The New Smoker Magazine issue: No.8

THE NEW SMOKER

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Bringing class to grass™ The New Smoker Magazine Issue No.8 January 2018

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The New Smoker Magazine.

Editor-in-Chief Art Director Cover Design

SJ George Lawrence Snelly S.G. Clarke SJ George

Copy Editor

Joe DePatta

Contributing Credits

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Soren Gray

Executive Editors

TNS Contributors

Follow The New Smoker on Facebook® , Twitter® , Instagram® & Issuu®

Magazine

Dr.Frank Luca Belloiu Frank Lauria Elly Prothero Lawrence Snelly Chef Tiffany Friedman Dyson Bronti Soren Gray Clarke Green Ben Parker Karris via KINDLAND Adrienne Airhart via KINDLAND Amanda Reiman via FLOW KANA

All contents © 2017 The New Smoker, LLC. The New Smoker has nothing to do with tobacco or any of it’s related products. The New Smoker magazine is published and distributed by issuu.com. The New Smoker does not condone or endorse any illegal use of any products or services advertised herein. All materials are for educational purposes only. The New Smoker recommends consulting an attorney before considering any business decision or venture. We take no responsibility for the actions of our readers.

A number of characters and images appearing in this magazine are parody, satirical or fictitious. Any resemblance to any persons, living, created, or dead, is purely coincidental.

ISSUE No.8 CONTENTS:

THE NEW SMOKER

TEN TOP TIPS TO GROWING AT HOME A Quick Guide on Growing Great Grass.

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THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF FLOWER 7.

Did America’s Founding Fathers Smoke the Grass They Grew?

INNOVATION vs PRESERVATION Can We Save The Past While Rushing To The Future?

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OLD SCHOOL NEW Classic Ways of Smoking, Redesigned for the Stylish Smoker.

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MULTI-GENERATIONAL CANNABIS FARMERS Californian Family Cannabis Businesses Thrive.

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FEATURED FARMS Indoor & Outdoor Grows And A Few In Between.

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THE GROWING MAN Interview with Cannabis Cultivation Icon: Ed Rosenthal.

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CANNABIS CRITTERS The Extended Ecosystem In Cannabis Crops.

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MASTERING THE CANNABIS CRAFT Environmental Controls for Indoor Grows.

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MUSIC TO GROW BY

New Album Releases To Help You & Your Plants Grow.

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THE EMERALD TRIANGLE GROWS THE BEST BUD But Why...?

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SOUR LEMON HAZE A Sweet & Sour Review.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THENEWSMOKER.COM 5 of the Best of Best "Reviews" from TNS Tastemaker Site.

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TERPENES ARE THE SMART WAY TO PREDICT YOUR HIGH 71.

Indica vs Sativa Is For Suckers.

SEEDS 101 The Basics To Knowing & Growing From Seeds

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CHEF TIFF’S RECIPES Autumn Recipes From Chef Tiffany Friedman

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FRANK TALES - THE FUTURE OF GROWING Frank's Tales continue.

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THE NEW SMOKER

Notes from a New Smoker Welcome to the eight issue of The New Smoker magazine:

All About Growing.

This issue is dedicated to the Northern California cannabis farmers who lost their harvest, for some their livelihood, and a very few even lost their lives, in the Napa/Sonoma/Santa Rosa "Croptober" Fires of 2017.

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e were gearing up to visit many of the NoCal farms to feature in this issue, but then the big fires broke out a week before, and we had to cancel the trip. As a result, we are focusing mainly on Southern California farms this issue.

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e originally scheduled this issue to come out in Fall of 2017 in time for the Croptober Harvest (hence the cover date), but due to the tragic fires, as well as late submissions, a trip to the other side of the planet, and most recently & costly, a corrupted file of our almost completed magazine layout for this issue, forcing our design team (aka SJ the Allstar) to restart the layout from scratch. Then the holidaze crept in, plus life happens in between it all, as it does.

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eedless to say, this issue is waaay behind schedule. More than our usual lag in the pursuit of high quality content. But our motto has always been "We'd rather have it done right, than have it done on time." So we're sticking to that as it turns 2018.

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here are over 1500 strains identified on Leafly.com, 95% of them are hybrids. The industry is literally and figuratively loosing it's roots in the rush for money, the industrialization of cannabis, and the need to be unique.

The original strains people have come to know and love are being lost to his'd previously written an amazingly tory by a sweeping tide of innovation. clever, witty, insightful, editorial intro in this space before the file crashed. t's not that innovation is bad, far But, like the NoCal fires, it was lost from it. Many new and amazing to the creative & destructive forces of strains, and discoveries from those Kali, and I return to this page without strains' properties, are vital and imthe same magical, mythical, thoughts portant to science and consumers in my head as before. One can't recre- alike. But it shouldn't cost us the origiate spontaneity, but I can try to sum- nal landraces. marize some of the points I remember: rowers ideally should save a part n this issue, we not only feature the of their farm to grow classic ins and outs of growing great grass, strains, and the other part to create but we also return to explore an idea new strains. Of course, the demand started in the first issue of The New needs to be there for most to bother.

Smoker: Innovation vs Preservation. Maybe we need an official Cannabis Specifically the article "The End of Sa- Preservation Society: or "CSP". tiva" in which we explore the loss of Growers could unite to preserve the past original pure sativa and indica pure while looking to the future. Wanna join? strains due to over hybridization.

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-S.G. Clarke

EDITOR- IN-KIEF

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How to Grow

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ere’s a quick guide to growing the good green ganja in, or around, your home. It’s a great way to get to know the plant you enjoy. Plus, with care and attention, you can grow some amazing cannabis right in your own back yard or spare room.

Easy Steps

Before you grow, you need to decide where you want to grow. Indoor vs Outdoor. Depending on environment and kind of strain, both can grow great green. Some strains prefer indoor, some prefer outdoor.

Indoor = More manageable, but more costs. Smaller plants, but more harvests per year.

Outdoor = Less maintenance, much cheaper to grow, but less control. Needs good sun, soil, and terroir. Bigger plants, but only once a year.

Greenhouse/Hoop-house = Best and worst of both worlds. Indoor/Outdoor hybrid. More control, more harvests, more natural, but more cost, more pests, more maintenance.

(Hydroponic growing is for larger scale pros. Don’t bother for home-grow.)

10 Top Grow Tips: 1. Genes - Get a strong female with good genetics.

Seed or clone, make sure she's strong, healthy, and a Lady 2. Soil - Give your new Lady a good home.

Nutrient rich organic soil. The bigger the planter, the bigger the plant.

3. Food - Feed your Lady well, but don’t overfeed her.

Too much of a good thing is always bad.

4. Water - Quench her big thirst, but don’t over do it.

Keep her soil damp, but not soaked.

5. Light - Let the Sun (or sun-like light) shine in!

Veg: Give your Lady as much light as possible to grow big plants (18hrs+ a day).

Flower: Less light when it’s time to grow big buds (12hrs- a day).

6. Pests - Protect your Lady.

Holistic methods like natural predators and organic pesticides are best.

7. Harvest - Pluck her when she’s plump, smelly, sticky... and the crystals are amber.

2+ months to harvest small plants with dense buds indoors 6+ months to harvest big trees with big buds outdoors 8. Drying - Hang her upside down in the dark for days until her smaller stems snap.

9. Trimming - Make her pretty by carefully cutting away anything that’s not a beautiful bud.

10. Curing - Pop her in a sealed container in the dark and only let her breathe once a day for a few weeks, to a month or more, until she smells and feels just right. Dry buds = keep lid closed, damp buds = keep lid open Bonus step: Enjoying - Roll her up and smoke her until you become one with the Ganja Goddess herself.

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Founding Fathers of Flower The

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A U.S. Herbstory

by Luca Belloiu

n 1973, the American constitutional historian Richard B. Morris identified our founding fathers as seven certain influential men. They are in descending order -starting with most middle schools named after them to least middle schools named after them- these seven ex-British rebels: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and John Jay. Others also count James Monroe on this list, which is only right considering the guy took a musket ball in the shoulder for us during the Battle of Trenton.

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hrough meticulous research in the burgeoning field of cannabinoid forensics (reading old letters and diaries), history has established that at least four of those men had intimate knowledge of both the cultivation, and quite possibly the inhalation, of cannabis.

That means at least half of our founding fathers were either high, or knew where and how you could get high, during the nascent period of our great republic. The implications are far reaching. As part of a concerted effort to erase cannabis from our history textbooks, the flag bearers of our more puritanical ancestors have tried to keep the proverbial lid on the important role of hemp/cannabis in this country. As many of you may know, it’s quite easy to keep a high guy down, but the truth shall always set you free. Veritas liberabit vos.

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he big four who make up our Mt. Kushmore are: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and James Madison. It’s difficult to imagine these brave forefathers as purveyors of the “devil’s weed” given the myopic stance our current government occupies on the subject. But the stigmatic dye had not yet been cast. The intrepid spirit of the colonial man had no time for silly wars on drugs. They were busy waging actual war against the British, and as it turns out... busy tilling their soil for Cannabis Sativa L, more commonly know as Hemp. In fact, the Constitution our country was founded on was written on hemp paper, so in a real sense the United States was created on cannabis.

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f all the great hemp-farming Founding Fathers in his day, our beloved first president George Washington had perhaps the greenest of thumbs. He owned no less than 4 farms where he sowed his hemp seeds for a variety of uses.

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Image credit: Franklin in London, 1767 Painting by David Martin, displayed in the White House. Slightly adapted for article.

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homas Jefferson, like his predecessor, also possessed a keen eye for potential mind-altering agriculture. The fellow founding hemp farmer was purported to have said, “Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda, smoking deep the Indian hemp…” This turns out to be only legend, or lore, as there is little evidence is given to support the quote, but sounds right to us. Other equally dubious findings, had Jefferson enjoying cannabis outside the tannery in Charlottesville; alongside the blacksmith in Albemarle; the candle maker in Norfolk; the Linkerboys of Fredericksburg; the steeple jacker in Alexandria; and on occasion the hush shop keeper in Jamestown. Depending on how deep you dive into U.S Herbstory, Ol’ Jefferson left quite the puff cloud in his wake. This could have explained his knack for open-minded statesmanship and diplomacy.

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efferson’s Secretary of State, was not only our fourth president, as well as another of our Founding Fathers, James Madison was also a hemp farmer (surprise, surprise).

Known as the “Father of the Constitution” James Madison was heard to have said that smoking Indian hemp inspired him to found a new nation based on democratic principles. No doubt this probably came across as tooting one’s colonial horn. He’d probably walk into the local tavern and everyone would just roll their eyes. You can imagine them ne of the biggest, and more entertainingly named of zoning out as he droned on about “I started the American these growing operations, was The Muddy Hole. It Whig Society...” this, and “Federalist Papers...” that... was recorded numerous times in Washington’s home grow journals that he’d “sowed hemp at the Muddy Hole again today”, and “finally harvested the Muddy Hole”, as well as “packed that Muddy Hole hard last night” (ok, maybe not that last one).

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lthough 1st Prez G-Dubs may only have produced industrial hemp used for rope, thread, and canvas, it remains unclear if Washington hotboxed Mount Vernon with his some of his own selected strains, and chased Martha around the grounds wearing only his buckled shoes and a straw hat. Some speculate that he may have grown a few cannabis indica plants on the side for personal use. A little something to help his chronic toothaches, and ease his post-presidency retirement.

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e do know that George Washington had recorded his process of separating male from female hemp plants, to possibly produce more potent bud flowers, so this may add credence to the theory of his recreational enjoyment of cannabis. Besides, as a man of the Enlightenment, he must have strove to achieve that extra level of inspiration and brilliance using many different methods.

So, we’ll say he did.

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Image credits: Top left - George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1797. Bottom right - Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, 1800 Both images slightly adapted for article.

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ut, when it comes to enterprising politicians of the age none quite surpass the panache of Benjamin Franklin.

Inventor of the bifocal lens, glass harmonica, to name a few, this polymath started our nation’s first commercial hemp paper mill, and started his own Farmer’s Almanac. As minister to France, he would have been in Paris for much of the Hashish boom of the 1780’s or the “Roaring 80’s” as they have been dubbed, by no one but myself. There is a scintillating tidbit during this time that has John Adams walking in on a nude Franklin during one of his famous “air baths.”

Franklin was purported to have been wearing nothing but a coonskin hat. This draws a frighteningly similar parallel to the incident involving Matthew McConaughey in October of 1999, when he was detained by Austin police after being found nude, high, and banging on bongos.

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s most cannabis aficionados can attest to there is nothing quite like a good toke to get the creative juices flowing. Ben Franklin possessed such creativity in spades.

Coupled with his eccentricities, and his intimate knowledge of farming techniques, he resembles the portrait of a classic functioning pothead. A letter found at a garage sale in Grand Rapids, MI claims to be from the great Benjamin Franklin himself, who writes to his favorite traveling partner, Sir John Pringle.

Note, the letter is written on a modern day yellow legal pad page and misspells Franklin’s first and last names. Still, one would be remiss not to include it here:

“Dig this Jack,

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ot all hopped up on that mighty French Indian hemp stick import with T-Paine last night.

Told him it’s just Common Sense to use my hemp paper to write all his gripes with The Man. We rolled another stick of Tea and got blazed during a thunderstorm. After the third stick, I was inspired and took a piece of hemp string out and tied a metal key to my favorite kite. I walked outside , feeling electric, and after swaying in the lightning and rain for a bit, the kite was hit and was as lit up as we were. I apparently proved that storm was giving off electricity, and it is now ours to command! No biggie. You can’t just stumble on that sorta’ thing sober, ya’ dig?

Let’s get “electric” soon,

Ben-jammin' Franklen”

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ore irrefutable "proof " of these great men and their penchant for mind expanding odysseys, or at the very least the cultivation of plants that were capable of delivering such experiences. Each potential smoke session lighting a path towards our Manifest Destiny.

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hile many of these accounts remain of dubious origin, they help paint a picture of a fertile nation on the precipice of greatness. A place where “purple mountain majesties” takes on whole new meanings.

hollow sculptural smoking vessels

www.shophollow.com

THE NEW SMOKER

INNOVATION VS

PRESERVATION

by Dr. Frank, MD

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annabis has changed since the 60s and 70s.

We have gone from strains like “Panama Red”, “Acapulco Gold” and “Thai Stick” to names like “Gorilla Glue”, “Bruce Banner” and “Granddaddy Purple”.

Eagle-eyed readers will realize that we went from mostly sativa, landrace strains mostly grown outdoors to fast-flowering hybridized strains that are grown indoors. Cannabis back in the 60s and 70s was also far more likely to be imported, be full of seeds and on the most part not necessarily as potent as the cannabis found today.

This happened because of the “homegrown explosion”, when short-growing indicas like Afghani became more commonplace. Sativas were also stabilized and crossed with indicas in order to take advantage of hybrid vigor and create plants that were a bit more forgiving to look after.

Growing landrace strains in alien environments is a difficult task, usually left to the best growers and breeders. Hybrid strains are generally much better to grow for beginners.

Yet, have we lost something in the switch from the landrace strains of yesteryear to the highly engineered strains of today? Let’s look at some of the main issues surrounding the growing of cannabis, why it’s important, and why the line between “innovation” and “preservation” is blurry (and could even be said to be a false distinction) …

The “More Bang for Your Buck” Attitude

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In the past, people wanted high-yielding, fast-flowering, THC-packed cannabis. The point was to be able to keep hidden from authorities and be able to make as much profit as quickly as possible. For those doing personal grows, the point was to be able to produce enough within one or two grows to last the whole year, thereby lessening the chances of getting caught.

Sadly, this meant that breeders were often only looking for THC, often to the detriment of the other cannabinoids and terpenoids. Companies would try and compete on creating the most THC-laden strain possible, meaning that strains and individual phenotypes considered “low value” were bred out of particular lines. This, of course, leads to a lack of genetic diversity, which leads to …

Population Bottlenecking This means that many types of cannabis are, for all intents and purposes, now likely to be extinct. Even strains that are in the middle of South America or Africa have become hybridized, due to pollen flying over from other plantations. This increases the chances of inbreeding and genetic homogeneity, which can cause an increase in mutations and disease, which means extinction becomes a distinct possibility unless fresh genetic material enters the genepool and recovery occurs. Hybridization is only an advantage if it’s done properly - over-hybridization can make plants all the same as opposed to all different.

This also means that strains that might have very distinct medical properties are lost in the milieu.

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Forgetting the Importance of Male Plants As people often only kept females, many very highly prized males were thrown away (think Chemdawg ‘91). Keeping males increases the chances of genetic recombination, meaning greater variation in cannabis’s gene pool. Male plants also have their own unique cannabinoid and terpenoid profiles, which can create impressive offspring with their own unique medical uses when crossed with a female.

Have We Lost the Strains of the 60s and 70s, Then?

“Yes” and “no”. Environmental disasters, wars, hybridization and various other issues may mean we have lost some very special plants.

However, it’s not at all cut-anddry. Take DJ Short’s Blueberry, for example, which comes from very old Purple and Chocolate Thai stock. Skunk #1, meanwhile, comes from a mixture of Afghani, Mexican and Colombian genetics.

Whilst one could argue that the “pure” versions are lost, it could also be argued that hybridization and homogenization has not only saved these strains, but also made them better.

Variability in the line has meant that there’s less chance of hermaphroditism, as well as giving the grower the ability to pick and choose a phenotype they like best.

Hybridising these strains also meant greater resistance to pathogens and sudden environmental changes. The ability to choose different phenotypes also lead to even more innovation, as people would cross specific phenotypes to other strains for variation, or 15

the same strain in order to improve homogeneity. This has lead to the creation of popular strains like Cheese and Blue Cheese. Such crosses also give us the chance to create strains that might be useful for very specific conditions. After all, it’s unlikely we’d have a strain like ACDC if we couldn’t hybridize strains!

Have We Potentially Lost Some Newer Strains as Well?

There are plenty of companies with their own version of “Jack Herer”, “White Widow”, “OG Kush” and so on. Whether or not they’re telling the truth is another thing. Sometimes it’s their own version of the original strain, put together using the same strains but still different due to the different environment and phenotypes used. Others will grab the original strain and outcross it, which can preserve the original line or dilute it, depending on the care the breeder has taken. The lease honest ones will just use the name for marketing hype.

However, it gets even more complicated. Sometimes, even the breeder who has made an original strain must outcross it at some point down the line in order to preserve the genetics. This means that the Jack Herer or Super Silver Haze of today might not be the same as the Jack Herer or Super Silver Haze of 10-20 years ago.

The only people who are growing the “true” Jack Herer are the ones who got to grow the first batches of seeds and have kept growing them since, or those who manage to get hold of the clones from such plants. In 30 - 40 years time, it might be only the dedicated who grow strains like a “true” Jack

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Herer, just as today only the dedicated preserve the original Panama Reds and Colombian Golds.

Are the New Strains Coming Out Now “Better” Than the Ones in the Past?

Ask an old hippie of the strains of the 60s and 70s, and they’ll tell you of strains that had very energetic effects - effects that aren’t commonly found nowadays, they claim. “They’re just hazy sativa strains, and you can find them everywhere now,” some might claim. The fact that they were often getting landrace sativas also explains the “electric” highs the old timers would have gotten from those older strains, which would have contained both THC and THCV. We have mentioned above that some of the old strains might have been lost due to THC-hunting, natural disasters and/or another social or economic issue. This means that we may have also lost some very interesting cannabinoid and terpenoid concentrations, which may have proved very useful had we preserved such lines.

Who knows? We may have thrown away a CBD-heavy sativa phenotype in the past, thinking it “bad” or “useless”! Thankfully, breeders have started to realize this, and the demand for cannabinoids other than THC has meant that they have had to start making new strains for an entirely different purpose in mind.

Perhaps the one area where strains nowadays could be seen as “better” is because of growing techniques. In the past, canna-

bis would have come from many miles away, in the process losing much of its flavor and potency.

That we can also grow sensimilla plants with relative ease has also increased the potency of the cannabis we get nowadays. So, it’s not so much that the cannabis we get now is “better” or “worse” it’s just more consistent, thanks to the improvements in growing mediums and techniques and the fact that much of the cannabis you get in the U.S. now comes from the U.S. What Does This All Mean?

Essentially, that without preservation, there is no innovation; and without innovation, there is no preservation. The two go hand-inhand. Creating crosses and brand new strains can preserve lines of cannabis that might have been lost many years ago, whilst preserving older strains can create a unique base from which to create new strains from and at the same time keep cannabis’s genetic pool varied.

Anyone who’s seen or heard Elevate the Conversation or read the blog at DoctorFrank.com will realize that we feel the ability for patients to grow their own cannabis is of utmost importance.

There are several reasons for this, but one of the main ones is that the more people who grow their own, the more variation there is in the gene pool, and the greater the chances of us finding a plant with an endocannabinoid and terpenoid concentration that will be useful for one or more different conditions. Keeping landrace strains alive serves a similar purpose, and allows us to explore and greater understand this unique plant further.

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THE NEW SMOKER

2.

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A selection of classic ways of consuming cannabis redesigned for the new sophisticated smoker.

1. The Steamroller: 7", 25mm glass tubing with stabilizing feet and inverted ash catcher mouthpiece, - GRAV® $24.99 2. The Coke Can Pipe: Turned into an art piece. Glazed porcelain slip cast from an aluminum can, - Candy Relics $60.00 3. The Joint, or Spliff: Rolling papers made with 100% organic hemp for an authentic taste. - RIZLA+$0.50 3.

4. A Gravity Bong: Made elegant. Called the Gravitron, all-glass construction. - GRAV® $78.00 5. The Hookah or Shisha: Modern & stylish a compact ceramic piece of art. - Studio Lorier $188.00 6. The Apple Pipe: A ceramic apple pipe stealthily displayed on your bookcase disguised as an art object. - Summerland $95.00

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5.

4.

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THE NEW SMOKER

California’s Multi-Generational Cannabis Farmers

By Amanda Reiman

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Article originally published on The Farms by FLOW KANA www.thefar.ms

alifornia is an agricultural state known for large levels of food production. Within that exists a farming community that embraces progressive farming techniques and small, sustainable operations. Many of these farmers live in Mendocino and Humboldt Counties and many of them produce cannabis. This is well known. What is not as well known is that many of these small, sustainable cannabis farms are powered by entire families, embracing and marrying traditional and progressive farming techniques to ensure the survival of their unique heritage and culture.

Keepers of Knowledge and Tradition Multigenerational businesses thrive on the transmission of knowledge from one family member to another. Unique practices and methods of adapting to the land are held in the hands and minds of those who tend the farm. The transmission of this knowl-

edge is what creates the culture of the product and the story behind it.

“My father was one of the best soil guys in California. He’d look like a crazy scientist with all these different soil mixes and ratios,” said Daryl Guthridge.

“Cyril is one hundred percent like that,” Daryl says of his son Cyril Guthridge, owner of WaterDog Herb Farm. “His plants get the utmost attention and nutrition. It was in my father’s bones, it’s in my bones and it’s in Cyril’s bones.”

If farms are turned over to strangers, if the current owner is ready to retire for example, there is a treasure chest of knowledge and practice that must be rebuilt. This is not the case when a farm is passed down to someone who has lived and breathed the land and its ways their entire life.

Image credit: Image from original article published on thefar.ms

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Never Starting from Scratch When Cyril looks out at the farm he and his father have worked together, he sees an opportunity to build upon the sweat and ingenuity created by his father and grandfather.

“My father always told me the key to happy plants is happy soil. His father was one of California’s original soil developers and silica experts. This gave my farming life a tremendous advantage. With every year our soil improves, as well as our knowledge and understanding of our plants. It shows in the quality of medicine we grow.”

The farmers in the Flow Kana network believe the land is a living, breathing piece of the family homestead. For many farmers keeping the land in the family with the people that know it best shows a real difference in the practices and products developed and cultivated there.

Yet, have we lost something in the switch from the landrace strains of yesteryear to the highly engineered strains of today? Let’s look at some of the main issues surrounding the growing of cannabis, why it’s important, and why the line between “innovation” and “preservation” is blurry (and could even be said to be a false distinction) …

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The “More Bang for Your Buck” Attitude Old World Practices, New World Products When Guy Gray first started farming cannabis in the hills of the Emerald Triangle, the cannabis market was not flush with edibles, concentrates, salves and high CBD products. Indeed, the evolution of the cannabis market over the part twenty years had seen the rise of infused products, unique cannabinoids and cannabinoid profiles and a more sophisticated palette then was allowed during prohibition.

The new wave of farmers taking over for their parents will have to meld the traditional farming practices on which they were raised with the demands of the post-legalization market.

“I never heard the term ‘CBD’ growing up,” says Guy’s daughter Jenn Gray. But as a growing demand for CBD exists in the market, farmers have had to adapt to meet that. “So much has changed,” says Gray. “I have always been around the growing of plants. My mom had a huge vegetable garden and orchard and my dad had a vineyard. At 14, I began trimming. At 15, I started growing, and at 16 my dad let me have

one of his old sites up in an oak tree.”

Over the years, Gray has seen the effect of prohibition on her family and her farm. “We care for the environment. We lived where we farmed.

The main thing we had was respect for the land. With cannabis there is so much more to lose, so it’s easy to get attached.”

Focus on Family and Sustainability Watching a parent build something from scratch can evoke a sense of responsibility among the children to continue the legacy. Sometimes, they enter the businesses with a profound sense of history, respect and drive to keep traditions alive.

The farmers in the Flow Kana network believe the land is a living, breathing piece of the family homestead. For many farmers, keeping the land in the family with the people that know it best shows a real difference in the practices and products developed and cultivated there.

Flow Kana is proud to have these small multi generational family farms in our network and support the transmission of knowledge about the land and how to best care for her from one generation to the next. This is the California Way.

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FEATURED FARMS

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any of us who enjoy consuming cannabis don't quite know where, or even how, it's really grown. We enjoy the result, but we rarely know all the hard work that goes into producing such great green. We might have heard the terms "Indoor", "Outdoor", "Greenhouse", "Hydro", even "Hoophouse". But not many of us really know what they really mean. What are the differences? Is one better than another?

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e here at The New Smoker took it upon ourselves to answer some of these questions by visiting various farms in California that exemplify the various styles of growing. Originally we had lined up a trip to visit a half dozen farms in the Bay Area and Mendocino, but the Croptober Fires of 2017 broke out in Napa and Santa Rosa the week before and we had to cancel the trip as the farms scrambled to save their crops, their homes and their lives.

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nstead, we selected a few of our favorite farms in Southern California. From Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, to Topanga Canyon, to downtown LA, we found great ganja grown all over. We realized it's less about the method one uses to grow, and more about the people who know what they are doing, committed to the cause, love their jobs, and put that love into the plants themselves.

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hese days many worry that corporate cannabis is starting to take over. But we found even the big farms still have pride in their crop and aren't just cashing out. They keep the spirit of the small farms alive, keeping quality and quantity high, and employee spirits even higher... not as just workers, but as partners.

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hey pride themselves on their product. It's that passion for the plant they love so much that shows in not only in the way they grow great grass, but in the way they do business. And we thank them for it.

Image credit: Lowell Farms, Photographer SJ Gray

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THE JUICE FARM Santa Barbara County Nestled in the rolling hills of Santa Barbara, The Juice Farm blends innovation with classic hoophouse techniques (something between a greenhouse and outdoor farm) to produce a seasonal bounty of beautiful buds.

Originally started in the basement and backyard of a little house in the Silver Lake hills of Los Angeles, The Juice Farm has grown in leaps and bounds over the years, finally landing on acres of idyllic land.

A small revolving group of dedicated farmers and herbologists make up this Co-op run farm. Though only set up for a little while at this location, they are ever expanding and innovating, all while growing some great grass.

STATS TYPE OF GROW: Outdoor/Hoop-house HOW LONG IN OPERATION: 3 years HOW IS IT RUN: Co-op Collective FARM STYLE: Organic soil, hoop-house, low-tech

FARM SIZE: 20k plants FARM OUTPUT: Capable of producing 1/2- 2 tons annually per acre.

FARM STRAIN SPECIALTIES: Thin Mint, Guava, Chemdawg, OG Kush.

FARM CROP TURN OVER RATE: 1-3 crops a year. Peak season: April - December.

FARM STAFF SIZE: 6 staff members full time.

CROP DESTINATIONS: Lowell’s, SoCAL Dispensaries, Breeze Mints, and SG Vape.

UNIQUE ABOUT THE FARM: Large scale seed breeding projects take place over the winter.

GOALS FOR THE FUTURE: Likely expanding cultivation and constructing a greenhouse along with better drying areas, as well as a nursery on site for propagation. Solar panel upgrades along with a natural gas boiler for heating.

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Image credits: The Juice Farm photographers SJ & Soren Gray

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LOWELL FARM San Louis Obispo County Located in the heart of San Louis Obispo wine country in coastal mid-Southern California, Lowell Farms is a mid-sized greenhouse grow farm on the verge of being huge. Their stylish eco-packaging for their seasonal pre-rolls and strain specific eighths; innovative marketing like their “bud bouquet”; and commitment to sustainable farming practices have put them at the forefront of some of the classiest of cannabis producers.

Owned by an LLC partnership of investors, run by green thumbed ganja gardeners, and mostly manned by traditional California agriculture migrant workers like the farms that surround them, Lowell Farms employs around 30 people year round, but the high demand for their quality products will most likely double that in the next year.

STATS TYPE OF GROW: Greenhouse. Peat base soil.

HOW LONG IN OPERATION: 1 year in this location.

HOW IS IT RUN: LLC Partnership FARM STYLE: Organic, sustainable and low-water usage.

FARM SIZE: 1 rented acre.

FARM OUTPUT: Produces 200-300lbs a week.

FARM STRAIN SPECIALTIES: SVM, Sour Headband, Chem Dawg, Pineapple, Cherry AK, Wi-Fi. FARM CROP TURN OVER RATE: Harvesting every 2-3 months, depending on strain. Peak season: Year round.

FARM STAFF SIZE: 30 on site: 12 processing trimmers, 12 cultivators, 2 clone caretakers, 4 managers. Demographic mostly migrant farmers.

CROP DESTINATIONS: In Lowell Products at dispensaries state wide.

WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT THE FARM: Sustainable commercial greenhouse organic farm (most organic, integrated pest management, bugs). Use Eucalyptus leaves to control smell.

GOALS FOR THE FUTURE: Waiting for San Luis Obispo county to approve applications. To be allowed to fully compliant to SLO county ordinances, then to expand into adjacent greenhouses.

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www.lowellsmokes.com Follow on Instagram: @lowellfarms

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Image credits: Lowell Farm photographers SJ & Soren Gray

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THC DESIGN Los Angeles County Not afraid to be loud and proud, we first noticed THC Design as a banner flying overhead at Coachella 2016. Located in downtown Los Angeles, THC Design was started by one man and one plant, with one giant dream: to make the highest quality cannabis out there.

Ryan Jenneman is that one man. Ryan moved to LA in 2009 with green stars in his eyes and a vision for the future: the highest quality product with the highest quality highs. He acquired one fertile plant of XJ-13 and within a year was able to start up his first indoor grow warehouse selling to local dispensaries. By 2014 Ryan started his own fully licensed cannabis brand THC Designs. Now they have at least 5 rotating warehouses throughout DTLA, and sells their product to 100 dispensaries across California.

STATS TYPE OF GROW: Indoor - Soil less - Coco HOW LONG IN OPERATION: 4 years HOW IS IT RUN: LLC. Managed by Ryan Jenneman FARM STYLE: Warehouse

FARM SIZE: 18,000 sqft FARM OUTPUT: Produces around 300lbs a month.

FARM STRAIN SPECIALTIES: XJ-13, Candyland, Lemon Meringue, Kosher Kush, Skywalker OG, Space Oddity FARM CROP TURN OVER RATE: Harvesting every week. Peak season: Year round. Holidays have the highest sales.

FARM STAFF SIZE: Full time - 40 - 50 growers - 100 trimmers, depending on how many warehouses are operational and peak seasons.

Mixed demographics.

CROP DESTINATION: 80% SoCal dispensaries, 20% NoCal. WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT THE FARM: Organic, Sustainable, . Recycle a/c moisture to help water plants. Pay workers top dollar. Have integrative pest management that's fully organic and safe for the consumer.

GOALS FOR THE FUTURE: As the country moves towards legalization, they plan to expand across the nation.

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www.thcdesign.com Follow on Instagram: @thcdesign

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Image credits: THC Design photographer Esjay Gray

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CRAFT CANNABIS FARMS TOPANGA CANYON Deep in the hippy rich hills of Topanga Canyon, in the back of couple of close built houses, there stands caged cannabis trees. While most indoor/greenhouse grows turn and burn their plants throughout the year so the buds might be dense, they never reach the size and stature of the outdoor farms who let their plants reach their full potential.

While walking through indoor cannabis fields, one walks above, or along side the plants. Here at Craft Cannabis Farms one walks beneath the bows of bountiful buds embraced in a cannabis canopy. Caged in to keep away predators large and small, these towering trees with buds the size of giant arms reveal what a real pot plant looks like raised right, in the open and in the sunlight.

STATS TYPE OF GROW: Sun-grown Outdoor HOW LONG IN OPERATION: 2+ Years HOW IT'S RUN: Partners/Friends FARM STYLE: Seasonal Outdoor Grow

FARM SIZE: 1/4 Acre FARM OUTPUT: 50-100lbs a year FARM STRAIN SPECIALTIES: Royal Sour, Contords, Hindu Kush x Indian Haze x Manipuri.

FARM CROP TURN OVER RATE: Once a year FARM STAFF SIZE: 6 friends CROP DESTINATION: Altered Plates infused dinner events, LA Dispensaries.

WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT THE FARM: Craft Cannabis, Emphasis in growing with a focus in terpenes intended to be infused into high end meals.

GOALS FOR THE FUTURE: To expand both the farm and food sides of the business.

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Image credits: Outdoor Grow Farm photographers Esjay & Soren Gray

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FARMS TO FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM TSO Sonoma TSO Sonoma farm carefully curates their organically sun-grown cannabis guaranteed to meet the highest standards of purity and quality. No pesticides or solvents used.

Located in Sonoma County. www.tsosonoma.com Follow on Instagram: @tso.sonoma

Kiskanu Kiskanu is a small craft organic off grid, sun grown seasonal farm in Humboldt. Women owned and run, manufacturing topical products and flower. www.kiskanu.com Follow on Instagram: @kiskanu and @kiskanufarms

Northern Reserve Northern Reserve is a family business of Sonoma County natives and longtime growers, who have spent more than a decade building the foundations of Northern Reserve. www.northernreservefarms.com Follow on Instagram: @northernreservefarmers

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Image credits: Images from each farms Instagram or provided by individual farms.

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Green Goat Estates Green Goat Estates has sun grown, appellation focused flower, bred to thrive specifically in the environment in which it is grown.

They also do live resin produced in partnership with Kind Bill (inventor of the process) and pre-rolls of exotic strains. www.greengoatestates.com Follow on Instagram: @greengoatestates

Humboldt Marijuana Co. Humboldt Marijuana Company specializes in cannabis extracts and organically grown flower. They offer the purest, most potent cannabis experience possible for consumers who care about what they put in their body. www.humboldtmjco.com Follow on Instagram: @humboldtmarijuanaco

Giving Tree Farms Established for nearly 10yrs in Northern CA. In 2014, Giving Tree Farms began the process of implementing greenhouse environments. Giving Tree Farms are environmentally conscious and work hard to ensure they minimize their environmental impact and carbon footprint. www.givingtreefarms.org Follow on Instagram: @giving.tree.farms 34

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THE GROWING MAN NEW RULES FOR OLD WAYS

by SOREN GRAY

I

first met Ed Rosenthal briefly at one of the many cannabis events I attend for The New Smoker. It was filled with usual suspects I see at most of these events in LA, nothing special.

So I breezed in, breezed through, and was about to breeze out when I noticed, too late, the list of speakers included Ed earlier in the day.

I

’d been looking for someone relevant to interview for this “Grow” issue of the magazine, and Ed was right at the top of my list of ideal interviewees. Ed is well known in the cannabis community as a master 35

grower; one of the original cannabis advocates; a long time contributor to High Times magazine in the 80s and 90s; a fierce fighter for the cause, arrested in the 2000s; and teacher at Oaksterdam University.

Basically a cannabis icon.

He’s even had a popular energetic hybrid strain create in his honor: “Ed Rosenthal’s Super Bud”.

disorganized, as one can be hosting a convention booth all day, but also very agreeable, if a bit gruff.

for the next 2+ months to nail Ed down for said interview. Apparently, Ed’s a very busy man, plus possibly a bit disorganized.

e said he’d love to fter numerous back H do an interview and I should call him to set Aand forth phone calls, something up. He couldn’t find a business card, so hand wrote his office number in adorable chicken scratch on a tiny piece of paper and gave it to me.

emails, smoke signals, with various assistants, I was finally given Ed’s cell number and told to call him after he landed in Hawaii the following week.

as it is, some amount of disorganization and disarray seems to be the nature of the canna-beast. But little did I know this would be especially true as I tried

on the phone about his new book, his fight with the feds, his controversial thoughts on inequality in the industry, and his passion for the plant.

bout to kick myself e finally got to chat elays are expected in A for missing my chance to connect with the man Dthis industry. Cliche Wover a couple of days himself, I found out he had a booth set up in one of the main rooms. I introduced myself and my interest to interview him.

He was a bit distracted and

Image credits: Ed Rosenthal by photographer Tonya Perme

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This interview has been edIt also goes into personited for brevity and clarity. al use. At a party, for inTNS - The New Smoker stance: what rights you have in transporting it. At ER - Ed Rosenthal one point, only a decade or TNS: Hi Ed, Thank you so ago, pot was legal, but it for doing this with us. wasn’t legal to transport it Let’s start with your new so cops could arrest people book “New Rules”. Can for transporting it, busted you tell us a little bit about for carrying a few joints. it?

TNS: What’s the rule ER: Sure, “New Rules” is now? a book about the new recreational cannabis laws ER: Well, you can move coming into effect on Jan- your pot around; take it uary 1st, 2018 for mari- with you. juana users in California.

We go through what’s al- TNS: In what way did the lowed, what’s not allowed, legal troubles you’ve had what will affect them. It inspire this book? You’ve also covers the medical gone to jail for the cause. laws.

ER: My trial was a totalTNS: Just for users? Not ly different thing. It was for businesses? a political trial. When I was arrested the head of ER: No, it’s not meant for the DEA came out to anbusinesses. They have a nounce my arrest. What lot more regulations, and they were trying to do was those vary by county and to compromise leadership. city.

It didn’t work exactly the way they thought it would TNS: What are the main work. changes that we can look forward to? What do we TNS: They were trying to need to be aware of? get you for anything, but they found something that ER: The book talks about transportation, possession, cultivation for per- “If you are going to mess with sonal use, cultivation for medical use, and generally someone, don’t goes into just how to stay mess with someone out of trouble.

Is it really legal to smoke who’s articulate.” outside a bar? You know, the bar owner will say, didn’t stick?

“Go smoke in the alley?” ER: They were trying to Is that legal? Smoking in make me ineffective. As it turned out, the trial, from public? the very beginning, was

surrounded with publicity.

We were on the right side, as history has shown, and every time information came out it made it look worse for the government.

I was an officer of the city of Oakland, and I was sworn in to supply marijuana to patients. So when the government wouldn’t even let that come out at trial it looked very bad for them. Everything the jury couldn’t hear the rest of the country was hearing, it was getting front-page publicity, a lot of TV and radio. It made me much more effective than I had ever been because it gave me a voice that the press was willing to hear.

TNS: A wider audience...

ER: Another thing. If you are going to mess with someone, don’t mess with someone who’s articulate.

That was another mistake they made. Reporters could relate to me.

TNS: Does what you learned from going through the trail connect to the book now?

ER: No, not really. We’re in a new age. Then, we were fighting for the rights of patients to get their medicine. It’s not that the fight is over but we’re on a way different front of that battle.

TNS: What don’t you like about the new recreational laws?

ER: Well, I’ll give you a very broad scope on that.

The more that you exclude people from entering or exiting the market, that is when you have excessive regulations or taxes or when you limit the number of people involved you won’t exclude those people from the market, they’ll just be in a different part of the market, in the illicit or unregistered portion.

TNS: Like the quasi-legal “Gray Market”.

ER: I’ll give you an example. Take somebody who’s been growing and selling for years. Now they’re just going to say, “It’s illegal for you to do it,” but it was illegal all along. What does that person care?

There are many different ways to evaluate profit, but if it’s more profitable for them to stay out of the market, they may very well choose to stay out.

When you think of gross profit and net profit, there are things that profit people in different ways. Let’s say, you have a lot of money but all of the money is in cash and you want to buy a house. You have no credit. Joining the market might cost you taxes and you may have less net income, it could be to your net benefit to join, and to be taxed. But the more restrictive on growing and manufacturing and sales, depending on the market when there is a gross to36

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tal difference between the legal market and the unregistered market, chronic users will move over to the unregistered market. If the difference is, depending on the market, somewhere between twenty dollars and fifty dollars people will say, “Well, for twenty dollars, which is three hours of my work, I’m going to go over to this other place,” which would be the illicit market. There’s also a percentage difference. Let’s say someone is spending three hundred dollars and there’s a forty-five dollar difference.

That’s a fifteen percent difference and at fifteen or twenty percent people will start moving over to the other market.

a driver’s license. They don’t say, “You can have one, and you can’t have one, we don’t like your smile, you’re my friend so you get a license, you’re the former police chief, you get a driver’s license...

TNS: Do you think that plays into some of the racial disparity in the industry as well?

ER: The reason there is such racial disparity is because people won’t say the truth. For the past 100

“There just isn’t a tradition of Black ownership in the US. It’s been drummed out of people for the last 70 years”

TNS: What do you think is the solution? How should the rules, as they are now, have to change to years and especially the lead the expansion of the past 70 years, since 1954 market? and desegregation came in black entrepreneurER: It could be more like ship has been thwarted a driver’s license. As long in various ways, both leas you could pass a test; gal and psychological, so you have a legal space to there aren’t a lot of Black do it in, you’re following entrepreneurs. Entreprethe fire laws, etc... you neurship is not part of the should be able to register recent Black experience. as a grower or manufac- When there was segreturer. I’m not saying that gation, what barbershop there shouldn’t be hygiene did you go to if you were regulations.

Black? You went to a Black barbershop. What restauTNS: Quality control... rants did you go to? The downside of desegregation ER: Yeah, you don’t want is that all of these Black a place with rats running entrepreneurs went out around. If you’re quali- of business so there isn’t fied to drive they give you a tradition of Black en37

trepreneurship, and that to sell out. Ultimately it’s is why there are so few just going to be a thing for Black-owned businesses. politician’s friends. A lot of people will be seeking ER: That’s one of the licenses and they they’re things. When you have told, “We’ll give you a milimmigrants, they are usu- lion to sell out.” It doesn’t ally ambitious or they mean that it will continue wouldn’t have come here. minority ownership. In They have to be ambitious Oakland they are searchenough to get on that boat ing all around for people to come over, and they have who have been affected by a goal to succeed. But they the drug wars. So, if they can’t get jobs, they don’t get a percentage of the know the culture, or don’t ownership then the other speak the language. So the owners are going to say, first generations, to a great “Hey, I have a friend who extent, is entrepreneurial wants to buy. Do you want and that’s what happened to sell? We’ll give you a to Blacks from about 1864 million dollars.” This to 1954, then segregation whole thing about wantcame in and they said, ing to be compassionate; “OK, now you can eat in if they wanted to be comWhite restaurants.” As passionate about it they the society integrated, the would give those same Black businesses suffered people scholarship trainmightily. There just isn’t ing in entrepreneurship. a tradition of Black ownership in the US. It’s been TNS: Don’t just give them drummed out of people for the fish, teach them to fish. the last 70 years.

ER: Yeah. Give them acTNS: At some of the meet- tual positions in the busiings we attend there is a lot nesses so that they can of effort to get more racial learn the business before diversity in the marijuana they open it up. marketplace.

TNS: It’s a delicate balER: Wait a second. Why ance. are they discriminating against marijuana en- ER: Blacks have been trepreneurs rather than suffering in this way. restaurant owners? Why They’ve been told not to don’t we say, “You have be entrepreneurs for 70 to have Black ownership years. Entrepreneurship of restaurants.” This is comes with certain longtotal extortionist bullshit. term goals so it would be Because here’s what’s go- better to prepare people, ing to happen. The Black to do that training than to owner is going to get his say, “You’re here, you get ownership and he’s going a share.”

THE NEW SMOKER

TNS: Anyone who gets Government to actually lea license should be quali- galize cannabis? fied.

ER: It will take a change ER: I’m not saying there of government. People talk isn’t white privilege but a about the government’s lot of the people who start- relationship to cannaed up like BPG, Berkeley bis, but we have a bigger Patient’s Group, started problem and cannabis out as a bike delivery ser- is a small part of it. This vice, which has expend- group wants to usurp the ed into a large operation. constitution and take over Other companies started on a more permanent baout small, the same way. sis. I was at a convention, one of these marijuana TNS: Small to big... Work- business conventions, and ing your way up. these people were in the oil industry in Texas and they ER: Yeah. Hutzpah. told me how they were voting for Trump because TNS: What do you think he’s a good old boy and he it will take for the Federal understands and he’s go-

ing to legalize marijuana. I was at a convention where they had Rohrabacher, and he’s pro pot and he’s also one of the biggest apologists for Russia in congress. I would have asked him, “Did you get paid for appearing at this convention? How much did the Russians pay you?” To accept certain people as your allies, you wouldn’t have David Duke as your ally, why take Russian apologists? Remember, Sessions said he didn’t think the KKK were bad people until he found out they smoked pot.

you’re teaching at Oaksterdam. What are your courses and what do you focus on?

ER: I’ve been there since the beginning. I teach a class that is an overview of horticulture.

TNS: Which is what you’re known for. Your growing skills. You had your “Ed Rosenthal Super Bud” . A nice even high: stimulating yet relaxing but not tiring. How did you put that one together?

ER: It was just named to honor me. I have a good reTNS: Fair enough. So, lationship with the family Image credits: Ed Rosenthal by photographer Tonya Perme

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that grows it: Sensi Seeds.

And they have a really good idea of what I’d appreciate.

TNS: Very true. What are the first grow tips you give to amateurs who are just starting out?

TNS: What is your favor- ER: To anybody, “Don’t ite aspect of cannabis? bite off more than you can chew.” It’s better than to ER: I like a sativa with a do a small garden successlittle bit of an edge to it. A fully than a large one and little of that nervous energy, but not so much that it’s overpowering or becomes ADHD. Relaxation but you still have some energy.

learn things that you can incorporate into your next generation rather than start off big and not do it right.

TNS: On this issue of The New Smoker we’re focusing on Innovation vs.

Preservation. What do you

ER: Yeah. I can go either way with this. A person has more incentive to create a strain if they know that the strain is protected and that they’ll make money from it. They can make a strain and say, “Everyone can use it,” but if they’re spending their time making it shouldn’t they be paid for it? Just as a grower is paid to grow?

TNS: What about if Marlboro gets into the business. How do you feel about that?

TNS: What are your students at Oaksterdam like?

ER: They’re all very sincere people. Really. They appreciate what they’re doing and they like what they’re doing, they think it serves a purpose. Many

“If they’re spending their time making [and patenting] it shouldn’t they be paid for it?”

TNS: Is that a patent law?

ER: Wait a minute. I want you to name one industry that isn’t dominated by a few companies. Give me one. have a near success or fail- see as going on out there? ure.

ER: This has been a probTNS: And then grow in- lem for the last 20,000 crementally? years. Losing strains. It’s easier now to preserve ER: Yeah. You can take strains using tissue cula big jump, but first you ture and other modern get your feet in the water, techniques. A lot of indisee if you really like it, all viduals as well as instituthose things. tions are doing that more.

The seed companies are TNS: Don’t just buy a preserving the varieties warehouse. that there are.

of them are there because they’ve seen medical things. I think many of them are there because they want to marry their working life with something they really want to do.

ER: Even if you like it you don’t want to make TNS: Make Passion a Pro- it such a challenge that it fession. gets beyond you. Like, “I have the space, so I have to ER: Yeah. You know, the use it all.” No you don’t. day you start working at Not at first. Don’t be overyour hobby is when you ly ambitious. Also when retire. you’re starting out you Image credits: Ed Rosenthal by photographer Tonya Perme 39

TNS: What about the organizations that are trying to put patents on certain strains. What are your feelings about that?

ER: If they’re on the market for more than a year they can’t be patented.

TNS: I can’t offhand at the moment.

ER: In he new edition of my "Marijuana Grower’s Handbook" I have a page on the Tomato Model.

First of all, hobbyists and home growers grow more tomatoes than all the companies. People don’t buy many tomatoes for four to six months a year. They also preserve tomatoes, make sauces, can them.

The companies range from giant international companies to home growers who are selling out of a basket in the front yard. If you wanted to grow tomatoes intensively in an acre plot you could make $250,000.

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THE NEW SMOKER

If the government stays out of marijuana cultivation and licenses everybody there will be profit for everyone.

nomic thing. They’re not using money to value everything. How can you compare an opera with a Twinkie? Know how? Opera tickets cost fifty dollars TNS: So, basically follow- ER: It’s all true. It’s help- and a Twinkie is a dollar ing the “Tomato Model” is ful. fifty. how it could work for cannabis.

TNS: What are your feel- TNS: Now we are at a ings on the recent CBD ex- place of high diversificaER: Yeah. plosion? tion. Do you think it’s exponentially grown because TNS: But right now in ER: Well, you can hype more people can get into California it’s not like that. something once and peo- the game as opposed to It’s either home grow, or ple will buy it. They won’t before legalization when only a few commercial li- buy it again if they don’t it was just those willing to censes allowed. like it. break the law?

ER: We’ll see what happens in California. Nothing has really been settled in terms of the commercial stuff. Oakland has a 10 percent excise tax on businesses so companies are exiting Oakland as much as possible.

effects the strains are going to have on you because they have certain terpenes.

Do you find it to be useful, helpful, true?

and spoke distribution.

If you look at all the beer makers and alcohol makers in the United States it’s not that many enterprises even with all the startups.

With cannabis it’s a network and it’s always going to be a network. Some of it is illicit, but it’s always going to be a network of distribution. Not Hub and Wheel. In cannabis, if part of the network is removed the rest of the network continues to function.

And as society accepts it more, the restrictions will change.

ER: There used to be a certain kind of person who was willing to take the risk. If you’ll notice there are a lot more women involved in the indusER: CBD is CBD. try? That’s because women tend to be more risk TNS: What could you aversive than men do. have never imagined beTNS: Cannabis compa- fore legalization? Is it all TNS: Now they feel more TNS: And we can hopefully get to that tomato nies? amazing? stable about it? model you were talking ER: Yeah. So they are say- ER: We live in a certain ER: People put different about. ing whatever we have to economic system. When values on the risk/reward bring into Oakland to sell, computers first were intro- ratio. Women may have ER: Yes. we’ll bring in but we’re duced they didn’t fit into other considerations.

TNS: What’s your favornot going to manufacture the economic structure; here, for instance. All there were winners and TNS: Do you feel it was ite way to enjoy your bud? kinds of things are going there were losers, some sort of a “boys club” until ER: The thing is that I’m to happen. things caught on, some recently? an omnivore. things didn’t. We’re living TNS: What are your in America so cannabis ER: Yeah.

TNS: (Laughs) So you try thoughts on the new ter- will have that same effect pene craze? on the economy. You can’t TNS: What do you think all of it? pay your rent in Karma a fully legalized US would ER: They affect the high points. look like? Would it be like ER: I’m in the midst of writing and I have here and the medical properalcohol? a joint, a vape pen and ties.

TNS: (Laughs) Unless they’re into bartering.

ER: The difference be- there’s some oil on the taTNS: Yah, as i understand ER: If they’re into bar- tween cannabis and alco- ble. There aren’t any ediit, they indicate possible tering, that is still eco- hol is that alcohol is a hub bles on this table. They’re 41

TNS: Is CBD Hemp that they’re selling at the health food stores different from CBD from medicinal cannabis strains?

“I’m a bit of a omnivore... [but I like] up strains that have a little bit of paranoia to it”

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on the other table. Other America’s history that’s than that, that’s the only more appropriate. We’re way I enjoy it. not paranoid. It’s really happening. Even paraTNS: Are you like me? I noids have enemies. use different things at different times of day.

TNS: You said you’re in Hawaii right now writing.

ER: I use different things What are you working on? at the same time of day.

Whatever's convenient.

ER: I’m working on my “Ask Ed” column. I write TNS: What about strain- it for Grow Magazine. It’s wise? What strains to lean an excellent magazine. towards?

TNS: Well we’d like to ER: Up strains that have thank you again for taking a little bit of paranoia to the time to do this interit. I think at this point in view with us. Anything

else you’d like to add?

ER: I’d like to warn people not to grow... because unlike marijuana -which may or may not be habit Ed Rosenthal’s newest book forminggrowing defi- “New Rules” is available at nitely is. To be honest www.edrosenthal.com that’s one of the first things I warn people about in “The Marijuana Growers Handbook”. So people are forewarned.

TNS: Basically, be careful you might just love this.

ER: Exactly.

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The

CANNABIS CRITTERS PHOTOGRAPHS BY JESSE HULL There are many cannabis critters one comes in contact with when growing outdoors or indoors. But not all are pests eager to destroy your hard earned work.

Beneficial Bugs come in all shapes and sizes and can help keep away the bad guys.

Here's a closer look at a few of our favorites.

The Praying Mantis might look dangerous, especially to a prospective mate, but they are harmless to humans & helpful by keeping big pests away.

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Image credits: One Mantis - stock image - all other images by Jesse Hull

The Itty Bitty Blue Belly Lizard enjoys hunting for those pesky pests by roaming through backyard gardens in search of any insects to eat.

FROM

MANTISES TO LIZARDS

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FROM LIZARDS TO LADYBUGS

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The Ladybug is not only an adorable accessory to any cannabis plant, her red shell perfected balanced against the deep ganja green. She's also great at eating up any tiny aphids or spider-mites trying to invade one's pot plants.

Watch out! Mrs. Ladybug better be careful. Mr Blue Belly doesn't much care if she's a beneficial bug for us or not. To him she's just another yummy treat to eat!

Image credits: All article Images by photographer Jesse Hull

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ALL THE BUGS IN BETWEEN

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Caterpillars can be harmless or harmful, depending on species. The common green "Inch Worm" can be one of the most destructive critters out there to forming flowers, while other caterpillars can consume cannabis leaves and a damage development. But most, like the hairy horned red beast below, are just passing through on their way to evolving and need not be noticed for more than their awesome appearance.

The Beetles aren't a majorly influential rock band from 1960s England, but instead just critters cruising through the cannabis plants with no need to stop except to rest between short flights.

Both Bugs better hurry before hungry Mrs. Mantis makes lunch of both of them!

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Image credits: All article Images by photographer Jesse Hull

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Mastering The Cannabis Craft :

Environmental Controls For Indoor Grows

By Danny Sloat

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rom years of cultivating craft cannabis at AlpinStash, I’ve learned that a proper growing environment is critical to a healthy garden. Yet, it’s often one of the last aspects facilities invest in and implement.

I recommend professional cultivators place primary importance on creating the optimal environment for their plants. Properly integrating environmental controls--temperature, humidity, air movement and filtration, CO2 enrichment, and insulation--dra-

matically affects the success of your harvest. Here are some core tips to begin navigating this aspect of cultivation.

Temperature Control

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ou must be able to easily control the temperature of your grow, on both the hottest summer days and coldest winter nights. When using CO2 enrichment (as I discuss below) optimal leaf surface temperature is around 85 degrees. Night temperatures shouldn’t

Image credit: Danny Sloat in his garden, courtesy of AlpinStash

dip below 75 degrees. I recommend at least half a ton of cooling per 1000 watts of non-ducted HID light used. Add at least 10 percent more cooling than you think you need.

It's much better to have it and never use it, than to need it during that critical time in bud development and not have it. Many try to slide by with a minimal amount of cooling, either planning to add more as needed (which can be a lengthy, expensive and messy prospect and is usually required in a pinch) or hope to deal with the heat

issues that will inevitably arise. This approach leaves the grow open to many issues, which reduces both quality and yield.

Symptoms of heat-stress: ° Photosynthesis tapers off dramatically when leaf surface temperatures climb above 85 degrees and completely stops in the upper 90s. In this scenario, your plants won't grow. ° New growth and buds fox-tail, twist, warp and 50

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becomes wispy. ° Less terpenes, flavonoids and cannabinoids are produced. ° The chance for pests and diseases to thrive are increased. Many pests, including spider mites, thrive in a hot grow room, reproducing more rapidly in the warmth.

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humidity rather than create it. Sometimes the AC system can handle the dehumidification requirements when it's running.

However, AC systems do not usually run at night.

That alone is often not enough. There are many different dehumidifiers on the market. Compact units can be used to control the humidity in a smaller space. Or, multiple small units can be used to control the humidity in larger areas. Plumb them into a condensate line or floor drain. Or, place them over a rolling brute trashcan, which acts as a reservoir for the reclaimed water.

These make great portable dehumidifiers. Dump the reservoir every day or two to prevent flooding. Larger commercial units are often fixed in place and run off of a 240 volt line. I run a Surna 300 PPD dehumidifier and have had good luck with it.

hile proper heating is much easier and cheaper to achieve than cooling, it still needs to be factored in. The bottom line: paying for an energy efficient and overpowered AC system properly designed for your growing space from the get go will lower your cost per pound. Your yields will go up, maybe even by 30 percent or more, and makes the difference between a successful harvest and a failed one. Be sure to have your heating and cooling systems serviced on a regular basis and replace fil- Air Movement ters every three months. and Filtration

Humidity Control

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umidity, along with temperature, dictates how much a plant is respiring, which dictates growth, photosynthesis and the uptake of nutrients and water. Like proper heating and cooling, controlling the humidity is crucial to optimal plant health, yield and quality.

In most cases, commercial grows need to remove 51

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dry and crispy. Strategically placing wall-mounted oscillating fans is a sensible practice. Adequate air movement throughout the foliage helps prevent fungal diseases such as powdery mildew and bud rot from attacking the plant and dissuades soil borne pests like fungus gnats from taking hold. Plus, the swaying of the branches strengthens the plants.

Since heat builds up the most directly below the light, adequate air movement at the canopy and between the lights keep the plants cool and happy.

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iltration can be broken down into two areas: odor control and sterilization. Many municipalities require odor control. Some areas tolerate a certain level of smell while others don’t allow any at all.

Charcoal filters and inline fans, constantly scrubbing the air, work well to control the scent of cannabis.

The key is to not duct any inside air outside. My set up (multiple 48 inch by 12 inch filters with 10 inch inline fans) scrubs the entire room multiple times a minute. Ionic cleaners are tempting as they do a good job at controlling odor and cleaning the air in one go, but they can kill the aroma of the buds.

ir movement helps prevent micro-climates, reduces heat build ups, prevents stagnant air, reduces molds and mildews, dissuades pests and strengthens plants.

It’s important that all areas of the grow space have some form of air movement -- no dead spaces. ften overlooked, air In general, plants like a sterilization can save moderate breeze. Blasting a harvest from mold. UV plants with fans causes sterilizers are the most efwind burn, leaving buds fective. Units can be free-

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standing filters, or can be incorporated into AC systems. All of my air intakes and AC ducts have UV sterilizing units in them. I went with a simple Honeywell UV100E2009 SmartLamp Ultraviolet Air Treatment System.

It's important to note that these can sometimes leak UV light into the grow area, which could negatively affect the plants during the night cycle.

UV sterilizer units placed near the coils of an AC system greatly reduce mold, mildew and bacteria growth. UV bulbs should be changed out every year.

CO2

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O2 enrichment of the grow environment can increase plant yield vigor and raise the optimal temperature from 78 degrees to 85 degrees. For plants to use the additional CO2, it’s important to keep temperatures between 82 and 86 degrees. Because cannabis grows faster and bigger when enriched with CO2, the grower often needs to increase the amount and/or frequency of feedings. The two main ways of adding CO2 are burners and tanks. Burners create CO2 by burning either propane or natural gas and create heat and humidity as a byproduct.

They’re more geared towards greenhouses and many municipalities do not allow the use of CO2 burners in an indoor set-

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ting.

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lternately, tanks are filled with CO2 to deliver gas to the grow. Consult a local CO2 company to find the right configuration. An external tap or external tanks system allows for refills to be made without having to enter the grow environment.

Both CO2 burners and tanks should be hooked up to a CO2 PPM meter with a photo sensor. These units only dispense CO2 when the lights are on (or if the sun is up for greenhouses) and keep the grow environment enriched with the proper levels. I run my CO2 at 1500 PPM for most of the flower cycle, and recommend an emergency shut-off system be installed with the CO2 system. Too much CO2 can be fatal and these systems shut off the CO2 and sound an alarm should something happen.

Insulation

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nsulation will play a major role in how energy affects your grow space, as well as condensation problems you may have to deal with during cultivation.

With our temperature swings here in Colorado, having enough of the correct insulation means the difference between a condensation-free grow and indoor rain storms. Traditional fiberglass and plastic bat insulation won't cut it due to the heat and hu-

midity characteristics of a grow environment. I’ve witnessed condensation rain (literally) on plants all day during winter months. This causes mold to grow on the plants and insulation. Instead, use at least three inches of spray foam insulation. It costs more money up front, but it will save a ton of money and headache and heartache down the road.

For more tips visit AlpinStash on Youtube here.

Photo by Emerald Lens

About the author:

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anny Sloat transitioned off 19 different prescription medications and lost 70 pounds with the help of MMJ and learning to grow his own medical cannabis.

This journey inspired Danny to develop AlpinStash, the licensed Colorado-based company known for healthy and beautiful cannabis cultivated using all-natural methods. As owner and master grower, Danny oversees AlpinStash’s operations and also consults in the industry on business development, cultivation technique, compliance and transparency. Small-batch, grown-with-love, handtrimmed and glass-cured to perfection, AlpinStash is a leader in the craft cannabis movement.

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W W W. B I N G B A N G N Y C . C O M

MUSIC TO GROW BY

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5 New Releases for Growing Better Buds Selected by MAT JACKSON

Mat Jackson loves all things punk and is the co-founder of Cool-Tite, a Los Angeles-based publication set on “Bringing you LA’s Coolest, Titest garage, punk, and vinyl.”

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an plants be happy? If they can, I don’t think you’d recognize it the same way you would with people. Rather than a smile, I suspect you’d find vibrant, luscious flowers boldly popping out all over. Rather than laughter, you’d find stems and branches full of thriving plump green leaves.

For me, good tunes have always had a tendency to put me in a better place – to make me feel stoked on life. It doesn’t seem that far off to think that your plants would fare better, be happier, and flourish with a soundtrack of good music. Sure it’s a bit of a romantic idea, but who cares! It’s not like a plant would actually be worse off after experiencing Dark Side of The Moon, or even the most current of bands throwing down tracks in the lineage of Black Sabbath.

So whether it’s for the plants themselves or for the green thumb bringing them into this world, here’s five new records that I’d like to believe are prime for growing better buds.

Check out: www.cool-tite.com

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Milk Music – “Mystic 100’s” (March 2017; Dom America) There’s just something righteously gratifying about this new record from these Olympia drop-out-of-life flower punks. Aside from the caustic calamity of the intro track – their music seems so nostalgic with its psych/county/rock leanings, yet it feels like a fresh breeze of freedom. Explicitly dedicated to mother Earth, it’s a fuzzy, expansive head trip that their label even describes as a “sonic thrill ride through an acid laced apocalypse.” Way good.

Find Milk Music on Spotify

L.A. Witch – “L.A. Witch” (September 08, 2017; Suicide Squeeze Records) After a few years of restless touring and gigging around town, LA Witch have finally released their debut album. The record feels like you’re crusin’ fast through the desert in a ’47 Oldsmobile Club Coupe, staring directly into the sun through black, thick-framed sunglasses while smoking a doob. The goth-tinged, surf-inspired rock and roll is mesmerizing yet sinister. Keep your switchblade close, ‘cuz this record has heat.

Find L.A. Witch on Spotify

Oh Sees – “Orc” (August 25, 2017; Castleface Records) The latest release from prolific garage rock madman John Dwyer and Co. – recorded as Oh Sees – is an absolute beast. The totality of the record feels like a Jack and The Beanstalk-esq adventure, out to slay some wicked psychedelic monster. The motorik beat, accomplished by dual drummers, pummels the record forward, as Dwyer’s monstrous riffs slay all in his path. It’s an epic journey, a noble quest, and not one to be taken lightly.

Find Oh Sees on Spotify

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Downtown Boys “Cost of Living” (August 11, 2017; SubPop) New Jersey’s Downtown Boys continue to be a serious threat with the release of their new record, Cost of Living. A true call to power, Downtown Boys continue to use punk rock as a medium for calling our culture’s hegemonic norms into question. This record is seriously empowering – it demands your attention with a clenched-fistin-the-air.

Find Downtown Boys on Spotify

V/A – Brown Acid Vol. 4 (April 20, 2017; RidingEasy Records) The Brown Acid comps are such a trip! Compiled by Permanent Record’s Lance Barresi, and officially licensed and released by SoCal stoner-rock label RidingEasy Records, the Brown Acid series collects ultra-rare cuts from a nearly lost era of heavy-hitting psychedelic hard rock from the late-60’s/early 70’s. A serious and necessary history lesson on the intersection of drugs and hard rock. And be sure to keep up! Vol. 5 due out toward the end of 2017.

Find Brown Acid on Spotify

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Why California’s Emerald Triangle Produces The Best Weed In The World It all begins with morning fog and a bit of California sunshine...

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t’s no secret California produces some of the best cannabis in the world. Specifically, though, weed farmed in the northern region’s Emerald Triangle––AKA where Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity Counties converge–– is widely revered as being the dankest of the dank.

In the Emerald Triangle, cannabis is cultivated in abundance. Here, weed plants have been rumored to grow into actual trees, sometimes reaching more than 15 feet tall, thanks to some of the most ideal natural conditions on the planet.

The area’s rich soil and Mediterranean climate are to weed what the geology of the Napa Valley is to wine. The morning marine layer covers the hills in a dense, 57

plant-nourishing fog, while the “terroir” adds a unique flavor to the finished herb.

“In terms of indoor, hydroponically grown cannabis, there may not be much difference between a plant grown in Eureka and one grown in Los Angeles,” reads a Leafly report on the particularly high quality of Humboldt County weed. “But the same isn’t true for cannabis grown outdoors. Just as wine connoisseurs sing the praises of Napa Valley or France’s Burgundy, region, some in cannabis say the Emerald Triangle’s soil itself is special.”

Toward the end of the 1960s when the counterculture movement was reaching its peak, many

Image credit: Image from original article published on thekindland.com - provided by Flow Kana

of the free spirits and flower children who once smoked grass in San Francisco’s Dolores Park suddenly migrated en masse to the Emerald Triangle. Soon enough, they’d learn how to grow the good stuff, starting several makeshift marijuana farms throughout the region’s dense, creek-laden hills and forests.

Today, Emerald Triangle-grown weed fetches higher prices than much of the other product currently being cultivated and sold at commercial scale. Statewide, legal medical marijuana sales reached $1.8 billion in 2016, while the industry at large, could be worth $5.7 billion by 2021, according to a report from Arcview Market Research.

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This projected increase in consumer demand, and growing consumer demographic––with brands hoping to tap into the hearts, minds, and pocketbooks of the general public––will mean that Emerald Triangle growers will absolutely see an uptick in production.

Still, cannabis growers in Mendocino County already generate an estimated $1 billion a year, and marijuana represents nearly two-thirds of the local economy, according to a county-commissioned study. The cannabis in Humboldt County––California’s first municipality to adopt a commercial land use ordinance for marijuana––is so renowned it’s causing spikes in the price of land and real estate in the area. Cannabis prices are expected to drop, though, as legal adoption of the crop becomes more widespread, and regulations become more stringent––a shift that will likely result in consolidation of the market.

Reasonably, weed farmers in the county take considerable pride in their product––so much so Humboldt-grown weed even carries “proof of origin” labeling.

“It really is the perfect storm for amazing cannabis to be produced.”

Over the last five decades, growers have developed techniques and strains exclusive to the Emerald Triangle, subtleties that ultimately rely on the area’s biodiversity. “Micro-climate-specific, and strain-specific knowledge; how to deal with pests and diseases naturally, knowing what strain to plant where, which plants are more susceptible to producing powdery mildew, and [knowing] how to use companion planting to your advantage” is crucial to cultivating cannabis says Simon Evers of Elysian Fields in Mendocino County.

Evers describes the weed-growing business in Mendocino as a “lifestyle,” telling KINDLAND, “We are stewards of the land. We don’t use chemicals, or pesticides, we really don’t even use liquid fertilizers. We try to go one step further than organic farming.

We’re aiming for long-term sustainability, and what we believe will allow us to achieve that, is really focusing on the soil, and cultivating living soil.”

Elysian Fields sits on fifty acres of land that his family has been preserving for generations, a practice, he says, could describe many parcels of land in the Emerald Triangle. “The knowledge, and the heritage, and the culture of this area is so closely tied to the climate, and micro-climate of the region,” says Evers, adding, “In the summertime, you have these hot, dry days that are very conducive for fast, vigorous growth. And as the plants transition into flower toward the end of summer, and the days grow shorter, cool nights allow for the flowers to ripen. At this time, the trichomes are being produced, and the cannabinoids are being concentrated, and it’s all kind of magical, but also a result of the micro and macro-climates of the region. It really is the perfect storm for amazing cannabis to be produced.”

Evers maintains that monocrops––or the practice of growing a single crop, on the same patch of land, each year––can create a very weak ecosystem. Instead, Evers says by integrating cannabis into a larger, more bio-diverse “forest” of plants, and growing marijuana alongside other plants and herbs, such as lavender, can be crucial for the quality of the end product.

Image credit: Flow Kana 58

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Indeed, he sells his sun-grown cannabis with the help of Flow Kana, a retail marijuana brand that “partner[s] with, and give[s] scale to, premier artisan farmers in Mendocino County and Southern Humboldt who focus on small batch, boutique strains.”

The brand distributes Emerald Triangle marijuana, grown by a membership of approximately 100 small farms, all throughout the Golden State.

Though even in the magical weed-growing micro-climate of the region, cultivating marijuana for medical, recreational, or any purpose is a violation of federal law. And black market growers with little regard for the environment are detrimental to pretty much all wildlife and natural resources. This unsustainable practice puts the uniqueness of the Emerald Triangle’s biodiverse ecosystem at risk.

A 2015 study that examined watershed levels and the impact of illegal marijuana grows on local creeks and water sources in southern Humboldt County, found that: “water demands for marijuana cultivation exceed streamflow during low-flow periods. . .”

Cyril (right) employs painstaking attention to detail to his crop.

The area’s biodiversity allows local farms to create micro-climate-strains exclusive to the Emerald Triangle..

And because the demand for fresh water to cultivate weed exceeds the immediately available supply, black market growers often reroute streams and creeks entirely, by building artificial dams, and other rigged means of diverting water-flow to their farms.

Another, earlier study, which used Humboldt County cannabis farms as its data source, found 59

Artisanal techniques and methodologies are passed down among farmers, and between generations in the Emerald Triangle.

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that:

just been normal to us.”

“Abundant grow sites clustered in steep locations far from developed roads, potential for significant water consumption, and close proximity to habitat for threatened species, all point toward high risk of negative ecological consequences. . .”

Striving to employ only the most environmentally friendly practices, Casali grows his family’s signature “Fruitloops” strain using rainwater captured by a system he built himself. The farmer also says one of his main goals is to show people that it is possible to cultivate cannabis outdoors, without being wholly destructive to the local wildlife.

But not all marijuana being grown in the Emerald Triangle wreaks havoc on the environment.

According to Evers, “We have been living this lifestyle that has been geared toward lower impact.”

For example, his Huckleberry Hill Farm has a groundwater recharge pond, which he says “slows the rate at which water is introduced

“We want to give back to the

By January of next year, provicommunity, we want to be a part of sions included in California’s the community and we want to be recreational adult-use initiative accepted into the community” Proposition 64 will be firmly in place. This state-approved reguinto the local streams and creeks,” latory framework provides the and extends the time in which the region’s cannabis farmers with creeks surrounding Casali’s propstrict guidelines for how to carry erty retain water. Similarly, Casaon family tradition while remainli credits the region’s hot days, ing in compliance with state law. cool nights, fresh spring water, As legalization takes hold and the and unique micro-climate as bestate’s recreational market levels ing ideal for growing marijuana. the playing field, the faction of illegal weed grows will likely be “There’s no sediment that leaves policed or priced out of existence. my property and ends up in creeks, or in spawning tributarThe green light to grow weed is ies,” Casali says. “Every bud runs something John Casali takes great through my hand,” he says. pride in. For the greater portion of his life, Casali has raised and More than that, Casali sees the developed high-grade, organic region’s farmers practicing susmarijuana strains at Hucklebertainable, fish-friendly methods as ry Hill Farms, a family business having an angle that will compete he runs in southern Humboldt with Big Agriculture. Which is County. “Some of my chores, why he helped found the Humwhen I was growing up, were boldt High Five, a local farmer checking water tanks, and makcollective that focuses on growing ing sure the cannabis plants were weed in the most sustainable way all good,” says Casali. “We never possible. looked at [marijuana cultivation] as something weird, it has always

“We want to give back to the community, we want to be a part of the community and we want to be accepted into the community,” Casali said last year to the Eureka Times Standard. At the time, the farmer had only just applied to the county for the proper cultivation licensing.

Over the phone on a Friday morning in July, a few weeks after his cultivation application was approved, Casali told KINDLAND about how growing weed on his family farm had him facing some unfavorable circumstances.

“I had never been in any kind of trouble before, but after being charged for cultivating marijuana in federal court, and because of mandatory minimum sentencing laws, I did 10 years in federal prison,” says Casali.

Now, after spending a decade behind bars for a trade that California voters made legal in November of last year, Casali, along with other members of the Humboldt High Five, have partnered with the Flow Kana brand in order to legally get their cannabis into the hands of California medical marijuana patients, and legal rec consumers.

“Flow Kana has been able to market us, and provide us with an avenue of legal distribution,” Casali said to KINDLAND. “They really seem to care about the small farmer, and that resonates with us.”

It’s the small, craft cannabis farmers of the Emerald Triangle that will carry on the region’s tradition of cultivating marijuana, and bring best practices out of Image credits: Flow Kana

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Simon and Jenn overlooking Elysian Fields in Mendocino County. Image credit: Flow Kana

the environmentally destructive prohibition, and into compliance, as the newly legal market evolves to meet the demand of the recreational consumer.

Because even though hydroponic, aeroponic, vertical, or any other such indoor cultivation tech-

niques can without doubt produce some high quality herb at commercial scale, it’s the generational familiarity and craftsmanship of artisanal Emerald Triangle cultivators that makes their weed the stuff of legend.

This article was created in partnership with Flow Kana.

Article originally published 08.29.2017 on www.thekindland.com

BEN PARKER KARRIS Senior Editor at KINDLAND / Los Angeles

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thekindland.com

@thekindland

For lovers of great stories and good weed.

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SUPER LEMON HAZE A Citrusy Strain Review

by Dyson Bronti

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louds are meant for day-dreams, dirigibles, and dank buds. You might find yourself staring in wonder at their fluffy puffiness as you fly above these giant sky cotton balls made of water and ice, until you realize you aren't in a plane and have no idea how to fly without one. This is what happens when you smoke Super Lemon Haze, you soar into a sweet sugary sky without remembering how you got there as you fly without wings.

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uper Lemon Haze is a kief-caked multi-colored wonder like rainbows shining in the dark to shine your way to internal enlightenment. Or at least get you super duper high. The smell is zesty, citrusy, and a little sweet. As for the taste, would you believe lemony? Tart and sweet like Lemonheads candy - though not quite as sharp as one might expect. The effects are uniquely energetic and lively, and may not be the best strain for those who are naturally wound-up tight.

(Go to leafly.com for a more in depth review and to find this strain nearest you. State laws apply) Image credits: Lemon Haze Artwork designed by Califari

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HIGGS - Prerolls Miami Nice...

"Reviews" 5 best of the best of the BestEST In case you’ve missed out, maybe stuck in some sort of smoked out haze under a rock under your house under your head, we here at The New Smoker post daily "reviews" on our feature website of the current cannabis cultural trends and premium products that are out there right now. We “review” them on our website by taking what is best and worst about them, and making it fun fodder for the maniacal mental machine-guns of our... um, imaginations. (Wait,“mental machine guns”...? Does that even work..? Imagine instead that was said using a much better analogy that's waaay more hilarious... and maybe even a bit poetic).

In any event, we present these to you, our loyal TNS readers, as more short-stories than reviews, more automatic writing than observations, more impressions than true experiences, to help you navigate and sail through the green grass waves of the modern cannabis world. (“green grass waves”...? Who’s writing this??).

Here are five of our featured favorites. (click below for many more)

www.thenewsmoker.com

Neon-hip 80s undercover sugar cops Pockett & Higgs are meeting with a man named Wango Mango to try buy Coca-Cola’s secret ingredient at a pastel library on the Miami sugar strip. While they begin to make a deal, Dizzy, their connection, and another man, chemist Henri Moon, are sitting watching the librarians stack books. Dizzy goes up to see the HL (Head Librarian), who also works for Mango, and talks about Lee Iacocca, Tanya Harding, and other 80s refefernces before the HL chases him off. The HL suddenly blows Higgs cover by announcing to the entire library he’s an undercover agents Mango jumps up from the table throwing books and magazines at Pockett & Higgs as he begins to run outside. The dashing dynamic duo chase after Mango out of the library, and on to the sugar-mad streets of Miami... ...fade to commercial break.

You wait for the ads to start, but when nothing happens you realize the TV wasn’t even on. You were just staring though a clear coffee table to a half eaten box of Crispy Creme glazed as at a packet of Higgs dropped from your Pocket after smoking one of their stealthy cigarette-styled pre-rolled joints, and then hypnotize day-dream this totally tubular Miami Nice episode.

In blazed wonder, you light up another pre-roll to “watch” how Pockett & Higgs take down another cartel of candy coated criminals.

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W VAPES - Golden Gram Go for the Gold!

HOT NIFE - Vapepens Feel knice with Hot Nife.

The year is 2120. The Minister of Time Travel has decreed that all time travelers must investigate the 1980’s this month and bring back a general vibe or story that he can pass off to the Minister of Marijuana whose job it is to create a truly superior vape pen that encapsulates a time and place.

Time Traveler Aaronson 641-72 proved most worthy when he described 1987 in the city of Los Angeles, what with their bright lights and neon colors and free wheeling ways. So it was that Aaronson 641-72 sat down with the Minister of Marijuana and described to him a Malibu sunset, California girls, parties in the Hills, surf trips and Ferrari Testarossas.

The Minister listened intently and directed his laboratory men to devise a vape pen indicative of this salacious time. The result was Hot Nife. Bright and bold and hits you like the greatest story ever told. They pack this pen in a bright neon cartridge and emblazon it with a palm tree to let you know you ain’t in Kansas anymore.

When the Spanish Conquistadors came to the New World, they had two goals given to them by their King: Bring the Christ and the sword to the heathen savages, but more importantly… find El Dorado and get that gold!

So they tore through the Caribbean, ripped into what is now Mexico, dug down to South America, and cut up to California, conquering and questioning every indigenous tribe they came across. And while they found ships full of gold to bring back to the ports of Spain… try as they might, they never found the fabled City.

What the indigenous Muisca people knew but never told outsiders, was that the City of Gold wasn’t a real place, it was a state of being. Their zipa (tribal chief) “El Rey Dorado” would cover himself in gold dust and dip himself in Lake Guatavita to invoke the Chiminigagua which infuses life’s creative power into everything that exists.

Not for another half a millennia would there be a golden gift from the gods to infuse Chiminigagua into our modern dull lives. Finally, the Golden Gram, from W Vapes is here! And not a moment too soon! A full gram of strain specific pure golden cannabis oil in vapepen-ready cartridges, what more does one need??

Now with each pull from a W Vapes’ Golden Gram, your inner El Rey Dorado invokes Chiminigagua to infuse life’s creative power into everything you do. So that’s pretty cool… …just don’t tell Spain.

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CRAFT - Herbal Vape The Walking Baked.

FIDDLER’S GREENS - Tinctures High notes on the high seas...

Legend has it that a life spent sailing the high seas is rewarded in the afterlife, where a fiddle never stops playing, dancers never stop dancing and mirth follows you for eternity. Fiddler’s Greens tincture is here to let you know that you need not wait for sailor’s paradise to start enjoying yourself. Choose from 4 classic strains and plunder ports of call with a euphoric pep in your step. (Unless of course you have a peg leg). The subtle high and medicinal properties of raw, organic tincture oil are perfect for walking the proverbial planks of our consciousness.

It’s been 7 years since the world fell. It might be hard for some, but as someone who had the best hoophouse cannabis farm in Upper Mendo 3 years running, you’ve still got the skills to trade. A green thumb for the good green. Having something special to barter goes a long way in this broken world. And only three things matter to most: food, water, and something soothe the daily pains of simply trying to survive.

Some call you Medicine Maker, others see you as a healer. You prefer they use your first name instead.

But there are those who simply see you as a target; a resource to claim, an object to acquire. So when the current crop is ready and you hike down from the hills to trade your wares, you’ve learned to take particular precautions.

Guns are good, Dynamite is better, but having some smarts is best. Lucky for you, you’ve still got all three.

Plus, you found your favorite deterrent in a vape shop a few years back: a Storz & Bickel‘s Craft handheld herbal vaporizer, which hits like a dream and makes the trip from the Hidden Hills to the weekly trade-marA pirate’s life is admittedly not for everyone and Fid- kets down in The Flats, a much more pleasant journey. dler’s Greens understands that. They take the unencumbered joys of treasure hunting and attacking mer- And most importantly, the Craft looks a lot like a chant vessels and they bottle it up with some quality “Deadman’s Switch” when strapped to your wrist, cannabis for you to enjoy. Who needs to spend months with a false-wire leading to the dynamite on your in the open seas, cleaning poop decks, waiting to pil- backpack full of the bud you bring. So when any raidlage, falling prey to scurvy, and training parrots to ers who might imagine you are their next meal might stay on your shoulder… when you can enjoy Fiddler’s think a little different when you promise to blow us all Greens in the cozy confines of your own home, and up if they even try it, holding your hand high with the “switch” at the ready. It helps when you look like you still feel as free as the high seas. have nothing to lose, which you do. Then, as you turn the corner, you can hit that green lit Craft vape deep, puffing with every chuckle.

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Terpenes Are the Smart Way to Predict Your High Indica vs sativa is for suckers.

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ost bud users are satisfied to know that indica will put you down (in da couch) and sativa will lift you up and help you focus. Many budtenders still rely on the old “Here, smell this dank,” and that brand of customer service still seems to still be working for many smokers.

What are Terpenes?

But there's a lot more to figuring out the perfect weed for you, and a little info can go a long way to making that decision. Studies have proven that sativa doesn't always help you focus and that some indicas will get you hyphy.

Aromatherapists have been preaching the properties of terpenes for hundreds of years, only to fall upon deaf ears (except your crazy aunt who uses lavender oil for deodorant). But no longer shall we ignore you, lovely sage-burning hippies!

While indica and sativa are easy ways to classify weed strains, the terpene profile of a plant will really tell you what will happen to your body when you get high.

Why? Terpenes.

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You know them, you love them, you’d recognize them if you smelled them—because terpenes are the parts of a plant that you can smell. They’re organic chemical compounds produced by plants that carry aromatic or flavonoid properties.

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When you think of sativas, you imagine a citrusy smell, while indicas are reminiscent of cloves or pine forests. Sometimes weed smells like beer because it’s got myrcene, one of the terpenes

Eating a mango (which has myrcene) 30 minutes before smoking weed intensifies your high. found in hops! Remember, 50 percent (or more) myrcene content makes a strain an “indica” because of its sedative properties—just like beer! So if your strain smells hoppy, you’re going to feel warm and sleepy when you smoke it. The lemony scent from sativa is because of the terpene limonene which is prominent in strains like Super Lemon Haze. It’s like red wine vs white wine; they’re both wine, but all the particles inside and how they smell will tell if you if you’re going to pass out immediately or try to hook up with your ex at a cocktail party.

Steep Hill Labs is the father of the terpene movement right now; its research has produced strain profiles and breakdowns to educate us about the different terpenes and their effects. Steep Hill's judgment is that “a 50 percent limonene content makes it sativa and thus 50 percent myrcene content makes it indica.”

Hybrids are sort of a gray area: typically anything lower than a 70/30 ratio—for example, a 60/40 or 50/50 ratio—is considered a non-dominant or well-balanced hybrid.

Rev. Dr. Kymron deCesare, chief research officer at Steep Hill-Halent Laboratory in California says, “The terms sativa and indica are only really valid for describing the physical characteristics of the cannabis strain in a given environment and are not nearly as reliable for making assumptions about energy [the high] vs. couch lock [the stone].”

Image credit: Image via Steep Hill Labs

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Terpenes to Remember Pinene is the most common terpene in all plants, smells like pine needles, helps asthma, and is prominent in Jack Herer and Super Silver Haze. FOCUS. Linalool smells like spring flowers with a spicy hint, good for anxiety and is also found in lavender! LA Confidential and Haze are full of linalool and in oil form it’s great for burns and acne. RELAXING. Myrcene is the most prevalent in cannabis, smells like cloves, treats spasms, insomnia, and pain, is found in mango and hops and in strains like White Widow and Pure Kush. SLEEPY. Limonene is also found in the rinds of citrus fruits, smells like lemon, is found in rosemary and juniper, helps mood and gastrointestinal issues and can be found in OG Kush and Super Lemon Haze. ENERGY. Beta-caryophyllene is the only terpene that interacts with the body’s endocannabinoid system, smells spicy, is good for anti-inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, is found in black pepper cloves and cotton, and is in strains like Trainwreck. BODY BUZZ.

Terpene Tips 1. Eating a mango (which has myrcene) 30 minutes before smoking weed intensifies your high, while chewing on black pepper (which has beta-carophyllene) will calm you down if you feel like you’ve gotten too high.

2. Limonene has been shown to destroy breast-cancer cells in lab experiments, and its powerful antimicrobial action can kill pathogenic bacteria. (Lemon Kush to save lives, anyone?)

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Image credits: Images from original article published on thekindland.com

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3. Carophyllene is great for inflammatory conditions and autoimmune disorders because of its ability to bind directly to the peripheral cannabinoid receptor known as CB2; so if you have rheumatoid arthritis or another autoimmune disorder, a high-caropyhyllene strain like Trainwreck would be your jam.

4. If your dispensary doesn’t do terpene profiling, just follow your nose! If you know you need caryophyllene, smell for the pepper. Want a powerful sativa? Get that citrus scent in your nostrils. Want to be knocked the eff out? You want to smell that hoppy beer aroma that you know will make you sleepy. If a strain doesn’t smell good to you, don’t smoke it!

5. In the words of Terpene Daddy deCesare, “Moving forward to a time when the USDA and FDA oversee cannabis-distribution regulations, they will insist on accurate labeling to assure that if a customer purchases an energetic strain—or a couchlock strain—then what they get is what they paid for. And the only reliable way to make this determination is by lab-testing for myrcene content.”

Article originally published by www.thekindland.com

ADRIENNE AIRHART A former dancer turned dark stand up comedian, Adrienne has opened for Patton Oswalt, has a sketch series called "Two Inches Apart," and is a cannabis professional. That's a thing now.

c ons u me w ise ly

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THE NEW SMOKER

All About the Ladies...

by Elle Prothero

When growing your own cannabis plants, one of the most important factors to consider is whether you have male or female plants. Male plants produce some THC, but they do not produce those precious THC-laden flower buds that we strive for. Only female plants do that.

Seeds 101: In fact, just get rid of those dudes, because when it comes time to have your ladies make seeds, you actually don’t need the guys to get it done. You can make this happen through the amazingly simple process of feminization.

If you have multiple plants, even one male can wreck your harvest by fertilizing the females in your group.

This is because if your lady plants become fertilized by one of these males, she then will not produce as much THC because she’ll be using all her energy and nutrients to produce seeds instead of buds.

Of course, you can simply purchase feminized seeds online, but let’s say you’ve cultivated your own killer strain and want to make more of it without wasting time and energy on growing a male plant…

Seeds 101: For an optimal harvest, keep your male plants away from your female plants so that these ladies don’t spend all their days making seeds instead of buds.

Through the process of feminization, you can prompt a female plant to produce pollen, fertilize another female plant, and voila: produce seeds. The [ideal thing] about feminization is that because the resulting seeds have come from TWO female parents, (heyyy — DNA 101!) the resulting seed is (almost) guaranteed to also produce a female plant.

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IN PRACTICE With all this said, lets get started from the beginning.

“The Beginning” in this case, assumes you’ve purchased a group of plants or seeds and you do not yet know their sex.

HOW TO TELL IF YOUR PLANT IS MALE OR FEMALE Let your plants grow for about six weeks before you try to sex them. Your plants, male and female, will look exactly the same in the first six weeks of growth. After that, they begin to develop discernible sex organs that will allow you to differentiate the males from females.

At six weeks: 1. Look at the stalks. Male plants will be taller with thicker, sturdier stalks. Female plants will be shorter with thin stalks.

2. Look at the leaves. Male plants will have fewer leaves, while female plants will be bushier with more leaves, especially near the top.

3. Look at the joints (the place where the other branches meet the main stalk) on the stalk for male or female flowers. These flowers look like little bulbs.

On a male plant, the bulbs are smooth, pollen-containing balls. The bulbs on a female plant look almost the same, but with long, translucent hairs growing from them.

Seeds 101: If you discover a male plant in the group, separate him from the ladies right away to protect your harvest.

Seeds 101: Hermaphrodite cannabis plants are rare but real and contain both male and female reproductive organs. These should be treated as males and removed from the group, just like male plants.

FEMINIZATION Feminized cannabis seeds are seeds that produce 99.9% female cannabis plants because they are produced by two female parents. With two female parents, all the resulting seeds produced are female, too. So, how do you get two female plants to make seeds with each other? Doesn't that go against nature? [Perhaps,] but it can be simply done by using Colloidal Silver.

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Image credit: Creative Commons license via WikiHow (WikiHow to identify male and female Marijuana plants article www.wikihow.com

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When a female marijuana plant is exposed to colloidal silver during its early flowering stages, all the exposed parts which would normally grow flower buds instead will grow male pollen sacs. The colloidal silver "masculizes" the treated part of the plant as the concentration of silver ions in the water acts as a stressor on the plant, an ethylene inhibitor antagonist which forces the plant to create male pollen sacs instead of female buds. The pollen produced from these special sacs can be used to pollinate a female plant.

DIY: COLLOIDAL SILVER SOLUTION

+

STEP ONE: MASCULIZE

1. Choose ONE female marijuana plant and change its light schedule to 12 hours of light, 12 hours of total darkness each day. This will prompt the plant to enter the flowering stage of growth.

9v Battery + 9v Battery Connector + Alligator clips

2. Securely cover the parts of the plant that you For best results solder the alligator clips onto the wires from the do not wish to masculize. Only the parts that are ex- 9v Battery Connector. posed to colloidal silver will change. Note: It is not safe to use buds that have come into contact with colloidal silver, so be very careful not to expose any part of the plant you plan to smoke or consume.

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3. With a spray bottle, mist the exposed parts of the plant with colloidal silver solution every day.

Keep misting with colloidal silver daily until she starts growing male "balls" full of pollen (usually after 10-14 days). You don't have to keep misting with colloidal silver once the balls have formed.

Silver Coin + Distilled Water

For best results the 1 ounce Silver Maple Leaf Canadian coin has

4. Wait until the pollen sacs swell like a big a silver purity of 99.99% or you can use silver wire. empty balloon.

Seeds 101: The easiest way to get started with this endeavor is to purchase prepared colloidal silver. If you're purchasing it, try to find a solution that has at least 30 PPM (parts per million) of silver to produce the best results. The caveat here being that if you plan to make a lot of seeds, buying prepared colloidal silver may become cost prohibitive. A cheaper long-term option is to buy a colloidal silver generator, which will allow you to make your own endless supply of colloidal silver. Or, you can make your own colloidal silver generator at home using a handful of common items including a battery, some alligator clips, something silver, and water. Go on and Google it.

Leave overnight connected...

The electric current from the battery causes silver ions to be suspended in the distilled water and creates a colloidal silver water solution.

Image credit: Stock images redesigned for article by TNS

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your plants around the six week mark to be sure that you don’t have any “rogue” males hiding in the group.

When the pollen sacs are ready they’ll look like they’re So now you know how to create feminized seeds all on about to burst, and the leaf protecting the pollen will your own, but hey let's get real, maybe you don’t have time for all that science. You can purchase "feminized" start to crack. seeds online, which usually create close to 100% fe 1. Remove the pollen sacs carefully from the male plants. plant and put them in a small ziplock bag.

WHERE YOU CAN GET SEEDS ONLINE

2. Seal and shake the bag, or cut open the pollen Buy feminized seeds online from these trusted sourcsacs manually to release the pollen. es:

3. Add a tablespoon of regular cooking flour to www.shop.ilovegrowingmarijuana.com the bag. This will absorb any moisture during storage and it will make application easier when it’s time to www.seedsman.com pollinate. www.nirvanashop.com/24-marijuana-seeds

4. Put this bag inside a second bag for max moisture protection and store it in a cool dry place for one HOW TO GERMINATE YOUR SEEDS week to dry. The freezer is a good place.

To germinate means to cause to develop or produce.

Seeds 101: Remember, moisture is your Cannabis seeds require three things to germinate: enemy when storing this precious pollen. water, heat, and air. Because of this simplicity, there Using the above method properly will alare many methods to germinate your seeds. The most common and simplest method goes as follows: low you to store it for a year or more.

STEP THREE: POLLINATE, GET FEMINIZED 1. Take four sheets of paper towels and soak them SEEDS with distilled water. The sheets should be soaked but should not have excess water running off.

1. Choose a “mother” plant 2-3 weeks into the flowering stage.

2. Take two of the paper towels and place them on a paper plate. Then, place the cannabis seeds an

2. Take a paintbrush and ‘paint’ your femiinch apart from each other and cover them with the nized pollen and flour mixture onto the buds of the remaining two sheets of water-soaked paper towels. branches you want to grow seeds. (Most growers will only choose to pollinate a few branches, so that they 3. To create a dark protected space, take another can harvest the rest. Seed-laden buds are not ideal to paper plate and flip it over to cover the seeds like a smoke.) dome.

STEP TWO: COLLECT THE POLLEN

3. Wait about 6 weeks. Do your best to keep the plant alive until the seeds start dropping on their own, then collect your feminized seeds!

Seeds 101: The seeds can be used right away (See the sidebar: How to Germinate Your Seeds), or they can be stored in a cool, dry place for several years.

Seeds 101: Disclaimer: Errors happen and nature is a beast. Even when using feminized seeds, you should still always check 79

Image credit: Vintage Cannabis Encyclopedia Illustration

4. Store this in a warm area at a temperature between 70-90°F. 5. Wait a few days. Make sure the paper towels stay saturated.

Some seeds germinate very rapidly while others can take several days. You know a seed has germinated once it splits and a single sprout (the “tap root”) appears. It’s crucial to keep this area sterile, so don’t touch the seeds or the tap root as they begin to split.

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C

hef Tiff’s Recipes

By Chef Tiffany Friedman

Personal Chef Tiffany Friedman shares with us a few of her favourite Winter inspired recipes with ...

Corn and Leek Soup

I

ngredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil • 2 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, coarsely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups) • 8 ears shucked corn, kernels cut from cobs. Cobs reserved • 4 cups of water • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper • 1/4 cup of cream • 1/2 lb butter

P

reparation

1. Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add corn kernels, and two cobs that have had kernels removed, and water. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Increase heat to high and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, and cook until the vegetables are very soft, about 20 minutes.

2. Discard corn cobs; add cream and butter. Working in batches, purée soup in a blender until very smooth. Chill soup until cold. If too thick, thin with water by 1/4 cupfuls. Stir, and season with salt and pepper and garnish with canna oil.

3. Garnish with canna oil about a tablespoon per soup bowl

Canna Oil

I

ngredients

• 1 cup of ground cannabis flower (or less for milder potency) • 1 cup of cooking oil of your choice Note: Coconut and olive oil are the most common choices; coconut oil has a milder taste and can therefore be used for more dishes, whereas olive oil is the staple cooking oil for most kitchens.

H

ardware:

• Strainer or cheesecloth • Grinder (a simple hand grinder works best; appliances like blenders and coffee grinder pulverize the cannabis, resulting in edibles with bad tasting plant material) • Double-boiler, slow cooker, saucepan, etc.

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irections

Grind the cannabis. You can include the entire plant, just the flower, a little bit of both — this is all a matter of preference. Just keep in mind that anything small enough to fit through the strainer will end up in your finished product, so again, do not grind your cannabis to a fine powder.

Combine oil and cannabis in your double-boiler or slow cooker, and heat the two together on low or warm for a few hours. This allows for decarboxylation (activation of THC) without scorching (which destroys the active ingredients). Cooking can be done a variety of ways: in a slow cooker on low for 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally; in a double-boiler on low for at least 6 hours (8 is better), stirring occasionally; or in a simple saucepan on low for at least three hours, stirring frequently (a saucepan is most susceptible to scorching). In all cases, a small amount of water can be added to the mixture to help avoid burning.

Note: whatever method you choose, temperature of the oil should not exceed 245°F. Strain and store the oil. Do not squeeze the cheesecloth; this will simply add more chlorophyll to your oil. All remaining plant material can be discarded or used in other dishes if you have the wherewithal. The oil’s shelf life is at least two months, and can be extended with refrigeration.

Note: Be cautious when using the oil to prepare dishes that require heating. Do not microwave and choose low heat whenever possible.

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Old Fashioned Donuts with Lemon Cream

counter top blender. With the blender running, add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, blending after each addition until incorporated, before adding the next piece. The cream will be pale yellow and opaque and quite thick.

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5. You can use the cream immediately, or pour it into a storage container with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate for up to 5 days. To use after refrigeration, if necessary, gently heat in a stainless steel bowl set over simmering water until it has softened, whisking constantly.

ngredients Makes about 2 1/2 cups

• 1/2 cup, 2 tablespoons lemon juice (Meyer or regular) • 3 large eggs • 3/4 cup of sugar • 1 pinch of salt • 1 cup of unsalted butter(canna butter can be used here but I would do ½ cup canna and the other half unsalted sweet cream butter)

P

reparation

1. Pour water to a depth of about 2 inches into a saucepan, place over medium heat, and bring to a simmer.

2. Combine the lemon juice, whole eggs, yolk, sugar, and salt in a stainless steel bowl, that will rest securely in the rim of a saucepan over, not touching, the water. (Never let the egg yolks and sugar sit together for more than a moment without stirring; the sugar will cook the yolks and turn them granular.) Place the bowl over the saucepan and continue to whisk until the mixture becomes very thick and registers 180° F on a thermometer. This will take 10 to 12 minutes. If you don't have or trust your thermometer, don't worry. It should thicken to the point that your whisk leaves a trail through the curd.

3. Remove the bowl from over the water and let cool to 140° F, stirring from time to time to release the heat.

4. Meanwhile, cut butter into 1-tablespoon (15-ml) pieces. When the cream is ready, leave it in the bowl if using an immersion blender, or pour it into a

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Ready In: 20 mins Yields: 14 Donuts (Doughnuts)

I

ngredients

• 1 cup of sugar • 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt • 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg • 2 eggs • 1/4 cup of unsalted butter, melted • 1 cup of milk • 4 cups of flour (plus a little more if dough is sticky) • Oil (for frying) • Cinnamon sugar

D

irections

In a large bowl mix the sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

Add eggs, milk and melted butter. Beat well.

Add 3 cups of the flour, beating until blended. Add one more cup of flour and beat well. The dough should be soft and sticky but firm enough to handle. If you feel its necessary, add up to 1/2 cup more flour.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for *at* *least* one hour.

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Remove your dough from the fridge and begin heating about 1" of oil to 360F in a large metal skillet.

Working half the dough at a time, roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/2" thickness. Cut out circles using a doughnut cutter or large biscuit or cookie cutter. For the center, I actually use the cap off my martini shaker to cut the holes.

Gently drop the doughnuts in batches into the hot oil. Flip them over as they puff and turn them a couple more times as they cook. They will take about 2-3 minutes in total and will be lovely and golden brown all over.

Remove from the oil and set them on paper towels or brown paper bag (that removes all the fat, you know).

Douse them with sugar and cinnamon, icing, chocolate dipped with sprinkles or whatever you like.

Chef Tiffany Friedman

Chef Tiffany is a lifelong student of the culinary arts. Her goal is to always continue to grow and direct her passion toward bringing people joy. She describes her culinary talent as,“a gift I hope to share with your taste-buds.”

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THE FUTURE OF THE GROWER can * nois * seur ( kan’ us sur’ ), n. one competent to render critical judgment on the qualities and merits of Cannabis.

By Frank Lauria

F

or over a thousand years the art of growing cannabis has been steeped in tradition. In the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, the Indian Kush, Afghanistan and Nepal—Cannabis mainly takes the form of hashish.

In Mexico, Colombia, Hawaii and North America the flowers of the plant are cultivated and smoked.

In 50’s America it got you serious jail time and smokers were on the bottom rung of society along with heroin addicts, streetwalkers and child molesters.

However around 1955, cannabis turned a corner. Touted by Beat Generation gurus such as Ginsberg, Kerouac and Burroughs and widely used by Jazz musicians who were the influential culture stars of the moment--and who defined what was hip or square. Suddenly, advertising executives and Hefner Playboys were inhaling pot instead of martinis.

In the 60’s cannabis went to college, promoted by psychedelic heroes Tim Leary and author Ken Kesey.

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And roaring in right on the heels of this campus groundswell came Rock and Roll which turned on the world.

The global cultural tsunami created a new market. Young dropouts could earn good money dealing pot—thus doing humanity a service while supporting their art.

Weed was mainly coming in from Mexico and South America. Very little was being grown in California.

Until a new generation of growers with a mission -many with university degrees in botanical sciences- jumped into the rising tide. By 1971 their astonishing creations –perfect, fluffy buds glistening with resin— were gracing the centerfold of High Times.

Since then it’s been a steady ascent to distant galaxies of enlightenment.

Using advanced, scientific techniques California growers and their product, have achieved world-class status among connoisseurs. All of which has generated a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Okay so all that happened. Now what?

At the moment cannabis is on the cusp of another era.

Legalization.

The big corporations who devoured corn, wheat, and orange juice, are salivating as they wait to swallow up the small growers. With their national distribution networks they can grow and brand popular strains under their own logo.

Think Chateau bottled Bordeaux wine reduced to Gallo red for the commercial market. Not only the quality, but more importantly the medicinal value of cannabis will be severely compromised.

Sure a few will survive, even thrive. Boutique growers with established delivery services such as Jahnetics in San Francisco will keep chugging. The same is true for experienced farmers who will be as highly sought after as computer engineers.

The key is quality.

Image credit: Image of Frank Lauria from Cannoisseur.blogspot.com

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A recent documentary featured a conversation between Nicky Barnes and Frank Lucas, former drug kingpins in New York. The two rivals firmly agreed that “it’s all about the product”.

This means the corporate suits can now buy large swatches of land in Mendocino and Sonoma and start growing weed on a mass scale. Big Pharm will probably be among the first.

their harvest. Another is to stand fast against the inevitable flood of corporate cash that will dilute the organic medical quality of marijuana. Big Pharm might want to take control. You think?

In a street business you couldn’t advertise on TV, word of mouth was essential.

In fact, land values in California’s Emerald Triangle have already escalated from $1000 an acre to over $4000. And the speculators are gearing up on a mass scale.

Truly a loss for all of us.

However in today’s world San Francisco busses carry huge color displays promoting local marijuana dispensaries. But like MacDonald’s not all the buds are as good as they look in the picture.

As legalization loomed, California quickly passed a number of new laws. One of which lifted the restriction limiting a cannabis grow to one acre.

Which leaves the original, artisan growers up shit’s creek.

In the immortal words of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers: “Dope will get you through times of no money, better than money will get you through times of no dope.”

Maybe. Not everybody can coax a connection to the universe from a tiny marijuana seed.

One solution is for the small growers to form cooperatives so they can control the integrity of

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ON E L B LA AVAI and

t

ne . o l l e ab

Luc

The debut true fiction book from New Smoker contributor Luca Bello.

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S

o ends another fact & fun filled full grown edition of THE NEW SMOKER magazine.

W

e hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed making it.

We appreciate each and everyone of you for taking the time to

read what we've written. Especially those of you who have made it as far as the end and are reading these words right now. Well done.

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e would like to thank all of our amazing contributors, writers, design team, photographers, artists, and of course our sponsors,

all without whom this magazine would not be possible.

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tay tuned to your interwebs & get on our mailing list for updates and upcoming news of Issue No.9 of THE NEW SMOKER: “Dispensaries”

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