Photos courtesy of Ted’s Bud Co

TED’S BUDZ CO PREPS FOR TED FEST 2 IN DTLA

Ted’s Budz Co and its stable of heaters are prepping to take over the roof of Cookied DTLA this weekend. 

This will be the second annual edition of Ted Fest and the biggest ever. Ted’s is moving to a model where it’s going to start hosting its own events more, to give the brands the company is distributing a chance to get out into the community without getting taxed by event producers. This edition will feature The Gooniez, Super Dope, Blackleaf, Zatix and a host of other SoCal heat cultivators. 

We sat down with Ted this week as he was preparing for the festivities Saturday night from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., at 921 Venice Blvd. 

“I’m going to start throwing events myself instead of going to other people’s events since we distribute for so many really good cultivators and really good brands,” Ted told L.A. Weekly. “Everyone that I worked with works really hard. It’s hard to get them to come out because they’re so stuck in daily tasks.”

Those little things that keep the farmers he works with busy are what make the difference between Ted’s and a lot of other distributors. With the exception of cup winner verticals that are distributing themselves, it is hard to point to a distributor with that level of Ted’s quality across the menu all the way through.

And as we see the big dogs of California cannabis fall, small boutique distros like Ted’s that specialize in quality high enough to hold the line with its other products are faring better and better as time goes on. Just this week we’ve seen distros picking up some big brands from all the fallout from closures. 

One of the things that pushed Ted to throw more parties is the ability to curate musical performances. He tried to perform or push his friends’ music to a lot of cannabis events over the years. 

“Everyone’s like, no, no, no, I’m like fuck it, I’ll throw my own,” Ted said. “And then you have so many lounges and shops that are like begging us to come out and do events. When we do takeovers, they are not like anyone else’s event. There is a good amount of people that come out when we do strain releases. So I mean, that’s kind of what we’ve been on.”

In addition to those lively happenings, some of the collaborations Ted’s Bud Co has lined up are starting to gain steam. Two of the most prominent are offerings with Lamar Odom and Birdman of Cash Money Records. Ted said Cream City’s CEO, Lil Ki, was instrumental in helping land the deal with Birdman. 

“Those are just things that were kind of thrown into my lap,” Ted said of the collabs. “If it wasn’t for my buddy Ki, the Cash Money collab wouldn’t be the one that was thrown my way. He knows that I’m probably one of the most solid people to start a brand with, as far as an influencer.” 

He noted lots of influencers he ended up working with because they had previous bad experiences. 

“They ended up coming over because, I mean, I’m more straightforward,” Ted said. 

One of the things Ted is most excited about is an upcoming drop from gear he got from Wyeast Farms. Wyeast provided a lot of the gear that backboned Compound Genetics before the split. Ted scored a super exclusive drop Wyest in collaboration with Oregon Elite Seeds. 

He’s currently searching through the new gear for winners. 

“I was really in love with his Cold Snaps. I was really in love with Horchata and Apricot Gelato. You know, I’ve always been a fan,” Ted said of Wyeast. “Now I finally got my hands on some of those seeds. I’m looking forward to having these cloned and flowers. I’m looking forward to that and bringing some different shit because I mean, right now, the industry is kind of on a superduper candy wave, but I can see it going back. They’re looking for something different as we speak and the market is changing. People are looking for that fuel again.”

CALIFORNIA GOES TO THAILAND

It’s going down in Thailand’s cannabis scene and you can see plenty of California influence on the marketplace on their new, very open medical marijuana market. 

Earlier this month I visited Thailand to check out what legal medical cannabis looks like six months in. It’s wild. There are now hundreds of dispensaries operating in Bangkok. In some cases, you’ll find a dispensary with a cannabis street cart operating across the street. As Thais wait to see what the final regulations look like, they are doing their best to take advantage of the moment. Currently, you don’t need a doctor’s recommendation to access cannabis. 

And one of the best ways to take advantage of the moment? Proven practices. A number of the first-wave Thai cannabis business people are familiar with California and other American markets. As opposed to attempts to create their own retail theory, the Thais are leaning on the things that have worked in California for the last 25 years. 

One of the funny things is, you’re kind of seeing every kind of dispensary at once. Those who are scared the law might change have a street cart or minimal indoor infrastructure because they are scared it might not last like those in California prior to 2008. The middle of the pack is nicer retail environments with minimal upgrades similar to those years early in The Obama Administration before the landlord letters from the Department of Justice. The final tier of Thai dispensaries is already all the way in. They have LED screens everywhere and primo retail space. As far as they’re concerned. cannabis is completely normalized.

A street cart with a dispensary directly behind it in Bangkok’s Japanese Village. – Photo: Jimi Devine

But the biggest link to California? Commercially viable cuttings. It was very difficult to find authentic Thai genetics. Thailand’s cannabis seemingly isn’t quite ready for full production when it comes to local genetics. We lucked out and had a Thai Stick and a local hybrid that was crossed with some California dessert weed at Phandee in Bangkok, but it was few and far between. The best cannabis we saw was grown by Dr. Dope in Bangkok. Their Double Dawg and Sensi Dawg were the two nicest things we saw grown in Thailand. 

Ron Brandon, the founder of California brand Kingston Royal, emphasized it’s not just American genetics we’re seeing. He thinks the market is emulating stateside practices in every form possible. 

“I think that genetics are obviously a huge thing. You can see that when you walk up to any of these trucks, you walk inside any one of these dispensaries, there’s just a bunch of genetics from American brands bred by American breeders,” Brandon told L.A. Weekly. “I think California is a culture in itself, whatever, it’s the epicenter as far as cannabis goes. So I mean, you’re going to see a huge influence from California in every single aspect. You see the mylar starting to transition out here in the stores as well. California did dispensaries bigger and better than anyone first, right? And you can see that they just took the California model.”

As for the thing that surprised him the most about the scene six-months into legalization?

“It feels just like back home, right?” Brandon replied. “For the most part, but then there’s the Thai way.”

Josh Schmidt is helping Cookies move into Asia. Schmidt and his Thai partners brought two groups together to form Cookies Asia Co. Schmidt has been visiting Thailand since 2005 and eventually married a Thai woman. 

“In 2005, I traveled to Thailand with thoughts of taking a three-week break from cannabis, as laws were so strict. Fast forward to living in Thailand four years and having to consume cannabis in secret,” Schmidt told L.A. Weekly. “I grew plants on my balcony and at my in-laws’ in the Northeast and was worried daily someone might find out and cause problems. I used to go to a Reggae Bar on Khao San and get bags of pressed Lao brick to hold me over. I dreamt of days like today in Thailand, as good cannabis was the one thing I was missing from my daily routine.” 

Schmidt went on to point to Thailand’s rich underground culture pushing the plant along since those days. 

“Similarly to USA, we are seeing a convergence of underground and new players and it’s creating a fresh, vibrant scene very few have experienced before,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt reminds everyone to play it cool when they visit. 

“Being a Californian in Thailand we have to remember that Thailand is still only legal for medical use and we shouldn’t exploit the laws or push any boundaries,” he said. “We have to respect the law in Thailand and learn about “Thainess.” With a uniquely rich history, Thailand is very different from California (or the West for that matter) and we always need to remember where we are and what the Thais have done to keep their heritage and traditions uniquely “Thai.” I have been blessed to be a part of Thailand’s growing cannabis community and am excited for what is to come over the next years!”

We’ll keep an eye on the developing market in Thailand and its impact on the wider cannabis conversation in Asia. 

CANARY CHAMPIONS CUP DELIVERS THE HEAT

The Canary Islands continue to make their mark on the cannabis industry with the volcanic island chain now home to hundreds of dispensaries.

One of the fastest-growing cannabis contests on the planet also calls the islands home. 

Tenerife, where we spent our adventure, popped a lot more than our last visit. It seemed like the social clubs were starting to permeate more into the tourist-heavy parts of the area. Weed Island was the best view we’ve ever seen somewhere you can buy weed. As you sit down to rollup on the balcony at the shop, you are greeted by a stunning seascape.

Canary Champions Cup Flower Entries

Canary Social Club Culture

All the clubs come in various formats. They range from nightclub-style venues that can hold hundreds of people to more traditional Dutch-style coffee shops. These facilities continue to get nicer and nicer. This is because of how safe people feel spending cash to make their shop look nice. One club owner told me they spent six figures over the last few months ahead of its Grand Opening on 4/20.

California shops are currently facing some of their darkest days ever, Tenerife is another story. One club owner told us he’d never heard of a social club closing down because sales were bad. You’d think Tenerife might be hitting capacity for how many clubs the ecosystem can support, but each one we walked into was packed. Part of the reason for everyone’s success is the fact these tourists need somewhere to burn.    

A rosin pressing demo at one of the after parties.

Why do they need somewhere to smoke? Because the rules on the island are so strict about cannabis possession and consumption. It’s technically against the law to bring it with you outside of the club and the police are hardcore. I was out raging with some locals last week and walking behind a bar on the boardwalk on one of the island’s popular beaches last week when five cops rolled on me. It was the most intense search I’ve experienced since I came back from Canada in ‘08 and declared my bong at the Vermont border. They went through my pockets and backpack, asking me questions. As they talked to me, they opened every bag I had in my backpack and asked me why I had a bunch of empties. I told them souvenirs. Eventually, they pulled out one of the TrapLoc bags I had with Grove Bags; once they saw my picture on the bag, there was a shocking attitude change from the cops. They thanked me for smoking all my cannabis inside clubs and not taking it outside.

And boy, did I. I smoked a ton of cannabis as I celebrated my first 4/20 there. The whole thing is an extra joke since the date starts with days in Europe and reads 20/4/2023. But everyone was certainly willing to pretend that 4/20 was a thing there. 

Judging Flower at The Canary Champions Cup

One of my main responsibilities for the week was judging flowers at the sophomore installment of The Canary Islands Champions Cup. There ended up being over 50 samples of flower across the indoor and outdoor categories. The top flower in the contest mostly stood well above the competition. Big Bang Creations took third prize in indoor with Monkey Berries. RTZ was the first runner-up with Zowah. Fresh Farm’s topped the podium with their White Gold.

The Hash is Awesome

Finally, it’s really important to note how advanced the hash culture on the island,. There is a solid argument to be made that the quality of the concentrates there are better than what you’ll see in most U.S.  states for sure. Hash culture has always been a thing there given it’s proximity to Morrocco, but the latest tech has made its way to the island with avengance. Hanami Gardens, who won the cup, could hold his own against any hash makers in the world without a doubt. His rosin was explosive terps when you open the jar and he even chopped up some piatella, U.S. headie boys favorite new solventless trend!

We’ll have more coverage from my travels in the weeks ahead.

Photos courtesy CAM

CAM SPREADS THE HEAT FARTHER SOUTH THAN EVER

We’re catching up with one of the biggest hitters in California, as she continues to spread her SoCal footprint, Anna Willey of CAM.

Willey is about as famed a female minority legacy operator as it gets. She got her start as a child on the underground NYC delivery scene. Eventually, she would open one of the most popular shops in Colorado. But she knew if she really wanted to crush it long-term, she’d have to move to California. After a short stint in the bay, she’d landed in Sacramento. From there, she coordinates CAM’s statewide growth.

She’s proud to be where she’s at, but you won’t hear her tooting her own horn much, as she surveys the devastation in the cannabis industry. 

“Well, I think that it’s a really, really hard time for legacy operators,” Willey told L.A. Weekly. “There’s so much pride in saying we’re going to bootstrap it and do it on our own.”

But it’s a different time. Running houses and small warehouses was dope. But to start partaking in the economy of scale as cannabis continues to grow, you’re going to be able to need to access funding. 

“When you’re talking to investors. I don’t think people have to mention that oh, by the way, you’ll be giving 62% away to the state, federal and local governments,” Willey said. “So I think that you kind of just got a warehouse and got to lease wherever you could. But you know, 4% tax, I mean, these are just huge. This is like what usual normal business it would make to survive.”

Willey with Hudson from Airfield Supply

But bootstrapping is possible with the heat. She pointed to No Till Kings and Fig Farms as great examples. She emphasized that all of these companies took some risks and owners figured out some parts of the businesses that they might have not been that great in, that sole person, and kind of built a team around people that are good as those parts of the business. 

Our conversation turned to the lack of middle ground in cannabis right now. Sometimes it feels like everyone is either crushing or closing. She believes there should have been a lot more room to be successful in the middle of the pack. 

“Yeah, maybe they’re not like knocking out of the park, but they’re doing what they love. They’re putting out a great product. They’re paying their people, they’re putting food on the table, and they’re doing it as a community,” Willey said, “It’s heartbreaking to watch that smaller farms maybe not have the opportunity to be around next year; it is really, really sad.”

There weren’t a lot of women in cannabis, and when Willey got started there weren’t a lot of brown people either, given the targeted enforcement they faced over cannabis. Especially in her hometown of NYC prior to legalization, just look at all the ACLU data from over the years.

But times have changed a lot. We asked Willey if she thought it was easier for a person like her to get in the game now than when she first did.

“I think that I think for women and for minorities or for anyone that I think it’s, I think it’s getting easier, and it’s getting better than it ever has been,” she replied. “I will say that there’s so much opportunity for people that want it. And I didn’t think it was that bad then either. So I think I’m always looking at it from the perspective of a kind of work ethic.”

Willey emphasized to farms that are struggling that whatever you can do to stay in business for another year is going to give you the best opportunity to win. She said you never know what’s right around the corner, just look how many people the COVID boom helped keep afloat. 

We asked Willey when she first got the chance to do business with women that looked like her.

“I would honestly say not until I came to California. In Colorado, it was my fellow peers, dudes. I think that there are a lot of home-growers in Colorado that kind of either cobble together a couple of bucks or did it with their friends and opened up a shop. It was a lot more peer-oriented than it is now,” Willey said. 

Keep an eye out for CAM flowers all over SoCal. It’s some of the best bang for the buck in the state and absolute heat. My favorite at the moment is the Biscotti BX1, but the Kush Mints has won a lot of stuff. 

THE DREADED REBRAND

Rebranding, whether it applies to products or individuals, poses a significant challenge within the cannabis industry.

As the California cannabis sector gradually emerges from the turmoil of recent years, those who contributed to its struggles seek to join the soon-thriving market. They endeavor to conceal their involvement in the previous failures.

The detrimental effects of rebranding permeate every aspect of the marketplace, extending beyond the legal domain.

The Ambition of the Shady Players in the Recreational Market

Individuals who exploited the industry until now, leaving behind the chaos we find ourselves in, are observing the end of the dark times as bulk prices creep up. They are now witnessing the resurgence of value as the post-pandemic price crash subsides. Who would have predicted that the cannabis industry, only three years later, would find itself in such a predicament after experiencing its most prosperous sales period? However, sales eventually began to decline, and numbers were down for years until we started our recent climb out of the hole. 

But back then, prices continued to plummet, with a market oversupply devastating pound prices. If a product made it to the shelves, one prayed that the dispensary could afford to pay the distributor. You would assume that partnering with major distributors would secure access to the most shelves—a safe bet, right? Nevertheless, we recently witnessed the demise of Herbl, causing a considerable loss of livelihoods. As the company was on the brink of collapse, more aware brands swiftly switched distributors, demanding payment for their products directly from retailers. Unfortunately, it seems that the rest are left empty-handed for now.

I spoke with an entrepreneur who faced the perfect storm caused by the collapse of Herbl. First, he claimed that he was charged an additional $30,000 due to discounts on products that were initially paid on delivery with cash. Furthermore, one of his tenants lost everything in the collapse and hasn’t paid rent for two months, struggling to stay afloat. Lastly, the entrepreneur is unable to obtain the products he needs for his shelves until new distributors pick them up or he figures out how to handle distribution himself. Both options are time-consuming.

It is disheartening to consider that those responsible for inflicting these hardships on so many people may evade accountability. While retailers bear some responsibility for not settling their debts, should we allow those who perpetuated an unsustainable system, which lacks bailouts like the banking industry, to absolve themselves of the sweat, money, and time lost in this ordeal?

Certainly, the blame does not lie with the young individuals manning the booths or attempting to sell the products. They had no say in how far the company would stretch itself before the disaster that unfolded this week. Perhaps only a few individuals bear true responsibility. Understanding each person’s role in that current cannabis tragedy is crucial.

Although Herbl stands out as a recent catastrophe, numerous other companies also mistreated people. Some caused harm inadvertently, while others acted out of misplaced self-belief. However, the most egregious offenders are schemers who are eager to reenter the market, while the other two likely bear some trauma from their actions. We must not allow them to return solely to line their pockets and inflict further damage.

However, the issue extends beyond distributors.

Questionable Retail Operators Sold Shelf Space to Busters

These individuals are the ones who secured shelf space at corporate dispensaries, thereby overshadowing small, high-quality businesses through the payment of slotting fees. It is possible that they initiated the concept of slotting fees completely eroded the notion of customers obtaining the best value for their money from location to location. Many of those who managed to secure such positions were unscrupulous individuals with extensive networks of like-minded opportunists. It was an arduous and lengthy process for smaller retailers to establish themselves, unless they held significant influence or connections.

These people who undermined the initial wave of corporate shops are desperate to regain entry before interstate markets open up. They recognize this as their next prime opportunity to latch onto someone else’s value. We must not permit the worst offenders to jeopardize the national rollout. 

City councils played a role in enabling these unscrupulous individuals to thrive while everyone else suffered, lining their own pockets. Consider the immense financial losses incurred by L.A. Equity Program applicants over the years, following the rules set by a city council that was only revealed to be racist through a secret recording. Politicians throughout the state have also contributed to the headaches faced by the cannabis industry. As the market stabilizes and normalizes, it is crucial that these individuals are held accountable indefinitely and prevented from rebranding. Once we forget that they were never on our side to begin with, we may inadvertently allow them to alter the rules.

As for the underground market, the rebranding problem is mostly just people renaming weed. It’s still shady, but less devastating. 

CANNABIOTIX TALKS EMERALD CUP PODIUM SPOT

We chatted with the Cannabiotix team about their recent podium finish at The Emerald Cup with French Alps taking third in the hyper-competitive indoor category. 

That third-place finish was also the top spot for a SoCal flower brand in the indoor category with Oakland’s Fig Farms taking first and San Francisco’s Sense taking second. The only other local flower brand in the Top 5 was Maven Genetics. We chatted with them last week.

Cannabiotix’s cofounder Neema Samari explained the company had been a little wary of the cup scene in the past. 

“It was our first time doing The Emerald Cup. In general, I think we’ve been a little cynical about competition for the last four years. So it was good to get back out there and give it a whirl,” Samari told L.A. Weekly. 

He estimated it has been at least five years since they entered any kind of contest. Attitudes started to change when they saw they now had a chance at The Emerald Cup once the indoor category was added.

“And that’s obviously more of a forte for us because of being born and raised in SoCal,” Samari said. “So once we kind of saw that, and then you know, the pandemic cooled off and everything like that, we wanted to challenge ourselves again, I thought it would be a good idea to put our ticket in that.”

Back in 2016, the Cannabiotix team saw the writing on the wall that there was going to be an expiration date on how much fun they were having in the Prop 215 marketplace. Samari said that was the moment they began to transition their cloak-and-dagger craft to the next level with the proper kinds of infrastructure, standard operating procedures, and training.

The lessons they brought into their first legal California facility were learned in Las Vegas. Back in 2015, a bunch of the team headed out to Vegas to set that up. They started to figure out the legal cannabis game. 

“So that was kind of like our firsthand experience where we’re duffel bag boys and all of a sudden we have all this stuff broken down into eighths of branded product,” Amari said. 

Amari was quick to not judge those folks still taking part in the traditional market. He just thinks Cannabiotix has moved on to bigger-picture plays. One of their big hopes with the in-house breeding program is to avoid the homogenization of genetics happening across the industry, 

“We’ve been doing this since 1999. So we have an in-house breeding program that’s obviously built on top of a foundation of having this library of a bunch of different strains, some of them from decades ago, some of them from not that much long ago, newer hybrid and combining all the things in the stable to create new unique flavors that you can buy. And not just in like a medium scale 7,8,9 strains in the lineup, we’re talking about 20 in-house flavors in the cycle now.”

Currently, the Cannabiotix team has about 640 lights of production space. That number will double soon as they prepare to open another 700-light facility. They’re hoping to open the doors and get plants inside there in about six weeks, if all goes to plan. 

They’ll need the flower to keep feeding the beast, as they continue to scale up. Cannabiotix is in 460 dispensaries around the state, but about 280 of them are where most of the product actually pumps through. They’ve done their best to keep the people that have been messing with them the longest stocked. 

“We do want to get around to the rest of the pack,” Samari said. 

Keep an eye out for Cannabiotix flowers all over California.