KAPRIKORN

You may be familiar with the name, but Kaprikorn’s new flower facility is set to impress the most seasoned of growers and weed aficionados. Even if you weren’t already aware of their trustworthy clone facility, their award-winning flower is quickly making waves across the state.

Tucked away in southwest Eugene, everything in their facility (roughly the size of an entire city block) has been planned with the utmost intention and attention to detail. It’s evident upon entry that this team has dedicated the necessary time, patience, and immense experience to create one of the most methodic grows we’ve ever seen. Co-owner Kahlil Niemeyer gave us a tour of the entire facility – from the dehumidified attic space down to the unused storage areas – offering consumers a glimpse of what they can anticipate in the months and years to come.

The crew at Kaprikorn originally built a name for themselves in 2017 selling high-quality, dependable clones – primarily sourced directly from breeders and cultivated themselves – to recreational Cannabis farmers throughout Oregon. The crew has seen hundreds of grows, clocked tens of thousands of hours, and had their hands on hundreds of thousands of plants during their many years in the Oregon Cannabis space. Using their immense knowledge and vast experience, it was finally time to show the other farms the true potential their clones and flower could offer.

Working with other grows is how Kahlil met Johnny, the head grower, and after watching him turn a grow around in just three weeks, he knew he had to have his expertise in their garden.

From Colorado to Oregon, Johnny’s 20-plus years of Cannabis cultivation experience was the obvious match for this new venture.

They acquired the keys to the new indoor facility in March 2021 and immediately began building their new teams and collective dreams. Together, they finally got the first flower room operational in April 2022, harvested that July, and became fully staffed just months later.

The main facility is split between two floors: The first floor consists of four flower rooms, two drying rooms and multiple office spaces, while upstairs the post-production team cares for each plant with dedication and intention – using first-rate equipment to process the flower or to prep for extraction.

“Everything our flower touches should be food-grade quality,” says Kahlil, and rightfully so. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a prodigious part of their regimen. They’re so serious about it that we had to stand in a cleaning chamber before we could enter the hallway to the flower rooms.

As we walked through the site, we could feel the general air of comfort that complements the meticulous attention to detail.

In the open, windowed trim room the crew remained professionally focused on the project at hand. But a small joke from someone quickly filled the room with giggles and a sense of commonplace camaraderie. Johnny and fellow grower Travis were constantly smiling and laughing as they showed us the most mature of the four flowering rooms, and it was immediately obvious to see the special relationship they maintain with the plants. They listen to each individual one, taking the time to dial in the little details at this beautiful home to 40 strains (currently) in the flowering stage.

Each 2,200-square-foot flower room has five rolling benches with two strains per bench – totaling 10 strains per room. They use seven-gallon tall pots, four wide in each row, and fill them with Organic Matters soil. Since every cultivar uptakes nutrients and water differently, they mix their own organic amendments to optimize the growth of each cultivar.

Upstairs, each room is climate-controlled to perfectly cure and store the flower, with each batch and cultivar organized with diligence and care.

You won’t find anything older than what they would personally smoke themselves.

Kaprikorn is a family-owned and financed company with more than just award-winning buds.

This Oregon company even pays full employee benefits – including dental, vision, and out-of-pocket costs (like copays). It’s a refreshing take and holistic approach to creating happy Cannabis – from the plants to their people.

WITH A FLURRY of fresh flavors on the horizon, we were fortunate to find this new blend of Ice Cream Cake #5 and Grape Cream Cake by Tokyo Starfish going by an appropriately frosty moniker: Purple Ice Water. Available in flower, pre-roll, and as a clone, consumers have the option to grow their own or simply smoke it. The genetics come from Bloom Seed Co. and were hunted in house. But for an extra special twist, the team at Tokyo Starfish ran a company contest with this cultivar –giving all of their employees the opportunity to grow and submit a cut –with the winner chosen at the employee holiday party. The team tells us it’s, “part of an intended learning process of how difficult it is to grow good weed.” Several hues of bright lime and mint alongside dark forest green contrast against white trichome heads covering the entirety of the nug structure. As the second sense takes over, smells of fresh, crisp grapes with a cake-like sugary dough find their way towards the back end. It’s as if a pie is cooling in a nearby window, while the smell wafts from a distance. In this writer’s opinion, combusting through a clean pipe gives one of the most intimate experiences when testing for flavor, but we were also tempted to try this in joint form. The first thing that tickles your taste buds is a grape and berry-like sweetness, engaging the palate to be met with a tidal wave of vanilla and dough reminiscent of an elephant ear. It burns clean and is gentle on the lungs, with little to no coughing through to the end. Needless to say, it’s clear that this pheno was hunted for flavor as well as smoothness.

With consumption of flower still making up over 50% of the market sales in Oregon (according to several independent studies), we can expect to see more new and enticing flavors taking the state by surprise. Tokyo Starfish’s Purple Ice Water is one to watch out for.

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