Oct. 2022 - Oregon Leaf

WES

wes@leafmagazines.com

MIKE

ricker@leafmagazines.com

TOM BOWERS

tom@leafmagazines.com

DANIEL BERMAN

daniel@leafmagazines.com

AMANDA

amanda@leafmagazines.com

MAKANI NELSON

makani@leafmagazines.com (808) 754-4182

O’HARA SHIPE ONLINE

ohara@leafmagazines.com

MEGHAN RIDLEY

meghan@leafmagazines.com

CORTNEY “BUBBLES” DONACA

COMMUNITY & BRAND

bubbles@leafmagazines.com

ABOUT THE COVER

For our magazine’s first-ever Tech Issue, the founder and CEO of Puffco, Roger Volodarsky, was a worthy cover figure. From his company’s headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, Volodarsky oversees a growing empire of Cannabis consumption devices which haveforevermorphedthecommunity.

But as the Leaf’s Bobby Black makes clear in his fascinating profile, this is one tech mogul who would rather stay behind the scenes and let his products tell the story.

Making the pictures throughout this piece was the art of California-based freelance photographer Justin L. Stewart, who has freelanced for the Leaf since 2021.

PHOTO by JUSTIN L. STEWART @JUSTNLSTEWART

CONTRIBUTORS

DREW BARDANA, ILLUSTRATION

DANIEL BERMAN, PHOTOS

BOBBY BLACK, DESIGN + FEATURES

JOSHUA BOULET, ILLUSTRATION

TOM BOWERS, FEATURES

TYLER CAMERON, PHOTOS

KATELYN COLLINS, FEATURES

HOLLY CRAWFORD, FEATURES

AMANDA DAY, FEATURES + PHOTOS

STEVE ELLIOTT, NATIONAL NEWS

RYAN HERRON, FEATURES

DAVE MCDOWELL, REVIEWS

JESSE RAMIREZ, DESIGN

RESINATED LENS, PHOTOS

MIKE RICKER, FEATURES

MEGHAN RIDLEY, EDITING

ZACK RUSKIN, FEATURES

RYAN SANETEL, PHOTOS

TONY SIMONELLI, PHOTOS

DIANA THOMPSON, FEATURES + PHOTOS

JAMIE VICTOR, DESIGN

DAN VINKOVETSKY, FEATURES + PHOTOS

COORDINATOR

NATE WILLIAMS, FEATURES

WES ABNEY

Editor’s Note

Thanks for picking up the first Tech Issue of the Leaf!

When I first started smoking weed, the pinnacle of tech was turning an apple or a soda can into a smoking device. Personally, I always loved the apple pipe, as it turned into a healthy snack afterwards and there was no evidence left behind to get in trouble for!

Luckily for Cannabis lovers, the legalization movement has led to investment and innovation into fun and creative ways to get baked. From home infusers for making Cannabis cooking oil, honey and topicals, to the variety of vaporizers and gear for taking the perfect dab – there’s a plethora of new ways to consume the plant we all know and love.

This month’s cover story comes to us via Puffco Founder and CEO, Roger Volodarsky. Unless you’ve been stoned and living under a rock for the last few years, you likely know the name Puffco and have tried their line-up of amazing electronic vaporizers. Puffco has definitely changed the game for the portable consumption of Cannabis, and they continue to lead the way in combining tech with pot – including the release of new toys like the Proxy, and the super useful Hot Knife dab tool. Check out Bobby Black’s interview and dive into the world of Puffco, which we get a glimpse of on our iconic cover.

As there’s no shortage of great companies making Cannabis tech these days, our Leaf team also compiled a selection of our favorite gear for getting high. Check out our roundup with innovations ranging from portable terp fridges to joint tips, and everything else you might need to up your stoner game or add to a holiday shopping list! While this is our first Tech Issue, I definitely expect to see it coming back for years to come as the world continues to embrace Cannabis use in a modern format.

So whether you’re an old school joint roller (we have a new machine for that) or the most trendy terp hunter, there’s a piece of tech to help you get more stoned – and as always, a bunch of other Leaf content for your enjoyment.

Thanks for reading, and keep your e-nails charged and at low temps!

THE ENLIGHTENED VOICE

NORTHWEST LEAF / OREGON LEAF / ALASKA LEAF / MARYLAND LEAF / CALIFORNIA LEAF / NORTHEAST LEAF

“OUR LEAF TEAM ALSO COMPILED A SELECTION OF OUR FAVORITE GEAR FOR GETTING HIGH.”

ANTI-DOPING AGENCY CONTINUES CANNABIS BAN

The World Anti-Doping Agency is likely to keep a ban on marijuana use by athletes in 2023.

The agency continued the ban despite pressure to change the policy on Cannabis after U.S. sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was barred from the Summer Olympic Games after testing positive last year.

With the continued ban on weed by the body charged with preventing drugs in international sports, athletes who test positive for marijuana in competition will face suspension from eligibility. However, last year WADA announced that it would conduct a scientific review to determine if pot should remain on the banned substances list – receiving the encouragement of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to conduct the review, as well as broad support from athletes and politicians.

MIDWEST WICHITA DECRIMS POT; COUNTY COMPLAINS; MAYOR GETS SPICY

First, city council members in Wichita, Kansas (at the urging of the mayor) decided to stop enforcing the pot laws. Then, Sedgwick County commissioners threatened to bill the city when the county enforces the pot laws. As marijuana remains illegal in Kansas, that prompted Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple to vigorously clap back at the the county.

The marijuana decriminalization ordinance was the mayor’s idea. Whipple called the discussion by Sedgwick County commissioners on a city ordinance change for marijuana possession a “political show.” The mayor added he doesn’t see the county having any legal basis for billing the city on the costs of prosecuting pot possession cases.

“The mayor added he doesn’t see the county having any legal basis for billing the city on the costs of prosecuting pot possession cases.”

County Commission Chairman David Dennis called on staff to look at the possibility of billing Wichita for expenses resulting from handling the cases in district court. “At what point do we start charging the City of Wichita for this process?” Dennis asked. “Because we’re going to bill them for all the people that go into our jail,” he threatened.

But as Mayor Whipple said, “It just feels like a bad civics class on YouTube. There’s no legal way to send us an invoice for the stuff that the county chooses to spend their money on. That’s not how this works.”

CALIFORNIA LAW PROTECTS CANNABIS USE OFF-THE-CLOCK

California will likely soon become the seventh state to protect workers from losing their jobs if they smoke marijuana when they are off the clock.

State lawmakers in August passed a bill to stop companies from punishing workers who fail certain types of drug tests. The analyses in question do not determine whether a person is high. Instead, they identify metabolites indicative of whether the person has used marijuana in recent days or weeks.

These tests use urine or hair samples to detect a substance the body makes when it breaks down THC. But the THC metabolites can stay in a person’s body for weeks after using marijuana, according to the Mayo Clinic. That shortcoming means that people who fail a marijuana test are often not impaired at all.

Assembly Bill 2188 protects workers from punishment for failing the aforementioned drug analyses – however, companies could still reprimand employees for failing other types. These include tests using saliva, which are reputedly better at determining if a person is currently high.

43% OF YOUNG ADULTS USE CANNABIS

Marijuana use among young adults reached an all-time high last year. In 2021, nearly 43 percent of individuals between the ages 19 and 30 said they had used Cannabis in the past 12 months.

The research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and conducted by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. The Monitoring the Future report found a steady increase in marijuana usage in the age group over the past decade. The numbers rose from 29 percent in 2011 to 34 percent in 2016.

Monitoring the Future research has tracked substance use in the United States for more than three decades.

PREGNANT WOMEN

FOR WEED

a traffic stop in Alabama, a cop found a small amount of marijuana.

Ashley Banks, a 23-year-old woman, admitted to officers that she had smoked weed two days earlier. It was the very same day that Banks learned she was pregnant. She was six weeks along.

It was this disclosure – the fact that she was pregnant – that led Etowah County officials to keep her in jail. But this was done so without a trial, and she was locked up for the next three months –charged with ”chemical endangerment” of her fetus.

Banks fell victim to a weird Alabama law that advocates say Etowah County enforces with disturbing enthusiasm. Pregnant women arrested for drug offenses aren’t even allowed to post bail and go free (the way everyone else is). They have to stay in state custody: either in jail, or in a residential drug rehab program.

The “logic” is that the women are supposedly a danger to their fetuses. Therefore, they supposedly need to be imprisoned by the state for the duration, in order to “protect their pregnancies.”

sports

TENNIS STAR UPSET ABOUT POT AT US OPEN

ounces of weed will be legal to possess if Maryland’s Question 4 is approved by voters.

pounds of illegal Cannabis was discovered in a Salt Lake City warehouse in September.

pounds of untaxed marijuana was seized in a Wolf Creek, Ore. bust last month.

of Republicans believe legal Cannabis businesses should have the same rights as other legal businesses.

Nick Kyrgios was in the second set of his second-round match against Benjamin Bonzi at the U.S. Open in late August – when out of the blue, he turned to the chair umpire and started complaining about a whiff of marijuana being in the air at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

“...he turned to the chair umpire and started complaining about a whiff of marijuana being in the air at Louis Armstrong Stadium.”

Up a set and at 4-3 on serve in the second, Kyrgios asked the umpire to issue a warning to the crowd after claiming he saw and smelled someone smoking weed.

On the way to his bench during a changeover, the volatile 27-year-old petulantly sniped, “You don’t even want to remind anyone not to do it?”

in medical marijuana sales for July made up Colorado’s lowest total since January 2014.

market loss, on average, is experienced by pharmaceutical companies after a state legalizes weed.

STORIES by STEVE ELLIOTT, AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF MARIJUANA

BUTTERMILK

Hot out the oven! Our Buttermilk Biscuits highlights those rich bakery scents we love with hints of orchard fruit and pine forrest. Fresh with a bit of funk, this profile is enjoyable down to the very last puff.

100th issue lookback

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

TOM BOWERS @CANNABOMBTOM

It’s fall 2019, and the Oregon Leaf team is ripping down I-5 in the company short bus, heading into the sungrown heartland on a mission to tour a bevy of beautiful farms on a quest for content for our annual Harvest Issue.

STATE DIRECTOR AMANDA DAY @TERPODACTYL_MEDIA

Storytelling is the oldest of art forms and it’s an absolute honor to be part of telling this community’s tale. As we celebrate Oregon’s 100th issue, it’s impossible to find a favorite moment in (my) 33+ Leaf Nation publications. So many of you have opened up your farms, facilities, homes, and hearts over the years! But it’s the people that make this magazine. That’s why our profiles will always hold a special place in my heart. This team has grown up with the community – which means that we’ve seen some of you begin by sharing your struggles in our Patient Profile, only to reappear years later in the Stoner Owner section as self-made successes! It’s nothing short of inspiring. Thank you for continuing to let us share your passion for the plant.

“SO MANY OF YOU HAVE OPENED UP YOUR FARMS, FACILITIES, HOMES, AND HEARTS OVER THE YEARS!”

It’s a classic scene – we’re showing off our Bo’s Nose and Nelson & Co. collections and debating over who gets control over the stereo, when BANG! It sounds like a car exploded right next to us. Our intrepid captain, Wes “Bearded Lorax” Abney, slowly steers to the side of the highway, where we discover that we’re down a tire, stuck in the middle of nowhere. A couple of roadside safety meetings later and we have a new tire – back on the road for a classic Leaf adventure. At the Leaf, our rearview mirror is filled with amazing friendships, wild shenanigans and a significant amount of unbelievable hash and flower. So much has changed since that 2019 harvest trip, but one thing remains the same: We love this community, and are willing to do what it takes to keep our tires pointed down the road, unwavering on our mission to support the plant and the people behind it.

“OUR REARVIEW MIRROR IS FILLED WITH AMAZING FRIENDSHIPS, WILD SHENANIGANS AND A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF UNBELIEVABLE HASH AND FLOWER.”

Oregon Leaf has always been involved in some aspects of my life during my time in Oregon.

From being friends with one of the writers in my college freshman days, to using it as a resource to provide top notch products to the dispensary I worked at (shout out to Herbal Remedies and the Decamp Family/Rest in Love Jered), to becoming a sales associate, and eventually taking over the role of sales director. Oregon is now my home, and the Leaf and our community remind me of that daily. Much love.

“OREGON IS NOW MY HOME, AND THE LEAF AND OUR COMMUNITY REMIND ME OF THAT DAILY.”

AUG. 2015, ISSUE #14

FEB. 2016,

#20

SALES DIRECTOR MAKANI NELSON @CHOICENUG

DANIEL BERMAN

BERMAN

OPERATING PARTNER MIKE RICKER @RICKERDJ

On March 15th of 2011, I was fired from rock radio station KUFO in Portland. Holding down the afternoon drive duties for two kick-ass years in the Rose City was a dream come true for a kid from the backwoods bayous of Pensacola. But at the end of a 20-year career behind the mic on nine different stations, this unceremonious departure marked the finish line of one of life’s most incredible journeys.

Having grown up with two older brothers and a father who was a terrestrial radio troubador, Cannabis use was standard in our household. And at the age of 12 in the high-energy arena of a Santana concert, the first try off a doob happened. The love affair was sparked.

So after being kicked in the teeth once again by the corporate radio machine (fired five times overall), I went on a soul search to discover what I wanted to do when I grew up. And after five years of traipsing the globe while attempting to attract some directive from the universe, the inexplicable powers directed me to this burgeoning culture. Which led me to one of the highlights of my life: taking the stage of North Warehouse to host the 2022 Oregon Leaf Bowl. The feeling wasn’t so much kicking back at the bottom line-driven soul gut of corporatism, but more like internalizing the glory of the prodigal son returning with the wisdom and humility that I needed to learn. After all, our goal at this company is not to act from a place of vengeance – but forgiveness and gratitude.

So, with the arrival of this 100th issue of Oregon Leaf, life has reiterated yet another lesson to be learned: That generally, what you perceive as punishment (being fired from Portland’s rock station) leads to the growth you need to ultimately direct you toward living the happiest, most fruitful life. And growth is what we’re all here for. Just like the plant itself.

“HAVING GROWN UP WITH TWO OLDER BROTHERS AND A FATHER WHO WAS A TERRESTRIAL RADIO TROUBADOUR, CANNABIS USE WAS STANDARD IN OUR HOUSEHOLD.”

FEATURES WRITER RYAN HERRON @THELOUD100

FORMER STATE DIRECTOR NATE WILLIAMS @NATEW415

After running Oregon Leaf for more than three years, it’s impossible to pick a single moment that sticks out … there are so many. The whole experience was mind-blowing and something I will never forget. It was awesome working with so many amazing people and businesses over the years, being able to highlight and uplift so many brands in the pages of Oregon Leaf, and being able to provide our publication free of charge, statewide, every single month. To have such a big role in helping document and preserve years of Oregon’s Cannabis history was an honor and something I’ll carry with me as one of my proudest accomplishments in life to date.

“THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE WAS MIND-BLOWING AND SOMETHING I WILL NEVER FORGET.”

Since its launch in Summer 2014, Oregon Leaf has etched an indelible memory of Cannabis activism, entrepreneurship, innovation, trials and tribulations, achievements, victories and breakthroughs all around our beautiful state. Along the way, our small but heartfelt team of reporters, editors, photographers and artists have documented the region in a way that no mainstream publication ever could - because Cannabis journalism is truly, uniquely, undeniably, our singular beat. A few of Oregon Leaf’s past and present contributors sought to reflect on our 100th issue and what it means to all of us here to be a part of Oregon’s Cannabis history and ever-changing future. Thank you so much for reading our publication, supporting our work, and joining us on this incredible journey. Here’s to the next 100.

-CREATIVE DIRECTOR DANIEL BERMAN

One of the most memorable features was Ruthie’s – a food cart cooking exclusively out of a wood-fired oven. The owners were the nicest dudes, but beyond that, the food was phenomenal. We paired their rockfish sandwich on grandma’s fresh baked rolls with High Noon’s Platinum Garlic Butter. It was such a stellar combo we were raving about it all the way to print. By the time the magazine hit the newsstand, Ruthie’s had been featured on Netflix’s Somebody Feed Phil. There’s been a line ever since.

Missed one of the last 100? Revisit our free online archive to see the full digital replicas of every magazine edition at www.issuu.com/nwleaf

“BY THE TIME THE MAGAZINE HIT THE NEWSSTAND, RUTHIE’S HAD BEEN FEATURED ON NETFLIX’S SOMEBODY FEED PHIL.“

NORTHWEST CANNABIS COMPANY NORTHWEST CANNABIS COMPANY

Friendly community vibes & service

ACCORDING TO THE STATE OF OREGON DATABASE, there are over 794 dispen saries throughout 98,466 square miles. However, there are pockets throughout the state not allowing the sale of Cannabis products due to some kind of city restriction. These cities decided early on they did not want to participate in the sale of “drugs.” Now after seeing a profitable tax increase of 55% in 2020-2021 as compared to the prior fiscal year, some cities decided that the sale of Cannabis would be the perfect economic squeeze. Here we find a refreshing new addition to the Can nabis landscape in Tualatin – Northwest Cannabis Company.

Exiting the I-5 freeway on Lower Boones Ferry Road, we were immediately met with a sign spinner holding a plac ard with bright green words reading ‘WEED’ with an arrow pointing towards a bright new gleaming sign, accom panied by the notorious green medical cross.

Positioned with intent next to Mary Jane’s House of Glass, Northwest Can nabis Company features a classic amenity – dis creet parking just beyond the public’s eye – a homage to the medical days of the past. Upon entering we were greet ed by a number of budtenders, working on natural wood floors with bright open viewing cases.

A selection of jars overflowing with flower wrapped around the back wall with a jaw-dropping array of flavors. Northwest Cannabis Company is solidly stocked – operating with over 70 strains of flower consistently (and at times even over 100), not to mention a wide variety of edibles and extracts.

The front cases also display glass from next door, enticing one to travel over in search of a new piece.

We sat down and spoke with the General Manager Jeremy Hall, an Oregon native born in Klamath Falls. The shop is as busy as a supermarket in the midst of opening on the border of Tualatin and Lake Oswego – two of the more financially prosperous cities in Oregon. As of January 2020, the owners had been waiting for over four years to establish a dispensary in this niche location, knowing very well that this shop would be a kind of refuge for the Westside consumer who doesn’t want to commute 20-30 minutes for their Cannabis.

Quick to draw when restrictions were eased by the city, North west Cannabis Company beat their competitors by “15 seconds according to the timestamp,”

Jeremy told us with a smile.

A feat brought upon only with patience and diligence through sitting in on every city council meeting, as well as forming a plan of attack when timing seemed fit.

Working their way through their third quarter, Jeremy tells us the store has seen im maculate sales growth in the first two, thanks to their philosophy of “quality at every price point we can achieve.” In my 10 minutes of perusing the lobby, I could not help but no tice a staggering number of people entering and exiting this seemingly brand new store. Bustling with a gambit of customers, everyone is treated with stellar service as they browse the fine selection of Cannabis in the shop.

“We take pride in all of our products, we simply would not purchase otherwise,” says Jer emy as a nearby budtender fills the room with his laughter, as well as the customer’s. It goes without saying that it’s remarkable how in such a small amount of time, Northwest Cannabis Company has made such a noticeable impres sion on the community.

Oregon Leaf Budtender of the Month EELARON MATHEWS

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU EACH DAY? I’m a father to the greatest seven-year-old on Earth. My daughter is a big motivator to keep my head up and keep pushing.

TALK TO US ABOUT WHAT YOU LIKE TO DO OUTSIDE OF WORK… About a year ago, I started making custom rugs. I got all the materials I needed and built a big frame in my dining room. Since then, I’ve been selling rugs via Instagram @RareRugs.pdx as a side hustle. When I tell you I’ve found my gift, I mean I really love to make rugs! There are so many sizes and shapes and colors.

IF YOU WERE A FAMOUS MAGICIAN, WHAT WOULD YOUR FAVORITE ILLUSION BE? Voodoo! I like The Shadow Man from Disney’s ‘The Princess and The Frog’ … I have a seven-year-old daughter – don’t judge me (laughs).

WHAT BROUGHT YOU INTO THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY? I was selected to participate in a Cannabis class that was being held at Green Muse (it was Green Hop at the time). There, I learned about the plant’s life from seed to sale and about all the different jobs you could get within the industry. A lot of people think you can only work as a budtender, but there’s so much more. And so much more money to be made.

IF ANIMALS COULD TALK, WHO DO YOU THINK WOULD BE THE RUDEST? Animals can talk. Haven’t you seen Dr. Doolittle? Just kidding (laughs). I think crows and pigeons would be the rudest. They spend a lot of time in the city around people. And we all know how people can be sometimes.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CANNABIS ADVENTURE? I’d say getting real baked and going to see a super good action movie, or riding the Lime scooters downtown with some friends. Or even chilling at home playing the PS5. Those are all once-in-a-while things. I’m honestly in love with the time I get to spend tufting rugs.

SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE MUNCHIES? Ja’Das Soulful Eatz on MLK … or a big-ol’ sandwich (no tomatoes or onions ) ... or Fish Fusion on MLK. ..or a big-ass chicken caesar salad from Papa Murphys.

FAVORITE MUSIC? When and if I have the time, I like to listen to whole albums all the way through from beginning to end. Some of the artists that just take me there (especially when I’m smoking some “Strawberry Guava” from TJ’s Gardens) are Kendrick Lamar, Larry June or Nipsey Hussle. Lately, I’ve also been tapping into the local rap scene here in Portland for local artists like Mic Capes, King Wess, Backwood Burnie, Northside Tego and Foday.

EELARON “E” MATHEWS was born and raised in Portland. After graduating from Jefferson High, he “dibbled and dabbled” in a few career paths. But it wasn’t until 2016 that he decided to jump into the blossoming Cannabis industry at Portland’s one-of-a-kind hip hop shop, Green Muse (formerly known as Green Hop). Fast forward a few years and you’ll find this well-studied fellow budtending and assistant managing at The Canna Shoppe on Halsey. Follow him on Instagram @e__double.

INTERVIEW by DAVE MCDOWELL @BROSILVERFOX

PHOTO by DIANA THOMPSON

“I’M A FATHER TO THE GREATEST SEVEN-YEAR-OLD ON EARTH. MY DAUGHTER IS A BIG MOTIVATOR TO KEEP MY HEAD UP AND KEEP PUSHING.”

ChemHistory

What inspired you to start a Cannabis lab?

My son has his master’s degree in biochem and was selling lab equipment. He approached me and said, ‘Dad, there’s this great opportunity in Oregon to test Cannabis.’ I had always thought that Cannabis should be legal, so it just clicked. Not really knowing any thing about the laboratory business, we just packed up and drove here. That was in the spring of 2014.

How quickly did things come together after you decided to go for it? It was the stars aligning. My wife and I had businesses at the time, but this was too good to pass up. We were talking about it one night and three months later we were here, up and running.

What crazy foresight you had in 2014! Then, it was pretty much just like jumping into the fire. It’s been a ride. It was really fun in the beginning because it was such a wild business. There were so many entrepreneurs in Oregon that were going for it that it was just a really fun, exciting time.

It seems like you’re remaining focused on the Oregon market. Yeah. My main thing is that I don’t have the desire to start a lab anywhere else. I just want to have one kick-ass lab here in Oregon.

Where do you see the future of the Oregon market when the borders open up? It’ll be much like the beer industry, you’re going to have super cheap beer, and then you’re gonna have craft beer that connois seurs enjoy. I think Oregon is set up to take over the craft end of the market.

Do you feel like ChemHistory is well positioned to support that? I think we will be a legacy lab for the next 10-20 years. Truly, I think that what has allowed us to stay in the market is being honest and having integrity. Our motto for the companies is, ‘Do your best.’ If you do that, then everything else takes care of itself.

STORY by RYAN HERRON @THELOUD100 for OREGON LEAF | PHOTOS by DIANA THOMPSON

We sat down with Alex Hogan, founder of ChemHistory, to talk about how the Milwaukie Cannabis testing lab got off the ground and what he sees for the future of Oregon Cannabis.

“I think Oregon is set up to take over the craft end of the market.”

ALEX HOGAN

Keep out of reach of children. For use by adults 21 years of age and older. Do not drive a motor vehicle while under the influence of cannabis.

IN A TIME when the Cannabis industry is in such a dynamically fluid state of change, it’s a blessing when you stumble upon a person who takes on the full responsibility of being a steward of the plant – and its healing properties first and foremost. Erik Leib and his team at Ananda Farms do that exact thing, where their love of plants and people is the driving force behind cultivating sungrown, organic Cannabis.

What got you into the Cannabis industry? What motivates you each day, and into the future? I grew up in San Diego in a home where we ate natural organic food, used natural medicine, and both my parents smoked Cannabis regularly and treated it in the normal natural way it should be. … After high school I immersed myself in the world of homesteading and gardening and by the time I was 20, I was up here in Williams working at a medicinal and culinary herb farm, where I worked for over 10 years growing all sorts of healing plants. This was in the beginning years of OMMP, so I also started growing medical [Cannabis] in about 2001 and have had my card ever since. My love of plants and Cannabis in particular are what motivates me to learn more about cultivation, which in turn allows me to provide high quality, organic, sungrown, sustainable, healing herb to the people.

What sets Ananda apart from other farms? I think it is the combination of three things that defines Ananda Farms. The location/terroir … being in the foothills at 1,700 feet [with] great southwest exposure, being in the northern watershed of an 8,000foot mountain range, plus the perfectly-balanced sandy loam native soil, and clean mountain air and water. Also, our tilth/ growing methods are focused on mineral balance and soil biology – using natural regenerative practices to increase the overall quality of our flower. And working with Cannabis for over 20 years, I have developed my own craft – from the strains we select each year, as well as the classics we retain, to the detailed processes from harvest methods to farm-direct delivery of hand-trimmed flower.

How do you pick what strains to put on the market? It starts with understanding what good Cannabis is – whether there are strains I specifically enjoy or that others really enjoy. When we search for new flavors we go through many different options, but less than 10% make it to full-batch production. Other criteria are that it must grow well on our land and with our seasons, and produce quality flowers.

What are your biggest challenges in the Oregon Cannabis industry? For one, there is all of the red tape of owning a licensed Cannabis business in general – from unnecessary compliance to unfair taxation. On top of these hurdles, there’s the specific challenges of the over saturation of producers growing more than they can sell and having to let everything go for cost.

Can you dive into the work it takes to achieve the certifications you have? After running an Oregon Tilth certified organic farm, it was second nature to make sure my farm had the highest certification – to show that we are serious about organic, sustainable Cannabis. Clean Green is the closest we can get to certified organic until it is legalized in the whole country. All of our products are listed and approved to be strictly organic and soil tests are taken annually to confirm only organic production has taken place. We have had an annual inspection of the farm every year since inception.

A Stoner Owner is a Cannabis business owner who has a relationship with the plant. We want to buy and smoke Cannabis from companies that care about their products, employees and the plant. You wouldn’t buy food from a restaurant where the cooks don’t eat in the kitchen, so why buy corporate weed grown by a company only concerned with profits? Stoner Owner approval means a company cares, and we love weed grown with care. Let’s retake our culture and reshape a stigma by honoring those who grow, process and sell the best Cannabis possible.

by

OREGON LEAF

PHOTOS by TONY SIMONELLI

“ I think it’s the combination of three things that defines Ananda Farms – location/terroir, -growing method -high quality genetics.

PORTLAND

HIGH STANDARDS

It’s a beautiful drive out to Boring, Oregon. Evergreens wrap both sides of the highway as you cruise towards Mt Hood. In this picturesque region, we find Portland High Standards –a beautiful facility nestled in the mountainous countryside among several large commercial nurseries. The farm was originally a large equestrian center for riding and boarding horses. But after an extensive remodel, it was reborn as a state-of-the-art growing facility.

OWNER GERRIK LATTA has adapted to change throughout his entire career. From humble beginnings in the medical market to running a large recreational grow facil ity, his capacity to adapt has been crucial to staying alive in an ever-shifting market.

We could go on about how good his Cannabis and grow are, but Latta is more interested in sharing his battle with the Hop Latent Viroid (HLVd) and how it almost took him out of the game.

Latta started growing and honing his skills in his medical gardens back in 1992 in Gaston, Oregon.

By 1996, he worked on several med ical grows and was enjoying the bud ding legal Cannabis community. In late 2014, Oregon passed Measure 91. Latta bought the property (where they currently operate) and applied for a recreational license in early 2015. Their land-use application was approved just three days before the county shut down the process for grows in the area.

After a lengthy battle with a former investor that almost ended in disas ter for the farm, Latta was able to finish the buildout with a new and like-minded business partner. They built 12 large grow rooms, a cure room, a spacious nursery for moms and clones, and a beautiful nutrient work room. The nutrient room is artfully designed and deserves mentioning.

Justin Hemler, the owner of Plum dawg Millionaire (@plumbdawg_mil lionaire), is the handyman behind the nutrient lines that run like arteries throughout the facility. The nutrients are mixed up and delivered to the rooms on a schedule that Latta developed and monitors religiously. I spent some time checking out all of the plumbing as we toured the grow. Each pipe and bend were symmetrical throughout, and all the fittings and manifolds were works of art on their own – solidi fying Plumdawg as a craftsman with a huge passion for his trade.

His terpene tests from that period were well under 1% and he said the yields were “pathetic.” He lost 91 strains to the viroid. So, Latta threw himself into researching the disease in an effort to understand and prevent it. At that time, part of the problem was a community divide on HLVd. Although, we eventually learned that it spreads mechanically through tools, equipment, and people.

Latta took what he learned, educated his team, and created Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for every part of his facility. When we visited Portland High Standards, we were quickly escorted into a lock er room to put on lab-like suits.

Latta also asked that everyone vis iting had showered, wore clean clothes, and avoided visiting another farm the day before. Simple steps and protocols like these can help lower the risk of the viroid spreading from farm to farm. But it takes attention to detail and persistence.

On one occasion, the Portland High Standards team followed cleaning SOPs but forgot to clean the plastic stakes that hold the irrigation lines down.

“Latta took what he learned, educated his team, and created Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for every part of his facility.”

“Something as small as missing that can mean another outbreak for strains you’ve paid to clean up,” Latta said, looking over the rolling bench full of luscious plants. “Until I got some of these genetics back from being scrubbed, I had forgotten what they were supposed to look and smell like. You get so used to how they’ve been expressing with the disease,” he said, smiling as he showed me his clean cuts of flowering Sunset Sherbet.

But back to the defining conflict of Latta’s story: Some time had passed since the rebuild and Portland High Standards had made a name for themselves in the market, but Latta started noticing a problem. His plants were beginning to lose vigor and smell. One by one, whole runs underperformed, and the numbers fell accordingly. Soon, the team realized they were dealing with one of the newest problems in Cannabis cultivation: the dreaded dudding disease, aka the Hop Latent Viroid.

Hop Latent Viroid is a plant-specific pathogen that causes dudding or stunting. HLVd can lay dormant and undetected in a plant before showing any signs or symptoms. Affected plants will have abnormal branching, declining vigor, heavily slowed trichome and terpene production, and decreased yields. There are testing kits, but those get expensive very fast for commercial grows - Especially when the recreational market is paying growers record-low prices.

When the dudding got bad, Latta said he slowly lost terpenes and vigor throughout the grow. “I used to smell the weed out at the fence when I passed through the gate, but as the viroid got worse you couldn’t smell the terps outside of the grow room door.”

Latta’s research led him to the world of tissue cultures. Experts say they can effectively “scrub’’ the viroid out of a plant’s RNA. The tissue culture process involves propagating clones in a controlled, clean environment and using cells from the infected plant to “filter” the viroid out. The plant cells are grown in a test tube and the process is repeated until the viroid is undetectable and the clone can be verified clean. From there, the lba can store the “clean” clones for the farm to order as needed.

Latta decided he needed to learn the tissue culture process for himself. After doing his research, visiting laboratories, and talking with experts, he found a labora tory willing to place a prop agation and testing facility on-site at Portland High Standards. The goal is to test, scrub and propagate all of the strains Latta has collected over the years. He has even hinted at offering their services to others once they are dialed-in and running.

“Everyone has the viroid. It’s everywhere,” said Latta. “Many don’t want to talk about it (like it’s embarrass ing) and there are others who don’t even know they have it.”

STORY by JIM DAVIS @JIMSBIGDREAM for OREGON LEAF | PHOTOS by RYAN SANETEL @QUALITY.CONTROL.MEDIA

SILVER HAZE

Their “Lucid” branch of the brand, however, is produced with a “proprietary filtration system” that sets it apart from their other offerings. Let’s sit down with some Super Silver Haze (originally bred by Nevil Schoenmakers), a Mana staff favorite from the organic, greenhouse-grown Foley Farms.

The Mana team has prepared this live resin offering as a sticky, applesauce consis tency. A bright-gold blend of tiny, dazzling diamonds and thick sauce makes this dabbable product a breeze to work with. The nose features pungent magnolia, orange and fer mented fruit notes. But there’s a piney-haze profile that’s also peeking through.

Floral flavors finesse the lead during the dabbing experience, while some sour citrus notes man age to maintain their presence. Overall, it’s a smooth translation of nose-to-flavor with each inhale yielding a slightly different layer, from musky flowers to tangy fruits. The combination is reminiscent of a sweet champagne.

A spicy spank to the senses fol lows the exhale that’s equal parts taste and potency-driven.

It evolves into a heavy-headed high with a focus on the eyeballs and back of the brain – a stimu lating, energetic buzz that doesn’t bring you down.

The effects are a lasting legacy of the classic cultivars (Skunk #1, Northern Lights and Haze) that define one of the world’s most recognizable strains.

“A spicy spank to the senses follows the exhale that’s equal parts taste and potency-driven”

This month, we’re firing up our torches and trying some of Mana Extract’s “Lucid” line. The Portland company produces a variety of products, from diamonds and sugar wax to shatter and cartridges.

TERPENES + THCV =

VIVA ENTOURAGE

At VIVA we use spirit animals to represent the di erent e ects of terpenes combined with varied concentrations of THCV. This is called the “entourage e ect.”

Explore the full VIVA entrouage at www.thcviva.com

s can to learn

What is

THC WARNING: For use only by adults 21 and older. Keep out of reach of children.

not drive a motor vehicle while under the influence of marijuana.

“A buttery buffet of umami that steers your palate so far from the dreaded dry mouth, you just might need a bib.”

This succulent strain is an exclusive from Crop Shop Cannabis, a small team tackling big flavors in Deschutes County. With a focus on water purity and labgrade environments surrounding their soilless drip systems, they provide an unadulterated profile representation and exceptionally smooth smoke.

Several of the Crop Shop’s strains have sparked our interest (and joints) in recent months. But it’s the VK1 that keeps finding its way into our lungs (and hearts, apparently). Originally referred to as “Voodoo Kookies,” this cultivar is a masterful mashup of Thin Mint GSC and SFV OG. The crew tells me that the original plant was bred and gifted by an anonymous acquaintance.

Densely decked-out nugs appear as a soft greenish-gray at first glance. But a closer inspection reveals deeper green and black colors below the layers of glistening glands. Crack it open to find flecks of purple and an impeccable cure. Each nug pulls apart with the tacky resistance of carefully-coddled resin heads full of tenderly-handled terpenes.

The team at Crop Shop tells us that (come test time) this cultivar packs a profile with the likes of limonene, beta-caryophyllene, beta-myrcene, linalool and farnesene. These terpenes translate into a robust tale starting with a funky, savory dough and rolling into a refreshingly sweet, woody finish. It’s a complex aroma to identify, but this only lends more to its allure.

With a fresh bong and gentle bowlpacking, it’s time for the flavors to shine – and with the buttery buffet of umami steering the palate so far from the dreaded dry mouth, you just might need a bib. The complex nose of this cultivar translates into an equally layered taste – while faithfully upholding the promise of its aroma.

Sample after sample, this flower is outstandingly smooth. But don’t let the creamy smoke fool you as it slips delicately into your lungs, as there’s an undeniable punch of potency lurking just around the corner. With a passion for the process from cultivation to cure, Crop Shop’s VK1 is an exquisite example of just how flavorful flower really can be.

THE EVOLUTION OFSMOKETECH

We all know that humanity has been using Cannabis for thousands of years, but the ways in which we've consumed it have continued to change with the progression of time and technology. The Leaf’s resident cannthropologist Bobby Black lays out the various methods by which our forebears have imbibed the sweet smoke of our favorite herb throughout history.

THE BONG

THE PIPE

The earliest smoking pipes on record – discovered inside Egyptian tombs – were made of copper and dated from around 2000 B.C.E. Wooden pipes became popular during the Iron Age, followed by chalk and clay pipes in the 1600s, iron pipes in the 1700s and corn cob pipes in the 1800s – before glass became king in the late 20th century.

The tubular type of water pipe known as a bong (from the Thai word baung, meaning “cylindrical wooden tube”) has been around almost as long as civilization itself. The oldest bong ever was discovered in Russia in 2013 –made of solid gold and dating back around 2,400 years to the Scythian tribes of Eurasia. Other ancient bongs found in Ethiopia have been carbon dated to around 1300 C.E. Bongs were apparently popular in China during the Ming Dynasty, then spread to the West via the Silk Road around the 17th century.

THE HOOKAH THE CHILLUM

A kind of hybrid water pipe/vaporizer with a long hose mouthpiece, the hookah originated in the northwestern prov inces of India, along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, around a millennia ago. Originally fash ioned from a coconut shell base and tube, they use hot coals to heat dried herbs from below.

The chillum is a form of simple conical pipe originally made out of either clay or cow and bull horns. A small stone is often placed inside the stem in place of a screen to keep from inhaling the material to be burned. The chillum – or “holy pipe” as it is known by Indian Sadhus who’ve used it in their rituals for centuries – originated in Asia but eventually made its way to Africa, then to Jamaica in the 1930s, where the Rastafarians also adopted it into their spiritual practices.

THE JOINT/SPLIFF/BLUNT

First invented in Alcoy, Spain during the 1500s, rolling papers quickly spread to France, then throughout the rest of the modern world in the centuries that followed – eventually becoming the most common method of smoking weed in America during the 20th century. (For the whole history of rolling papers, check out the Cannthropology column in our Oct. 2021 issue).

Blunts – or Cannabis rolled in tobacco leaves – take their name from the Phillies Blunt brand of cigars, typically used to roll them. It is believed that the blunt originated in the Caribbean during the 19th century when workers from India first brought “ganja” (the Hindi term for flower) to Jamaica, where tobacco was cheap and available. Then during the late 1980s, a large number of Caribbean immigrants moved to New York City – where hip-hop music and culture were just beginning to take off – which quickly popularized the practice.

GLASS

Long ago, enterprising stoners figured out that makeshift pipes and bongs could easily be jerry-rigged, or “MacGyvered,” out of various household items. The most common of these self-built smokeware apparatuses were made from fruit (particularly apples) and small beverage bottles – most notably old Sobe bottles –which had a thinner layer of glass at the bottom that could easily be punctured to insert a bowl.

THE GRAVITY BONG

THE DAB RIG/ TORCH / NAIL / BANGER

BOB SNODGRASS

Though glass blowing itself dates back to around 3000 BCE, the first pipes made of glass wouldn’t emerge until the Victorian Era – but it wasn’t until the invention of the much tougher borosilicate glass in the late 19th century that the idea began to catch on. Though glass pipes and bongs first became popular for Cannabis use in the 1960s, it was “Godfather of Glass” Bob Snodgrass who elevated the artform and brought them into the mainstream with the “heady” colorchanging pieces he sold on Dead tours throughout the 1980s.

THE VAPORIZER

What distinguishes vaporizers from other smokeware devices is that they use indirect heat rather than fire or combustion to heat the Cannabis. Believe it or not, a form of vaping Cannabis actually dates back to the 5th century B.C. – as evidenced by Greek scribe Herodotus, who wrote about Egyptians heating hemp seeds with stones and inhaling the vapors. “Eagle Bill” Amato, known as the “Father of Vapor,” introduced the first modern vaporizer (powered with a heat gun) at the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup in 1993. Six years later, German company Storz & Bickel released a desktop electric vaporizer called the Volcano that set the new standard for decades to come. Eventually, much smaller vaporizers the size and shape of a pen were developed.

The concept behind the gravity bong is to use air pressure rather than one’s lung power to draw the smoke out of a joint or bowl, then forcefully push that smoke down one’s throat. Originating as MacGyverisms (typically made out of two or three-liter plastic soda bottles), gravity bongs were eventually professionally designed and manufactured – most notably by Grav Labs and Stundenglass.

When BHO started becoming popular in the late 2000s/ early 2010s, a new way was devised to smoke them. A “nail” made of titanium or quartz (or later, ceramic) was placed in the stem of a bong instead of a bowl and heated with a handheld blowtorch, after which a “dab” of concentrate was smeared onto it, then typically covered with a glass/quartz “dome” or “globe” to capture the smoke and prevent burns. This dome-andnail setup was eventually replaced by the honey-hole/ banger most commonly used today.

THE VAPE PEN

CARTRIDGE

Though the first “Smokeless Non-Tobacco Cigarette” featuring a “cartridge” was patented in the 1960s, it was really the “Cig-a-Like” in 2003 (invented by Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik) that would serve as the prototype for the modern vape pen. Coincidentally, the flood of new e-cigs entering the market in the late 2000s perfectly synchronized with the spike in popularity of honey/hash oil, eventually establishing the vape cartridge as one of the most popular ways to consume Cannabis concentrates.

In the 2010s, building on the popularity of dab rigs and vape pens, some enterprising entrepreneurs began developing combinations of the two. First came the e-nail – a plug-in nail heated with electricity rather than a torch, enabling better distribution of heat and temperature control. But it was the invention of the first fully electronic rig, the Puffco Peak, in 2018 that truly changed the game forever (see our interview on page 28 of this edition). Today, there are several e-rigs on the market (including the iSpire, Bello and Carta) — all of which enable one to enjoy high quality, torch-free dabs just about anywhere.

THE E-RIG THE FUTURE

What far-out gadgets might the stoners of the future use to get high? Will it be solar-powered pipes? Microwave vapes, maybe? Laser rigs, or even nuclear bongs? Honestly, we have no idea … what we do know is that the boundless imagination and ingenuity of Cannabis users will continue to drive innovations in smokeware and other technologies for decades to come.

Mango

TECH ROUNDUP

Cannabis industry’s hottest products to the test

BEED ROLLING MACHINE PUFFCO PROXY

REVIEW BY MATT JACKSON @ACTIONMATTJACKSON

Meet the “Nespresso of Cannabis.” These countertop machines launched in 2022 are capable of automatically filling an empty cone with prepackaged half-gram pods of ground Cannabis, delivering a pre-roll to your waiting hand in around 20 seconds. For anyone who has mobility issues in their hands or just doesn’t know how to roll, Beed offers easy access and consisten cy. There are five strain-specific varieties available, and all of the pods are recyclable. With this amazing new device, consumption bars can offer people a simple way to roll up some weed – similar to the way self-pouring technology has revolutionized the bar experience. beed.co @beed_co

LEVO C OIL DIFFUSER

REVIEW BY KATHERINE WOLF @KATADELLIC Budding (pun intended) home canna-chefs can use the LĒVO C to infuse large batches of oil, butter, honey, milk and more. Available in multiple colors, it’s cuter than your favorite countertop coffee maker (and just about as easy to use). The LĒVO C is one of the simplest diffusers to set up and features an ultra-sleek, touch-activated interface with precise time and temperature controls. The best part? All the removable pieces are dishwasher-safe for a painless cleanup process – because having to clean a machine by hand after eating a bunch of edibles sounds like just about the worst thing ever. levooil.com @levo_oil

REVIEW BY MATT JACKSON @ACTIONMATTJACKSON

The breakout hit of 2022 is an electronic hash pipe that makes smoking concentrates as in stinctive as humanly possible – bringing versatility as its greatest superpower. With a flick of the wrist, you can drop this miniature marvel into an endless array of pipe or bubbler attach ments, glass bangers, and even a disco ball. Proxy offers tasty hits, all in a package that’s dis creet yet instantly identifiable. Like the basic Peak model, this has four variable heat settings (505°F -560°F) and haptic feedback, but makes use of the same 3D chamber as the upgraded Peak Pro. New accessories include the travel pack and flower-smoking attachments. puffco.com @puffco

ARDENT

REVIEW BY KATHERINE WOLF @KATADELLIC Dubbed the “Easy Bake Oven” for edibles, it really has never been easier to get baked off some baked goods with the Ardent FX. Equipped with precision heaters and timed cycles, this thing can activate and infuse up to one ounce of flower or concentrate at a time. Perhaps its most valuable feature, the Ardent FX optimizes terpene retention and cannabinoid ac tivation with custom settings for decarbing CBD and THC/CBG. But that’s not all, folks! Shift this cutting-edge culinary ganja gadget into “bake” mode to actually bake your infused goodies all within the same device. Yeah, technology is crazy these days. ardentcannabis.com @ardentllc

Nation puts

TECH ROUNDUP

the Cannabis industry’s hottest products put to the test

HITOKI TRIDENT

REVIEW BY MATT JACKSON @ACTIONMATTJACKSON

Be honest, who doesn’t want to see their weed lit up by a laser beam? Every time you activate the Trident, a beam of light ignites your ground-up weed from behind a tinted, vision-safe chamber. This feels like you’re using something from a Sharper Image catalog. There are three temperature settings and even though the Trident is a combus tion device, it does leave you with a pile of spent herb. Trident has a silicon mouthpiece or hookah-style hose that’s perfect for passing around, if you can manage to look away from its hypnotic light long enough. hitoki.com @hitokilaser

TERPOMETER

REVIEW BY MATT JACKSON @ACTIONMATTJACKSON

Now timing the perfect dab is as easy as opening the automatic garage door. This handy, keychain device contains a heat sensor that measures the tempera ture of whatever surface you hold it a half inch from, displaying it on a small LCD screen. When it registers between 500°F-550°F, the screen turns green to let you know it’s time to dab. Thermometer IR produces accurate results, switches eas ily from Fahrenheit to Celsius, has a screw-on dab tool attachment, and you can even set it to buzz at you when you’ve hit the part of its range that you prefer. No more timers, or trying to line up a troublesome laser beam to get results. theterpometer.com @theterpometer

GORDO SCIENTIFIC RIPTIP

REVIEW BY KATHERINE WOLF @KATADELLIC

It’s 2022, people – wasteful paper filters that hit harshly are old news. It’s time to take your rolling game into the future with the Rip Tip. These reusable tips made of high-quality borosili cate glass are hand-blown by Gordo Scientific in Denver. Crafted to create a smoother and more sustainable sesh, the signature riptide channels that optimize airflow are where the “Rip” Tip gets its name. Aptly named indeed, these things sure do rip. Available in various diameters, the nine millimeter is the OG size and most popular. As a general rule of thumb, a seven to eight millimeter is ideal for personal pearls under a gram, while anything over 10 millimeters should be reserved for a trip to Mars. gordosci.com @gordoscientific

TECH ROUNDUP

the Cannabis industry’s hottest products put to the test

710 LABS

TERP COOLER

REVIEW BY MATT JACKSON @ACTIONMATTJACKSON

Preserving terps is a full-time job. That’s why concentrate conservationists 710 Labs created a travel-friendly way of keeping hash and rosin at the perfect temperature. With an average battery life of eight hours, this lunchbox-shaped cooler holds around five standard-sized jars comfortably. The device works like a soda can fridge, cooling down the metal plate inside to bring the contents to your preferred settings. The carrying case is netted in all the right spots to allow proper ventilation and includes chargers for the home, car and USB. This little droid is the perfect option for road trips, hotel stas and consumption events. 710labs.com @710labs

FOCUS V CARTA 2

REVIEW BY MATT JACKSON @ACTIONMATTJACKSON

Focus V has revamped its popular e-rig device to create an experience that absolutely rips. With a solid, professional feel, the Carta 2 fea tures an OLED screen that gives you up-to-the-minute temp readings, a session timer, and lighting custom ization that can be controlled with either the three buttons on the unit or an accompanying app. The improved glass chamber holds an impressive amount of water as well as smoke, and the battery ran about 25-30 dabs on a full charge.

With a temperature range of 365°F-635°F that’s adjustable to a single degree, Carta 2 captures the flavor from lower temp dabs while delivering the clouds we all crave. focusv.com @focus.v

ALCHEMY JARS

REVIEW BY NATE WILLIAMS @NATEW415

The next level of hash storage is here. Alchemy Jars was founded by glassblower Patrick Lee, better known as @purpskurp710 on Instagram. Sick of dried out, crumbly jars of rosin, Lee decided to solve the problem himself and drew from existing tech to create a solution and offer it to the masses. Alchemy Jars utilize double-walled, vacuum-sealing technology and work the same way high-end water bottles do to insulate and protect their contents from the environment surrounding the container. The jars work great and function as advertised, keeping your rosin fresh and full of terps – just how it was meant to be. alchemyjars.com @alchemyjars

ROUNDUP

G PEN HYER

REVIEW BY MATT JACKSON @ACTIONMATTJACKSON

Turn your bongs and bubblers into lung-busting dab machines with the newest product from G Pen. Improving upon the success of the Connect, Hyer contains seven times the battery power with a 1,500mAh rechargeable battery, five session settings, and five variable heat settings ranging from 407°F-803°F. Hyer is a tethered-style unit, connecting the battery and concentrate tank with a magnetic cable. Most of the pieces on the Hyer are magnetic and the included dab tool even screws into the cap – making it easy to keep together when not in the included hemp carrying case. Hyer performs well on all concentrates, but exceptionally well with resins and shatters. gethyer.com @letsgethyer

ZENCO FLOW

REVIEW BY WES ABNEY @BEARDEDLORAX

Raise a glass of vapor and embrace the most social innovation to Cannabis tech since passing a joint. The Zenco puts concentrates “on tap” by using an inno vative function that turns a normal vape cartridge hit into a classy and tantalizing experience of drinking your vapor. Simply press down on the glass and watch the vapor swirl inside with tasty terps and cannabinoids, wait until full, and then sip by breathing in through the straw or the glass (to get huge hits). Shareable without having to swap spit from somebody’s pocket dab pen, the glasses are easily washed and available in sets for entertaining. Perfect for socializing and micro or macro tokes, the Zenco is the ideal tabletop unit to transform your cartridge experience – and can easily be packed onthe-go for your next sesh! thezenco.com @thezencolife

ISPIRE

REVIEW BY MATT JACKSON @ACTIONMATTJACKSON

The newest device from Ispire does away with ceramic heating elements and instead opts for a more natural, induction heating. The unit looks like the Dewalt of dabs, fitting in your hand as easily as a drill. Load your concen trate into a small glass bucket and a metal ring encased therein is heated up within the glass chamber, bringing it up to temperature and vaporizing your concentrate in a way that feels closer to a traditional dab. A sturdy desktop piece, the daab adjusts in five-degree increments from 410°F-805°F, comes with its own hardshell case for traveling, and is able to go around 29 dabs on a full charge. getispire.com @getispire

DABX MARK.1

TERPHOGZ EDITION

REVIEW BY MATT JACKSON @ACTIONMATTJACKSON

Perhaps the most natural feeling of all the bong-into-rig attachments. Sliding into your home glass pieces, DabX is a titanium device with some interesting differences. A double-click begins the warming of the unit before triggering a 12-second heat burst, according to four different temperature curves. The device doesn’t go above 470°F, so it’s less about heat and more about the device you’re going to fill. There’s a carb button, making the included cap just for travel. Instead of trapping in the smoke with a cap, the heat source in the chamber draws the concentrate down into the center, which means no more swabbing between hits. dabx.com @dabxusa

THE FLOWER MILL

REVIEW BY NATE WILLIAMS @NATEW415

The Flower Mill is not a grinder. Rather, it achieves its function by utilizing an entirely different mechanism – milling. By definition, to grind is to reduce something to small particles by crushing it. On the other hand, to mill is to cut or shape into pieces. The bottom line is this: Your flower is going to be in much exponentially better condition after being milled versus being ground. After a thorough test run and side-by-side comparison, there is no doubt the grinders are going on the shelf and the mill will stay … ahem … in rotation. flowermillusa.com @flowermillusa

NATION STAFF

CONTRIBUTORS

by DANIEL

COURTESY

ISPIRE

the Cannabis industry’s hottest products put to the test

THE PEAK OF SUCCESS

Puffco founder & CEO Roger Volodarsky

It’s not hard to see why he’s earned such a moniker. Jobs started Apple in his parents’ garage, while Volodarsky started Puffco in his mother’s basement. Like Jobs, he frequently dresses in basic black attire. But the most significant similarity between the two tech moguls is undoubtedly the sleek style of their creations and how profoundly they impact the lives of their users. It’s fair to say that what the iPhone did for mobile phones, the Puffco Peak has done for Cannabis consumption.

In front of our lens, Roger appears guarded, even stiff … but off camera, his stoic demeanor softens to reveal the passion and generosity of spirit that his friends know all too well.

TROUBLED YOUTH

The son of Ukrainian Jews who immigrated to Brooklyn in the 1980s, Volodarsky's early life was difficult – both economically and emotionally.

“I definitely did not have a happy childhood,” he confesses. “I felt like an outsider because I grew up on the poorer side of Coney Island, and all of my parents' friends had money. And my parents ended up getting divorced, so I didn’t get enough emotional support. But I'm grateful for my experi ence because it pushed me to get what I desire in life and led me here.”

Like many troubled teens, he found escape and comfort in Cannabis. At the age of 13, after an attempt to smoke a joint during a field trip proved unsuccessful, his buddy got him high for the first time.

“I took a hit, and I remember feeling this warmth in my fingertips, toes and head, and it started radiating in towards the center,” Volodarsky recalls. “I kind of melted off the couch – like in those anti-drug commercials – and all that loneliness of being the odd kid out, of not having enough resources to keep up with everyone else … all that just went away. I remember thinking, ‘this is incredi ble—I want to do this forever!’”

To be clear, he doesn’t endorse minors getting high as a matter of practice. “I’m definitely not recommending that anybody under the legal age consume Cannabis,” he states. “But at 13 years old, life was very confusing and traumatic for me, and engaging with the plant gave me an instant sense of relief.”

Unfortunately, like many immigrants from the “Old World,” Roger’s parents were extremely anti-drug and overreacted when they learned of his newfound fondness for marijuana. Within a year or two, he grew estranged from much of his family and friends.

“This was heavy in the ‘War on Drugs’ era, the DARE era of propaganda being shot at everyone. That propaganda worked very well on my parents

and many people around me," Volo darsky explains. “I kind of became this lost soul in the eyes of many – a drug addict.”

A FATEFUL MILESTONE

In his young adult hood, Volodarsky pursued a “normal life” – working several different jobs, none of which provided the sense of fulfillment he was craving.

“I was a serial entrepreneur,” he explains. “I was in the mortgage space, I've worked for a translation service, I've worked as a systems administrator … I've done a bunch of different things, but I never worked on something that I was really passionate about.”

Then in 2012, at the age of 30, he reached a turning point.

"When you're a kid, you have all these ideas of what you're going to be when you're 30. But almost everyone I know ended up not being what they thought they would be. The world millennials were promised – ‘If you work really hard, you’ll get these things’ – that wasn't happening for our generation. And so I hit this really frustrating point, and I was using Can nabis to cope.”

It was at this point that a friend turned him on to the enticing new world of wax (as BHO was called at the time) and vape pens.

"I was completely liberated,” Volodarsky says. “I was able to walk around the city and consume, and I felt truly invisible. I became obsessed with it.”

Noticing his passion for the new “dab pen” phe nomenon – and knowing he despised his systems administrator job – Volodarsky’s friend encouraged him to try getting into the vape industry.

“I had to make a decision: either work a job that I hate to provide me with the lifestyle I want, or

IT’S A MONDAY MORNING IN DOWNTOWN L.A., and the offices of Puffco are unusually quiet. Of the company’s nearly 130 employees, barely a dozen are here … among them, the company’s Founder and CEO, Roger Volodarsky – aka the Steve Jobs of Cannabis.

pursue what I love. And I decided, 'you know what? Fuck it – why don't I start doing this?’"

Volodarsky began researching wax pens online and learning everything he could about them –mainly, how they were made and who was selling them. He made recon trips to smoke shops in Atlan tic City and Haight Ashbury to see what vapes were available and quickly realized that none of them were very good.

“All the wax vapes at the time were just repurpos ing e-cigarette technology,” he explains. “They were really shitty products. And so, not knowing where to begin, my only goal was just, 'I want to make something better than this.’”

THE BIRTH OF PUFFCO

After toying around with various ideas, he de cided on the name “Puffco,” purchased the URL in January of 2013, and incorporated in March. And just like that, he was in the vape business.

“Puffco was my first investment in myself,” says Volodarsky. “I thought, if it leads nowhere, that's okay – because I'll enjoy every second that I work on this."

After tinkering with various components and pro totypes, the company released its first product, the Puffco Clas sic, in January 2014. Though he found it preferable to other pens on the market, Volodarsky was not satisfied. So after selling off the first batch, he went back to the drawing board with the goal of accomplish ing three key improvements: a higher capacity atomizer, variable temperature control, and removal of glues and fibers from the air path. Those three pillars inspired his next iteration, the Puffco Pro. By replacing the fibers typically used to soak up the oil with porous ceramic, the Pro significantly improved the flavor and healthiness of vaping concentrates.

HIGH TIMES / LOW TIMES

The Pro was released in October 2014 … just as High Times was about to conduct its annual vape pen review. Learning of this, Roger showed up at their offices at the last minute with a box of sam ples. Though Puffco was unknown at the time, the Pro ended up taking first place for Best Vapor Pen. That award changed everything for Puffco – both for better and for worse.

“After the review was a very bittersweet period,” Volodarsky recalls. “That threw us into the spotlight and got us a ton of fans and revenue coming in, but it also forced us to make much more product than we were before.”

Unfortunately, consumers weren’t the only ones who took notice of their improved design; within a few months after the review was published, copycat devices began appearing on the market.

“I took it very personally. I had obsessed over this vape pen for two years, and now this thing that I'd worked so hard on – the greatest thing I might ever do – was being bastardized by shittier brands. I didn't know what to do – I felt completely defeated.”

To make matters worse, in addition to having their intellectual property poached, Puffco’s supply chain unex pectedly collapsed at the end of 2014.

Volodarsky had to act quickly, or everything he'd been working towards might be lost. In early 2015, he and his head of operations headed to Chi na, where they spent over a month establishing new relationships and exhausted most of the revenue they'd earned rebuilding their supply chain.

Once they had partnerships in place with new manufacturers, they went straight into production on their next models: the Puffco Plus (the first truly coil-less vape pen on the market) and the Puffco Pro 2, both of which sold exceptionally well. But still, Roger was unsatisfied.

“We came out with the Pro 2, and I hated it," he grumbles. “It got decent reviews, and made the company millions of dollars … but I was making products for the sake of the sale, not trying to innovate. And that threw me into one of the big gest depressions of my life.”

So in 2016, when Puffco’s head engineer Avi asked him what he wanted to work on next, Roger laid out his vision for their most ambi tious project yet.

PEAK PERFORMANCE

“I wanted to do something totally new,” he explains. “I was like, I want to make a device that makes dabbing flawless and gives you the perfect dab every time.”

Volodarsky had a checklist of criteria he wanted this new device to meet: It should let you know when the dab is ready. To avoid the associated stigma, there couldn’t be any torching involved. It should be shaped like a beer bottle and fit into a cup holder. And it should have a removable glass attachment so that artists could make custom pieces for it.

“One of the biggest parts of the hash and dab scene is glass,” explains Volodarsky. “We're not here to compete with glass artists – we're here to work with them. We want them to see us as a platform to express their creativity.”

After months of development, Roger, Ari and their team had invented the first fully-electronic handheld “smart rig,” the Puffco Peak – a groundbreaking dab device featuring four heat settings, an LED light band, haptic feedback and automatic temperature calibration. Volodarsky had so much confidence in the Peak that just as it was set to launch in late 2017, he made the risky decision to move the entire company to Los Angeles.

“We put everything on the line,” Volodarsky ad mits. “When we moved [to L.A.], we had one payroll period and two months of rent left in our bank ac count. We just knew that once people saw the Peak, everybody was going to want it.”

His gamble paid off: The Peak became an instant sensation, revolutionizing concentrate consumption and generating millions in sales.

But like many innovations, it still had bugs that needed working out. Complaints of defective devic es and atomizer connectivity issues became com mon—but Puffco addressed these problems through tech support, and repairing and replacing parts.

Their redesigned Peak Pro, released two years lat er, fixed its predecessor's shortcomings while adding several new features, including multicolor lighting options, real-time temperature controls, usage statis tics and more – all controllable via their new smart phone app. This new “flagship device” also offered a slew of new attachments and accessories.

RECENT INNOVATIONS

After the enormous success of the Peak Pro, Puffco began branching out with two new products designed for flower: a water bottle bong called the Budsy in 2021, followed by a coffee cup bong called the Cupsy in 2022. While both are fun and functional devices, it was their next innovation –the Proxy – that would once again redefine the dab game.

What makes Proxy unique is that the atomizer chamber is a separate, freestanding device – inde pendent of any paraphernalia. Though sold with the outer casing of a classic pipe, this modular vaporiz er can be inserted into any kind of smoking appa ratus with an appropriately sized hole to house it –making it a perfect vehicle for glass artists’ creativity.

“We’re big fans of the glass scene,” says Volo darsky. “Hash and glass have grown together over the past decade, and we want to honor that space by continuing to invest in it.”

FAMILY & FULFILLMENT

Roger Volodarsky’s road to riches has undoubted ly been a rough one. Once ostracized by his family for his love of Cannabis, he’s since forged himself a new family at Puffco.

“Chelsea, my first employee who I’ve been a mentor to … Kevin, who was my friend before he joined the company, and who’s always good for a laugh … Avi, our chief technology officer … I'm very lucky to have some of the people that most enrich my life here with me in this business,” Volodarsky beams. “We all feel like our work is meaningful because we're working on things that make our own lives better every day. To live every day doing what you love and having people love you for it … I can't imagine anything better than this."

STORY by BOBBY BLACK @BOBBYBLACK420/LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by JUSTIN STEWART @JUSTNLSTEWART

"I WAS LIKE, 'I WANT TO MAKE A DEVICE THAT MAKES DABBING FLAWLESS AND GIVES YOU THE PERFECT DAB EVERY TIME.' "

COURTESY PUFFCO

Special edition versions of the company’s runaway hit, the Puffco Peak.

Building a

JAIR VELLEMAN

DUTCH LIGHTING INNOVATIONS

SITTING AT THE LONG DINING TABLE in his flat overlooking the canals of his hometown of Amsterdam, Jair Velleman leans in and smiles through his thick beard, exuding equal parts intensity and joviality. “Let me ask you something,” he says. “Do you like war? I love war.” It was my first conversation with Velleman, and it was a moment that speaks volumes about this magnanimous, mercurial mammoth of a man. He wasn’t talking about bombs, armies and military actions.

He was talking about the business battleground. That moment kept replaying in my head during subsequent conversations over the months following that first meeting. Velleman and his former company, Gavita, revolutionized the grow light industry before he sold it for a “never have to work again” sum more than half a decade ago. Now, like a retired general returning to the war room, he’s coming back to the world that he helped build – this time at the helm of his new lighting company, Dutch Lighting Innovations.

Better

SPROUTING

Growing up in a progressive Amsterdam family, Velleman was introduced to Cannabis at an early age. At around 12 years old, he went to a nature camp that he says was “kind of a hippie thing” – where he ended up having his first experience with the plant.

“Somebody was smoking joints in a tent, and we hotboxed the tent,” he said. “I ended up laughing for hours from a very stupid joke. Slowly, through the years, I started smoking more. I’m a very hyperactive guy, so it kind of put me more on a level where I could communicate with people around me, and I kind of enjoyed that.”

When he was 16, he spent his days hang ing at a local coffee shop called Picasso.

“The owner said, ‘Dude, do you have a basement?’ I said, ‘I live with my mother, but yes, we have a big basement,’” Velleman recalled. “Pretty much I talked my mother into starting a grow … We had four 1000-watt lights, and a sea of green of 300 plants. That was my first grow. And after that, I just kept growing.”

SWITCHED ON

After a number of years cultivating, a lightbulb moment hit Velleman. He decided to form a company to manufac ture double-ended HPS lights and market them to the burgeoning indoor and greenhouse cultivation market in the U.S.

I was just really excited - because I used to be a Cannabis grower - to bring this crazy, new technolo gy to Cannabis growers,” he said. “I love ‘The Blues Brothers.’ It’s a beautiful movie. I always use the quote, ‘I am on a mission from God.’ And my mission was to make sure that growers go from one-and-ahalf pounds per light, to three pounds per light, or four pounds per light. Because that was what Gavita did. We gave people three pounds per light. That was a big thing in the beginning.”

Velleman sold Gavita more than five years ago and spent the ensuing time building a family, garnering awards for his advocacy and focusing on his passions – such as collecting items for his World of Cannabis Museum. But now he’s on the path to build upon

his prior successes and experience, creating what he hopes will be the world’s leading quality manufacturer of Cannabis grow light technology.

HERO’S QUEST

When he talks about the new endeavor, Velleman can hardly contain his excitement.

“The last time, we ended up with the biggest horticultural lighting company in the world before we sold, so from where I stand, that’s about the top of the pinnacle,” he said. “I kind of enjoy going back to the underdog posi tion. Then I have to fight the big guys, instead of being the big guys, and everybody attacking you.”

With DLI, Velleman wants to create the best possible lights, and manufac ture them 100% at his facility in Hol land. It’s all about total quality control.

“I’m a grower by heart,” he said. “I love growers. And I want to get the best product possible to them. I did it with Gavita, and we’re now gon na do it with DLI, with a no-bullshit approach. I don’t care if my prod uct is slightly more expensive than everybody else’s. That might be true. I’m not aiming to be the cheapest on the market. You either have to be the cheapest or the best. So we made the decision to be the best.”

At the core of his philosophy is the goal of making every light sold with the DLI label at the same level of quality as what industry manufacturers call a “hero light.”

“It’s one light that’s built to top specifications,” he said. “That’s the one that you will test in the labo ratory, and it’s the one you will take the specs from, that you will put on your flyers and on your website. Nobody’s checking what comes afterward. The trick of putting a good product out to market is that every light you build needs to be a hero light.”

As with everything else he’s been involved in, he plans to be hands-on at DLI. It’s the only way to en sure the company will match his intentions.

“I’m the tip of the spear,” he said. “I’m the warlord. I go out. A lot of CEOs sit behind their desks. Owners

of companies sit behind their desks. I don’t sit behind my desk. I will travel, come out, meet my customers. And because I meet my customers and actually talk with them, I understand what their wishes are and what they actually want – and we can use that for creating new products for horticulture and for Canna bis growing.”

BRIGHT FUTURE

DLI manufactures LED and more traditional HPS lighting, and is currently working on spectrum tests and other research to try to push plants to their limits. Velleman and his team will be collaborating with Wageningen University & Research, a university in Holland, to gather and interpret data, and develop new technology.

“LED is where the future is at right now,” he said. “I think the biggest thing right now with LED is going to be developing a more wide-based spectrum that can actually enhance things like terpenes – because the future is going to be in terpenes. You don’t buy good wine because it’s one percent more alcohol than the other wine next to it – you pay $100 for a bottle of wine not on the alcohol percentage, but on the god damn terpenes. The future is not going to be THC, it’s going to be terpenes.”

One of the product lines Velleman is most excited about isn’t LED, rather, it’s the non-LED UV lighting DLI has developed for use in concert with a wide-spectrum LED setup. He plans to unveil it with a DLI launch in November at MJBizCon in Las Vegas.

“The plant protects itself against UV by doing certain things, like making trichomes,” Velleman said. “That’s what we want. We want those trichomes and those terpenes. The plant reacts to UV, and that plant reac tion is exactly what we want. That will create a better product that’s better tasting.”

As much as Velleman is thrilled about the tech, that’s not the main thing that’s drawn him back to the battlefield.

“I love the Cannabis community,” he said. “That’s why I’m coming back. I could sit on a tropical island and sip cocktails until the day I die, and I don’t want to do that. My best friends are in this community, and my best friends are all over the world. The moment I stop working, I don’t see my friends anymore. So I have no choice. … I love hanging out with all those amazing people that I will tell my grandchildren about.”

STORY by TOM BOWERS @CANNABOMBTOM/LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by PYRON HEIJMINK

“I’m a grower by heart,” said Velleman. “I love growers. And I want to get the best product possible to them.”

Hemp & Humanity

When we think about Cannabis technologies, we typically picture extraction machines or smoking devices … but as the late, great Jack Herer taught us in his classic compendium “The Emperor Wears No Clothes,” Cannabis’ most significant technological impact on the world may have little to do with its psychoactive flowers; rather, it’s been the plant’s stalks – better known as hemp – that have helped drive mankind’s progress for millennia.

THE ANCIENT WORLD

It’s hard to overestimate how essential hemp has been to human civilization. Hemp is believed to be one of the earliest plants ever cultivated and the first whose fibers were used to make cloth. Some of the oldest archaeological relics of human history include a remnant of hemp fabric from ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq/Turkey/Iran) dating back to 8,000 BCE, and Yangshao amphorae (pottery jugs) with hemp cord imprinted onto them unearthed in Taiwan from between 4,000-6,000 BCE.

As early as the Stone Age, the Chinese started spinning yarn and weaving cloth from hemp as an alternative to silk. Until the introduction of cotton around the 10-11th century CE, hemp was the dominant fabric used in Chinese society. (In fact, before the 20th century, historians estimate that around 80% of all clothing in the world was made from hemp.)

fiber and mulberry tree bark into a pulp, mixing it with water, draining it, placing it into a flat mold and drying it. It’s believed that the first hemp paper mills arose in China and parts of the Middle East as early as the 8th century BCE. The oldest known documents ever written on paper – Buddhist texts dating to the second and third centuries BCE – used this Chinese hemp paper.

EUROPE & THE AGE OF EXPLORATION

Yangshao amphora with hemp cord markings.

Ancient Chinese texts spoke of hemp textiles being used for rope, fishing nets, burial cloths, bowstrings, hats, shoes and robes – all corroborated by archeological evidence. The Shu Ching (one of the earliest known books in human history) contains numerous references to hemp – reporting that it was grown around castles in Shantung Province, was often gifted to peasants by royalty and was used to make military attire and weaponry. And the Er Ya – the earliest Chinese dictionary, written between 221 BCE and 24 CE – describes hemp fiber as “strong and soft, able to be spun into cloth” and states that its seeds and oil were a source of food.

In addition to rope and fabric, the Chinese also used hemp to create one of their most impactful inventions: paper. The earliest paper was made by crushing hemp

In the centuries that followed, hemp spread throughout various cultures in Asia and the Middle East – everyone from the Scythians and the Egyptians (who used hemp rope during construction of the Pyramids) to the peoples of India, Mongolia and Russia. And thanks to the Silk Road, hemp also found its way to the Mediterranean in around 1200 BCE. From there, it was traded and utilized by nearly every civilization in Europe – from the Romans, Greeks and Vikings during the Iron Age, and Germany, Denmark and Britain during the Middle Ages. (In 16th century England, hemp was so essential that King Henry VIII decreed that all landowners were required to grow at least a quarter acre of it.)

The crop became especially crucial during the age of exploration and colonization, when the kingdoms of Europe began sending out ships in search of new lands and trade routes. Canvas (whose name is derived from the word Cannabis) was the preferred material among sailors and shipbuilders since it was three times stronger than cotton, resistant to decay, and could be easily grown in whatever locale a ship might end up in. As a result, hemp was used for the ropes, sails and rigging on most maritime vessels – including those of Christopher Columbus and the Mayflower.

PHGCOM

“Hemp harvesting on Rhine bank” by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand (1860).

Ancient chinese text referring to hemp.

CANNABIS IN THE COLONIES

English settlers first brought hemp to Jamestown in 1606, then to Plymouth in 1620. In 1619, Virginia’s legislature (the House of Burgesses) passed a law requiring all farmers in the colony to grow it. By the mid-1700s, farmers in all of the Colonies were legally obliged to grow it – including founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (who later wrote the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper). In the decades leading up to the Revolutionary War, America produced vast amounts of hemp – much of which was grown in Kentucky, and most of which was shipped back to England. It became such an economic staple in the Colonies that it was actually considered legal tender and could even be used to pay one’s taxes.

In the century that followed, hemp continued to play a vital role in America’s development. One of the nation’s first paper mills, founded by Benjamin Franklin, produced hemp paper. The first warship the U.S. Navy ever built – the USS Constitution, aka “Old Ironsides” – used nearly 60 tons of hemp for its ropes, linings and sails. The tops of all the covered wagons carrying settlers out west during the 19th century were made of hemp canvas, and President Abraham Lincoln used hemp oil to fuel the lamps in his home.

INDUSTRY INNOVATIONS

When steamships began replacing sailing vessels after the Civil War, the demand for hemp dwindled somewhat … nevertheless, the industry continued to thrive thanks to technological innovations in harvesting and processing the plant.

In 1830, inventor Robert McCormick patented a hemp fiber-processing device he called a “hemp-break” (his descendants – through their company, International Harvester – later introduced other harvesting tools to aid hemp farmers). Next, in 1919, G.W. Schlichten was granted a patent for a machine called a decorticator that streamlined the separation of hemp fibers. And from 1915-1920, hemp grower Matt Rens built a small empire of steam-powered mills that processed thousands of acres of hemp and earned him the title “America’s Hemp King.”

Then, in 1941, automobile mogul Henry Ford unveiled an experimental new car he’d developed that was built almost entirely out of hemp bioplastic and even ran on hemp biomass fuel. Ford considered it the first step in fulfilling his dream to “grow automobiles from soil,” as reported in the December 1941 issue of Popular Mechanics –the same magazine who, three years earlier, had declared hemp the “new billion-dollar crop.” Unfortunately, both that prediction and Ford’s dream would soon go down the proverbial drain.

This brings us to the second factor: In 1937, prohibitionist Harry J. Anslinger finally succeeded in convincing Congress to pass the Marihuana Tax Act – imposing exorbitant taxes and bureaucratic burdens on anyone seeking to “import, manufacture, produce, compound, sell, deal in, dispense, distribute, prescribe, administer, or give away” Cannabis, effectively crippling the hemp industry.

HEMP FOR VICTORY

Of course, one glaring exception to the decline in hemp production is World War II. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, imports of desperately needed hemp and jute from Eastern Asia were cut off. In response, the U.S. Government halted enforcement of the MTA and encouraged farmers to grow as much hemp as possible – even producing a propaganda film entitled “Hemp for Victory” that extolled the historical benefits of hemp, but conveniently failed to mention its connection to the “evil weed.”

From 1942-1945, around 400,000 acres of hemp were grown in the U.S. But predictably, as soon as the war ended, the authorities went right back to enforcing the Act and even tried to erase “Hemp for Victory” from history. Were it not for Herer’s investigative efforts in the 1980s, the film might have been forgotten forever.

RECENT REVIVAL

DEATH & TAXES

Despite its promising future, the hemp industry was all but dead by the mid-20th century, thanks primarily to two factors. Firstly, new European looms and gins made cotton a more affordable fabric than hemp for clothing. The same was true for paper – with production costs of using wood pulp becoming significantly lower than for hemp. (Until 1883, over 80% of all the world’s paper had been made from hemp). Hemp also faced competition from newly invented synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon and acrylic, which the petroleum industry spent significant sums lobbying for. Beyond that, though, the theories about nefarious plots to destroy the hemp industry by tycoons like the DuPonts, Andrew Mellon, and William Randolph Hearst suggested in Herer’s book have never been substantiated.

STORY by BOBBY BLACK

Hemp remained “shadow-banned” until 1970 when the Controlled Substances Act outlawed it outright – making no distinction in the law between marijuana and hemp. The industry remained ostensibly dead until the late 1990s when a handful of activist companies across North America attempted to revive it using imported hemp. Canada eventually lifted its hemp growing ban in 1998, but it took the U.S. another two decades to follow suit – finally passing the Farm Bill that removed hemp from the CSA in 2018. Today, the American hemp industry is making a comeback – and it’s a damn good thing, too: In light of the climate crisis, the need for renewable energy sources and alternatives to deforestation are reminding us how crucial this miraculous plant is to our survival on this planet. After all, as Jack himself once famously prophesied, “Hemp will be the future of all mankind, or there won’t be a future.”

For our podcast & more Cannabis history content visit worldofcannabis.museum/cannthropology.

PHOTO by SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

A “hemp for victory” propganada poster.

First draft of the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper.

Henry Ford’s hemp eco-car.

Right: Earliest depiction of the USS Constitution (aka “Old Ironsides”) by Michele Felice Corné (1803).

The U.S. Army protects the hemp seed supply in Kentucky during WWII (1942).

COURTESY OF THE NAVY ART COLLECTION

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURE LIBRARY

THE UNION OF MARRIAGE is a sanctimonious institution that has effectively been the glue binding our species for millen nia. Without that legal commitment – which has basically stood as a contract between two people to agree to love each other ‘til death do them part – we’d be an 8-billion-person planet … full of nothing but singles ready to mingle.

That’s a scary thought.

We all know that uninterrupted love to the very end is fairly unrealistic – but that’s why you’ve gotta lock that “right one” down before someone else swoops in and changes their mind. And it shows the old man in the golden throne – chillin’ on Cloud 19 with a Mai Tai in one hand and a heavenly joint in the other – that you’re a team player who abides by the scriptures.

You want to make it past the pearly gates to Cloud 69, right?

Because matrimony is a religious indoctrination – not entirely based upon love, but in many ways necessary for the order that allows for species to proliferate – and people respond well to being given direction and told where to conform. And even though every animal in the kingdom requires a mate of the opposite gender to make a baby, we are the only ones who feel the vital necessity to ink it onto paper.

Even if you’re an asshole like me (who believes that this contract is a formality initiated by the church to keep us donating our tithes while raising future tithers), there is no escaping the fact that each and every one of us is beholden to convenience.

It’s why we sign with blood when committing to our internet provider – because this is our conduit to most of the world’s information. Including websites that contain salacious acts of naughtiness.

Which could keep you married. Or not.

beardedlorax stashleylynn maaryjwhite

All Things Cannabis For All People rickerdj leaflifepodcast