Sunday, 19 December 2021

Omura X- Uncomplicated Sophisticated and Elegant Cannabis Enjoyment

I want to tell you about a most elegant solution to a vexing problem. The problem is combustion, and the solution is vapor. But the solution, in this case, is not like other hand-held vaporizers for flower that I’ve used. This one is truly unique. You don’t have to handle hot, spent herbs, nor do you have to clean anything after using it.

The device itself is elegant, about three inches tall and about an inch wide, rounded at the ends, shaped like a woman’s compact or European style lipstick. The color is burnished gold, luxurious and subtle. There is a brushed finish, ostensibly to keep the thing from slipping out of your hand.

It’s very easy to hold, and the shape doesn’t shout cannabis pipe. The device takes tiny paper tubes filled with precisely the correct amount of cannabis. You can choose from a plethora of fine cannabis growers for a pure experience, or you can fill your own with the handy and classic empty tubes to fill with your own choice of cannabis or even hemp. I opened the little drawer containing the fill-your-own tube and ground up some really fine herbs from Simple Farms in California that found their way into my Gemini grinder. How did that happen? 

Carrier Pigeon? Perhaps.

The overall experience of inhalation with the Omura X is gentle and certainly not forced. This device does not get hot in your hand, nor does it require a difficult cleaning regimen with small tools that get lost easily.

It is easy to love the Omura X because it doesn’t scream pot-smoker. This tool is classy over flashy, and it fits into your hand with comfort and ease. After inhaling the hemp sticks, I wanted something a bit racier, so I filled my own tubes with that amazing cannabis and enjoyed a lovely sesh without filling my office with smoke. What I achieved is exceptional in scope, I surprised myself by the quality and the verve of this device.

To use the device, you tenderly sip the little cannabis-filled straw to reveal two different temperatures of terpene-rich vapor. The first temperature is low. The second is high. You cannot read the degrees, but that’s really unimportant at the end of the day. You’ll get really high off low or high; low offers a bit more taste and a longer sesh time, it seems. High gets you stoned, right quick. I received mine with prefilled hemp sticks, and they closely resembled the THC-rich cannabis that I would usually use. They had great flavor from the Omura X, and the aroma was not acerbic in any way. A very relaxing and comforting experience.

To fill the tubes, you grind your favorite herbs quite finely in your grinder, then dip the short end into your grinder, pressing your mixture into the tiny tube. You’ll know when it is full. You want to be able to pull vapor through it, so don’t overfill it and make it hard to inhale through. It’s really a learned art. Not hard at all to figure out. More a learning curve in the positive demeanor.

I usually have a lot of problems with coughing after smoking cannabis—especially poorly cured versions. The Omura X makes the entire experience of smoking a joy. The comfort of vapor over smoke is priceless. And to know that you really cannot smell that vapor. It dissipates quickly makes for a less offensive environment to others. I love how it makes me feel. Very comfortable, easy to enjoy, fun to taste. Easy to share- because each tube is one use only.

I dig it! Five Stars!

Cost? About a hundred dollars, US.

https://www.omura.com/series-x

Strains?

Caliva – California

Tradecraft Farms – California

TSO – California

Social Nature – California

Revolutionary Clinics – Massachusetts

· Omura Series X is a first-of-its-kind whole flower vaporizer with a dual heat source oven inside.

· Oven uses Heat-not-Burn technology to gently heat the whole flower through a patented heat curve.

· Components are housed in a slim design by award-winning industrial designer Michael Young, offering one of the smallest and technically sophisticated vaporizers in the market. 

· Omura has made 1,000 Series XLEs for the Holidays using knurled magnesium casing, each engraved with their own collector’s number. Each device also comes with a limited edition Flowerstick™ Holding Charging Base.

· Creates an elevated social experience that leaves minimal vapor and no lingering odor.

· Customers can choose to enjoy their flower via fill-your-own sustainable flower sticks, included in the bundle, or prefilled, dosed CBD or THC options are available.

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CBD Product Packaging Whats Important?

As more companies increasingly join the CBD product marketplace due to rip-roaring sales of hemp-derived products, every aspect of your product’s marketing has to resonate right with consumer expectations so that your product stands out among all the items-to-buy on the shelf. Terrific packaging is vital to catching the eye, and granting instant recognizability, while altogether presenting a good appealing “face” for your brand.

Let’s take a look on what elements work best for a stellar packaging of your CBD products:

 

1 – The Right Logo

According to logo designers, warm colors, hand-drawn imperfections and rounded lines work best in the crafting of a CBD product logo that appeals and captivates. This particular combination of design elements tends to calm and relax people who gaze at the logo, the experts say. What also works best is a logo with a sharp, sleek finish; straight, clean edges; and neutral, cool colors, they add. These two options of logo design elements are great conversation starters to have with your team of expert designers, in your pursuit of a logo that fits the personality of your company to a “t”.

 

2 — The Right Colors

Hot and trending packaging color schemes in the CBD market are any and all colors that remind the customer of Nature, making green and brown clear first choices. Blue also “clicks” with customers – with many a design professional saying it’s the best color for conveying trust. However, as the market for CBD products continues to evolve and change, brand packaging in completely different colors from the ones just mentioned may be particularly eye-appealing, as CBD product shelfs are packed with packages in Nature colors. Whatever colors you fancy, do diligent work in finding, shopping and ultimately, picking the right band of packaging designers for you. These people can expertly guide you down any bold, maverick path to a truly unique packaging color scheme, or to a color palette that is conservatively pleasant.

 

3 — Finding a Font that Fits

The typography used in CBD packaging design and branding can either make or break your brand. Know your target audience well and carefully explore your brand personality before settling on a choice of typography. If your niche is CBD wellness, for example, a refined typeface such as contemporary clean sans serif font or a simple serif font can settle the question. If your brand has a casual feel about it, a slightly bolder font – for instance, a hand-drawn font – can convey this well. Find a font that fits your brand personality.

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How to SEO Cannabinoid Related Writing

In any industry, search engine optimization (SEO) is vital. Millions of people turn to search engines, like Google, to find what they need every day. As a company trying to satisfy your customers’ needs, ranking near the top of their search results is essential to them finding you and not your competition.

When you SEO cannabinoid related content, there are some additional and unique challenges. SEO usually relies on a multifaceted approach, with multiple avenues of drawing people in and achieving higher standing with the search engines. Unfortunately, some of those tactics are off limits to cannabis businesses, forcing them to alter their strategy.

 

Facebook and Google Ads Are Out

Most businesses rely on paid advertising to supplement their organic search engine ranking. Targeted ads put your product or service directly in front of your desired customer base. It’s a powerful tool, and with some of the Internet’s top players, like Facebook and Google, facilitating, you’re guaranteed to get found.

For cannabis businesses, though, it’s not an option. Both Google and Facebook forbid advertising for cannabis businesses. It’s against their respective advertising policies, and they will catch and suspend you if you try. This is true for both legal marijuana and CBD advertising. As of now, paid ads are not an option.

 

Organic SEO is Key

The picture might look bleak without the possibility of ads, but there’s a more powerful tool still ready and waiting: organic SEO. Organic SEO isn’t as straightforward and simple as paying for a few ads, but it builds a lasting and meaningful presence on the web, that will continually drive traffic and sales.  On top of all that, it’s completely free.

Organic SEO refers to the technique of tailoring your website and its content to appeal to search engine algorithms. Search engine algorithms determine which sites are most authoritative and relevant to a person’s search. So, appealing to the algorithm’s criteria will naturally rank your cannabinoid related content higher within search results.

 

Know Your Reader’s Search Intent

When you’re looking to improve your SEO, the first thing you need to take into account is search intent. Put yourself in the mind of your ideal customer, and consider what they’ll be looking for and why. Your content should match that intent. You should also be sure that titles and meta descriptions for pages also match the search intent you’re trying to answer.

 

Use Links Strategically

Links are key. Internal linking between pages is another major factor in search ranking.  Your pages should make reference to one another in a logical and intuitive way to make the site easier to navigate and relevant information simple to find.

External links matter too. Linking to authoritative and reputable sites helps give your site credibility. If possible, it’s also extremely beneficial to have reputable sites link to your pages. Google and other search engines take the links to your content, or backlinks, as a site vouching for your credibility and improve your site’s ranking.

 

Do Your Keyword Research

When it comes to the content itself, everything comes back around to search intent. Once you have an idea what your customers are searching for, it’s time to do keyword research. You can use tools like Semrush or even Google Trends to test out different keywords and see how many searches they’re getting. Then take a look at the competition.  Is there a lot of competition for those keywords? If so, you may want to switch it up.

There’s a trick to finding great keywords that match your customers’ search intent and don’t have loads of competition: long tail keywords. Long tail keywords are slightly longer phrases, rather than individual words.  So, rather than trying to rank for “CBD,” you’d pick something like, “organic vegan CBD gummies for sleep.” You’re clearly trying to match a specific search intent and narrowing your keyword to rank for a very targeted search.  Once you have your long tail keywords, pepper them into the content.  Be careful not to overuse them.  SEO professionals call that “keyword stuffing,” and it actually hurts your SEO.

 

Strong Relevant Content is King

It isn’t just human readers that can’t stand confusing content. Search engine bots don’t care for it either, and the algorithms make it known.  Readability is another important factor for your content. Make sure that your content is simple, clear, and concise.  You shouldn’t need an advanced degree to understand a blog post, even if the subject matter is complex.

Organization is another part of readability. Break your content into manageable sections by subject. Use clear and descriptive headings and subheadings to visually separate the sections for your readers and give the bots a bit more information to show that there are multiple subjects covered in the content.

Finally, long form content performs best. Semrush conducted a study that found articles over three-thousand words in length tended to perform best in search engine results. If you think about it, it makes sense. Longer content is likely to provide more answers and more thorough ones. Both are factors that search engines reward.

 

Don’t Forget The Technical Stuff

There’s a definite technical aspect to SEO that you can’t ignore. Most content contains images. Those images can either help or hurt your SEO, depending on how you handle them.  Make sure that your images have alternative text that matches the content of the image in a short and quickly understood way. You’ll also need to optimize your images for speed.  JPEG compression tends to work best to keep image size down, and using compression services, like TinyPNG, can get the size even smaller. If you have more technical control over the website, lazy loading is another great way to keep images from slowing down your site.

Speaking of speed, search engines reward speed. Test your site’s loading times, and make sure there aren’t any assets slowing the process down, and minimize the amount of external requests for assets.

Search engines also encourage secure encrypted (HTTPS) connections. You shouldn’t have any trouble getting the needed encryption certificates with any reputable hosting provider, and the low additional cost is absolutely worthwhile.

Organization is another important factor, beyond the content itself. Keep your site’s directory structure organized and logical. The page URLs should reflect that organization and be simple to understand with basic descriptive keywords.

It’s also a good idea to make things easier for the search engines.  Include an XML sitemap of your website to make it simpler for the search engine bots to navigate and find all the pages on your site. Also include a “robots.txt” file to acknowledge the bots and provide them with instructions.

While all of this might sound intimidating, it’s actually quite simple at its core. The primary idea is straightforward. Create quality content that meets your reader’s needs, and you’ll be in a great position with SEO for your cannabinoid related content.

 

Resources

1- Search engine optimization (SEO) starter guide. Google Search Central. https://developers.google.com/search/docs/beginner/seo-starter-guide?hl=en%2F&visit_id=637748457136323377-4047203126&rd=1

2- Mallya S. 9 SEO practices that you should follow. Semrush Blog. 2020. https://www.semrush.com/blog/seo-best-practices/

3- What is SEO? Moz SEO Learning Center. https://moz.com/learn/seo/what-is-seo

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CBD Use in the NFL

Earlier this year, the NFL announced plans to award $1 million in grants to cannabis researchers studying pain management.

It’s a big departure from the league’s previous stance on cannabis. Players and coaches have advocated for CBD and medical cannabis for years, but NFL brass was slow to respond. Recently, however, attitudes have begun to shift.

In 2020, a joint commission between the NFL and its players’ union determined that “CBD is a promising compound, but the level of its use in the United States outpaces the level of research at this point… Of course, cannabis remains a banned substance under the NFL Policy for Substances of Abuse.”

Ultimately, the committee concluded that the problems associated with cannabis outweighed the potential benefits.

The league faced pushback from former and current players, however. The same year the commission cannabis was too risky, retired New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski partnered with a CBD company. “It [CBD] would have been huge,” Gronkowski told Slate magazine. “I would have used it for my sore muscles, shots to the body, areas that are not feeling so good but you still gotta go play.”

Gronkowski is far from the only retired player who has turned to CBD or cannabis. Players’ intense interest in cannabis is why the NFL has softened its stance. The same committee addressed the question again in June 2021, and this time the NFL leaders and players’ union representatives decided to fund CBD and cannabis research projects.

The studies will specifically focus on three areas of pain management:

  • “the effects of cannabinoids on pain in elite football players
  • the effects of non-pharmacologic treatments on pain in elite football players
  • the effects of cannabis or cannabinoids on athletic performance in elite football players.”

Although CBD is still banned, currently, no NFL player will be suspended for failing a drug test. It doesn’t matter if they tested positive for cannabis or cocaine. Instead of suspension, players will face large fines for each infraction.

Image source: Flickr

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Thursday, 16 December 2021

South Dakota Supreme Court Strikes a Blow to Reform Efforts in that State

South Dakota cannabis reform activists successfully legalized the herb in their state only to hit a speed bump that has apparently turned into a dead-end. Constitutional Amendment A appeared on the general election ballot in South Dakota on November 3, 2020, and was approved with 54% of the vote. The initiative was set to legalize recreational weed in the state, but the South Dakota Supreme Court has decided that the initiative be overturned for violating South Dakota’s single-subject rule for constitutional amendments.

In a 4 to 1 vote, the justices have upheld the finding of a circuit court judge in February, deeming the measure too broad under the state’s electoral standards. This outcome resulted from a lawsuit filed by a couple of law enforcement officials, partially funded by tax funds supplied by the administration of Governor Kristi Noem.

Because Amendment A contained provisions that “embraced three separate and distinct subjects,” the reforms were ruled invalid.

Amendment A was advanced by South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML). They had appealed the initial circuit court ruling and bristle at the higher court’s recent decision upholding Amendment A’s rejection.

“We believe that this ruling from the South Dakota Supreme Court is extremely flawed,” complained Matthew Schweich, campaign director for SDBML. “The court has rejected common sense and instead used a far-fetched legal theory to overturn a law passed by over 225,000 South Dakota voters based on no logical or evidentiary support.”

Governor Noem chimed in with this tweet:

“South Dakota is a place where the rule of law and our Constitution matter, and that’s what today’s decision on Amendment A is about. We do things right – and how we do things matters just as much as what we are doing. We are still governed by the rule of law.”

Cannabis activists may find Noem’s words somewhat ironic, considering the governor’s unbridled support of former President Trump and the seditious attempts of his followers to overthrow the election of President Biden on January 6, 2021.

About their rejection of the cannabis law reforms, the South Dakota Supreme Court judges said that the Amendment A violation is based upon the initiative containing “more than one subject, with different objects or purposes, that are not dependent upon or connected with each other,” rather than the reform legislation containing multiple provisions.

South Dakota reform activists remain undaunted and plan to rebound with a two-track approach at passing reforms in the coming year.

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Wednesday, 15 December 2021

The World of Weed Five Questions With Brooke Burgstahler

 

I love the idea of being many things in the art of media. As many of you know, cinema verité didn’t entirely disappear when digital took over the visual landscape. Video artists and journalism were created to infuse their images into the day-to-day world of documentary and the art of visual journalism. Edutainment, cannabis, and the host of her own work. Isn’t that what I went to Emerson College for? Certainly, it was the film side. Now, all digital. It looks like writer, producer, host, and actress Brooke Burgstahler is doing what she loves — one digital frame at a time, sixty frames per second or more. It’s fascinating stuff. 

An in-demand creator in cannabis, Brooke scours for stories and conceptualizes unique topics to explore, covering everything from pop culture to politics, history, hot new brands, celebrity interviews, and progress in social justice reform. On the acting side, Brooke’s appeared on MTV (Greatest Party Story Ever), ABC (General Hospital, Black-ish), TBS (TBS Shorts), AMC (Mad Men), the Oxygen Network (Speak For The Dead), Covergirl, and more. 

In cannabis media, she’s the creative visionary behind numerous campaigns with several premier media outlets. In 2018, Brooke was awarded a Golden Telly for her Docu-Series Prisoners of Prohibition produced for Merry Jane Media. To date, Brooke’s online content has reached millions of viewers. Brooke is also a 500 hour certified yoga instructor and holds a Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism and Bachelor of Arts in Theater from The University of Miami. 

Brooke’s cannabis and wellness startup Budding Mind is designed to expand the mind and heart through the exploration of plant medicine, alternative healing, science, and spirituality. The multi-channel online platform features podcasts, video, long-form education content, and e-commerce for Brooke’s favorite products and brands. 

Photo: Emily Eizen

This is a talented person who works in weed and film. How things have changed since I graduated from college with a film degree in 1985. 

She’s brilliant! 

Cheers! WB 

Please tell me about yourself, what do you do for work? Where are you from? Live now? What did you want to be when you grew up?  

I’m a multi-hyphenate millennial, an actress, comedian, cannabis content creator, and journalist. I’ve got a daily cannabis news show, World of Weed News. A cannabis and wellness platform called Budding Mind, which also has its own podcast (on Spotify + iTunes)! And I’m always working on other adorable projects to keep me in the creative spirit.

Many moons ago, I was born in Buffalo, New York. I moved around a bit growing up, peppering the lands of America, only to wind up in sunny Los Angeles, California. When I first moved to LA, never did I think I’d one day be making cannabis content — but now, it totally makes sense. The merging of my two favorite things (weed + film)!                                                

What are you working on right now? Do you have a six and twelve-month goal? What makes your company different from its peers?

I’m working on finding the right flow with my podcast Budding Mind. I really do commend all the podcasters out there. There’s a lot more work that goes into creating a dope show than people realize! My goal for next year is to align with the perfect sponsor to really blast my podcast into the universe! So if anyone’s interested, holla at your girl. 

What obstacles stand in your way currently, how do you anticipate removing them? Do you have a mentor or teacher who is valuable in your path? 

Being in pursuit of a creative path, particularly one centered around a somewhat illegal plant, is, of course, going to come with bumps on the road. But life is all about embracing and working through challenges to grow as a human being. Cannabis is my greatest teacher through it all, whether dropping me into a beautiful state of mind or bringing up gunk for me to sort through softly — this little leaf is truly a guide for me, and I love her so. 

Indoor or outdoor-grown cannabis? Favorite strain right now? When you enjoy cannabis, do you have a favorite food that you prepare? What about your favorite restaurant? 

I need my sun-grown, organic flower. I love Lakegrade! They grow with heart and soul; you can taste it. I like to unwind at the end of the day (or the middle) with a home-rolled spliff, make veggie tacos and snuggle my dog, Sunny. Or I love a 5mg edible for a weekend daytime jaunt on a hike or to a market. Whatever it is, I’m a go low and go slow kind of gal — she’s delicate. 

What is your passion? 

I have many purposes and many passions. There was a time in my life where I feared I had to find the ONE thing I love, but the reality is that I love many things. I love making people laugh — telling jokes, making weird videos, or just being weird with my friends. I love evolving my consciousness through yoga, meditation, and plant medicines. I love creating and expressing myself by making videos or content for my IG and showing off my acting chops. I’m grateful to be dabbling in all of these things and more while trying not to spread myself too thin. 

 

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Youth Use of Cannabis Down by Unprecedented Numbers According to Government-Backed Study

Washington, DC: The University of Michigan’s yearly Monitoring the Future survey reveals that youth use of cannabis and other substances has recently seen an unprecedented decline.

“The percentage of students who reported using marijuana (in all forms, including smoking and vaping) within the past year decreased significantly for eighth, 10th, and 12th grade students,” the study reports.

The findings indicate that, among eighth-graders and tenth-graders, cannabis use is down 38 percent, while use by 12th graders has seen a decline of 13 percent. Nora Volkow, Director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, which provides funds for the study, partially attributes the reduction in youth use to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We have never seen such dramatic decreases in drug use among teens in just a one-year period,” says Volkow.

She went on to suggest that available data further illustrates that the legalization and retail sales of cannabis to adults have not contributed to increased use by young people, despite the concerns of opponents of legalization and echoing the findings of the US National Institutes of Health in recent months. The NIH report cites a stunning decline in cannabis use by youths aged 12 to 17.

If anything, these reports indicate that the federal legalization of cannabis and other illicit substances could potentially reduce youth use and lead to a situation similar to alcohol in the United States, as alcohol is generally harder for young people to access than many illegal drugs.

So, to quote a famous Reggae star, legalize it!

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How CBD Can Help Your Brain

After the legalization of cannabidiol (CBD) from the 2018 Farm Bill , it became easier to conduct scientific research con cannabis. [1] CB...