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In Summary
Chris Black & Kansas Heritage Farms joins us on the HempList this week, hosted By Chase Nobles, Founder of Kush.com
Chris Black is paving the way for cannabinoid brands and distribution in Kansas, a state that hasn’t been too friendly to the hemp & cannabis industry. Chris talks about the latest regulations and legislation coming in Kansas, and breaks down some of his products that have met the states strict Zero THC policy like Nanoencapsulated CBG tinctures!
Transcript (auto-generated)
Hey everybody chase nobles here
founder over at kush.com i’ve got chris
black here from kansas heritage farms
llc how are you chris
good how’s it going doing well nice to
see you chase
yeah good to see you too i’m excited to
have you on the show you’re based out of
kansas
which is known for growing a lot of
things but not quite hemp yet what are
you doing to change that
okay well uh we are kansas’s first
vertically integrated seat to shelf
processor
uh it’s been a it’s been a kind of a an
interesting path so far but
we’re making headway in the state and
right now as we speak they’re debating a
medical bill
on the floor of the kansas house so uh
let’s
uh keep our fingers crossed that those
guys and
women and gentlemen can get things
sorted out and
get get this state moving forward if we
can catch up with the rest of the
country as far as
cannabis is concerned right you’re one
of the few states in the country you’re
very clearly in the minority on this
front
do you think this is the year do you
think that they’re going to pass a
medical cannabis
regulation there in kansas and uh what
do you think the community’s response to
that’s going to be
you know we’ve had uh my girlfriend
actually done some lobbying
in the up there at the house in the
senate and there is a good
chance we think that it will pass you
know it’s
there there’s gonna be a lot of uh
you know different approaches to it
than in other states that they’re
talking about but
as as we’ll find out we’ll just see how
it goes we think that it’s going to go
great
and that it is going to pass uh if not
well
we’ll have to try again next year but
this is the most
attention that it’s gotten uh for sure
in kansas in the in any year so far so
right on and so what have you been doing
to prepare you said you’re the first
vertically integrated
what’d you do this year what what what
was the business plan how are you guys
operating
sure so so we uh we started off with the
the choice of a string uh we we started
with just five acres
um we did we used the
plastic culture by the biodegradable
mulch we put in a good crop we have a
nice size
spring fed pond that we were able to
irrigate from
uh we ended up getting you know a fairly
decent crop
out of that five acres um now we chose
the strain we chose was a white cbg
you know it’s it’s it’s it’s the the out
of oregon it’s
high cb drink high cbg strain um
not a lot of thc at all
really in the strain so uh for us
you know being in the state that we’re
in it was kind of a
a no-brainer as far as being able to
maintain compliance
all the way through the process and so
uh we went ahead we did the five acres
uh it was a great great year being able
to irrigate really helped
and uh we came out with a good crop and
then we
decided to build out a uh
a shop into a lab and so we’ve got now a
processing facility uh where we’re
producing
this beautiful cbg viscolit
look at that okay so let’s let’s break
down what we’re looking at real quick
first off
you said cbg has very little to no thc
in it
and that’s because cbg is the precursor
cannabinoid pretty much
every other cannabinoid for anybody
that’s that doesn’t know
now when you harvest cbg the peak cbg is
before it goes and turns into cbd or thc
further down before it
uh goes down that chemical process
that’s a plant
that the plant makes happen so you’re
right being in kansas you don’t want to
mess around at all i would imagine
they’re not going to be too welcoming to
uh thc in the state and what you just
showed us
that is cbg distillate and that is a
beautiful thing to see
but it’s all crystallized which is
different than cbd distillate tell us
tell us what’s going on here why is it
look like that
and how do you use a product that is all
crystallized
like that okay well you know
it’s it’s almost got the um
temperature properties of say like uh
like uh
uh coconut oil we’re at room temperature
it’s it’s this
solid right and but just just barely
over room temperature almost that body
temperature
it will begin to melt and so
based on the hexagonal structure of the
compound it makes these beautiful
uh crystalline structures crystalline
structures
and uh it’s just it’s just an incredible
incredible uh new thing that a lot of a
lot of folks
have been in the industry making
distillates for a long time you know
it’s exciting for them
as well to see something new you know
it’s it’s
so highly concentrated you know the
previous
the previous way to get cbg like you
said was to harvest the plant early
low percentages and then basically have
to go
through a through chromatography process
down to an isolate to get it to this
this type of purity well we’re able to
uh
with the with the genetics and uh the
equipment and the processing that we
have we’re able to get this
uh to open to 90
or over purity and so at that at that
level
it rapidly crystallizes at room
temperature so
um you know i’ll pull this out of the
rfd
and it’s a beautiful you know clear
golden liquid and then within about
in 30 minutes to an hour you start to
see these beautiful snowflakes
it’s almost like snowflakes will start
to form
in the jar and they’re they’re attracted
to each other so we’ve even done time
lapses on this stuff where you can see
the
the the the uh the molecule bonding to
each other
in the jar over over you know a long
period of time
you’re asking okay what do we do with
this stuff right okay it’s it’s
it’s it’s a solid right so so
we have taken this beautiful
90 plus uh
distillate and uh through a proprietary
uh
process we have turned it into this
which is you can see
a liquid now wow it almost looks like it
glows in the dark
you know we really want to get a black
light on it we think it’d be
we think it’s going to glow in the dark
yeah that’d be interesting
but uh you can see it’s this it’s this
kind of
it’s still it still kind of has that
color
but this is nano encapsulated
cbg so this is
this is a different process most nano on
the market
is emulsified which if you’re familiar
with emulsification it’s
basically using force or sonic
vibrations
or you know some some kind of method
like that to break the molecule apart
into a smaller form well this
nano encapsulation processing product
is uh highly superior to even the
emulsification
because what it is is that the molecule
is not only broken down
into smaller pieces but it is
also encapsulated or wrapped into a
lipid
and so what that allows is that
the blood grain barrier that
that it being encapsulated in that lipid
allows it to pass very easily and very
rapidly
through the blood-brain barrier whether
it’s through the membrane in the mouth
that you take some
drops you know if you swallow it it’s
being absorbed into your body
you’re getting the majority of the
cannabinoid
into your bloodstream so it takes less
right milligrams per gram to have the
desired effect
because even in an emulsified
product even though those are small
molecules
the blood-brain barrier still blocks
some of those molecules right so then it
still has to go through the digestive
tract
and then be broken and absorbed into the
bloodstream
through digestion right now what what uh
what
what lipid are you using to put so
when somebody if i’m looking at that it
looks like it’s the consistency of
you know olive oil almost right it’s
it’s almost water so it’s over
it’s the the it’s mostly distilled water
now it’s a proprietary method so i can’t
tell you much more than that
um just because i can’t and what’s
what’s the uh what’s the
the um what’s the total potency of that
you know like is it
your original distillate was 90 what are
we looking at in that in a bottle like
that
so a bottle like this uh this one tests
out
at 18.5 milligrams
per gram okay so
18.5 oh no yeah so
yeah no 1.85 percent
right okay right so we’ve taken it from
90
plus and now it’s 1.85
now that doesn’t sound like a lot right
sounds like well that’s not very much
but in fact one in this lipid
encapsulated
form and the fact that you’re getting
almost all of that into your bloodstream
in a very rapid manner
that the effects are the onset of the
effects you’re talking minutes
and it’s absolutely noticeable
uh the effect that has even taking
one uh one drop or one dropper’s worth
and i’ll show you in the dropper now so
that
that that jar of distillate that jar of
crystallized distillate
you put it into this uh you know nano
encapsulation that one jar of distillate
can make a lot of that nano
encapsulation
correct correct yep it’s your candle
so it’s it’s uh that raw material it
doesn’t take much to make a solid
tincture now yeah i want to take a look
at this tincture you’re about to show me
what uh what do you got there
because you’re doing everything now you
you took the bull on by the horns
you you decided to grow five acres you
decided to extract it
you decided to nano encapsulate it and
now you’re putting it into a finished
goods
man you’ve got your hands full i don’t
know how you’re doing it all
well i need about three more of me right
now is what it feels like
i am trying to do a lot of things at
once and at the same time right now
we’re also we’re expanding we’re uh
we’re
planning on planting 20 acres so the the
little babies are about to you know get
planted in the next
week and you got your girlfriend down
there lobbying at the state this is a
this is an opera you guys got your hands
full
your hands full for sure you know and
again being kansas is
really first uh that’s taking
this much on at once uh you know
we’re just hoping that uh that people
try the product
and that they find that it’s superior to
really uh most cbd products
and cbd products um
really i guess you have to just you have
to try it for yourself to really
understand
that now now what’s what’s the sales
channel look like out there in kansas
are
are people selling cbg and cbd tinctures
and products well at the gas station
what what’s it like right there what’s
it like
yeah they’re they are um they are for
sure now there’s some
legal gray area as far as um
thc levels uh you know
[Music]
for a long time people have been kind of
walking in that gray area
where um you had
basically this the state was saying that
if it had any thc
at all in it that really
legally it wasn’t allowed to be on the
shelf now people were
kind of were still doing that but
uh you know some folks have run that
risk
and have had the uh kbi come and
knock on their door and uh take them
through the rigorous
over over certain products um and so
that’s another reason why
uh we kind of leaned more towards this
cbg and the strain and the final
products
is that we can be very confidently say
that
um the thc level in this stuff
is practically non-existent so so most
states the debate is total thc
versus delta 9 thc and how they’re
measuring it
and you know what the products are
kansas has taken it to a wild extreme
of saying zero thc out not even
point zero one percent of thc is that
what you’re
telling me that that was the official
position
of the um attorney general of kansas
that doesn’t sound like it aligns with
the federal laws
and so they’re starting to change their
tune now so right
we’re getting closer as like i said even
as we speak
right now they’re debating this medical
bill and so they have gone ahead and
they passed when they passed the
commercial processing uh bill uh which
just passed
the beginning of the first first week of
april
they went ahead and uh have allowed for
that
up to 0.3 percent
now so being surrounded by missouri
oklahoma colorado places with a lot more
you know you got the extremes there you
know you’ve got colorado
full wreck and then kansas with a border
to it
saying not even any not even under 0.3
thc
in your hemp products what what’s
holding kansas back on this front and
how does the how does the state overcome
it is it just a
you know a a politics thing or or
do people want these products in the
state what are you seeing you know kind
of being there and and
having a pulse on the community is this
just a matter of time kind of thing like
it has been in so many other states
yeah i think i think it is a matter of
time thing um
i think the i think over you know over
50 maybe 60 percent of folks in kansas
um are for at least medical
um you know and perhaps even
recreational
now it comes down really to the way that
uh the kansas government works right
so in most states uh you can go ahead
and
uh start a referendum where you can go
out and you can collect
x number of signatures right for what it
whatever it is that you’d like
to be voted on and uh you can get that
on the ballot
right in most states that’s how most
states have passed
uh you know medical or recreational
cannabis well in kansas you just can’t
do that
there’s no referendum process in kansas
so now if we had had referendum process
we would have most likely have had
medical years ago
but it’s up to the legislators to
legislate this stuff into law so
that that i think has been the largest
barrier
is is it’s just there’s a lot of
misinformation that as you can i’m
sure you know understand
that’s being told to these legislators
regarding this industry you know it’s
one of those things where
with so many people for you just gotta
wonder who is actually against this
product who’s actually against this
industry and how are they having so much
impact to
slow something down that’s so popular
you know um
now tell us a little bit more about the
different kind of products that you have
out there before we before we wrap this
up you know and how people can find out
about you
you’re on kush.com so people can
obviously obviously find you all there
and we’re excited to have you on there
it’s farms like you
pushing hard in a state that has so many
restrictions that make
you know the community a special place
but uh tell us a little bit about what
you know what what’s out on the market
how are you looking to grow who are you
looking to meet and
uh yeah what’s the what’s the plan for
the next year so
uh well like i said uh we think that
we’re on
a winning product here with the
encapsulated
nano cdg you know i really
highly suggest that if you get an
opportunity
to try it um
[Music]
the effects are
very significant and noticeable and i
think have a lot well i’ll have to send
you i’ll have to send you my address
after this and
give it a shot i’d love to see you send
you a little ball here
but i mean really we’re looking to to
to connect with folks that uh really
just
want to try it either um you know in
in small sample bottles or who who would
like to
try leader bottles of it you know
products you know
uh we can you this is a unique
you know formula because you know you
can make gummies with it
you know the room temperature stable
gummies uh
you can go you can take you know one
little drop and add it to
other uh formulations and concoctions to
accentuate or um or change the effects
of the front products
uh really i really think that it’s great
for
beverages you know so if any other
manufacturer wants to put cbg in your in
their products you made it real easy
with that nano encapsulation
very easy and and and the delivery
system
is just superior it’s you’re gonna
get it into your body in your
bloodstream and you’re gonna feel it
and you know with some products you’re
like oh i kind of feel it maybe
you know um there’s a little you know a
little bit of
but this absolutely you’re gonna know
the difference
um you know i’m not sure exactly what i
can say
that it helps with but i can tell you it
helps a lot
um i’ve got i’ve got my uh my
father here sitting over here and you
know he
he tried to help us out in the field
getting the five acres
planted in and he uh he hurt his ankle
pretty bad and
it’s not healing up too well well this
has significantly
helped him get around let’s put it that
way so right on right on we
think that uh very powerful things
yeah so he from his own words it takes
that pain right away
oh that’s good to hear well uh chris
you know next year where do you want to
be what’s the plan
what’s kind of the goal uh uh for for
for the business
sure you know i’d like to
take take this stuff and
create a product line um that’s
that’s in the books uh we’ve got uh
we’re going to create a local
kind of regional brand that we like to
uh
to sell you know we’ve got lots of um
teeth that we that came off that’s uh
non-detectable thc
um so that stuff just breaks right off
of the cbg plant too hey i got a
question for you all those big deer out
there eating all your corn
they have any interest in your hip crop
this year well you know we’re going to
find out so
last year we uh we had had it fenced in
so we had festive five acres
previously when we were doing some
vegetable farming
and uh so we didn’t we didn’t give them
a chance
this year we had the five acres inside
the deer fence eight foot tall
thousand acres a little harder to do
that isn’t it or 300 acres
or what are you what are you growing you
put it in here we’re going to do 20 next
year
20 that’s right yeah i was about to say
a thousand liters you’re looking to
produce a thousand liters of distillate
that’s uh
that’s a lofty goal and uh yeah that’ll
be exciting to see you guys scale up and
and keep pushing so uh chris it’s been a
pleasure talking to you
we’ll have to do this again next year
and keep touch and and keep it touch
bases on how you’re doing as a business
uh i’m glad you’re in the community i’m
glad that you’re pioneering there in
kansas and uh best of luck to you and
everybody else out there
hopefully we’ll see you at the texas amp
convention in november down there in
dallas
hey thanks chase well uh make sure you
send me your address so i can send you a
little sample here
i will i’ll do that right after we get
off the show hey chris
be safe good luck with everything and
we’ll talk soon hey thanks chase you
have a good one