Blog Archives - Page 75 of 82 - The Real Dirt with Chip Baker

I Heart Jane: The Amazon of Cannabis

by Travis C | Mar 16, 2018 | 420 Culture & Travel, Business, Guest, Science & Technology, Season 2, The Real Dirt Podcast Episodes

Podcast: Play in new window | Embed

I Heart Jane is a revolutionary new cannabis marketplace where consumers can search for specific cannabis products and get local results within seconds. Whether it’s terpene hunting for the perfect taste or finding the best deal on that edible you want, I Heat Jane gives you control over what you want, and how much you want to pay. It’s a Mary Jane revolution.

“When the team and I are were looking at building this a couple years ago we were asking ourselves, how do we shop online for everything other than cannabis?”

One of Socrate’s teammates was in the process of looking for a new bike helmet on Amazon, when the idea struck. When we shop for everything online, we type it in a search bar and get dozens of results from different sellers, at different prices. Apply that same online shopping experience to cannabis, and you get I Heart Jane. Now, finding that sweet Mary Jane is as easy as a couple clicks.

“I’ve never run a brick and mortar dispensary, but I’ve worked in retail before and it’s tough.”

In order to make their online marketplace as easy to use for both consumers and dispensary owners, I Heart Jane makes an effort to make joining their marketplace as simple as possible. With their platform’s technology, dispensaries can update their menu daily or weekly, and Jane handles the rest.

I Heart Jane integrates in real time to the point of sale systems of cannabis businesses, giving them access to inventory and pricing, enabling the platform to act as a turnkey digital storefront that connects the products on their shelves with customers in real time looking for those products in their local area.

“How we explain it to our dispensary partners is, the hard part is getting the customer to know that you have that product.”

Dispensaries no longer need to worry about making sure their customers know every new strain they are dropping each week or what they have in stock. As long as they work with I Heart Jane, their products will always be up to date and available to anybody searching for them. As for how I Heart Jane helps the consumer, it’s as simple as searching for what you want.

Looking for that next-level craft cannabis? Simply type in the strain or product you are looking for, and Jane will show you every dispensary in the area that carries it. Have to wait until after work, but want to ensure it isn’t all gone before you can get there? You can set a specific pick-up time with the dispensary you choose and they will hold it for you until you arrive.

All it takes is one visit to I Heart Jane to see how simple it really is. What we are looking at with I Heart Jane is a revolutionary marketplace that will change the way we find and buy weed. It is Mary Jane, digitized. The Amazon of Weed.

Hear all about Socrate’s cannabis industry experience and entrepreneurial knowledge on this week’s episode of The Real Dirt Podcast!

What are Terpenes?

by Travis C | Mar 12, 2018 | Blog, Broscience Mythbusters, Culture, Growing, Science & Technology

Have you ever picked up some cannabis fresh from the dispensary, crack the jar open and get smacked with a strong berry smell?

Maybe it smelled like fuel instead; or flowers. These smells and the effects associated with them all come from terpenes. But what exactly are terpenes and why are they so important?

What are terpenes?

Terpenes are fragrant oils that are secreted by the resin glands in the cannabis plant, just like THC and CBD. At least eighty different terpenes have been found and analyzed in cannabis. Each terpene has its own unique smell, flavor and affect.

While it may be near impossible to accurately describe every terpene, here are some of the more common terpenes you may smell or taste in your next cannabis purchase.

Myrcene

If you’ve ever heard that eating a mango before smoking will make you higher, myrcene is why. Mangos have the same terpene, myrcene, as cannabis, and ingesting more of the terpene may or may not enhance the specific terpene’s effects. There is no empirical evidence supporting this claim, unfortunately.

Myrcene will usually give off an herbal and citrusy smell, and has been known to produce more relaxing and sedative effects. The myrcene terpene can also act as an antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial. Strains with noticeable myrcene terpenes include Blue Dream and Grandaddy Purple.

Pinene

For the untrained nose, a lot of cannabis will smell like a pine tree or a dense forest. An experienced cannabis consumer will recognize these features as signatures of the terpene pinene.

With a smell similar to a pine tree or sage, the effects of pinene can impact memory retention and alertness. Strains like Jack Herer and OG Kush have pinene in their terpene profiles, and this specific terpene has shown to aid in treatment of inflammation and even asthma.

Limonene

Similar to myrcene, limonene is recognized by its strong citrus and lemon scents, without the herbal notes that are found in myrcene. Strains like Sour Diesel and Super Lemon Haze are known to contain this lemon-citrus terpene.

Limonene has acted as an anti-depressant and anti-anxiety strain, and some claim its effects are uplifting while relieving stress. If the next strain you pick up smells like the rind of an orange or lemon, you most likely have limonene in your bud.

Really into terpenes? You can become a certified “interpener” with Max Montrose’s Interpening course at the Trichome Institute and analyze every terpene so you can tell exactly what strain you have, even if the name doesn’t match up.

Learn more about Interpening and Max Montrose’s history with cannabis on The Real Dirt Podcast.

Interpreting Terpenes and Marijuana Strains

by Travis C | Mar 9, 2018 | Broscience Mythbusters, Science & Technology, Season 2, The Real Dirt Podcast Episodes

Podcast: Play in new window | Embed

The cannabis industry is an industry of marijuana strains. Some wild marijuana strains fill the shelves of dispensaries in legal and medical states, but the names attached to them don’t actually tell the consumer anything about it. That is why Max Montrose started the Trichome Institute, and invented ‘interpening’ to analyze terpenes and their affects within cannabis, and how it can be used to truly understand marijuana strains.

Max has created a method for analyzing cannabis through what he calls interpening. Simply put, interpening is the interpretation of terpenes. For the uninformed, terpenes are the oils secreted from the cannabis(Link to terpene article)plant which give it specific smells, flavors and effects.

Take Blue Dream for example. One of the most popular marijuana strains out there today, almost every dispensary will carry Blue Dream on their shelves. The Trichome Institute decided to do some market research on this strain to see how authentic it really was. After getting six different grams of Blue Dream marijuana strains, Max and his team found great differences between every Blue Dream they had, from potency, to flavor, to effects. Four of the six strains weren’t even good enough quality so consume.

“Here’s what’s true. A lot of people also don’t care. A lot of people don’t give a shit, and that’s okay.”

Just like people are ok with drinking cheap, low-alcohol content domestic beer, people are ok with smoking low-quality, less potent, but mainly cheaper, marijuana strains. However beer has much stricter standards to ensure the same product every time, meaning cannabis has more risks to not knowing what’s in it, or if it is even the strain that was advertised.

Interpening Terpenes

However this will all be changing in the future as more people learn to analyze their cannabis to ensure its quality. With help from the Trichome Institute and their interpening courses, more and more people will be able to judge quality themselves, instead of just taking the budtender’s word for it.

“We’re the only company that has put together a standard operating procedure for what is cannabis flower quality and how to measure it objectively.”

From our understanding of indica and sativa marijuana strains and what they really mean to analyzing whether these titles even mean anything, Max goes in depth about misconceptions about cannabis and how we can inform the public to create a more knowledgeable consumer market.

Learn all about interpening, the Trichome Institute and the future of strain names on the newest episode of The Real Dirt with Chip Baker!

Women in Cannabis

by Travis C | Mar 5, 2018 | 420 Culture & Travel, 420 News, Blog, Business, Culture

The cannabis industry has been booming since it started, and an increasing number of women in cannabis is showing a promising trend for the future.

The legalized cannabis market has opened the door to an industry with a much stronger female presence compared to other industries, with more women in cannabis than many other industries.

Women in Cannabis

23% of executives across all US industries are female. In the cannabis industry, that number is a little bit higher, with recent statistics from 2017 showing 27% of executive positions in the cannabis industry are held by women. Additionally, women make up 42% of executive positions for ancillary services companies and 35% of medical dispensaries/recreational stores.

These numbers would suggest that the cannabis industry is more encouraging and accepting of female leaders and women in cannabis, yet the industry is still quite male-focused.

Re-imagining the Stoner

Take the stoner stereotype for example; the typical stoner was a young male who was lazy, sitting on the couch, like The Big Lebowski or Pineapple Express.

Now we all know that this stereotype is untrue for most of us, but the issue isn’t that the stereotype is that stoners are lazy, but that they are mostly men. Statistically, women consume just as much cannabis as men, with a survey from the Cannabis Consumers Coalition finding that 53% of women consume cannabis compared to only 42% of men.

This has led to products and groups created specifically aimed at female cannabis users and the women in cannabis.

A Brand New Marketplace

More feminine branded products like Canndescent are aimed at women who value design as much as they value good cannabis. AnnaBis is a female, odor-proof bag that women can store their cannabis in without having to worry about smell, while still staying fashionable.

With women holding more positions of power in the cannabis industry than any other US industry, we will see a whole new industry dynamic start to form. Other industries will hopefully learn the value of equal representation from men and women in positions of power, and the cannabis industry can act as a guide for inclusivity.

Tune into the new episode of The Real Dirt Podcast with Heather Moore from Earl’s in Leadville, as she discusses running her own grow and how she got into the cannabis industry as a woman.

Heather Moore from Earl’s Leadville

by Travis C | Mar 2, 2018 | Growing, Guest, Science & Technology, Season 2, The Real Dirt Podcast Episodes

Podcast: Play in new window | Embed

Heather Moore is the unofficial head grower/plant watcher of Earl’s in Leadville, Colorado. She is in charge of five greenhouses, hand watering all of the plants, and keeping an eye out for any issues in the grow.

After moving from Georgia about five years ago, Heather got a front desk job at a local dispensary, checking IDs and guiding customers to the dispensary area. After a grower for the dispensary left, Heather was offered his spot as a grower. With no prior experience, Heather asked tons of questions and figured out how to grow high quality cannabis through trial and error.

After leaving her first job, Heather was offered a grower position at Earl’s, one of the ‘highest’ elevation grows in the country. At over 10,000 feet, Earl’s is in a unique location to grow quality cannabis year-round with their greenhouses. All of Earl’s greenhouses are hand built, saving piles of money while still having some of the most high-tech environments.

If you’ve already heard Joel’s story, check out this episode of The Real Dirt Podcast with Heather and hear her point of view.

Craft Cannabis with Dave Perkins – The Real Dirt with Chip Baker

by Travis C | Feb 26, 2018 | 420 News, Business, Culture, Growing, Guest, Season 2, The Real Dirt Podcast Episodes

Podcast: Play in new window | Embed

A little over a year ago, Dave Perkins moved to Washington with his family to pursue his dream of working in the cannabis industry. He would end up working with a cannabis consulting group that aided cannabis businesses in branding, promoting, and even growing their product. He currently works with Artizen Cannabis Company, one of the leading distributors of craft cannabis in the state of Washington.

From modernizing the technology inside the grow to finding the right buyers, Dave helps Washington cannabis brands find their footing and boost their visibility.

“It all comes down to different price points. Different quality. It’s all the same.”

The Washington cannabis market is constantly moving an changing, and staying on top of the trends is essential to staying on top of the industry. The competition in Washington leads to a fight over quantity and price more than quality. Whoever can produce the most decent quality cannabis that consumers still buy, will be the most successful.

Artizen has managed to meet this criteria while still providing some of the highest quality craft Washington cannabis in the state. As one of the top distributors in the state, Artizen grows a variety of strains, some well-known and others exclusive to the Washington cannabis industry. All of their cannabis is vigorously tested and monitored from seed (or clone) to harvest for a top-notch product that consumers love.

Listen to Dave’s story and where he thinks the cannabis industry is moving on this week’s episode of The Real Dirt Podcast!