How Long Does Weed Stay Good: The Basics

Let’s get to the heart of the matter. How long is weed good for? Under ideal storage conditions, cannabis can actually stay relatively fresh for a surprisingly long time.

If it’s been properly harvested, dried, cured, and then stored, you can expect your weed to stay fresh for anywhere from six months to a year.

If you’ve done an exceptionally good job of storing your bud, and you’re a little bit lucky, you may be able to stretch that timeline even further. Possibly to the point of approaching two years.

But for most weed smokers, conditions are less than ideal. In the absence of humidity controlled storage containers, and assuming that your weed will encounter some degree of light and the temperature might be less than perfect, don’t expect to get a full year out of your weed.

So how long does weed last? In general, try to consume all your weed within six months of purchasing it. But, of course, if you’ve invested in high-quality storage equipment, then you can push it out to the year mark.

How Long Is Weed Good For: The Scientific Answer

Now that you have a general idea for how long does weed last, let’s get into the more scientific answer. First, it’s important to understand what actually happens to marijuana as it ages.

Essentially, all the chemicals that make marijuana special break down. Over time, many of the cannabinoids and terpenes found in cannabis slowly break down and lose potency.

As the terpenes break down, your bud loses flavor and scent. As a result, old bud is relatively tasteless and lacks that distinctive, sharp odor that fresh weed is supposed to have. Sometimes, old weed will end up tasting harsh and nasty. Either way, when the terpenes have broken down, your weed won’t taste or smell the way it’s supposed to.

Similarly, and probably more importantly, cannabinoids also break down over time. Old, worn out bud won’t be as potent because a lot of the THC will have broken down and dissipated.

And here’s where we can get very precise with figuring out how long is weed good for. Fortunately, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has looked into things for us.

Their researchers found that, on average, cannabis plant matter loses THC potency at this rate:

• After one year, weed loses roughly 16% of its THC.
• Two years in storage results in a loss of 26% of its THC.
• Weed loses 34% of its THC after three years.
• After four years in storage, weed loses 41% of its THC.

How Long Does Weed Last: Is Your Weed Bad?

Let’s return to that old bag of weed you found at the back of your closet. How do you know if it’s bad? Basically, you’re looking for a few things:

• Is it moldy? If your weed was too moist or humid, it may develop mold. Do not smoke moldy weed!
• Is it dried out? If your bud has crumbled into dust, it’s obviously too old.
• Does it smell fresh? Old marijuana lacks the crisp scent of fresh weed.
• Does it break apart? If it’s spongy and doesn’t make any sounds when you pull apart a nug, it might be damp and moldy. If it instantly breaks down into dry dust, it’s too old.

How Long Does Weed Stay Good For?

If you determine that your weed has gone bad, it’s not the end of the world. Technically speaking, you can still smoke it. It just won’t taste very good. And since most of the cannabinoids have probably already broken down you probably won’t get very high.

But smoking old weed won’t kill you or make you sick. The only exception is moldy marijuana. If your flowers have encountered too much moisture they might get moldy.

If you see discolored spots, white fuzzy mold, or if it smells like anything other than cannabis, don’t mess with it. Smoking or otherwise ingesting mold can definitely make you sick or worse, so steer clear.

Now that you know the answer to the question, how long does weed stay good, what should you do to keep it fresh? To preserve your bud for as long as possible, practice proper storage techniques.

Try your best to control temperature and humidity. Keep it away from direct sunlight, and store it in a cool, dry, dark location. With a little bit of care and some basic equipment, you can get the most of your bud.

So, Does Weed Go Bad?

Yes, weed goes bad. In fact, there are a couple different ways it can go bad. On one hand, if your weed sits unused for too long, or you leave it exposed to too much light or open air, it will simply dry out and turn into dusty, crumbly, ineffective flower. On the other hand, if your weed is exposed to too much humidity or other contaminants it could go moldy. And you do not want to inhale mold smoke. Doing so can make you sick.

Beyond the possibility of getting sick from bad weed, keeping your weed fresh will give you a better product and a better cannabis experience. The longer cannabis is exposed to environmental factors such as light and air, the more the cannabinoids and terpenes deteriorate. So if you want weed that will taste and smell great, while getting you super high, take care of your bud the right way.

How to Keep Weed Fresh for Longer

Different cannabis products have slightly different needs if you want to keep them fresh and potent. Here’s a quick breakdown of how to keep different cannabis products fresher for longer:

Flower

To keep flower fresh, you need to store it properly. This includes limiting exposure to light and open air, and maintaining a proper humidity level, typically somewhere in the range of 54 percent to 63 percent.

To accomplish all this, store your bud in either a small glass Mason jar or a container designed specifically for marijuana. Keep the lid on tight, don’t open it very often, and keep it in a cool dark place.

And for humidity control, you can either toss in a humidity control pack—check out Boveda, Integra BOOST, or a similar product—or if you want to step up your game to pro level, you can store your weed in a dedicated cannabis humidor such as the Apothecarry, Cannador, or another similar product.

Edibles

To keep edibles fresh, leave them in their original package and store them in a place that’s away from open air and direct light. Be sure they’re in a cool location, as many types of edibles—especially things like hard candies and gummies—can easily melt.

Concentrates

The best way to keep your concentrates fresh and potent is to store them in small containers designed specifically for dabs. These are typically made out of glass, silicone, or a similar material. Keep the lids on tight and store the containers in a cool, dark place.

Vape Pens

As with any other cannabis product, it’s best to keep your vape pens away from direct light. Because the cannabis oil is already inside an airtight cartridge you don’t really need to worry about humidity or exposure to air. As a final tip, store your vape pen standing upright, as this will keep all the oil at the bottom of the cartridge, ready for immediate use.

(Updated from a previous post.)

The post Does Weed Go Bad & How Long Does it Last? appeared first on High Times.

Live rosin allows you to experience the purest flavors from some of the finest cannabis the market has to offer. As a result, true connoisseurs are picking up live rosin wherever they can find it. There’s some misinformation out there about what live rosin is and we’re here to help clear things up.

What Is Live Rosin?

If you keep up with trends in the cannabis concentrate space, you’ve probably come across the words “live” and “rosin.” However, we only started to see the two used together in recent years. Before that, the term was exclusively used to describe a type of cannabis concentrates called “live resin.” Live resin usually refers to butane hash oil (BHO) comprised of frozen flower or trim. Now, any products made with materials that were frozen immediately after harvest fall under the “live” category. The reason given for this has been to preserve the aromas of the live plant or the terpenes.

Rosin is something completely different. Rosin is a concentrate made with heat and pressure from a hair straightener, T-shirt press or something similar. One might assume that live rosin simply refers to freshly frozen plants that producers rosin press into concentrates. However, you don’t just pull a frozen plant out of the freezer and stick it in the press. There will still be moisture You’d be boiling water right alongside your cannabinoids and terpenes and destroying the quality of your final product.

So what’s the missing step? You need to make ice wax with quality freshly frozen material then allow that concentrate to dry before pressing it. Ice wax refers to a cannabis concentrate extracted without solvents. This is how producers made extracts without solvents before rosin presses or even BHO existed. Instead, producers use water and ice to agitate the trichomes off of the plant. Then, they collect it all with something flat like a credit card and allow it to cure. You can chop it up and spread it out so that the moisture can escape sooner. If you put your concentrate in a sealed jar immediately after extraction, the remaining water could form mold.

From Full Melt To Live Rosin

You won’t be able to use just any ice wax, though. The ice wax needs to have the qualities of a full melt extract if you’re going to use it to make live rosin. Full melt extracts are the highest quality of hash you can find. The name comes from the fact that it completely melts like a dab of BHO would even if it is in the form of a powder or solid. Experts rate hashes from one to six stars based on their quality. A full melt extract falls between the five and six-star hash rating.

Experts consider anything lower in quality a half melt or worse. A half melt will partially melt while the remaining plant matter and residuals will burn, making the smoke harsher and less flavorful. If you’re paying a hundred dollars or more per gram for non-solvent extracts and they’re not fully melting, you should take your money elsewhere.

Using freshly frozen material is better than dried when making full melt extracts because the fresh material won’t be dry and brittle. According to the legendary cultivator Kyle Kushman, “the main reason fresh trim is more likely than dried trim to yield full-melt is because it doesn’t disintegrate when agitated. You can get super clean full melt from dry trim. But you must be careful not to agitate it too hard.”

Once you’ve got your full melt ice wax, you can put it in a filter bag. Then, apply pressure at a low temperature to squeeze out some of the strongest, purest and most flavorful concentrates you’ve ever seen. The Bubbleman brand says their live rosin tests at about a 75 to 85 percent cannabinoid content with a 4 to 15 percent terpene content. They test both their flower and extracts for pesticides, potency and terpenes.

If you’re paying top dollar for live rosin you should get it from a reliable source. The most reliable sources provide lab testing from flower to sift to rosin to prove their product is safe, potent and as flavorful as possible.

Final Hit: Live Rosin

In short, live rosin is solventless hash oil made with full melt bubble hash that was made with freshly frozen materials. For the longest, full melt extracts have been some of the most sought-out,  highest quality non-solvent concentrates on the market. Live rosin takes things a step further by guaranteeing the use of freshly frozen materials. Pressing live rosin is fun to watch because producers make it with bubble hash and it squirts way more oil when pressed. Not to mention its much lighter in color than your average rosin. Most of the live rosin we’ve come across is bright yellow to off-white in color. Whenever we think concentrates can’t get any better artisan hash makers find a way to prove us wrong.

The post What Is Live Rosin? appeared first on High Times.

Although historically products like moon rocks have largely not captured the hearts and minds of general consumers, and while cannagars have been around for ages, somehow, the $100 to $150 plus pre-rolls filled with hash rosin have taken center stage for heady boys both domestic and abroad. So what’s the big deal?

Donuts, or hash holes, or whatever your preferred nomenclature, are massive joints, typically rolled with several grams of flower, but the magic here is the molten rosin core that further infuses your flower while you’re consuming. Not to mention you’re consuming from between 0.5 to a full gram of rosin through the experience. They rock EVERYONE.

Now, you’ve likely seen a gaping shot of one of these joints on Instagram, showing the rosin bubbling or the donut-like ash ring, but to put it into normie terms, y’all remember Ben & Jerry’s Karamel Sutra Core? The ice cream with the solid core of straight caramel down the center of the pint? It’s like that, but with top-quality flower and rosin. There’s flower on the top and bottom of this one though—the core of goodness is centrally located within the flower cylinder.

Started by trappers with more product available than they knew what to do with, over the past two years these doobs made their way to the legal market, and quickly became the rage for those looking to get knocked out. They are products of massive excess, so they’re not for everyone, but that hasn’t stopped the new kids from going way too hard on ‘em. Often rolled with a full eighth of flower and a full gram of rosin, these are probably the highest level smoke in the game today. Still, and despite the insane prices, fans across the nation are going stupid for them.

To continue with our December issue’s tradition of providing the best the year had to offer, allow me to bring another category to your attention: the best donuts/hash holes/volcanoes/worm holes/hash snakes (whatever you want to call ‘em) available today. Let’s dig in!

2022’S MVP HASH HOLES

Fidel’s 

One of the first to coin the term “hash holes,” Fidel’s can largely be credited with creating the hype these products have developed. Offering multiple sizes (from smaller 2 g mini’s to the almost 4.5 g big boy size), before Fidel’s I was calling these things donuts, which is what I had first heard from the trap. In Fidel’s own words: donuts are for cops, so the hash hole was born. Now while hash holes have been great for his business, Fidel’s absolute rise to stardom over the past few years have actually developed the larger category. You see, between collabs with industry legends like Champelli, and brands like Cookies, Fidel’s can really be credited for taking hash holes mainstream. Sure the trap has loved ‘em awhile, but the general consumers weren’t on the wave until Fidel’s showed up. Even further, he’s managed to bridge outside of cannabis, and through partnerships with artists like Aaron Kai and Anwar Carrots, Fidel’s continues to break new ground for all of us.

Artisan Cannagars 

These guys have been doing Thai sticks and cannagars for a long time, but somewhere over the past year they had their a-ha moment. That stick hole that used to run down the center of the Thai sticks? What if they just filled that with hash? Well voilà! They found themselves and in a few short months they’ve already created more than their fair share of memories for fans at events. You see, these guys aren’t doing any regular nonsense in their wraps, because of their expansive relationships you can see these guys at events across the coast both selling their own goods and creating new ones live IRL.

Dan’s Rollin Up

Dan is probably my favorite joint producer of this type, and he’s developed such a cult fanbase that almost everything he releases is sold before he’s finished rolling. One of the first curators of combos I came across, in my opinion Dan takes this experience to the next level not just with his expert roll technique, but because he’s constantly sourcing the best products the game has to offer and crafting combos filled with hype of the highest level. For example, it’s the only place I know in the world where you can acquire flavors from the most in-demand creators paired with one another IN THE SAME TUBE. It’s wild. Past that, Dan’s products are so hard to acquire there’s a literal golden ticket system just to acquire the ABILITY to purchase. No discounts, no first order special, just access. In a world that loves to pretend it’s small batch while magically having enough to serve the world, Dan is the real deal—there are never enough, and they’re gone before they’re made. If you ever have a chance to even get a hit off someone else’s, one light pull will send a normie to Pluto to campaign for it’s planetary recognition.

Chaliques 

Another traditional combo play, and taking a page from Dan’s playbook, Chaliques does an incredible job with their “forced collabs” which are (as it sounds) a compilation of their favorite flavor profiles, forced onto unsuspecting brands who were expecting pearls and ended up with diamonds. By avoiding the politics of the game, the gang at Chaliques have managed to turn some of the best flavor profiles out there on its head, bringing out entirely new terps as the two flavors melt together. Not only that, but these guys are plugged in with everybody, so nine times out of 10 the batches they’re getting are better than what’s hitting store shelves.

Bonus: Hash Paper Joints 

Now I’ll admit, while donuts are rad, they’re actually NOT my favorite new super infused doob available right now, and I couldn’t let this moment pass without putting you on. Friends, papers or wraps are no longer necessary when it comes to roastin’ bones, all you need is an enchanting hash paper joint. Originally created by Pixie Stix, and to this day still the best execution I’ve seen, hash paper joints are IMHO the future of smoke. Rolled utilizing just flower and a thin layer of hash wrapped around the outside to hold everything together, these don’t even remotely give me moon rock vibes. They’re simply science taking joint smoking to the next level. Now, Pixie’s still traditional market, and while I would say it’s worth going out of your way to find, I’ve already seen two others trying this method to varying results, Lowell and Axiom, so there are cheaper and entry level versions coming too. While neither stood up against Pixie (naturally, as he’s been doing it quite a bit longer and is an expert cultivator) so maybe the other guys will get better before long, but it wouldn’t surprise me if in 2023 this piece is about 100% cannabis derived doobs, and I’m here for it.

The post The Year of the Hash Hole appeared first on High Times.

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

WEST

Compound Genetics 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blueprint

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

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

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

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

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

Backpack Boyz 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fidel’s 

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

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

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

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

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

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

710 Labs 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Veritas 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Viola Brands 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Freddy’s Fuego 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Exotic Genetix 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Archive Seed Bank

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Goods 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wyld 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

High Road Edibles 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aether Gardens 

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

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

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

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

Mountaintop Extracts 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EAST

3rd Coast Genetics

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pure Options/Pro Gro 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aerīz 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Helios Hash

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

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

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

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

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

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

The goal at Helios is always full-melt.

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

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

Kolektor 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Solar Cannabis Co. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good Green 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The post 22 Best Brands of 2022 appeared first on High Times.

But Thailand was wild! I’m working on a piece covering our adventure that you’ll all be able to read sometime next month, but the long and short of it is that the country has embraced legalization like I’ve never seen before. There are independent stands to buy weed in front of dispensaries, there are trucks selling weed like ice cream trucks on every block. I’m not going to pretend they’ve got the highest quality yet, but they’re throwing themselves at it, and I love to see it. There are a few picks from there leading the list this month for anyone looking to experience it. We’ve also got some gems I found while attending the Harvest Ball, which Jimi & I went to the day after we returned to the states. Talk about overbooking.

(Also P.S. sorry to everyone I saw that weekend. It was a whirlwind and I was still coming down from my plane drugs so I barely remember anything, but I’m sure I didn’t get enough time to properly hang with any of you. I won’t make that mistake again – I’m coming well rested all 2023 :))

Anyway, I was hoping to get two more of these out before the year ends as I just turned 33 last week and it felt symbolic, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Guess we’ll start off ‘23 with #33, which is my lucky number so we’ll say we’re starting on a high note. If there’s anything you think needs to be included, or you just want to talk about one of the picks I made in this or previous lists, hit me on Twitter and let’s hash it out!

Thai Stick

If you’ve been paying attention to the culture for awhile you’ve probably heard the legend of Thai sticks before. Some of the first Sativas proliferating the states, Thai sticks were basically Thailand’s version of brick weed back in the day. Packed and bound tightly around actual sticks and smuggled to all the corners of the world largely through the help of the military, they’re something of an urban legend today. When we landed in Thailand they were obviously the first thing we asked about, but it became clear that this was an elusive delicacy. In fact, most of the dispensary guys we asked said to let them know if we found it for their own consumption needs. While this might not be completely obvious by the looks of us, but we found it, and the guy who has been packing them for almost 60 years. I can’t give you information on how to find him, but I can tell you he’s out there, and so are modern sticks.

Dr. Dope’s Double Dawg

I try very hard to ensure I’m not duplicating picks that other journalists have already written about, and although Jimi already mentioned Dr. Dope’s Double Dawg in his 12 Strains of Christmas piece for LA Weekly I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the best weed we found at a dispensary in Bangkok. While the game out there is still fresh, and the climate makes it difficult to produce tops, this was some real authentically Thai-grown heat. You could actually see the trichomes on this one, which was not as common as you’d expect in the developing market. That said, Dr. Dope was also a fun and frankly classy spot to hang in, worth the stop if you’re in the area!

Plantopia

This is less of a product and more of a destination, but if you want a truly unique weed experience (especially in Thailand), you’ve got to hit up Plantopia ‘Weed City’ on Khao San Road. Basically a weed strip mall, this shopping center has a maze of dispensaries and consumption lounges for you to purchase or consume in, and a nice open air smoking patio for you to sesh with the clients of other shops. It’s wild how in Asia having 100 of the same type of stores right next to each other doesn’t seem to bother anyone, but it was surprising for me. That said, it’s a very unique place to hang – everyone gets their own flavor without compromise.

Kasta’s Nam Wah

At the party I’ll detail in the last entry on this list, a local friend from the internet pulled up with some of his underground grown to show us. I’ll be honest, this was the best weed I saw that (I believe) was actually grown in Thailand, though it wasn’t through a traditional dispensary experience. He said the farm is just getting set up, and that it’s called Kasta. The group also says the cut is called Nam Wah, which is a cross between Banana OG & Mimosa from Symbiotic Genetics. They do love their sativa’s on that side of the world! Also big shout out to Bbboss for pulling up on us at the party!

Trufflez – Wockesha

Let me start off by saying that Trufflez is taking the branding game to a new level with this one. The pleather stitched mylar was not something I ever expected to see, but it also feels like a better compromise than most of the fancy bag attempts we’ve seen lately. It feels classier than a mylar – and while I’m sure it’s more expensive I’m curious to see how weed will last in this pouch long term. I’m going to do some experiments with that on my own. That said about the marketing, the weed in the bag is actually up to par. In fact, all the samples I saw from Trufflez were what I would consider real top shelf flower.

Turtle Pie Co – Purple Sticky Rice

Anytime I see something new from Turtle I know it’s going to be something that’s going to hit in the streets, but their latest, Purple Sticky Rice is hitting on a whole new level. Redefining the ‘candy’ nose most expect from some purple dank, these were some of the sweetest nugs to ever hit my nostrils. And I’m not just including this because of the Asian nod, this one’s definitely a gelato relative and we all know how the market loves that! All I’ve seen so far are the tasters so I’m not entirely sure if this one’s hit the streets yet, but when you get a chance, definitely tap in.

Life is Not Grape – IDK/IDC

You’ve heard me rave about LING in the past so I don’t need to go into how great his production skills, or brand design, has been thus far. You already know that his flower is killing it all over the country, and that his hash collaborations and donuts are top tier. Well friends, have you tried his new Runtz x Gushers cross yet? Because let me tell you, I am writing home about it. With all the sweet firepower you expect from two of the most popular strains of the past decade, LING’s got something truly special on his hands with this one – do I even need to mention how god damn hard this branding is?

Spoomalack

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with this one. I don’t know if he’s a brand, or if he’s just growing fire, but what I can assure you of is he’s definitely doing that. I met the new homie at Chronic Culture for the first time at their Kalya dinner (which was directly after Jimi & I got off the plane returning to the states) and every single cut he showed me was stellar, and fully rocked me upon deeper inspection (into my lungs). Not knowing if he’s a full brand, I’m not sure how available this flower is, but if you’re in the Bay and you hear someone talking about a cultivator with a weird name (I mean, what IS Spoomalack?), maybe it’s this homie. If it is, you’re in luck, young padawan. 

Flytrap’s Gumbo

These guys have been making a TON of noise down in Florida and I’ve been asked more about Gumbo than pretty much any other cultivar in recent history, so I’m pleased to report that it’s not just hype – the guys are doing something down there in the South East. I was fortunate enough to catch Superfly and El Tay on my trip back from the Bay (shout out to Jet Suite X, the trapper’s choice!), and they broke me off with some of their latest harvest and carte blanche, this is the best weed I’ve seen come out of Florida yet.

Sherbinski & Compound Genetics – Tribute

Felipe presented this to us in the Dank Tank Jimi and I hosted at the Harvest Ball and I’ve got to say, for a guy who has said countless times he’s over gelato, their new collaboration with the creator himself, Sherbinski, just rekindled my love. This Apples & Bananas x Gelato 41 cross smells and tastes exactly how you would expect, with a natural, yet couldn’t be more dialed in with additive terps if you tried flavor. You can smell the apples, the bananas, and that sweet candy finish Gelato’s known for. And it’s smokin’ too! While not quite as knock-you-out as a lot of Gelato varietals, this one’s a nice sunset smoke.

Bonus: Thai Lasagna

If you ever get the chance, you’ve got to try a Thai lasagna. I’ve been dreaming about these freakin’ things. When we went to visit Tropicanna, after sampling their wares the gang let us know they had prepared lunch if we were hungry. I had known one of the owners spent years living in Italy (you could tell, he had style); I didn’t realize he was half Italian. Not going to lie, I never expected to eat a lasagna and curry feast, but boy did we house it. It was the best hospitality we experienced in Thailand, in my opinion. There will be more on this in the ‘the Gang goes to Bangkok’ piece I’m working on, but for now just know I ate close to an entire lasagna by myself.

Nepotism Bonus: Phandee

I’m adding this as a nepotism bonus because Oliver, one of the proprietors of Phandee, was our guide for the Thailand trip, but I am not fronting when I say this was my favorite of the shops we saw in Bangkok. While the store itself isn’t all that big, it’s part of a larger footprint that also sells food, drinks and even booze, and has a great little patio in the middle so everyone can enjoy everything together. It’s not only a good setup, it also looks insane because the outside is wrapped in this rainbow translucent glass. Or plastic, I don’t know, but I know I like it. Oliver also hosted a party at the shop for us while we were there and I’ll be honest, I was not expecting anywhere near the type of turnout we got, or the amount of people who knew who we were. It was a great time and will surely be a check-in anytime I’m in the city.

The post Jon’s Stone-Cold Cop List #32: Thai Emeralds appeared first on High Times.

Make no mistake about it, 2022 was a good year for the heat. The perils of the ever-expanding cannabis market have forced legacy producers to put their best foot forward or join others in cannabis history if they haven’t already been ruined by the marketplace or the perils of licensing.

To an extent, the quality of product on the legal marketplace in California was one of the bright spots nationally for cannabis as other places like Michigan, Maine, and Oklahoma held their own more than ever. As you make your way east from the coast of The Emerald Triangle in Northern California the numbers start to creep up from the lowest prices even the best cultivators have ever seen.

There are only so many rappers to go around that can afford those $4,000 pounds. These days, many killers are getting half that if they’re lucky.

But with that West Coast price crash it’s been extra lucrative to move product direct to the East Coast where things are going off at the moment. This has led to a wild shift in the heat per capita making it east. Sure, there have always been elite weed boxes heading in that direction, but there is more of the best of it, now more than ever. Longtime California cultivators are stretched thin as they await the dawning of the new era in weed. What was once head stash quality is now the first thing to sell as folks struggle to make a living.

But from these shifting times, the heat shined through the fog again in 2022. We believe these strains were keystones in the arches that held up the hype this year, each one important in its own right with its place in history.

Here are our favorite strains of 2022:

TRIPLE LINDY (BLUEPRINT)

Since arguably the biggest launch of 2021 last summer, the team at Blueprint has lived up to the hype at every step. Be it the winter Zalympix or Hall of Flowers, wherever you ran into Blueprint their cannabis was sure to be a barometer for the heat in the room. If it wasn’t the most excellent jar you’d see, which it was plenty of the time, it was right there at the top of the pack.

Adding to the fun: a grower wildly respected in the right circles and a dash of secrecy. The Blueprint team is constantly hunting for their next hit with just over 140 new phenos dropping every two months from their dedicated propagation setup, and we know the winners are heat as their trophy shelf has proven. They just don’t tell us much else about these magical strains!

Jordan Aguilar, Blueprint’s co-founder and director of indoor cultivation, sat down to talk about the major successes the company has seen in its initial 14 months of operation. It was easy for onlookers to note a blistering start by any standards.

“I mean, honestly, last year just flew by and we’re just staying focused on what we’re doing,” Aguilar told High Times. “It’s unfortunate for people who are struggling. The market is in its infancy stage and figuring stuff out. But as far as us? We’re just so thankful for the community and the opportunity to show the world our craft.”

We asked Aguilar how much pressure there is to keep the rocket fueled with new elite strains. He laughed, comparing it to the performing arts when someone just expects a musician to drop a new hit song.

“What, I got to come up with another one?” he said with a laugh. “I just don’t feel any pressure. Because we’re in the same boat as anybody. Got to get seeds, you got to make seeds, you got to pop the seeds and you got to work. And at the end of the day, put enough time, effort, and energy towards a focused goal that will yield something beautiful.”

Aguilar went into how the Triple Lindy came to be during its initial selection about four months before Blueprint launched in the summer of 2021.

“It was week three in flower. It was like day two. I was just going around trying to check the nose on the plants and smell that one,” Aguilar said. “I just smiled so big.”

They had a true standout and crossed their fingers it would hold up, it did. The flower checked every box you could ask for when it came to uniqueness, flavor, and impact.

Blueprint plans to build even further in 2023 on the strong base of enthusiasm in the community from its first year in operation. While they focused on growing the best cannabis possible, the brand still had to find its footing in year one.

“We didn’t know who we were when we started,” Aguilar said. “We’ve kind of fallen into these characters and we’re kind of maturing into the brand. So I think we’ve laid a good foundation and now it’s time to keep working on that foundation as well as build upon it.”

ZOAP (DEEP EAST/WIZARD TREES) 

Over the last two years, few things have mattered more to elite cannabis than the work of Deep East Oakland (DEO) Farms on its Rainbow Sherbert (RS) line and its various famous pheno numbers like RS-11, Studio 54, and the star of the pack, Zoap.

The RS line dates back to 16 packs of OZ Kush seeds DEO bought at the Emerald Cup in the mid-2010s, the last time Dying Breed took part was in 2017. So that’s a testament to years of work in Oakland before the RS line took off. DEO found a bunch of killer phenos. Including a prize Z heavy male.

He F2ed the OZ Kush. It was named Pink Guava and had its own little hype wave in Oakland but nothing compared to its offspring. DEO would conduct an open pollination with the Pink Guava male on six other strains, among them his favorite Sunset Sherbert phenotype he’d ever come across known as the Black Sherb due to its darker than average color.

He would then share the seed stock from the OZ Kush x Pink Guava with Wizard Trees. DEO popped 120 of those seeds and found the #7, #16, #18, and #40. Wizard Trees found the #11 and #54 from the additional 100 he popped. We’re all still riding on the resulting hype wave but some would argue the Rainbow Sherbert #16 F2 #21, now famously known as Zoap, took things to a whole new level.

While those dessert and Z terps have been on the streets for well over a year, it very much invited only as Zoap’s commercial production scaled up to allow its conquest of 2022 full steam. DEO licensed the cut to Wizard Trees in 2021. Eventually, Zoap won the Zalympix Championships in Los Angeles after placing second in the Zalympix prior. It was arguably the most competitive cannabis contest series ever with as big of a feather as there was to go in any cap in 2022.

One cool thing about the build-up to Zoap’s prominence is it gave the DEO team more time to work the line. Zoap ended up serving as the backbone female for the RS F3 line. Much of that was debuted as part of DEO’s Black Box drop this past summer.

Regardless of where it goes from here, it’s hard to point to anyone that had a bigger impact on the exotic cannabis community over the last 24 months than DEO Farms, and Zoap is the flagship of that impact.

PINK CERTZ (COMPOUND GENETICS/SENSE)

It’s fair to say Pink Certz was a bit of a dark horse from Compound Genetics going into 2022. Strains like Jokerz, Red Bullz, Apples & Bananas, and Pave were capturing a lot of the spotlight, all deserving heat in their own right. Nevertheless, it may be fair to say Compound’s pairing of Grape Gas and The Menthol had one of the biggest 2022s of the pack. 

Why? Pink Certz would break into Compound’s most elite ranks with a victory at The Transbay Challenge III in San Francisco. Our own Jon Cappetta and Ellen Holland were among the judges that day as Pink Certz took down some of the biggest names in California cannabis to come out as the top dog.

When we asked the team at Sense how many seeds they had to dive through to find their magic pheno loaded with grape and fuel notes, CEO Steve Griffith replied with a laugh. 

“We got one pack, so it was 13 seeds,” Griffith said. “We were pheno hunting toward the end of 2021. And it’s actually funny because we weren’t initially… it was kind of one of those strains that we weren’t even sure we were going to keep it.”

It was a bit of a finicky grower, but so is a lot of heat. The Sense team wasn’t going to let that stop them from providing the galaxy with new and exotic terps.

“Frankly when we went to go into the Transbay we had such a hard time deciding because we trimmed up what we wanted to enter and then we’re like, ‘Oh, let’s check out some of these Pink Certz and put the jars side by side,’” Griffith said of Pink Certz winning the head-to-head battle with Sense’s other potential entry. “We literally showed up to the event with both jars in hand and in the final minutes were just like fuck it. We’re gonna drop it.”

So why did Griffith go with that phenotype in the first place? He loves grape candy. He thinks their pheno of Pink Certz has heavier grape terps than any version of its Grape Gas parent. But there are certainly still plenty of fuel notes.

One of the things that helped contribute to Pink Certz hype levels in 2022 is there isn’t that much to go around. Sense is a small batch grower and only produces about 100 pounds of it every month. The process of getting your hands on it has only added to the mystique.

Much of the time the cuts people find from Compound gear are measured against what they have in the house from their hunts at Node Labs or with cultivation partners. With most of their biggest hitters they found the best version. I think it’s fair to say in the case of Pink Certz, Sense took top honors.

PERMANENT MARKER (SEED JUNKY/DOJA PAK) 

Doja Pak had one of the biggest 2022s of anyone with their much-hyped weekly event series and the weed to match. And don’t get mad Hindenburg fans, but we think calling the Permanent Marker the biggest Doja strain of 2022 is a fair call.

Doja Pak’s founder Ryan Bartholomew said it all started with a run-in with J Beezy from Seed Junky Genetics at the Emerald Cup last year. The pair had chatted prior but hit off on the in-person meeting. Bartholomew was invited to the Seed Junky facility on his next trip to L.A. not long after. Bartholomew was given the opportunity to build out a menu for Doja Pak bred and cultivated by Seed Junky.

Early on Bartholomew would lay eyes in on the Permanent Marker. It would be the first official strain to hit the new Seed Junky-curated part of the Doja Pak menu. Bartholomew would start by teasing the strain in New York for this year’s epic 4/20 festivities. From there he would only add to the hype by kicking off Doja Pak’s Thursday Night Hollywood Strain Premieres with Permanent Marker.

So what’s driving all the enthusiasm? Good genetics. Permanent Marker is (Biscotti S1 x Sherb Bx) x (Gelato #41 x Sherb Bx) F2.

“I was able to go into his facility and pick ones that, for instance, with Permanent Marker,” Bartholomew said. “The first thing I did when I smelled it was say, ‘Wow! This kind of reminds me of Zoap.’”

We knew it was something his following would mess with. He brought it back to the rest of the Doja team and they concurred. At that point it was still called HH 1.5.

“The guys that I’m around every day, I kind of consider their consensus to be probably the most accurate in the world for our marketing, for what we do,” Bartholomew said.

Once the Seed Junky team had an idea of what Doja Pak was looking for they started doing a bunch of work with the Permanent Marker. It’s already been paired with a bunch of Seed Junky’s best gear.

“He has the male brother of the Permanent Marker crossed to the G #41 x Animal Mints. The male brother of the Permanent Marker cross to his Orange Pushpop. So it’s like basically once we started he dialed in what I like in the profiles and now it’s easy for him to select,” Bartholomew said.

In the course of the Hollywood strain premieres, they went through five pounds of sample phenos getting feedback on all of the selections. Keep an eye for more Permanent Marker phenos in the future.

LEMON CHERRY GELATO (BACKPACK BOYZ) 

Lemon Cherry Gelato is the oldest pick on the list. It was a very protected cut for its first few years in existence. Eventually, it got out there a bit more and is now a coveted cut for any nursery to be in possession of. But it all traces to the Backpack Boyz.

“Lemon Cherry Gelato came from a bag seed out of a Gelato #33 Connected pack in 2016,” Backpack Boyz Founder Juan Quesada told High Times. “That was the hottest shit at the time in 2016, 2017, was those black bags.”

It took a couple of years for everything to get pumped up to full production, but by 2018 they were really getting it out there.

“That was when I finally got it underneath about 50 lights and started getting a little something going with it,” Quesada said.

Quesada had found other seeds in other packs. None ever panned out like the Lemon Cherry Gelato.

Quesada emphasized that part of the mystique, regardless of how many lights he had going at that point, was just that it was something new. In a marketplace that’s seeing a lot of its cannabis come from the Gelato family tree, it still stood out in that pack.

Quesada also argues that branding helped. When the Lemon Cherry Gelato first dropped, he didn’t feel like a lot of people were going as loud as the Backpack Boyz were. At that time there was usually a jar involved when you were describing what top-shelf cannabis looked like.

We asked Quesada when he knew he was onto something special with the Lemon Cherry Gelato. He quickly replied that the first drop at Cookies Melrose changed everything.

“It literally was like overnight,” Quesada said. “The next day a bunch of people were hitting me up about it and knew about it that I would have never thought knew about it. Like I was getting tagged by artists. This was still at the time we still had a Backpack Boyz Instagram page.”

From there it just kind of spread like wildfire.

Now six years removed from when the seed was first popped, 2022 was the year Lemon Cherry Gelato entered a new level of folklore. Now it’ll be forever among those strains that had must-grow years like OG Kush, Blue Dream, or Ice Cream Cake. And of course, that’s not a knock on Lemon Cherry Gelato, that’s just a result of the hype so far.

This article can be found in the December 2022 issue of High Times Magazine.

The post The Best Strains of 2022 appeared first on High Times.

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Smoking Dog Gummies

Get a mild, pleasant buzz with Smoking Dog Hemp-Infused Gummies, available in two mouthwatering flavors: Tart Blue Raspberry and fruity Pineapple. Each vegan and gluten-free Smoking Dog Gummy contains 10 mg CBD and 10 mg THC for a perfectly balanced ratio. Smoking Dog Gummies are manufactured using a Proprietary Self-Emulsifying Nanotechnology, which allows oil-soluble nutrients to be carried from the lymphatic system directly to the bloodstream for fast, sustained relief.

$40

Nothing’s Impossible Double Recycler Dab Rig – 8.5”

If you’re looking for some of the smoothest dabs possible, then you’ve come to the right place. This piece features a double recycler design for even greater bubble creation, resulting in smoother, more flavorful rips. When you inhale, you draw water from the bottom main chamber, which then runs up through the side tubes and upper chamber of the recycling rig before reaching your lips. This recycler design not only provides cooled-down and better-tasting rips, but it also prevents nasty bong water from reaching your mouth!

$124.99

Pocket Pucker

HotBox’s Best Dab Rigs of 2022! Pocket Pucker is a small, handheld, portable e-rig offering a one button operation with 3 temperature controls to vaporize your extract from a ceramic dish. All parts are removable for easy cleaning. The Pocket Pucker may be tiny in size, but it is huge in performance!

$110 (20% Off with code HOLIDAY)

Full Spectrum Nighttime Gummies

The Hemp Doctor Delta 9 THC/CBD/CBN Full Spectrum Nighttime Gummies are the perfect gift for the person on your list that needs a good night sleep. These delicious gummies are a fan favorite made from 100% USA-grown, organic hemp. Each bottle comes with 375mg Delta 9 (12.5mg per piece), 450MG CBD (15mg per piece), and 150mg CBN (5mg per piece). Begin with 1/2 gummy and wait 90 minutes. It takes roughly 90 minutes for the edibles to take effect, so plan accordingly.

Three Yummy Flavors: Tangerine, Watermelon, Elderberry

Fast Shipping: Fast shipping across the United States and FREE shipping on orders over $30.

Premium Quality: Every item in The Hemp Doctor inventory is of premium quality – and we can prove it. Every product is tested by a third-party laboratory and you can easily find the Certificate of Analysis right on our website. This ensures that you are getting the strength and quality you desire in every tasty morsel.

30 piece container – $50

The Strongest CBD Roll-On

Give the gift of instant relief with the strongest CBD Freeze Roller in the world! 

Packed with 5,000 mg of pure CBD, and enhanced with soothing ingredients like aloe vera, menthol, and tea tree oil, this high-potency CBD roll-on targets local pain and inflammation for fast-acting relief whenever you need it.

Potent yet delicate, Crescent Canna’s CBD Freeze Rollers are THC-free, paraben-free, and lab-tested for quality and purity. They’re also among the most cost-effective CBD topicals available, at less than 3 cents per milligram of CBD – and that’s before Crescent Canna’s best sale of the year…

Holiday Sale! Enjoy 50% off CBD products at crescentcanna.com with code: HIGHTIMES. Deal expires January 1, 2023 11:59 PM central time.

The Hemp Doctor Pre-rolls

The Hemp Doctor pre-rolls are available in Delta 8 THC and CBD. Made from premium flower wrapped in king-size RAW cones, providing a smooth, natural draw. Prerolls are ideal for those consumers who hate rolling their own joints. It’s also great for those on the go who don’t have time to spare. These full spectrum joints can produce a mildly euphoric experience that you should feel the effects from within minutes. Our flower is carefully cultivated in the nutrient-rich soils of Southern Oregon, producing the most potent hemp and among the finest in the industry.

Nine Strains: Happy Daze, Witches Brew, Wedding Cake, Bubba Kush, OG Lime, Amnesia Haze, Abacus Diesel, Fruitloops, Afghan Skunk

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Premium Quality: All of The Hemp Doctor’s pre-rolls and flower are tested by an independent laboratory. This ensures that each pre-roll contains the amount of cannabinoid advertised and contains no harmful chemicals or byproducts.

CBD single joint – $7
Delta 8 THC single joint – $12.95
Delta 8 THC 5-pack – $24.95

Red Eye Tek® Hex Tube

For those who prefer ‘em a little bit taller, this Red Eye Tek® Terminator 18″ Hex Tube all-star stands out from the crowd. Available in multiple metallic finishes, this water pipe was designed for the experienced consumer who also happens to enjoy showing off their impressive lung capacity. Purchase the Red Eye Tek® Hex Tube today in their online shop.

$144

The Session Bong

The Session Bong embodies a “less is more” design aesthetic. Each detail of the piece has been carefully considered to ensure that they are beautiful and highly functional — intended to be your relaxation staple. The Bong is the winner of 3 consumer design awards and AAPI & Women-owned.

$185 Includes the Bong, Mouth Cover & Cleaning Caps + Free stocking stuffer ($20 value)

eight decades. 3 piece smoking set

Our original smoking set is attractive enough to be on display in your home and made to last a lifetime. Designed to look good on your kitchen island, bar, coffee table, heck — wherever you enjoy your smoke sesh! We created our brand with an intention to start the cannabis conversation and #StomptheStigma! 

The smoking set is 16 gauge, brushed stainless steel with powder coated lids in three colorways — black, green, or white. The rolling tray has a concave edge so your weed falls into the scoop and not all over your table. The ashtray has a removable interior ash catch that you can pop in the dishwasher. The multi-tool comes with two interchangeable tool heads — a scoop to grab your weed and a poke to clean your bowl.  

Join eight decades. in our efforts to Stomp the Stigma! 

Use Coupon Code: SmokeSesh 
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Suspected Hippie in Transit by Martin Frumkin

What was it like to backpack along the international hippie trail 50 years ago? Martin’s pre-tech, countercultural rucksack romp throughout Asia captures the tumultuous, don’t-give-a-damn attitude of such rebellious nomadic vagabonds as Marco Polo, Ibn Battala, and Neal Cassady. Martin “tuned in,” and “turned on,” but chose not to “drop out.”

Join a true hippie and natural storyteller as he treks in Nepal within the glacial Himalaya, hangs in palaces with royal freak princes in India, partakes of guiltless debauchery in tropical Goa, and enjoys opium-induced romance with willing maharinis. He compares the silky white sand of Sri Lankan beaches to the gritty deserts and Hindu Kush of Afghanistan and searches for enlightenment within Indian mysticism—all while integrating East and West, God consciousness, the Force, and chocolate-covered mescaline.

Not knowing the laws, values, and mores of foreign cultures, nor bound to those at home, Martin experienced an inexplicable, free-floating freedom. Written in diary form, Suspected Hippie in Transit takes you on that unique journey of a lifetime.

$16.95

The post The Ultimate High Times Holiday Gift Guide 2022 appeared first on High Times.

But this train doesn’t stop! I’m writing this on a plane to Taipei, en route to my final destination of Bankok, Thailand. Rolling out to check the newly legalized scene with my buds Jimi Devine and the High Rise gang, so you know there’s going to be a ton of transmissions from the road. Hopefully we don’t end up in an South East Asian prison. Only time will tell! 

If you can’t wait until the next edition to hear how it went, follow along with our antics on IG or Twitter. And as always, feel free to ping me and bitch about what I missed, or what should be on the next one!

Green Dawg’s Maracuya

I’m constantly hunting for ‘out of the ordinary’ flavors, and boy did Green Dawg hit me right in the strike pocket with this one. To start, this sweet yet musky cut is like, repulsively attractive. You know what they say about cologne needing some funk? This one’s allll over that vibe. And while a lot of brands have figured out tips and tricks to inflate the smell of their goods to potential consumers, you know they’re doing it the right way when you can actually taste the flavor on your tongue. Plus, it’s a Green Dawg strain – which means it’s not even trying to play the hype game, they’re just focused on producing really, really good weed that they themselves want to smoke. The ultimate QC process!

Portal Gummies

If you follow me on Instagram you’ve probably already seen these on my story a few weeks ago, but now that I’ve had some time to do my research I’m pleased to inform you all that they’re so much more than MDMA gummies. While those were dope, and I certainly enjoyed myself, this is only the tip of the iceberg for this team. Also producing both micro and macro LSD gummies, a combination Mushroom & Molly chocolate bars, and DMT both in vape and it’s natural forms, I have no idea how these guys are getting away with this but the drugs are legit so tap in with the gang to get way out there!

Doja Pak’s Giraffe Puzzy

I talk about how Doja’s crushing quite a bit, and I get it annoys some people looking for new names, but the truth is, once you see this next cut you won’t care about the other guys. The Giraffe Puzzy (a project the team has been working for years) is truly the one. With a flavor reminiscent of Chem, this bright green bud feels like a lost classic reinvigorated with todays tech. Not only that, but it will get you the perfect level of insanely high, and yet not slow you down. Y’all know I like the daytime steeze. Also worth mentioning their General Purpose pre-rolls. I grabbed one for the first time before Thanksgiving and I’ve gotta say – this is how pre-rolls should be. Three grams of all flower, and it smokes perfectly. They’re also blends of the gang’s favorite mixes – mine was Purp Dino x Stardawg 41 x Giraffe Puzzy, and it was the ultimate experience.

Talking Terps’ Terp Crawford Cases

Y’all know the Terps are my people, and while I do my best not to include every drop they do, there is so much heat coming out of that camp that it’s hard to go too many lists without including the gang. Now, we know the Terps like high end, and that not every product they release will be in every fan’s budget, and this is likely one of those – but man, just look at how dope they are! Made in Silver, Bronze and Brass, these iconic lighter cases feature TC’s likeness carved into the metals (as well as the classic TT logo emblazoned on the back). And while they might be pricey, it seems like a small price to pay to ensure your lighter always finds its way back to you! They’ve got a gang of other shit out rn too if you’re holiday shopping and don’t want to break the bank, tap in with the boys!

Snowtill’s Piescream

I’ve included Snowtill here before as more of a brand profile, but this time I’ve gotta call out a specific cut he’s been working on. To put it simply: ST’s Piescream is one of the most interesting cultivars I’ve tried recently. It’s got this like gassy and sweet nose, but what blew my mind is the bud has this like grease to it that’s incredible. Normal buds just make your fingers sticky – this provides almost a liquid residue on your fingers that eventually dry out to the stick we all know and love, but it’s clear this plant was finished properly, so I’m looking at this as an advancement in his capabilities. I’ve never seen anything like this before, and the almost lime flavoring on the inhale sort of numbs the mouth. Joe’s onto something special.

Cali-X’s Dole Whip

You likely already know I’m a big Dole Whip fan, but what Cali-X has managed to do with the cultivar has really taken it to the next level. Definitely the first time I’ve seen it in rosin form, but the flavor will smack you as soon as you crack the jar. While maintaining the pineapple sweetness, Cali’s version of it presents with a far stronger gas aroma than I’ve seen in the past. Not to mention it’s got an excellent cerebral effect that’s perfect for going down a deep rabbit hole, or melting into your couch with a good book.

Mike Glazer’s After Party at the Comedy Store

There are very few people I love as much in this industry and our adjacent communities than Mike Glazer. The host of ‘Glazed’, the pre-pandemic variety show at the Hollywood Improv Lab, was my favorite show in L.A. before all that COVID madness fucked our lives up. That said, ya boy is back with another instant classic that I had so much fun at I need you all to know too. Including insanely talented comedians like Neal Brennan, Ali Mac & Frank Castillo, Glazer’s show always has bells and whistles you can’t possibly expect, so you never know exactly what you’re in for, but let me promise you this: you won’t be disappointed you went. I believe the word on the street is there’s another coming before the end of year so keep an eye on his Instagram – you’re definitely not going to want to miss these!

Lemonskrill

While this is presumably a new name for many of us, you’re going to recognize the flavor of Skrillmo’s most recent project, Lemonskrill. Akin to Lemon Up, with that same almost sour lemon pungency, Skrillmo has dialed this one in in a classic, yet refreshingly new way. We’ve been chatting online awhile and I’ve got to say, the first taste he provided was certainly a head-turner. Plus, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention his marketing is creative, attractive, and you can fit way more than an eighth in the mylar if you feel like taking it on the road!

The Liz

This next one’s a collaboration between Squints, Foreign Genetics and Westside Gunn, and it smaaaacks! I know anytime we hear a celebrity’s name at this stage in the game it’s almost an instant tune out for most of us, but this feels more like a real play than an influencer grift. Squints ain’t no buster. In fact, I’ve been saying for a minute that what Foreign Genetics is doing is impressive, and this certainly continues the legacy. The dark buds have a perfumated nose, with an almost cheesy undertone, but it’s the attractive die cut mylar shaped like a woman’s bust with a third eye that makes it the complete package. And so as not to go too over the top on the celebrity angle, the only mention of Gunn comes from the scorpion pattern utilized in the bottom gusset. Honestly, it’s hard to knock.

GT Rolling

I’ve talked a lot about professional rollers lately, but something about what GT is doing is taking the experience to the next level. As I always mention, the flower is the most important part of the pre-roll, and every roll I’ve seen from GT smokes like it was just finished curing. Even better, they’ve got some of the most creative ways of promoting their products on Instagram. Hailing from the Mitten, ALL the flavor and terps you’d expect from any strain these guys are working with will be as vibrant as you’d expect had you rolled it yourself. Even better – while I prefer flower cannons over hash holes, his other brand, FlintStoned, can satisfy those needs for you as well! If you’re in Michigan tap in with the boys!

The post Jon’s Stone-Cold Cop List #31: MJBizCon finds… only kidding. They didn’t even have weed there. appeared first on High Times.

Guru means teacher. A guru teaches you your own true nature, which all gurus agree cannot be expressed in words. Lao Tsu said, “Those who know don’t say.” However, that hasn’t stopped anyone from trying, including Lao Tsu.

A guru can act in many ways: as friend, mirror, guide, God or psychic martial arts master. There is also always the possibility that a guru is even crazier than thou. More than one perfect master has turned out to be a perfect con man. Only you can tell, and when dealing with the mercury of your own mind, it ain’t easy.

Gurus, like everybody else, seldom agree with each other. If they did, everything would be simpler, but less interesting. This guide is a line-up of the major-league gurus whose philosophies have become national issues. We’ve omitted a lot of one-horse, 12-apostle gurus on the assumption that people will always go to the advertised brand.

Choosing a guru is a lot like voting for president. It is an act that requires a leap of faith, not to mention Kierkegaard’s teleological suspension of the ethical. What you are about to read may shock you. Look within before you look without. Beware. And be aware.

SRI CHINMOY

Bio: Born India, 1931. Entered an ashram at 12, spent the next 20 years meditating, came to New York in 1964. Director, United Nations Meditation Group. Author, 302 books. He is also painter, composer and musician—his latest disc being “Music for Meditation” on the Folkways label.

Philosophy: Emphasizes love, devotion, meditation through the heart and surrender to the guru. Meditates with disciples once or twice a week. “I enter into each individual soul and see what the soul wants from me: peace, light, bliss. Whatever the soul wants I offer in utmost silence.”

Lifestyle: Purity and cleanliness are prerequisites for Sri Chinmoy’s student. Alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and so on, verboten. “Drug addicts, alcoholics or hippies” need not apply. Male disciples wear short hair. “It is my inner feeling,” says Sri Chinmoy, “that when men have short hair they look smarter, more handsome and more charming.” Disciples live in their own homes, but must attend center meetings, unless they have a good excuse.

Drawbacks: His poetry, for one thing. Sri Chinmoy once wrote 843 poems in 24 hours. The quality of the poetry, pious doggerel, shows it. Painting and music, ditto. Disconcerting habit of signaling his entrance into the highest level of samadhi by rolling his eyes halfway up into his skull.

Quote: “To illumine our life we need pure thoughts. Each pure thought is more precious than all the diamonds of the world, for God’s breath abides only in man’s pure thoughts.”

Access: Sri Chinmoy, P.O. Box 32433, Jamaica, N.Y. 11431.

OSCAR ICHAZO

Bio: Born 1931, La Paz, Bolivia. Experienced paralyzing cataleptic attacks at six and a half. Studied martial arts, cabala, Gurdjieff, Buddhism, Confucianism, Zen and got high with Andes Indians. In 1969 in Arica, Chile, he began instructing John Lilly, Claudio Naranjo and others in “a mixture of ashram, monastery and boot camp.”

Philosophy: Arica identifies nine “hypergnostic” systems that manifest on physical, psychological and spiritual levels. The 40-day training clarifies these systems by using “psychocalisthenics”—movement, breathing, diet, “yantras” (mandalic op-art diagrams) mantras and more. The two penultimate steps—said to lead to complete enlightenment—must be taken within the protected space of a monastery.

Lifestyle: Aricans tend to live together, usually sharing apartments or houses. When there are disagreements, or if deeper group harmony is sought, they practice “trespaso,” gazing into the left eye of your partner in order to contact essential being. If it seems that no agreement or unity is possible, a person might find his ego “reduced” (told where they are stuck in no uncertain terms) or “circulated,” asked to move on till they can get it together. Sex, eating, drugs—LSD excepted—cigarettes, alcohol and sickness are permitted most of the time. Aricans tend to live, dress and party in high style.

Drawbacks: You cannot recognize another person’s level until you are there yourself, and you can’t get there yourself without taking the training. The 40-day training—including room and board in lovely rural settings—can cost as much as $1,400.

Quote: “A human being is more than anyone believes.”

Access: Arica, 24 West 57th Street, New York, N.Y. 10019.

BABA RAM DASS

Bio: Born Massachusetts, 1936, as Richard Alpert. Ph.D. in psychology. Harvard. In 1961, fellow psych prof Timothy Leary gave him his first hit of psilocybin. Experienced ego death, panic and the calm center behind and beyond it all before he and Leary were fired from Harvard. Lectured around the country about the wonders of psychedelics. Then discovered that no matter what he took or how often he took it, he always came down. Went to India and met an old man wrapped in a blanket, Nirmkaroli Baba, or just plain Maharaji. Maharaji swallowed a whole handful of LSD with no more effect than a slight twinkling of his eyes—he was already “there.” He christened Alpert Ram Dass (servant of Rama) and put him on a strict yogic training program, then sent him back to America, where Ram Dass began lecturing, this time about the spiritual journey. Be Here Now, a book Ram Dass produced with New Mexico’s Lama Foundation, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Other books include The Only Dance There Is and Grist for the Mill. His brother has called him Baba Rammed Ass.

Philosophy: Ram Dass teaches Ashtanga, or eight-limbed, yoga including bhakti-devotional song and dance, hatha yoga, meditation and doing good deeds daily. Dass’s main interest, however, is not to teach one form of yoga, but to help people understand the spiritual path. His lectures tend to emphasize the common experience of that journey, often using himself as a humorous example of what not to do. He has been called the stand-up comedian of the karma circuit.

Lifestyle: Ram Dass does not have a center or hold classes, and he claims not to have students. Until recently, he personally answered mail from anyone with a spiritual question. Last year he slipped out of sight—rumor has him back in India, supervising a statue of Hanuman he is building as a memorial to his guru—and all mail is being returned unopened. Everybody is pretty much on their own.

Drawbacks: Whereabouts unknown.

Quote: “Will [life] ever be The Big Ice Cream Cone in the sky?”

Access: Hanuman Foundation, Franklin, New Hampshire 03235.

BHAGAWAN SHREE RAJNEESH

Bio: Born India, 1931. Obtained realization at 21, while meditating in a tree. Taught philosophy at Indian universities and traveled around India lecturing, debating and generally causing trouble among the more orthodox Indian guru followers. Left academia and set up ashram in Poona, India, in 1966.

Philosophy: Before you can reach the deeper stages of meditation, says Rajneesh, you have to break through your psychological blocks. For this reason, encounter groups, primal therapy and rolfing are all part of ashram life. Rajneesh’s unique contribution to meditation technique is “chaotic” meditation, which begins with ten minutes of rapid exhalations, followed by “catharsis” or freaking-out, followed by jumping up and down shouting the mantra Huuu! This unblocks the sexual energy in the lower cakras. Then there is a period of silent meditation and finally, dancing to sitar music.

Lifestyle: Rajneesh is more concerned with totality than with perfection. There is an understanding that as you progress, impure habits like smoking cigarettes and eating meat dissolve. Sex is viewed more as a plus than a minus. Disciples—called neo-sannyasans—wear orange clothing and malas (rosaries) with a photo of Rajneesh.

Drawbacks: Poona is a long way off, and you find that Rajneesh is so sensitive now that people who arrive to see him for personal interviews are checked at the door for offending odors. Even the scent of shampoo is considered too much.

Quote: “One should live spontaneously, naturally and not try to follow any right or any wrong.”

Access: Shree Rajneesh Ashram. 17 Koregaen Park, Poona 411 011 India. Also: Ananda, 29 East 28th Street, New York, N.Y. 10016.

PIR VILAYAT KHAN

Bio: Born London, 1916, son of Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Khan, who founded the Sufi Order in the West, an adaptation of Sufi Islam as it is practiced in the Middle East. Named as father’s successor at the age of ten. Raised in England and France. Holds degree in psychology from Paris University, studied music at L’Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and comparative religion at Oxford. Spiritual schooling in India and the Middle East with Sufi masters and other esoteric teachers.

Philosophy: “Any person who has a knowledge of life outside and within is a Sufi. Therefore, there has not been, in any period of the world’s history, a founder or an exponent of Sufism, but Sufism has been all along.” Sufism emphasizes the unity of the mystical core within all religions. Thus, in Khankas—Sufi ashrams—Buddhist meditation may be practiced on Monday, Hinduism on Tuesday, Zoroastrianism on Wednesday, Sufism Thursday, Islam Friday, Judaism Saturday and Christianity on Sunday. The most commonly recognized Sufi practice is dancing, including the fast whirling made famous by the dervish school. Other Sufi dances are circular and slow, stressing the opening-up of the heart.

Lifestyle: Sufis are traditionally “hidden.” There is a New Age Community, Abode of the Message, in New Lebanon, New York. They run a VW repair shop, bakery, school and Aquarian Systems Computer Designs.

Drawbacks: The dancing is great for opening heart centers, but it’s easy to get very dizzy. No dope allowed.

Quote: “If you do not see God in man, you will not see him anywhere.”

Access: Sufi Order Secretariat, P.O. Box 396, New Lebanon, N.Y. 12125.

CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, RINPOCHE

Bio: Born Tibet, 1939. Recognized in infancy as a tulku, or reincarnation of the Eleventh Trungpa, one of a succession of enlightened Buddhist teachers. Trained in the Kargvu and Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Abbot of a large group of monasteries until the Red Chinese invasion’ of 1959, when he led a large group of followers by foot across the Himalayas into India, where he learned English. Attended Oxford, founded Samye-Ling Monastery in a remote part of Scotland and married an English girl. Some of his conservative students did not approve, and in 1970 he came to the states, where he found more fertile ground for his seemingly radical, unorthodox approach.

Philosophy: Buddhism begins not with the vision or promise of heaven, bliss or even enlightenment, but with the First Noble Truth, which is the truth of suffering. The root of suffering is impermanence, which leads to the Second Noble Truth, the truth of the origin of suffering. This is found through the practice of sitting meditation, which leads to the Third Noble Truth, the truth of the cessation of suffering. This leads to the Fourth Noble Truth, the truth that there is a path—a path based on facing the experience of your life, both positive and negative, directly. Buddhism also points to the transciency of all we think of as the self.

Lifestyle: Intensive practice is mixed in with a worldly lifestyle that might shock some more traditional meditators. Suits and ties are de rigueur for formal ceremonial occasions: Tibetan or Indian dress is discouraged. Trungpa’s major contribution to the American spiritual scene has been his introduction of the idea of “spiritual materialism,” in which the ego uses spirituality for its own gratification.

Drawbacks: Elusive, except when teaching at seminars and retreats. Sitting meditation is designed to bring you down, and not to get you high.

Quote: “Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss or tranquility, nor is it attempting to become a better person. It is simply the creation of a space in which we are able to expose and undo our neurotic games, our self-deceptions, our hidden fears and hopes.”

Access: Vajradhatu, 1345 Spruce Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302.

WERNER ERHARD

Bio: Born Jack Rosenberg, Pennsylvania, 1935. Left his wife to build an encyclopedia-sales empire in California where he suddenly “got it,” while sitting in his car—a natural setting for enlightenment in California. Through word of mouth and media coverage, est (Erhard Seminar Training) spread rapidly.

Philosophy: People are stuck in their conditioning like rats in a maze of their own making, for which they habitually blame everyone else. Once people “get” that, they can create their own experience and control their own lives.

Lifestyle: For people who make est their path there are ongoing workshops in relationships, communications, etc. You also volunteer to work in est offices, assist at events and start the process toward becoming a staff member or a trainer. This kind of work demands great efficiency and attention to detail, plus a casually expensive, razor-cut, sweater-and-slacks look. It’s OK to smoke or drink, though there’s usually not time for anything more than “getting the job done.”

Drawbacks: Training costs $300 for which the trainers insult you through a three-day spiritual blitzkrieg. Graduates of est can share a rather glazed good-German, just-following-orders air.

Quote: “You and I possess within ourselves, at every moment of our lives, under all circumstances, the power to transform the quality of our lives.”

Access: est, 765 California Street, San Francisco, California 94108.

SATCHIDANANDA

Bio: Born India, 1914. Worked in agriculture, mechanics, electronics, cinematography and business. Met Guru Sri Swami Sivananda in the Himalayas and received the sannyasi (monk’s) vows in 1949. Came to New York in 1966 for a two-day visit and stayed for five months, founding the first of his Integral Yoga Institutes.

Philosophy: Integral Yoga’s goal “is a body of perfect health and strength, mind with all clarity and control, intellect as sharp as a razor, will of steel, heart full of mercy, a life dedicated to the common welfare and realization of the True Self.” The main emphasis is on hatha yoga asanas (postures), but the Integral Yoga path also goes on to include pranayama (breathing exercises), selfless action, chanting of holy names, mantra repetition, prayer, meditation, study and reflection.

Lifestyle: The hatha yoga classes are open to anyone for a modest fee, and they are one of the best bargains in the spiritual marketplace. Advanced students become disciples, taking sannyasi vows of celibacy, vegetarianism.

Drawbacks: Swamiji has met twice with the pope, opened the Woodstock Festival, and along with a Zen monk, a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi, heads the Center for Spiritual Studies. By including everyone and everything, he has developed a style so broad and inoffensive that nothing very meaningful gets said. Fine for hatha yoga, but his answers to more complicated problems can get a little platitudinous (an English word meaning dull).

Quote: “We teach undoism, not Hinduism.”

Access: Integral Yoga Institute, 227 West 13th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011, phone (212) 929-0585.

MUKTANANDA

Bio: Born South India, 1908. At the age of 15 Muktananda met the renowned Guru Swami Nityananda. In 1961 Nityananda left his body and passed along the power of the Siddha lineage to Muktananda.

Philosophy: Muktananda transmits kundalini energy, which awakens a corresponding energy lying dormant in the disciple. Once kundalini is awakened, consciousness automatically expands. Some people experience visions, strong rushes of energy, spontaneous physical movements.

Lifestyle: The ashram Muktananda runs in India is strict and disciplined. Celibacy and purity are the norm for people who go all the way to become monks or nuns, although this step is not counted necessary. Men and women sit separately during chanting and meditation.

Drawbacks: Demands total surrender to the will. Forget it if you can’t surrender to the Guru Muktananda. If you like sex more than spiritual bliss, stay away.

Quote: “Kundalini is the supreme energy, the supreme intoxicating drug.”

Access: Siddha Yoga Dham, 324 West 86th Street, New York, N.Y. 10024, phone (212) 873-8030.

HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA

Bio: Born Calcutta, 1896. Retired from married life at 54 to become a sannyasi. Charged by his master with the responsibility for bringing the Vedic teachings to the English-speaking world, Bhaktivedanta took a freighter to New York in 1965. Opened the first International Center for Krishna Consciousness in a Second Avenue storefront a year later, teaching the mantra Hare Krishna.

Philosophy: Hindu fundamentalism. There is a God, whose name this time around is Krishna, the eternal, all-knowing, omnipresent, all-powerful, all-attractive personality of Godhead. We are not our bodies, as we might think, but eternal pure souls, parts and parcels of Krishna. All actions should be performed for Krishna rather than for our own sense gratifications. Devotees chant “hare Krishna, hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, hare hare, hare Rama, hare Rama. Rama Rama.”

Lifestyle: Devotees are encouraged to “extinguish” their senses—no sex unless for purposes of procreation, no meat, alcohol, cigarettes or drugs. Devotees wear orange robes, men shave their heads—except for a knot of hair—and generally follow the traditions of orthodox Hindu monks.

Drawbacks: Swallowing India whole often leads to a bad case of acne as well as spiritual indigestion. Members of the public generally consider Krishnites cross-cultural casualties who block traffic with their blissed-out incense-peddling on main streets of large cities.

Quote: “The name of Krishna is as powerful as Lord Krishna himself.”

Access: ISKON, 340 West 55th Street, New York, N.Y. 10019. (212) 765-8610.

Read the full issue here.

The post From the Archives: The High Times Guide to Gurus (1977) appeared first on High Times.

Anyway, the past month has been a whirlwind. Having not really slowed down since August, this one has selections from across my travels over the past month and a half that I’m just now getting the time to scribe. From the Bay, to New York, New Orleans, and back to SoCal, the past few weeks have been a blast, and I’ve got a lot of dope to share. Well, actually I didn’t find anything to write home about product wise while down in NOLA, but I did have a great time hanging there with the weed I brought from home. I did see a surprising number of billboards advertising mushroom products down there, too! The South is adopting psychedelics, what a time to be alive!

And while I’m back in town right now, we’re not slowing down for winter yet! With MJ Biz Con next week in Las Vegas, and the Emerald Cup’s Harvest Ball right around the corner – which, btw, ya boy was just announced as a flower judge on – the weed celebrations continue. Next week I’ll be at Jimi’s Heat Quest on the 15th, and at High Times’ BizBash afterparty with Method Man & Redman at Brooklyn Bowl on the 17th, so while you’re still of course welcome as always to hit me with the newness you’re excited about on Twitter, if you’re coming to the Con let’s get together and actually smoke it! 

Ten Co’s Nozu Pack (Blue Zushi)

If you’re paying any attention to the hype scene, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Team Ten and Zushi by now. Maybe the most notorious of the market leaders, there are few brands on the street with the level of fame, and brand loyalty, that these guys command. And while much of that market exists in the gap between quality cannabis and good marketing, these guys are the full package. Not only does that speak to the level of flower in their jars, but also the price point they’re able to command. You see, while I know much of the market is in a race to the bottom right now, there are few, cult-like fan bases that propel the cost of eighths and ounces far past those of its nearest competitors, completely opposite to the way the rest of the market is moving. These guys are one of those brands. Celebrating that fact, their latest release, the Blue Zushi Nozu pack, which is a play on the hyper popular Japanese restaurant Nobu, is simply put one of the best cannabis brand packages I’ve seen to date. Complete with a numbered tray, a sushi rolling mat, and chopsticks, it’s clear to see why fans are flocking to these premium one ounce packages. It’s an experience.

Rolled By G

G’s admittedly been on my radar for years now, but the way my guy’s come into his own is certainly worth celebrating. Today, pumping out many of the hash holes from leading brands like Backpack Boyz, Squintz and Billy Kimber, G has been a ‘professional roller’ since long before the wave became a desirable one to ride. Having made a name for himself before branding handrolls was a thing, and while everyone else may be on board now, few have the business side down as well as he does, and fewer will make this an actual career. Now operating a bonafide preroll factory with his team, G’s expanding on both the brand partnership AND team growth side, and we love to see it!

Tasty Selections

This is a new one for me, but I’ve been hearing rumblings about J Cush for a minute now so I wasn’t the slightest bit surprised when he brought over some of the new gear he’s been working on and it all smacked. Out of what I saw from his camp, there were 3 winners that I was immediately craving after my initial consumption – the Gusher Pie 3, his Zkittles cut, and the #15 from his latest hunt, which I can’t remember the crosses on. Whichever you choose, you’re in for a flavorful ride, as each of these cuts presented just as prominently on the flavor as they do on the nose. Perhaps more important than the flavor, the effect for each of these were just as expected, with the GP & 15 significantly slowing me down, and the Z elevating me into the perfect place to get this list finished!

Inspiration Seed Co

When I was back in NYC last month I was hanging at Astor Club one night when I met the new homie from Inspiration Seed Co. Now, while I am of course fortunate to meet a ton of cultivators, lately the game has been kind of stale. Everyone is rushing to recreate the same flavors and populate the streets with purple, candy and gas, but y’all know I’m on the hunt for flavors, rather than more of the same. Well friends, I’ve got to tell you – I’m REALLY excited about the portfolio Inspiration’s been working. Clearly the effort of years of hard work, what excites me about these guys is the breadth of terpenes they’re focused on presenting. With cultivars like Maui Sour, Monster Island, and Large Marge, each of these is incredibly bright in it’s own way, while providing more than nuanced differences between cuts. While I won’t call them all daytime strains, I will certainly say that if you’re looking for something that feels classic and yet new at the same time, check out Inspiration.

Yamz

Another new NYC homie, the Smugglers Club was working a pheno hunt for a new strain they’re working on, Yamz, and I was fortunate enough to get one of the tester boxes to try. Filled with 4 different phenos from the same seeds, what excited me most about this hunt was the clear differences between the candidates up for the final spot. In fact, the nuance between the pops were some of the most clear I’ve ever seen on a hunt, and each had a pull that deemed it worthy to be the final contender. Two expressions, number 11 and 39, were both extremely sweet, but with 11 you’d get it more on the nose and with 39 you’d get it more in the taste. That said, I think my favorite was the 31, which presented more of a hash plant vibe, which I’m a big fan of. Was a wild conundrum to be a part of, and it was made even more special by the fact that I was able to bring the kit back to my parents’ house and show my elders what this process is really like, which I’ll certainly never forget.

Chronic Culture

Y’all have heard me praise Jimi’s events countless times in the past, but I’m not sure I ever properly credited the gang that’s been putting them together, so allow me to introduce you to Chronic Culture. It’s true Ellen just covered what these guys are doing in her Champelli piece, and if you follow me on Instagram you probably saw my coverage from the last event of theirs that I attended, but in case you missed it, this one’s for the Bay. While these guys are certainly on the road, actually holding a party in Vegas next week for MJBizCon on the 15th, they’ve also put together a clubhouse of sorts in San Fran that I can’t wait to get back to. While I don’t want to blow up the spot and publish the location, it’s also not some big secret. Keep an eye on their page to keep up to date with their events, and the next time you’re in the Bay, pull up!

Rome’s Rolls

I’ve been talking a lot about professional rollers lately, and while I mentioned in my synopsis of Dan’s Roll Ups a few lists back, the name of the game right now is creating the right combos, there are many ways to play that flute. Now evolving the level of meta to the combo idea, Rome has created a truly next level experience in his product’s packaging that I haven’t seen anyone from that field come close to yet. 3D printing a whole jar interior holding structure, in Rome’s limited edition Restashes each joint is housed in it’s own sheath-style chamber inside the larger structure. The whole thing fits comfortably inside the jars you’re used to, so I’ll admit, you don’t realize what you’re in for from the outside, but once you crack the seal you immediately realize you’re in for a fun new adventure.

Cannabis Supper Club

Now this one’s a surprising one for me. I’m not usually the type to dig fancy dinners as I’m a picky eater and frankly most of that stuff usually seems like it’s made for someone with the appetite of a child. That said, I went to the first one that I actually had a really good time at, so I wanted to let you all know about it. The Cannabis Supper Club is made for people like us. While still focusing on the fancy, the point of these dinners is really to pair fine food with fine cannabis, and fine company – what more could you want? Taking place at different beautiful locations, the Supper Club I attended was built around American Wagyu, and while there were two fish courses that I didn’t eat, everything I did consume was out of this world.

Secret Society Hash Company x Six Star Cattle Co.

Speaking of the Cannabis Supper Club, the provider of the American Wagyu for the dinner was surprisingly the Hash sponsor, the Secret Society Hash Company, who also owns Six Star Cattle Co. Because one six star business wasn’t enough, right? Turns out, they’re crushing on both sides of the fence, as both the meat and the hash pairings were flavorful and fulfilling. While processing hash is no small task itself, I can only imagine what it must be like to have to both push paddles AND herd cattle in the same day, so I’m quite impressed by what these guys are doing. Not sure how they ever get any sleep, but I’m certainly thankful for their efforts.

Alkemist Organics

I gave them a quick nod in the Puffcon recap, but since we just did a different type of six star now I’m going to hit you with a different type of fresh press. If you’re looking for the best fresh juice in the game, look no further than Alkemist Organics. Providing not only the freshest of juices but also some of the most unusual flavors you could imagine, like Pink Pineapple or Cotton Candy Grape, this high end refresher finally has my LA-based ass hyped on fresh squeezed juice after almost a decade in town. And while his juice is good, it’s also very clear that Mo also cares about being a part of, and uplifting the culture. I’ve seen him at almost all of the SoCal events I’ve attended lately with a jug in his hand, which is more than I can say for most of the players actually trying to work this game!

BONUS: First Smoke of the Day

I have been trying to fit these guys into a list for awhile now as I really love the content they’re producing, but as I just filmed an episode with them and was worried about being nepotistic, I’ve included them as a bonus for this one so no one feels like I’m just mentioning my homies. That said, homies or not, what Lance & Cody have built is impressive for any industry, let alone one as fledgling as ours. Bringing in the most important voices from our community (and now me, who is not included in that group), Blackleaf (Lance) and Packgods (Cody) host some of the most incredible and insightful conversations I’ve seen from our industry players, pulling out all the sensitive and colorful details in a way that’s thoughtful, and comfortable for the guest, but incredibly informative for the viewer. Even better, the content is presented beautifully, with some of the best production work I’ve seen in our space to date. You can watch it on YouTube, but if you really want to support the gang and empower them to keep creating, sign up for their Patreon here. Also, be forewarned, my episode is all over the place – start somewhere else

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