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We’re happy to welcome everyone back for our second newsletter! This week we’ll be discussing the origins of 7/10, cannabis oil and wax laws, how to pack your Zoa cones with oils, sticker competition updates, the Cookies Co. brand, as well as a note from Founder Sophia Siegel. Enjoy!

Happy (early) 7/10

For those who dont know, 7/10 is like the 4/20 for cannabis oils, tinctures, dabs, distillates and basically all concentrates - its a stoner holiday. The conception of "7/10" is perfectly fitting too because it literally originates from some high person in history turning the date 7/10 upside down and realizing that it spelled oil. It's bit more anticlimactic than the folk lore that surrounds the origins of 4/20. Debates persist about whether 4/20 was originally the police radio code for cannabis violations, whether it was the code for a statute pertaining to cannabis, or that a group of teens out in Cali used to smoke weed at 4:20 ritually every day and the term just became hip. Nontheless, 7/10 is very much a real thing that is celebrated by many, and we're here for it!

Zoa Product Updates: How to Roll Your Buds in Oil

In anticipation of 7/10, you’ll want to know the 2 most effective ways in which you can incorporate oils and wax into your Zoa Cones. The different methods depend on the composition of your product; whether you’re working with shatter or whether you have distillate. The difference in the oils which call for various methods of preparation is the malleability of the different oils. Oil is made on a spectrum from extremely thin and brittle shatter, to liquid distillate.

The first method pertains to shatter, or thin brittle wax which is typically chopped off of a larger slab of wax. To keep it simple, you'll basically just want to break off a bunch of small shards of the shatter onto a non stick parchment paper or whatever silicon container you keep it in. Once you have the small bits of (ideally 1/10 of a gram of less), you can pack it in with the grinded weed you’ll be using to stuff your cone. The one thing you want to avoid here is putting copious amounts of wax on top of each other or in one section of the joint. Once the cone is about half packed with regular flower, you can layer the shatter and cannabis on top of each other to ensure a more even burn and better air flow.

The second method is a bit easier as it pertains to liquid distillate and more malleable forms of oil. If you have liquid distillate, you can simply apply it to the outside of your packed Zoa Cone. There are a couples ways to do this, you can either apply a thin coat of oil evenly across the surface, or you can loop stands of oil around the perimeter of the packed cone creating a few spirals of oil that will burn down the outside of the joint. It’s also worth noting that if you have any spare kief in your grinder, you can apply it to the wax that's been adhered to your joint for an even more potent smoke.

Reform and legislation updates: Oil & Wax

Given that 7/10 is only 10 days away, it seems most fitting that we acknowledge some legislation as it pertains to cannabis oil. Usually when we discuss laws about cannabis we do it on a state to state basis because they tend to vary from each other, and almost always vary from federal law. Federally, THC oil, resin, tincture, distillate, or any extracts are still considered to be a schedule 1 controlled substance which puts oil and wax in the same category as crack and meth. Some states remain in accordance with this classification as well - Florida and Texas are a few good examples. In Texas, if you own under a single gram of any THC extract you’ll be facing felony charges and likely some jail time. You’d lose your right to vote, you’d lose your freedom, and potentially your job all over a half gram of some clean extract. Florida also still considers any extracts as a Schedule 1 drug which should be a crime in itself. What politician looked at a gram of THC distillate and a gram of meth and said “yeah, they’re about equally bad”?

The contradictions become clearer as states legalize cannabis across the map. Cannabis is widely available in Florida for medical use already, so how does the same state claim that the distilled extract of said medicine is equivalent to the hardest drugs on the market? The distillate is cleaner, more potent and generally has less negative side effects on patients who can’t smoke flowers. Extracts are often edible and oils can be put into capsules for easier consumption, which the elderly and recovering medical patients often tend to prefer. As time goes on and we realize that the war on drugs was a political ploy, I hope that around national cannabis holidays we can come together and promote the safe consumption of medicine that is helping so many people across the world. But until then, don’t smoke wax in Texas /:

Sticker Competition Updates

We’re excited to announce the first 3 winning artists who will have their designs featured on next month’s sticker collection! They’ve created some amazing designs to showcase and we appreciate their participation. A special thanks to Sophia Julio, Talia Greenberg, and Nhac Cousteau for being our first Zoa Rose designer’s of the month.

Kush Brand Rating: Cookies Co.

Cookies is one of the most legit cannabis brands in the industry. Berner, an affiliate of Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg founded Cookies Co. amidst his rap career in the Bay Area during 2008. He’s been featured on Wiz Khalifa’s DayToDay episodes, B-Real’s Smokebox Interview, and plenty of other notable scene’s. He’s an OG in the industry - back in the day before we had to wonder whether or not we were getting “exotics” in our branded keflars, we were wondering whether or not it was actually “Girl Scout Cookies” or not. That was where Berner originally got his hype, he laid claim to the creation of the original Girl Scout Cookies strain as well as the ownership of the only actual Cookies plants. In other words, if you weren’t getting it from Berner - it wasn’t really Cookies. He basically became the Virgil Abloh of Marijuana; his name was hyped (rightfully so, the guy had good weed) in the industry and he was able to build an elite brand of designer smoke, as well as merch and other collaborative projects off of the Cookies name.

As for the cannabis, Cookies Co. has 17 strains of cannabis including Pink Rozay, Gary Payton and Snow Man which don’t give much indication as to their flavor (terpene profile). What the strains do seem to have in common is the finely trimmed nugs that are covered in trichomes which give the buds a white fluffy appearance despite their dense composition. I recently smoked the Snow Man strain and it was light, clean and had 23% THC as per the labeling which is a relatively potent smoke. London Pound Cake and Gary Payton are similar although they do appear a bit less frosty than the Snow Man, which can’t be coincidence, and the strains have more orange hairs and a bit more purple of a profile. The strains are all super potent, clean, the ash burns white so you know it was grown properly and overall I can’t think of any negatives to mention.

I would rate Cookies Co. 5/5 roses. I know that I originally said I wouldn’t be awarding many other perfect scores but I can’t really help it here. If I were to give Cookies a 4.9 I’d be making up a flaw that I don’t know to exist, and I can’t do that - So Cookies Co. and Runtz are sitting atop our leaderboard with perfect scores thus far.

Sophia Says: Mental Health Matters

Dear Society,

Let’s admit it: there’s a stigma surrounding using cannabis responsibly. For some reason, there still exists the antiquated notion that, if you smoke cannabis, you are a “stoner.” This label is associated with a laundry list of negatively presumed qualities: lazy, unmotivated, etc. And quite honestly, I’m sick of it.

Sometimes, I can’t make it through the day without using cannabis in some shape or form. On those days, I’m an anxious mess, so I use cannabis to slow me down, calm me, and bring me back to the present. However, when I’m that anxious, judgement creeps in, berating me for giving in, caving and using cannabis. But judgement is a bitch, and she’s often irrational. When I ignore judgement and take a step back, I see that the world would hardly judge me for taking an anxiety pill as needed. Therefore, they shouldn’t judge me for using cannabis as needed. That’s that.

The reality is that, some days, people just can’t make it without a little help. Sometimes that means taking medication. And for some people, that medication is cannabis. For that, they should feel no shame.

Xoxo,

Sophia CEO and Founder

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