Some real conversations to have with family about cannabis this holiday

The sisters of Curio Wellness, Rebecca and Wendy Bronfein, join Nestor for a spirited – and highly educational – conversation about all things cannabis and science, including how their father’s illness sparked a desire to use the plant for efficacy and modern medicine. They promise to lift your mood for the holidays as families convene and chat about all sorts of fun things…

Wendy and Rebecca Bronfein of Curio Wellness discussed their holiday sales, including a BOGO (Buy One, Get One Free) offer on their products. They highlighted the importance of discounts during the holidays to attract new customers. Rebecca explained the evolution of their O bedroom berry product, designed to enhance intimacy, and its positive customer feedback. Wendy shared the story behind their GI product, which helped her father manage Crohn’s disease. They also emphasized the quality and efficacy of their terpene-infused products, such as the move product for muscle relief. The sisters also mentioned their rewards program and upcoming dispensary in Pikesville.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

holiday sales, BOGO offer, cannabis education, intimacy oil, terpene chews, sleep products, medical cannabis, Crohn’s treatment, rewards points, curbside pickup, new dispensary, product efficacy, holiday discounts, customer feedback, scientific research

SPEAKERS

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Rebecca Bronfein Raphael, Nestor Aparicio, Wendy Bronfein

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 task Baltimore and Baltimore positive. We are positively into the holidays. It’s the most wonderful time. I did some singing with Calvin stadium, my 58 year middle school teacher on the Maryland crab cake tour last week, we had Gina shock on last week we’ve got football around here. I am out of lottery tickets the end. This is my last ravens ticket. The Maryland crab cake tour, presented by the Maryland lottery, conjunction with Jiffy Lube multi care, comes back to life on January the seventh, we call that playoff week here will be in Harford County, will be up at libs grill giving away a fresh tickets. Magic eight ball. Magic eight ball. The Rams gonna win the Super Bowl. Who knows? Maybe the girls won the World Series. I have two young ladies here who are hoping for both of those things. They are Baltimore ons like me. One is escape. She doesn’t come on the show very often. They are our partners at the Curia wellness and far and daughter, we welcome back to defending champion sisters. You know, it must be the holidays. Wendy bronfen is a as a repeat offender around here, we have her on often to talk about cannabis education as well as football and baseball and rock and roll from time to time. But it’s very infrequent that we get Rebecca Brown, fine, on together for the holidays. This must be special. There must be like, a sale going on or something. How you guys doing a pleasure to have you on it, and it is nice. I know your dad’s in the other room. You’re yelling about cameos and stuff. Families get together. It’s a beautiful time of the year, and it’s nice to

01:36

have both of you on Thank

Nestor Aparicio  01:39

you. Hear that in unison there together. So listen, I gotta give both of you some credit, and I don’t know who comes up with this, but I’ve been in the store a couple of times, right? And we have rewards points that are expiring, that are on to foreign daughter and purchases, and then we have these QR codes and all this stuff. But I must say, you send an email along, and this speaks to my nerdity, or I mean, some people think I’m cool. My hair is down and I’m rocking out with Gina shock. I’m cool. But then, like, I get an email with Bo go Bogota boat, and I see Bogo, and I’m like, I don’t even know what it means, but I’m like, it looks big because it’s big points, like, like, in the newspapers, and I’m like, buy one, get one. And I’m like, no wonder I never heard of that’s a bell of a sale. So it kind of got my attention, but I did not know. I mean, maybe I knew, but I didn’t know what BOGO was. So congratulations for bringing an old dog to new tricks. And when I found out, it was like, buy one, get one free, I was like, this deal. So, so happy holidays. You guys really have been running a bunch of sales. And I guess either one of you can speak to that. Rebecca, I’ll start with you, because I never get to have you on. But yeah, you guys are like, selling stuff, and some prices have gone down there. There’s just been a little bit of an adjustment. I think, if people haven’t been in, or have never been in,

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Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  02:59

yeah, I think cannabis is like any other consumer product good where there’s trends through the holidays, where people are looking for discounts or deals so that we can get our products into stockings, we can get them into people’s holiday gift bags, wherever it might be, of a Secret Santa, a white elephant. So we’re following the trend of major means, mainstream retail and in stores like foreign daughter, either in Timonium or up in Elkton and some of our premier partners around the state having those buy one, get one frees are really designed for people who are curious about something else. So like, if you always have a mango sativa and orange sativa, five milligram TURP chew and you’ve always had your eye on like, the berry zest indica version in that same line, this is an opportunity for you to be able to try it at no cost, and then we hope that the next time you come back, you’re like, Wow, that was great. Made me feel good. I got what I expected out of it, and now I’m going to add it to my cannabis regimen. There on out.

Nestor Aparicio  03:55

What if I just like orange enough to get orange twice, and I don’t really like double

04:00

your pleasure double your fun. You gotta put the

Nestor Aparicio  04:03

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pineapple into something that doesn’t put me to bed, because I don’t I sleep. Okay, we’ve talked about that, but there, you know, there’s all sorts of things, but I Rebecca, because I have you on, and I’m gonna, I’m gonna haze you, because I only get you on once a year. You know, if my affinity for the, you know, the sax trunks that I wear, and I bought the pink on purpose because of this crazy Edie Parker Pinky line thing. And I’m going to say this, I became a sax customer because of Black Friday sales. And I remember when Black Friday lasted like a day, and you had to line four in the morning, line up at the target, beat up people to get TVs and stuff like the the sales that for your industry, I think, specifically, as well as other places, um, I guess, to compete with shopping and shipping and all of this. It feels like, once the sale starts right around the middle of November, at least for for what I. From your business and where you are, and everything’s sort of new in the cannabis space. And for Curie and foreign daughter and people coming in and certainly adult use second Christmas, but the sales kind of begin and they don’t stop. And I think that that’s an interesting play for America. And I think for what people are selling,

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  05:17

well, I think the sacks we’ve because of you, I now have to buy much more expensive underwear

Nestor Aparicio  05:24

for sale.

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  05:26

I did. I did, but like any good brand, I bought it on sale. He loves it, and now I’m willing to pay, like, the five or $10 more in order to keep it, you know, in the clean drawer. But in our house we we pair them with the O bedroom berry five milligrams. See,

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Nestor Aparicio  05:46

I knew was going to come back to sex because they’re like, I have two married women on it’s the holidays, because I went on to your website. And the first thing I see here now, and this is really tribute to you guys, what are you trying to solve? And there was, like, a whole list of things across. Sex was in the middle, but it was like sleep, and it was and I would, I would bring it up, but the front of your website has it right now. And I know Valentine’s Day, everything pink around there comes back to Oh H and we talked about it last. Valentine’s Day is the holidays here, and we’re going into the dead of winter. So people don’t even know this about cannabis. When I bring this up that there’s a gummy for this, people are like, I remember the blue pill, but that was so 20 years in a headache and a prescription ago, you guys much easier. Yeah, tell me what my audience needs to know, because we haven’t talked about the old product in months, and I was led to believe it was going to be like eggnog and sort of go away in March, but it’s really this is a 12 month. Originally,

06:47

it was

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  06:48

intended to have a seasonality to it, but the response was so positive that it was like, give the people what they want, and what they want is cannabis in the bedroom. But I’ll give Wendy the credit, because the origin was an intimacy oil that she found and said, you know, we have this golden strawberry flower that has this terpene profile that has shown to help with arousal. And so it it’s not that it’s going to make you erect, it’s that it actually brings down your anxiety, so you’re more relaxed, and therefore you’re more easily aroused, because, at least for women, you’re not all in your head. So it started with the intimacy oil, and then it’s evolved into a topical which is the oil, a vape, which is featuring the golden strawberry terpene. So if you prefer to inhale your cannabis, you have a vape, and you have a pre roll product that’s all under the O line. And then we added the O bedroom berry to satisfy the consumers who want to have an edible product to get those same effects. So it’s basically something for everyone, but it’s meant to be an additive to your daily cannabis regimen. So you start with your good days, your functional cannabis, where you have low THC, but high THC, V or CBD. So you’re solving for anxiety or stress relief. Then you get into the afternoon and you take, like, a pineapple, pineapple terpene chew. So it’s not intended to make you go to sleep, but like chill, like you’re you’re cooking dinner, you’re getting your kids to bed. You’re taking the edge off. Then once you have privacy, whether you’re with your partner or you’re by yourself, that’s when you literally rub on the intimacy oil or take the chew, and then after that’s done, you pop a good night chew or a good night tablet, and that just sends you off to dreamland. So all of these things complement each other and work with your body in different ways to help you achieve like the best day ever with cannabis. Well,

Wendy Bronfein  08:39

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but I dare say that it’s the O part of it went well, you won’t need the Good night. That’s,

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  08:46

you know, I just shamelessly want to get more curio product on your nightstand. Look at

Nestor Aparicio  08:51

the end next week, we’re going to see all the people we lost in 2024 and Doctor Ruth westheimers won them. So we need to get in here. And we need, we need to talk about wealthy bronf. Bronfen is here. Rebecca bronfen is here. They are the married bronfen sisters for the holidays. And they are, of course, from the curio family and foreign daughter. If you pass the dispensary in our community here York Road, just south of Timonium, stop in say, Hello. There’s lots of fun things there, but lots of things including, I mean, I’m going to talk about the move product, but I want to talk, oh, with you specifically. Because Wendy, I want to bring you back in this, because there was, like, an anecdotal story you told me last year about this, the original name we always kid about and and Becca’s. Last time I’ve had you on cheetah piss, winds up to be my strain with you. It couldn’t be blissful wizard. Gotta be cheetah piss. And I’m saying, maybe we need to rename that. You rename the golden strawberry. Maybe we need a nasty Nestor strain, or something like that, the deep I don’t know, but the golden strawberry is the O and Wendy, I want you to bring that story, because I think there is some anecdotal stuff about medical and your. Location, and they’re not being a lot of places. You were the first dispensary I ever went in that had an educational room and a chalkboard, and it’s like, that’s what we do. We’re trying to educate people. But apparently you had some people come in that had used this product that had found some arousal and stimulation, and I guess from a scientific in a cannabis can’t cannabinoid, thank you. I Yeah. Um, perspective, scientific perspective, you started to move some products in that way based on what you’re hearing from people and getting feedback. Yeah,

Wendy Bronfein  10:37

it started internally with some of the staff. They started talking about, and they were male staff. They started talking about a Viagra like effect with the strain. But I think you’re referring to there was an older couple who shopped at the dispensary, and this was early stages of medical and they would come in and they would pick up their golden strawberry, and at this time, it was only flower that was the only I we may have had. Was

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Nestor Aparicio  11:06

there any like hint? Was it energetic? What was the profile of this, of this strain that led into this intimacy platform?

Wendy Bronfein  11:18

It was, it’s so it was like the the yin yang of the effects for male versus female. So the male was a little bit more like the traditional blue pill effect, and the female was Rebecca speaking to like this, you know, real you’re you’re sort of relaxed, and you’ve heightened. See,

Nestor Aparicio  11:35

I’m not a female. I would just say warmth. Can I say that? Is that fine warmth? Is that what you said, warmth? Yes. Is that the right word? No,

Wendy Bronfein  11:43

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I think, I think it’s more that you, your mind is quieted, right? So you’re, you’re sort of present in the moment, but also that your body has a heightened sensitivity factor, so the touch and all of that. Is

Nestor Aparicio  11:57

it a hybrid? Then it is okay, fair enough. Okay,

Wendy Bronfein  12:01

yeah, so, but then, but they would come in, and they would be very giddy and happy. And then, you know, they would tell the staff about how they were there for it, and they’re

Nestor Aparicio  12:11

looking for special sauce, right? I mean,

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Wendy Bronfein  12:15

70s, yeah, they were, they were much older, like, yeah, they both

Nestor Aparicio  12:17

have a picture of them, because the minute you started talking about it when this is sister thing, it’s about to hang out with my sister, my wife and her sister at the holidays. That’s why they’re all faking together. You started smiling back. You know you knew these people?

12:29

Yes, no, I know. We only know that they were like a 70 year old couple, much older in my brain, yeah,

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  12:37

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I have a picture of who they might be, but

Wendy Bronfein  12:39

not your parents. Honestly, in my brain, I picture the old couple from the movie Dirty Dancing, who who stole the walnuts with it, because they talk about them, and they’re like this little old couple. But that, that is, I just picture like this cute little old couple who is like, you gotta get it now. We’re going out to dinner. Well, that’s

Nestor Aparicio  12:56

a doctor Ruth thing, probably right. Yeah, you know, I mean, she’s still alive. She was 100 years old 50 years ago, when I was 19. Wendy bronfen, Rebecca bond fine, are here. They are, the sisters of curio and curio wellness and foreign daughter, reminding everybody to, you know, the holidays responsibly. I know you wanted to talk shoes specifically, and I was talking BOGO and like all of that. But I literally did, and I do want to talk to pricing and whatnot in general, am I not since saying choose, have the prices have started to recede a bit, or I’m not crazy in saying

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  13:34

you’re not, you’re not the market dynamics as the adult use market has come online in Maryland. So we’re about 18 months into it now. We’ve gone to 2x the number of brands in Maryland just in the edible space. We’re somewhere around like 47 I think, brands of edibles that you could find across the state. And so all of that new competition one of the easiest ways to get shelf space in any retail store is to give it to your customers, either at cost or at a very low discounted rate. And so what you’re seeing is those new brands come online and those discounts are being passed along to the consumer. So the best case scenario from a running of any business would be that you get those products in at a discount. But you maintain that 100 milligrams in a bag is around 20 to $25 when the products start getting on menu at 1215, 1750, the all the other brands in the state, we’ve basically had to come down in our prices because the the buyers at the dispensaries, the consumers, have now been retrained that 100 milligrams should cost them $15 or should cost them 17 as opposed to historical prices of 20 to 25 so it’s an unfortunate dynamic, because where it’s hard is that for products like ours, where we spend a lot of time researching formulas. Researching efficacy. We do patient trials before we commercialize anything, to make sure that if we say it’s going to make you feel a certain way, it does. If we say it’s going to taste great, it does. We have premium packaging, for example, to ensure the freshness of our choose, and we should be charging a premium for all of those extra benefits of our product, but because there’s other brands have effectively raced to the bottom, it’s harder and harder for us to maintain those prices, which is why you see some of these more aggressive discounts. Why? You know, I

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Nestor Aparicio  15:33

think it’s one thing to throw something into a brownie or a chocolate or any but you guys do really special things with these terpene shoes that are just way different than it gets me high, it puts me to sleep. It feels like a glass of wine. It takes the all of those THC oriented things. But this is a different thing you do with terpene shoes that’s really unto you. I don’t see anything like this in any other you know, any other brand in our state. I don’t get out to Colorado or California to run around to see what other people are doing, but I always think of you guys as, you know, really top of class with all the products you’re doing, but you do things that are out in front, whether it’s gi which we talk to your dad and we’ve talked and you can go do all this research at curio wellness. You can go read about this stuff, but these are unique and different than it gets me high.

Wendy Bronfein  16:27

Yeah. Well, the so the that indica, sativa hybrid language is very prolific in cannabis, and people use it as kind of like this crutch of like, up, down or balanced in the middle, but and there, and you see that on a lot of edible packaging, but it doesn’t really mean that the final product delivers the specificity of that result, and part of that has to do with because terpenes are where a lot of that comes into play. It’s like when people are picking vapes or or strains of flour to smoke, that variability has a lot to do with the terpenes. Do I fall asleep? Do I feel uplifted? Am I giggly? All that kind of stuff? So they’re but they’re volatile, and so in a true process of making them, they can cook off and not really come through when you test the product at the end of the day. But we figured out a way to formulate them so that they do stay authentic throughout the product. And when you test at the end of your production, they do show up on that certificate of analysis, and they’re visibly there to deliver effects. And so we have

Nestor Aparicio  17:30

the way they taste too. By the way, there’s no when you taste these, there is no thought that this is you taste orange, and you taste gummy. And that’s

Wendy Bronfein  17:41

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which is also like speaks to the quality that you’re talking about. Because terpenes themselves, they come with flavor, right? So by virtue of whichever terpene they are, and so the

Nestor Aparicio  17:53

same way flour has a smell that’s more Yes, yes, lemony limey, citrusy gassy or diesel and something exactly

Wendy Bronfein  18:01

so depending on what what terpenes we’re using, we then have to work on that formulation to make sure that they don’t make the palette offensive in any way. So that’s like kind of Rebecca speaking to and all this sort of time and energy and effort to make a high quality product. But now what i mean i, in some ways, have migrated myself off of just the, what I would call the regular chew format, of just having a cannabinoid to really kind of being exclusively terpene chew focus, because I get exactly what I want every time. It’s like the uplifting ones, it’s like exactly what I want to feel. And there’s also this nice effect in you don’t you sort of realize you don’t need as much THC with the terpene chews, because that effect gets you there. And then the THC is, like, this nice plus on it. But you’re not like high. And then also, because you’re trying to get to a feeling, you’re getting a feeling with a little bit of, like, the entourage effect of the high, if you will.

Nestor Aparicio  18:59

I never have a sleep problem. And I’ve kept the pineapples around so long that, quite frankly, like, because I just don’t need but when I’ve used the pineapple product, it, I go to bed and I

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Wendy Bronfein  19:12

do the pineapple with your yoga, because I love the pineapple, because I get real, like, like, it’s always the time when I’m like, let me take out the foam roller like, maybe

Nestor Aparicio  19:21

it’s the fact that I’m taking it later at night. You know that it would be the case that, like, psychologically, like, I want to go to bed and it tastes good and it’s fine and I’m going to go to bed. But the yoga part for me is much more mindful. I like my mind clear, really clear, clearer than even when I’m functional, to some degree, to be focused on what I’m doing, because you’re focused on one thing, the mat and sweating and where you are. So I but I it is different for everyone, and that’s why I love having you on I like talking about all this because I think there is a scientific part of this. I’m 56, year old. Guy right? Like 30 years ago, it’s just flower. It’s not League. Nobody knows what. It puts you to sleep, gives you any whatever tainted now, obviously, all of these Fenton, all these issues we have in society, you guys are doing something incredibly scientific that’s incredibly targeted in a lot of ways. And aside from all of that, and I want to talk rewards and all of that, because you’ve inspired me on the QR codes for what I’m trying to build with my tech service and all that. But you, it’s not even that you have to be high or not high. This move product is the product that I like to come back to all the time and say, Hey, you want an entry point for what you can go over to the cannabis, whatever your stigma might be, and say, try a product. Your back hurts, your arthritic you have, you have muscle issues. This has been one of the best products. And I know I’ve been bragging on it all year, and here’s one of the problems with you. BOGO folks at curio, I bought a two, 420, remember that sale? Remember the sale that I got this? I didn’t get mine till early May, because you guys extended and whatnot. I don’t even got it out of the bag. And I use this every day. I don’t know this thing. It’s like Willy Wonka. It’s like the Gob stop right away. But um, talk about the move product a little bit, because I always say it’s an entry way for people that don’t want to smoke anything and they’re offended by this or that and but they’ll take Excedrin, or they’ll take when in the old days, that stinky Ben gay or my absorbing Junior, my dad would bring I have a back issue. I have some muscle things. When you talk about yoga and me and fitness and looking as good as I look at 56 here during the holidays. Um, this thing has saved me, especially as a sitter with a back problem.

Wendy Bronfein  21:47

It’s so funny you say the thing about the the it like everlasting, because when I use it and like, I like how it’s like, you can be massaging yourself with it. I like crack

Nestor Aparicio  21:58

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my neck with it. When I do roll on, and then I

Wendy Bronfein  22:01

cut myself off because I’m like, You’re gonna waste it because you’re just like, you’re just massaging, hold on, hold on. I know I still have a lot lifted here, I know, but it’s like, it will

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  22:12

it never ends, but there. But I think that speaks to to value, to your point of like, it’s an entry level product. We were not a brand that’s seeking to just get people high. We’re a brand that’s trying to make products that actually complement all the ways people live and replacing OTC or prescription products with our cannabis products. So like, I always go back to my husband, because he’s my best guinea pig. He was addicted to those like salon paws patches for problems on his back. He’s a surgeon. So they’re like, have the menthol. They’re like a sticker you put them on, but they’re a one, like, icy hot on a patch. Yeah, exactly. But they’re one and done, and they’re not inexpensive. So I’ve migrated him to move where he keeps it in his bag that he keeps at his surgical desk, because they’re in his locker, because it’s not psychoactive. And before the surgery, if he’s got an area that’s bothering him, he’ll rub it on there. But now I’m like, you don’t have to keep buying these strips, like you have this solution that’s portable, that to your point you spend

Nestor Aparicio  23:13

stinky. It’s a little bit tacky, but not even in a weird way.

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Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  23:20

And after about 30 seconds, it’s tacky enough to

Nestor Aparicio  23:23

let me know what’s on there, you know. And then I feel it. I feel shouldn’t say this after we talked about the the O product and all that, I sometimes my hips get tight from sitting. And when I put it right into my hips, I feel like a tangle about it, almost in the way that when it heats up a little bit, yeah, like that weird stuff at Spencer’s, you blow on and it would tingle, you know, back, but it has a tingle about it a little bit. And I feel that you talk about efficacy all the time. I love that word, by the way. I feel it working. I mean, I feel the effectiveness of it well.

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  24:00

And that’s and that’s great, because we’re not trying to price gouge people where something that like that. How long did that take us to formulate? Like, three months over three months, because we we had different formulas, we had people use it, give us their feedback. So there’s a lot of r, d time and expense that goes into that, but we still sell it for $36 and in your case, like, you might spend $72 for the entire year on two jars. And I’m

Nestor Aparicio  24:28

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in month seven. I mean, like, right now for real, and I’m worried about this going bad before I, like, not, you know, I gotta open it again. You could just go, like, two handed, like this. This is just like sex. And I’ll be honest, I bought these last year. They got nothing from me. Black fry. I didn’t buy anything this year. So be so I don’t know, but your stuff is lasting. Yeah, it’s a bathing suit. It’s

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  24:53

now I need, I got a whole nother line of stuff I gotta buy. Oh

Nestor Aparicio  24:56

no, this is the Oh boy. And these are pink, so they’re five. Money, but they come in weird. I’ve worn these all summer, every Sammy Hagar show. I wore these this summer because 125 degrees and all my shirts go with it, but they’re, um, they look like shorts, but they have like a special anyway, that’s, that’s sex and sex and curio Well, we’re getting everything in here except rewards. And I have to tell you guys the whole BOGO thing you got. I’m in. I’m coming. You reel me in. I got to the store, and they said to me, you have all of these points. You have to use these points by the end of the year. So we have, like, we’re up on that. And then there’s the lucid ID, like, actually, and I haven’t done that yet with with these, the purchases I’ve made that you guys have a really cool, aggressive and really new we weren’t talking about this last year, that if you’re not using the points for everybody that ever comes in the stores, you should be using your points because it’s created a lot of value here. For me, the last couple weeks I came in, I’m like, wow, I you. You guys are nicer to me than Southwest Airlines or Marriott. I’ll say that right away. Well, that’s

Wendy Bronfein  26:05

huge. Yeah, we don’t have a companion Purchase Card program now, just we’re

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26:12

working on that with the

Nestor Aparicio  26:14

product that’s better than any companion

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  26:18

with the curio rewards, which was really Wendy’s brainchild. Because the weird thing about cannabis is that everything exists like in its own footprint. So foreign daughter has its own rewards program. Then if I go and shop at starbuds in Bel Air, it has its own rewards program, and so on and so forth. So you get people having, like, multiple point systems that they have to keep track of depending on the neighborhood they were in when they made their last purchase. So we wanted to incentivize people to just choose curio wherever they went. So when you have the QR code on the back of a curio pouch, and it’s any product that we manufacture, so caviar, Dixie happy, Eddie flower, by Edie Parker, well

Nestor Aparicio  26:58

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the QR code things unbelievable, because if you hit it, you’ll get your points, and you feel nice about that. If you hit it, and you’ve already hit it, it pulls up the strain, and you good can read a little bit. And there’s just so much. And I love having you all along, but there’s so much education to be done for folks, because it’s not an inexpensive product, as you’ve said, like, I pick it up, what is it? How long is it going to last? And then it freaking works for what it says it’s going to do. And then you feel the value of it. But this the notion that there are points involved in this. And I came in, and honestly, I’ve had points before. I never really thought about it. I don’t bring it up, but someone brought it up with me, with your BOGO deal two weeks ago, and I had a lot of points, and I it really added up. And I don’t know what I’ve even spent, but it’s, it’s very generous. And I think if people come in and find out they’re feeling that now, especially the holidays, I feel like, Hey you guys, like, threw me a stocking stuffer here to eat the end of the year. It’s kind of nice, you know. And with the

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  27:58

curio rewards points, we’re launching a big, exciting initiative where, when you have the points in your wallet, you go into your lucid ID app and it says, you know, stash cabinet and rewards one of the When you redeem your rewards, where your points for something every time you make a redemption. So it could be a $25 gift card to be used at foreign daughter, it could be a curial wellness vape pen, a grinder. And then we have all new merch launching at the beginning of January that’s like yetis and beach towels and just really cool branded items. Every time you redeem your points for something, you’ll get entered into a contest to win two tickets to dead and company at the sphere in May of 2025,

Nestor Aparicio  28:45

so how many points I need? Let’s go. I got a lot of points. Not

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  28:48

about having it’s how many times you redeem your points. So if you had 2000 points, and

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Nestor Aparicio  28:54

let’s just pretend, for instance, that I had 1200 99 Curia Wellness Bug points, let’s pretend I have that many. And so

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  29:02

if you did, if you took those points and you redeemed them on five different prizes, you would get five different entries. Every time you redeem your points for something, it counts as one entry. It would

Nestor Aparicio  29:15

look fixed if I win, so I’m not going to enter, but I would try. I would try. So

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  29:19

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you’ll get the winner will get two tickets to the sphere, a gift card for airfare to Las Vegas and two nights at a Las Vegas hotel, as well as some spending cash. So we’re next show.

Nestor Aparicio  29:32

We’re going to argue about whether we go sativa or whether we go hybrid or indica at a at a sphere, dead Show in Las Vegas. I don’t know

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  29:43

I went. I went mango TURP too. I went mango Terps too. I

Nestor Aparicio  29:47

went to you too. I didn’t need anything. I was already flying when I walked in there. Wendy bronfen is here. Rebecca bronfen is here. They are the bronfen sisters. Rare that they’re in the same like Elton John and Bernie talk. Up and rare that they’re in the same room together, writing the song, someone will get your dad on as well. And I always say to folks, and I had Gina shock on last week, and we went out and ran about acting like fools, like Dundalk idiots, going out to run around with the black girls. But that piece we did last year with your dad and Gina just talking about arthritis in her playing. I had her out last week at Costas, and she is literally every single day. And you can tell your dad, who was an accomplished drummer as well, she’s playing the entire set every day for the next four months to get ready for Coachella. And you know, she said, everybody in the band is obsessed with sounding as good, looking as good being as good as they can. And they’re all older, and they’re all, you know, little further along on recovery and all of these things. And it’s products like this that have really come a long way. And I know it’s something for your dad, and he’s not here to tell the story, but it’s the holidays, and I want you to tell the story about your family, either one of you or both, about your dad, about pharmacies, about traditional drugs, and where your dad has been with his GI product. That I don’t have the hold up, but it comes in a little thing, like my wife’s good nights, but it was really the basis of why your family got involved in this business, right? Yeah.

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Wendy Bronfein  31:17

So, yeah. So his background was in pharma distribution, and was did that for over 30 years. And so when the MediCal program came along in Maryland, it was, it was sort of an offshoot of that, in that it was a way to offer people solutions when pharma wasn’t the right fit in a place where there was a level of affordability to the products, and there was an efficacy of the products that also was limited the side effects that were coming off of pharma, right? Because pharma had gone to this place where, yes, you might have something that you take, but then, now are you taking something for the side effects of the thing that you had to take? I hear

Nestor Aparicio  31:59

the side effects on these football games? It’s like death. And I’m like, okay, stop, right, right. Yeah, literally, right. It’s like a chap William skit, but like, literally, when I see Michaels internally, and I’m like, Whoa, you know, I that’s not happening over foreign daughter, I don’t drive, don’t do anything stupid, but most those things aren’t going to happen. And I think for your dad this he had an issue, right? And, I mean, we talked at length, and if you want to google it, just put his name in a curio in you can find it underneath the Wendy’s pretty picture on the front of Baltimore positive as well with Gina, because she was amazed the year. And I still think it’s one of the really great pieces I did last year, not just because there’s a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer hanging out, because I think it really speaks to the science of what you guys are doing over there. That’s a lot different than 420 and Chisholm, yeah.

Wendy Bronfein  32:46

Well, our, our, so our grandmother has, his mother had Crohn’s, and then took about, went on a biologic for that, which is side effect of those can be getting lymphoma, which she did, and then she ultimately passed away from that. So he has Crohn’s as well, and he was not willing, he’s not been willing, to deal with the biologic to help treat it, but his now retired but former gastroenterologist, believed that cannabinoids could be useful, and so he partnered with our Scientific Advisory Board to develop a formula that could help address this. And at first, the sab came back and said, We need, like, $100,000 for an animal study to validate its safety. And he was like, well, we’re a cannabis company, so we don’t have money like that, so I’m your animal, and if you kill me, that’s your problem. So he was on it for a year before we ever commercialized it, but it basically put his Crohn’s into like, so what you call like a state of remission, right? So there’s an index score that can speak to how bad your inflammation is. His was very high. Was in the two hundreds, really over 50, I believe is a state of inflammation. And he’s never been above a 50 since then, and has a much better quality of life. Probably eats things he shouldn’t, in general, because of Crohn’s, but because he feels like the medicine allows him to do that, but he does not have like the implications of the of the symptoms of Crohn’s in his general life while on this and so we’ve had it in the market for a while now, right in the new year, we’ve partnered with gastro health, which is a Maryland based gastroenterology practice, and we’re doing an IRB approved study where we’ll actually be taking a Crohn’s form three different formulas, and it’s a placebo controlled trial to take this product to like the next stage, to validate it

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  34:43

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and to and to add detail to that, the importance of having an IRB, which is stands for internal Independent Review Board, is that when physicians are recommending different medications, different practices to their patients, they’re taught in medical. School, throughout their clinical years, throughout their fellowships, etc, that there are certain checks that you need in order to be to trust that something is efficacious and safe for their patients, and having products go through an IRB study and have a paper published, which goes into a journal that’s just this system in our medical in our health care system in the states that exists. So one of the biggest hurdles we have as a cannabis company that’s seeking to develop legitimate products and get the the backing or the endorsement of physicians is that we kept running into this roadblock of, what did you do an independent study? Did you have an IRB? Did you get a paper published, etc? And it’s taken three years to get this gi comfort tablet through those like basically through those robots, past those hurdles, so that we can deliver results in the language that physicians understand and respect. Because the the best state would be that they go those gastroenterologists go to their patients and say you can buy this prescription that would cost you 1000s of dollars a month, or you can go to foreign daughter and buy curios gi product called comfort that will cost you $60 for a 30 day supply, and you’ll achieve those either Best date that remission or just relief from the symptoms that you feel every day, but we have to be able to get the results in the language that they speak and the language they respect.

Nestor Aparicio  36:29

You know, I like talking sales, and we have a good time talking about in concerts and whatnot, but the science of it, and the fact that it since Nixon has not really been studied, and it does feel like there’s a there’s a race to figure out what the plan could do and how it could be effective in other ways than just the way you feel it coming on. And I appreciate the the ongoing conversation we’re just starting. We’re a year and a half into adult use, which allows our friends to carry wellness come on and sponsor things like our 26th anniversary around here, 26 oysters in 26 days and all of those fun things. We have these educational chats from time to time. We mix in a little rock and roll. Sometimes we even mix in some football. But there’s been plenty of that this week. We’ll have plenty of that next week as well. I hope you guys have a great holiday. I hope you have a great new year. I’m appreciative of the sales and the QR codes, and all the the the extra bonus points I’ve had here, is there any thought? I mean, we’re going to have to use these points by the end of the year. We’re not going to move those in the next year.

Wendy Bronfein  37:30

Correct this, the store level points, the foreign daughter points, expire at the end of the year, so you want to use them up and and also, I think, just a shameless plug for the curbside in Timonium. I know they have some special my husband did curbside the other day, and he got a Kirsch Meyer chocolate. Saw something with some like caramel popcorn. There’s always, like, a little extra surprise that has nothing to do with cannabis, just something fun. So and the

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  38:01

average, the average transaction time at curbside, is, like, three minutes and 49 seconds. So it’s really fast. If, if you’re pressed for time, place your pre order for foreign daughter and Timonium pull in on Aylesbury and you’re like, in and out. I haven’t done that yet.

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Wendy Bronfein  38:20

Oh yeah, in this car,

38:22

you can talk to the person that comes to your window to get your license. And, you know, help you try.

Nestor Aparicio  38:26

When I do all that, I don’t come in and get Amy’s personal attention and, you know, talk about thing. I mean, seriously, sometimes that happens so and I don’t mind, you know, I mean, I Your, your waiting room is interesting to me. First time I discovered there was free water. I didn’t know that. So now, you know, I can hydrate while in there as well. I did not know that. But you have all sorts of trinkets. We talked about that last week, and Maryland based stuff. And the token Jew thing is kind of funny. So, you know, makes stuff makes me laugh.

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  38:56

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Well, in the new year, we have a new dispensary opening in Pikesville, and it’ll have a full token Jew section of merchandise. You

Nestor Aparicio  39:06

get another dispensary opening. Genius. It’s like a Dallas cliff. It’s like a who shot Jr at the end of the year. You just drop that in on me. I have something else to drop. One of my great long term sponsors called me Sunday’s text me see God, we gotta talk. And I’m like, What’s up? And I was worried. He’s like, we’re adding a second location. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not going to say who, but it’s in Timonium, and they’re a Dundalk based business. That’s all I’m going to say. Happy New Year. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah, Kwanza clinch. Miss New Year’s purple Festivus, whatever you’re celebrating this week, celebrate responsibly, and if your family’s involved, my God, do something. Get some help. Hang in there. Get through the dessert, at least. Get through the Ravens game. Thanks for coming on together as a duo. Appreciate you guys.

Rebecca Bronfein Raphael  39:58

Thanks. Nestor. Happy. Holidays. Rebecca

Nestor Aparicio  40:00

Brown, fine. Wendy Brown, fine. The Chief Brand Officer, and I don’t chief is finance revenue. Chief revenue, revenue with the R, R and B, our chief cannabis officers, the sisters of of O love and of terpene infused shoes and BOGO. Don’t forget BOGO. I just figured out what YOLO meant a few years ago. Now I got BOGO. BOGO is better though. I like buy one, get one free. I am Nestor. We are W NST. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. If you hear a bunch of music conversations going on here during the holidays, it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s just because it’s New Year’s weekend. It’s been a lot of fun to unearth some old stuff. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.