We wrap an episode around an interview. We introduce you to Bilal Clouse founder of Buds and Bridges – an organization setup to help cannabis companies prosper. We also share a message to our new Prime Minister from a listener. And we stop on Cultivar Corner, brought to you by Up In Smoke, for a taste of Earthwolf Farms Northern Apple Jaxx live rosin.
We wrap an episode around an interview. We introduce you to Bilal Clouse founder of Buds and Bridges – an organization setup to help cannabis companies prosper. We also share a message to our new Prime Minister from a listener. And we stop on Cultivar Corner, brought to you by Up In Smoke, for a taste of Earthwolf Farms Northern Apple Jaxx live rosin.
EarthWolf Farms Northern Apple Jaxx Live Rosin
00;00;01;22 - 00;00;08;29
Ian
From a studio high above the clouds of the Okanagan Valley. This is the cannabis potcast.
00;00;09;01 - 00;00;19;14
Ian
Exploring the world of Canadian cannabis culture. One toke at a time. Here is your host and Bud tender Gary Johnston.
00;00;19;17 - 00;00;42;23
Gary Johnston
That sounds like the perfect opportunity for me to say welcome to the Cannabis potcast. Thank you so much for coming back or if it's your very first visit. I'm so happy to have you here. In this episode, we're going to be sending you about 20 minutes talking about cannabis, having a conversation about cannabis. And then we're going to be trying some cannabis because we seem to have a passion for cannabis.
00;00;42;23 - 00;01;03;10
Gary Johnston
And I suspect you may have some interest as well. Now, before we get too much further, let me remind you this podcast is intended for those of legal consumption age in your jurisdiction and is intended purely for entertainment and perhaps educational purposes. You should always consume your cannabis responsibly. And today we are going to introduce you to Bill close.
00;01;03;12 - 00;01;33;10
Gary Johnston
He is the founder, along with his partner, a Bot and Bridges. It's an organization designed to help cannabis companies get stuff done. It's a great conversation. And then we're going to share one relevant piece of data from listener Tony to our new Prime Minister, Mark Carney. And on Cultivar Corner, brought to you by Open Smoke. It's earth wall farms northern Apple Jacks, live rosin, tasty all of that and more.
00;01;33;14 - 00;01;56;00
Gary Johnston
On episode 100, know episode 200 of the cannabis potcast. And of course, before we go too much further, let me say thank you. I always appreciate the fact that you are listening to the Cannabis potcast. So thanks for coming back. And I also want to thank my Patreon dad Patreon. Thanks to Tony, Rob, Gage, Lloyd, Roger, and Justin.
00;01;56;03 - 00;02;27;04
Gary Johnston
I appreciate you each and every month and we'll hear more from Tony later in the episode. And now let me introduce you to Bilal Close. He is with Buds and Bridges Company. They're a boutique consulting agency based in BC, specializing in helping legacy to legal micros establish their footing in this ever evolving industry. Over the past year, they have supported brands with everything from product launches to retail level strategies, all while navigating the challenges of a heavily regulated market.
00;02;27;06 - 00;02;35;07
Gary Johnston
We pick up the conversation just after I welcome him to the Cannabis potcast. So with me today is Bilal Clouse. How are you, Bilal?
00;02;35;08 - 00;02;37;20
Bilal Clouse
I'm doing wonderful, Gary. How about yourself?
00;02;37;23 - 00;02;46;07
Gary Johnston
Excellent. Welcome to the Cannabis potcast. And as you know, my first question to just about every guest is where did your cannabis journey begin?
00;02;46;09 - 00;03;09;03
Bilal Clouse
Yeah, actually a really solid question. You know, it actually started in 2019, right after Covid hit. And it gave me a bit of an opportunity to think about my life, think about where I wanted to develop a career. I was fresh out of university at the time and, you know, cannabis was, you know, cannabis stores were just starting to pop up.
00;03;09;05 - 00;03;35;17
Bilal Clouse
It was kind of funny because I ended up going through all the certifications. I was in Ontario at the time, and I ended up securing a job at a cannabis store in downtown Ottawa for a bartender that only lasted for two weeks, because quickly after the entire province got shut down for quarantine. And it gave me a lot more time to really think about how I wanted to continue to develop my career in cannabis.
00;03;35;19 - 00;03;58;04
Bilal Clouse
I guess I got blessed with a, really nice indeed listing from inspired cannabis. At the time, they were opening up a new store, and I ended up managing to talk my way into opening and managing the store for them. So I had the opportunity to hire and train my own team, develop retail strategies. From there pretty quickly.
00;03;58;10 - 00;04;20;28
Bilal Clouse
Due to location, not only me, but the store performed really well and I convinced the company to ship me out to Abbotsford and British Columbia, which was one of my sort of dream provinces to go move out to. I opened up a store for them in Abbotsford. We saw another really great, successful store. And, you know, I sort of became the go to guy to help with store opens.
00;04;21;01 - 00;04;44;14
Bilal Clouse
You're doing that for about two years with inspired. I ended up transitioning into territory management, where I was once again just very lucky to have gotten into an interview with Avante Brands. And so I manage and represent mid black market ten Zo flower Tree hugger, some some really good quality products for another two years after that.
00;04;44;16 - 00;05;10;06
Bilal Clouse
And I guess towards the end I started to see some gaps in the market. In terms of marketing, in terms of, you know, sales strategies and kind of trying to go against the grain of conventional sales techniques within the cannabis industry. And that's how we we got here today to Butts and Bridges and, launching this this whole new, you know, startup.
00;05;10;09 - 00;05;19;13
Gary Johnston
That that is amazing. And I think when I'm most amazed with this is all that you packed in to that time.
00;05;19;16 - 00;05;19;25
Gary Johnston
I move.
00;05;19;25 - 00;05;21;27
Bilal Clouse
Quickly.
00;05;22;00 - 00;05;28;19
Gary Johnston
And that was that was quite amazing. So so what is button bridges. What is it? Give me the give me the high level and then we'll get into the details. Sure.
00;05;28;21 - 00;05;51;11
Bilal Clouse
Yeah. High level I think we like to consider ourselves, you know, we're we're coining terms here. You know, the cannabis industry is free. We're we're in new space. It's the wild, wild west of business. At this point. And we'd like to say that Butts and Bridges is a hybrid consulting agency. We're not really focusing in on one type of client, and I'm using air quotations here.
00;05;51;13 - 00;06;14;06
Bilal Clouse
Really what we want to do is be an asset to any party involved within the cannabis industry. At this point right now, we're seeing a great deal of our focus be on legacy to legal micros. Really just walking them through the steps on how to navigate this new space, especially coming from a legacy market that was unregulated entirely.
00;06;14;09 - 00;06;34;01
Bilal Clouse
You know, going through the hoops and talking to the government and, you know, hitting these roadblocks along the way. Our goal is to take that on so that they can focus on what they love to do. The reason why they're doing this, which is growing quality product and that's been a really successful initiative for for us so far.
00;06;34;04 - 00;06;40;00
Gary Johnston
Excellent. So, so give me a sense of what you would do to help. One of those micros could come to the legal.
00;06;40;00 - 00;07;05;28
Bilal Clouse
World of course. Of course. So, you know, we we basically have I mean, due to the beautiful industry, the network is is vast, right. And once you really get ingrained into it, you have a lot of people that you can reach out to, and you have a lot of people that are always looking out for you. So we always have to give thanks to the wonderful cannabis community here in British Columbia that's looked out for us, that's looked out for me and given me tips and direction when I was in need.
00;07;06;01 - 00;07;36;02
Bilal Clouse
But usually it would go something like this. We would get a line that there's a micro who's potentially looking at exploring recreational sales, or someone just got their license for cultivation or micro processing. We would, you know, explore if the products aligned well with our existing portfolio. Because another thing that's big for us is making sure that we're not cannibalizing ourselves by offering too much of the same type of product or the same category of consumption of product, if that makes sense.
00;07;36;04 - 00;08;01;29
Bilal Clouse
But we would try and reach out to these owners. We try and reach out to these new companies and just ask them if they needed any help, specifically with product registration, product sales, you know, to sell cannabis in this industry right now, it's very saturated. And so you need a pretty aggressive sales force to make sure that you're standing out against a lot of the other brands that are in market that have budget.
00;08;02;01 - 00;08;21;06
Bilal Clouse
And so we just pop up and you're like, hey, man, we we we're not coming at you with a price. We're not coming at you with, you know, you need to meet us here or we're not going to work with you. It's it's about long term growth, and it's about approaching these micros or these LPs with solutions to the problems that we're having.
00;08;21;06 - 00;08;49;19
Bilal Clouse
So we like to approach at first it from a consulting standpoint almost, I'd say. And then once we get aligned and see that we can potentially work with each other, we basically handle everything. So if they want to register a product for direct delivery, we will go through those communications with BC lab if they want to register products at least before the March 12th update for Health Canada rules and regulations, we would, you know, we would take them through the PNP, which is the notice of new cannabis product, submissions.
00;08;49;19 - 00;09;19;00
Bilal Clouse
We would submit products for them to the BC lab for BC Cannabis Wholesale that allows all 500 retailers in BC to order from. And we also would launch a sales force in the territory in British Columbia, where myself and team members and my partner Matt, who started this with me, would go into retail stores, educate consumers, educate bartenders, educate managers on on sort of why these products are special, how to move through them.
00;09;19;00 - 00;09;33;26
Bilal Clouse
We would do product knowledge sessions, we would do in-store activations, commonly referred to as pop ups in the industry, and just start to develop a community really not only around buds and bridges, but around the brands that we represent. Because, you know, it's really turning into family.
00;09;33;28 - 00;09;52;21
Gary Johnston
Yeah, yeah. And the cannabis industry is, is one that that likes to envision that the people that we have working with us, we all have the same ideas and that we're all kind of connected to the same thing. So. So give me a sense of, of of how you work through those processes.
00;09;52;24 - 00;10;13;20
Bilal Clouse
Absolutely. I mean, at this point we've seen some steady growth, even though we're, we're very new. I think our approach is really authentic. So we're kind of like, by the people, for the people kind of situation. We, you know, having the having had been blessed to work our way up through cannabis retail really gave us a lot of exposure.
00;10;13;22 - 00;10;40;10
Bilal Clouse
Not only the issues that retailers deal with on a day to day. But then obviously shifting into territory management, we got to see what some of these larger LPs deal with. What what these micros deal with. So, you know, the bridges part of Buds and Bridges is really about that connectivity. It's about, you know, we work through unveiling some of the, the ways that this industry works on the back end.
00;10;40;10 - 00;10;59;21
Bilal Clouse
So, so we're very open. We're very transparent. And that's really just been the strategy is, is like, go in, be authentic. So, the data kind of just looks like waking up, hitting a bunch of stores, engaging with the community where, you know, starting to make a lot of content on social media because we believe that, you know, cannabis should should be shared.
00;10;59;21 - 00;11;17;02
Bilal Clouse
There should be an element of fun to this. I mean, this is this is us proving all of our high school teachers wrong right now. Right? So that's we're happy and we want to show how much fun we do it and we take the job seriously. But you know, you have to have fun while you're doing it.
00;11;17;04 - 00;11;28;20
Gary Johnston
And that's the part that I have always had had a problem with, with the Health Canada regulations about it, about you can't have anything fun associated with cannabis. So so how are you working around those.
00;11;28;22 - 00;11;52;24
Bilal Clouse
It to be transparent with you Gary we're not working around it. We're working through it. We're definitely more of an ask for forgiveness than ask for permission kind of group. And it's not about toeing the line of doing anything, you know, illegal or really pushing those boundaries that way. But, yeah, it's interesting. We just for us, it's about community engagement.
00;11;52;28 - 00;12;21;23
Bilal Clouse
They can ban the Instagram account. They can, you know, tell us that we can't say certain things and we'll just shift into a different strategy completely. But a part of that community building that we've been doing is, is obviously risky to an extent. But it's more beneficial to try and be some of those, I wouldn't want to use the term innovators, but boundary pushers, we walk the line a little bit and, so far it's been good, but we're still in our infancy stage, so we don't know what's going to happen.
00;12;21;25 - 00;12;33;09
Gary Johnston
Okay. And you're absolutely right. Authenticity is the key to whatever you do. So I'm glad to hear that. What kind of response have you been getting from from some of the people you've been dealing with.
00;12;33;12 - 00;13;17;05
Bilal Clouse
Generally very positive, you know, it's impossible to please everybody, of course. And we we're understanding of that different. There's different, category managers, different purchasers, even different, you know, team members at the club, they there's different approaches, there's different personalities on those that they, they tend to mesh better with. But overall, I'd say that the story of the two store managers that got tired of these corporate sales techniques being used in stores and, you know, with sell sheets and promises of discounts and buybacks and pizza party is that it's nice, but it's not.
00;13;17;07 - 00;13;38;00
Bilal Clouse
You know what it is, Gary, is that we we're working towards bringing a lot of the culture back to the cannabis industry and to cannabis sales, and we feel like maybe there's a bit of a gap where we fit into, you know, that we plug into that is company tactics. I mean, we all have numbers, we all have bills, we all have families to feed.
00;13;38;02 - 00;14;01;22
Bilal Clouse
But also makes it clear that we come from this community. We were built from this community. And that starts as you being a customer facing retail employee, whether it be from legacy market, gray market or the legal market now. And so the response typically has been very positive because we we speak from their perspective. We come from their perspective.
00;14;01;22 - 00;14;07;14
Bilal Clouse
We don't think in any other way. So authentically, we are just a part of this community.
00;14;07;16 - 00;14;26;15
Gary Johnston
Nice. I just had one of those cannabis moments where my thoughts were it started in my brain and it went somewhere else. Okay. Now I remember. So with the Health Canada changes, is that going to impact you? And then what you do for the people you work with?
00;14;26;17 - 00;14;46;00
Bilal Clouse
Absolutely. Very positively. You know, part of our role is to be that bridge that that, connects, you know, once again, like these Health Canada rules and regulation changes with PCB, you know, changes the way that they operate. Those are key pieces of information that could make the brands within our portfolio more competitive in the industry.
00;14;46;08 - 00;15;09;09
Bilal Clouse
You know, one, right now, a freebie that I'm sure everybody's been hearing about is having these viewing windows and packaging. As soon as we got a tip about this, Gary, we were like, you know, we were talking to the Green Mile guys. We've been talking to the Green Mountain guys who are some wonderful, wonderful partners of ours. And we were like, hey, we think that there's going to be an opening for us to once again be first to market with something like this.
00;15;09;09 - 00;15;31;13
Bilal Clouse
So we've been working on developing packaging with a viewing window, at least 2 to 3 weeks before that Health Canada announcement came out. And that's once again, one of the benefits of just being really ingrained in the community is that you start to hear things, you start to, you know, get little tips here and there, and we just take everything back to our crew.
00;15;31;15 - 00;15;38;05
Gary Johnston
I mean, imagine buying some cannabis and being able to see inside the bag.
00;15;38;07 - 00;15;58;14
Bilal Clouse
That is what everybody's been asking for. Gary. It's crazy. So yeah, we're so excited that we're starting to see a bit of a lift. And it comes from, you know, people like yourself comes from a lot of the key industry players here who have worked really hard for the past 5 or 6 years, or however long it's been to destigmatize the industry.
00;15;58;14 - 00;16;15;24
Bilal Clouse
I think we all, we all, we're on the receiving end of the backlash. I know for myself, whenever we were opening a new store, we would have certain characters in the neighborhood, you know, be very upset that a cannabis store was opening. We I had people saying that they didn't like that we were opening near a bank, as if maybe we were gonna steal the money.
00;16;15;24 - 00;16;35;06
Bilal Clouse
And I was like, hey, we got vaults, we got money in there. We're trying to protect ourselves as well. We're all at the end of the day, just, you know, trying to develop a career. But, you know, I think with good customer service, good product knowledge, good advice, and just good representation in the community, we end up we ended up working really well at Destigmatizing.
00;16;35;08 - 00;16;39;06
Bilal Clouse
Just the image that cannabis had from back in the day.
00;16;39;09 - 00;16;55;23
Gary Johnston
Yeah. And stigma is still a big part of it. We see it everywhere where stores are going in certain places and, and people are, as you say there. There's I disagreeing with what's happening that. So I'm glad to hear that you're working on on those kind of things. That's real important.
00;16;55;26 - 00;16;57;15
Bilal Clouse
Yeah.
00;16;57;17 - 00;17;03;21
Gary Johnston
So where do you want to go? Where do you where would you like to see Abundant Bridges, go to.
00;17;03;23 - 00;17;32;12
Bilal Clouse
I love that question because, you know, we men, we are dreamers, right? We we all have goals and dreams of grandeur and, you know, being leaders in the industry. And not to say the only leaders there's there's a very large group of, entrepreneurs and cannabis representatives and retail store managers who who are paving the way. And we just we want to be a part of that.
00;17;32;12 - 00;17;55;06
Bilal Clouse
We want to be a part of elevating that. The biggest, the biggest goal right now, the biggest dream for us is actually launching a bartender training course. And that's been something that we've been developing over time. We've feel that there are opportunities for stores who are struggling to, empower and train their team members on, on ethical cannabis sales.
00;17;55;09 - 00;18;17;17
Bilal Clouse
And I think that's the biggest sort of gap or hurdle, I guess you could say that we see is, you know, if we were to come into a store and, you know, potentially pitch a product, you know, they're like, well, I can't force a customer to purchase something that they don't want. And that's not the goal. The goal should be getting the best possible product in your customer's hands.
00;18;17;19 - 00;18;46;08
Bilal Clouse
And I think that that clear distinction is not something that we get covered a lot. And we have courses that, you know, overview cannabis cultivation and the, you know, sort of the, the biology of, of agriculture and, and phenotypes and, and, you know, we talk about terpenes and we talk about, minor cannabinoids and their sources and, and but nobody ever tells you how to translate that to a customer.
00;18;46;08 - 00;19;06;18
Bilal Clouse
So they can make educated decisions for themselves. And I think that that's once again, something we want to do. We just want to help. We want to see this cannabis industry thrive, whether they be a client of ours or friends of ours or an acquaintance. And, we just want to kind of carve our own little corner in the industry right now.
00;19;06;18 - 00;19;08;29
Bilal Clouse
Gary and I don't know what that's going to look like next year.
00;19;08;29 - 00;19;35;01
Gary Johnston
Even know because because we're all discovering it as we go along. We're not sure where we're going to get to. So interesting what you've you've put in front of me about what you guys are doing. And I'm curious in terms of where the stores are coming from. And, and I guess mainly I'm interested in, in the impact of direct delivery and what you've seen from BC's perspective.
00;19;35;03 - 00;19;54;08
Gary Johnston
Because I know that it is specific to BC in terms of the direct delivery. And, and I think there's been varying amounts of success with that. I know personally, I have been really happy with the weed I have got from direct Delivery. Now part of that is Up in Smoke. Who's my sponsor for Cultivar Corner?
00;19;54;14 - 00;19;55;03
Bilal Clouse
Oh, we love that.
00;19;55;03 - 00;19;56;01
Gary Johnston
Direct access to.
00;19;56;01 - 00;20;01;14
Bilal Clouse
That. And then out there we love Matt and kudos to him. That inspired us. Yeah.
00;20;01;16 - 00;20;04;03
Gary Johnston
So so what is your experience with Direct Delivery?
00;20;04;03 - 00;20;24;15
Bilal Clouse
Yeah. You know what, direct delivery is our bread and butter. It's really the market that we play in, for the most part. And there's two big reasons as to why. Number one, it's the value proposition. We can register multiple products without obligation to fulfill larger purchase orders. So, you know, and I'll always be transparent of our sales tactics.
00;20;24;15 - 00;20;55;25
Bilal Clouse
There's no gatekeeping here. We tend to register all formats of the same string. That way retailers can pick and choose how to fill their inventory accordingly. You know, we don't limit people from picking up certain products because they have an overstock of a certain category of consumption or weight category for the strain itself. Secondary to that, though, it's the ease and the and I guess the speed in which they can receive delivery, you know, direct works at its best for one of two reasons.
00;20;55;27 - 00;21;21;10
Bilal Clouse
Limited quantities, exclusive products and faster delivery times than the one week allotted delivery window that you have with PCL, DB. Not to mention there's a little bit of a personal touch to direct delivery. You know, if Grant and Shawn at Green Mile grow this really nice Pakistani kush, we don't have to wait to go through that almost month to month and a half process that it takes to get this product approved.
00;21;21;14 - 00;21;56;23
Bilal Clouse
And that's even if you get the product approved with PCB and on top of that, scheduling a delivery window to bring the products in, and then waiting another 24 hours to have it updated onto their website, and then waiting another seven days for retailers to to receive their first batches of that product. You know, we're talking about two months of planning, two months of me just banging my head on an Excel sheet when we can register it through direct delivery, we're almost guaranteed an acceptance as long as the product is compliant and doesn't have crazy names or wildly labeled potencies or descriptions.
00;21;56;25 - 00;22;14;02
Bilal Clouse
You know, we could we could have products and retail stores and customer hands, which is the ultimate goal within a week of us deciding to put this out. And it's a really beautiful playground for the stores that support us, that are open to doing direct delivery, that ultimately benefits all parties involved.
00;22;14;04 - 00;22;29;09
Gary Johnston
It really is that. I just had a recent occurrence with Matt and up and spoke with, so let's bring Ivan. Came out with Island Zeus and decided to come out with it. And the product was in the store within a week. Yeah. It was it was fabulous.
00;22;29;09 - 00;22;41;12
Bilal Clouse
Yeah, it's absolutely amazing the way it works. It it is for me the first. You know, I view it as the first step to having a culture forward industry. And so that.
00;22;41;20 - 00;22;47;03
Gary Johnston
So is there anything that you would like to do differently than what you're doing now.
00;22;47;05 - 00;23;07;21
Bilal Clouse
Personally I'm living the dream. This is this is really you know, it's not something that I set out to do originally entering into the cannabis industry just as a just as a bartender, as a sales associate, I thought it would just be a cool job that could pay the bills. And, you know, allow me to explore an interest in a passion that's always been a part of my life.
00;23;07;22 - 00;23;36;22
Bilal Clouse
You know, for a long time since before that, and as I started to see all of these parts, you know, the biggest thing is that you feel like you're a part of a movement, especially in those early days. And honestly, we're still in those early days, and I constantly have this awareness that I need to take mental note mental pictures of the situations that we're going through, which are just ever changing on a day to day, because it's not going to be like this in ten years.
00;23;36;22 - 00;23;56;01
Bilal Clouse
Man. And these are going to be those memories where, you know, you see other reps in the territory, you see bartenders, you see people who have a lot of potential and, you know, you might look at them in ten years and be like, well, we came up together, you know, remember when direct delivery was a thing? Remember when we were dealing with these Health Canada changes?
00;23;56;01 - 00;24;18;28
Bilal Clouse
Remember when you couldn't have, viewing window even that such a massive challenge for us, right. So I don't I don't see myself doing anything. This is definitely my forever home. It's my forever community. And, you know, I just hope to to develop this business and that the network that we've been building with buds and bridges and just just take that to the moon, man.
00;24;19;00 - 00;24;33;04
Gary Johnston
Well that's great. I love to hear that. I love to hear your enthusiasm for for both the cannabis and for what you're trying to do for everybody who's in the cannabis industry. And I think that's pretty cool. So why don't I hit you with my crazy questions?
00;24;33;07 - 00;24;34;26
Bilal Clouse
Sure.
00;24;34;29 - 00;24;36;17
Gary Johnston
Your favorite cultivar?
00;24;36;19 - 00;24;39;26
Gary Johnston
00;24;39;28 - 00;25;05;05
Bilal Clouse
Well, how long do you have? How much time do you have? This could be a very long winded or a short winded answer. I I'm going to go with my gut and say that cherry pie is probably one of my favorite, favorite cultivars, one of my favorite strains that I've seen on the market. And I'll do a little shout out to a brand that I haven't seen in BC Muskoka, grown out in Ontario.
00;25;05;08 - 00;25;12;07
Bilal Clouse
They did a cherry pie about five years ago that changed the way that I viewed craft cannabis.
00;25;12;09 - 00;25;13;03
Gary Johnston
And well.
00;25;13;05 - 00;25;30;10
Bilal Clouse
I think for me, I do have to put a little bit of a little bit of a light, a spotlight on that strain, but also the growers, because, as you know, we have a lot of new pushes in the market. It doesn't mean that they're all the best. That's right. Or definitely plays a huge role in how that quality comes out.
00;25;30;11 - 00;25;32;06
Bilal Clouse
But yeah, Cherry Pie 100%.
00;25;32;08 - 00;25;36;00
Gary Johnston
Okay. Cherry pie. Wonderful. Joint to vape.
00;25;36;02 - 00;25;40;12
Bilal Clouse
To, vapors and concentrate our dry survey.
00;25;40;14 - 00;25;44;00
Gary Johnston
Due to choose our joints.
00;25;44;02 - 00;25;56;24
Bilal Clouse
I, I grew up rolling joints. It was a big part of even my social group on who could roll the best links. So that it's, it's a part of the culture that shouldn't be lost. So joints all day.
00;25;56;26 - 00;26;06;10
Gary Johnston
Okay, well, you and I share something in common, as I was the guy who is rolling the joints for everybody who had known. So I get that. I was there. Your favorite munchie.
00;26;06;12 - 00;26;08;16
Gary Johnston
Or.
00;26;08;19 - 00;26;15;12
Bilal Clouse
You know what? I gotta remember the name. It's, it's Doritos, sweet chili heat.
00;26;15;15 - 00;26;21;09
Gary Johnston
Oh, nice. Okay, excellent. And the final question. Edibles are flour.
00;26;21;12 - 00;26;23;11
Bilal Clouse
Flour all day.
00;26;23;13 - 00;26;27;13
Gary Johnston
Flour all day. Yeah, I I'm the same way. So I appreciate that too.
00;26;27;21 - 00;26;34;26
Bilal Clouse
I'm scared of edibles Gary. They're they're they're they're they last way too long. I like to I like to to pot I like to dose.
00;26;34;28 - 00;26;55;25
Gary Johnston
We'll see. And I'm not scared of edibles because they don't last way too long because they don't affect me. So I have a completely different opinion. So I'm glad to hear yours. Well, thanks for sharing the story with me. Below. Really enjoyed what you guys are doing, and I'd like to keep in contact with you as you continue to develop stuff.
00;26;55;25 - 00;26;56;25
Gary Johnston
And let's get some updates.
00;26;56;25 - 00;27;01;01
Bilal Clouse
Thank you Gary I appreciate that. Yeah. Happy to come on board anytime.
00;27;01;03 - 00;27;04;00
Gary Johnston
Excellent. Well, thank you very much. You enjoy the rest of your day.
00;27;04;02 - 00;27;07;21
Bilal Clouse
You as well. Take care. Thanks for having me.
00;27;07;23 - 00;27;11;25
Ian
For the cannabis infused studio in the clouds. This is the cannabis potcast.
00;27;12;01 - 00;27;37;02
Gary Johnston
Well, I think we are heading into an election, if I am correct. Probably. Today it was announced that we are heading into an election sometime in April, so I thought this was pretty appropriate. Tony, who is a listener, of course, and one of my patrons on Patreon. He is on a world tour traveling all over the world, stopping in different places to try different things.
00;27;37;04 - 00;28;00;04
Gary Johnston
But he's keeping in contact with us, and he sent this to me as his message to our new Prime Minister, Mark Carney. And so I'd like to share it with you as of this writing. I mean, Nakuru, Kenya, on my way to Nairobi with the new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, being sworn in, I wanted to share an email I wrote to him with you.
00;28;00;07 - 00;28;23;27
Gary Johnston
Dear Mr. Prime Minister, congratulations on being Canada's 24th Prime Minister. I'm hoping to work for all Canadians in the coming months to improve our country. I wanted to write to you to express the concern I have regarding the cannabis industry. Your predecessor, Mr. Trudeau, made the groundbreaking decision to legalize cannabis, to which millions of Canadians are grateful for it.
00;28;24;00 - 00;28;54;25
Gary Johnston
It's opened up a medicine for those who needed it and created a new industry to provide jobs and revenue, thus growing our economy. However, this has not been without its challenges, notably the high amount of taxes paid by licensed producers. MLPs, the current tax rate is handicapped LP's from making a profit. This in turn keeps prices high for the consumer and stagnant hiring, preventing new career opportunities for Canadians.
00;28;54;27 - 00;29;22;05
Gary Johnston
Concerningly. This is allow the legacy market to continue operating and even driving a key reason for legalizing cannabis was reduce or eliminate the legacy market. Mr. Prime Minister, I feel it's time to revisit the Cannabis Act and enable the reduction of taxes applied to legal PS I still feel taxation on cannabis is a vital revenue source, but it should be in line with alcohol and tobacco.
00;29;22;08 - 00;29;47;04
Gary Johnston
Fair taxation would benefit both LPs and consumers in the cannabis industry. Looking forward to your term. Looking forward to your year. Looking forward to your future term in Parliament. Sincerely, Tony and I thought that was a great letter and I would encourage everybody to write a similar letter. And thank you, Tony, for sharing that with us. It's a point we needed to make.
00;29;47;10 - 00;29;56;27
Gary Johnston
Thc CBD to be in profile. What's it? Me? Oh, please explain to me. Go to the core.
00;29;56;27 - 00;30;03;07
Unknown
The go to local level. Yeah. Go to the portal.
00;30;03;07 - 00;30;07;09
Gary Johnston
Please explain this stuff to me.
00;30;07;12 - 00;30;34;01
Gary Johnston
Welcome to Cultivar Corner. Brought to you by Up in Smoke at 258 West Broadway in Vancouver and online at It's Up and smoke.com. If you were 19 years of age or older and a resident of B.C., you can order and have it sent to you. Wonderful. And on Cultivar Corner today we are trying out some earthworm farms, northern Applejack, live Rosin Dee licious.
00;30;34;04 - 00;31;00;22
Gary Johnston
I can't wait to get into it. So this is Northern Apple Jacks live rosin. Oh, sweet, sweet, sweet. I just love the way that this works. And and I don't have a joint to to to share. I only have my puff co proxy is what I want to use this with. And I'm going to put some Apple Jacks right into there.
00;31;00;22 - 00;31;30;14
Gary Johnston
Okay. So let me look at the let me look at the components of this. First of all the Apple Jacks live rosin. And of course the live rosin comes from being pressed. And heat. And it is a gorgeous golden color if I look at it under my jeweler's loop. We'll take some of the details of what we see here.
00;31;30;16 - 00;32;03;08
Gary Johnston
And oh my, that is such a beautiful color. Oh, just, dark amber light gold color. Which is makes you think that this is going to taste really well and it's going to have a very good effect. And it's just beautiful. I love it, it is a full load. So I got a gram of the Northern Apple Jacks, and this one actually came from Mendel.
00;32;03;11 - 00;32;27;21
Gary Johnston
But I picked it up and now we are going to test it to see what kind of goods this has. So we're going to take we'll take about a little bit more than I normally would so that I can feel it. And we're going to put that into my pot. School proxy. And let's tell you about Northern Applejack.
00;32;27;21 - 00;33;09;08
Gary Johnston
So a long cold cure brings out the funk, the compliment, the fruity and floral notes in this delicious live rosin with an amber appearance in wet battery consistency. This is sure to delight Northern Apple Jacks, which is Apple Jacks plus Northern Lights Plus G13 produces massive trichomes with those 73 to 219 microns in size. Pressed to make this live rosin, my 71.6%, my turbines are sitting at 6.0% on the tour speeds.
00;33;09;11 - 00;33;46;24
Gary Johnston
And what do I have inside my turbines here? My total Terps are 5.5 on my package, beat a mere 2.58 beta carry off line 1.23, and Alpha humbling 0.31. A tasty little trichomes. And now let's have a first taste of the Apple Jacks live resin. Not an no, not resin rosin. Northern Apple Jacks live rosin.
00;33;46;26 - 00;33;49;12
Gary Johnston
Oh, oh.
00;33;49;15 - 00;33;53;12
Gary Johnston
That is really nice.
00;33;53;14 - 00;34;08;26
Gary Johnston
And as I say, they bring out the compliment, the fruity and the floral notes. And there are some of those. Each of those, inside here.
00;34;08;29 - 00;34;39;18
Gary Johnston
Oh, when we are doing the puff, Gil Brodie and it has, it has a bit of what can I say? It hits pretty hard as you're coming into it, because we want to make it up to speed and get the, the right temperature. So there were feeling that and, I will now.
00;34;39;21 - 00;34;57;12
Gary Johnston
There we go. My proxy is fired up again. We'll get it ready for the next round and let you know. So better machine, better carry off lean and alpha human lean.
00;34;57;15 - 00;35;02;01
Gary Johnston
Oh.
00;35;02;04 - 00;35;07;17
Gary Johnston
I just love the way rosin makes me feel.
00;35;07;20 - 00;35;18;25
Gary Johnston
Because now I don't have to wonder about whether or not I am feeling anything in my endocannabinoid system.
00;35;18;28 - 00;35;30;23
Gary Johnston
Oh, and such pure flavor. It is such pure flavor. When we get it inside. Oh, oh, I love it.
00;35;30;25 - 00;35;32;17
Gary Johnston
00;35;32;20 - 00;35;44;00
Gary Johnston
And the amber color is just beautiful. Especially when I put that up in my, jurors loop and I can see the crystal clear in the amber. Oh my.
00;35;44;00 - 00;35;46;07
Gary Johnston
My my.
00;35;46;10 - 00;36;17;25
Gary Johnston
I wish I was involved in preparing the rosin because I like to see how it's created. But all except the fact that I can't see that and just accept the fact that I really like a live rosin. And we had, Matthew and Sarah at Up in Smoke who have been telling me that live rosin should be one of my, more consistent.
00;36;17;28 - 00;36;38;20
Gary Johnston
And so we're trying to make sure that we get that in, get a live rosin, in at least once a month. And so this is the month for March, and it's Apple, northern, northern Apple jacks, live raw. See, I can't even speak anymore.
00;36;38;22 - 00;36;39;10
Gary Johnston
Oh, that.
00;36;39;10 - 00;36;47;13
Gary Johnston
Is so sweet.
00;36;47;15 - 00;36;52;10
Gary Johnston
Oh, my my, my.
00;36;52;12 - 00;37;31;26
Gary Johnston
And yes, my endocannabinoid system has been fired up, and I can feel my happy highs. They are there. My general sense of well-being from the turbines. Oh, my my my. I liked both of those. So those had a nice hit. Let me take one more. One more. There we go.
00;37;31;28 - 00;37;49;13
Gary Johnston
And, yes, I do not need any more. Oh. Wow. I'm always amazed at the live rosin and how it hits. And it is hits so consistently.
00;37;49;16 - 00;37;52;15
Gary Johnston
Oh.
00;37;52;17 - 00;38;13;02
Gary Johnston
And now we remind you that, Cultivar Corner is brought to you by Up in Smoke at 258 West Broadway in Vancouver. And online at It's Up in smoke.com. Check them out today. If you're 19 years of age or older and you live in B.C., you can order something up and have it sent to you. And it could even be the Northern Apple Jacks live rosin.
00;38;13;04 - 00;38;15;08
Gary Johnston
I don't know.
00;38;15;11 - 00;38;15;22
Gary Johnston
But I.
00;38;15;22 - 00;39;02;01
Gary Johnston
Do know that I am enjoying this live rosin. Oh my my my my my endocannabinoid system has been pushed to the brink and I am feeling some pretty nice feelings today. My total CBG is 4.7, my total CBN 0.3 and my total THC v 0.5. All you need to know is that I'm enjoying the Northern Apple Jacks live rosin and the folks hitters for farms earth wolf farms are still making some pretty good rosin and it's worth a kick.
00;39;02;03 - 00;39;06;28
Gary Johnston
Oh my. And.
00;39;07;01 - 00;39;24;22
Gary Johnston
I'm not going to try to pretend anymore. I have achieved Nirvana and I've achieved Michael. And then when I come back a little bit, after putting it down for a little while, it still continues to build and build and build.
00;39;24;24 - 00;39;27;15
Gary Johnston
Oh wow.
00;39;27;17 - 00;39;41;02
Gary Johnston
I'm I'm liking this. I am liking the extent of what the Apple Jacks, Northern Apple Jacks live rosin can do. I think this is going to be one fine day.
00;39;41;04 - 00;39;42;26
Ian
Sharing stories about good weed.
00;39;42;26 - 00;40;12;01
Gary Johnston
While trying good weed. This is the cannabis potcast. It never ceases to amaze me how we get to the end of another episode very quickly before we even realize it, we've done it. Once again, thank you so much for being a listener. I truly appreciate the fact that you're here for the Cannabis potcast, and I also want to remind you that if you ever have a comment about anything you hear on the show, please send a note to info at Cannabis potcast.com.
00;40;12;04 - 00;40;35;25
Gary Johnston
And remember, you can always go to buy me a coffee.com/cannabis potcast. If you like what you hear and feel so inclined, you can buy me a doobie. And now let's get back to our world's worst Jed. Dead jokes now, now let's get back to the world's worst dad jokes. Why are ghost band liars? Because you can see right through them.
00;40;35;27 - 00;41;06;10
Gary Johnston
No, no, that's a pretty good one, I like that. What do you call a funny mountain hill? Areas. And just one more card, I will. I will subject you to more. What kind of award did the Dennis receive after smoking cannabis? A little plaque. And how do you fix it? Cracked pumpkin with the pumpkin patch. I thought that was obvious.
00;41;06;12 - 00;41;13;12
Gary Johnston
And that's it from the guy in the clouds for episode 200 of the Cannabis potcast.
00;41;13;14 - 00;41;21;23
Ian
From the cannabis infused studio high above the Okanagan Valley. This was the cannabis potcast.