DIGITAL DABS MAKE HASH ACCESSIBLE

As July’s end approaches, we’re celebrating the state of electronic dabs and how much easier it is to smoke the world’s best hash than a decade ago. 

Here in America, July is the biggest month for hash smokers. That legacy has been built up over the last 12 years of celebrating 7/10. But if you were one of those early revelers, your consumption apparatus options were limited. 

Those earliest 7/10 enthusiasts were mostly smoking off quartz because they were too smart to hit the earliest weird electronic nails. We started to see the first electronic dabbers in the early 2010s. People wanted to take advantage of all those people that wanted to smoke hash without a blowtorch. Many of the models back then were from the same factories in Asia and just rebranded for whatever company was buying them in bulk. Those earliest electronic dab rigs were absolute garbage. Everything about them was questionable from the quality of materials to whether the atomizer was even reaching an appropriate temperature. 

Dab pens would be refined a bit faster than those old dry e-rigs. But about a decade ago, we started to see the companies that would change everything about the digital dab launch. And with healthy competition in the air ever since, the pace of progress has been fast for digital dabs. 

Here are a few of those companies that helped change everything:

Dr. Dabber 

Ten years in, Dr. Dabber continues its efforts to innovate. Back in the day, Dr. Dabber had these ridiculous dab pens held together by magnets; we’re glad you guys moved on from that! But they continued to innovate. In 2014, they brought the first thing to market we would consider a reputable electronic rig with the Boost. It was a totally different ballgame compared to that weird stuff from Guangzhou that predated it. That was when Dr. Dabber coined the term e-rig, short for an electronic dab rig. The Boost has been updated for the times and is still a worthy entry onto the list. Other flagship products now include the Switch and XS. A new version of the XS was recently released in collaboration with Wiz Khalifa in honor of the 7/10 holiday. DrDabber.com

Focus V

The Carta from Focus V hit the market hard when it launched. While now there is a lot more parity between the big dogs’ atomizers, when the first Carta dropped, its atomizer felt like a tank compared to the competition at that moment. This built a following with some of the heavier dabbers burning through atomizers that’s lasted until this day —  just look at their involvement with Legends of Hash, a top-of-the-food chain event for America’s headiest hash enthusiasts here in Los Angeles. On top of the sturdiness and longtime following, there is no denying the things are absolute clear-your-sinuses rippers. While you can still get an awesome deal on the original Carta on Focus V’s website, they’ve added a lot of bells and whistles over the years, like cool minute LCD screens and aesthetically pleasing light effects. focusv.com

Puffco

Still the biggest name in digital dabs globally, chances are if you’re anywhere in the world and get offered a rip of hash, 99% of the time it’ll be on quartz, in a spliff, or inside a Puffco product. Originally founded in New York City before moving to California, Puffco first blew up on the scene because all the best hash extractors in the world were using the Puffco Plus dab pen when they traveled. A few years later the Peak would drop, essentially becoming the Ipod of digital dabs in the years since. With the release of the Puffco Peak Pro, all the flaws of the original were addressed. Not long after, the still-fresh Pro atomizers would get a massive upgrade with the 3D Chamber. It made major contributing factors to the experience like battery life, flavor, and vapor quality that much better. Dropping just after 7/10 this month, the new XL 3D chamber feels like more of a novelty than a necessity, but boy does it make your eyes water. Puffco.com 

BRUNO ROLLS TO THE CANARY ISLANDS

Bruno Van Holland, one of California’s premier joint rollers, took his act on the road to judge the Canary Champions Cup.

As the world exited the pandemic, one of the aspects of the cannabis industry that exploded the fastest was the hand-rolled joint scene. And in addition to the material going into them, the rollers themselves have become the stars of the show. Their ability and access to high-end flowers turned them into more natural likable influencers than the many trying to force it. 

Bruno Got in Early

Van Holland is one of a few at the top of the pack. He got in the mix early, and his signature outfits and upbeat attitude quickly made him a staple on the event circuit. At many of the state’s most fantastic weed parties, you’ll find Van Holland posted in a bright corner rolling up cannons. 

Given how things have gone for Van Holland, it was no surprise the Canary Champions Cup selected him to judge the pre-rolls.

“My first takeaway is how friendly everybody was,” Van Holland told LA Weekly. “The cannabis community over there is as inviting to us as foreigners – like it was, it was just a welcoming, like the way that they treated us. It felt like an honor just to be there. They treated us great. The first thing that comes to mind is just how well we were welcomed.”

Van Holland added the atmosphere those people are able to create at the social clubs he experienced was really special. 

“The vibe there was amazing, the fact that we can go inside of a social club and play pool, smoke and by and by, and all in the same place. It was much different than what I’m used to here,” he added. 

What Bruno Witnessed

Van Holland went on to note he appreciated the flower selection. There were many more sativas than he was expecting. He loved the fruit notes found in a lot of them. Given it was his first time hitting cannabis clubs outside America, he was excited to see those California strains that have a spot in his heart. 

As for the contest, Bruno liked what he saw. 

“In my category, I was impressed with the way that their joints were rolled,” Van Holland said of the entries. “Seeing back rolls is something that I’m not used to seeing here in California. And that hash wrap, I’ve never seen a hash wrap entered into a pre-roll contest before – that was impressive.”

Van Holland added he gets to see the best pre-rolls in the world in California. They are tough to beat. But the ones he saw abroad had their own unique style, which is tough to compare.

Comparing Tenerife to California

Van Holland went on to explain the differences between the sesh scene in California and the clubs in Tenerife. 

“I found that people were talking a lot more at these ones. Everybody was kind of sitting around and talking more than the event that I was at today in California,” he said.

Another big difference was the spliffs they smoke.

“So they chain-smoke like crazy, and every couple of minutes, they’re lighting up a new spliff. I thought that the scene there was so much cooler. I thought the way that they had the social club setup was so much cooler than the way that we have the dispensary setup in California,” Van Holland said. 

The event organizers were excited to have Van Holland in the mix. 

“We were lucky enough to have Bruno in town, the black gloves and friendly smile are iconic. What a wonderful human, always kind and always rolling up just at the right time! He’s a certified hero,” Lawrence from The Canary Champions Cup told L.A. Weekly.

NY’S FIRST DISPENSARY DID $12 MILLION IN 6 MONTHS

New York’s first recreational marijuana dispensary sold $12 million in sales in the first six months of operations. 

When announcing the figures this week, Housing Works Cannabis Co boasted the store has already directed millions of dollars to some of the city’s communities in the most urgent need of support. Sales are directly supporting programs that provide New Yorkers a variety of services. Housing Works noted those services include health care, housing, job training, harm reduction, case management, advocacy for health equity and social justice initiatives, LGBTQ+ youth programs, and sexual health services.

The shop’s manager noted these kinds of services were a keystone of what Housing Works does long before cannabis permits were a thing. 

“Our goal, going back over 30 years ago through Housing Works, has been to empower New Yorkers through advocacy and bridge communities to life saving services,” said Sasha Nutgent, retail manager at Housing Works Cannabis Co. “From the resources we’ve rolled out, to the brands we carefully select for our customers, everything we do here has a greater purpose, and we’re humbled to see the support our mission is receiving.”

Things Started Strong

As expected, New York’s first recreational dispensary was a madhouse when it opened a couple of days before the new year. Housing Works notes the shop did an estimated $40,000 dollars in sales in just its first three hours open. Over the course of the next month, the numbers would get up to $1.6 million with sales continuing to roll on to hit that $12 million mark at the tail end of July. 

What are New Yorkers buying?

According to Housing Works’ data from the last six months, New Yorkers are buying for strength. The biggest determining factor in purchases so far is potency. Some would argue that means consumers are uneducated, but that’s not necessarily the case. There is certainly some balance between potency and quality even if the weed with the highest THC number isn’t the best one on the shelf. People that try and disenfranchise the importance of potency in cannabis may be trying to cover for inferior products that don’t get the numbers needed to be commercially viable in this market. In a fun surprise, Housing Works noted that people are leaning towards sativas and sativa-leaning hybrids. Once there is a bigger data pool in New York, it will lean toward gas and dessert weed for sure, with the exception of great diesel. 

Stocking The Shelves 

While sales have been great, getting the product to stock the shelves and drive those numbers has not always been an easy task for Housing Works. 

“One unforeseen challenge and a pain point for both retailers and customers has been product rollout,” said Nutgent. “There have been major improvements with the state’s product testing timeline, for example, but the feedback we still hear from some Black-owned brands is that there is not enough funding to get their products into the market.”

In recent months the dispensary has added over 200 new products.

Delivery

Make no mistake about it, cannabis delivery has been an extremely popular thing in NYC for decades, with various services coming and going over those years. Housing Works has lucked out in becoming the first legal delivery service in the state in addition to its retail site. The company noted this falls right in line with its quest to be accessible. 

“We’ve seen our delivery programs over the years forge meaningful and trusting relationships between our staff and thrift store patrons,” said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works. “To see the same positive dynamic emerge between customers and budtenders reflects our roots in the city, our deep understanding of New York City culture and the community trust we continue to nurture.”

Right now the delivery service is available in select zip codes in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens; anyone over the age of 21 with a valid ID can secure same-day and next-day delivery slots directly on Housing Works Cannabis Co’s website.

PUFFCO DROPS NEW PROXY DROPLET

Puffco released the Proxy Droplet today adding to its long line of killer accessories. 

This time around, the Puffco team is dropping an accessory to go with their newest device, the Puffco Proxy. 

One of the cool things about the proxy is the number of custom pieces we’ve seen glassblowers all over the world making for it. The stock version is essentially a dry hash piece with a really advanced atomizer. The Proxy’s tech in development was what the 3D chamber was originally based on. 

But the dry rips weren’t for everyone. Puffco took note and developed a water piece attachment for the Proxy not too long after its initial release. The Bub accessory is a hybrid piece you can use with both the Proxy and dry flower, thanks to a bowl you can replace the proxy with. It’s a bit beefy and doesn’t feel as travel-friendly as some of Puffco’s other stuff. 

The Droplet takes us from the more traditional water pipe shape to a more contemporary hash consumption device. It definitely looks like something you would smoke hash out of in 2023. We haven’t had the chance to hit it yet, but we’ve hit a lot of rigs that fancy bottle shapes. They’re rippers.

Puffco described Droplet as, “A premium percolated water filtration piece for the Puffco Proxy. As effective as it is elegant, the Proxy base inserts into the top of the Droplet to deliver cooler, smoother hits with an unforgettable rumble,” the announcement reads. “Droplet’s beautifully hand-blown borosilicate glass displays an ocean blue drop within a clear, gradient-frosted body. Its fluid design flows seamlessly between form and function, fitting comfortably in your hand and on any surface in your home.”

The Droplet does not come with the proxy base unit — you’ll have to grab one of those separately.

It’s easy to have faith in Puffco’s accessories after years of hits. Just look at the hot knife — lots of folks that don’t even rip electronic dabs still use those. That’s the kind of innovation that transcends their own devices. So when they come up with something new for their own hardware, it’s easy to see why people want to get their hands on it. 

The things Puffco has come up with in the past to complement its devices have always been fun. Be it custom colors on the bases or glass, or having Ryan Fitt engineer a crazy recycler, they’ve always felt proper. 

Now that Puffco has gone a bit more on the beefy side in regards to its first Proxy accessories, we’d like to see a water piece a bit more compact for the Proxy — not that the first two aren’t lovely. 

THE CANNABIS TRENDS WE’RE BUYING IN 2024

This week we’re excited about what’s to come for the cannabis industry in 2024. 

Last week we covered the fact that life is less than perfect in cannabis while highlighting some of the things we believed caused a lot of our headaches in 2023. This week, the opposite. We’re highlighting the things we think are going to help everyone turn it around. 

Finally Fixing LA’s Equity Program 

Here in Los Angeles, one of the biggest calls to action from the cannabis industry for the new mayor’s office continues to be the repair of the L.A. Social Equity Program. It was awesome to see 100 Social Equity Individual Applicants were randomly selected to apply for retail cannabis licenses last month, but the couple hundred people who invested their lives into putting their ducks in a row for the program are going to demand more. And while the new mayor’s office is separate from the scandals of the fall, they may have to pay the bill if a class action lawsuit ends up developing from the then-racist city council having original control over the program that drained so many coffers. 

Standardized Testing?

It originally looked like we would have standardized lab testing this year. It seems a little hazy at the moment, but we wanted to put it on here to push the idea. Currently, cannabis labs have no fixed standard operating procedures. A lot of the time they’re just following the instructions for whatever hardware they bought. Then adjust the standard operating procedure to their liking. That’s where you see the variations in testing numbers from lab to lab. The idea of people shopping around their cannabis at labs to get the best numbers possible is a real thing. This is more so an issue with potency and terpene testing as opposed to heavy metals and pesticides.

Wider Access in America

It’s critical that California cultivators get access to more shelf space soon. While the state continues to drag a bit, the idea of stocking shelves all over the world with cannabis grown in California is appealing to people. The first shelves will probably be domestic, and step one is having as many states with legal access to cannabis as possible for when that day comes. And it’s not that far out. Some regulators figure it will be a few more years. Whenever it is, it’ll certainly make people’s lives a lot easier. We don’t think it will happen this year, but we’ll be talking about the mechanics of it by December a lot. 

The Pace of Change is Fast

I know it’s going to take some time for the other stuff I mentioned, but it’s easy to see how fast things are moving for cannabis all over the world. It’s like a snowball with a rocket sled behind it pushing it even faster as it grows and grows rolling down the mountain. Now is everyone hoping to get sucked up by the snowball a saint? Doubtful. But the bigger the snowball gets, the more opportunities there will be for nice people to take part. Plenty of people entering the cannabis space now aren’t haters, they were just scared to go to jail back in the day. 

FIDEL’S: BARCELONA TO L.A.

L.A.’s own Shant “Fidel Hydro” Damirdjian was already a local legend before Fidel’s Hash Holes took it international. 

And while the “Hydro” may have been dropped in recent years as the Fidel’s brand took off, the third son to enter the game of one of Los Angeles’ favorite cannabis families continues to build his name. He’s now on the verge of opening a massive new facility expected to be competitive with the state’s finest later this summer. 

A hash hole under construction. Courtesy of Fidel’s.

In the months leading up to writing this, we chatted with Damirdjian a lot. We even joined him for his return to Barcelona for Spannabis this past March where he originally got the inspiration for the hash hole. The Hash Holes and Donuts party that closed up Spannabis for many was probably the second biggest ancillary affair of the week after the European edition of Ego Clash.

But to understand how things have taken off, you have to start with Damirdjian returning to L.A. after moving to Beirut at age 12. 

Coming Back to L.A. 

“When I turned 18 I moved back to L.A. from Lebanon and when I moved back the first thing I did was start working at my brothers’ hydro shop,” Damirdjian told L.A. Weekly. 

He was at the bottom of the food chain with no knowledge of growing cannabis. He was in the perfect place to learn, but it wasn’t always easy being in the family business. 

“My brothers had two dispensaries. But within a month of me being here, the dispensaries got raided and the growers got raided,” Damirdjian said. “They lost everything and they had to sell the store. So when they sold the store, I stayed.” 

Damirdjian smokes a hash hole in Barcelona. Photo: Jimi Devine

His brothers Serge and Aram would recover and eventually help start Cookies Maywood and Gas No Brakes Fashion.

While Damirdjian may not have brought a lot of cannabis cultivation knowledge back from Beirut, retail operations were a different story. The whole time he was in Lebanon he was working at the family grocery store. By 18 he returned with the managerial skill set that wouldn’t be uncommon in an older teenager at a U.S. supermarket. Those skills translated directly to running a hydro shop even if he wasn’t exactly sure what he was selling out the gate. 

By the time he jumped up to the management team, he had his head wrapped around it from talking to customers all day to better understand their needs or what they were doing successfully. The store was only 1,000 square feet at the time. He’d help build it to 18 employees and three locations.

“I did that for nine years. That was my footwork in this industry,” Damirdjian said. “I talked to growers day in and day out for nine years and then I mastered that craft. I grew weed in the midst of that. It just led me to be consistently known for the quality of flowers I have.”

Madmen OG and LA Confidential were among the first strains he worked with when he started cultivating in 2010. As his skills grew, he refined his best practices and taught them to others over the years at the shop, eventually taking the nickname Fidel Hydro as a play on it. 

Damirdjian points to the first time he left the grow shop to focus on cultivation as one of the moments he knew he was heading in the right direction. Six months after leaving the hydro shop they asked him to come back for a percentage of the shop. He would put in two-and-a-half more years, but in the end, his vision was just too big for the shop. 

Fidel’s

A trip back home to Beirut to visit family and friends in 2019 would turn the nickname into the building block for one of the most hyped brands in California at the moment. 

“I had a childhood friend of mine who does branding packages for big hotels and restaurants. I was working with him. I wanted to start branding my flower. I want to be known for the flowers I grow,” Damirdjian said. 

The pair were talking about his nickname Fidel Hydro. They tossed stuff around but were sure in the end that it had to be one word. It had to be simple. They dropped the hydro and the name stuck.

“My homie drew like 200 different logos by hand. He drew one on a package of Lucky Strike cigarettes and it just stood out to me,” Damirdjian said. “It looked really timeless. Either now or 20 years from now, I’ll still feel the same about it.”

Damirdjian explained that the logo gave him the identity but there was plenty of work to be done. He started doing everything in-house from growing to buying printers so he could package it all up. 

“I put all my energy in Fidel’s, everything, every ounce of my time, my finances, my physical being. I put it all in something that just kept growing and growing. It gave me the confidence I needed but it just hit me when I was in the hydro shop. I always knew Fidel’s was what it is supposed to be,” Damirdjian said in regards to that calling he believed was more significant than the shop. 

Creating New Flavors

2019 was also the year Damirdjian started breeding. It was the next step after nearly a decade of perfecting his skills. But looking around the game can create doubt. He refused to let it build in himself. The heat would speak for itself. He loves it. He hopes his dedication to those various cultivation practices will help remind folks he’s not just the guy that scaled up the hash hole, as admittedly cool as it is to have the most primo rec preroll in the state. 

One of the staples of the breeding is Runtz Mints. It’s an absolute heater. 

Hash Holes – Barcelona to L.A. 

How does one change the exotic-infused preroll game in California? The concept of a joint with hash in it was far from new in California. We basically started seeding distillate prerolls not long after Damirdjian started cultivating in the early 2010s. They were always boof, maybe even further stacking the chips against the idea of the hash hole.

Damirdjian returned to Barcelona in 2022. Photo: Jimi Devine

Sure, the idea of rolling some heat hash and flowers with friends was cool. But was it commercially viable? Regardless, Damirdjian would find his inspiration on a trip to Barcelona in 2018 with his brother for his first adventure to Spannabis.

At the time, his brother had launched Cookies Maywood a few months prior. Damirdjian started helping with some of Cookies’ first seed drops and in the process heard about Spannabis. 

“I felt the need to be there,” Damirdjian emphasized. “I felt the need to go see what the culture is like over there. So I tagged along.”

Damirdjian working to get his seed line into Europe at Spannabis 2022. Photo: Jimi Devine

Damirdjian was a young man there to learn more about the game. There was plenty to take in. He got to help Cookies and 3rd Gen Family with the El Toro in Spain. He helped them package that up and got a first-person view of people entering the world of bulk seed sales with people in Europe. He always felt like the youngest person in the room and just remembered to keep his ears open and to try and learn as much as he could from the international hitters that converge on Barcelona. 

During the seed drop, a number of noteworthy characters from the European game come through to see a number of Americans. The American delegation had fire hash. The Spanish culture at the time was more influenced by the California flower market and there were a ton of California-grown flowers. 

As Damirdjian watched most Europeans sprinkle their crumbly water hash into joints, he decided to work up some of the American rosin and drop it in the center. Not long after, he would run into Lorenzo from Terps Army in Barcelona and Amsterdam. Lorenzo was doing the same thing. 

“I hadn’t met him yet. We met in person over there as this culture was being instilled at that particular time,” Damirdjian said. “I got to give it to my boy Lorenzo. He kept the habit up. He calls them the Terps Donuts.”

Final quality control before packaging. Photo courtesy of Fidel’s

He flew back to America and started rolling more joints loaded with hash. People on Instagram would ask what it was and inquire about the hole in the middle. He would politely emphasize what they were looking at wasn’t a donut, it was a hash hole. 

“The word hash hole didn’t even exist. I just didn’t want to call it a donut because I wanted it to be different,” Damirdjian said. “I could call it that. But just to me, it’s the hash in the middle.”

He was also a firm believer that hash holes just sounded cooler than donuts. Some of the early hash hole advertising has joked donuts are for cops. 

“Once you started explaining to people what it is, now people call it that. I love it. It’s creating its own culture,” Damirdjian said. “It just wasn’t out there like that. It went from being a smoking habit when I came back from Barcelona to what it is now.”

Damirdjian believes we all have ideas we never really follow through on. But what if he did this? What if he took this thing he started posting as a habit and took it to scale? What if he started hand rolling joints and not packing a cone? All the while using elite flower and hash. 

He believed people would mess with it. So far he’s been proven very right. But at first, it was tough to convince people it was feasible to hand roll. 

“It didn’t click with people,” Damirdjian said. “And I wanted to sell them for $100.”

Out the gate, Damirdjian’s right-hand man Dabber Dan was the most supportive of the idea. He saw the vision. Dan was amongst the early members of the team when Damirdjian started solidifying it in 2018. Head roller Gio and his cultivation lead Kevin were also onboard early.

Courtesy of Fidel’s

Damirdjian even has his parents helping out. He has so many printers now he’s run out of space and put a printer in their house. He’ll order 50,000 containers and have them label the jars and do QC.

Now there is a flurry of imitation hash holes hitting the market. 

“Everyone is doing it their way, you know, and it’s not really about who was first, who did it best, I guess,” Damirdjian said. “To me, it’s about who’s paving the way for the category because that’s what it is. It’s a category now.”

Fidel’s Grown

Damirdjian expects the number of staff to surge to 60 by year’s end as his cultivation operation comes fully online. He’s thankful he didn’t take any of the cultivation deals that came his way over the years as he waited for his moment to enter the legal market on his own terms.

Separately, it’s wild to see someone in his age bracket bootstrap an Adelanto facility solo. It’s the land of corporate dawgs but there is certainly cheap square footage and power for those with the resources. 

“There’s no one else, that’s solely me, and I intend on giving out percentages to my team members that are down with me right now. But it’s just me. I just haven’t sold out. I haven’t sold any of it. And people have given me tempting offers. I’ve been guilt-tripped by people that are worth half a billion dollars for not making deals,” Damirdjian laughed.

He always trusted the voice inside and knew where he was heading. That was all he needed. His next vision is a storefront to put all the flower in but right now there is work to be done getting it to the market. 

As the flower comes online he also looks forward to further building out his distribution network. He’s already in every Cookies and Stizzy store. The flower is expected to be in high demand when it drops later this summer. One thing that points to this fact is that the value of his products hasn’t changed with the times as many have seen price dips. 

“Something has changed. There’s always an adjustment,” Damirdjian said. “That’s what you gotta do. You gotta adjust. I think different, you know? I’m trying to be at the forefront of it.”

Damirdjian’s hash holes are available all over California. Keep an eye out for the flower line later this year.