’s first cannabis startup incubator, fund, and co-working space, Gateway. It was here where I had the opportunity to earn my place in the California cannabis community, was educated on the history of cannabis, and discovered my purpose and responsibility in the movement.
I’ve since settled with my wife and two kids in the East Bay in the City of Walnut Creek, where we’ve called home for the past six years.
I met my co-founder, Dr. Harold Han, while I was investigating infusion technology opportunities in the cannabis space back in 2017. He was just starting to explore the industry and had an infectious curiosity, remarkable humility, and the perfect expertise to fill a void we were observing in the market. Sometime between Harold developing the first prototypes that would eventually become the core offering of Vertosa and the structuring of the business, I discovered I was destined to be back on the operating side of the industry.
Not only did I know that the industry needed reliable technology to create the next generation of infused products, I knew this industry needed a reliable B2B manufacturing partner that infused trust into an otherwise challenging supply chain. We also knew that this industry deserved a company that strived to be the best place to work and walked the talk when it came to building a corporate culture that resembled the ideals that we all sought for this industry. This is what we’ve focused on building over the past four years at Vertosa: superior, proven ingredients, building trust with our partners and the industry at large, and creating the best company culture this industry has seen.
Now, we haven’t always been called Vertosa. We were actually called Nanogen for the first year of business. It was a great starting point as it screamed science and built a great deal of trust, but as we built relationships with more mainstream natural products companies, we knew we would have to rebrand.
The name Vertosa speaks to who we are and the promise we deliver. VERT speaks to both green and truth – in line with our roots in cannabis and dedication to being the best partners to our customers. OSA, Spanish for the female bear, portrays our strength and proud California roots, with an important nod to the power of the female cannabis plant. Vertosa – not too dissimilar from virtuoso – was intended to be the trusted expert that walks the line between plant and science, commerce and medicine, and business and consumers.
WB: What are your six and twelve-month goals? What obstacles do you face? How do you anticipate removing those obstacles?
Ben Larson: For many in the cannabis sector and beyond, the next 6-12 months are all about survival. We know that great companies are born and proven in challenging markets. Those that learn to navigate these waters will have the opportunity to ride the next wave to success. We’ve had great momentum thus far, so I’ve asked our team to give themselves the permission to not only believe that we will survive but that we have the opportunity to thrive in today’s environment.
What does thriving look like? Well, we will continue to create market-leading ingredients that provide the foundation for the fast-acting, infused product category. We believe that all infused products in the future will be fast-acting. It’ll be table stakes. Fast-acting everything.
We have recently launched our private label offering, where we are helping companies map out their future product releases and designing the products that are leveraging our ingredients. Not all brands need this assistance, but not only do we have the greatest knowledge of our products and how to apply them. We’ve amassed a great brain trust internally with professionals that worked at the likes of Mondelez, Constellation Brands, and McCormick.
Finally, we’re striving to continue the expansion of our global platform that allows brands who work with us to access the same reliable ingredients and services in many markets around North America. While we’re headquartered in California, we’re very active in Canada, Nevada, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maine, and several other states. The goal is to be a multistate B2B platform that enables brands to grow their total addressable market with ease.
WB: When did you discover cannabis? How old were you? Why cannabis?
Ben Larson: I discovered cannabis when I entered college, but it definitely wasn’t love at first sight. Like many, I chose alcohol in college, or I suppose it chose me. Not saying it was a great choice; that’s just the culture of much of collegiate America.
I rediscovered cannabis when I was at Founder Institute, and people began inviting me to coach cannabis startups and judge cannabis pitch competitions. I remember attending Weed Club’s 420 Pitch Competition back in 2015, where I met many of the OGs still around today. There was so much passion and enthusiasm in the room, but also a lot of really— let’s just say, raw talent. The community needed help—professionalizing— and the ability to speak investor language. This was my entry point. It was my passion for helping people realize their ideas while building supportive entrepreneurial ecosystems that really allowed me to see an opportunity to create value. That was the genesis for Gateway.
However, why I stayed goes much deeper. I became a student of the plant and the movement: the history, the politics, the false stigma, the drug war, all of it. I saw the immense amount of good this plant could bring society and so many wrongs that needed to be made right. I’ve always had a little bit of vigilantism coursing through my veins, and this was a way for me to dedicate my career to it. For the past seven years, I’ve been hell-bent on building up the community around me, being a voice for those unheard, creating opportunities for others as I create them for myself, and ensuring that we all get to benefit from the rising tide.
WB: Do you cook? If so, what is your favorite thing to prepare? Favorite restaurant? Where?
Ben Larson: I love to cook. My wife certainly does the majority of cooking when it comes to feeding the family, but given the privilege of time and freedom of thought, I absolutely love getting lost in the preparation of a meal. Perfecting my art around preparing challenging cuts of meat, like racks of lamb or lamb loin chops, and then creating the perfect sauce to pair it with is probably where I get the most joy, but I really love cooking just about anything. I mean, have you ever had the joy of turning spaghetti squash into actual spaghetti? It’s so awesome and easy. Most of the time, I just love the challenge of creating something from nothing or whatever we have in the pantry and fridge. Finding creative ways to cook vegetables or preparing an unlikely main is where my creativity really gets to show. When I hear someone say, “we don’t have anything to eat,” it’s like a Bat-Signal for me, and I find myself springing into action while saying, “au contraire.”
WB: What is your passion?
Ben Larson: My passion is for helping people manifest their dreams. From the time I was a kid, I always had a lot of ideas but didn’t always see the path forward. My life experiences have allowed me to discover those paths, and I find great joy in lending those learnings to others and helping them see their dreams come to fruition. And in the event I don’t know the path, which is often, I think I make a great companion in the entrepreneurial journey. There is no greater joy for me. I’ve done this for the past decade by working with early-stage startups and now get to continue it every day through the work we do at Vertosa and the hundreds of brands and partners we work with in the space.
If you’ve ever enjoyed a cannabis edible in the early part of the cannabis explosion which happened about ten years ago, it was probably a Cheeba Chew. They were one of the first to offer a taffy-like experience, using the best available ingredients, stuffed with a bunch of THC. I have had some memorable experiences with this venerable brand. They do everything beautifully in my book. Their range of flavors and textures remind me of fine French confiture, with a twist of solventless Rosin/THC of course. It’s about time that cannabis companies work in fine pastry and candy making with just the right balance of sweet to tangy, to memorable. Cheeba Chews have mastered this art of cannabis-infused confections and they have made them available to the discerning consumer. It’s a pleasure to enjoy their ebullient products after visiting their production facility, which is in itself, a joy to see, both ultra-modern and also clean as a whistle. Being a trained chef allows me the ability to taste at a somewhat higher level. What I perceive in Cheeba Chews- and in all their unique varieties that I savored, was quality in each of the small tastes. You don’t need much to have a really enjoyable experience. Their food scientist’s passion for European-inspired flavors oozes through every bite. There was one variety in particular that caught my attention. It was not unlike a confection known as pate de fruits from France and the addition of their proprietary solventless cannabis rosin recipe. Whatever their methods and the techniques that they utilize, these are not the edibles that I whipped up on my stove and crossed my fingers that they’d get me buzzed.
Cheeba Chews exceeds my expectations in every way because they use the best ingredients they can find. And I know some of their ingredients intimately, from my bartending years. Good call!
PÂTE DE FRUIT CHEWS – Inspired by the elegant flow and organic beauty of freshly pressed premium rosin, Apricot MELTS are jam-packed with all-natural fruit purée, Colorado-grown cannabis extract, pectin, and little else.
WB Notes: The pate de fruits are really pure in their flavors and quite delicious. Each 10mg. piece offers a really subtle, introspective, and lovely long-lasting buzz.
WB: Please tell me about yourself? Where are you from? Where now? What do you do?
Ryan Kilpatrick: I’m Ryan Kilpatrick, a New Jersey native that’s been a Colorado resident for 22 years. Currently, I hold the position of Colorado General Manager at Cheeba Chews. For the last three years, my role has allowed me to focus on running the day-to-day operations in Colorado, while our founders focus on expanding the business. But I must say, the R&D is my favorite part of the job. I love coming up with new product ideas and putting them to the test.
WB: What are your six and twelve-month goals? What obstacles do you face?
Ryan Kilpatrick: Currently, we are laser-focused on our wellness line of minor cannabinoid-driven chews and our rosin-infused edible products. Our new dairy- and gluten-free line, MELTS, just launched and is growing rapidly. Additionally, the Live Rosin, Strain-Specific edibles that launched in 2021 continue to grow as new flavor-strain combos are released quarterly. We are very interested in seeing these products succeed, and the next six months will be crucial to that success. Beyond that, we have at least two other potential new product lines we are developing and hope to launch them in the near future. There is no shortage of excitement for what is coming down the pipeline from Cheeba Chews.
Photo Credit: Cheeba Chews
WB: When did you first discover the plant? How old were you? Do you remember with whom? Listening to what music?
Ryan Kilpatrick: We became acquainted back in the mid-90s. I was hanging out with a couple of my older brothers’ friends who needed a pipe to smoke. I happen to have one. So, we sat in the driveway underneath a house on stilts, listening to Ween and Beck, and got down to business. After that, the quality and availability of cannabis where I lived were less than desirable, but that didn’t stop the occasional session. Upon arriving in Ft. Collins in 1999, I very quickly learned where to find Kind Bud and we became great friends.
WB: Cheeba Chews is a class act product. I’ve been acquainted with it for years now. Please tell me about the new pate’ de fruits.
Ryan Kilpatrick: Thank you! MELTS by Cheeba Chews represents the first new brand launched by our company in a decade. MELTS were designed from the ground up to be a completely natural edible experience. A vegan-friendly, limited ingredient product made with fresh frozen fruit puree, solventless extracted live rosin cannabis oil, pectin, beet sugar and little else. We worked for over a year to ensure our MELTS provide a unique, balanced flavor profile rich with cannabis terpenes, supported by an intense fruit character. Our initial launch includes Sweet Strawberry Jam, Fresh Apricot Jelly, and Toasted Coconut Purée. All are amazing in their own way, but the Toasted Coconut is by far my favorite.
WB: What is your favorite Cheeba Chew variety?
Ryan Kilpatrick: In the last eight months, I have really been enjoying our Live Rosin, Strain-Specific taffy, and gummies, but now I’m obsessed with the Melts. However, my classic go-to edible is our Trifecta Chew–a caramel-flavored taffy infused with CBG, CBD, & THC.
WB: Do you cook? What’s your favorite food? Restaurant? Where? Favorite get high food?
Ryan Kilpatrick: I dabble a touch. I am the head chef for my household feeding a family of four nightly. I have a plethora of kitchen gadgets that I love to employ in my cooking. My favorite thing is to try something new; even when it doesn’t turn out to be that good, I simply enjoy trying something new. As the household cook, I also enjoy a good night out at a restaurant. In Denver, I have a hard time passing up a great spread of sushi. While it has become pretty common to find great sushi all over town, Sushi Den is still at the top of my list! If I’m sitting down for a smoke session after a long day, I usually have a bag of hard sourdough pretzels close by.
WB: What is your passion?
Live music! I am a fan of many different styles and genres. I will go see just about anyone playing live, but I tend to gravitate towards blues, jazz, funk, and jam bands. Summer doesn’t start until Widespread Panic plays at Redrocks!
I love what (full of boundless energy) Eli Melrod has achieved in the craft cannabis retail space. His esoteric and craft-oriented dispensary, Solful embodies my somewhat educated image of what a well-curated cannabis experience should look like. The environment is not overwhelming when entering the shop and the sophisticated, yet somewhat older clientele demands a deeper understanding of the plant. This is much different than the experience at most high-volume dispensaries. They seem to focus on getting the guest in and out, quickly and without much thought to the well-being of the customer.
More than just an allegory is how I describe the experience of visiting Solful. From the first time that I visited this dispensary several years ago, to the present day, I can honestly say that Solful offers a very wine store-esque, cannabis transactional experience right in the center of wine country. And I believe that the terroir of the cannabis mimics that of fine wine. It’s uncanny to taste a Sonoma Chardonnay, then inhale some cannabis, grown in Sonoma. Their terroir is very similar to each other.
Please allow me the honor of introducing you to my friend and fellow entrepreneur in the cannabis space, Eli Melrod, who is the CEO and Co-founder of Solful, award-winning cannabis dispensaries in Northern California
Photo credit: Mary Roll
Eli Melrod is CEO and Co-founder of Solful, award-winning dispensaries in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa, California, widely recognized for its broad selection of high-quality, locally-sourced cannabis products, as well as industry-leading in-store experience, and a commitment to making a meaningful impact in the community.
Under his leadership, Solful is dedicated to selling only 100% sun-grown flower purchased directly from small craft farmers in Northern California. A frequent visitor of partner farms, Eli and company directly manage Solful’s supply chain to ensure that every cannabis product sourced is planted, grown, nurtured, trimmed, and packaged according to the highest standards of care.
Eli has been an entrepreneur in the California cannabis industry since 2015. His interest in the health and wellness benefits of cannabis began in 2006, when his father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and discovered the power of cannabis to help him manage pain, nausea, appetite, anxiety, and sleep. Inspired by his father’s experience, Eli dedicated himself to bringing cannabis to people whose health, wellness, and happiness could be improved by its responsible use.
Today, Solful is known for its emphasis on cannabis bringing customers health and happiness. Focusing on training, education, and culture, Solful is reinventing the cannabis retail space. Their goal? For all customers – from experienced users to the cannacurious – to walk into their doors feeling comfortable and confident they will find the product they are looking for with the help of a long-tenured team that abides by the highest values, known as the Solful Standard.
Eli Melrod and Mike Benziger of Glentucky Farms: Photo credit: Brennan Spark
WB: Please tell me about yourself. Where are you from originally? Live now? What do you think about terroir in cannabis? Does “biodynamic” mean to you? What about Terpenes?
Eli Melrod: I was fortunate to be born and raised in Northern California. I spent my younger years in San Francisco and ultimately went between SF and Sebastopol as a teenager after my dad bought property up here. Since then, Sebastopol and Sonoma County have always been home. My interest in cannabis began when my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I saw firsthand the power of the plant and how it helped him manage pain and anxiety from the awful illness.
At the time, I was studying economics at Wesleyan University. Inspired by recreational cannabis use becoming legal in California and being a believer in its health and wellness benefits, in 2014, I left school and dedicated myself to bringing cannabis to people whose lives can be improved by its responsible use. I first worked for an established cannabis testing lab to understand the science of cannabis, and it was during this time that I started to build personal relationships with industry influencers, many of which included farmers. In 2015, I connected with a family friend and entrepreneur, Peter Dickstein, to launch Solful. Since we opened in 2017, Solful has been a destination cannabis retail brand with a focus on educating the community, offering personalized customer experiences, and sourcing the best craft sun-grown cannabis.
For me, terroir means the expression of time and place. All plants are going to be influenced based on where and how they are grown. What I love most about sun-grown and regenerative farmed cannabis is that the plant embodies that specific region and harvest. At Solful we work with farms that have a number of strains that they have developed over the years for their specific region. You can see and taste the variation of that strain each year, showing that the growing season no doubt impacts the end result of the plant. I’ve found that as I get to know our farming partners better when I smoke their cannabis, I feel the expression of their farm and the vibe of that region. It’s an intimate and special relationship that no other plant can offer.
Eli and his father. Photo credit: Brennan Spark.
With biodynamic farming, there’s a strict seven-year certification process by Demeter needed in order to use the term on labeling. That said, there are plenty of farms that use biodynamic practices, but don’t go through the official certification process. Biodynamics is a part of regenerative farming, which focuses on working with the land’s ecosystem – the farmers work with the land to help build a stronger, healthier system.
We are learning more and more about the plant and terpenes show there’s a lot more contributing to cannabis’s effects and medicinal uses than just cannabinoids. The science around terpenes is early and as an industry, it’s important that we are thoughtful in how we talk about the subject. We still have a lot to learn. What we do know is that terpene-rich cannabis tends to be more enjoyable to consume and has a more robust effect, compared to one that is lower in terpenes. Think of terpenes as the fingerprint of that specific strain and harvest. A strain’s terpene profile can act as a guide to help the consumer figure out what they like. As the industry evolves, I think it is great that we are shifting the conversation beyond just cannabinoids, especially for medicinal use.
WB: So many cannabis companies are hung up on high THC levels. Why is this flawed science? What are you doing to change this marketing into something more appropriate for the plant?
Eli Melrod: At this point, it is clear that higher THC doesn’t mean higher quality or potency. The overreliance on this number is misleading to consumers.
At Solful, understanding each strain of cannabis and product we sell is really important to us. We spend a lot of time educating our team to then educate consumers about where the farm is located, how the plant was grown, and the difference in strains. It’s all of this information that should ultimately play into the buying decision. At our stores, we display full terpene and cannabinoid profiles for each strain we carry. It’s a priority that our team members get to know the farmers we work with so they can speak to them as people.
An important lesson we have learned is that if you don’t train your team on how to translate industry knowledge into practical information for consumers, you aren’t educating them. We believe in meeting the consumer where they are – and we have built a program around this method so our team can offer more of a hospitality experience for everyone who walks through our doors.
Photo credit: Brennan Spark
WB: What are your six and twelve-month goals? How do you anticipate removing obstacles to cannabis? Who is your mentor/s?
Eli Melrod: We are excited to continue to expand Solful’s retail footprint. We opened our second location in Santa Rosa earlier this year and have a third location opening in an incredible community and neighborhood in San Francisco in the coming months.
