39 minute read
THE LIFE
The Art of the Ganjier
Sommeliers understand the subtle beauty and intricacies of wine. A new program is certifying the cannabis equivalent, ganjiers, and they are coming soon to top-tier dispensaries near you.
TEXT STEPHANIE WILSON
simply helping and friendly!
If you’re a master of wine, you’re a sommelier. If you’re a master of beer, you’re a cicerone. The credentialed caff einated masters of coff ee are called Q Graders, and Master Tobacconists are to cigars what pommeliers are to cider—taste authorities, sensory experts, arbiters, and evangelists in their respective fi elds. They are deemed qualifi ed to distinguish the nuanced qualities of their products by organizations considered to be their industry’s higher authorities.
But what’s the word for a certifi ed master of weed? It’s not “cannabis sommelier,” as many would assume, because by its very defi nition, a sommelier is someone who is a steward of wine, so a cannabis sommelier would be an expert in the pairing of food and wine. “Ganjier” is the trademarked title that the industry-leading cannabis educators at Green Flower are bestowing upon the professionals who complete its new cannabis sommelier certifi cation program and pass the exams to become Masters of Cannabis Service. The Ganjier program is training students to assess cannabis products and guide consumers through the newly (and still only somewhat) legal marketplace, which can be more than a little murky for even experienced users.
And with more and more Americans joining the ranks of cannabis consumers as legalization spreads across the country, there’s a growing need for experienced guides to help them navigate the off erings on dispensary menus. They come to cannabis for different reasons, with different experience levels, expectations, and goals, but they’re all seeking the same thing: good weed.
Certifi ed Guides
What that looks like, smells like, tastes like, or makes them feel like, however, is not quite as clear. Not able to see, smell, or touch
Ganjier Council member, the late Frenchy Cannoli, teaches cannabis history and consumption methods with Ganjier program managing director Derek Gilman.
the products themselves, customers rely on shop employees or budtenders to help guide them to quality products within their budget, but in nearly every instance, the budtenders are not qualifi ed to do so. Instead, they promote products based on THC percentages with a mentality of “the higher the better.”
That disconnect is what led Green Flower to develop its cannabis sommelier program. “We are looking to elevate the service standard in the cannabis industry,” says Derek Gilman, managing director for the Ganjier program. “Cannabis is an epicurean product, similar to wine or cheese or coff ee. And the quality of coff ee isn’t dictated by its caff eine content, we don’t judge wine by its alcohol percentage. The desirability of those products is based on their appearance, their aroma, their fl avor, and ultimately the experience they deliver.”
Gilman and his colleagues feel that at a retail level, the people on the frontlines guiding all these new cannanbis consumers—the budtenders—are mostly entry-level employees who don’t have the foundational knowledge necessary to accurately and reliably guide consumers in their decisions.
Clockwise from top left: Legendary Ganjier Council member Swami Chaitanya of Swami Select; Judges at the prestigious Emerald Cup cannabis competition used the Ganjier's Systematic Assessment Protocol app to determine the quality of over 250 entries; Ganjier program managing director Derek Gilman holds sun-grown cannabis.
Renowned cannabis cultivator Kevin Jodrey instructs on the art of cultivation and how to unravel genetics.
“Many of the budtenders have experience consuming cannabis,” Gilman says. “They know what they like. But in nearly every instance, they don’t have the education about how cannabis interacts with the body, the science of cannabis, the nature, the individuality of how it aff ects diff erent people.”
Max Simon, Green Flower CEO, agrees. “In cannabis right now, there is no standardized way to provide quality service,” he says. “As a result, you have all these completely untrained people who are essentially making things up. They’re using the wrong terminology; they’re giving completely inaccurate suggestions; they don’t have any good training in terms of how to guide people to the right products; and, many times, they don’t even fundamentally understand what makes for a high quality product in the fi rst place.”
Convene the Council
To develop this deep and thorough knowledge base, Gilman and his colleagues at Green Flower recruited a council comprising 18 of the cannabis world’s most respected experts, covering every aspect of the plant and the industry. The Ganjier Council includes cultivators, botany experts, geneticists, breeders, advocates, hash masters, legal experts, retailers, and educators.
Over the course of two years, the council collaborated to create the Ganjier certifi cation program, which spans 10 online courses and a two-day live training in Humboldt County, part of which takes place on a craft cannabis farm. The online courses include the history and botany of cannabis, consumption methods, botany and genetics, cultivating techniques, processing methodologies, and successful cannabis sales. But it’s not, to be clear, a masterclass about how to grow weed.
“We’re not looking to teach a student how to be a cultivator,” says Gilman. “We don’t teach them nutrient levels to put in at diff erent stages of the plant’s growth life. What we teach them in the cultivation course is every single decision that the cultivator makes that aff ects the fi nal quality of the cannabis fl ower, from the genetics they choose to the cultivation methodologies and light sources—artifi cial
light versus sunlight—to the type of medium they grow in.” (In case you’re wondering, Gilman says that “most experts tend to agree that cannabis grown under the full sun has more nuance and character to it than something grown under artifi cial light.”)
A lab test may tell you the cannabinoid content and terpene profi le of any given fl ower or concentrate sample, but it won’t tell you if you want to put it in your pipe and smoke it to achieve your desired results. The program trains students’ senses to cultivate a palate that recognizes the nuances and complexities in fl avor and aroma and know how these translate into the desired eff ects for the consumer.
Most consumers can’t palpably and regularly distinguish between one brand’s OG Kush and another’s—not to mention that strain names are a pretty useless metric by which to judge the eff ects of what’s in a dispensary’s jars—so the Ganjier program doesn’t focus on arbitrary metrics like strain names or whether the cannabis in question is an indica or sativa. Instead, ganjiers are tasked with assessing the quality.
5 RANDOM CANNABIS FACTS
I LEARNED FROM THE GANJIER COUNCIL
I previewed all 10 courses in Ganjier’s online training curriculum taught by the 18 leading cannabis experts on the Ganjier Council and picked up some fun facts. The courses range from “The History of Cannabis & Cannabis Consumption” with the late master hashishin Frenchie Cannoli and “The Art and Science of Cannabis Cultivation” with legendary grower and industry icon Swami Chaitanya to “Accurately Assessing Cannabis Flower and Concentrates” with hash master Nikka T. Here’s what I learned. 1. NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH HASHISH, a cannabis concentrate made using dried cannabis owers, charas is a type of live resin made by caressing fresh, live cannabis ower between the palms. 2. THE FAN LEAF, ONCE THE ICON OF THE COUNTERCULTURE and now a cannabis marketing staple, is likely a sativa strain, which has longer “blades” or lea ets that are a lighter green in color compared to the short, broad, darkgreen or purple blades on an indica plant. 3. THE BLUE DREAM STRAIN GETS A BAD RAP for being one of those commercial options that you can nd everywhere, but it’s actually one of the most unique strains out there that’s commonly available, thanks to its rare pinene-dominant terpene pro le that has almost equal parts myrcene. Terpenes are the naturally occurring chemical compounds that give cannabis its aromas and avors while playing a part in its e ects, and pinene is shown to be stimulating or uplifting while myrcene is a known sedative. 4. EVIDENCE INDICATES THE MICROBES IN THE SOIL where a cannabis plant is grown impact the overall terpene quality and diversity in the nished owers. High-quality craft cannabis is almost always grown in organic living soil. 5. TO CHECK THE QUALITY OF A SOLVENTLESS CONCENTRATE, look at the color. If it’s got any dark brown or green coloration, it’s o . Ideal, typical coloration should be light, buttery, and/or golden.—S.W.
Course previews are available for free at ganjier.com.
North Bay’s Experiential Dispensary
Doobie Nights offers up a retail experience that rivals Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
Two years ago, a unique cannabis dispensary swung open its doors in Santa Rosa, inviting its neighbors to go on a trip like no other. Part Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, part Van Gogh’s fever dream, and part Grateful Dead show, the sales fl oor of Doobie Nights (greatest name ever) is one of the most memorable retail experiences ever.
Designed by a team of talented individuals, the store draws you in from the moment you step through the front door. It is adorned with sculptural installations infused with state-ofthe-art architecturally mapped LED lighting. Carey Thompson and Brian Pinkham (two of the four local friends who founded Doobie Nights), laid the groundwork for the facility before heading to Las Vegas to work on the newly opened Meow Wolf in Sin City.
Your eyes are immediately drawn to a massive, pulsing and shifting wall that dominates the entry area and is built around the Portal of Wonder that leads back to the main sales fl oor. It’s hard to decide where to head upon entering the expansive retail section. Three large walls employ groundbreaking lighting systems, continually shifting and swaying between intricate designs and evolving artistic patterns. At the same time, perfectly synced music pulsates from speakers.
All of that hits you before you can look over the expansive selection of products—one of the largest in California. Due to its proximity to the nearby Emerald Triangle, a dizzying array of local fl ower, edibles, concentrates, pre-rolls, tinctures, and topicals are displayed from the region. Those items are surrounded by excellent cannabis products from Northern California and across the state. Everything is artfully displayed on a honeycomb of shelves. Just window shopping is a pleasure, but when you interact with the knowledgeable budtenders, the experience jumps up a level, if that’s possible.
Due to its focus on being connected to the local community, the store often hosts local musicians, artists, and growers. By allowing them access to its fantastic facility, Doobie Nights helps spread its gospel and connects with people who might become fans. So, do yourself a favor and plan a visit to Doobie Nights. You won’t regret it.
Doobie Nights
Cannabis Retail Store doobienights.com
That’s a more nuanced determination that ganjiers rely on their senses to make, looking at the appearance, aroma, fl avor, and experience a cannabis product provides. Students are taught to rate or classify 31 diff erent characteristics of cannabis samples, from the color of quality of its trim technique to its aromas and fl avor profi le. Similar to a wine sommelier, a ganjier evaluates how the cannabis looks, how it smells, how it tastes. But unlike the masters of other gustatory professions, ganjiers are also tasked with assessing the experience the product delivers. To gain Ganjier certifi cation, students must show they have the ability to confi dently discern, educate, and articulate the diff erence between cannabis that’s good enough to smoke and cannabis that’s exquisite enough to celebrate.
Enrollment in the 2022 Ganjier class is now open, and Gilman expects it to fi ll up quickly—the fi rst class in 2021 sold out in just two weeks. Those who take the course and pass the exams will join an elite group that as of now includes just 36 certifi ed ganjiers around the world. Among those masters of cannabis are the directors of sales for two of the world’s largest cannabis companies; the director of employee training for mega-dispensary Planet 13; medical doctors and nurses interested in learning more about the medical potential of cannabis; self-motivated budtenders wanting to excel at their trade; consultants interested in launching cannabis tour companies and bud-bar services for private parties, weddings, and corporate events; and even the director of the California Cannabis Tourism Association. Enrollment isn’t reserved for cannabis industry professionals, and anyone can sign up—all it takes is an interest in the subject matter and $2,997 to cover the costs.
Learn more at ganjier.com.
Ganjier students learn about the latest sustainable cannabis cultivation techniques, including the importance of living soil.
Party in the Heart of the City
The Green Street Festival promises a weekend of food, music, and award-winning cannabis.
TEXT CHRIS VAN LEUVEN
Get ready for the Green Street Festival, one of the hottest cannabis-and-music events of the year. Over two packed days during the second weekend in May, the Green Street Festival combines live music, art activations, carnival games, a vendor village, a VIP industry mixer, and more. Tickets are available now for the May 13–14 event at the Green Street Building in downtown Los Angeles.
The festival kicks off Friday night with an exclusive Alta Rooftop and Penthouse event at the Green Street Building. Here, in extremely limited numbers, honored guests will enjoy a private dinner event including Gary and Harry, The Quickest Minds of Our Generation, and a live performance by Harry Mack. The live performances will be paired with complimentary food, drinks, and entertainment. Friday night’s events will also include the Emerald Cup Lifetime Achievement Award presentation.
A statement from the Emerald Cup says: “In 2021, we threw the coolest cannabis celebration of the year with the Emerald Cup Harvest Ball. In 2022, we take the show on the road down to Los Angeles to party with Green Street.”
The main festival begins on Saturday at noon, when additional guests will enjoy the world’s best cannabis, food, and live music all in one place. Saturday’s events also include the Emerald Cup Awards ceremony.
“We are absolutely thrilled to join the Green Street Festival team as they bring our community together in the heart of the city and lift our awards to the stage of the largest cannabis market in the world,” says Emerald Cup founder Tim Blake.
“This is a truly historic moment for Los Angeles, as it opens the doors to consumer cannabis events downtown. We’re eager to unify our northern and southern communities as we raise the Cup and recognize the best of California Cannabis.”
Saturday’s events include Juicy J & Friends, Dâm-Funk, Gary Vaynerchuk Keynote, Harry Mack (Live), DJ Nu-Mark, Full Crate, and Mike Glazer.
In addition to incredible music and award-winning cannabis, palate-tantalizing food will include off erings from Broad Street Oyster Co, Yeastie Boys, Uncle Paulie’s Deli, Gusto Green, Afters Ice Cream, Shrimp Daddy, and Petite Peso.
Sponsors include No Jumper, WeedFeed, Beard Bros Pharms, Alta DTLA, Gusto Green, The High Rise, One37PM, Uncle Paulie’s, and Yeastie Boys.
All-access passes, $1000—limited to 400 guests—allow entry to all o cial Green Street Festival activities on May 13 and 14. Tickets for Saturday’s main event, starting at noon on May 14, are $25 for general admission. Single-day VIP tickets for Saturday are $120. To learn more, visit greenstreetfest. com and follow the organizers on Instagram @greenstreetfestival.
arry Clark’s in the business of making money off of money, but that’s not how he describes himself.
“I’m a deal guy,” he says, and his bio describes him as a “capital markets professional”— aka the money guy, the man who raises big funds so brands can do business. He knows more than most that businesses need money to make money. So he’s made a career out of helping companies raise some—and he’s good at it. Like, really good. For awhile there in the 1980s, he was a top-producing fi nancial consultant for Merril Lynch, then he became the VP of investments for Prudential Securities. In the decades since, he’s taken six companies public, run a microcap investor relations fi rm, and handled corporate development for a company that literally mines for gold. He’s the man with a plan for raising capital, and Barry Clark is all business.
Lately, Barry’s been raising money for a business of his own. It’s a change of pace for him, being on the operations side of the startup thing. From this fresh perspective, he’s got a new appreciation for just how hard it is to do what he does. Raising money hasn’t been simple. “It’s easy for everybody else to spend the money, but it’s really hard for me to raise it,” he says. Especially since it’s a cannabis-related business, and operating in the space is a whole lot harder than in more traditional industries. Working with cannabis comes with a whole lot of inherent risk.
Barry hopes it’ll turn out to be a risk worth taking.
KISSED BY THE FLOWER
Barry’s company’s origin story begins back in 2014 when he and his (now-ex) wife Stephanie moved back to California from Montana. They were relatively new parents of triplets—two girls and a boy, age 6 at the time. “We’d been hearing about this legalization of marijuana coming for a couple of years,” he tells me over Zoom in early March from his California home. “I’m a guy who’s in recovery, I haven’t had a drink or illegal drug in 23 years now. And so I thought, oh my God, they’re gonna legalize marijuana, I’ve got three little kids, this is the worst thing I’ve ever heard of.”
He needed to understand the market, and he was shocked by what he found out. Turns out, the War on Drugs propaganda he’d been hearing all his life was wrong. “I learned, wow, there are these cannabinoids that have medicinal properties that are helping people, curing cancer, stopping seizures,” he says, an incredulous edge to his tone. “It got my attention.”
Laying in bed with Stephanie one night, fl ipping through a magazine, Barry felt a familiar pangs of an addiction demanding to be met. “Let me put it this way: I had to do a deal,” he says. “I had to do a deal; I had to think of something, had to think of something we could do.”
Seeing the emerging market in medical cannabis, they decided to focus on topical hemp-based products, choosing to explore the idea of adding CBD to skincare products or face creams—something no one was really doing at the time. Sure, there were a handful of lotions and pain creams that incorporated the powerful cannabinoid, but none of them were destined for high-end med spas or the shelves of Neiman Marcus. A luxury CBD skincare product line didn’t yet exist, and they set out to change that.
The idea inspired Barry to put everything on the line. “I went out and borrowed $1.2 million in unsecured notes to get this thing started,” he says. “I didn’t have any money to put into it, I didn’t even have so much as a business plan. I had an idea, I stood on a podium, and I told a story. And I got guys to loan me 300 grand. That was enough to get the fi rst samples [of a CBD pain cream Flowerkist developed] in. Then I went back to those guys and let them try the pain cream. And I got another million dollars within 20 minutes.”
With the initial funding in place and a product with a ton of potential on the way, the Clarks realized it was time to build a brand. While laying in bed one night, inspiration struck Barry once again. “We were trying to think of a name for the company, and I’m fl ipping through a cannabis magazine and see this beautiful purple glistening female marijuana plant with all
the resin, and it’s just gorgeous, so I think ‘kissed by the fl ower’— which became Flowerkist.”
Stephanie focused on the development of beauty products and makeup, letting her creative side shine. As the company’s co-founder, she wanted Flowerkist to refl ect her interests and personality, her refi ned sensibilities.
“Stephanie is a 51-year-old mother of triplets and she’s stunningly gorgeous,” Barry says. “She’s a grandmother, an entrepreneur, a visionary, taking care of three little kids as a single mother—and she could be a Victoria’s Secret model. She’s a drop-dead gorgeous bombshell woman.”
Fittingly, Stephanie envisioned a brand that was elegant, feminine, and fun. She developed a CBD-infused lipgloss and encased it in a luxe container topped with a folding mirror. It would have looked at home at the cosmetics counter at a high-end department store. Her insistance on elegant, functional packaging and branding elevated Flowerkist above other CBD products entering the market in 2017. That may not sound like it was that long ago, but things in cannabis operate in dog years, so 2017 was forever ago. Back then, most Americans hadn’t even heard of CBD yet. So when Flowerkist introduced one of the world’s fi rst CBD-infused lipsticks at a marijuana conference in 2017, the market was theirs for the taking. “A distributor approached us to buy 10,000 units a month,” Barry says. “Stephanie was making these CBD lipsticks at the kitchen table, so we could only produce about a hundred of them a month, so that was out the window. But at that point, we knew we had something,” he says.
“And we also knew that we weren’t smart enough to market it.”
WINDOWS TO THE WORLD
Barry went on a search for a marketing guy, and he wound up connecting with the marketing guy, Rowland Hanson. You may not know the name, but you know his work: if it weren’t for him, Bill Gates might have prevailed with naming Microsoft’s graphical user computer system “Interface Manager” instead of what Hanson suggested: “Windows.” (The marketing genius is also behind the 1990s infomercial for Bowfl ex, once ubiquitous on late-night television and said to be the highest-revenue-generating infomercial of all time. He knows how to make a brand or a product connect with target audiences.)
Barry says Hanson took one
look at the licensing agreement Flowerkist had with the company that had developed Flowerkist’s pain cream. “And Rowland being Rowland, he blew it full of holes. So we wound up going to London and meeting with a group called the Dabur Research Foundation [DRF], a $5 billion pharmaceutical company in India that is the number one ayurvedic medicine company in the world.”
Over the last several years, DRF has been evaluating how to optimize the benefi ts of CBD-infused skincare products, and they’ve concluded that CBD alone won’t deliver optimal results. But combine some CBD with specifi c plant stem cells and select ayurvedic essential oils, and you just may see some incredible results.
According to Derm Store dermatologist Dr. Ava Shamban, plant stem cells can help stimulate better cell turnover, and their strong antioxidant and anti-infl ammatory eff ects help to protect against sun damage and prevent wrinkles, leading to more youthful skin cells at the surface of the skin. There is evidence that plant stem cells can promote the production of new collagen, which can make skin appear more youthful. Dermatologist Dr. Sonoa Au adds that using products that contain plant stem cells can help keep your skin looking young by fi ghting off wrinkles, protecting against sun damage, and reducing infl ammation.
While developing its new skincare line, Flowerkist leveraged DRF’s expertise in plant-based ingredients to explore the healthful benefi ts of selected plant stem cells. They screened over 35,000 plant species for their medical
use, settling on blends that incorporate the all-natural power of ginseng, grapeseed, bilberry, licorice, curcumin, and sea buckthorn. They opted for broad-spectrum CBD, which contains a wider array of naturally occurring cannabinoids, plant terpenes, fl avinoids, vitamins, minerals, and plant proteins of the original hemp source than CBD isolate does. Using a patent-pending
“applied emulsion technology,” which aids in rapid absorption, the formulations deliver the natural nutrients deep into the skin, amplifying their eff ectiveness.
The resulting three-part product line (The Silver Collection, $249) is formulated with some seriously eff ective all-natural ingredients, including broad-spectrum CBD, plant stem cells, and ayurvedic oils and water. “We developed a serum, a face cream, and a night cream,” Barry says, “and the results are incredible.”
Barry says that in 60-day clinical trials—backed up by actual scientifi c data—the products in Flowerkist’s Silver Collection were “proven to have the ability to reduce the appearance of a woman’s age on her facial skin by up to eight years by decreasing the fi ne lines and wrinkles and a reduction in pore cell size, and elimination of up to 96 percent of the bacteria on the face.”
The Silver Collection is available now on Flowerkist’s website, and the proven regimen is destined for medispa offi ces and dermatologist offi ces in short order. Keep an eye out for the fl ower-of-life-inspired logo—it’s going to start popping up in more and more places as more mainstream beauty editors get their hands on the product line and become evangelists themselves.
Flowerkist’s already started grabbing attention in beauty circles: Aesthetic Everything’s 2019 Aesthetic and Cosmetic Medicine Awards honored Flowerkist as the “top breakout company,” and the 2021 CEW Beauty Creators Awards recognized Flowerkist as a fi nalist in the CBD beauty category. The brand’s on the brink of blowing up.
So Barry’s handing over the reigns to a new CEO to run the business side of things. “I am a guy who can raise money, but I’m not an operator,” he says. “We just got to the point where this is way too sophisticated. We’ve got these products that are real, so I resigned as CEO—the thing got bigger than I ever dreamed.”
FINDERS,
RETREATERS
This Sonoma County artist o ers up her land for private resdencies. She can change the course of your life—if you can nd her.
TEXT TRACY ROSS
Years before Merlin Coleman knew that her mother would bestow her family’s eightacre plot of fertile farmland in northern California to her, she was identifying herself as a “drawer”—of the kind not that holds pants but that puts pencil to paper.
That was the 1970s, and the region was shifting. There were hippies and alternative folks wanting to “get back to nature,” and Sonoma County was an agrarian idyll, replete with rolling hills, salt-scented air, and fertile soil. On Coleman’s mother’s invitation, the back-to-the-landers would drive up from places like Berkeley or San Francisco to work on the barn, soak in the sun, and make art. “It wasn’t an intentional community in the sense of buying food, but they spent a lot of time together,” says Coleman. “And everybody was always naked. I still hold that value. The right to be naked.”
Another element from those times that stuck: the enjoyment, and dedication to, making art. “I was always sketching as a kid, (hence the self-identifi cation of drawer) “and that transferred into music, in the sense of drawing with sounds,” says Coleman. As a teen, she attended the artsy Northwest School in Seattle, studying cello, but, “I wasn’t very connected to myself,” she adds. That lasted until one day when she was 19 in a practice room at Cornish College of the Arts and a light went on. “I was playing around on the piano and started to write things down,” she says. “I had this huge moment where I knew I wanted to write music instead of being an instrumentalist or a singer. And I have never looked back on that aspect of my life.”
Since that time, Coleman has performed and recorded experimental music for a multitude of instruments, including voice, cello, piano, and found sounds, with an emphasis on text and word play. She performs solo or with small ensembles and has written scores for numerous choreographers, made recorded works for multi-channel sound spaces, engaged in performance art happenings, and directed a gargling chorus. And she has held on to the cherished piece of family land in a part of California that has attracted pioneers and the Grateful Dead, Joan Didion and John Stein- beck, and, more recently, everyone from organic farmers seeking to live closer to the rhythms of the earth to burnt-out tech execs fl eeing Silicon Valley.
Coleman still exudes an air of the dreamy kid who wandered around her mother’s land with her sketchpad or cello in her hands, the one who also dreamed of one day working the ground to help it produce fruit and vegetables. In 2012, after a 10-year stint of living and performing in Berkeley, she returned to the land and has since added a sizable garden (she had visions of building a commercial farm but zoning regulations wouldn’t allow it). In the years since, while raising her two sons, she has opened the space once again to the same kind of people that formed her childhood visions of the future.
She still dedicates her days to the creation of art, which she has done in collaboration with a choreographer and video artist since 1999. Their fi rst workspace was a warehouse in Oakland across from the Mother’s Cookies factory they fi ttingly dubbed Milk Bar. After 12 years, U-Haul moved in, so they relocated to Bridge Arts in Richmond. And since 2004,
they’ve curated “MilkBar salons” in a vibrant 40-seat venue. The salons host a dynamic and diverse range of artists, creating a unique collage eff ect of mixed disciplines such as local butoh (a form of Japanese dance), experimental Russian and Turkish fi lm, mixed media photo installations, rooftop performance art with audience participation, and singer-songwriter performances. On the weekend of March 12, the founders celebrated their 50th salon.
But all along, Coleman wanted to share her own space with a community of artists. So, since 2018, she has off ered a residency on her land. It’s very grassroots— private and word of mouth. Here’s how she views it: “an antidote to other big residencies, which are shiny and pedigreed—you need your art résumé and samples and to have a fancy art degree. That’s not bad, but it’s highly competitive. Meanwhile I take it on the face that you are really dedicated to your work. I do care that people who come here are making quality art. But, sort of like body positive, I’m art positive. I just want to provide a place where you can come if you’re really serious about your work and you have heard about me from a friend or rumored person in the Bay Area. If you know your boss’s daughter needs a retreat, send them my way. That kind of thing.”
Once an artist fi nds Coleman, and Coleman vets their work and them, she says they have a call— or better yet, the candidate visits in person—to talk about logistics. Housing for the residency is in a three-story-high tower that you access via ladder and has no running water inside. “So I ask, ‘is a tower going to work for you?” she says. “Are you okay with the rustic nature of having a bathroom outside? We talk about some of the guidelines. There are kids running around, so I make sure they’re okay with that. I also have a media rule of no cell phones of any kind being out in a common area.”
Artists prepare their food in a shared kitchen, often with vegetables from Coleman’s prodigious garden. She invites artists in for one family dinner, mainly so her kids can meet a variety of diff erent makers. And, at some point during the residency, she will arrange “a little show and tell— that’s what I call it. Part of what I don’t want to do is scare people— this is time for them to regenerate and make art,” she says. But she does want to give artists a chance to showcase their work to the local community, so she sets up a gathering complete with snacks and drinks for community members to come and witness them.
Ultimately, Coleman wants to off er a place where artists can rest and regenerate. “Oftentimes artists will come here and sleep for the fi rst two days,” she says. “That’s fi ne with me, because I don’t believe you can do good work unless you’re rested.” But there is one catch. Coleman let artists fi nd her through word of mouth. Consider
TOP: Artists have to be comfortable with the beauty (and lack of conveniences) that come with rustic living. BOTTOM: Merlin Coleman has always been dedicated to making art.
Risky Business
The National Cannabis Risk Management Association (NCRMA) is here for businesses looking to assess—and mitigate—risks that threaten their success in this ever-changing market.
In business, as in life, the biggest risk you run is not knowing what you don’t know. That’s why risk management is an integral part of any successful business’s operational plans—even more so in the emerging cannabis industry.
The reality is that running a business—let alone a cannabis business—comes with a lot of complexities, and a lot of pitfalls that could derail your business goals. That’s why it’s imperative to not only have practices and policies in place to mitigate those risks, but also to be prepared to minimize the impacts should they become reality. But for new business owners—which by some estimates more than 60 percent of cannabis entrepreneurs are—it can be diffi cult to even know where to begin.
This is where the National Cannabis Risk Management Association (NCRMA) trade organization comes in. The nation’s only dedicated cannabis risk management association, NCRMA has put together a disruptively innovative risk management platform for the cannabis industry, supplemented by an insurance platform that offers businesses committed to the risk management process access to lower-cost coverage designed for this nontraditional industry.
The platform includes robust risk assessment and consulting services through the National Cannabis Risk Prevention Services (NCRPS); the NCRM Academy, a virtual educational platform where NCRMA members can access discounted courses, webinars, and customized trainings; and exclusive access to insurance products designed for cannabis businesses through Trichome innovative Risk Protection TM Insurance. Together, these benefi ts offer NCRMA members tools, procedures, knowledge, and support.
“We fi rst created NCRMA about four years ago because we recognized that emerging markets and industries like cannabis require fundamentally sound risk management in order to be successful,” says Rocco Petrilli, chairman of NCRMA. “Growth in cannabis is not guaranteed, and one of the major derailers is the weak states of risk management and insurance, which threaten the industry’s ability to reach its projected potential. But with the right solutions, these threats can be mitigated and overcome.”
This is the fi rst of a three-part series discussing risk management in the cannabis industry with NCRMA. To read the entire series, visit sensimag.com
NCRMA
Risk Management Company ncrma.net
LEFT: Why, yes, I’m the black sheep. RIGHT: Coleman o ers artists a place where they can unplug from the frenzy of contemporary life.
this story a starter map to doing that. But like any good drawer, you will have to connect the dots.
You can start by checking out merlinman.com. Then fi nd these other three California idylls, which are perfect for resting and creating.
The Mesa Refuge, Point Reyes Station
Since its founding in 1997, Mesa Refuge in Point Reyes Station has supported more than 600 writers addressing compelling issues related to the current time. They come for two-week deep dives into their projects, staying in cottages placed among paths winding through colorful gardens. Explore your way to your space and work, undisturbed, into the wee hours. Then group up with your co-writers and cook together (or not) in the communal kitchen. Mesa’s priority is to support writers focusing on “ideas at the edge” of the areas of nature, human economy, and social equity. Spring and fall residencies are two-weeks long, and there is no fee (though you are responsible for your travel and food). Application directions and more can be at mesarefuge.org/ residencies/application.
Chalk Hill Artists Residency, Healdsburg
Founded in 2010 on a 280-acre ranch and vineyard bordering the Russian River, Chalk Hill is the vision of the late John Carl Warnecke, a renowned architect who championed “contextual architecture,” a design response to the literal and abstract characteristics of one’s surrounding environment. Warnecke wanted artists to live and work together in what he deemed the most beautiful place in the world, and that’s what they get when they come to the ranch at Chalk Hill. Stays last two to six weeks. Residents use the artist house, studio space, and ranch property. They have the opportunity to exhibit and sell their work at Open Studio events. And applications are open to artist of all mediums, including but not limited to fi ne arts, multi-media, design, singing/songwriting, and poetry. Residencies cost $400 per week, but scholarships are available. Check out chalkhillresidency.com for details.
Wilbur Hot Springs, Williams
Wilbur isn’t technically an artists’ retreat, but you should visit anyway. The property off ers natural hot mineral springs in the heart of an 1,800-acre nature preserve located two and a half hours north of San Francisco. Here, you can hike or bike on the reserve’s many trails and then bathe, clothed or naked, in the medicinal healing pools. Expect an ambiance of earthly calm—Wilbur uses only solar energy, and the water comes from natural springs. The indoor lodging—small cabins, a hotel, or the solar lodge—is airy and clean; six separate campsites are also available. Leave your technology at home: Wilbur is a Wifi - and cellular-free property. Let the digital detox, soothing waters, and immersion in nature fuel your creativity. Go to wilburhotsprings.com for more information.
Strategy, Devices
Ispire elevates high-quality products, partnerships, U.S. manufacturing, and energy to the next level—all while proving new innovation.
There are two sides to Ispire, and this fact drives its product strategy. On the vape hardware side, Ispire works directly with brands as their white label partner on hardware with a complete line to support them with cartridges, batteries, and disposables. Ispire also offers packaging and creative services to help the brands imagine who they are and create the right structure to let them do what they do best: make great products to put in cannabis devices.
The Consumer Devices division features several dab devices that utilize induction heating. The team at Ispire decided to use induction heating in its devices to create a greater range of heating temperatures that better service the different ways people consume concentrates. As with all of its product decisions, Ispire places the consumer at the forefront. As the company moves forward, it continues to expand on both product lines to create the best experience for the customer.
Ispire’s team of experts is highly invested in advancing the industry. “I’ve been an advocate for the industry since medical was fi rst passed in California,” explains Rick Egan, chief marketing offi cer. “While I was watching the industry, an opportunity to get into cannabis did not immediately presented itself to me. One of my mentors, Michael Wang, had been considering joining Aspire Global to help start a cannabis division. Based on my interactions with him, I had gotten to know a lot about the company and what made it different. When he decided to join, he asked if I would help him start the Ispire brand. I jumped at the opportunity to help him build the brand and to do it with him. I knew if he was joining, then it was going to be an opportunity to create a brand that would be loved within the cannabis industry.”
Ispire and its team assist startups in building and establishing a brand. It includes one phrase in all of its branding: “For the perfect hit, every time.” This encompasses Ispire’s drive to deliver a great, consistent experience. Anyone can do something once, but few can do it over time. “For any startup, it is important to fi nd your north star and then start building your narrative that aligns to that north star. That helps to create the thread through everything that you do,” says Egan.
As a company, the goal has always been to make products that gave consumers a better experience. The Ispire team realized from the beginning that cannabis hardware tended to be inferior, and consumers were both typically overcharged and left with a lackluster experience. It was important that, as a hardware company, Ipsire needed to be part of the community to make sure that what it makes serves the community’s needs. Ispire prioritizes getting its people out in the community, supporting charitable groups, and giving back. Ispire created a charitable arm of the company, Wespire—its three pillars are environmental, homeless, and local community, and Wespire supports organizations focused on these pillars. The team is also visible at many events and present on social media.
“As with all startups, you have to wear a lot of hats, but it’s also important to know your strengths and weaknesses and look for help to overcome those weaknesses. Social
—Rick Egan, Chief Marketing Offi cer
media was one of those for me,” says Egan. “I am strong in many areas, but that was one where I knew I needed to build a good team. So, initially, I outsourced while I looked for a good team. Experience had taught me that social needed to be done in-house and that, for cannabis, it was a critical part of how we were going to tell our story. I’ve been blessed to this point to have a great team of passionate folks who are helping tell our brand story through our social channels.”
Ispire founder Tony Liu develops much of its technology himself, which led him to develop Ducore. He founded Aspire in 2010 and helped create many vape innovations taken for granted today. In 2018, he started looking into the current technology and concluded that it was not serving the consumer. Innovation was lacking, and compared to the E-cigarette industry, change was slow, and the consumer was suffering because of it. Ducore changed many of the core features by allowing for improved airfl ow and, lower burning temperatures, as well as solving other problems.
Adjustable airfl ow control puts the customer in control. By changing the airfl ow, the customer can select the experience they want, whether looking for a big rip or just a mellow toke. Airfl ow control lets the customer decide rather than having it decided for them.
With Ispire business can also stop outsourcing manufacturing. Its USbased team eliminates the hassles of liaising with various vendors and factories to create the perfect product. Ispire operates its own 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and it’s able to provide advice during every step of the process. Ispire also offers its partners premium packaging solutions that, like its hardware, are fully customizable with OEM/ODM options, making it a one-stop shop for all business needs.
To remain in the US was a critical decision in Ispire’s evolution. “Along with the importance of customer experience, being a part of the cannabis community was important to our brand and why we are doing what we are doing,” says Egan. “Having a team in the U.S. was the only way we could create products that would deliver on our charter of creating better customer experiences.”
Ispire connects—plugging its partners into a vast community of elite professionals and providing access to a network of cannabis afi cionados from fi llers to distributors, extractors to retailers, and beyond. Ispire supports. Ispire cares.
Ispire
Hardware Manufacturer getispire.com
