Sensi Magazine Oklahoma - February 2022

WEED AFICIONADO

The certified masters of weed

LIVE HERE

OK’s Best Towns

OKLAHOMA FEBRUARY 2022

NORTHERN LIGHT-UP Inside Alaska’s first consumption lounge

ONE-HIT WONDER

Ode to the original microdose

SECURE THE LITTLE BLUE BAG

COOKIES - 4041 NW EXPRESSWAY, OKC

| LEMONNADE - 8010 E 106TH ST, TULSA

OKLAHOMA SENSI MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2022

sensimediagroup @sensimagazine @sensimag

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FEATURE

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Smoking and Joking on the Last Frontier

Good Titrations is Alaska’s only licensed cannabis consumption lounge—and one of the very first in the US—and it’s celebrating that achievement with lots of laughter.

DEPARTMENTS

13 EDITOR’S NOTE 18 THE LIFE Contributing to your health and happiness 14 THE BUZZ THE ART OF THE GANJIER News, tips, and tidbits to keep you in the loop BRUTAL HISTORY

Greenwood Rising tells the story of Tulsa Race Massacre.

LIVE HERE 10 spots people love across the Sooner State.

ADULT GOODIES Cheeba Chews taffy delights with hemp or THC. QUICK TAKES Dam Short Film Festival celebrates brevity.

TULSA JAVA Go under the grid with Notion.

Ganjiers understand the subtle beauty and intricacies of weed.

36 THE SCENE Hot happenings and hip hangouts around town

THE JOY OF THE ONE-HIT WONDER The key to life?

Savor that single toke.

38 THE END

ON THE COVER

Touch the sky at Oklahoma City’s Devon Towers.

The rugged city of Fairbanks, Alaska, claims one of the country’s only consumption lounges— it’s a riot. See page 28.

PHOTO BY JFL PHOTOGRAPHY VIA ADOBE STOCK

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ADVISORY BOARD

NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD NCRMA Risk Management COLORADO Agricor Laboratories Testing Lab Aspen Cannabis Insurance Insurance Services Canyon Cultivation Microdosing Cartology Corporation Cartridge Filling Equipment + Hardware Colorado Cannabis Company THC Coffee Concentrate Supply Co. Recreational Concentrates Emerald Construction Construction Green Edge Trimmers Trimmers Higher Grade Boutique Cannabis Hybrid Payroll Staffing & HR Benefits Jupiter Research Inhalation Hardware Lab Society Extraction Expert + Lab Supplies marQaha Sublinguals + Beverages Monte Fiore Farms Recreational Cultivation Northern Standard History of Cannabis PotGuide Cannabis Culture Source CO Wholesale Consulting Terrapin Care Station Recreational Dispensary Toast Mindful Consumption Uleva Hemp Products Wana Brands Edibles Witlon Inc. Payroll Processing

MICHIGAN Aronoff Law (Craig Aronoff) Licensing Law Firm Cannabis Counsel Cannabis Law Firm Etz Chaim Attestations Grapp Lerash Accounting/CPA Services Great Lakes Natural Remedies Lakeshore: Provisioning Center Kush Design Studio Cannabis Facility Design & Build MRB Solutions Human Resources Northern Specialty Health Upper Peninsula: Provisioning Center Pure West Compassion Club Caregiver Connection & Network Rair Medical Flower Solutions by Dr. Dave West Michigan: Hemp CBD Helping Friendly Hemp Company Hemp Topicals NEVADA Eden Water Technologies Water System Technologies Green Leaf Money Canna Business Finanacing GreenHouse Payment Solutions Payment Processing Ideal Business Partners Corporate Law & Finance Jupiter Research Inhalatation Hardware Matrix NV Premium Live Resin Red Rock Fertility Fertility Doctor Rokin Vapes Vape Technology This Stuff Is Good For You CBD Bath and Body

CALIFORNIA 365 Recreational Cannabis Dispensary: Recreational, Santa Rosa Accucanna LLC Desert Hot Springs: Dispensary EventHI Events Flourish Software Distribution Management Green Unicorn Farms CBD Hemp Flower Helmand Valley Growers Company Medical Infrastructure Specialist HUB International Insurance Humboldt Grow Tech Smart Ag Tech Hybrid Payroll / Ms. Mary Staffing Staffing & HR Benefits Ikänik Farms Cannabis Distribution Red Door Remedies Dispensary: Cloverdale Red Rock Fertility Fertility Doctor Southern Humboldt Royal Cannabis Company Mixed Light Farming Sonoma Patient Group Dispensary: Santa Rosa Strictly Topical Inc./Sweet ReLeaf Pain Relief Topicals Uleva Hemp Products Vaper Tip Vape Supply & Consulting Wana Brands Edible Gummies Witlon Payroll

MASSACHUSETTS Corners Packaging Packaging Green Goddess Supply Personal Homegrown Biochamber The Holistic Center Medical Marijuana Evaluations Revolutionary Clinics Medical Dispensary Royal Gold Soil Tess Woods Public Relations Public Relations Vantage Builders Construction

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EDITORIAL

Stephanie Wilson Co-Founder + Editor in Chief stephanie.wilson@sensimag.com Doug Schnitzspahn Executive Editor Tracy Ross Managing Editor, Michigan Emilie-Noelle Provost Managing Editor, Massachusetts Debbie Hall Managing Editor, Spark Jenny Willden Managing Editor, California Will Brendza Managing Editor, Colorado Robyn Griggs Lawrence Editor at Large Radha Marcum Copy Editor Bevin Wallace Copy Editor

EXECUTIVE

Ron Kolb Founder ron@sensimag.com Stephanie Graziano CEO stephanie.graziano@sensimag.com ADVERTISING

Toni Tardif National Sales Director Jade Kolb Director Sales Operations and Global Recruiting PUBLISHING

Jamie Cooper Market Director, Michigan Richard Guerra Market Director, Massachusetts

DESIGN

Jamie Ezra Mark Creative Director jamie@emagency.com Rheya Tanner Art Director Wendy Mak Designer Josh Clark Designer Miguel Martinez Designer BRAND DEVELOPMENT

Richard Guerra Director of Global Reach Neil Willis Production Director MEDIA PARTNERS

Marijuana Business Daily Minority Cannabis Business Association National Cannabis Industry Association Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Nancy Birnbaum Market Director, California Nancy Reid Market Director, Florida MEDIA SALES

CALIFORNIA Omowunmi Lykins Media Sales Executive COLORADO Liana Cameris Media Sales Executive Nancy Seidel Media Sales Executive Tyler Tarr Media Sales Executive FLORIDA Kristen Gross Media Sales Executive Anthony Mckenzie Media Sales Executive NEVADA Pam Hewitt Media Sales Executive MASSACHUSETTS Jake Boynton Media Sales Executive MICHIGAN Eric Lutey Media Sales Executive Kyle Miller Media Sales Executive Will Oostendorp Media Sales Executive Leah Stephens Media Sales Executive OKLAHOMA Diana Ramos Media Sales Executive

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Growing the Industr y.

From Seeds to Seed Money Find Everything You Need to Grow Your Business at CannaCon New York City • January 7-8th at the Javits Center Oklahoma City • March 31-April 1st at the Oklahoma Convention Center Detroit • July 21-22nd at the TCF Center Chicago • August 26-27th at the Rosemont Center Denver • September 24-25th at the Denver Convention Center Learn More at CannaCon.org

P

EDITOR’S NOTE

Magazine published monthly

by Sensi Media Group LLC.

© 2022 Sensi Media Group. All rights reserved.

People love Oklahoma, whether they live in the

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state or are just visiting.

First, there is the food. Barbecue, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, pecan pie, fried pies, and fried catfish are just some of Oklahoma’s signature dishes.

Then there is the hospitality of the state’s residents. According to a study done by Travel+Leisure, Oklahoma City ranked No. 5 on its America’s Friendliest Cities list.

Although Oklahoma is considered a staunchly conservative state, it’s open to certain advancements, such as cannabis—and residents love the new industry.

In fact, Oklahoma is bustling with new cannabis business. According to a New York Times article by Simon Romero (Dec. 29, 2021), ever since the state legalized medicinal cannabis three years ago, “Oklahoma has become one of the easiest places in the United States to launch a cannabis business. The state now boasts more retail cannabis stores than Colorado, Oregon, and Washington combined. In October, it eclipsed California as the state with the largest number of licensed cannabis farms, which now number more than 9,000, despite a population only a tenth of California’s.”

The legalization of recreational cannabis remains an obstacle, however. The Oklahoma Marijuana Legalization Initiative may appear on the ballot as an initiated constitutional amendment on Nov. 8. The initiative would legalize and regulate cannabis for persons 21 years old and older and would impose a 15 percent excise tax on cannabis sales for purchases by individuals without a medicinal cannabis license.

Oklahoma encompasses so much—from gleaming cities to vast rural areas to lakes.

It is a great place to visit and a better place to live. As advocates work to legalize recreational cannabis, we see a cannabis-friendly future for Oklahoma.

Oklahoma encompasses so much— from gleaming cities to vast rural areas to lakes.

Yours,

Debbie Hall debbie.hall@sensimag.com

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Greenwood Rising tells the story of Tulsa Race Massacre.

One of the most troublesome events in US history, the Tulsa Race Massacre, is the center of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission’s Greenwood Rising, which includes exhibits that examine the past in order to inspire meaningful conversations and action in the present. Victims of the massacre and icons of Black Wall Street—as Tulsa's thriving Black business district was known 14

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throughout the country—are memorialized and honored. The history center is located on the southeast corner of Greenwood and Archer, the gateway to Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District.

The Pathway to Hope will also acknowledge this history, elevate Black Wall Street, and encourage present-day healing.

Greenwood Rising greenwoodrising.org

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GREENWOOD RISING

Healing through Understanding

CONTRIBUTOR

Debbie Hall

OK’s Best Places to Live

PHOTOS (FROM LEFT) BY ISAAC MARTIN VIA UNSPLASH; COURTESY OF CHEEBA CHEWS

10 spots people love across the state

What do people look for in an ideal place to live? Is it proximity to trails, lakes, schools, attractions, entertainment, and museums?

Stacker compiled a list of the best places to live in Oklahoma using data from Niche measuring diverse offerings, including nightlife, sporting events, and public parks. Some areas have benefited from economic growth, with new businesses moving to the area, while others are notable for their history.

Starting at number 10 and moving up, Oklahoma’s top-ranked places to live are: Goldsby, Broken Arrow, Alva, Bartlesville, Owasso, Fort Gibson, Bixby, Norman, Jenks, and (number one!) Edmond. Norman is 20 miles south of downtown Oklahoma City, Edmond is 20 miles north of Oklahoma City, and Alva is the closest to the border of the state of Kansas. Population and sizes vary from Goldsby, which has only 2,100 residents, to Norman, which has 122,837. In Alva, the median price for a home is $94,900, and the median rent is $692.

BY THE NUMBERS

1936 YEAR

the shopping cart was invented in Ardmore, Oklahoma

4

STATES border Cimarron County, located in the Oklahoma Panhandle: Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas

6,565 FEET

The length of the Pensacola Dam on Grand Lake, the longest multi-arched dam in the world

ADULT GOODIES Cheeba Chews taffy delights with hemp or THC. Dubbed America’s favorite edible, Cheeba Chews has been making medical-grade infused edibles since 2010. Available in fruit flavors, chocolate, and caramel. Each pack provides 100 mg of THC. Flavors include Sativa Chocolate Taffy, Indica Chocolate Taffy, Hybrid Caramel, and pure CBD Chocolate Taffy.

Not into THC? Try the company’s line of hempbased CBD edibles made with 100% hemp extract grown in Colorado with less than 0.3 percent THC and full-spectrum CBD oil in 25 mg servings.

Flavors include chocolate, strawberry, and caramel.

Cheeba Chews cheebachews.com / hempcheebachews.com

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THE BUZZ

PHOTOS (FROM LEFT) BY JON TYSON VIA UNSPLASH; COURTESY OF NOTION

QUICK TAKES

Dam Short Film Festival celebrates brevity.

The Dam Short Film Society has selected its films for the virtual 18th Annual Dam Short Film Festival Feb. 10–14. Offering diverse programming, filmmaker Q and As and scheduled virtual events, the festival will premiere and screen 145 short films with categories including animation, comedy, documentary, drama, horror, international, love and romance, and underground. The festival calls Boulder City, Nevada home, but once again it will be a virtual event this year, and you can enjoy it no matter where you live.

Orlando resident Sara Oliva’s short film, Lioness, was selected to be screened in the festival’s Drama B: Life Challenges program.

“I am so grateful to be a part of it,” she says. “I had heard how great this festival is; how supportive and nurturing they are of filmmakers, and it’s been such a wonderful experience.”

Her film was inspired by a woman’s bravery, fragility, sacrifice, resilience, and unyielding love for her child. It is also a testament to all our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, friends, aunts, cousins, nieces, daughters, and the mighty and brutal sacrifices they make.

“They are all lionesses,” Oliva says.

This year’s festival also features films from Iran, Estonia, Sudan, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Go under the grid with Notion.

Belarus, Kazakhstan, Austria, Korea, and Notion, an underground coffee shop located Australia. in downtown Tulsa, combines beverages, Dam Short Film Festival / conversation, and art that expand commudamshortfilm.org nity. The owners' philosophy is that coffee is a skilled art and an experience. The shop’s Modbar design removes the barrier between guests and baristas. The shop is constantly dreaming up new coffee experiences, from seasonal syrups and hand-crafted specialty drinks to latte throwdowns and collaborations with local restaurants. The menu includes toast with various toppings, salads, and shareables. Every season, the coffee shop will feature a new "Notion" that pairs a thought-provoking idea with a creative installation produced by local Tulsa artists who take over its walls.

Underground Beverages and Art

“Continue to share your heart with people even if it has been broken.”

—Amy Poehler, actress, comedian, writer, producer, and director

Notion / notiontulsa.com

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Sommeliers understand the subtle beauty and intricacies of wine. A new program is certifying the cannabis equivalent, ganjiers, and they are coming soon to top-tier dispensaries near you.

TEXT STEPHANIE WILSON

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PHOTO BY KARELNOPPE VIA ADOBE STOCK, EDITS BY JOSH CLARK

The Art of the Ganjier

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Fighting for freedom is Join the revolution at norml.org

THE LIFE

If you’re a master of wine, you’re a sommelier.

If you’re a master of beer, you’re a cicerone. The credentialed caffeinated masters of coffee are called Q Graders, and Master Tobacconists are to cigars what pommeliers are to cider—taste

authorities, sensory experts, arbiters, and evangelists in their respective fields. They are deemed qualified to distinguish the nuanced qualities of their products by organizations considered to be their industry’s higher authorities.

But what’s the word for a certified master of weed?

It’s not “cannabis sommelier,” as many would assume, because by its very definition, a sommelier is someone who is a steward of wine, so a cannabis sommelier would be an expert in the pairing of food and wine. “Ganjier” is the trademarked title that the industry-leading cannabis educators at Green Flower are bestowing upon the professionals who complete its new cannabis sommelier certification program and pass the exams to become Masters of Cannabis Service. The Ganjier program is training students to assess cannabis products and guide consumers through the newly (and still only

somewhat) legal marketplace, which can be more than a little murky for even experienced users.

And with more and more Americans joining the ranks of cannabis consumers as legalization spreads across the country, there’s a growing need for experienced guides to help them navigate the offerings on dispensary menus. They come to cannabis for different reasons, with different experience levels, expectations, and goals, but they’re all seeking the same thing: good weed.

Certified Guides What that looks like, smells like, tastes like, or makes them feel like, however, is not quite as clear. Not able to see, smell, or touch

PHOTOS COURTESY THE GANJIER

Ganjier Council member, the late Frenchy Cannoli, teaches cannabis history and consumption methods with Ganjier managing director Derek Gilman.

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PHOTOS COURTESY THE GANJIER

THE LIFE

the products themselves, customers rely on shop employees or budtenders to help guide them to quality products within their budget, but in nearly every instance, the budtenders are not qualified to do so. Instead, they promote products based on THC percentages

with a mentality of “the higher the better.”

That disconnect is what led Green Flower to develop its cannabis sommelier program. “We are looking to elevate the service standard in the cannabis industry,” says Derek Gilman, managing director for the Ganjier program. “Cannabis is an

epicurean product, similar to wine or cheese or coffee. And the quality of coffee isn’t dictated by its caffeine content, we don’t judge wine by its alcohol percentage. The desirability of those products is based on their appearance, their aroma, their flavor, and ultimately the experience they deliver.”

Gilman and his colleagues feel that at a retail level, the people on the frontlines guiding all these new cannanbis consumers—the budtenders—are mostly entry-level employees who don’t have the foundational knowledge necessary to accurately and reliably guide consumers in their decisions.

Clockwise from top left: Legendary Ganjier Council member Swami Chaitanya of Swami Select; Judges at the prestigious Emerald Cup cannabis competition used the Ganjier's Systematic Assessment Protocol app to determine the quality of over 250 entries; Ganjier managing director Derek Gilman holds sun-grown cannabis.

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“Many of the budtenders have experience consuming cannabis,” Gilman says. “They know what they like.

But in nearly every instance, they don’t have the education about how cannabis interacts with the body, the science of cannabis, the nature, the individuality of how it affects different people.”

Max Simon, Green Flower CEO, agrees.

“In cannabis right now, there is no standardized way to provide quality service,” he says. “As a result, you have all these completely untrained people who are essentially making things up.

They’re using the wrong terminology; they’re giving completely inaccurate suggestions; they don’t have any good training in terms of how to guide people to the right products; and, Renowned cannabis cultivator Kevin Jodrey instructs on the art of cultivation and unraveling genetics.

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To gain a Ganjier certification, students must show they have the ability to confidently discern, educate, and articulate the difference between cannabis that’s good enough to smoke and cannabis that’s exquisite enough to celebrate.

many times, they don’t even fundamentally understand what makes for a high quality product in the first place.”

Convene the Council To develop this deep and thorough knowledge base, Gilman and his colleagues at Green Flower recruited a council comprising 18 of the cannabis world’s most respected experts, covering every aspect of the plant and the industry.

The Ganjier Council includes cultivators, botany experts, geneticists, breeders, advocates, hash masters, legal experts, retailers, and educators.

Over the course of two years, the council collaborated to create the Ganjier certification program, which spans 10 online courses and a two-day live training in

Humboldt County, part of which takes place on a craft cannabis farm. The online courses include the history and botany of cannabis, consumption methods, botany and genetics, cultivating techniques, processing methodologies, and successful cannabis sales.

But it’s not, to be clear, a masterclass about how to grow weed.

“We’re not looking to teach a student how to be a cultivator,” says Gilman. “We don’t teach them nutrient levels to put in at different stages of the plant’s growth life.

What we teach them in the cultivation course is every single decision that the cultivator makes that affects the final quality of the cannabis flower, from the genetics they choose to the cultivation methodologies and light sources—artificial

PHOTO COURTESY THE GANJIER

THE LIFE

PHOTO COURTESY THE GANJIER

THE LIFE

light versus sunlight—to the type of medium they grow in.”

(In case you’re wondering, Gilman says that “most experts tend to agree that cannabis grown under the full sun has more nuance and character to it than something grown under artificial light.”)

A lab test may tell you the cannabinoid content and terpene profile of any given flower or concentrate sample, but it won’t tell you if you want to put it in your pipe and smoke it to achieve your desired results. The program trains students’ senses to cultivate a palate that recognizes the nuances and complexities in flavor and aroma and know how these translate into the desired effects for the consumer.

Most consumers can’t palpably and regularly distinguish between one brand’s OG Kush and another’s—not to mention that strain names are a pretty useless metric by which to judge the effects of what’s in a dispensary’s jars—so the Ganjier program doesn’t focus on arbitrary metrics like strain names or whether the cannabis in question is an indica or sativa. Instead, ganjiers are tasked with assessing the quality.

5 RANDOM CANNABIS FACTS

I LEARNED FROM THE GANJIER COUNCIL

I previewed all 10 courses in Ganjier’s online training curriculum taught by the 18 leading cannabis experts on the Ganjier Council and picked up some fun facts. The courses range from “The History of Cannabis & Cannabis Consumption” with the late master hashishin Frenchie Cannoli and “The Art and Science of Cannabis Cultivation” with legendary grower and industry icon Swami Chaitanya to “Accurately Assessing Cannabis Flower and Concentrates” with hash master Nikka T. Here’s what I learned.

1. NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH HASHISH, a cannabis concentrate made using dried cannabis flowers, charas is a type of live resin made by caressing fresh, live cannabis flower between the palms.

2. THE FAN LEAF, ONCE THE ICON OF THE COUNTERCULTURE and now a cannabis marketing staple, is likely a sativa strain, which has longer “blades” or leaflets that are a lighter green in color compared to the short, broad, darkgreen or purple blades on an indica plant.

3. THE BLUE DREAM STRAIN GETS A BAD RAP for being one of those commercial options that you can find everywhere, but it’s actually one of the most unique strains out there that’s commonly available, thanks to its rare pinene-dominant terpene profile that has almost equal parts myrcene. Terpenes are the naturally occurring chemical compounds that give cannabis its aromas and flavors while playing a part in its effects, and pinene is shown to be stimulating or uplifting while myrcene is a known sedative.

4. EVIDENCE INDICATES THE MICROBES IN THE SOIL where a cannabis plant is grown impact the overall terpene quality and diversity in the finished flowers. High-quality craft cannabis is almost always grown in organic living soil.

5. TO CHECK THE QUALITY OF A SOLVENTLESS CONCENTRATE, look at the color. If it’s got any dark brown or green coloration, it’s off. Ideal, typical coloration should be light, buttery, and/or golden.—S.W. Course previews are available for free at ganjier.com.

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PHOTOS (FROM TOP) BY ONEINCHPUNCH VIA ADOBE STOCK; COURTESY THE GANJIER

THE LIFE

That’s a more nuanced determination that ganjiers rely on their senses to make, looking at the appearance, aroma, flavor, and experience a cannabis product provides. Students are taught to rate or classify 31 different characteristics of cannabis samples, from the color of quality of its trim technique to its aromas and flavor profile. Similar to a wine sommelier, a ganjier evaluates how the cannabis looks, how it smells, how it tastes. But unlike the masters of other gustatory professions, ganjiers are also tasked with assessing the experience the product delivers. To

gain Ganjier certification, students must show they have the ability to confidently discern, educate, and articulate the difference between cannabis that’s good enough to smoke and cannabis that’s exquisite enough to celebrate.

Enrollment in the 2022 Ganjier class is now open, and Gilman expects it to fill up quickly—the first class in 2021 sold out in just two weeks. Those who take the course and pass the exams will join an elite group that as of now includes just 36 certified ganjiers around the world. Among those masters of cannabis are the directors of sales for

two of the world’s largest cannabis companies; the director of employee training for mega-dispensary Planet 13; medical doctors and nurses interested in learning more about the medical potential of cannabis; self-motivated budtenders wanting to excel at their trade; consultants interested in launching cannabis tour companies and bud-bar

services for private parties, weddings, and corporate events; and even the director of the California Cannabis Tourism Association. Enrollment isn’t reserved for cannabis industry professionals, and anyone can sign up—all it takes is an interest in the subject matter and $2,997 to cover the costs.

Learn more at ganjier.com.

Ganjier students learn about the latest sustainable cannabis cultivation techniques, including the importance of living soil.

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SMOKING Good Titrations is Alaska’s only licensed cannabis consumption lounge—and one of the very first in the US—and it’s celebrating that achievement with lots of laughter.

PHOTO BY JFL PHOTOGRAPHY VIA ADOBE STOCK, EDITS BY JOSH CLARK

TEXT HUDSON LINDENBERGER

You need a sense of humor and the ability to persevere when the going gets tough to make it in Alaska.

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& JOKING PHOTO COURTESY GOOD TITRATIONS

Comedian Lachlan Patterson works the crowd inside the Good Titrations Cannabis Lounge.

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A

90°F and constant sunlight in the summer. So, it only seems logical that the first state-sanctioned cannabis lounge in the United States would be located here— and it puts on comedy shows. If any place needs a spot to chill out, it’s be Fairbanks.

Good Titrations is one of Alaska’s leading producers of high-quality cannabis concentrates. The brainchild of three friends, it opened its doors in 2017 as a manufacturing facility and soon sold products across the state. It wasn’t until it moved into an old Chili’s restaurant building in the city’s heart a few years ago that it decided to offer

more. Besides opening a retail store, Good Titrations converted its old bar into a cannabis cafe to allow customers a place to kick back and relax.

It took several years, a mountain of paperwork, and nearly $375,000 in expenses to modify the building to meet the state’s rules for on-site consumption.

But, on April 20, 2021, the owners christened its opening by sparking the joint’s first joint.

“It was a long and sometimes painful process to gain approval from all of the local and state entities to open the lounge, but both myself and my partner Brandon Emmett were very active in

PHOTO COURTESY GOOD TITRATIONS

sk any person residing in Fairbanks, Alaska, what it takes to live there, and they will likely tell you that you need a sense of humor and the ability to persevere when the going gets tough, which it often does in the northernmost city in America. Less than 200 miles below the Arctic Circle, Fairbanks is known for its extreme climate—one which swings from minus 30°F and almost continual darkness in the winter to temperatures above

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“I WANTED TO BRING LIVE COMEDY BACK TO FAIRBANKS, ESPECIALLY AFTER THE CRAZINESS OF THE PANDEMIC UPENDED SO MANY LIVES.”

PHOTOS COURTESY GOOD TITRATIONS

—Jerry Evans

the legalization push of 2014 and the creation of the rules to govern it,” says Shaun Tacke, Good Titrations CEO. “We knew that showing that you can create and operate a safe spot like this will show others that it is possible and should happen.”

If it wasn’t for the faint hint of cannabis in the air and the display wall offering views into the glowing grow room filled with plants and fronted by several large booths, one could be forgiven for feeling as if they are relaxing in a modern coffee house here. Part of that is due to the state-of-the-art ventilation system that continually cycles fresh air into the space.

Required to ensure that the facility meets Alaska’s rules for indoor smoking of cannabis, it ensures that patrons aren’t enveloped in a hazy cloud of smoke.

A long wooden table with live edges made by a local craftsman sits off to one side circled by chairs. A small lounge space resembling the inside of a barrel dominates the back wall. Numerous televisions are tuned to various shows and sports. The old horseshoe bar, where patrons used to sip margaritas, sits in the center of the room. An espresso machine and several blenders fill the Space (alcohol is not allowed).

At the bar, customers can order beverages and products for consumption on-site. Items purchased in the retail shop on the other side of the building are for use outside the cafe. It can sell up to one gram of flower or pre-roll to every legal patron to spark up on-site per day. It can also sell 25mg of edibles per day, but most people prefer to smoke.

Local comedy heroes Glen Anderson (top) and Jerry Evans (bottom) warmed up the crowd before the main event.

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PHOTO COURTESY GOOD TITRATIONS

Not long after the room’s opening, local comedian and comedy show producer Jerry Evans approached Tacke. He wanted to book the first-ever comedy show inside a sanctioned cannabis lounge. It seemed like a no-brainer to Evans. Weed and comedy have been the perfect match ever since Cheech and Chong first introduced their version of stoner humor to the broader public.

“I wanted to bring live comedy back to Fairbanks, especially after the craziness of the pandemic upended so many lives,” says Evans. “What better spot to bring some laughter than inside a cannabis cafe in Alaska, the last state to criminalize it in 1990 and the third to then legalize it?

My thought is, one day we might actually be the answer to a trivia question when events like this are commonplace throughout the United States once the federal laws are changed.”

“WHILE I AM A 420-FRIENDLY COMEDIAN, I RARELY SMOKE BEFORE A SHOW, BUT THIS SEEMED LIKE THE PERFECT PLACE TO DO IT.” —Lachlan Patterson

For the first show, Evans, who has been bringing nationally recognized comedians to Fairbanks and the rest of the state for two decades, reached out to Lachlan Patterson. Known for his relaxed delivery and chill style, Patterson was the perfect person to earn a spot in the record books. Introduced by Evans and his longtime comedy partner Glen Anderson, the three fired up a joint, and the rest was history.

“I have been coming up to Alaska for many years and love Fairbanks, so I was honored when asked perform at the show,” says Patterson. “While I am a 420-friendly comedian, I rarely smoke before a show, but this seemed like the perfect place to do it. It was such an amazing time in such an intimate room that felt like a cool coffee shop—somewhere that I know well since I spent my first five years honing my act in them.”

The grow room at Good Titrations is visible from the cannabis lounge.

A B O U T T H E AU T H O R

Hudson Lindenberger is an award-winning writer who believes life is full of interesting stories—his goal is to tell as many of them as possible. Learn more about his work at hudsonlindenberger.com.

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One-Hit Wonder

The key to life? Savor The one-hit wonder. In the world of popular music, it’s a somewhat dismissive term. It’s a slight to the bands and artists who enjoyed one hugely successful song (think “MMMbop,” “Walking on Sunshine,” or “867-5309/Jenny”), then more or less disappeared into showbiz oblivion.

Personally, I would rather have one hit instead of none. And I often can.

That’s because at my house, the term “one-hit wonder” is shorthand for the cannabis cocktail hour, when, sometime around 5 or 6 p.m., I smoke one hit and instantly leave all the Zoom calls, texts, emails, pop-up schedules, news alerts and noise of the day behind.

It’s an incredibly liberating feeling. Opening the doors in my head to new ideas, suddenly solving problems to things that just an hour earlier I thought I might never quite figure out, thinking of how I really might finish writing a new book—The Ghost Hotel—this fall, or just kicking the soccer ball for my big dog, Moses, while I move the backyard hose around.

The concept of the onehit wonder is something I discovered researching my first book, The Monster, a

It’s the savoring of things, and sometimes the scarcity, that gives them meaning. It’s by that single toke. TEXT PETER KRAY being in the moment that kind of allegory about how funny Malamute-Labrador you heighten the pleasure and increase the memory mix we had nicknamed, we might take control of “The Mighty Burrito.” The of each event. And it’s the ways we confront the so much more enjoyable rolfer said, “You need to monsters in our personal than the monotony of stop looking at your feet lives—whether they be gluttony—of having so disease, mental strife, ad- so much when you walk. much of something that diction, or alcoholism—by Look where you’re going. the only remarkable Look at the horizon.” “turning a light on.” aspect is of how much you Which is something I During my research, can cram in your garage still think about when I I met a rolfer who was or stuff in your mouth. instrumental in helping my go for a long walk. Albeit You know that feeling the one-hit thing is what I wife and I on the path to you get when you first think about the most. At better health. Once, after the time I was writing that hear a song that you a particularly therapeutic book, it slowly dawned on know you will love forsession, I asked him how me that I was also writing ever, and every time you he managed the cycle of play it again, it takes you it to help myself. processing all of the hurt back to the first time you It was a period in my he was healing. Or, in other words, how he made life when I wasn’t satisfied heard it? That’s what I’m talking about. with just one of much sure he wasn’t holding I read once that when of anything. And canonto other peoples’ shit.

Brian Wilson, the Beach nabis—along with good He said, “Every night Boys founder and archibeer, bourbon, and crisp when I get home, before tect of the California surf reposado—was key to I walk in the house, I treating every day as part sound, first heard The smoke one hit then go of some extremely casual Ronettes classic wall of hold on to an iron rod in sound masterpiece, “Be long-working weekend, my courtyard until I feel My Baby,” he had to pull something Ernest Hemlike it’s all gone. Then I over to the side of the can go be with my family ingway called, “the fiesta road because it impacted concept of life” in his for the evening.” final—and I think finest— him so much. In 2013 he “One hit?” I said. told The New York Times, “That doesn’t seem near book, A Moveable Feast.

“In a way it wasn’t like The beauty of getting enough for all the probhaving your mind blown, back to one sublime molems you’re solving.”

But he was already back ment or lasting sensation, it was like having your mind revamped.” to focusing on my health— one perfect pint of cold That’s the way I feel IPA, one fine glass of piin particular, a lingering not noir with fresh pasta, when I enjoy my one hit at knee injury he thought the end of the day. Then I or one fragrant inhale of was exacerbated by my walk out onto my patio to the sweet leaf to rememreluctance to release my grief over the recent death ber the magic of each day look at the big, blue beautiful world, as I smile and was still a couple years of my dog Tobear, a barwonder about it all. down the tracks. rel-chested, willful, very

A B O U T T H E AU T H O R

Peter Kray is the author of The God of Skiing. The book has been called “the greatest ski novel of all time.” Find it on Amazon.

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THE END

MORE INFO

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Touch the Sky Devon Tower towers over Oklahoma City.

The Devon Tower, part of the Devon Energy Center, is the tallest building in the city and the state.

The skyscraper in downtown Oklahoma City is tied with Park Tower in Chicago as the 62nd tallest building in the United States. At 50 stories, Devon Tower has fewer floors than the 52-story BOK Tower in Tulsa, but it is still taller.

The tower is a new element in a historic neighborhood. Construction began Oct. 6, 2009, and was completed in October 2012. The six-story rotunda and a six-story podium structure is more than 1,800,000 square feet. The five-story podium houses conference and training centers, and the indoor Galleria includes dining areas overlooking a new park and landscaped plazas as key elements in the overall site design.

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