Blogs

Desmond Chan, Randy Simmen Want To Make Timeless Dispensaries

Published

2 years ago

December 21, 2022

The co-founders behind COFO create aesthetically pleasing dispensaries with their fellow artists and builders at SevenPoint Interiors.

Randy Simmen is the head designer and Desmond Chan is the creative director for SevenPoint. Right now, they’re bringing their creative eyes back to Illinois, where they brought to life 50 Sunnyside storefronts along with Cresco Labs. Together, Chan and Simmen find creative solutions within any county’s different, sometimes ridiculous rules and regulations about what dispensaries can and can’t do.

Recently, the duo told us how they work with companies to not let restrictions hamstring creativity, as well as their incredible work on the Grateful Dead-themed Scarlet Fire Cannabis Co.

High Times: How did everything with SevenPoint Interiors begin?

Randy: To take a step back, our parent company is called Visual Elements. The primary focus there is high-end retail manufacturing. So we build stores for clients like Nordstrom, Coach, Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, Hermes, right? My dad actually started the business, and he’s been doing it for 30-plus years. And we started Visual Elements, I think, in 2010. I guess over the years I’ve been working for my dad since I was a teenager. Des and I have been friends for a really long time and we have this amazing manufacturing facility, so we thought, how do we utilize it to do something a little bit more creative and a little bit more direct-to-consumer facing? So that’s when we started the COFO brand, which was targeted to highlight emerging designers locally in Toronto.

With the cannabis side, SevenPoint Interiors started in 2017. With the legalization federally in Canada, it became legal all at once and we wanted to be able to offer our design and manufacturing services to that industry. But understanding that the customers are not our typical… They don’t have retail experience. They don’t necessarily know what it is to operate a retail store, but they won the lottery and they want to open a dispensary as fast as possible, right? So we kind of grabbed that opportunity by the horns and started SevenPoint Interiors, so that we were super focused on cannabis and there was no question about what we did.

Desmond: It was an odd rush because it was a lottery system here in Canada where X amount of licenses were handed out by month. Everyone was just like, when can we open as soon as possible? That led to a modular system that we’ve created to help with quick turnarounds. So, it’s a pre-engineered store fixture system that’s modular, it can expand, it can contract and accommodate retail spaces of many different sizes. All while, really we have a lens on creating a fixture that was specific to the cannabis industry. So everything that came from, what’s your experience when you’re looking at flower? We created our flower global system. We have our capsule, which again, it’s magnifying.

Randy: Yeah, when we realized how quick these turnarounds were, we were like, “You know what? We need a fixture system to support all of these projects.” Because we can’t design brand new fixtures for every client who comes to the door, who needs to open in 12 weeks or whatever it is, right? So that fixture system has been great. It’s budget-friendly. Because we’re vertically integrated, not only are we providing the interior design piece of things, but we’re also managing the budget. I think that’s where we actually have a leg up because we’re vertical. We manufacture for other design firms too, but sometimes a design firm doesn’t necessarily know what it costs to build the thing that they designed.

So a lot of times by the time the design is done and it comes time to price the store, that’s when the client realizes, “Oh shit, I actually can’t afford this. What can we do to value-engineer it?” And so, that’s sort of something we do too, right? Offer other options that try to bring the same aesthetic and design language but in a more cost-effective way.

Desmond: Our leg up is pretty much, we design towards a budget. So if you came to us and said you had a hundred thousand dollars to spend on store fixtures, we can work towards that budget because we build it in-house. We have a team of engineers. The whole production team is here, estimating and everything. We all share our thoughts and build and get a budget that works.

HT: Is that a draw for companies, that it’s more in-house? There’s more quality control?

Randy: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it’s a bit of a smoother process between the design and to manufacturing because we’re handing it off internally from our design team to our estimating team, to our engineers, to our production staff.

Desmond: We’re all under one roof, which makes things easier.

HT: Now having that experience of knowing how to go fast without sacrificing quality, when it comes to working on stores for Chicago, what are some lessons learned you want to bring to that city? For example, how to handle regulations?

Randy: Oh, a hundred percent. Even just living and working through the last five years of legalization in Canada, when it first started. A lot of the rules and regulations that you’re seeing roll out in the States that have now almost come and gone in a way, when dispensaries started opening in Toronto, it was like, okay, we need a barrier to entry. So, you can’t see anything from the street. We don’t want to see any product or any transactions. Every store either frosted their windows or put some sort of divider wall at the entrance and a check-in desk that’s dedicated for a security person to stand there and check IDs all day.

Reality is, now most of the check-in desks are empty because they don’t want to pay for an employee to sit there all day to just check IDs. Now, there’s a sign that says if you’re under 21 you must show your ID. And then it’s up to the budtenders inside to make that judgment call of whether they’re going to check you or not.

But it started as a very hard and strict rule that everyone was being very careful to follow. And now, you can see it’s relaxed a little bit. As it should. I think some of the regulations were a little over the top. But now, for example, we’re working on some projects in Ohio and they want man-traps for entrances and exits that are—

Desmond: Yeah. From the waiting room to even the sales floor. And then we’ve seen all this happen, all these regulations that are just over the top. I mean with Canada being federal, it is a lot easier because everyone has mostly the same regulations, but state-by-state is different.

Randy: County-by-county is different.

Desmond: County-by-county is different now in the U.S. So yeah, we’re just learning all this on the medical side. We have one client in Ohio. Anyone that receives their license, they have to be open before, I think … February 23rd. And so, everyone’s rushing to get the design in the works, but then a lot of times it’s just educating our clients to say, “Hey, you know what? Design takes time and isn’t a push of a button.” And then production time is this, build the work back, we got to set weekly meetings. We need to hit certain milestones, we need to have certain decisions made, otherwise everything gets delayed.

HT: Do you guys ever find some of those regulations or restrictions creatively limiting, or do you think of them as chances to get more creative and find solutions to them?

Randy: I think a little bit of both. Working inside a box is always, I don’t know, it comes with its pros and cons. One example we can give you, I don’t know if you saw the Project Scarlet Fire—

HT: For the Grateful Dead theme store. Great work.

Randy: You probably saw the photos of that tunnel, that series of walls. So that store, we didn’t frost the windows. We did create some dividing walls, but through that tunnel from the outside of the store, you can see all the way to the back of the store. You can see people move between the panels but you don’t see the product and you don’t see any transactions. It was a way for us to create some visual interest from the exterior but also working within that box of hiding the sight lines.

Desmond: And when you’re in front of the store, you have to see it in person because it automatically wants to attract you and it looks like an optical illusion of some sort. Or people that are like, “Is that a mirror or something happening?” It makes you just draw clients in to experience the space.

HT: How did that design for that store come about?

Desmond: Every client is different, but Dave in particular, being the deadhead that he is, he is a passionate Grateful Dead lover. He goes and travels far distances to go to the shows and he wanted to have fun with it. We sort of agree, you’re selling weed, why not take the opportunity to up that retail experience because you can?

HT: What would you say are some usual essentials for a retail experience?

Desmond: Well, lockable fixtures. You definitely need to have lockable fixtures. If you’re showcasing any cannabis products on the floor, they can’t be open shelves so that people can take them or anything like that. Efficiency at point of sale. So at the cash desk, something that we have established as how we plan the space is so that usually the vault is right behind the POS … And we’ve created this pass-through system where you can drop, from the vault, your product in, close the drawer and then from the sales floor side, open up the drawer, grab the product, turn around, give it to your client. It’s just quick during rush hour and things like that. But lockable cases are one key thing. A lot of people want to see the experience. Some people want to see the actual flower. Depending on the client, a few like the whole deli-style kind of look where you can open up your mason jar and let your client select the nugget they want.

Randy: And that’s state-by-state too. Not all states allow that. In Canada, there’s no open-sell in Canada. Everything’s packaged and it’s got a government seal on it, right?

HT: What are some common aesthetic choices you or your clients respond to?

Randy: Our first step when we approach a new client is we send out a questionnaire. It’s a detailed questionnaire. It forces the customer to think about some questions that they probably hadn’t thought … about before reading the questionnaire. But the first thing we hit on is your brand. What’s your brand about? What’s your brand story? What’s your identity? Because the aesthetics are all driven by that. Who you are and who your target audience is and what’s your aesthetic as a brand.

Where are they at right now, if they’re an existing brand? And where would they like to go or where would they like to be? We really want to convey that message, what their strengths are as a brand. Definitely carry through their brand story and color story. So that really dictates it. For example, we have one client that’s called Lake Effect. They’re out in Michigan. Their store is currently blue. So blue is definitely a heavy color within the space that we redesigned for them.

Desmond: They also wanted 1500 SKUs or something like that.

Randy: So based on the way those questions are answered, we know we’re going to need a lot of shelving. We know from a brand standpoint it’s going to be a lot of blue and then Des pulls together a mood board of different materials that complement each other. It all depends on the brand. I don’t know that there’s an aesthetic that we necessarily lean toward.

Desmond: We’re definitely kept in-the-know with a lot of forecast resources that we look into. So we know what’s, for example, we know what colors are trending 2023, ’24, ’25. Really, it’s just paying attention to what’s happening, I guess, globally and following market research. Resources to think, okay, you know what? To build a store that’s kind of future-proof, right? That’s an important factor for us. Timeless. Something that’s trending right now, but it’s going to be timeless for the next couple of years.

HT: Creatively, how does cannabis help the both of you in creating?

Randy: Obviously during working hours, if we’re at the office, we stay away from it. But we definitely, both Des and I like to smoke some weed, put our heads down, get creative, and just problem-solve. It’ll help me zone in on one thing.

Desmond: [The] ideation phase, I think for both of us, is smoking weed. We start thinking about ideas. Then when we sober back down, it’s, “Let’s get her done.” We tally up what we’ve explored and then put it to work. But for me, it’s been my lifetime with smoking. It’s always been part of my creative process, and I think for Randy as well.

HT: Before we wrap up, any subjects you want to stress the importance of for the both of you, the company, and your general field?

Randy: We covered the module system, which we continue to expand on. The importance of branding, we can’t talk about that enough. There are so many clients that come to the table. Not that it should, but obviously if someone comes to the table who’s got their branding figured out, it just makes, we know the process is going to be smoother.

Desmond: And not only that, but in Canada here, the cannabis stores are extremely oversaturated. Our government just kind of gave free reign. Whoever wants to open up a cannabis store can go ahead. And we’re seeing many close now.

Desmond: That didn’t pull up their socks to do their work on how to operate a cannabis store, we’re seeing it, right? But that also shined a light on how important brand placement is in the cannabis industry. Education is key.

Randy: Yeah, customer service.

Desmond: Customer service and education. You want to walk into a store and you want to talk to somebody that not just knows what they like to smoke, but what’s good for you, for whatever effect you need, be it for health reasons or for recreation. That’s such a key, important factor, we’ve noticed, with the oversaturation of all these different stores here. The ones that are succeeding are… It’s either a price war, if not that, then it’s education, customer service. It’s like once you find your hairstylist, you kind of stick with it, right?

Source: https://hightimes.com/dispensaries/desmond-chan-randy-simmen-want-to-make-timeless-dispensaries/

Up Next

Yearly Cannabis Sales in Washington State Decline by $120 Million

Don't Miss

Doggface, Known for Viral TikTok Involving Cranberry Juice and Fleetwood Mac, Arrested for Pot

Click to comment

Blogs

Border sales a boost for most marijuana retailers across US

Published

1 year ago

September 8, 2023

ghsGFsre564

Marijuana sales along state lines are key revenue generators for retail operators in the United States, and new insights suggest a similar business bump along international borders, particularly Mexico.

Data compiled by New York-based wholesale technology platform LeafLink – as well as information gathered from state agencies, quarterly reports and interviews with several cannabis companies – bear that out.

LeafLink analyzed hundreds of ZIP codes at the request of MJBizDaily and found strong links that when new recreational markets open, retailers near borders stock up on inventory significantly more than operators located elsewhere in a state.

Data from the past three years revealed wholesale marijuana products purchased by border stores jumped 140% after the launch of adult-use sales, while retailers located in more interior areas increased purchases by about 80%.

“The growth when a state launches adult-use sales at a border store in terms of purchasing activity is around double the growth of the remainder of the state,” LeafLink Strategy Analyst Ben Burstein told MJBizDaily.

Of course, numerous factors are at play – perhaps none more impactful than the marijuana policies of neighboring states.

That’s why Illinois retailers near Wisconsin, where marijuana possession is illegal, are still attracting Wisconsinites nearly four years after the launch of recreational sales.

There also are retail sales-tax implications, a big reason why St. Louis-areas operators are seeing an influx of shoppers from southern Illinois, where cannabis taxes are at least three times higher than in Missouri.

Meanwhile, border retail in New Mexico is boosting depressed economies along hundreds of miles of its shared borders, drawing stampedes of consumers from neighboring Texas and, more recently, cross-border buyers from Mexico.

Retail shakeup in the heartland

The February launch of adult-use sales in Missouri has caused ripple effects throughout the Midwest.

Missouri holds the rare distinction of bordering eight states, with only Illinois offering recreational marijuana sales.

Missouri’s 6% retail tax on recreational marijuana purchases is also among the lowest in the nation, drawing Illinois consumers across the Mississippi River in droves to buy much cheaper weed.

All in, cannabis sales taxes in neighboring Illinois eclipse 30%, second only to Washington state. And in Chicago, sales taxes can easily top 40%.

Demand is booming in western Missouri, too.

In April, Missouri retailers near the border of Kansas, where marijuana possession is also illegal, told MJBizDaily they were seeing foot traffic increase ninefold after expanding into recreational sales.

The rush of new customers, coupled with cultivation-capacity lags, has led to big spikes in wholesale flower prices and inventory shortages throughout the supply chain.

Retailers, for their part, are trying to keep pace.

To meet consumer demand, wholesale purchases per store in the Kansas City, Missouri, market increased from $97,000 in the quarter before the launch of recreational sales to $491,000 in the quarter after, a whopping 406% jump, according to LeafLink data.

In the St. Louis market, which borders southwestern Illinois, wholesale purchases per store increased nearly 57%, to $610,000, after adult-use sales began.

“The demand’s been bigger than anyone expected,” Burstein said.

A zero-sum game

In marijuana retail, particularly near state borders, it’s a zero-sum game.

The sales boom in the St. Louis market, which has more than 70 stores, has deflated business on the Illinois side of the border, where retailers have lost millions of dollars in sales since Missouri’s adult-use launch, according to quarterly reports and earnings calls.

Top executives at New York-based multistate operator Ascend Wellness Holdings, which has two shops near the Missouri border, cited revenue declines at its southern Illinois stores in recent earnings, saying it has led to suppressed margins that are expected to linger for much of the year.

Florida-based MSO Jushi Holdings, which also operates two Illinois stores near the Missouri border, reported an 8.8% year-over-year revenue decline to $66.4 million in its second quarter, partially attributing the slide to adult-use sales in Missouri.

In an Aug. 11 second-quarter earnings call, Jushi CEO James Cacioppo said total Illinois sales declined 20% from the first quarter and 40% year-over-year.

“I think we under-anticipated the pricing power initially out of the gate that retailers were going to have in Missouri,” Jushi Chief Strategy Director Trent Woloveck told MJBizDaily in an interview.

“The impact was a little bit greater than then we had thought due to that pricing for flower, vapes and infused products.”

In response, Jushi has implemented several initiatives, including adding new promotions and diversifying product SKUs (stock-keeping units) to ease the impact of declines sales in Illinois.

Northern exposure

Market dynamics in northern Illinois, particularly along the Wisconsin border, are a different story.

Wisconsin is among 10 states without a medical or recreational marijuana program.

Illinois counties bordering Wisconsin – including Lake, McHenry, Jo Daviess and Winnebago – accounted for 15.4%, or $239.7 million, of the nearly $1.6 billion in cannabis sales last year in the state, according to a fiscal analysis requested by pro marijuana-legalization lawmakers in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau report, which was released in March, cited annual statistics from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

Moreover, the report estimated about 7.8% of marijuana sales in Illinois in 2022, roughly $36.1 million, were generated by out-of-state residents traveling from Wisconsin.

Under Illinois law, out-of-state residents can only purchase recreational cannabis.

Two of Chicago-based multistate operator Cresco Labs’ 10 stores in Illinois are located near the Wisconsin border: a Sunnyside outlet in South Beloit at the border and one in Rockford, about a 30-minute drive away.

The South Beloit store often draws up to 1,000 daily visitors, according to Cresco’s national retail president, Cory Rothschild – traffic on par with the nation’s busiest marijuana retailers in highly populated areas.

It’s all the more impressive, considering that South Beloit has a population of roughly 8,000 and is more than 40 miles from Madison, the nearest city and Wisconsin’s state capital.

“It’s an extremely high-volume retail location,” Rothschild told MJBizDaily.

“South Beloit and Rockford as well are probably (among the) top dispensaries in the country.”

Maryland

Maryland is the newest recreational cannabis market, with nearly 100 medical marijuana dispensaries having converted to adult-use retail in late June.

While LeafLink wholesale data suggests about a 10% increase in wholesale product purchases statewide after the launch of adult-use sales, some retailers along Maryland’s south and eastern borders are doubling orders to meet demand.

In Elkton, near the Delaware border, stores are ordering about $41,000 in wholesale products per month, up 115% since the launch of recreational sales on July 1.

In the Rockville/Germantown area – outside of Washington DC and near the Virginia and West Virginia borders – monthly wholesale purchases have increased about 42%, to $54,000 per store, since recreational sales began.

Though MMJ dispensaries opened in West Virginia in 2021, the state still has some of the harshest marijuana laws in the country, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

Meanwhile, Virginia’s adult-use rollout has been put on ice by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

MSO MariMed’s wholesale business serving retailers in Maryland has benefited from increased demand from neighboring states, according to Jeff Jones, director of operations.

“We have retail customers that are very close to Virginia, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and I’m sure that’s driving a significant amount of their business,” he said.

The Massachusetts-based company supplies every retailer in the state with its product brands.

MariMed is planning to double its cultivation and canopy space in Maryland, with product from that expansion expected to hit the wholesale and retail markets in the first quarter of 2024, Jones said.

Its retail operation in Annapolis – the state capital is about a 45-minute drive from Pennsylvania or West Virginia – hasn’t experienced the same type of uptick from border business but is still performing well, according to Jones.

A tale of two borders

The small town of Sunland Park, New Mexico, has racked up outsized sales since the state launched recreational retail in April 2022.

The sparsely populated bedroom community is situated across the border from El Paso, Texas, and Jaurez, Mexico, which have a combined population of more than 2.2 million.

That purchasing power has helped Sunland Park’s 88063 ZIP code top the state for per-capita adult-use spending, a sales metric that divides dollars spent for cannabis by population.

Per-person recreational marijuana spending in Sunland Park was $1,044, according to an MJBizDaily analysis of data from the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department.

Its 88063 ZIP code also houses two of New Mexico’s leading cannabis stores.

Ultra Health and Everest Cannabis Co. generated nearly $6.1 million in combined sales from August 2022 to February 2023, according to MJBizDaily research.

Because business has been so strong at that Sunland Park store, Ultra Health last summer opened an adjacent location that handles only online orders for pickups.

The majority of its 42 stores were strategically aligned to capture business along New Mexico’s more than 600-mile border with Texas, the second-most-populated state.

“I would say half our business is Texas-related,” Ultra Health CEO Duke Rodriguez told MJBizDaily.

As part of that strategy, the company is planning to open an outlet in Lordsburg with hopes of drawing customers from Mexico, Texas and Arizona.

Mexico border towns share more than commerce, including family, culture and language.

Some residents own commercial properties and homes on either side of the border.

And residents tend to travel freely between Juarez, El Paso and Sunland Park to shop, dine and visit friends and family, according to Rodriguez.

Many also buy regulated marijuana, which might come as a surprise to some industry watchers, especially those unfamiliar with border business in the Southwest.

Though transporting licensed cannabis across the U.S.-Mexico border is barred under federal law, it’s fairly common, industry insiders tell MJBizDaily.

“The product is intended to be consumed within the state of New Mexico and should not cross state or international boundaries,” Ultra Health’s Rodriguez advised.

“The reality is some consumers cross these boundaries intentionally or by not being fully aware of the risk and prohibition.”

Sales in other border communities, such as Clovis and Hobbs – where Ultra Health also has stores – are also outpacing the field, another sign that Texans, and some Mexicans, are crossing the border to purchase marijuana from New Mexico marijuana retailers.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/border-sales-a-boost-for-most-cannabis-retailers-across-us/

Blogs

Cannabis Art Is Flourishing On Etsy

Published

1 year ago

September 4, 2023

ghsGFsre564

Although there is an available and thriving market for cannabis art, most e-commerce websites and platforms prohibit artists from selling art that depicts cannabis.

Is there any section or industry without cannabis influence? It’s starting to look like there isn’t any, as, throughout history, cannabis users have displayed their creative capabilities in various ways. And now cannabis art is flourishing on Etsy

Cannabis users and enthusiasts are some of the most innovative people you’ll ever meet, and their inspiring works of art have been admired for decades. Most of the works created by cannabis enthusiasts have also sparked debate for centuries, dating William Shakespeare’s times.

Cannabis and the creative arts

Research has shown a fantastic connection between cannabis and creativity, an intriguing relationship that is attributed to the plant’s remarkable properties. Cannabis interacts with the human brain through the endocannabinoid system and receptors in the brain.

Extensive works of research show that creative prowess and imagination heighten when users consume cannabis, thus enabling divergent and distinct thought patterns. Hence the reason great men and women like Maya Angelou and Louis Armstrong celebrated the impact of cannabis on their creative careers.A more significant percentage of the creative industry is also full of trailblazers who have affirmed that cannabis is a significant influence on their success. For such artists, marijuana inspires the way they hone their crafts and showcase their ideas.

Despite such a show of artistic brilliance, some artists struggle with finding a place to showcase their works. Why is this the case? Why can’t artist showcase their cannabis-inspired art?

The problem with finding a market showcase

Although there is an available and thriving market for cannabis art, most e-commerce websites and platforms prohibit artists from selling art that depicts cannabis. Some of these merchant shops also flag items such as CBD paraphernalia and insist that such things cannot be sold.

With such restrictions, creative artists fail to get an adequate space to share their creations with the world. Artists feel shut out of the market space, and then COVID-19 happened.

The Coronavirus Pandemic made everything worse for cannabis artists and businesses to maintain operations, which created a disturbing gap in the market.

The Solution: A cannabis-themed marketplace

As the challenge became increasingly worse, two outspoken cannabis advocates co-founded an online marketplace called The Artsy Leaf. Space was set-up as a multi-vendor marketplace to make it possible for artists to display their works.

The co-founders Abbey Weintraub Sklar and Rebecca Goldberg discovered that there were many international craftsmen, women, and artists with products that weren’t shared on any platform. The artists’ products are unique cannabis-friendly items that were mostly scattered on censored tech platforms that limited their exposure to the world.

Goldberg and Skylar understood the importance of an online vendor marketplace created for creators and buyers in the cannabis industry. COVID-19 and its resultant impact was also the inspiration behind an online space.

Initially, it was supposed to be an in-person CBD marketplace, but the pandemic made physical meetings impossible for buying and selling purposes. Hence the reason the co-founders made it an online space with a highly functional website.

The Artsy Leaf

The Artsy Leaf marketplace replaces other online platforms that were too restrictive for those in the cannabis industry. Some of those unfriendly sites didn’t provide room for tagging, describing, and listing CBD products, making it difficult for artists to advertise their products.

But with the Artsy Leaf marketplace, vendors and small business owners have maximum freedom to advertise their cannabis items. The platform also incorporates advertising with SEO consulting and doesn’t hide its processing fees.

The co-founders maintain that their desire to help all cannabis vendors succeed drives the marketplace. The website launched with an initial 14 vendors, and with its viable operational approach, more vendors are expected to join this revolutionary idea.

A virtual cannabis marketplace is what the world needs right now to bridge the gap between artists and buyers. Cannabis-inspired pieces will always remain relevant globally because of how unique and disruptive they can be. The Artsy Leaf is the right incubation place for ideas, purchases, and value exchange.

The future of the online marketplace

The future of the online cannabis marketplace for artists looks promising, and why is this so important? Well, cannabis is gaining a lot of momentum in America, with more states legalizing marijuana more people will gain access to weed, and when they do, they may be inspired to create unique art pieces or be looking to purchase unique cannabis inspired works.

Either way, the cannabis world needs an outlet for artists to share their works, and this is where platforms like the Artsy Leaf become crucial. Other online platforms may start to look into adjusting their policies regarding this issue because this sector is about to explode.

It is time to change the current status quo on the other E-commerce sites not allowing cannabis artists to showcase their genius.

Bottom line

The world is awakening to the ever-increasing potentials of cannabis. Through marketplaces like the Artsy Leaf, cannabis artists and art lovers can meet, interact and sustain the cannabis industry.

Without platforms like these, cannabis-inspired art will gradually decline, and that isn’t good for the cannabis industry at all. We must all continue to encourage the establishments of platforms (online and offline) where artists can thrive. Budding cannabis artists need more places to express themselves, and the Artsy Leaf is a suitable platform.

If you are a cannabis-themed artist, an aspiring one, or a small business owner and you struggle with promoting your work, you can visit The Artsy Leaf.

Source: https://thefreshtoast.com/cannabusiness/cannabis-art-is-flourishing-on-etsy/

Blogs

Beer Lingo, A Guide To Becoming A Better Patron

Published

1 year ago

August 24, 2023

ghsGFsre564

Bars are wondrous places full of beer, chatter, celebration, ways to get drunk and opportunities to meet friends. But they are also tricky. As with most niche scenes, there is lingo you need to know, terms you should memorize and slang with which you should show facility. What’s Imperial mean? How do you pronounce “weisse?” And how much should I tip my bartender? Hang on, because you’re about to find out the answers to all of these. Here is your beer lingo, a guide to becoming a better patron. BTW, the Slavic word ‘beer’ came from the verb ‘to drink’. Initially, beer was any kind of drink.

Hops

https://giphy.com/embed/3oEduIpVOVcupPXcFG
via GIPHY

Small green pine cone-like buds that grow on vines. Their oils and acids preserve and flavor beer.

Hoppy

The thing snobby people refer to about beer, and what people who hardly ever drink beer say they don’t like. Hoppy is often used as a synonym for the word ‘bitter,’ but there are plenty of beers that use loads of hops and don’t taste the least bit bitter.

Malt

https://giphy.com/embed/3orieWw0snNJFCNxNC
via GIPHY

The sugars used to sweeten beer.

Malty

https://giphy.com/embed/2yxsvbwxQ4TUk
via GIPHY

That syrupy, sweet flavor in beer drunk by amateurs.

Perry

https://giphy.com/embed/d4bm8acp2cuHpLFK
via GIPHY

A cider-like drink made exclusively with pears.

Imperial

https://giphy.com/embed/3o7TKGVVeQK1j0fbe8
via GIPHY

A word out in front of certain beer styles (Stout, IPA) meaning they’re much stronger.

Mead

https://giphy.com/embed/yIXVnzpoNiE0w
via GIPHY

Beer produced from honey, water and yeast.

Ale

https://giphy.com/embed/lAayRqqtfuqju
via GIPHY

Ale is brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. It is a maltier, top-fermented beer.

Lager

https://giphy.com/embed/dM34XK49ulmDu
via GIPHY

A beer that is effervescent and light in color and body. it is a dry, bottom-fermented drink.

IPA

Stands for India Pale Ale because it was originally brewed in the United Kingdom and shipped to British soldiers in India during colonization (which is still basically happening). It is made with more hops, to give it a stronger flavor. There’s no standardised threshold at which a pale ale becomes an IPA, though.

Cask-Conditioned

https://giphy.com/embed/dg3i5NvtNCr8A
via GIPHY

The process in which a draught beer retains yeast to enable a secondary fermentation to take place in a cask in the pub cellar. Cask conditioned beer is the traditional drink of the British pub, and served properly, it can be among the most subtle and beguiling of beer types.

Fresh Hop

https://giphy.com/embed/3oEdv8lx4icZfRYEPS
via GIPHY

Beer made with recently picked hops that haven’t been dried. It provides distinctively grassy, plant-like, and “green” flavor profiles without the bitterness associated with IPAs and other beers featuring copious dried hops.

Weisse

https://giphy.com/embed/qgqaIJrAgqawE
via GIPHY

Pronounced ‘Vice’ is the counterpart in German for “white,” most commonly used in reference to the sour Berliner type of beer, but also sometimes to the Bavarian type, as in weissbier. Weizen is the German word for “wheat,” most often applied to the Bavarian wheat beer style.

Microbrew

https://giphy.com/embed/l0MYtSjYO26kguz1C
via GIPHY

Compared to macrobreweries, which produce millions of barrels per year, microbreweries produce a relatively small amount of beer—between 1,000 to no more than 15,000 barrels annually. But aside from their size, what makes microbreweries special is that they’re known for brewing specialty beers.

The type of beer you do not use for beer pong unless you make more money than your bartender.

Pint

https://giphy.com/embed/DGWAx8d3IkICs
via GIPHY

The size of glass most beers are served in, and also the thing you dropped and smashed when you were trying to text your Uber driver.

Dive Bar

The kind of bar you actually really like going to, unless you’re trying to impress a date or a friend. It is typically a small, unglamorous, eclectic, old-style drinking establishment with inexpensive yet strong drinks; it may feature dim lighting, shabby or dated decor, neon beer signs, packaged beer sales, cash-only service, and local clientele

BTW, the strongest beer in the world has a strength of 67.5%. It was created in 2017 by the Scottish brewery Brewmeister. The beer is called Snake Venom

Pickup Line

https://giphy.com/embed/EU1obAC38GuWI
via GIPHY

The thing you should never say because it never works.

Tip

https://giphy.com/embed/kfGijLoNvBQ08
via GIPHY

The amount of money you give a bartender after a transaction, which should be more than you initially think to give because A) most bartenders are relatively poor and deserve dough, and B) if you tip a lot you’ll be remembered C) if you tip too little you’ll be remembered D )

How do you want to be remembered?