Behind the Scenes with Peak Extracts

Jayne Portland Weed Dispensary

Chances are you all know and love Peak Extracts, the brilliant Portland-based and women-run company that creates the strain-specific chocolate bars you see at just about every dispensary. They also produce the Rescue Rub salve, a cannabis based topical product that’s used to treat pain inflammation and a variety of skin conditions. Created by the founder and CEO, Katie, who also happens to be a Chinese herbalist, the rub is made with a proprietary blend of herbs designed to treat muscle pain and inflammation.

From creating strain specific edibles to topicals, everything that Peak Extracts does is meticulously researched and rigorously tested before it ever gets out into the market. We sat down with the founder Katie Stem to get some insight into what goes on at Peak behind closed doors.

Tell us a little bit about how Peak Extracts got started. What’s your mission?

Kate and I started Peak in 2014, but by then Katie had already been a medical patient for nearly ten years, and had been making Single-Strain Chocolates to control symptoms of her Crohn’s disease for most of that time. She discovered that specific strains of cannabis were of great help but others didn’t do much good or had unwanted side effects. Her goal was to be able to control both the dosage and the effects of cannabis administration, in a time where both were commonly left to chance.

When we started the company in 2014, the goal was to provide the same custom-tailored edibles experience to Oregon medical market. We transitioned to the adult use market in 2016 and were one of the first edibles processors licensed in Oregon.

There’s a lot of chocolate to choose from when it comes to cannabis edibles. How do you ensure Peak Extracts stands out from the crowd?

Being Single Strain sets us apart—no other edible maker has offered such a custom and versatile experience. Besides that, since we do all our own extraction, we get to choose the best material, and have our own way of processing it that we’ve honed for many years.

The idea is to retain as many terpenes, flavonoids and nuances of the original flower as possible.

Katie has a background in laboratory science and spent more than a decade doing research, and she has a fabulous time playing mad scientist in our lab.

Where do you source your cannabis flower from? How do you decide what farms/vendors to work with?

We work primarily with Yerba Buena and East Fork Cultivars, with some smaller side projects with other growers. We take this collaboration very seriously—we want to know that the people growing the cannabis we use have values and practices aligned with our own.

We look to work with people that care about sustainability, environmental impact, and medicinal benefits of cannabis. Both of our primary partners are extremely forward-thinking and dedicated. We love working with them.

Where is your chocolate sourced from?

We get our chocolate from a company that specializes in gourmet dark chocolate couverture that’s suitable for making bars—it was a long process to find someone who could supply in large enough quantities to sustain us, that would also maintain consistency between lots and batches. They blend from different regions and the three main cacao cultivars to ensure a uniform and consistent product.

Can you describe how do you make your infused chocolate bars? Take us from flower to final product.

We take cannabis flower from our farm partners and prepare it using our proprietary method and extract it using CO2. We don’t use any additional solvents, just a lot of care and deliberation. The oil is infused into the chocolate while it is undergoing the tempering process, which creates the glossy, snappy chocolate we’ve come to expect from a candy bar.

Why use CO2 for your extraction solvent?

Katie used many solvents to extract natural products during her years of research so there was a fair amount of deliberation. The hydrocarbons have some advantages, but in the end it was an obvious choice for us to use CO2 because of the environmental impact. When we’re done processing our material, it goes back to the farm and is composted and reintegrated into their soil unlike with butane, where the waste material is hazardous and must be incinerated.

In addition, the hydrocarbons and ethanol are flammable. Since our facility is in the city, we wanted to minimize potential safety risks. We’ve learned to use CO2 to our best advantage in order to retain valuable compounds—it’s an extremely versatile solvent that can be used in broad range of temperatures, flow rates and pressures depending on what you’d like to extract.

Anything fun that Peak Extracts is working on now?

We’re particularly excited about our new strains from Yerba Buena. Blueberry Cough (blue), Pineapple Express (red), Dosi (purple), and Super Silver blue magoo (red) will all be out in the next few months. We also have a lovely wildcard/hybrid from Blissful Botanicals, Jillybean. They did a lovely job with that strain.

You’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about your Rescue Rub. Can you tell us a little about its conception and uses?

Our CEO and Founder, Katie, is also a Chinese herbalist. She created the formula for Rescue Rub based on a topical herbal combination for blunt force trauma and inflammation that was written more than 2,000 years ago. She used it in her practice to treat arthritis and muscle pain, then when Peak was formed she modified the formula by adding cannabis oil.

We have reports of it helping with everything from neuropathy to muscle strains to healing tattoos. The other herbs in the formula synergize with the THC, a known analgesic, and create a stronger topical that is absorbed faster into the tissues. It takes about 5 minutes to take effect and lasts about 4 hours. We’ve found it to be invaluable for people who need pain relief but are worried about psychoactive effects.

What are some challenges you face in the industry?

Ever-changing regulations are a big obstacle. It can be difficult to navigate the interaction between municipal, county, state and federal rules. We’re also apprehensive about the changing climate nationwide. We’re a locally owned, self-funded company that’s been built from the ground up. Fortunately, Oregonians are famously passionate about local causes, and we are dedicated to staying in the market as long as we can.

What are you most proud of?

A Vietnam Veteran contacted us a few months ago to tell us that he had horrible nerve damage to his legs from the war, and had been unable to put a sheet or blanket over his legs since. He used the Rescue Rub before bed and was able to sleep through the night with covers on for the first time since the early 70s. Needless to say, we were all crying by the end of his story.

There are so many success stories with the chocolate as well. From endometriosis to insomnia to chemotherapy induced nausea, we hear about how are chocolate makes a positive impact on people’s quality of life. We’re also incredibly proud of the company we’ve built. It really did just start as two people who were passionate about the benefits of cannabis—and now we have a factory, many employees and a diverse product line. It’s been an incredible journey.

What are your future goals/plans for Peak Extracts?

We hope to continue expanding our product line, while maintaining our dedication to quality. Our cartridge line debuted in January of 2018, with a focus on CBD cultivars. It took us years to get the right parameters to keep all the terpenes and flavonoids intact for this application. Our average cartridge has around 10% terpenes, which is much higher than the industry average. We have a few more products in the pipeline that we’re excited about as well, and there’s always discussions about expanding to other states.

Dying to get your hands on a chocolate bar? Luckily for you we’ve always got a few different Peak Extracts flavors on hand and the Rescue Rub, too. Check out our menu here!

Why You’ll Fall In Love With Pilot Farm

Jayne Portland Weed Dispensary

Every cultivar* you smoke is a labor of love.

Some are grown with a lot more love than others, the kind of love that can only come from Mother Nature herself.

These are the kind of flowers that are harvested in organic soil, grown only using natural compounds, sunlight and water.

We’re proud to work with folks that honor this commitment to quality, which is exactly why we’re so incredibly excited to be talking about Pilot Farm’s latest cultivars today.

Sustainable Cannabis from Southern Oregon

Pilot Farm is 8 acres of pure sustainable, high elevation sun kissed cannabis that’s grown in the mountain’s native soil outside Ashland, OR. The flower here is all Clean Green Certified, meaning that every last cultivar is grown without use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers.

The unique biodiversity of the mountain terroir—along with the dedicated care of the Pilot Farm team—is what makes their flower so special.

Flowers grown on the farm are exposed to high density sunlight, an environmental stressor that pushes the plant to produce more terpenes and trichomes. The elevation at 3,800-4,500 ft. yields hot days and cold nights that are perfect for growing buds.

It’s an area of land where the native soil combines with natural water, sunlight and the mountain breeze to produce flower Mother Nature herself would be proud of.

Let’s Talk Oregon Cultivars:

Mountain Girl Blue, Jack Skellington & Mendocino Purple

We’ve got a few wonderful cultivars from Pilot Farm on our shelves right now. These include Mountain Girl Blue, Jack Skellington and Mendocino Purple. Let’s dive into what makes each flower so unique.

Mountain Girl Blue (Mountain Girl Lemon x Blue Dream). THC 21.24%

Primary terpenes:

  • Myrcene – 1.54%
  • a-Pinene – 0.41%
  • B-caryophyllene Limonene – 0.23%

Total Terpenes – 3.05%

If you tend to enjoy creative, cerebral head highs (most often “sativas”), then this is the flower for you.

The folks at Pilot took their Mountain Girl Lemon, a clear-headed, euphoric sativa that’s incredibly high in terpenes (Limonene) and crossed it with Blue Dream to create a flower that’s perfect for daytime use. It smells like summer, like lemons and blueberries, a waft of deliciousness that makes us yearn for backyard BBQs.

Mountain Girl Blue resembles the Blue Dream Cultivar more than anything else. You can taste the blueberry and the lemon in the smoke right before that blissful euphoria comes on. The first thing I feel is an anti-anxiety effect. Tightness in my chest is considerably loosened, and before long the cerebral giddiness and wave of creativity take over.

Pilot Farm went above and beyond the call of duty to educate the world about the Mountain Girl Blue cultivar. Here’s a little data we gleaned from their Instagram:

  • Highest terpene volume, Myrcene, will not only yield a deep relaxation effect but may actually help increase the cultivar’s psychoactivity “due to its ability to increase maximum saturation of the CB1 receptor thereby allowing more THC to bind and cause an effect”.
  • The next most prominent terpene is Pinene, which makes perfect sense given the immediate chest pain relief I felt:
    • “Pinene is a powerful bronchodilator and may help the consumer to breathe a bit easier, absorb more oxygen and feel more focused as a result. The pinene coupled with the concentration of limonene, should help to contribute some medicinal properties, such as anti-anxiety, pain relieving, muscle relaxing properties”
  • Overall the unique combination of Myrcene, Pinene and Limonene yielded a flower that “may help heighten awareness, create clarity of mind and elevate mood!” We couldn’t agree more.

Jack Skellington (Killer Queen x Jack the Ripper). 18.01% THC

These light green, moderate density buds are very squat, almost looking like an indica in structure, but are secretly full of Limonene! The first scent that comes across is an earthy tone, a light diesel scent almost like fresh earth with lemons mixed in. Lab results confirm our initial hunch of Limonene as one of the main terpenes present, but there’s a lot more than that lurking beneath the leaves:

Source: Leafly

Myrcene is the primary terpene followed by beta-Caryophyllene at 19.3% of volume followed by Limonene (13.3%) and Linalool (5.2%).

Beta-Caryophyllene is a spicy, peppery terpene that’s found in many compounds including cloves, cinnamon, black pepper and rosemary. It works by binding to the CB2 receptors in our endocannabinoid system. The benefits of beta-Caryophyllene include:

  • Anti-inflammatory and analgesic
  • Alcohol craving reduction
  • Anti-cancer
  • Anti-anxiety and anti-depressant

Smoking the Jack instantly lifts my mood. I’m alert, focused and smiling, ready to take on the day. It’s energetic without being racy thanks to the presence of the Linalool, a terpene found in lavender that’s known for its soothing properties, making it a great daytime sativa to indulge in.

Mendocino Purple, 17.25% THC

Towards the indica side of the spectrum we have the Mendocino Purple, a gorgeous cultivar with relaxing, sleepy effects. These nugs are significantly larger than their counterparts, suggesting a plant that’s healthy, vital and happy. Dark green slowly becomes a purple as the color weaves through the nug, with long orange pistils peeking out everywhere. Earthy and berry notes mix with a slight hint of licorice for a bright note that’s perfect for summer.

A few hits is all it takes to transport yourself to a calmer, more zen state of mind. It’s a relaxed high that’s not too heavy, one that I find really complements listening to an album or cooking dinner.

Have you ever tried Pilot Farm flower? What are some of your favorites?

*What is a ‘cultivar’ and why do you keep using that word instead of ‘strain’?

Glad you asked, dear reader! The folks over at Cannabisnow have a great explanation for you:

“The word strain is borrowed from microbiology and is used to describe a genetic variant or subtype of a bacteria, fungus or virus. A more appropriate term to use for plants would be cultivar, which refers to cultivated plants.

The word [‘cultivar’] originates directly from the term cultivated variety and is widely used in crop sciences. It is used to describe a subtaxon of a species so, in the case of cannabis, that would be applicable to describing the various crosses breeders make today.”

You’re the coolest. Mention this blog post to your budtender for $1 off every gram of Pilot Farm flower.

Love,

The Jayne team

NU CBD Tincture Review

Jayne Portland Weed Dispensary

CBD is the bee’s knees.

No, really—it is one of our favorite things, ever. Chances are you probably heard us mention CBD in our Cannabis 101 post, but if you’re new to the game we’ll take a quick second to clarify what CBD is.

What is CBD?

CBD, or cannabidiol, is one of the 20+ cannabinoids found in both marijuana and hemp plants (more on that later). It’s an incredibly healing, non-toxic compound that boasts a large lists of benefits including anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-anxiety effects.

These properties can provide tremendous relief to folks that suffer from a wide range of conditions—the kind of relief that vastly improves the daily quality of their day to day lives. Anna Symonds, the director of the CBD Certified program at East Fork Cultivars, recently shared this great story with us about introducing her grandmother to CBD:

“It was a big deal to me to help my 86 year old grandma start using CBD to relieve her severe arthritis pain. It’s made such a huge difference for her quality of life and ability to enjoy each day, and when she tells me about it, it just wrings my heart out like a sponge. Sharing happy tears about it together was something that I’ll never forget.”

How to Use CBD

Now that we’re all on the same page as far as CBD’s benefits go, let’s talk about the ways you can ingest CBD. While smoking high CBD strains like ACDC or Wesley’s Wish allows you to experience the full range of terpenes from the plant (giving you the greatest health benefits thanks to the “entourage effect”), it’s not always a practical option for everyone.

Alternatives to smoking flower include using a CBD topical or tincture for longer term relief…which brings us to Nu Cannabis’ CBD tincture.

About NU Cannabis CBD Tincture

While a tincture is generally thought of as an alcohol based cannabis extract—the end result of infusing alcohol with flower—not all tinctures are the same. Nu’s CBD tincture is alcohol-free and made using supercritical CO2 cannabis oil, an extraction process that’s considered to be safer, cleaner and more environmentally friendly than alternative extraction techniques.

Because it uses grapeseed oil the tincture is incredibly versatile. Use it anytime you need a little pinch of love: as massage oil for tired and sore feet; mixed in with your moisturizer; on your knuckles for joint pain, even. You can also try and thwart pesky migraines by rubbing some into your temples.

Going beyond its topical use the tincture performs best when ingested orally, aka sublingually. Ingesting sublingually bypasses cannabis breakdown in the liver, allowing effects to take hold faster than “eating” the tincture, so be sure to try not to swallow the tincture before its fully absorbed. You can also incorporate the tincture as an edible by using it as the oil for a salad dressing. The peppery taste of CBD is an especially great complement for fresh, peppery herbs like arugula.

If you’re reading this caption mention the word ‘GANJA’ to your budtender for $5 off any Nu product!

I personally find CBD most useful as an anti-anxiety treatment. It’s a little trickier than THC since you don’t feel a noticeable effect coming on. Instead, the issue that was bothering you just seems to slip away. It might even take you a second to notice you’re suddenly calm. You are zen. You are A-OK.

It’s also worth noting that using a small amount of CBD provides an energetic effect whereas larger doses are more sedating. Try and experiment until you find a dose that works for you; if you want to use it for sleep, be sure to take your tincture no later than an hour before bedtime.

That’s all for today, folks. Have any questions for us? Come on by any Sunday morning in May between 8 – 10 am for our special Q & A sessions where you can spend some valuable one on one time with a Jayne budtender.

We’ve got breakfast for you + special deals from some of our favorite vendors like Pilot Farms and Bull Run Craft Cannabis to make your morning extra magical. No question is too awkward so grab yourself a pastry and come armed with your burning questions. We’re here for you!

Silver Tip by Bull Run Craft Cannabis | Strain Review

Photography of Silvertip cannabis strain

This Oregon Cannabis Farm Struck Gold with the Silver Tip

We are incredibly excited to be reviewing one of our favorite new cultivars today, the “Silver Tip” from Bull Run Craft Cannabis Farms. We enjoy this cultivar so much that we decided to make it our Cause of the Month for May, with $1 from each gram sold going directly towards the Cascadia AIDS project.

At a first glance all the hallmarks of exceptionally grown strains are there: nugs are tight but break apart well; flower is dark purple at first glance with some green, good trichomes peek out from underneath every leaf.

Strain Genetics

Thanks to its deep purple color many may initially suspect it to be an indica, which is, in part, correct genetically speaking. That’s right: one of the parents here is a Grandaddy Purple, the famously dark-hued indica known for its sedating effects.

The key to understanding this unique cultivar, however, isn’t hidden in the deep purple hues that immediately catch your eye.

Light, lime green leaves weave throughout the flower in abundance, alternating with the dark purple in perfect harmony.

This is the presence of the Super Silver Haze (SSH) parentage at work, a sign that there’s more to the cannabis flower than its stony purple would suggest.

Many of you will likely recognize that name owing to the fact that SSH (Northern Lights #1 x Skunk x Haze) is one of the most widely enjoyed sativas in the world. Bred by legendary grower Neville Schoenmaker, it’s won the High Times Cannabis Cup for three years in a row.

So what’s the Silver Tip got in store for us?

The cultivar farmer at Bull Run, Big Steve, had this to say for users:

“Be prepared to lock it down on the couch after an engagement unless you’re a seasoned pro like me.”

Bring it on, Steve.

Silver Tip Specs

Visually the flower is arresting: it’s so completely satiated in trichomes and kief that it nearly sparkles, with the rich color gradation to match.

THC percentage comes in at 22.94% with a terpene count of 2.31%.

A glance at the terpene-rich profile reveals beta-Myrcene as the most prominent terpene (53.8% of overall terpenes), with alpha-Pinene coming in at 12.6% of the terpene content overall.

It’s nearly picture perfect, the end result of a long labor of love. Grown indoors using only natural growing materials approved by Certified Kind, the Silver Tip is hand-picked before being aged in glass jars at Bull Run in Boring, Oregon.

Flavors & Aromas

An initial whiff reveals a slight earthy muskiness followed by a light finish—citrus and berries. Notes of grape and lime perfume each frosty nugget perfectly, an incredibly inviting aroma that becomes even more powerful when ground up.

Lighting up surprises me: the taste is unpredictably spicy on the initial note! The next flavor is piney, floral, almost lavender-like, cascading into a berry flavor on my tongue. The ease with which it smoked was as smooth as butter on warm pancakes.

Silver Tip Effects

The first feeling to come is a hint of stoniness in the eyes, the first sign the indica is creeping up…but lo and behold! The haze makes its way onto the scene in full force soon enough.

It’s a high that feels warm, calm and euphoric, almost as though I’m being swaddled tightly in a warm blanket. Ideas are novel and my imagination seems boundless. I’m recklessly giddy, giggling at seemingly nothing around me just because I can.

The folks at Bull Run know how to grow remarkable flower, and the Silver Tip cultivar is proof of that.

This is a beautiful cannabis strain that I’d highly recommend for anyone, particularly those who suffer from depression or anxiety, ADHD or migraines.

It’s a great feel-good smoke through and through that isn’t heavy on the body, a gentle and mellow heady effect that’s deeply calming yet functional.

Happy smoking, everyone!

Love,

The Jayne team

Check our menu for current strain & price info