Elevating community and local businesses to support important local fundraising with Curio Wellness

Our friends at Curio Wellness put us on the road for our 27th Anniversary #TastyNes tour featuring the best places to eat locally but as Chief Brand Officer Wendy Bronfein tells Nestor, the folks who bring you Far & Dotter storefronts in Timonium and Pikesville have also been bringing education and support to local groups and events as well. During this fall fundraising season, it’s nights like Maritime Magic for Living Classrooms Foundation and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Gala that power our city for education and entertainment that make downtown vibrant.

Wendy Bronfein, Chief Brand Officer of Curio Wellness, discussed the company’s involvement in community events and its commitment to transparency in cannabis products. She highlighted the differences in labeling and compliance between states, emphasizing Maryland’s rigorous standards. Bronfein explained the importance of detailed product profiles, including terpene and cannabinoid content, which are not always present in other markets. She also addressed the issue of unregulated hemp products, stressing the need for federal regulations to ensure safety and consistency. Additionally, Bronfein noted the growing acceptance of cannabis for therapeutic and adult use, driven by its benefits for older consumers.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Invite Johnathan Hayward, who is involved with the BSO, to appear on the show.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Schedule a meeting at Pizza John’s to continue the discussion and potentially do a show there.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Invite Rebecca Bronfein, Wendy’s sister, to appear on the show.

Curio Wellness and Community Involvement

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the show and mentions various local events and sponsors, including the Maryland crab cake tour and the Maryland lottery.
• Nestor welcomes Wendy Bronfein, Chief Brand Officer of Curio Wellness, and recalls their previous meeting at a charity event for Living Classrooms Foundation.
• Wendy shares her family’s love for Pizza John’s and how they have become regular customers.
• Nestor and Wendy discuss the importance of local sponsorships and community involvement, mentioning their mutual support for various local initiatives and organizations.

Curio Wellness’ Community Engagement

• Wendy explains that Curio Wellness is a family business deeply tied to the Baltimore community, sponsoring events like Maritime Magic and the BSO annual gala.
• Wendy’s father, the CEO, has been involved with the BSO for many years, and they have also supported CFG Bank Arena and the Downtown Partnership.
• Wendy highlights the rebranding project for the Greater Baltimore Committee and the positive changes in the city, such as the improved city shots during sports broadcasts.
• Nestor and Wendy discuss the overall improvement in Baltimore, including cleaner streets and a more vibrant city atmosphere.

Hemp and Cannabis Market Differences

• Nestor shares his experiences with hemp products in different states and the differences in labeling and quality compared to Maryland.
• Wendy explains the scientific approach Curio Wellness takes to validate and use active ingredients from the plant, providing detailed product information.
• Wendy contrasts the labeling requirements in Maryland with other states, where labels may only list the THC potency without detailed terpene profiles.
• Nestor and Wendy discuss the importance of transparency and detailed labeling for consumer safety and product effectiveness.

Challenges and Regulations in the Cannabis Industry

• Wendy discusses the federal farm bill of 2018 and the loopholes it created, allowing unregulated products to enter the market.
• Wendy explains the stringent compliance and testing requirements for products sold in licensed dispensaries, ensuring safety and quality.
• Nestor and Wendy discuss the negative impact of unregulated products on the legal cannabis industry and the need for federal regulations to standardize labeling and safety measures.
• Wendy highlights the importance of child-resistant packaging and the challenges of regulating products sold in non-licensed dispensaries.

Holiday Season and Product Offerings

• Nestor and Wendy discuss the holiday season and the popularity of Curio Wellness’ gummies, which are known for their good taste and quality.
• Wendy emphasizes the importance of flavor profiles and the effort Curio Wellness puts into ensuring their products taste good.
• Wendy explains the strategic approach to flavoring their vape products, ensuring they complement the terpene profiles and provide a consistent experience.
• Nestor and Wendy discuss the overall quality and appeal of Curio Wellness’ products, highlighting their commitment to customer satisfaction.

Future of Cannabis Legislation

• Wendy discusses the potential for federal legislation to standardize cannabis regulations and improve the industry’s efficiency.
• Wendy highlights the overwhelming public support for medical and adult-use cannabis, driven by its therapeutic benefits and reduced alcohol consumption.
• Nestor and Wendy discuss the impact of cannabis on the aging population and its potential to replace or complement pharmaceutical treatments.
• Wendy shares insights into the administration’s understanding of the therapeutic benefits of cannabis and the potential for future legislative changes.

Community Impact and Local Business Support

• Nestor and Wendy discuss the importance of local businesses supporting community initiatives and events.
• Wendy emphasizes the role of local businesses in making Baltimore a livable and attractive city for residents and visitors.
• Nestor highlights the positive impact of local sponsorships and the importance of community engagement for businesses like Curio Wellness.
• Wendy shares her excitement about the momentum and positive changes happening in Baltimore, driven by local businesses and community efforts.

Curio Wellness’ Expansion Plans

• Wendy mentions the potential for Curio Wellness to open additional dispensaries in the future, depending on state regulations.
• Nestor and Wendy discuss the benefits of having multiple dispensaries and the challenges of operating in different states with varying regulations.
• Wendy highlights the importance of maintaining high standards and transparency across all Curio Wellness locations.
• Nestor and Wendy discuss the potential for future expansion and the continued commitment to quality and community engagement.

Final Thoughts and Recommendations

• Nestor recommends visiting Curio Wellness dispensaries and learning about the science and benefits of cannabis products.
• Wendy encourages consumers to download the Curio Wellness app and use the QR codes to access detailed product information and certificates of analysis.
• Nestor and Wendy discuss the importance of responsible use and the role of education in promoting the benefits of cannabis.
• Wendy thanks Nestor for the opportunity to share information about Curio Wellness and its commitment to quality and community engagement.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Curio Wellness, cannabis education, Maryland crab cake tour, Living Classrooms Foundation, BSO sponsorship, CBD products, hemp regulations, terpene profiles, cannabinoid specificity, industrial hemp, child safety, adult use, therapeutic benefits, local business, community engagement.

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SPEAKERS

Wendy Bronfein, Nestor Aparicio, Speaker 1

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. There’s no bye week around here. We’re going to play straight on through. Luke is out in Owings Mills. We’re going to continue to bring it, including the Maryland crab cake tour to set a whole bunch of dates. Going to be a cost this next Thursday, making sure I never did a birthday show. So I’m gonna look at the birthday month I’ve got scratch offs in the Maryland lottery. Have the Raven scratch offs a luckier batch than the Ravens have been lately. At least. They were down to fadeleys last week, and it’s been too long since I’ve had this defending champion of all things here, curio, wellness and far and daughter, she joined me over pizza John’s, and I served her like cheese steaks and pineapple pizza for her kids. And last time I saw her actually, was at an incredible charity event for folks we love here, James Bond and the folks at living classrooms Foundation, we welcome Wendy brown fine back. She is the Chief Brand Officer all things cannabis related and teaching us things terpenes and whatnot. Great event at maritime magic. And whatever you did to order the the weather that night perfect. Was it like 72 and like, not a breeze, and it was like a little jacket, but not too much jacket. It was perfect.

Wendy Bronfein  01:12

Yeah, it was great. And you know that that event is just, you know, bad weather could ruin it all. So that was a great night. Well, it was, I do have to tell you that we’ve, we’ve become very pizza John’s since the day that I saw you there. I’ve, we’ve, we’ve gone back out there as a family, and it’s like a it’s a new favorite.

Nestor Aparicio  01:32

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Well, I’ve seen a lot of folks from not Essex or Dundalk over to Pizza John’s, and they’ve been happy years later. So I love the free plugs for when sponsors love other sponsors. It just, you know, my it makes my heart sing. You know,

Wendy Bronfein  01:46

I It’s funny because so, you know, you can pick it up, like, conveniently in many places where you live, but I have pushed everyone to go there, because I call it factory porn. Like, I love when you watch, like, how it’s made stuff. So they’ve got those videos, and they’re like, making the balls of dough and cutting up the mushrooms and kind of and I’m like, Oh, I love all this

Nestor Aparicio  02:07

when it’s all fresh and it’s open kitchen and it’s all in the everybody’s wearing white in the kitchen. You know, I’ll tell you this, Billy’s been my partner for two decades, and when I’ve taken him around to places as on behalf of what we do. He just rolls into the kitchen. Rolls into them. He wants to add a potatoes are caught. He wants that. I’ve witnessed it. I mean literally, they were going to give him a hat and have him spin some pizzas. Try to figure out how to do it, because he he’s a hands on guy, and I know you’re an ops person. So bring me up to speed with curio. And just at the top, I see you around town. I saw you doing stuff with the BSO, and I got to get John Hayward on at some point, because I have never had him on, and I see him from afar doing all the things that he does and but you’ve really, in a short period of time, but tried to get involved in some of the nerve centers of the community and things that are that matter, not just to the community, but even your family. You love music. You’re involved at CFG Bank Arena. I do see you around town, and I I often wonder, like, why there and not there? But I know your heartstrings with living classrooms Foundation, that’s a major thing. And I know your dad’s also involved with signal 13, that involves police officers here, that I like talking about too. So all of these issues that I bring up, they get funded by companies locally who step up and care a lot. And I think living classroom is one of those nights where you see everybody around town who cares a lot all in one room at one time.

Wendy Bronfein  03:33

Yeah, we So, I mean, we’re, you know, we’re a family business, and we’re born and raised here, so we’re very much tied to the city. So yeah. So we have sponsored the maritime magic event this year and the previous year, as well as kind of being just over over, all involved with living classroom as an organization, we’ve also done a sponsorship the past two years with the BSO at their annual gala. My father, our CEO, has been really involved with them for probably his entire adult life. He is a great lover of music. That also took us to CFG when they came online, because we thought that was really exciting. I personally feel like it creates, like, more of that Renaissance that’s happening downtown, and I’m excited to see how things develop around that as a central point, which then kind of connects to Downtown Partnership, who we help out and kind of get engaged with as well, and the Greater Baltimore committee as well. I was participated with and the project that they’re doing for a rebranding and driving new businesses to the area. So, yeah, I mean, I think there’s a lot of momentum. I said to someone the other day, I don’t know if you noticed, when we were on, what did we we were Sunday night game or Monday night game? I can’t remember what last week, no, no, no, the first we were Sunday night, Sunday night. So on the site, yeah, yeah. So on the Sunday night. Game. When they, you know, when they cut in and out and like, they’ll do those, like city shots and like, where the where the game is, and they did this shot that was like, coming across the harbor, looking in the city. I was telling someone how lit the city looked like, literally on the street level, how you could see the light flowing back into the city. And I was like, it looked really great. And it and for me as a local, it was very noticeable how it was lit differently and lit brighter. And I just feel like there’s just, like, a lot of great momentum going on in the city, and we got to all help see it through. I

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Nestor Aparicio  05:31

talk about this every day. I mean, I saw Ivan Bates at living classrooms, and I’m working to get him in. I see he’s doing a connects event next month, talking to people. But people are talking out loud about all of the issues, good, bad and ugly in every way. And I what Baltimore positive is not always positive when bad things are happening, but when the murder number is going down, and when there’s whispers about crime numbers and like I drive through the city three, four days a week and And inevitably, and especially when I’m not on 83 it’s different on 83 because you’re just in a hurry to get there. But when I go up and down York Road, up and down, pairing Parkway up everywhere, I say the city’s getting better. The city’s getting cleaner this I mean literally, and I feel that way walking through it. When I walk through it, the night of living classrooms, we parked in Fells Point, walked around, and I don’t know that that message gets out all the time. And I also think it’s important, by the way, Wendy brown find is our guest, if you’re listening on radio, that people do know when they see curio wellness, or they pass foreign.or right by the racetrack, right by my partners at Costas, across from the Nautilus girl, and they see that they’re seeing like local people, you know, Baltimore, people here, Maryland, people here, who are trying to contribute in here, and also putting your name on these things, it speaks to the sort of the way the Orioles got built, which was about 20 local banks and local businesses, but local businesses still what is going to power and what’s going to strengthen Baltimore, what’s going to bring Baltimore back? It’s no offense to Walmart and Target and name any other multinational company, but they’re not the ones down at living classrooms, they’re not the ones at Oreo games, they’re not the ones buying ravens boxes. They’re not the ones at the PSO. And I do think it’s incumbent upon the people that do live and work here and businesses that have grown here to be a part of all this stuff, because it’s, it is what brings people

Wendy Bronfein  07:17

downtown, yeah, and it’s what drive like. That’s what makes the city livable, likable, why people want to move here, why businesses want to employ people here. It’s so I think it’s a really exciting time for us. I felt like that momentum has been brewing for probably the last five years. It’s really felt pretty strong, and so it’s nice. You can really sort of see the fruits of the labor starting to take shape. We

Nestor Aparicio  07:41

got good bones despite the football team’s record. Wendy brought finest here. So let’s get to I want to talk about hemp as a as a topic, because I’ve been traveling. I was out in New Mexico, I was in Las Vegas, I was in California, I was in Arizona. So I’ve been in four different states, all Southwestern and Western States in the last since last time we talked and in and out, of seeing things, seeing the hemp part of this, and how our laws are different than other people’s laws. And then I go other places, and I see stuff being sold in gas stations. When I’m in New York, I see it kind of kind of weird places in Manhattan, run me through what you do, and I’ve been in your in the little Willy Wonka suit in the factory, and seen the plants grow, and I’ve been into processing. You’ve taken me on the tour. But for people whose eyes haven’t seen it, the difference between the quality of what you’re doing and other things that are out there that should be concerning for what I buy, because I wanted to store in Vegas. And I’m like, can I see profiles in that don’t, don’t have, I’m like, Well, what’s in it? I don’t know what’s in it. And like, at least with your products, and certainly in the state of Maryland, anybody even you compete with, what’s in it is very, very specific in a scientific way,

Wendy Bronfein  09:02

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yes, so there’s a couple of nuances there. I think the scientific for us is, is definitely one of our unique qualities in how we sort of seek to validate and use the active ingredients from the plant to make very specific products. But in terms of like the state Marketplaces, when the compliance that you have as an operator is can be different in every state. So in Maryland, there’s much more specification on our labels than there may be in Nevada. And so you’re used to seeing, okay, I’m going to see a label, and I’m going to get a terpene profile, I’m going to get very specific data on all cannabinoids that might show up in here, and you may have found there that it’s a product where it says, Well, we’re only going to tell you that there’s five milligrams of THC in it, and there’s no other nuance to this edible, or there’s no other nuance to the flower other than the THC potency and so

Nestor Aparicio  09:55

or the strain name, you had a name on it, right? So I.

Wendy Bronfein  10:00

Think this is, I think, I think people who do, like, have access to the Merri marketplace, are probably a little bit spoiled in the sense that you I feel sophisticated, yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  10:11

and I feel like we do be a very informed and it’s no bull job. Like, why am I here to, like, learn? Because, like, I learned from, you know, the movies back made in the 1940s and the Nixon scheduling and all of that. And I grew up in sort of that, so all of the science to me, and that’s the basis of our relationship. I think the men I’ve met you was like, teach me about this a little bit. Teach people in the audience. Because I think we are really lucky that when I go into a foreign daughter and I pick up anything, any of your products, not only is it on the product itself, but I can scan a QR code, not just get points in a thing, which I’ll let you get to in a minute, because the holidays are coming, I might need to give give, but I then see all of the profiles of all of it really forever. I can go back and say, this. Did this, this work this way. This helped my back. You know, whatever it is, I You’re you’re saying that that isn’t the case in a lot of places, and I think I’ve seen that for myself now. Yeah.

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Wendy Bronfein  11:12

So I think you so one of the tools you’re talking about is that you can see, not only link to a page that’s going to give you insights on the product, like a descript product like a descript product description, but you can also see the certificate of analysis from the lab, so you can see the granular reporting of the different levels of cannabinoids and terpenes and things like that, which are also reflected on the label and not in every market. You’re not necessarily getting all those details now there, it kind of works both ways, right? If you went to the store and you bought a bottle of ibuprofen and it says it’s 250 milligrams, there’s basically a standard set that they compliantly produce that, and they have a margin of error that’s acceptable. So maybe they’re not all 250 Exactly. Maybe they’re 240 9.42 50.5 right? But there’s a tolerance level that’s accepted in a consumer product that’s safely made under federal regulations, because we live in a state by state world, and because we have been sort of green light into the mainstream, and haven’t always been there, we have much more granular focus on the specificity of every last milligram of everything that’s in there. So you don’t just buy a package that says 25 milligrams. You turn it over and you see that the lab results said that it was 25.1 milligrams, or whatever the spec came in up to the decimal point. So you definitely become very sophisticated in this market, seeing these detailed nuances of each ingredient and then understanding why they’re useful. It’s kind of like if you think about when you have a headache, like using this ibuprofen thing, like you could take ibuprofen, but if you take something like an Excedrin, that’s actually acetaminophen, aspirin and caffeine together, right? That’s kind of like when you look at a cannabinoid based product and you say, Oh, well, there’s THC, there’s CBG, and there’s this terpene. Well, those three items, those two cannabinoids in that terpene, are going to tell you why this might give you x effect, just like why acetaminophen plus aspirin plus caffeine might give you a specific effect. So that label really gives you and gives the staff of the dispensary a lot of insight on how to explain the utility of the product well.

Nestor Aparicio  13:30

And I would just say I’m literally, I’m a little distracted looking at my phone here, because I’m just looking at like a vape, all the numbers that you provide that every single thing I saw in the store in Nevada, I would never, I couldn’t possibly know, because I am like, No, it just says, you know, silver, whatever the strain name was on it. I’m like, Well, what is it? I can’t, I can’t look at it. I can’t, like, not, can’t do that. And I’m like, Well, why not? It’s science, you know, that’s the like, like you going backstage at Pizza John’s and wondering how the pizza is made. Wendy Brown, fine is here, so I guess so you’re saying we’re sort of lucky in Maryland in some ways, but also, sort of, there’s a lot of restrictions involved here for you that makes it, I don’t say, more onerous, but more transparent for what you’re doing than in other places, right? Yes.

Wendy Bronfein  14:25

So yeah, I think Do you see that in the way that you the products are reported in their packaging. They all share many similarities in terms of ensuring public and health and safety. But some states, the details do get more granular than others. I think, I think that’s part of why the industry itself is looking for change on the federal level. Because, like I said before, like if you buy anything in the health and beauty section of a of a Walgreens or a grocery store or whatever, then there is a standard. By which all those products are produced and packaged, and everyone accepts that, because that’s how commonplace consumer goods come. And so we sort of need that level of normalcy because it’s very inefficient and cost prohibitive for businesses that operate in multiple states to literally have to change very specific nuances, because the idiosyncrasies of one state versus another, where you could say, Look universally, your packaging needs to fall inside this rubric, and you need to produce at these standards for distributing products to consumers or patients. And I think some of those standards could be set at the federal level, as you see under many like dietary supplements. If we were to fall under that rubric, it would just give a very clear direction of how you produce and package. A state could always add more if they wanted, but you wouldn’t have this fragmented delivery of your brand like so if you visit in Missouri, where we also produce, we have different packaging because the rules on how your packaging can look is different. And then, you know, we’ll be launching products in New York later this year. They have different rules on packaging. Our products just came out in New Jersey. It’s, it’s similar, but different there. So if you could have one set, you know, there’s a much better economies of scale. It’s much easier to run your business.

Nestor Aparicio  16:23

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I see hemp, THC, TBD, CBD. I see, you know, ABC, D, E, F, y, y, z, from our rush fans. I talk about the gas station, in fact. And I talk about, especially when I’m places like New York, where you’re just walking by, and it’s like they have a green flower in the window, but it’s not a real place. But you don’t I’m thinking, who’s shopping there? I mean, for me, for having known you and being here and being a card holder in the state of Maryland, I do wonder, like you’re here and maybe it costs five cents more to shop with you, or, like, it’s a price, or whatever it would be, but like, I don’t trust that, and I want you to speak a little bit to that in regard to me being a consumer and passing these places and saying, I know what you do. I don’t know what they do, but I know it concerns you to some degree, right? Yes.

Wendy Bronfein  17:19

So the crux of that is, in 2018 the federal farm bill was passed, and there was language put in it to enable the sale of industrial hemp. And but what happened is it created a loophole that people have been taking advantage of, where they are manipulating the cannabinoids either synthetically to make them intoxicating, or they’re operating off of a loophole that really only contemplates the plant when it was harvested, and it doesn’t really contemplate what you turn it into. And so in gas stations, in CBD stores, in vape shops, online sales, and a variety of places, you’re seeing products that show up that are essentially what are relegated to legal markets inside of licensed dispensaries and produced by licensed operators in specific states, and so they’re not necessarily following any rubric of compliance, what with regards to testing how they’re produced. Everything that you consume from a from a licensed dispensary in a regulated market has to go through very specific processes in compliance with the state regulations. And the last of which is it goes to a lab to be tested, which is what we were just talking about, those data points that you see on your label. And so you know one what, exactly what the potencies are of what’s in it, right? So in this world, in this other world, you know, a bag might say it’s x potency. You don’t know if it’s equal to more or less, but also, we have to be compliant relative to passing for all sorts of safety measures, that there’s no E coli, there’s no salmonella, there’s no heavy metals, there’s no pesticides, all these things that could be contaminants and could be disruptive. I see

Nestor Aparicio  19:07

right on the, on the on the on the app, though, by the way, it says right here, foreign materials, heavy metals, microbials, moisture content, mycotoxin. I can’t pronounce pesticides. Let’s I know what they are, residual solvents. I know what? Terpene profiling, water activity, vitamin E acetate. So like, literally, I’m seeing right?

Wendy Bronfein  19:26

So you have to clear those items in order to be acceptable for sale. In in this intoxicating hemp space, there is not visibility to that level of stringency. There are several products, or a majority of products that are out there are look alikes to like traditional products, like traditional candy products or snack foods. You may people heard about like dough, we dos show up, or sometimes it just looks like a bag of candy. But if exactly like that bag, but the word medicated has been added. So, so there’s been a lot of conversation over the past year, two years, around instances with children and access. And part of the other problem is that the legal industry is, you know, just every day is fighting tooth and nail to be seen for the legitimate offerings that we produce and sell and how we impact people’s lives in a very positive way, and then you get a story where it’s like some child ate edibles. Because either somebody bought something in a place like that and they got a hold of it, or the child was sold it, because there are no rules, and they can sell it to whoever they want. And or you could a kid could order it on the internet with a credit card and come to the house and you have it. So it’s got a really bad blowback effect on the legal industry, and it gives fodder to those who are against the industry to talk about public health and safety concerns, but they’re really coming from this loophole. They’re not coming from the legal markets. And the legal market you can’t go into that store to shop as an adult unless you’re 21 you know, there’s not that instance of child interaction in any way, and everything is required to be inside of child resistant packaging as well. But I’ve seen it like I was in Hampden a couple weekends ago, and there’s two different stores that I walked in that were selling things in there that are not licensed dispensaries. There are licensed dispensaries in Hampton, but these were not, these were on the avenue like they were not inside the Maryland program selling things. Wendy

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Nestor Aparicio  21:27

brown fine is here she is from curio wellness and foreign daughter. We talk about all sorts of things. And I guess we’ll go into the other thing, because it’s holiday season. And the one thing I know about your gummies and anything, they taste good. You know, like you, we’ve talked so much about flavor profiles and keeping them away from children and all the legal things we should be doing as adults around here to be responsible about things. But it is the holiday season, so I want to give you an opportunity to talk about that part of your business, because I know you take great pride and stuff being like, pop a line,

Wendy Bronfein  22:00

yeah? Well, thank you. So, yes. So, I mean, I think the, I think flavor profile is really important. I mean, people don’t like things that don’t taste good. And I think the more you experience things inside the cannabis market, you can start to decipher the higher quality production versus sort of less attention to detail. So I think people, most people, expect things that are made with cannabis to come through in a very earthy, like botanical way. But if you understand how to harness the actives in the product and then create a final product of a different form, like an edible or a topical or things like that. You don’t have to have those qualities that make it smell weedy as people might think or taste that way. We are really big sticklers about that on our Chews. I think that’s why they taste so good, is we really kind of seek to keep them a very clean flavor, because people just like things that taste good, no matter what it is,

Nestor Aparicio  23:06

and they do, by the way, well, yeah, I mean, I don’t even like mango, but it tasted good so

Wendy Bronfein  23:11

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but, but even on, even on, like the flower and strain specific vape side, you know, there are, there’s the consumers who have a relationship to cannabis, and they want that to have the right palate, because when we talk about the terpenes, like, part of the terpenes can be where some of the flavors coming from, that the they’re giving you effects, but something like limonene showing up. Yes, it’s going to give you an uplifting, but listen to the name. It’s going to have citrus notes to it, like that’s going to show up in the palette of a flower or a vape. And we just did a whole retooling of vapes under our best self collection that are now available in like, one gram cartridges. And one of the things we did was we did give them, actually an element of flavor to it, but very strategically, such that it is not sort of candidified, and it also is consistent with the other terpenes that may show up in there, so that we’re really giving it’s kind of like the way people start to talk about wine like that. It’s a rounded flavor, the ripe bouquet like, you know, really kind of considering the palette that someone’s going to experience Wendy Brown.

Nestor Aparicio  24:21

Find us here. She’s always educating me. She doesn’t come on often enough. I gotta, you know what I gotta do, put the show back at Pizza John’s next month, and make sure get to do it on a Friday. We’ll be doing that. It’s all courtesy of our friends at the Maryland lottery. I have some Raven scratch off to get away. Did I miss anything? You’re amazing. The overarching thing is, with Trump in office and where we are just sort of politically in the world, and who knows by the time this airs, where we’ll be on any issue, but certainly the schedule one part of what’s going on here every time I drive by your place on and now I drive by the one in Pikesville, which used to be the Panera, and I see that we’ve become grown up. Um. And when I go out onto the streets of Baltimore, and I see responsible use, and I talk to other people about it, people see me with a curio, and they talk to me about it, obviously the next thing that’s got to happen is governmentally, there needs to be some movement. And I know not just you, your family, the industry, the industry, the nationwide industry has been behind this. And I think more than that, the citizens and the people in the way we voted right and left black and white, East and left north and south all the way around, that the country’s kind of ready for this. Obviously we’re sitting there talking about it.

Wendy Bronfein  25:38

Oh, I mean, well, polling data shows overwhelmingly both sides the aisle. People are, what if you’re talking about medical it’s not even a question. If you’re talking about adult use, you’re still well over 60% approval for some form of legalization or schedule change. And I think, and I think, why this administration, we may see some action, hopefully sooner than later, is because they have realized what I think was very hard for the Maryland legislature to understand when we added adult use. Adult use is not about people getting high, the people who come into the dispensaries to shop while there may be recreational or social uses that they’re that they’re using the cannabis for instead of drinking. If you’ve noticed that alcohol sales are dramatically down in this country, it’s It’s constantly being reported by market analysts. And I think a lot of people who have taken to cannabis more socially are drinking less, but more than that, they’re using it therapeutically. They’re just accessing it from an adult use standpoint. They don’t want to be on list, they don’t want to sign up for programs, they don’t want the hassle of other stuff or other costs. They just want to walk in and shop just like they can anywhere else. But they’re coming in with something of something hurts. I don’t sleep well, my mood, you know, the overwhelming majority of patients really sit 40 and above. You know, life happens, bodies hurt, and people are looking for things to help their mind and body, and that’s why they’re really there. And I think that the administration has come to see and realize, particularly because I think the President hears from his own peers, like, hey, well, I got this problem, and this, I’ve been using it actually, it helps me. And so that is what’s bringing about. And I say this because I’m I do a lot of this, and I’m dialed in, and I hear these conversations from real sources, but I think that is really what’s starting to drive this change is that the understanding that this isn’t about, quote, getting high, that there are very utilitarian uses, and that a lot of people are and then, in a country where there’s a lot of pharmaceutical use and there’s a huge aging population, it’s actually could be very useful to us.

Nestor Aparicio  27:57

I think that that’s the most fascinating part that I never would have known that being in your dispensary, I think maybe because we were young, and it was illicit when we were young, we would think that everybody who’s it would be a young. Young thing was always, how could I get a beer when I was 19 and the age was 21 and that was socially almost, not almost. Was socially acceptable. This part of it is, you said it’s 40 plus, right? Like, this isn’t something that

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Wendy Bronfein  28:26

is, I mean, there’s people who are under 40 who shop that can legally do it, but the majority of people coming in skew to the upper are very

Speaker 1  28:35

adult. This is a very adult, adult, adult thing. Yeah, very much. Because it really

Wendy Bronfein  28:39

is like when I used to work at a television network, from a marketing standpoint, we would talk about Me to We to us these like a female audience, like you’re just single, you might have a partner now you have a family. Like, how your life changes. The cannabis consumer is really more in that back end. Like they’re they just you got to feel life. You got to have stress. Your body’s got to start to change on you. That’s a lot of what’s happening, a lot of what people are looking to solve for when they come in.

Nestor Aparicio  29:05

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Well, I can, I can make some recommendations, but I won’t for now, I will just recommend that stop in, get educated, go out to foreign daughter comm. Got to carry a wellness learn about the terpenes. Learn about science of it. And that’s at the heart what we try to do around here for our 27th anniversary. And I wouldn’t have done a lot of eating on your behalf, you sponsored our tastiness 27 places to eat. So I hope you checked the list and made it twice, like Santa Claus, because, like, peach cake was number one, and you have to wait till next July to even get it. So I put a little bit of that in, but I did put the cheese steak in at Pizza John’s, and I know you’ll get over there very, very soon. Wendy Brown, find is the Chief Brand Officer for all things curio wellness and far and daughter. They are a Maryland family business. I wear them proudly across my chest. If you’ve seen them at BSO, you’ve seen them at living classrooms, or you’re down at the arena for a concert, you see curio signage up. Just know that there are folks around here, and you could stop in and see them. No more. Dispensary. Are you done with this? Timonium Pikesville, Elkton is there’s nothing I need to know about right?

Wendy Bronfein  30:05

Not right now. No. I mean, hopefully in the future, you can in this in the states operations, you can have up to four dispensaries that that you operate. So there’s an option for us to have one more, but we don’t have one yet, always looking

Nestor Aparicio  30:19

Well, I haven’t, I don’t come to play. I’m a, I’m a Timonium shopper. It’s near my house. I mean, we shop near home, but I will get by Pikesville and visit everybody out there, because it was a lovely store on the updated version of all things far and daughter, she, she is the daughter, not d o, t, t, e r, like at a bingo hall, but the daughter as well as and I got to get, I got to get I got to get Rebecca on at some point too here, so the and the whole Bron fine group, but maybe we’ll do it with Gina shock up at Timonium one day. Wendy brown fine is here. I encourage everybody to go out to foreign daughter and learn about the science of the plant. And when you do and you do shop, make sure you’re downloading the points and using all the QR codes and learning about all this stuff, because I do find it educational and very helpful when my back hurts on a flight back from Albuquerque. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us.