PHOTO COURTESY: COLTON GRIFFIN
Flourish Software is a seed-to-sale software platform to manage cannabis products at each link in the supply chain and Colton Griffin is the CEO of this company.
PHOTO COURTESY: COLTON GRIFFIN
Author: Warren_Bobrow
PHOTO COURTESY: COLTON GRIFFIN
PHOTO CREDIT @CHUCKOLUALABI
Creative cannabis people intrigue me. Who is satisfied with just sitting behind a desk all day, hacking out metrics, even if it is in the cannabis business? Sure there are jobs for these types of people but let me be the first to tell you that my kind of entrepreneurs in the cannabis space don’t have the patience to sit around and let the world come to them from behind a computer. Far from. What they do is seize the day, create something new, inspire others. Creativity and cannabis really do go hand in hand. Bryant Bowens seeks to open your mind, one carefully sourced cannabis-friendly product at a time. I’m proud to have been able to share my thoughts on his Murano Tips for rolling cannabis joints, even though I’m still unable to roll a joint myself. It’s really quite embarrassing to not be able to use the tips that the Murano folks sent my way. My apologies. But getting back to Bryant. There are many inspired folks who come my way. Bryant Bowens is certainly enlightened. Thank you for this opportunity to share his story with you, my readers. Cheers! WB
PHOTO CREDIT @HELLOIMBIANCAA
CRONJA Distribution Highlights Last 90 Days – Sold $300,000 in bulk & retail sales within the last 30 days, driving strategic alignment and efficient execution of the start-up route-to-market strategy, delivering a 50% increase over months prior.
TRAVIS EMERY HACKETT
Of all the recent stories that I’ve worked on, none are as compelling on a personal level as High Herstory. Certainly I’ve written about some intriguing folks, but as a film major from college, High Herstory resonated with me- more than most. It’s because High Herstory is a unique, documentary based Cinéma vérité-style of filmmaking that focuses on the current/now. High Herstory tells stories that have not been told, at least not yet.
MONICA WANG
wb: I keep hoping that legal cannabis delivery services will come to New Jersey. Even legal cannabis. Why? Because of competition. It would help bring the high prices for cannabis down to earth. Right now the use of delivery services for cannabis is illegal within our state. Sure you can get street weed delivered to you, but that’s frowned upon, so don’t do it!
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Rochester’s 2019 Cocktail Revival
I sponsored Warren Bobrow to come to Rochester’s 2019 Cocktail Revival and teach about CBD and THC cocktail making. The experience was amazing. Not only down to earth, Warren was also extremely knowledgeable about the whole topic. He shared some historical information and personal experiences that brought him to write his book Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks & Buzz-Worthy Libations. He also shared how polarizing the book was and the negative reaction of so many people in his camp. The experience has been life changing on many levels and a journey he shares with passion, his heart on his sleeve, and a mission to educate others.
Warren shared how he had personal experience with medical marijuana for a chronic medical condition. His life had changed and he looked for a way to bring consumption of marijuana into his daily life. However, he found that cannabis had a stigma that accompanied its use, even when used for medical purposes. There needed to be another way to get a dose of cannabis other than smoking or eating pot brownies. He was culinary trained and food and beverage was an important part of his essence, and enjoyment in daily life. One of his goals in writing this book was to provide a way for people to responsibly consume cannabis in public without everyone one around knowing and judging. He wanted to provide a way for people to enjoy a delicious drink in a social environment and incorporate cannabis into the drink. Maybe medical reasons, maybe just for relaxation, but either way, in a way that the whole world did not need to know you were enjoying cannabis. He said he wrote the book as a medical reference, not merely because of the trend of cannabis. As long as cannabis was slowly becoming legal across the country, he wanted to provide a way to responsibly include cannabis in cocktails. He experimented to get correct dosages and ratios so each recipe provided a delicious drink and had a responsible and therapeutically effective amount of cannabis.
Warren shared how he had personal experience with medical marijuana for a chronic medical condition. His life had changed and he looked for a way to bring consumption of marijuana into his daily life. However, he found that cannabis had a stigma that accompanied its use, even when used for medical purposes. There needed to be another way to get a dose of cannabis other than smoking or eating pot brownies. He was culinary trained and food and beverage was an important part of his essence, and enjoyment in daily life. One of his goals in writing this book was to provide a way for people to responsibly consume cannabis in public without everyone one around knowing and judging. He wanted to provide a way for people to enjoy a delicious drink in a social environment and incorporate cannabis into the drink. Maybe medical reasons, maybe just for relaxation, but either way, in a way that the whole world did not need to know you were enjoying cannabis. He said he wrote the book as a medical reference, not merely because of the trend of cannabis. As long as cannabis was slowly becoming legal across the country, he wanted to provide a way to responsibly include cannabis in cocktails. He experimented to get correct dosages and ratios so each recipe provided a delicious drink and had a responsible and therapeutically effective amount of cannabis.
Warren also stressed the legal challenges cannabis presents and was careful to not expose alcoholic licensed operators to any legal issues by demonstrating THC cocktails. As much as we all wanted to try some and make some cocktails with THC, he would not expose the venues to the risk. (Predictably, as an attorney, I respect that. I am trying to figure out how to do a “part 2” in Ontario, Canada where recreational cannabis is legal and I don’t believe there is a restriction on combining alcohol and cannabis. Email me at TJong@TJong@TracyJongLawFirm.com if you want to be invited to a future event.)
So as an amateur mixologist, I had a key takeaway. CBD can be used like bitters (and in addition to bitters). It can be added as a simple drizzle on top of a cocktail in the same way as an aromatic oil like mint, basil or lemon. It can replace a traditional garnish. The simplest use is a flavored CBD oil or tincture that has a flavor profile traditionally associated with the cocktail. If the cocktail traditionally calls for lime, use a lime-flavored CBD. Drizzle on top just before drinking. A more “professional” approach might be to infuse hemp into either simple syrups or other drink mixers used to make the drink. (He showed a device that could do this an explained how it worked and how the temperatures of the device optimized the flavor and efficacy of the oils and other parts of the botanicals.) His book goes into detail on some of these techniques.
TRAVIS W KEYES PHOTOGRAPHY
Kristina Lopez Adduci, Founder of House of Puff has a solution for you. Become different from the expectations of your family. If you are working in the corporate world, leave it now, do something that you are passionate about. Don’t wait to follow your dreams. Kristina’s success is the reason why you should take the leap and become an entrepreneur. Why? Because becoming an entrepreneur is not your usual hobby, massive amounts of guts are involved. It takes great fortitude and deep determination to succeed. Not everyone does succeed in the end, but Kristina is well on her way to finding her bliss with her self-created company. Now, please allow me to introduce you to Kristina Lopez Adduci, founder of House of Puff.
CONNOR BABCOCK
I cannot roll a joint at all. This seemingly easy task is completely lost on me. I mangle the process, ripping the paper, spilling the contents on the floor. It’s a huge disappointment. I can’t even load a pre-rolled cone without tearing the paper. That’s where folks like Jonathan “Magar” Martinez comes in. Rolling cannabis cigarettes is his talent and his passion. I’ve seen his work. It’s world class. And my joints? Better forgotten. Enjoy reading about Johnny Magar. He’s very talented!
Mike Ant Photos IG: @mike.ant
Uplift Maryland is a platform where it strives to increase diversity and inclusion within the emerging medical cannabis industry, ensuring that all communities, especially those of color, have an opportunity to participate in the economy of the future. CEO of Uplift Maryland, Kevin Ford, grew up in a medical family, and throughout studying Business and Marketing college, he took a keen interest in the medical markets in California and Colorado. After moving home to Prince George’s County, he watched the start of the medical cannabis industry in D.C., in hopes that he’d have an opportunity to mix his entrepreneurial spirit with cannabis in a legal, medical market in Maryland. Once the opportunity presented itself, Kevin saw a void in the market for a trusted source of information for navigating all segments of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission. At this point, he created Uplift Maryland. His passion stems from wanting to take what the generation before him has created and elevate it to the next level. Kevin has been able to take something that was once illegal and incarcerated many Black men before him and turn it into a positive by providing an education of opportunity, especially to those who have been marginalized by oppressive and unjust drug policies.
PHOTO BY: YOUNG-JIN YANG
I love the premise of the Daily High Club. That is to say there is nothing like it on the East Coast that is anything like what Harrison Baum has achieved from virtually nothing. Seven hundred dollars is what it took to start a company that has far exceeded everyone’s expectations. Mine included. A wonderful and enlightening surprise that made my day. Success in small ways. The iChing teaches this. Listen to your passion and follow it, as Harrison has done so well. Thank you Harrison for teaching me this lesson.