Cannabis Strain Cheat Sheet

If you’ve been consuming a lot of cannabis, you would notice that each new strain contains a different flavor and smell within the product.  Some flowers give off a pungent aroma while others taste similar to a grapefruit.  You’ve probably had a joint containing Lemon Skunk and noticed the jolts of energy rushing up and down your body.  With more strains being discovered every year, new flowers are popping up in dispensaries for customers to try out.

This is actually not a coincidence – some cannabis strains actually DO smell/taste like a grapefruit.  With that being the case, does this affect cannabis’s usability as a healing product?  If yes, then how so?  Is there a simpler way to browse through over hundreds of cannabis strains to choose from?

To start off this interesting point, I’d like to say this right now – this post will NOT get complicated!  You don’t have to become a world-class cannabis connoisseur to understand the workings of terpenes within cannabis.  This is will be getting down to the basics, not be a lesson in Advanced Cannabis Chemistry III.

Back to the questions — these myriads of flavors definitely affect cannabis’s usability.  Each strain’s effect will be based on its terpene content.  Remember my post back in April when we took a tour of the terpenes found within cannabis?  If you haven’t, then you’ll probably want to start the journey here.

Various terpenes (Caryophyllene, Limonene, Linalool) contain differentiated effects.  Limonene provides a mood-elevating effect while Myrcene has a sedating effect that will have you glued to the couch.  Not only are these terpenes featured within cannabis strains, but they are also found in other edible items.

Here’s a perfect example of terpene flavors overlapping among various edibles.  Let’s suppose we have an orange in the morning.  We either drink orange juice or eat an orange with our meal.  Consuming oranges has a lot of amazing health benefits, with one of them being that it gives us lots of energy in the morning.  Ever wonder why soccer moms/dads packed oranges for the team each game?  Eating those orange slices is PERFECT for that jolt to start running around the soccer field.

Now let’s move on to our strain of California Orange.  California Orange is a 50/50 indica/sativa hybrid strain that produces a sweet citrus aroma.  Consuming some California Orange will produce an upbeat, clear-headed effect that will leave you energized for the day.  It’s the citrus, orange aroma from the terpene profile that will induce the energizing effects of the California Orange.  Other than loading your body up with some THC, you’re also ingesting some healthy terpenes that come with amazing benefits.

Just like the orange juice you have in the morning, California Orange will produce the same energizing effects.  The same goes for other strains and their various terpenes.  Vanilla Kush has some sedating effects because of its vanilla-like taste.

If you’re ever confused about what cannabis strain is right for you, then think about what edible items produce similar effects.  Drinking coffee will keep you going and focused, so a strain with a coffee flavor would be right for you (like Chocolate Thai or LA Chocolat!).  Most berries will leave you relaxed, so consuming Blueberry Kush or Grape OX would be good for the night.  Your search for the right cannabis strain is based on the right terpene profile that is in other edible items (see how simple this can be?).

So that’s the ‘cheat sheet’ of discovering the right cannabis strains for you.  Lemon-scented strains will keep you energized while scents of grape will leave you glued to the couch for a while.  Just remember what terpenes are good for a certain situation and you are just one step closer to finding the right cannabis for you.

That’s all for today.  Hope you enjoyed this simplified process of discovering the right cannabis strains!

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Brandless: Simply Products, No Brand

Brands can be found in every kind of product or service offered.  Whether it is the water bottle right on your desk or the mattress you are sleeping in, there is some brand identity attached to what you are currently using.  There is always some specific sign (whether it be a logo or picture) that showcases which company created the product.  Other than the artistic design, the other obvious reason for creating the brand identity is simply getting your name out there in the world.

Nintendo engraves their logo on all of their products, including their home consoles.  We all know that what Nintendo games look like since we are familiar with their logo.  Not only are we familiar with the logo, but we hear news about how the company is doing on a daily basis (thanks to PR!).  It just goes to show how important branding is in the business world.

But in another sense, what could products look like WITHOUT branding?  Are there such products that don’t have any branded image or logo attached to it?  Is there even such an concept such as ‘brand-less products’ that exist in this world?

To start off with that last question… YES there is.  In this technological-advanced 21^st century, brand-less products DO exist.  Brandless, a company based in San Francisco and Minneapolis, was created in July 11^th, 2017.  Their site provides customers with a wide variety of food and household products we use every day.  The catch? NO branded image or logo is presented within the product.

These products may be brand-less, but their simplified design technique cuts the cost down.  A majority of these convenient items cost only $3, while some are on sale.  No branding work means the cost of the product decreases in value.

For those of you who aren’t keen to the communications world of business, it’s time I discuss how branding works (we’ll just go with cereal as an example).  You get a national brand collecting a material from a source.  The company manufactures the product on a daily basis.  Clumps of the material get mixed together to get a type of cereal created.  Once a sample of the product has been made, it gets packaged into the unique design (THIS is where the branding comes in).

The branded image/logo design was already created, so the cereal gets inserted into the bag.  You are getting the cereal you wanted, but you also take home the BRAND that made the delivery.  We rarely ponder about how many branded products we take home since we are busy enjoying what we purchased.

So what do we want to take home when we go shopping?  What do we NEED to take home at the end of the day?  Are we purchasing the product or the brand itself?

It’s ingenious ideas like Brandless that make us stop and think about what kind of role branding has in the business world.  Brandless challenged the age-old concept of branded goods or services by providing products no identity whatsoever.  This idea goes outside the box when it comes to branding and works to showcase the low cost as well.

I really thought this was an interesting concept!  It’s definitely something cool that I stumbled on while roaming through the internet.  Brands are all around the city of Boston, so it was something different to see brand-less products.  This is something I could really get into if they opened a pop-up store (or one that’s fully operating!).

In the end, Brandless went bold with their product design strategy by offering a brand-less concept.  While other brands lunged forward with updating their traditional brand image or logo, Brandless worked to sell the product itself rather than the glitz and glamour of the brand identity.  It goes to show that there IS an audience that doesn’t purchase products based off of their favorite brands.

If you’re a consumer that enjoys buying simplified products, check out brandless.com for some cheap products without a brand identity!

Smokin’ Hot Surgeons Calling the Kettle Black

To start today’s post, I have an interesting story to share:  I was staffing for an event at the Hynes Convention Center this past weekend.  The event was catered to the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (in English, heart surgery).  My role at the event was line monitor, which was to monitor the pre-registration line to make sure things were running smoothly.

Once the line quieted down, I got to take a 15-minute break.  With my CBD vaporizer at hand, I went for a stroll outside.  What I saw outside was absolutely baffling to me.  I went out the doors to see members of the event…smoking cigarettes.

Seriously guys…I was watching PROFESSIONAL heart surgeons smoking cigarettes outside of the Hynes Convention Center.  Some members smoked typical cigarettes while others smoked a cigar.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I witnessed surgeons having a smoke before heading back to their class.

Think about this for a minute:  these are licensed surgeons that work fixing the human heart to prevent it from stopping.  They were admitted into medical school for over TEN years studying everything they needed to know about heart surgery.  Ten years of studying, labs, homework, papers, and other school work and yet some of them smoke cigarettes during their break.  Cigarettes are the #1 cause of many heart problems in America and there are actually heart surgeons who smoke.  This observation was absolutely MIND-BLOWING to witness.  How do we have heart surgeons smoking cigarettes?  What happened?

What happened?  AMERICA happened!  But in all seriousness, this is an interesting topic to discuss.  Employees in the medical field always caution us about smoking cigarettes every year.  Doctors and nurses ask us things like how much alcohol we drink, how much cigarettes do we smoke, do we smoke cannabis (if so, how much), and if we consume any other drugs.  Our doctors can only inform us about what’s causing the problem (there WERE doctors that advertised cigarettes on television, but that’s for another discussion!).

In a surprising study, less than a quarter of doctors smoke cigarettes while nurses smoke twice as much.  While these numbers aren’t so high, it’s still alarming to hear of medical professionals smoking cigarettes during their break time.  The irony around this is that doctors/nurses advise us against smoking cigarettes, yet there are some that smoke during their free time.

If we want to better understand this strange phenomenon, let’s shift gears from cigarettes to the obesity crisis.  Over two-thirds of Americans are considered overweight and about a quarter of people are obese.  Doctors and nurses always advise us to exercise on a daily basis as well as eating healthy food each week.  In a surprising twist, some of these doctors/nurses are overweight themselves (FYI, there are MORE overweight nurses than doctors!).  So not only do we have medical professionals smoking cigarettes, but now there’s some that are overweight or obese!

Public Relations deals with the reputation of a company or businesses.  Medical professionals have a serious moral/ethics code to abide by and keeping a clean record is a serious deal.  One misstep and they could jeopardize their entire careers to the point where they lose their medical license.  Are cigarette smoking and weight issues part of the moral and ethics code that doctors/nurses abide by?  If not, then those destructive behaviors should definitely be added into the list.

I’m not saying that every doctor needs to look like McSteamy or McDreamy from Grey’s Anatomy (although that would be a perfect world to live in!), but they should consider what kind of example they are setting for their patients.  Patients will learn through EXAMPLES set by doctors or nurses that tell them how they can lose weight or what steps to take on quitting cigarettes.  If I were an overweight/obese patient coming in for a physical check-up, I wouldn’t be motivated to lose weight if my doctor or nurse wasn’t physically healthy.  How can doctors/patients expect us to be healthy if they can’t take care of themselves?

Here’s another analogy to consider:  police cops are always advising us against drunk driving or doing drugs in this country.  They come into grammar schools to teach kids the dangers of drugs (cocaine, meth, alcohol, heroin, etc) and how they destroy your life.  It would be EXTREMELY unprofessional if those cops were to snort some blow or inject heroin after the lessons.  Kids aren’t going to listen to you once they catch you with that joint or needle you were about to use.  Doctors/nurses who smoke that advise us against smoking is the same as cops doing drugs while telling people to not do coke or smoke crystal methamphetamine.

One last thing to consider with this ironic tale:  what if the problem was us?  What if the overall health in America has gone so downhill that medical professionals have turned to smoking to combat the stress of treating their patients?  Could the stress of so many unhealthy patients have created a snowball effect where doctors/nurses have given up on teaching us how to stay healthy?  Have we lowered the bar so far down that doctors have to smoke a pack (or two) of cigarettes to get through the day?  Is this what American healthcare has come to?  If doctors/nurses can’t set the right example for living a healthy lifestyle, than who can?

As a human being, I have very little health problems I deal with.  I eat right each week and I exercise every now and then (when I’m not at the gym, I am walking around Boston or doing some cardio exercise).  While I don’t smoke cigarettes myself, I do consume cannabis as well as vape CBD oil on a daily basis.  My doctor isn’t overweight/obese and I’m unsure if he smokes cigarettes during his free time.  I wouldn’t consider myself overweight (although I could lose some of that belly fat!), but I am well aware of many health problems going on in America.

With that, hearing about doctors/nurses smoking cigarettes sends an eerie message to us patients.  If the rate of medical professionals consuming cigarettes or are overweight is increasing, then we really need to do a double-take on America’s healthcare system.  We don’t need to force every doctor to look like something out of General Hospital, but they should consider what kind of message they are sending to us.  An overweight doctor won’t motivate me to cut back on the pizzas and fried calamari if that’s all he eats every week.

And as far as people’s health goes, maybe we need to stop our bitching and do the hard work necessary to live a longer life.  You and ONLY you can take the steps necessary to be healthier.  No doctor/nurse will provide you with some magic pill that will make you become just like them.  They follow the same diet/exercise routine just like everyone else.  Here are some tips if you want to look like McSteamy/McDreamy:  cut back on smoking cigarettes, exercise daily, and eat healthier every day.

Don’t Panic, the Food’s Organic!

Yesterday was the second time in a week that I dined at an organic café.  After getting a haircut and shave in Beverly, I decided to check out the Organic Garden Café on 294 Cabot Street.  I wandered into what looked like a hippie-style atmosphere that had colorful paintings hanging up on the wall.  The menu itself provided food items that I rarely come across in normal restaurants.  Various dishes contained food such as beets, sprouts, kale, avocado, spinach, bay leaves, mushrooms, and other toppings.

I decided to go for the Monk Bowl with lettuce, brown rice, and vegetarian chili.  My meal featured a colorful array of fresh veggies covering over the brown rice underneath.  The meal itself…was absolutely delicious!  Not only was this the healthiest meal I had, but it wasn’t filling where I was too full to eat anything else.  After I got home from eating at Organic Café, I was still feeling hungry for the pizza I had for dinner.

These vegetarian organic cafés have become my new favorite trend since last week.  My first trip to an organic cafe was when my friend took me to Life Alive in Salem.  I had no idea what to expect when walking in, but it had a cool hippie vibe to it.  The employees dressed in tie-dye fashion and the place smelled of steamed vegetables that were cooking in the kitchen.  Once I got in line, I got The Lover Bowl and a Hive Alive drink.

Even though there were some food items I haven’t had before, The Lover Bowl was absolutely amazing.  It featured carrots, beets, mushrooms kale, broccoli, brown rice, and ginger nama shoyu sauce.  I finished the whole bowl and could not believe how delicious it was.  Life Alive is definitely a restaurant I would go back to if I were in Salem again.

So what I’m trying to get at with my random rambling is that you should definitely check out an organic café if you’re looking to eat some real healthy foods.  Eating a side salad at a regular restaurant is great, but organic cafés contain meals that are out of this world.  The meals are less filling and you’ll feel more energized after walking out of the place.  Life Alive and the Organic Garden Café are the only restaurants I know of within my area, but I’m sure that there are plenty of organic cafés within the Boston area (there’s a Life Alive in Cambridge, so there’s that!).

As a health-conscious young man, I’m always searching for the latest health food trends around Boston.  Organic cafés like Life Alive are vital for people that conscious about the food they eat daily.  Regular restaurants are great, but I do crave healthy foods to keep my mind and body energized for the week.  They say a healthy mind is a healthy body (and vice-versa), so it’s important to keep them working properly as you get older.

In the end, I recommend checking out an organic café the next time you’re looking for something unique to eat.  Not only do these meals taste delicious, but they will leave you even more healthier than before.  Now you’ll remember why your parents always persuaded you to eat your veggies!

Pass the Heinz – Advertisement By Don Draper!

Welcome back folks!  It’s been an interesting week so far, what with the 1-year anniversary of MakeSandcastlesNotWar and the recent post about the ‘medical-grade’ cannabis the government has been studying with (you know, that mutated bird shit covered with stems and dirt!).  We’re done gagging over that god-awful cannabis, so now it’s time to shift gears to something more appetizing…and it originated from an award-winning TV series about advertising!

On the sixth season of Mad Men, Don Draper was asked to generate ideas for Heinz’s new advertising campaign.  The concept was simple: three different pictures of food products with the slogan ‘Pass the Heinz’ hovering over the food.  Heinz representatives disliked the idea because the Heinz ketchup bottle wasn’t featured in the images.  In Don’s perspective, he believed that the ads were “clean, simple, and incomplete” and that the consumer would immediately know what was missing — the ketchup.  Nevertheless, Heinz shot down the idea and decided to move along with another concept.

While Mad Men was just a periodical fiction drama TV series, some of their storyline is based off of real advertisements from the 60s-70s (like the Coca-Cola song on the series finale, for example!).  Some advertising ideas took off while others were set on the shelf for another time.  While it’s been almost 50 years since Don Draper pitched that idea, Heinz decided to take it off the shelf for their next advertising campaign.

Heinz decided to greenlight Don Draper’s ad idea, running almost exactly as he intended.  This ad campaign is partly a PR stunt and partly just on-brand communications that will surely delight fans of Mad Men.  AMC’s most popular periodic drama is celebrating its 10^th year anniversary on July.  As a bonus, the ads will be credited to Heinz’s current agency David Miami as well as Don’s fictional firm Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.  It’s a classic ad idea that couldn’t be any relevant than today.

I thought it was SO cool to hear that one of Don Draper’s ideas will become a REAL advertising idea for Heinz!  I loved Mad Men when I binged-watch the series a few years ago and always rooted for Don Draper each episode.  Don was one of the most creative characters I ever had the pleasure of watching.  Coming from such a broken background, he came up with some really creative advertisements and he explained the premise behind each one.  Advertising may not be my biggest passion, but I truly enjoyed seeing what the advertising world was like.

This is a win-win scenario for advertising as well as public relations.  Mad Men was one of the most popular series on AMC and what better way to celebrate its upcoming 10-year anniversary than featuring Don’s original pitch to Heinz.  It’s interesting how television can spur up intriguing ideas that we would have never drawn up until we actually watch the series.  Sometimes the most creative concepts can be seen from our very own television sets.

Kudos to Don Draper for his pitch to Heinz over 50 years ago!  This campaign will give him the credit he deserved for the idea.  Who knows what other classic ideas will be pulled off the shelf to use in the future.  For right now, let’s enjoy Heinz’s newest ad campaign that was originally pitched by Don Draper!