Being in the cannabis industry means we get to propagate a plant that physically and emotionally heals people and that’s something we need in times like these. As you’re reading this, Cookies cannabis products are available in Oregon through their partnership with Sid Gupta and Josh Schmidt, owners of Pistil Point Premium Cannabis.
While it seems like not much else matters in the midst of the largest civil rights movement the world has seen, entertainers, content creators, and cannabis farmers still have important supporting roles to play while our country tries to enact real social justice reform.
Pistil Point + Cookies
Pistil Point is one of the most reputable cannabis producers in the state with over 200 retail partners and one of the largest indoor growing operations in Oregon. Schmidt has been friends with Berner since he was 17-years-old, so it’s something that’s been loosely in the works since the day both of them got into the weed game.
With Cookies making licensing deals in Washington and Colorado, it only seemed fitting that Oregon got in on the dank action too. The Schmidt and Berner connection made the play somewhat of an obvious one, but it was Pistil Point’s network that brought the partnership to reality. Pistil Point had the resources to enact Cookies prepackaged business model, they also had a full distribution network in place thanks to their partnership with Slang Worldwide.
Moving The Market
Oregon’s cannabis market is unique in that it still allows unpackaged flower to be sold in stores alongside prepackaged products. While many consumers enjoy the novelty of getting their cannabis weighed out in front of them, there’s an argument to be made that the prepackaged model is better for producers, retailers, and consumers.
If it’s cured properly, it’s dried properly, is a quality product with the right moisture content, and it’s in a sealed bag — you have a better chance of having good product in there than in the jar that the budtender is opening up 500 times a day.
Sid Gupta
Gupta enjoys the prepackaged model because it gives him more quality control over his product. The only hands that touch the flower after it leaves his facility are the customers and that’s how he likes it. Selling prepackaged products also simplifies the retail experience by moving more customers through the doors while simultaneously saving on labor. It feels like Cookies’ presence in Oregon’s hybrid market could be a huge influence in pushing Oregon’s cannabis industry into a predominantly prepackaged market.
Cookies Strain Squad
Oregon is getting an impressive lineup to kick things off. The first batch of strains are coming from Powerzzzup, Lemonnade, as well as Cookies. Cookies host other brands under their blue umbrella aimed at catering to the flavors and wants of different types of stoners. Lemonnade is oriented towards bright and sour flavors that provide upbeat and cerebral effects — while Powerzzzup specializes in heavy musky strains like Gary Payton and Snow Man. The latter yielded 4% terpenes, according to tests.
Berner personally names the Cookies strains and Gupta provided some thoughtful insight into Berner’s strain naming process. The Ocean Beach strain reminded Berner of the salty ocean air that permeated the street he grew up on. The Lions Mane strain is a special one coming through the Lemonnade line. It has uplifting cerebral effects that Berner drew comparisons to a medicinal fungus with the same name. “Yellow Fruit Stripes is another Lemonnade strain, very terpy, very uplifting, Gupta said. This strain’s terpene profile is the first thing he’s seen that’s comparable to a true Zkittlez cultivar.
Cookies Future In Oregon
Portland’s Magic Castle and Mr. Nice Guy dispensaries are the only places you can find Cookies right now. Alex Eliasyan operates the Magic Castle locations as well as the Cookies Melrose and Maywood stores in California. This ensures that Portland’s Cookies are treated and rotated with the same care they get at flagship stores like Cookies Melrose.
There are also plans to pivot Eliasyan’s Magic Castle locations into Lemonnade stores to continue to build out the Cookies brand. Lemonnade’s bright yellow graphics will soon be decorating entire retail spaces on top of flower bags and pre-roll tubes. “There are going to be Cookies stores and Lemonnade stores in Oregon…. a lot of them,” Gupta stated matter of factly. The first stores are already in motion and they’ll be operational by the end of the year.
