ICEEXTRACT: THE HASH HARDWARE KING

LA PREPS FOR FREE SEED DAY

Since we first sat down with Masonic Smoker back in early 2021, he’s continued his rise on the genetics scene, locals might argue one of their favorite Masonic impacts on the community in those two years is Free Seed Day.

This year, Free Seed Day will take place on April 15 at Masonic’s on Fairfax. 

Now one of the most significant events on the calendar for Angelino cultivators, the event initially got its start as an homage to Free Comic Book Day. Before the pandemic, Masonic had been participating in Free Comic Book Day for a decade. 

“I was hanging out at my store and then Free Comic Book Day is usually on the first Saturday of May, but because of COVID they kind of messed it up,” Masonic told L.A. Weekly. As he sat in his shop dealing with the FOMO of missing out on the rescheduled festivities, the idea popped into his head. “So it all kind of came to fruition there when I was doing FOMO on previous comic book days, I made my own Free Seed Day, and here we are.”

Masonic went a bit more into the development process for that first incarnation of Free Seed Day. He noted he is generally pretty off the cuff. When he saw a solid response to the feelers he was putting out there about the idea he knew he was on to something. 

“Then I also went out of my way to shamelessly ask some of the bigger names in the seed industry to chip in on the day, and as soon as Exotic Mike said he was down with it, everyone else kind of followed suit,” Masonic told L.A. Weekly. 

When asked if getting the big name early helped set the course, Masonic said at the moment it helped a lot. But people were also receptive to his argument people would be helping themselves, breeders, and the community all at once. 

Masonic Smoker (right) with his podcast cohost Comedy Store regular Frank Castillo at The Ego Clash Barcelona last month.

The turnout for year one was solid. Masonic estimates it was between 300 to 400 people, but he notes it’s kind of hard to remember the first one because the second was huge. More than doubling in size, Masonic estimates Free Seed Day 2022 saw 800 to 1,000 people participate. 

With the exponential growth rate, we asked Masonic how many bodies he can realistically move through the shop during the festivities. He plans on having 1,000 bags ready to go. He estimates the value of those bags to be between $300 to $500 each. But don’t worry if you are person No. 1,001. 

“There are probably five breeders hanging around at any given time. So if there’s an overspill of more than those 1,000 that I didn’t keep in mind, well, we don’t necessarily have like a whole bag for them, but there are free seeds there for you. And there’s a bag that we can put them in,” Masonic said with a laugh.

Free Seed Day 2021

While Masonic is trying to avoid having people line up too early this year, he understands the enthusiasm. The early bags for those who waited the longest will undoubtedly have some gems in them. Regardless, there will be plenty of love to go around even if you can’t do the whole urban camping experience.

“The reason for Free Comic Book Day is to kind of breathe a breath of fresh air into whatever storefront that they have, right? So in this case, the comic books that are for free are the seeds from Exotic and Bloom. The way that we pay for them in our case is like we go out of our way for like two weeks and we divvy them up. And we have the storefront to actually facilitate a free seed day,” Masonic noted, hoping folks might grab a T-shirt while they’re at the shop. He’s got something for all tax brackets. 

GROWING BELUSHI GOES GLOBAL FOR THIRD SEASON

We talked with Jim Belushi ahead of the third season of Growing Belushi as he looks to take the brand international. 

The third season will also be the biggest run for the series yet with Discovery doubling the order to six episodes after a 30% jump in rating from Season 1 to 2. It makes sense, there are plenty of things to talk about in the cannabis industry at the moment, both foreign and Domestic. Belushi told L.A. Weekly should things go well, they have the footage for a couple more episodes.

Some regulars who will be tagging along and making appearances on this season’s tale of survival and expansion include Dan Aykroyd, cousin Chris and Larry Joe Campbell.

Belushi is excited. 

“We’re on Wednesday night! And we are following Moonshiners. So it’s like, grab your illegal whiskey and grab your legal weed and it’s go for the evening,” Belushi told L.A. Weekly. “Third season, it’s going a little more national and global. I’m really taking it from the little flower to going to see what’s going on in the national picture.”

After the first two seasons at his cannabis farm, Belushi is excited about how far and wide they went for the latest installments of the series. Production saw the team visit 14 states and three countries, including Canada and Albania. 

Belushi really enjoyed his time diving into the Albanian scene. 

“It’s beautiful. They’re building it. It’s incredible what’s going on in that country. It’s gonna be the new resort area for tourism, and tourism is just skyrocketing because the prices are really great. The food is great. It’s a very young crowd there,” Belushi said. “They’re very curious about expanding medical cannabis for export there, and I know the Prime Minister and Albania, and he wanted to pick my brain.” 

Belushi explained part of this season is him letting his ego get the best of him. Hence the call for expansion and international market domination, the latter probably mostly a joke, but rooted in high hopes.

We asked Belushi what it’s like to shoot in this more touring style compared to sharing his personal trials at the farm. 

“Oh, well, there are a lot of personal trials,” Belushi replied. “That’s the whole point, like national expansion isn’t that easy with every state having different compliance, different rules and some are medical states, some are recreational states. So that’s what we can explore a little bit.”

We asked Belushi what going national meant to him. Was it licensing intellectual property? Setting up gardens in other states?

“Lot of it is licensing. But vetting out the growers and the companies,” Belushi explained. “We got a great opportunity and Shelbyville, Illinois, taking over indoor grow that was a charity grow, all the profits go to charity. And we are taking that over and actually kind of doing like a Bar Rescue of like going into this girl upgrading everything and it becomes a Belushi Farms in Illinois. So we’re going to be growing in Illinois. We’re growing in Oregon and we’re licensing other places, other states, and possibly growing in Albania.”

Keep an eye out for new episodes of Growing Belushi starting Wednesday, April 5. 

Belushi’s Farm

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM LIVES UP TO THE MASSIVE HYPE

Link’s latest adventures in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom (TOTK) are everything we were waiting for. 

The game has proven a roaring international hit. One common phrase often seen across social media in the past two weeks since the launch is the idea that Breath of The Wild, Zelda’s previous foray on Nintendo’s Switch when the system launched, almost feels like a beta version of what we ended up with in TOTK. How wild is it to call a game that went on to sell 30 million copies since and win a ton of awards a beta test? But it honestly feels kind of accurate with how much TOTK built on the last version of Hyrule we visited six years ago. 

The Legacy of Zelda Enthusiasm 

There are few dates on the video game calendar that get circled with more enthusiasm than a new Zelda game. Since the first one dropped in 1987, its raving fan base has always wondered what would be next for the franchise that often served with Super Mario Brothers as a flagship game that showed off the capabilities of Nintendo’s hardware from generation to generation. Zelda’s creators Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka were a part of both famous franchises. While it doesn’t quite serve that role in the same fashion given Nintendo has now allowed many more developers to publish games for their hardware in the Switch era, Zelda still very much serves as the benchmark for how much fun you can have on the Switch.

Zelda has turned down the cartoon style from 20 years ago. But the current look and feel still have a very anime feel that looks a lot cleaner than Wind Walker released in 2002. But 2006’s Twilight Princess feels much more similar to what the game looks like today. The modern version feels a lot brighter and more fun, like the way the lava pops with bright red and orange bubbles.

Miyamoto explained some of the thought processes they had as Zelda continued to transition into the 3D format in the 2000s. He noted part of the reason they went for the cartoon look was it made it easier to show expression in the characters. He also wanted it to feel like you were playing a cartoon in 3D, they definitely aced that test. 

Breath of The Wild provided a lot of the building blocks for this new sequel on the same generation of hardware six years later. In an interview with Game Informer, Miyamoto noted one of the big jumps as Zelda made the move to the Switch was the nature engine. Exploration has always been a significant backbone of the fun in the play-it-at-your-pace game where you can toss around chickens or make a speed run for the master sword. 

“Adventuring and exploring nature is what makes the game,” Miyamoto told Game Informer when the game launched. “I had to relook at what dungeons look like for us and kind of take it out of the dungeon. We spent five years kind of working on that.” 

Miyamoto admitted he himself likes the open-world aspect of players creating their own adventures across the storyline over the years but understands there are folks out there that like those deep storylines with a lot of backstories. He thinks this modern generation of Zelda games has done a good job balancing the two.

The Tears of The Kingdom Launch

Over the past few weeks, the world has now had a moment to dive into Hyrule. But the months and years leading up to this moment had a bit of mystery to them. Regardless, once the game hit shelves, it was on. 

In just three days, it became the fastest-selling Zelda game of all time. Ten million units moved globally in that first 72 hours, 4 million of them here in North America. That makes it the fastest-selling Nintendo game ever on any system in North America according to Nintendo. A major achievement for the game’s creators. 

“Many players are returning to Hyrule with all its new mysteries and possibilities, and with the record-breaking launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Nintendo Switch, we can’t wait to see what they’ll create in the game and the stories they’ll share next,” said Devon Pritchard, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales, marketing and communications. “We’re grateful for all of our fans who’ve shown their passion for The Legend of Zelda over the years, and these sales numbers for the latest installment continue to show the strong momentum for both the franchise and Nintendo Switch this year.”

Reviews and Livestreams Pumped The Hype

One of the things that helped the massive launch was just how positive all the reviews were. It’s currently sitting at a 95 on Metacritic, the most noted aggregator of video game reviews by a mile. That score puts it as the 49th greatest game of all time per their review system. While 22 other games in history have scored a 95 on the site, TOTK ranks No. 1 one among those games that have scored a 95 since the website was founded over 20 years ago. 

Zelda’s 1998 edition Orcana of Time is the number one game of all time on Metacritic as the only game ever to score a 99. The last installment on Switch, Breath of The Wild, ranks No. 14 on the all-time list with the Wii U version coming in No. 26. Twilight Princess is No. 39, and The Wind Walker is No. 44. There are a few on the list after TOTK also. The Gamecube Collectors edition from 2003 came in at No. 54. The Game Boy Advance edition of A Link to The Past came in at No. 59 with Majora’s Mask right behind it at No. 60. Twilight Princess is two spots later at No. 62. A 3DS version also made it. With the TOTK’s reviews getting added to this all-time list, basically one in 10 of the top-reviewed video games of all time on Metacritic is a Zelda game, if you count the two versions of Breath of The Wild as one. 

“The fandom behind the Zelda franchise is stronger than ever and to date, Tears of the Kingdom is the best reviewed game of 2023 on Metacritic,” Marc Doyle, Co-Founder of Metacritic told L.A. Weekly. “In fact, it currently ranks in the top 50 games of all time and the number four Zelda game to ever be released.”

We asked Polygon Senior Reporter Nicole Carpenter if she thought the game got scored tougher by critics as a direct sequel. 

“I don’t necessarily think it got scored harder, but Breath of the Wild did have a major impact on the industry so there was an expectation for what Tears of the Kingdom would be. The bar was already set high and people expected Tears of the Kingdom to jump over that bar,” Carpenter told L.A. Weekly, “The game sold 10 million copies in a few days so it’s definitely up there for the biggest game of the year. Beyond that, Tears of the Kingdom will be one of most influential games of the year.”

Another thing the newer generation of Zelda games has had play to its favor is the rise of online streaming. The launch has been a hit. According to TwitchTracker.com, over the last week, people have spent 8 million hours watching other people play the game and the streams averaged about 50,000 people watching at any given time. Things peaked on May 11 when 351,714 users were simultaneously watching TOTK streams. 

50 Hours In

What?! The Great Deku Tree has a stomachache again?! Sign me up. That’s not even a spoiler at this point, it’s presumable Hyrule’s bad guys at any given moment have had an impact on his acid reflux. Those kinds of expectations are one of the things that have made the series great. Each time we go back, the little things we love are done even better.

We are about 50 hours in. I’ve completed the Wind Temple but have predominantly spent most of my time exploring. I’ve hit about 35 Shrines so far in the process of building up hearts for the main storyline. One of the reasons I’ve hit so many shrines early is because of how fun the new gameplay mechanics make them. The massive refreshing of all the minigames makes each one feel very unique.

Those four new core gameplay mechanics are called Fuse, Ultrahand, Ascend and Recall. Fuse lets you attach objects from the world to each other or your hand after you use Ultrahand to move them around. You’ll use a combination of those powers and the world around you all the time to upgrade your weapons, solve puzzles and even build vehicles. 

Ascend adds another vertical element of gameplay in addition to the massive sky map that covers the whole game from above. It allows you to climb through ceilings within reach of the ability and emerge through the floor on the other side. 

Recall allows you to move objects and then recreate that object’s movement through time. Say a rock falls down a waterfall you want to go up, you hit the rock with recall and ride it up the waterfall. There are some wild uses for one when it comes to all the puzzles.  

There also is a ton of wild physics mechanics attached to the main storyline. As you dive further and further in, you’ll get access to an even wider array of tools to combine with the Ultrahand and Fuse abilities.

With all that, and what feels like triple the game compared to Breath of The Wild, I think the only reason TOTK isn’t higher on the all-time list is that it’s a direct sequel. Regardless, it’s one of the best games ever.

WINTER MIXED-LIGHT CANNABIS HARVESTS ARE SPECIAL

California’s winter-grown mixed-light cannabis is among the best flowers of the year, period. 

The crop falls into two categories. The light-assisted and light-deprivation grown. The first is self-explanatory. The second is the term for farmers controlling the natural light cycle by mechanical means. Most of the stuff growing right now is light-assisted, but there are still a few people without power producing some really flavorful weed up north this time of year. 

The light-deprivation stuff is shortened to deps for simplicity. A lot of dep farmers take the heart of the winter off and still get in three runs a year. But those perpetual light-assisted grows that use the power of the sun year-round are able to just perpetually pump out whatever number of tables on their fixed 52-week schedule. Barring the perils of mother nature, there are farmers using the sun and a little extra light to help through the rainy days and shorter ones are producing crazy high-end cannabis. 

One of the most respected owner-operators in the light-assisted space is David Polley of Preferred Gardens — a lot of people have him with a seat at the table when discussing not only who is growing the best mixed-light cannabis in California, but also in Florida. 

Polley explained that you can run some nice deps in the winter with enough natural light, but the production isn’t there. 

“An expert with Winter Deps would usually only grow cannabis for hash in the winter,” Polley told L.A. Weekly. “Flower production is very limited, but the cannabinoid, terpenes and flavonoids are actually at an all-time high. So fresh frozen (material frozen immediately at harvest for processing) will put out some A1 rosin.” 

Polley explained the basics of his process that’s a bit more commercially viable this time of year. Specifically, light-assisted greenhouses that have climate control and you utilize artificial lighting to increase the daily light integral to increase production during the shorter winter months.

Polley in the garden.

“In Cali, that usually starts in September and ends in March or April,” Polley said, “In my biased opinion, the artificial light mixed with the natural kiss from the sun creates the best medicinal cannabis on the planet. Lab tests show cannabinoids and terpenes much higher under these practices. I love the effects from good light-assisted cannabis.”

Polley further explained that the harness of the California sun during the summer is just too much for all the best stuff in the resins that have developed on the plant. 

“Like it’s extreme during the summer in California and the light levels are through the roof,” Polley said, “so I tried to shade my greenhouses more in the summer than I would anytime to get less light and that’s how you get more of like an exotic flavor.”

He argues what’s going on in the industry right now is people are just trying to pump these plants with so much light intensity via LEDs and whatever else the hottest new tech is.

“They’re just slamming them so they could get four pounds a light, just production, production,” Polley said in distaste. “But, that’s why the quality of more than half of the cultivators is just not it. It’s not what we want because they’re just focused on production.”

Photo courtesy of Preferred Gardens

Polley pointed to great genetics as a key to the flame as he prepares to enter the Arizona market, already having crushed it in two other states. 

“I’m pheno hunting 50 seeds every week. I’ve been doing that for eight-plus years,” Polley said. “What’s crazy is that’s 200 seeds a month and we only come out with three to five winners a year.”

Mendoja Farms is another of the state’s top light-assisted producers. After going hard with four big runs in 2022, owner Justin Wilson is taking a month off from flowering and just maintaining his nursery stock before he revs back up next month. 

As for the quality of the winter products, Wilson argues a lot of it is temperature and how physically far we are from the sun. 

Photo Courtesy of Mendoja Farms

“The winter run seems to have twice the amount of trichomes on them,” Wilson told L.A. Weekly. “I feel that it has to do with just the distance of the sun, how far it is from us, and having to warm the rooms up with propane heat.“

Wilson believes the stress on the plants from too much heat is far more stressful on the plants than on some chilly nights. 

“They just seem to like the cold a little bit better. I wouldn’t say cold. I would say that the colder temperatures where I’m at in Covelo and not dealing with strenuous heat that we do have here during the summer,” Wilson said. 

We asked Wilson if it’s easier to get away from market trends this time of year since the more exotic flavors have a good shot at being so full-flavored.

“Yes, it is for sure,” Wilson replied. “I think you can play around more in the winter because you’re gonna have the flavors coming out more in everything. So you don’t have to stick to those saying name-brand stuff and what everybody else wants. That’s when I kind of do like my trial runs.”

Wilson pointed to the fact that a lot of people do their pheno hunt closer to the middle of the year. It’s a double-edged sword. Those mid-year hunts may not get the same terpene levels as the winter, but they’re being stress-tested by the summer heat through the hunt. Wilson has found stuff that was awesome in the winter, but not able to deal with the heat of summer.

2023 WAVE OF CANNABIS BILLS FILED IN SACRAMENTO

Numerous cannabis-related bills were filed in Sacramento this week. 

There is still a lot of work to do to fix California’s cannabis industry as many hold on by a thread. That work is reflected in the annual wave of cannabis bills we see this time of year. 2023 will be no exception, as lawmakers look to cover everything from the expansion of the regulatory task force to where to put the tags on your plants. 

Here are many of the bills we saw filed this week. There are a few more we’ll dive deeper into next week.

AB 993

The main purpose of this bill is to expand the state’s cannabis task force. Currently, there is not a seat at the table for either the Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency or the Department of Industrial Relations within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. These are essentially worker protection agencies that enforce civil rights laws when it comes to employment and housing access or push for a better quality of life and working conditions for the state’s labor force. The task force already includes The Department of Cannabis Control, CDTFA, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the water board, CHP, The Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and the Department of Justice. It would also include representatives from municipalities that opt into the task force. 

SB 622

This bill would change the technical wording on how the mandated unique identifier can be attached to plants. The current language requires the tags to be attached at the base of the plant. This would make it easier for any going big. Some of the largest outdoor plants have literal tree trunks you have to saw; it’s better for the plant to attach it to one of those stems shooting off the side. So again, they’re just changing a few words around, but it makes sense. 

AB 766

This bill is dedicated to anyone who has ever had to call someone five times over an invoice. It’s meant to empower the legislator to set maximum terms by which someone can sell cannabis on credit, create penalties and a course of action for the failure to pay invoices on time, and empower the DCC with the powers needed to ensure timely payments throughout the supply chain. 

AB 1126

This bill would crack down on people attempting to falsely represent cannabis products as licensed. Specifically, it emphasizes, the use of the cannabis universal symbol to push unlicensed products could cost you up to $30,000. While using the symbol was noted given how prolific it’s been on unlicensed cannabis packaging, any claim or representation of a product as licensed cannabis that’s not could land you in hot water. The good news? If you have a permit, you’ll only be charged $5,000 for pretending something was legit, meaning there is an argument to go legal just for the sake of discounted fines. 

AB 1111

This bill on the surface seems pretty straightforward in blocking appointees from the governor from taking part in the industry but, in fact, could possibly hinder the efforts to save California cannabis. Prop 64 prevents the DCC director and members of the Cannabis Control Appeals Panel from engaging in certain cannabis activities. The effort to add appointees to the list could prevent actual experts that have been successful in California’s industry from coming in and helping to fix things. Would you want someone that knows how to run a thousand lights trying to help save the day or a random political appointee in compliance with AB-1111?

SB 540

This bill would have the DCC reevaluate packaging regulations based on evolving science. The DCC would have to determine by July of 2025 if the current standards are still up to the task. As of January 2030, they’d have to reevaluate any changes to determine if any new concerns based on science need to also be added to packaging. The bill would also require the DCC to form an advisory committee dedicated to this subject of evolving label accuracy in the years to come. 

AB 741

Filed earlier this week, AB 741 would prohibit the California FAIR Plan Association from refusing to issue, canceling, or refusing to renew coverage over an applicant or policyholder possessing or previously possessed a legal amount of cannabis. Regardless of whether it was flowers, hash, or living cannabis plants, or because the applicant or policyholder had ever had a commercial cannabis licensee.

Keep an eye out for more coverage of cannabis bills coming out of Sacramento this year.

MISSOURI CELEBRATES FIRST ADULT-USE CANNABIS SALE

Missouri’s first weekend of legal cannabis sales is in the books. 

The nearly 200 dispensaries dotting the state netted $12.6 million in sales in the first three days of adult-use sales. There is an argument to be made that number may have been higher had the permit release timing been a little clearer; even operators didn’t realize they would be allowed to commence sales Friday. 

John Mueller is the CEO of Missouri’s largest operator Greenlight, a multi-state operator that has 15 retail permits in Missouri. Mueller, a Missouri native, told L.A. Weekly that Greenlight had its fair share of action over the weekend, with sales doubling overnight once adult-use kicked in. 

Mueller notes the tail end of last week was a bit of a gray zone. 

“Then what happened is, on Thursday, the state said they would start issuing out the licenses and you didn’t have to wait. We thought they would have all licenses at open at whatever time on the sixth,” Mueller explained.

They would get the permit at 8:30 a.m. Friday morning and be open in an hour and a half. But unlike the big lines we’re used to seeing outside dispensaries on opening day, at first it was a quest by consumers to confirm the news on shops opening earlier than expected. Mueller says the phone continues to ring off the hook in that regard. 

Even with the traditional first sale not the spectacle it’s been in other states, dispensaries did great. Mueller noted some places saw up to four times the amount of usual foot traffic depending on where. 

Mueller said there is plenty to be happy about besides the numbers. He feels dispensary operators got a lot to work with in the regulations. 

“Thrilled with the performance, but there is a whole lot of stuff. You know we got drive-through here authorized, express pick-up windows in the lobbies and then also making sure that that patient wasn’t relegated to a bad status.”

Greenlight has separated the adult-use and medical lines at the dispensaries to make sure none of the state’s 200,000 medical cannabis patients feel left behind in the transition over to adult-use sales. 

Mueller doesn’t feel like things have been overly restrictive on operators, apart from the normal childproofing packaging and things like that.

“We carry about 300 products per store, so we’re a pretty wide selection and we’ve got a pretty robust cultivation and manufacturing side of this equation,” Mueller said. 

He noted the dispensaries currently operating are able to acquire flower from 28 different cultivators in the state. He thinks there are about 50 different manufacturers in the state that are all cranking out products too. 

While that number may sound small to Californians, it’s still a decent number of producers on day one. We asked Mueller if it was enough for a real level of competition similar to the fight for shelf space we’re seeing on the west coast. 

He was quick to argue, sure. Currently, Greenlight’s discount eighths are running $25, with the top shelf clocking in at $45. 

There weren’t a lot of surprises for Greenlight during the transition. The company was able to lean on its past experiences transitioning from a medical market to adult-use in Nevada. Greenlight also has operations across the southeast and midwest in Arkansas, West Virginia, Illinois and South Dakota.