The Bronfein sisters join Nestor for a Curio Wellness 101 on the state of cannabis industry in Maryland and what our citizens have wanted since legal adult use began this summer. Listen and learn as we continue our ongoing educational series with Wendy and Rebecca, who are here to answer all the questions.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
curio, terpene, shirts, people, cannabis, dispensary, rebecca, strain, flour, wellness, baltimore, rolls, dosage forms, product, marylanders, pre, foreign, years, flower, maryland
SPEAKERS
Wendy Bronfein, Rebecca Bronfein Raphael, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome back wn S T Towson Baltimore and Baltimore positive celebrating 25 years with our fancy cupcake and our Disney fireworks. I’ve been bragging about this our our 25th anniversary We’re celebrating our 25 Top Stories of glory and I’ve been so overwhelmed with Orioles ravens this that that I haven’t got the countdown exactly what 24 Right now headed toward 23 I actually know all top 25 But we have a great sponsor for that a friend security a wellness and far and data we talked about it and educational series and all the things we do around here and I’ve been wearing the shirt all week because I sort of stumbled into foreign daughter up on Timonium last Thursday Friday I walked in on there it gets terpene and not chirps like the undefeated terms terpene infused choose. And they offered me shirts. And I said this is going to make the segment even better when he brought find is here with their sister this time. When Wendy for you. And you told me about these shirts, you’re like I gotta design I got a thing. We need a t shirt. We did turn it around. I said Keith over strategic factory and I didn’t even think the minute I showed up I looked down I’m like you did it you order the shirts. I got to see the design on it a little earlier than everyone but I did pick this up in a medium. I thought I was skinnier than I am I think I might need large words all over with but how are you how was your sister Rebecca it is good to see you as well and happy. We call it a Festivus when it’s just the playoffs happy playoffs to both of you.
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Wendy Bronfein 01:36
Thank you having playoffs to the playoffs very special weekend.
Nestor Aparicio 01:40
Yeah and it’s it used to be Pittsburgh week right like you were playing the Steelers ravens going to London next week. Everybody’s going there. And then we got all these playoff tickets and I know you guys your first things first. You’re really local local people you grew up here, your dad the story of your pharmacies, all of that. But the local spirit for baseball, and I’m sure your family had Oriole tickets forever and ever and ever. And this has been your a little fun way to get involved on the front end of the marketing and to have black first thing they said they said black or orange. Rebecca, why did you pick black? I need to know. It’s slimming. Well, okay. All right. Yeah,
Rebecca Bronfein Raphael 02:21
to try. It’s a tried and true color goes with everything.
Nestor Aparicio 02:24
8Well, I picked the orange because I felt like I needed more orange in my closet after 27 years of purple. I mean, we’re Purple and orange in our logo. So I mean, it makes sense. But for you guys doing this, tell me what the deal is because I really didn’t know I come in. It’s just a customer. I’m at the front desk, I get buzzed back, I went back and I was like literally only going to spend like 60 bucks. I had like a couple that’s all I had what I was gonna get my mind. And I was in there do a little shopping and I looked down and said Oh with with this purchase, you get a shirt and I’m like, well I’m gonna get shirt without that. And then it became orange or black. You have purple shirts, though to you. I mean, the ravens are always in season right?
Wendy Bronfein 03:08
Yeah. So so we do. We do a lot of Baltimore’s hometown sports stuff. So right so last weekend, we did this stunt where if you spend $80 You got one of these Baltimore baseball themed shirts.
Nestor Aparicio 03:22
Don’t work with me. I was in fraidy ball.
Wendy Bronfein 03:24
And then it was really successful and last year, but last week was the end of the season this week is the beginning of playoffs. So we’ve got one more weekend going of it. So it started yesterday and it goes through Sunday until we run out. And then we years ago because we’re purple Friday town. We did a purple Friday kind of shirt. And we had that as another kind of promotional giveaway gift with purchase. And we’ve got those back again,
8Nestor Aparicio 03:49
one of those at the Super Bowl at the Super Bowl and I think it was the Atlanta Superbowl you sponsored what we were doing very, very early on antimonium and I have your shirts. I mean, I have a billy white shoes Johnson was the wide receiver from the Houston Oilers and he did this really special dance it was really the first he sort of created the endzone dance as we know it today, which is now celebrated but he had a really unique dance in the mid 70s Here’s my favorite player. And I’m wearing a curio purple big Oh, it’s on this side. The big O for the curio and I’m wearing it and I’m dancing with I think I might have even done the icky shuffle with a key Woods into it. You know when I wear the purple curio shirt I dance i It’s so I hope I’m dancing with some Oreo magic here. I mean, this is tearing it well your whole stores vibed up when I came in everybody was like in black and orange and we’ll get to wellness and cannabis and vape and all new products. But more than that you guys are local. I mean give me a real story for both you Rebecca you might be too young never remember winning
Rebecca Bronfein Raphael 05:00
I’ll be honest with you used to when we were really young. We had we had tickets on the third baseline. I don’t recall any like special notable story like no one got lost at Camden Yards. My friend Max bar mitzvah was at Camden Yards
Nestor Aparicio 05:16
have a crush on Brady, or was your wish your crush?
Rebecca Bronfein Raphael 05:19
8Oh, no, Brady? Cow. I mean, he was old when I was young, but even a legend.
Nestor Aparicio 05:25
But what do you have such rich blue eyes? I have
Wendy Bronfein 05:28
a good story. So I was fortunate enough to go to the 2131 game. And I was in high school at the time. And there was this policy on when you came late to school and the notes you would write. And I told my mom that she had to write a note that said I was late to school because I had a doctor’s appointment. Because otherwise I’d get detention. And she said no, you’re late to school because you went to the game last night and then it went late. And so that’s why you’re late. And that’s what I’m writing. And then I got detention. And my mom called me and was like you’re teaching my child to lie. It was a special occasion and she was late to school and then they said, okay, you don’t have to have detention.
Nestor Aparicio 06:07
You know, if you ever bump into Cal Ripken you got to tell him that story. That he got your attention. You know, that’s pretty good. Whatever I find is here, Rebecca prefabricate get the the the married name Raphael. It’s Ainsley. Rafeal Raphael. She’s Chief Revenue Officer and Wendy handles all things, marketing and all sorts of informational stuff in regard to cannabis. And I think the last time I saw you, Rebecca, it was before right before the State went adult use and a lot of things. So first start with you. Because I’ve talked to Wendy a couple times. What have we learned I guess I feel like I’m in a Mork and Mindy episode. What have we learned in the first part of this? About what what people want what Marylanders want? What What would people near your store? Not you know, I live in the towel scenario promoting your very local to me. And when I’m in your store, I see all kinds of people I always did, though. I mean, you had a whole wellness thing that was massage, there was all sorts of things going on in your facility, including education. How have things changed. In the first 6090 days, we’ve learned that
8Rebecca Bronfein Raphael 07:10
Marylanders love cannabis, just as we suspected. And you’re absolutely right. It’s all types of people, all different ages, different backgrounds, their use cases are completely different as well. Some recurring themes that we’ve see regardless of where you are in the state is that flour is king. That is the the dosage form that the majority of people will buy first. And it makes a lot of sense because anybody who was using cannabis as a black market product that’s most mostly what they have access to. And then there’s also huge demand for pre rolls. So we’ve actually over the past three months steadily increased our pre roll production to try and meet the demand more steadily. And that two common sense would tell you a pre rolls about $10 at the dispensary, whereas an eighth can cost you anywhere from 35 to 60, depending on like the tear of the flower. So if you want to try a lot of different strains and kind of understand how the terpene profiles make you feel or how taste kind of plays into the equation, you could buy six pre rolls for the same price as 1/8 and have six different experiences. So at foreign daughter, like they have this thing called the curio wellness for your pre roll bar. And it was designed with that in mind of like let’s show people how many things they could try when they’re new to a cannabis product. So that’s been a delightful surprise because we thought that was going to happen so now to see it come to fruition has been really great. But everybody has been super positive really curious. Like the staff is totally energized at both farm Ken in Elkton and then foreign daughter antimonium. Because they get to start teaching a new class of people about all the things that they’ve really been talking to kind of the same medical program group about for five years. So you can just tell like when you’re in there and they got a live one, they’re like, oh, I can I can start from like the endocannabinoid system I can get into like the entourage effect.
Nestor Aparicio 09:11
Teach me Thando chi nightbreed Bye. Bringing George Schulman out my ninth grade science teacher we just lost de fantaisie one of our one of my dear friends, and he would have loved the Orioles playing like this. But my science teachers from from high school are friends of mine later in life and I’m going to bring them out and has flipped because they’re this is really science and when do you and I talked about the American loves pills. I don’t need to tell you this. I mean your family came from from that background and we talked about opioids and all sorts of just in sports with Brett Farve and Vikon and the things that have happened in regard to drug use in this country people been getting very, very comfortable with I’ll take a pill I’ll take an aspirin. I’ll take an Advil I’ll take a bear. I’ll take you know, Tylenol these products that drug names, maybe in the 50s and 60s, and then it became an over the counter experience in a lot of different ways. Or in my case, when I was a little boy, it was always syrup, right? Like cough syrup. If it tastes good, make it go down. Sometimes alcohol gives me that experience of cough syrup or a bad taste. But these things that you’ve made in regard to having a different and and I really, I hear your voice when you talk about flour and smoking and, and health concerns in regard to that, which I’m sure people that come in, would say, I don’t smoke, I don’t want to. That’s not the way I want to do this. There’s so many more ways that I’ve been creative to use the plant to help people sleep help people heal, to help people be creative.
Wendy Bronfein 10:46
Yeah, no, I think you’d get a mix of people in terms of like to Rebecca’s point flower is still remains the most popular form. And so they’re usually people who use flower also might use any of the more discreet methods. And then you get new people coming in who are interested in the effects of cannabis, but night and might not want the odorous factors of smoking or even the inhalation. And so then they go towards things like tablets and choose or vapes, elixirs. topicals, other other dosage forms?
Nestor Aparicio 11:20
8Well, I just think from an educational standpoint, it’s also new, right? I mean, there was Colorado and Washington and then everything that’s happened in the less than a decade really to say, what buyers would want At what point did you along this journey? Have you discovered that flour is king because this is news to me, I didn’t know this. You’re educating me. And you know, as, as predicted in the segment, I was going to learn stuff. But I didn’t realize that it would be so prevalent because I thought once people would have access to do something that wouldn’t be lung, smoke, odor, flame, all of these issues, device, all of the things that come with it, where these things taste great, and really work and the science that you’ve gotten behind. And I know we talked a little bit about that last time as to what terpenes are, and how this product, specifically Acurio product that people like your company, well funded groups, like you across the country, really across the world are trying to make better products, because none of this was available to be made into a product a decade ago, right?
Rebecca Bronfein Raphael 12:26
Yeah, so the flour being the most popular is because we look at both third party data. And we look at the state’s data just to see what by product category what the most customers are buying. And that helps us design our production to make sure that we don’t run out of something that people want because whether it was a medical program or now in the adult use program, our mission remains the same to have safe, effective and reliable cannabis available to people in Maryland. And part of being reliable means like if you go in, and you really like Rompuy that the next time you go back to foreign data or another dispensary not only will run pies to be on the menu, but the cannabinoid profile, the THCA and the terpenes, that percentage is going to be so similar to the last time you had it so that you can replicate and have a reliable experience. And you’re not constantly being like wait, I liked that thing. And I would expect it to have the same feel I would expect to have the same effects. But now I gotta try something new. So that’s where the science for curio really comes into play. It allows us to take something as frankly volatile as a plant, it’s every time we gross up new plant, it’s a new plant. It’s not like we take it from you know, January and then we create the same one in October, we have to use science and environmentalism and understanding how to grow indoors to make sure that we replicate an environment for that strain the same way over and over and over again. So every time you experience it, you’ll have a reliable experience. And that’s that’s really what curio is about. But on the on the topic of other dosage forms. The others that are very popular in adult use are vape and edibles as you would suspect. I think one thing that our foreign to otter staff talk a lot about is like how quickly do you want to feel the effects of cannabis. So on the spectrum of what we call onset flour and vapes when you inhale them have those much more immediate effect like in five to 10 minutes you can start feeling a kind of high whereas with an edible it can take people 30 to 45 minutes and you’ll get you’ll kind of It’s a Saturday night you’ll take a five milligram terpene wrench
Nestor Aparicio 14:43
on what you’re digesting at that point to fats and proteins correct noggin
Wendy Bronfein 14:48
so that can also intent you can also use that to accelerate it to if you want right if you have more fat in your diet. It’s going to activate the THC but it’s funny that you say that there Rebecca says that because I Oh I have this moment with my husband where I just sort of like tap him and I’m like, mate you just kicked it like there’s just like
8Nestor Aparicio 15:07
I go to a lot of concerts I’ve had a lot of people in the summer come up to me to my gummy just kicked in. Bear with me here a minute you know I’m, I’m here with the cure concert. We’re here with Wendy and Rebecca from Acurio wellness and foreign daughter, and I don’t want to forget to tell them about Elkton a little bit because I always forget to mention that I’m not Elton, excuse me, Cecil County,
Wendy Bronfein 15:30
yet know that Elton is the location. So the store is called farm can wellness, and that’s up in Elkton, Maryland. That is the that’s our other dispensary. That’s right near the Maryland line. So that’s that’s an interesting thing that kind of correlates to what Rebecca sees, kind of dealing with the sales side, which is, you know, the dispensaries in what we’ll call Central Maryland or inland, right, they get a lot of the local traffic and those radiuses and then the the dispensaries that are on those outer edges get Marylanders and they also get our neighbors who are coming to Maryland for the type of products that we sell here, the robustness of our menu, the pricing, because while we do have neighbors who have programs they don’t deliver as well as Maryland’s program does.
Nestor Aparicio 16:14
Well, let’s talk about a you mentioned a say Rompuy a strain or blissful was any or strange. Sometimes you see a 23%, sometimes you see 31 32%, you see a price difference. I think sometimes in that, let’s discuss that, because I don’t understand it fully. And I also would say some people would see something 31 32% And say, Whoa, and so people would say 22. And I also see in your branding every day, you know, like that you have a line that says hey, this is this is going to be a little bit more gentle, let’s say.
Rebecca Bronfein Raphael 16:51
8So we have everyday flour, and we have exclusive flour. So the everyday strains are by and large, lower potency, they will have an average of one to 2% terpenes. So they’ll have a fine aroma be herbaceous, and they’re only machine trend. So we position them as an accessible flower for everyone. Almost like if you’re an entry level flower consumer and you want to be more budget conscious, the price point of every day is between it’s a 25 to $40 per eighth depending on the dispensary, and so that you could buy more ace on a got to restrain budget in the everyday line, the exclusive line are all of our most exotic highest potency highest terpene strains, we also grow smaller batches of those strains, so that when it comes out into an exclusive container, it’s going to have greater than 30% Most likely THC, it’s going to have closer to two to 3% terpenes. And there’s going to be less of it available on the market. And therefore it’s a higher price point to the end consumer. But most dispensaries including ours will run promotions so that you can try exclusive like a buy one get one 20% off all of our strains, right, whether they are an everyday eighth or an exclusive eighth are available in two packs of pre rolls as well. So like going back to what I was saying earlier, we like to have everything available in a like 10 to $15 pre roll range and you get 2.5 gram pre rolls in one carton, so that you can try all of these strains before you make the investment in the eighth container and our pre rolls. Use kind of the tiniest baby buds to produce them. It’s not just shaken trim that’s leftover from our production process. Like we grow full batches of flour too and put them into pre rolls because we want to make sure that you have the most consistent experience with a pre roll that you would have when you actually buy your own container and maybe roll your own
Nestor Aparicio 18:58
want to see hand trimmed I think like they’re real people doing this and this and this I’ve seen people picking crabs on the Eastern Shore it’s a skill you know, it’s it’s it’s artisan, literally and knowing the difference between that and that you’re using the higher the higher strange to to have that and then using as you said, you said machines for the everyday Correct.
Rebecca Bronfein Raphael 19:24
Yeah, so the machine the everyday goes through what’s called an auto trimmer. And so it’s a very clean finished product but it does not get that extra step of being manicured. The exclusive goes to a team of people one of whom, who is a curio OG named Lenny like she’s been trimming our flower for five and a half
Nestor Aparicio 19:44
wearing these orange Baltimore curio shirts because it’s gonna look like Uber lupus.
8Rebecca Bronfein Raphael 19:51
My genic dress code
Nestor Aparicio 19:55
I just seen workers at work I’m seeing Uber that’s all I’m seeing As we’re all sitting here in orange It’s pumpkin season as well when you Rebecca here for curio wellness and for foreign daughter stop by get yourself educated now that adult use this year also get educated on medicinal and being a card carrying member of our society as well and always educate you there you got a great curio wellness all of its available at Baltimore positive as well and I don’t know that I get the sisters Brian fine here together all the time, but maybe Don or Sister Sledge and we are family for the Orioles this week here and terminate the deal on the shirts as well. limited supply, right? They’re gonna run out at some point, right? Yeah,
Wendy Bronfein 20:37
so it’s this is the last weekend. So it started yesterday and they end on Sunday while supplies last. Spend $80 and get one of these awesome shirts you Shane,
Nestor Aparicio 20:47
8if they go to World Series in two weeks, you’re not going to have shirts. Come on.
Wendy Bronfein 20:51
I mean, look, if this if this continues and the people also continue to love the shirts, like I mean, that’s a different strategic. I mean, like, I don’t want to jinx anything, we got to just like hide the moment while we got it.
Nestor Aparicio 21:05
Well, it’s just me talking. I’m not telling you to hold off on the purple just yet. But pump the brakes on the purple a little bit. They’re going to London, we can we can walk and chew chew gum at the same time we do focus, focus, focus, focus, don’t leave anything out today. Is there anything you guys are always working on like a new product and a new line and I was kidding you last week about turning the pumpkin spice flavors or the eggnog flavors or the peppermint coming for the holidays. But there’s there’s a lot of creativity. I mean, I would just say that as as a consumer of the product and a person that shopped in various places in various ways and look that there’s just a lot of creativity and I would think your creative team is always trying to say hey, we’re gonna have a special of you know, St. Patrick’s Day something something shamrock shake or something I don’t know.
Wendy Bronfein 21:53
Well, so I will say even though we’re not going to talk about the Ravens right now. We do have lag we did this last year and we brought it back this year because football season we’ve got a strain that we call Canna Blitz and then we’ve got a
8Nestor Aparicio 22:09
Sunday strain we what is cannabis? What is that entail? What what does that mean? All these names I need the daily profile, I need proof.
Wendy Bronfein 22:17
It’s part of kind of like the whole like adding to all of the energy around you know, purple Friday lifestyle here. We kind of leaned into that for for a football season. And then I think what hybrid what is it?
Rebecca Bronfein Raphael 22:32
Cannabis is a it’s an indica leaning hybrid, right? Hybrid. I mean, it’s one of those where it’s got a nice amount of myrcene in it, but it depends on if you’re gonna
Nestor Aparicio 22:43
8push you can’t be glued to the couch. It’s all on sad. String. All right, fair enough. All right, vetted. Before. I’m an old Jamaican me crazy party guy from Sunday Afternoons before we didn’t have football around here, which I I still remember I remember we didn’t have good baseball around here. Now we have both. Go visit our friends at curio wellness and a foreign daughter. Best entry way is just literally to walk in the store, right? I mean, that’s as easy as that. And there’s folks like you they’re educated in and ready to teach people about all of the new things, right?
Wendy Bronfein 23:14
Yeah, and our products and if you’re not near one of our stores, our products are available at all the other stores as well.
Nestor Aparicio 23:20
All right, well, I’ll come in and you’ll have a 2.0 ALCS World Series late October strain for the T shirts, my big appreciation to Korea wellness and find out who they are sponsoring our 25th anniversary 25 years of this craziness at wn st and we’re finally gonna win a World Series I think this month I’m not sure I have the Maryland crabcake tour on the road with the Maryland lottery and our friends at window nation as well as Jiffy Lube on Friday the 13th I’m hoping it’s a lucky Friday the 13th My birthday I turned 55 years old on Saturday. So we’re celebrating all weekend long Friday we’ll be at at the upstairs drug City at the fountain eating their crab cake. I’ll probably be having like a bagel and a donut as well. And but stop by and see me it’s my birthday on the 13th I think George Schulman is coming by and then on Sunday, we’re gonna be Hollywood casino in Berryville doing a special breakfast and a dare I say the ravens are playing football on Sunday morning B day day one game one of the American League Championship Series as well here in Baltimore. But in London, we’re going to be having breakfast at Hollywood casino in parallel. So come on up, stop and say hello right by the outdone location up there farm credit as well. Same county across the bridge. Nice folks come at breakfast with us and watch the Ravens take on the Titans. I am Nestor. We are WNS da and 1570, Towson Baltimore, fitting it all in cannabis education, football and a blitz and Oreos magic stay with us.
