the connected story: california’s designer weed 🌴
🌱 fhwc (2009): caleb opened fruitridge health & wellness in SAC 1 of the city’s 1st polished dispensaries. a 36-light r&d hunted phenos while the menu ran headband & sfv og. he later linked w/ luke (who had his own indoor) after fixing a construction issue on his grow.
⛓️ fed pressure: late 2011 doj letters hit sac, forcing closures. fhwc shut; caleb shelved genetics & pivoted to policy, lessons that helped licensing.
🍪 cookies916 (2012–2016): caleb & luke reopened as collective efforts. after a 2014 cup handshake w/
@berner415, the shop became sac’s hub for
@cookiesglobal fam drops. their ig flipped to cookies916, fueling hype around gsc &
@sherbinski415 gelato wave.
💎 gelato play: luke handed $72k cash to
@sherbinski415 for gelato #25/#33/#41/#45. some say connected ran the best gelatos in CA, especially g41 & helped push it viral.
🌊 mylar wave:
@theconnectedca created the branded mylar craze, launching 1 of the 1st major branded 8ths. ditching a sea of turkey bags & mason jars. mylar packaged flower became branded. iconic connected/cookies packs cemented the “designer weed” look.
🌱 biscotti & gushers (2016): biscotti (sf og × gelato #25) picked via blind “red-cup” hunt set the pastry-gas lane. it spawned gushers (biscotti × g41) × triangle kush)
🚎 migos’ tour bus bust spotlighted Cookies & Connected bags; months earlier, their
@calvinharris hit “Slide” had
@Migos rapping “smoke gelato,” attaching gelatos in rap lore.
🏆 g41 run: connected’s gelato mastery won cups, cementing g41 as the cut. biscotti/gelato crosses shaped late-2010s flavor.
🌴connected is born (2017): as
@cookiesglobal scaled retail, caleb & luke pivoted to independence, rebranding as
@theconnectedca. greenwolf became their 1st socal partner, & connected quickly scaled to 400+ ca doors. that same year they partnered w/
@alienlabs2069 &
@alienlabsTED joining as co-owner & brand driver, preserving alien’s identity while aligning both brands under 1 roof.
📈 connected + alien labs scaled to az, & fl, raised capital & & remain ca’s #1 flower brand every month since rec day 1 (2018). biscotti’s blueprint & early gelato/mylar moves still define designer weed.
before the market went rec.. they were already legends 🌴
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@nuggnotes🪴
1st cannabis brand to package weed in a box did it 100+ years ago.
🌿 cannabis americana: america’s 1st cannabis farm & brand
🏗️ detroit × indiana (late 1890s): pharma giants parke-davis (detroit) & eli lilly (indianapolis) teamed up. lilly’s greenfield, indiana farm became ground zero for breeding a stable, domestic cannabis supply—marketed as “cannabis americana.”
🌱 why grow local? imports of “cannabis indica” from india were inconsistent in potency. parke-davis wanted control “from planting to final marketing.” cannabis americana was the solution: american-grown, pharma-standard weed.
🏞️ the farm & gardens: lilly ran experimental fields at greenfield; parke-davis managed botanical gardens & the parkedale farm in michigan. rows of cannabis stood alongside coca & opium poppies—america’s 1st documented large-scale cannabis grow.
🧪 extraction science: flagship product = fluid extract of cannabis americana—made by percolating dried female tops in 80% alcohol. also sold as solid extract. bottles carried the warning: “a powerful sedative & narcotic.”
⚖️ qc before thc: in 1908, parke-davis scientists pioneered physiological standardization—dog bioassays comparing each batch 2 a reference lot. decades before thc was discovered, but it gave doctors consistent dosing.
📦 catalog proof (1910): parke-davis price list offered cannabis americana at $1.65 per lb, packaged in 1-oz packets or cardboard boxes—1 of the earliest receipts of cannabis as a standardized commodity in america.
💊 doctor’s orders: physicians prescribed it for insomnia, pain, cough, epilepsy, & “nervous” disorders. cannabis americana tinctures sat on pharmacy shelves next 2 morphine & quinine.
📈 mainstream reach: by the 1910s–1930s, cannabis americana was everywhere—trusted by doctors, shipped nationwide, promoted in 16-page booklets showing male & female plant plates.
🚫 the decline (1937): after decades of pharma use, the marihuana tax act ended cannabis americana. parke-davis quietly discontinued production as prohibition took hold.
🎯 legacy: the lilly × parke-davis project was america’s 1st branded cannabis farm & strain. cannabis americana turned folk remedy into pharma commodity—laying the blueprint 4 modern medical cannabis.
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@nuggnotes🪴