The high holiday of cannabis culture only comes once a year. Our Chief Cannabis Officer Wendy Bronfein of Curio Wellness joins Nestor to discuss the lure, lore and allure of the 420 holiday in a “Black Friday” world where everyone expects the biggest sale of the year.
SPEAKERS
Wendy Bronfein, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home we are wn S T A and 5070, Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive. I’ve been having fun here with my 1980s vibe and it’s 25th anniversary thick. Because we have PacMan giveaways which we’re doing at fadeless. They’re not going to be scratched off like this one. This is this isn’t a losing ticket. This is a non winning ticket because you have second chance. But with the Pac Man thing, we’re doing this at fadeless on Fridays, us anytime the Orioles are home looking I’ll be there too until five live, you may live no more nasty live two to five each and every Friday viewers are home. And I’m trying to get my like Pac Man guy going on my logo here. We’re having fun around here because the documentary is coming out a couple of weeks. And for the last eight or nine months, our friends at curio wellness and foreign daughter and Wendy brown fine has come on as our chief cannabis officer as well as Chief Brand Officer right curio wellness, and been sharing a lot of like 25 stories of glory and old school stuff. And it’s sort of Wendy sort of inspired me she doesn’t know and she’ll take play humble and all that. But the lights went on a couple of months ago to do this thing with Greg Landry. So I just want to say as I bring you on, on the eve of 420. And we’re gonna get to the bottom of this whole for 20 thing because I’ve done all the reads that the Cheech and Chong research like the internet research about San Raphael High School and especial time, so I’m gonna get to all of that. But happy for 20 to you when he brought fun, always good to have you on. I hope it was a concert at CFG Bank Arena or something fun that brings us together but the Orioles have been fun so far, right? They have they have bringing back the magic Jackson holiday. It’s all good just in time for 420. By the way, if you could bet on whether he would have been up before 420 Or after I would have taken after. So with Luke, we’re all kind of shocked. He’s here. This is the big week for you guys, though, right? And you have some new products and we’re gonna talk about some different things going on. But part of the lore and the Whisperer and the clocks being set at 420 in the afternoon on all sorts of movies, through the 80s and 90s. And into the arts. This is the cannabis celebration, it’s a celebration of the plant.
Wendy Bronfein 02:06
Yeah, it is. It is the holiday for industry. You can from a from a retail experience, it’s probably closest to like a black friday Cyber Monday sort of situation. So consumers and patients are expecting really good deals, unexpected deals and giveaways and swag at dispensaries that they frequent. So it’s a really good chance to get out there and and given the fact that there are so many promotions going on. It’s the perfect opportunity to sort of step out of your comfort zone of what you always buy and consider new and extra things to take on. I
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:48
am really low on my one of my products. I gotta grab it right here. This is my move product. I think I’ve had this since the genius shock episodes. So we’re talking about Christmas time right? And we have used this thing like down to the knob you know and I’m cheapskate for Dundalk. We know this right? So I’m waiting for this to go on sale on a day when there’s flowers sale or vape sale or the tinctures things I don’t the products I don’t use put them on sale on a Wednesday. That’s not my day. But I gotta get in and I’m thinking like what the 420 thing you’re a little bit like the rest of the industry where it’s like you don’t just have to come on for 20 and there’s gonna be a line down York Road and my flag wavers there look like Chick fil A at lunchtime trying to get in and out right but I bet you it’s not a one day right like you guys do this for a little bit of a week right or weekend.
Wendy Bronfein 03:37
Well so it’s a couple of different things in general at the dispensary you know there’s always different promotions going on on a regular basis right. And then in with this time of year. The curio brand has an is running a month long promotion at participating dispensaries for curio vapes curio Chews and then there’s another vape in the market called fused that we produce and all of those are buy one get one $10 At any participating dispensary all month long and then different dispensaries have create are going to create whatever their promotions are for their stores for just on Saturday for 20 So for example, at our store in boats ammonium and an Elton we will be did we you know we are the curio wellness brand that’s our retail shop so it’s probably going to be your best curio deal we’re doing 40% off of all things curio
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:38
on all 40 I never heard 40% Before you 40%
Wendy Bronfein 04:42
That’s on on for 20 only cure but
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:46
get somebody with orange flags right there just across from a nautilus diner just I’m
Wendy Bronfein 04:51
not done yet. I’m not done yet. We’re doing 35 Okay, that’s that’s the majority of Cario products like
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:57
this right here like this product here. This is Ultrasone the navvies are really cool. You told me about these and I’ve tried these. This isn’t it, but we’ll go through all of these different products but anything we curio, any of the choose
Wendy Bronfein 05:11
any of those are gonna be 40% off that topical. You had topicals tinctures, tablets and concentrates will all be 35% off. So that’s when you’re gonna want to go get your move. And then
Nestor J. Aparicio 05:26
once for 20 what they do I gotta put I don’t have it in my calendar like a holiday like some people do. But like I got to Saturday. Yeah. Oh, wow. All right, well remember,
Wendy Bronfein 05:38
you can also you can build your cart online and you know have
Nestor J. Aparicio 05:43
Shopify right. I’ve done that a couple times lately. That’s the way to do it. You’re right. That’s why and then
Wendy Bronfein 05:47
everything else in the dispensary is 30% off. And then in our front of house where we sell cannabis accessories and seat hemp based CBD and other wellness products. All of that is 30% off exclusively in the Baltimore store. We’re gonna have giveaways for tickets to concerts at cfg.
Nestor J. Aparicio 06:15
And I want to see Oh, sure. And
Wendy Bronfein 06:18
for tickets to an Orioles game,
Nestor J. Aparicio 06:21
I still want to see Osher Wendy Braun fine is your curio, well, it’s far done. So um, it’s kind of blowing my mind the sample you’re having, because I do use your products and I am low on certain products. And I’m willing to wait, you know, I mean, I’m good. A couple more days, we’ll get there on for 20 I thought we were gonna have fun and poke fun of all this. But I think the deals themselves sort of speak to that to your point to say you want to try something, here’s an opportunity for you to try something and we talk a lot about flour and getting high. And like all of that stuff. This is stuff that makes your body for you. This is a whole, this is why I have you on this is why we’re doing an educational series here. But we can poke fun and have fun with the movies and for 20 and all that. But this is an amazing time for and you talked about the holidays, you talked so much about gifting a little bit. And now that adult use is here and where we are that you can give certain products and certain this is also another opportunity to sort of load up a little bit because it’s just more inexpensive. Because Because I always say this isn’t. It’s not an inexpensive product. It’s an effective product. It’s obviously heavily regulated tax, and all of that, know what you’re doing. And I think that’s part of the fun we have and trying to educate people and saying, I didn’t know what this was eight months ago. And Jean Jacques was, you know, comes on the show, and she’s a drummer and semi arthritic and you start to help her and start to help me and now I feel like, you know, it’s something that I know works and something that I could endorse, and something I really get endorsed the 35% off next Saturday. Yeah,
Wendy Bronfein 07:55
well, and I mean, look that you know me I’m also a topical lover. So to me if you don’t own a topical and if it’s on promo, like on for 20 this, try it, just do it. Keep it in your medicine cabinet. You’re in a closet, like someone’s gonna hurt, something’s gonna happen. You’re gonna get a sunburn, you’re gonna scrape yourself. It’s just, they’ve just so universally good. And like you said, the downside for us is that container lasts forever. So we’d love the resale but it’s gonna take you a while to finish it. Yeah,
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:29
I mean, listen, I got some of the bomb. Yeah, one night we had dinner. I said I got it because I want to try it. Yeah, it comes out a little thick. It you know, it’s a little more it’s jelly. It feels nice that none of that but it doesn’t the by like the bomb. You know, the bombs been like the bomb is what it’s been like. They’ll say that the airport, the ALM got, you know, Wendy brown finds here. Okay, so other than the 420 thing and the fun. I hit you a couple of weeks ago, and we sort of missed each other last week, and we didn’t connect, and we were talking about for 20 as a holiday and why. And you said something about like a police report. Right? So it’s all of these legends. So I did. You know, I’m like Katt Williams a little bit. I did the research on this cannabis culture and where it came from. So if you google this, this is what the official thing is. And it comes from, you know, high times it can’t be any more official than High Times in 1991. In 1971, five high school students in San Rafael California use the term 420 in connection with a plan to search for an abandoned cannabis crop based on a treasure map made by the grower calling themselves the Waldos because their typical hangout spot was a wall behind the school. The students desert designated the time on the grounds as their meeting place at 420. They referred to the phrase for 20 Louis because there was a Louis Pasteur statue on the spot. After several failed attempts to find the crop. They phrase their the show In a phrase, the 420, which ultimately evolved into the code word teen Jews to referring and consuming cannabis, of course, this was illegal in California in 1991. And High Times wrote about this. So that’s 33 years ago, High Times wrote about it. 1991 So there you go. And if you find that, so I I’m just giving you part of the lore. I don’t legend I don’t know if it’s true or not, um, it feels like 30 we are
Wendy Bronfein 10:28
and they like think about the fact that the whole world uses that term because of their like antics in high school.
Nestor J. Aparicio 10:35
There’s also a Grateful Dead that Phil lash called for for 20 to be the socially accepted time of the day to consume cannabis. So that was part of this as well that the Grateful Dead sort of got into it. But today you can get a great sale anywhere sort of any industry now your products as well. You know, you sell them in other dispensaries other places. Just this is not something just you’re doing. It’s something everyone sort of sort of rolls out as you pointed out to get everybody out and activated and it’s something that for people who do consume they talk about joke about laugh about it’s it’s your Cinco de mio Wendy
Wendy Bronfein 11:16
Yeah, ya know, our sales team on the wholesale side has been selling into dispensaries for for the past so many weeks now leading into 420 to help them prepare with inventory. Any dispensary needs to run whatever promos are good for their community and, and their store. What I shared is what we’re doing in our stores. But yeah, you can find us anywhere in the state on for 20. Yeah, yeah,
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:42
I just don’t. It’s the big holiday. And I guess you’re gonna run out anything. You got enough?
Wendy Bronfein 11:48
I hope so. All right. Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:51
listen, you got a product you wanted to talk about this week, which is unusual. You don’t usually say I got something I’m throwing in here today. Tell me about the vape side of things. And I’m familiar with this older technology called packs. And I think people that have vapes or use vapes, they’re there, once they find a vape they use or they liked, they sort of maybe don’t move, but it might be some moving time. Talk to me about curio vape, because I don’t think we’ve done 50 These episodes, and I don’t think we’ve talked a whole lot about vapes at all,
Wendy Bronfein 12:22
yeah, so we have a variety of vapes that we produce, our vape line is made with co2 extracted oil, so we use co2 and a supercritical state, that’s an FDA approved form of extraction to pull the oil out of the plant and make make a vapor out of it, we distill that oil. And for that, it’s really refined and clean. And that’s how we had that’s how we deliver our strain specific vapes. So if you think of any strain of ours that you might find in a flower form, you can find that in a vape form. We also make two other lines of vapes for licensed partners, we make the flour by Ed Parker line we make their vapes that’s a disposable unit. It comes in indica, sativa, and hybrid. And then we make the company a brand called fused, which is a longer disposable unit kind of Slim like the dipper from a from a Fun Dip kind of thing like that kind of shape. It’s a very unique device shape. It’s not like most vape pens, really slim fits in your pocket nicely. That comes in a variety of flavors, and has terpene profiles relative to being uplifted, relaxed or kind of balanced in the middle. It’s it’s become the number one disposable in the state in the last couple of months, which is really exciting. But now, the curio line is adding a new vape very different than anything we’ve done before. It’s a live rosin vape. This is a solventless process. So we actually take flour, that we flash freeze right at the harvest to lock in everything that’s fresh at that moment of harvest. And we use this the solventless process to get this full spectrum product that comes through so it’s a very clean oil, it’s probably the closest way to have the flower experience in vaping would be the way to think of it.
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:22
I saw this in Canada is this because the technology is newer where we are in Maryland that the live rosin thinks I definitely saw this in a shop and it’s
Wendy Bronfein 14:33
the rosin process is it really kind of creates much more of a small batch proc product. So there’s only four strains that we’re putting out right now with that it’s our Malibu pure Kush, Prometheus, Canna Blitz and blueberry cookies that’s going to be what’s out right now. They’ll change a core across the year, but that’s the first batch that you’re gonna see. They’re exclusively event elbel at our store in Timonium and at Farm Ken in Elkton. And we’ll be expanding the line in the summer bringing on a concentrate to go with the live rosin vape pen, but it’s an all in one vape pen. And I think one of the one of the particularly interesting pieces is the way that the regulations are structured right now, there are other products that fall into a, what is considered a concentrate category that remain only available for medical and are not available for adult use. But this full spectrum oil product that you vade is available for adult use, so anyone can buy it, and it would give you using kind of that more discreet method of vaping to get closer to a true flower experience.
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:46
Yeah, it’s actually doing the research from the beginning on this. And we talk about it all the time that some of this technology, I said packs kind of came and went on the early side, and patents and Canadian companies in different Colorado companies and just all sorts of coming and going that your company here for Marilyn and will curio does to be into this sort of line of work, I would think 678 10 years further along, and I’ve been inside wearing the white suits in your place, the technology to deliver whatever you’re delivering at this point from the plan to a vape. safer, cleaner, better co2, you educate me as much as you can educate me on that side to understanding why if you were using another product, another vape to say, Hold on, you’re having trouble finding that product in different places or that delivery method. Try a curio vape. And here’s why. And I would also just say, where is the technology side of that inside of your place from the science side of making a better product than even you were a year or two ago?
Wendy Bronfein 16:56
Yeah, well, the So aside from the live rosin with rosin is a different process to and it’s a solventless process, we use co2 and always have used co2, what you can find in many products, it’s extremely common is the use of hydrocarbons, often butane to do that extraction process. And by regulation, there is, you know, some minor amount of residual butane that is allowed to for that product to pass. But I you know, that’s we don’t believe that any ingestion of butane is a good idea. That’s why we’ve never worked with it. It’s also a flammable process, which can be a less safe work environment. So from the safety of the operations and the safety of and quality of the product that’s produced. We’ve always done things with co2. And then we use what’s called spinning banned distillation. So you’re separating the oil after it’s been extracted using boiling points. So again, there’s not the influence of anything from the outside to really clarify that oil. And the the way to think about it is part of what’s happening there is we’re sort of removing plant waxes and lipids. So when you have something that’s cannabis, and it kind of tastes particularly earthy, like you, you kind of taste more like there’s a plant that you’re smoking are way people
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:19
used to bake brownies and call it chocolate. Right? Exactly.
Wendy Bronfein 18:23
That’s that that oil doesn’t have that clarifying so that distillation isn’t there. So it’s still kind of it, those waxes and lipids are still in there, they haven’t been pulled out. So what we’re doing in that spinning band is really clearing that oil so that you’re left with an oil that’s just holding the the active ingredients that we want. That’s the oil we use to make our vapes. It’s the oil we’ve used to make our chews we just launched in Missouri and part of the feedback we’ve been getting is how good our choose tastes, because they don’t taste candidacy. And so that was interesting learning because it’s probably due to the quality of the process of how we prep the oil to be infused into the product. And you know, there’s just a lot of thoughtfulness from not just the safety and the quality of it, but how is that end product going to be enjoyed by whomever is using it?
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:19
All right, everything’s on sale, get out, get something that that can help you a little bit. Tell everybody about this good day product because you told me about this and you listen, everybody knows that if you were to name a line after me and have a nasty Nestor line because you fall in love my 25th documentary, it would be a sativa you know, I don’t want to be asleep on the couch. I don’t want to be not functional in any way ever, and certainly not in control of my state, which is one of the things about alcohol and talking about beer and wine and brandy and vodka and tequila and all the things that I enjoy minimally too much had headache, feeling awful, no clarity, no ability to work, none of that. This is sort of the end To sit out to some degree in in regard to something that I could endorse on your behalf and say, You’re gonna try something, try this thing because this is kind of cool. Tell me how this works. Yes. So
Wendy Bronfein 20:13
that shoe under a line that we have called Good day, we you can think of it as a sort of a functional cannabis line. So typically the products in there have been high CBD low THC so you’re getting cannabinoid benefits, but you’re not getting a lot of psycho activity. The one that you’re talking about here leads with thc v, which is a minor cannabinoid, that shows effects related to energy, mental clarity, alertness. And so that shoe right there is actually four milligrams of thc v, one milligram of CBD and one milligram of THC. So really, not no psycho activity happening there. But just the benefits of the THCV. So you get kind of that uplifted feeling, you get an alertness and a focus, we call it the focus formula. So it’s a good daytime product, a good product for getting stuff done. As a as a deep tease, I would tell you that we’re going to be introducing like later this spring, some flower that you that is THCV based.
Nestor J. Aparicio 21:28
She blinded me with science, the science of cannabis, it’s for 20 week, we’re having some fun around, you’re talking about things, but more talking about things that can really help you this move balm this, this good day, citrus, honey, thc v and educating ourselves a little bit here as well, that we cover everything other than like next week, you’re going to have a lying down York Road and people order online is what I would say order online ahead of time, and it saves a lot of trouble. But stop, figure it out. And and please do it responsibly as we say to everybody, right?
Wendy Bronfein 22:03
Yeah, I mean, from the ordering online perspective, whether it’s for 20, or any other day, as soon as the current day closes, like the store closes, if you go online to place an order, you’re placing an order for the next day. So if you’re thinking about for 20, you know, anytime after nine o’clock on Friday, the 19th you could be placing your order for the next day, and have it ready for pickup if you want the deals without some of the madness. But yeah, I think it’s going to be busy. It’s the first one and adult use and who doesn’t, it’s a Saturday, and who doesn’t like a deal. So if you’re not already following us, you can go to our website and join our email list. And that’s a way to also be up to date on any of the promotions that are going on at foreign daughter or curio wellness,
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:55
and you get all the special days when you can like plan ahead and say hang on Tuesday they have what I want, but on for 20 they had anything you want and all of it at a deep discount. And you know, I’m a big endorser of the move product here especially 35% off get to get three I’m gonna stock up and three might last a whole year I might not have to buy for the rest of the year if I do that. So we’ll listen up to see you at an Oreo game or word faith as you know I gave you the Rock and Roll she blinded me with science old Thomas Dolby Thomas Dolby is going to be our guest at fade Lee’s on next month. Before he goes on tour. He’s touring Europe touring all over the America with a whole bunch of Thompson twins and a whole bunch of bands are playing here locally on the plane, the anthem I believe to put in Philly as well. So Thomas Dolby is going to come by the good professor of all things music and science at Johns Hopkins will be by with us in the early June it fails. Shana shock, by the way, who I already referenced, she’s one of the documentarians in our 25th anniversary and she does all of the Dundalk parts with a Dundalk accent. And when do you just decide I I had Keith Brewer on this week from the ravens and I had John Allen my life for power. We were Costas having crabcakes on Tuesday morning talking about the Key Bridge and talking about being from Dundalk and our hearts broke because we can’t see the bridge anymore. And we’re just talking about the narration part of this and these are guys that are singers in bands keeps a real documentarian a real Nari reads Danielle Steel books, James Patterson books, he’s like a serious narration guy, and he’s my voice of God for all this. And then I have like Ray Bachman, who was my longtime producer who has a nice South West Baltimore accent that he’s wielded into this and he does a lot of weddings. So he’s a wedding DJ voice, and so he’s got that going on. But then I went over to Gina’s house and whenever it Dundalk and Gina recorded her parts in front of me so there’s dogs barking, girlfriends and stuff. But the best thing ever and when I get together with her if she gives me permission and I can do this on the internet, I’m going to release the outtakes of her brazen use of the F bomb. in Dundalk. II He’s, every time she busted up the script and keep brewery even said to me, he’s like, Dude, you had some really long sentences. But she was like, Oh, f. So I was editing this on the plane going down to Florida. And I’m wet myself in the center seat next to Luke and looks like looking. He’s like, What are you laughing and I’m like, it’s Gina dropping F bombs every time she messes up the script. So as fun as this documentary is gonna be the outtakes might even be better when it’s all over. But there’s stuff in this documentary. Now, I’ve only known you a couple of years, you’ve known of me or whatever, through what I’ve done through all these years, and I you have a whole life and television. Like, like, we’re gonna talk about one day. I mean, we’re, we are I mean, I’m not bringing up right now. Because I’ll tease it. But you You and I have never talked about your life and television so and all the famous people you met like all that stuff, but this is my life in brought in, but there’s a lot of comedy. That’s all I’m gonna say. Like, we’ve taken a very comedic look at at nasty Nestor. I promise you So, love it. Do you know I ran three miles through Baltimore in tighty whities in downtown traffic? I did. It’s in the documentary. There’s a tease for you. Wendy Brown, fine. She’s chief cannabis Officer here at wn St. Baltimore positive as well as the Chief Brand Officer for all things, curio wellness and father and daughter it is for 20 week. Keep it light. Do it responsibly. Have some fun, make fun of things like that. But whatever you do, get this get some mood balm because it’ll make you feel better. I am Nestor. We are wn st am 5070, Towson Baltimore. And we never stop talking. I don’t know Oriole baseball NFL draft 25th anniversary for 20 We’re doing it all it’s almost election season to stay with us.
