Second in a series of tasting notes and effects for Bombatta Premium Cannabis Flowers… I’ll keep reviewing them as I receive them. Each one has amazing sense of place and time in the cannabis universe. The mesmerizing physical effects of each strain have blown me away.
This was named Nerve Gas, and it’s deliciously named. I’m very aware of my third eye with each toke.
Sitting in front of me is a glass container with a curious lid. Popping open the substantial magnetic top, I discovered a clever little perk. A built-in grinder. Not a cheap item- this one possesses large, extremely tactile prongs that will gently break up the perfectly cured, pungent nugs contained just within.
Cannabis of this quality offers more than just beauty and convenience; it encapsulates the emotion of cannabis as more than a passing metaphor. Cannabis can be a multitude of things to many people. I find it deeply personal. It unlocks my creative side, which is buffered by my even more creative side. Two creative sides? Well, it’s true. Is there no other one that speaks to being “Adult” …. Cannabis again? Six books, mocktail and cocktail bar programs in California means logical agility. All from cannabis? Yes.
Say it isn’t so for those who still believe that cannabis makes you an underachiever.
It’s true. This is zealously cerebral cannabis, and it works to make me more aware of the air surrounding me. This is such a vehicle for intellectualism, at least in my brain.
Perhaps I should discuss the flower at hand. Bombatta is the brand name, and it is just marvelous stuff. A nice sample of the Nerve Gas strain is punctuating my late morning.
Piquant in the nose, melting into freshly snipped French tarragon, scraped nutmeg, zesty Greek oregano, and finishing with dollops of both European petrol and crushed minerals down my throat- this cannabis is deeply bemusing, Even cracking open the jar for a quick sniff is a marvelous thing.
Photo Credit: Warren Bobrow
What morsels await my lips and lungs? Read on.
Nerve Gas- The Marijuana Retail Report offers some clues to the lineage of this bemusing strain. They say that it is Girl Scout Cookies and Chemdawg with Lemon Cherry Gelato. Usually, the effect of these strains represents sleepy time for me- but in a good way. Each represents a tangible metaphor, a feeling. When combined, they become “Nerve Gas,” which is weaving a fuzzy path through my brain right now.
What a gorgeous-looking flower as well.
Tinged with green and orange hairs, a good flash photo reveals deeper coloration of dark. What kind of dark? I’d have to crack open another nug, and I’m pretty stoned right now without the need to smoke any more—at least not this very minute— that might change in the coming moments.
Oh, cancel that. I just took a deep lung hit- no coughing ensued. This is cannabis of operatic quality. It sings to me of patience and intensity. Thank you to whoever crafted this luscious beast of a flower. If my twenty-one-year-old self could smoke cannabis of this quality- what I smoked back then was pretty good, don’t get me wrong- but this is other-level stuff entirely.
What could I have achieved with cannabis of this depth? Who knows. It’s really knowledgeable stuff. Thank you for growing it for my perusal. I’m very impressed.
I created the cocktail and mocktail program for @theofficiallove.life. This project changed me forever. No longer am I just one thing in beverages. I can do many things and hopefully do them well.
Pickett’s Ginger Beer is Flying High. Excited to share that cannabis cocktail expert Warren Bobrow’s Klaus brand THC canned cocktails were featured in Bon Appetit’s February issue. His Mezzrole features 10mg THC for “mind-opening euphoria” and is made with Pickett’s Hot & Spicy Ginger Beer. If you’re in California, check out Klaus at your favorite dispensary. We hope that other states soon follow suit because Warren has created a truly elegant and delicious cocktail and we’re so grateful for his partnership. Pickett’s has officially joined the 30,000 feet club with a really nice showing in United Airline’s Hemisphere magazine. Hoping you high-fliers take a peek and use the code to refresh your inventory with Medium Spicy and Hot & Spicy, in cans or bottled syrup.
Warren Bobrow is a chef, mixologist, and a 6-time published author. He came up with a recipe book called Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics – The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-worthy libations. This book is amazing and has a collection of 75 unique drink recipes including coffee, tea, lemonade, and milk-based beverages. In this book, Warren will also teach you how to de-carb cannabis in the correct way to release its full psychoactive effects. Get it for your loved one for $15.
Warren Bobrow tenía apenas 5 años cuando probó un cóctel por primera vez. Fue una copita de jerez mezclada con ginger-ale y una aceituna salada en Barcelona, España, junto a sus padres. “Recuerdo que hacía mucho calor y la cualidad refrescante de la bebida ‘para niños’ se me ha quedado grabada en el cerebro hasta el día de hoy”, cuenta el mixólogo, chef y escritor conocido por Cocktail Whisperer y autor de Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations.El libro de tragos con THC de Warren Bobrow
El recuerdo de esa bebida se convirtió en una compleja, insólita e inesperada introducción a la mixología. “Aunque estuviera hecho para un niño, seguía siendo un cóctel”, apunta Bobrow.
Y, en su vida, una cosa llevó a la otra: fue lavaplatos, estudió en la escuela culinaria, se convirtió en chef, trabajó en restaurantes de todo tipo, se volvió un reputado barman y hasta fue nominado a los Spirited Awards – Tales of the Cocktail Fundation, reconocidos premios de la industria. Escribió seis libros de mixología y cientos de artículos en revistas de todo el mundo. “Ha sido una vida muy ocupada”.
Así las cosas, esa “vida ocupada” está ungida en el juego, en las pruebas y en la innovación. Pero, curiosamente, sostiene sus decisiones profesionales en base a cierta simplicidad. “Un cóctel bien mezclado no debería tener una plétora de ingredientes dispares”, reconoce.
Sus primeras experiencias
En ese sentido, desde sus 16 años que empezó a investigar en el mundo del cannabis en las bebidas. Y aquel puntapié inicial también estuvo sujeto a una especie de carambola: de adolescente, compró unos brownies de faso horribles en el Washington Square Park de Nueva York. Llegó a su casa, los pasó por la licuadora, les tiró encima un montón de licor de chocolate y helado de chocolate. Y… ¡Boom!
“Estaba con unos amigos y quedamos muy drogados y borrachos”.
Con el tiempo, esa tendencia se fue revirtiendo y el cannabis fue tomando un lugar más preponderante en su bibliografía.
Pero su vínculo con el cannabis no se dio en su etapa investigativa, sino que tiene una ligazón atávica: su abuelo tenía una botánica en la que fabricaba productos farmacéuticos. “No eran más que aceites de serpiente, pero yo siento que hay una correlación”, confiesa.
El famoso cóctel con THC
Entre los cócteles con cannabis más populares se yergue el Mezzrole, que se vende exclusivamente en California, Estados Unidos.
¿Qué es el Mezzrole? Una combinación de pequeñas limas del Caribe francés en un puré, mezclado con un toque de vinagre japonés en una versión ácida y herbácea. Una base de jarabe de jengibre muy picante de Pickett’s oriundo de Denver, Colorado. “El mejor concentrado de cerveza de jengibre del mundo, y he probado muchos durante mi investigación”, señala.
El cóctel sigue con una base de Agricole de 100 grados, una creación artesanal de nanotecnología de THC. Eso incluye unos 10 miligramos de THC, de una cepa llamada Hippie Crasher.
“Es un trago realmente revolucionario y repleto de terpenos”, confiesa.
Mezzrole, re loco
A la sazón, el Mezzrole es una creación de Bobrow cuyo objetivo esdejar re loco a sus bebedores. “No quedás destruido, pero no es muy diferente a la versión social de fumar un porro. Eso sí, sin el molesto humo que anuncia tu presencia”, asegura el mixólogo.
Y continúa: “Quería construir un cóctel de THC que te permitiera llevar adelante todas las interacciones sociales de la planta sin condenarte al ostracismo social de los no fumadores. Estoy ofreciendo la experiencia completa del cannabis en un cóctel bien construido, que realmente huele como una flor de cannabis bien curada”.
Entre los tragos con cannabis más arriesgados aparece el que hizo durante su aparición en Viceland. “Me pidieron que hiciera un cóctel de CBD/THC que pudieran sentir”.
Allí, envalentonado por la sugerencia de la producción, mezcló una botella de whisky bourbon puro de barril con una porción de zumo de naranja asada, pomelo rubí con amargo de angostura y refresco italiano de naranja. Además, le agregó unos 250 mg de THC y CBD.
“Se encendieron un poco”, bromea Warren.
Buenas y malas, malas y buenas
Inminentemente, su libro Apothecary Cocktails está por llegar a su quinta reimpresión.
Sin embargo, no todas son buenas noticias para Bobrow: “La parte mala es que me incluyeron en la lista negra de la industria del licor, por lo que hubo una gran animosidad y miedo hacia mí. Injustamente, la verdad. Pero ese fue una especie de final para mi carrera. Aunque, en abstracto, no fue lo que acabó con mi carrera”.
¿¡Cómo!? ¿Warren Bobrow se retiró de las barras?
“Tuve que hacerlo por mi salud. Engordé mucho trabajando como embajador de marcas de bebidas alcohólicas artesanales fuera de los establecimientos y como juez de ron para el Ministerio del Ron y el Rum XP. Mi trabajo consistía en emborrachar a la gente con los mejores licores del mundo, con las recetas de mis libros y la experiencia que me proporcionaba el hecho de trabajar para Chris James en el Ryland Inn como ayudante de bar”, devela.
“¡No es un trabajo fácil!”, tira, entre chistes, a sus 61 años.
En la actualidad, Warren dirige la empresa productora de Klaus, una bebida ready-to-drink infusionada en cannabis, y despunta el vicio de la divulgación escribiendo con regularidad para las revistas Skunk, Cannabis Cactus y Different Leaf.
—La primera vez que bebiste un trago con cannabis fue durante aquella anécdota que contaste en la que tenías unos 16 años. Ahora bien, ¿cuándo fue la última?
—Mmmhhh… La última vez fue la otra noche. La experiencia fue, justamente, con Klauss, mi bebida. No quería beber ninguna de las aguas carbonatadas con sabor a caramelo, ni los jarabes. Son demasiado dulces, no me gustan. Por eso mi bebida no es dulce, ni mucho menos: es ácida y bien equilibrada.
THC prohibido, bienvenido el THC
Mientras tanto, el universo de la coctelería profesional mira con cierto recelo el mundo del cannabis. Es que, por estos días, el consumo de THC mezclado con bebidas alcohólicas es ilegal en Estados Unidos (a excepción de California). Por eso, sus tragos no están disponibles en los bares norteamericanos.
Entre sus próximas creaciones, Bobrow planea hacer una nueva versión del clásico Zombie, un cóctel compuesto por diversos tipos de brandy y ron mezclados con diversos tipos de jugos frutales. El cóctel contará con detalles provenientes de una cepa sativa que “hará que quieras bailar bossa nova”.
En su caso, el famoso mixólogo consume cannabis de manera medicinal porque padece de glaucoma y la marihuana le “preserva la visión”. Asimismo, reconoce que le gusta “estar re loco” porque le hace “sentir inspiración” y le permite escribir, abrir el cerebro y, según afirma, desbloquear su tercer ojo. “Por varios motivos, el cannabis forma parte de mi vida”.
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’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
Expanding on Clio’s enduring reputation for establishing best-in-class programs honoring creative ideas in a variety of specialized verticals, Clio Cannabis celebrates the creators at the forefront of cannabis marketing and communications. Launched in 2019, Clio Cannabis sets the bar for creative work in a rapidly growing industry, builds a greater understanding of a developing category, and elevates creative contributions from top talent and agencies.
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.
