Certified Ganjiers™ and Connoisseurship
Rob Sanchez
Originally featured in Fat Nugs Magazine. Enjoy the great articles and community at fatnugsmag.com.
My name is Rob Sanchez, and I am a Certified Ganjier™. I have 15 years of experience with the plant and have always enjoyed the nuances of different cultivars and the craftsmanship in cultivation and manufacturing. I started cultivating during Colorado’s medical days and making solventless hash before moving into software. Seed-to-Sale software and compliance have been my focus for the last five years. I’ve contributed to 365 Cannabis, Viridian Sciences, and Ample Organics before joining BLAZE as the Product Manager of Wholesale (Cultivation, Distribution, and Manufacturing). As an Agile Coach, I help companies utilize Agile and Scrum to optimize the value created.
Apartment 113 is working to help spread knowledge, connoisseurship, and appreciation of cannabis along with Agile and Lean practices through the industry. We're searching for quality to celebrate and those with the passion to create it in today’s THC dominant market. The Ganjier program teaches you how to appreciate cannabis flower and concentrates. They’ve created an assessment process using four major pillars - appearance, aroma, flavor, and of course experience. Outside of quality products, the other focus for Ganjiers is quality service; each customer interaction is unique, and we’ve been trained to narrow down the wide product range found on the shelves today to help find the right product.
Connoisseurship really has no limits; in all industries there are different tiers of products. Those at the top are near perfect forms of the product or artisanally created versions showing a deep understanding of the product. This is what the cannabis industry is still building and what Apartment 113 is looking to catalyze. Newer markets are pushed into selling higher and higher THC as that’s what the consumer asks for.
The entourage effect is the full combination of cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, and more that create the experience or “high”. But one high is much different than another, and there are chemical reasons for that. As the industry has matured, we’re learning more about these individual compounds. For example, CBC has antimicrobial and bone stimulant properties, and myrcene is associated with sedative effects. The lab results of a product can help set the stage, but the product itself isn’t a stat sheet that tells you everything. It needs to be smoked to be appreciated and assessed. The Ganjier preferred consumption method is a hand-rolled joint.
The ritual of the joint is slow and methodical - preparing flower, rice paper, and a crutch. There’s something relaxing to the origami like process and hand-rolled joints are above and beyond pre-rolls. If you’re not rolling yet, today's the day to get started! I’d recommend Elements Ultra Thin Rice Papers. Although combustion may not be the best fit for everyone.
I’ve been fortunate to try many different cultivars and have started to build up a library of Certified Ganjier reviews. I prefer potent cultivars with heavy effects and strong aroma but have started to appreciate less sedative and more flavorful citrus cultivars as well.
One of the best I’ve assessed this summer was a harvest of Durban Poison from Luxury Loud in Detroit, Michigan. This flower was taken down at just the right time and absolutely jumped out of the jar with a classic Durban Poison scent. Durban Poison has a funky fuel smell with a burst of sweetness that creates a cloying intoxicating aroma with light notes of grape. It’s a gem when done properly.
The flower was covered in a dense layer of short trichomes. The ends of these trichomes are the heads where the cannabinoids are concentrated. Improper handling at any stage of cultivation, manufacturing, or distribution can knock these off and start to degrade the product. My sample here was exquisite; many of the heads were still intact.
The smoke on this was very smooth with a medium body. The pungent sweetness of the aroma becomes a candied spice flavor on the inhale. The flavor in your mouth after exhaling is potent and long lasting. The effects came on in a reasonable time and brought balanced results with a euphoric wave in the beginning. The Ganjier review is a strict one and this cultivar really hit it out of the park. Near the heart of Detroit, Luxury Loud is creating quality.