Celebrate Normalization
By Danielle Guercio
The Grower’s Series is an example of what the luxury cannabis niche could look like in the years to come. When a trend starts to rise, you can feel it in the air. In this first wave of legality, we’re seeing projects that will win over more hearts and minds than ever before.
In states with longstanding cannabis programs, like California, the expansion from legal medical to legal recreational use has stoked the imagination of some of the world’s biggest creatives, like Francis Ford Coppola’s first cannabis curation with the Humboldt Brothers: The Grower’s Series, a limited-edition collection bringing new highs to the Coppola name by showcasing some of 2018’s best cultivars from their offerings.
Three premium grams, plus paper and a pipe, are precisely what you need to get it started. Considering that the rise of super-premium cannabis is only in its infancy, this variety box makes a great birthday gift or host gift, or even an impromptu game-changer for someone who was previously not on the green team.
Humboldt Brothers are celebrating their first legal recreational harvest, highlighted by this high-profile collab, whose three phenotypes of craft cannabis were hand-chosen by Francis Ford Coppola himself, from over 20 of the grow team’s top selections.
Long known for wine, Coppola knows what an integral part of social culture intoxicants can be. The iconic filmmaker has been bringing wine culture mainstream since he produced his first vintage in 1977.
Humboldt Brothers proprietors Brett Todoroff and Johnny Deim’s expertise lies in another beloved consumable that requires as much earthbound knowledge as winemaking, and it’s more important to the celebratory lifestyle now than it ever. They believe that cannabis is a tremendous aid to those who produce art. “Cannabis has been, and continues to be, integral to the creative process of many individuals.” For now, any influence that cannabis could have had on Coppola’s signature films would be purely speculative, but we know that it’s been there for many directors throughout the decades.
Surely, Coppola is enough of a connoisseur of bacchanalia to make the journey into the cannabis industry, so this curation doesn’t seem out of place. About these two staples of partying, Coppola says quite poetically, “Wine and cannabis are two ancient and bounteous gifts of Mother Nature, linked by great care, terroir and temperateness. Expertise making one applies to the other.”
This love of terroir led Coppola to Humboldt Brothers and their care-oriented operation. Dime and Todoroff told the Emerald Magazine, “They were very interested in honoring the craft of the grower, our team, growing practices and Humboldt County being the best appellation in the world to cultivate cannabis.” Humboldt Brothers have a few farms in different microclimates throughout Humboldt County, which they use to their advantage, not unlike a vintner.
We’re giving you insider tips on each of the cultivars inside, and which Coppola wines to try them with, even though you must purchase them separately until regulations loosen up. The first selection, Blue Skittles, is grown at only slight elevation at Benbow Farms. It’s a hardy strain that took very well to this year’s conditions, and the growers recommend taking advantage of the zippy fruit flavors with a glass of Director’s Cut Zinfandel. Fruit-heavy strains make for great party friends, keeping you soothed but not in your own head.
Nothing says “celebration” like a glass (or, in this case, a convenient aluminum can) of rosé. Coppola’s hand-picked Tangie from Salmon Creek was grown on a high, cool mountainside. The citrusy, piney undertones and happy effects of this cultivar would make a great team with Sofia Brut Rosé.
When special times approach, many people reach for the most popular strains to add some flair to their gathering. Sour Diesel has always been a potent party fuel, and sipping on a joint while you sip on a Coppola Diamond Sauvignon Blanc is sheer celebration genius. This Sour Diesel grew at some elevation where heat and cool could work on those special flowers to make them extra sticky and fragrant.
Deim and Todoroff shed more light on the audience this unique project choice is speaking to. “This collection is targeting the cannabis-curious consumer. They may have tried cannabis in the past, but the cannabis of today isn’t like the cannabis of yesteryear. It was important that the three selected strains all offered very distinct effects so the consumer could (re)discover their preferences.”
Winning over Generation X and Boomer cannabis consumers is a smart business move, because each demographic has massive buying power in today’s society. Potency and quality aren’t always enough to set a product apart from the rest, and this collab was designed with much more than getting super-baked in mind.
Humboldt Brothers mention a sound reason for not going overboard on potency: “It was also a deliberate choice to make sure that the THC levels did not go above 20%. The ritual of smoking has generally been something that one does with others. Sharing and passing, taking more than one hit. The goal is for continued enjoyment, not getting a consumer blasted after one hit.”
It’s no big surprise that people with cannabis and wine connections want to work together to improve our favorite social substances. And while you can’t work with both under the same brand name for the time being, this curation bodes very well for the future of both spaces.
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