So over the past week I’ve been learning some basic video production using Adobe Premiere. I’m pretty proficient with Adobe products, so it didn’t take me too long to pick it up. The same, however, can not be said for my presentation skills. The clip I used is the 6th take and nowhere near perfect, but it does the trick. So don’t be too harsh, but let me know what you think and hopefully we’ll be making some more of these in the near future. I’m sure they’ll improve as we do more.

Video Link

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I don’t really have too much to show this week. I’ve been working on a new retail catalog that we’ll start sending out at the end of the year. I also have started working on a new catalog for Gravitron, the Helix and the cover of HQ for the spring CHAMPS show. Yes, I’m busy, but it’s all in the beginning phases at the moment.

Not to mention preparing for the move to Austin. I can’t wait till it’s all over and we’re finally settled there. Though it’s going to be a long road to get to that point. We’re still trying to lock down a good warehouse & office space. Right now our office is at the house and we communicate with the warehouse virtually. But in Austin we’re all going to be under one roof. It’s going to be a big change, but a good one. I’m still not sure how I feel about having to come into the office every day, but hopefully the commute will be short (preferably a bike ride).

Also…

Smoco (headshop in Austin) has finally opened it’s doors. Matt was in Austin over the weekend and snapped this photo of the front of the store. Yep, that’s my handy work. Looks pretty cool. We just got some jars done with the logo too.

I also received another question that I wanted to answer. Kim, one of our long time supporters, asked why we don’t have music on our page. She wants to hear what we’re listening to at the office and not just see it on the blog. Well Kim, I hate to say it, but I really dislike music on myspace pages. I guess it’s the fact that I listen to music at my desk and when someone’s page has music on it, well it interrupts my music with a horrible mashup of whatever I’m listening to and what’s on the page. Terrible I know. So that’s why we won’t ever have music on our main page. HOWEVER, I really like the idea of sharing my musical taste with my readers, so I’m going to work on getting a playlist up every month with what’s currently in heavy rotation at 420 Science Radio. Maybe even a podcast? Anyway, thanks for the question Kim and I’ll get something together soon. I love sharing music with people!

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So here are some of the questions I got today. I answered a few other directly. I also copied the questions into the blog just like they came to me. Hopefully that will make some of you read what you wrote prior to sending it to me. Is this what our education system is producing? Silly stoners. Maybe my standards are just too high? Or maybe they are? Anyway, there were some good questions in there and I answered them to the best of my ability. Keep them coming. It makes for some interesting conversations around the office.

When are you getting some tshirts? I want to spread the word

Soon hopefully. Hats are on the way. Shirts are a little further off.

Due say i score like a pound of killa, how would i be able to keep it fresh untile i finish it? could i freeze it? would it still taste the same?

I think your best option for long term storage is breaking it up into smaller quantities (1-2 ounces) and investing in a vacuum sealing system. Bag them up and store them in the freezer perhaps in a larger plastic container. You’ll also want to make sure that your goods are properly cured before bagging. Then when you’re running low, pull out one of your freezer bags and dump it into a 420 Jar (or 2)

[update] After posting this reposonse a I received this message…
“no dude you cant freeze it will mold and your bud will get you sick as hell! DONT FREEZE! TRUST ME I KNOW. I TRYED IT AND IT DIDNT WORK I LOST LIKE 14Grams cause of it”

Unfortunately this poor soul fell victim to improperly cured smoke. If you freeze something with water in it you’re going to ruin it. It’s so very important that it’s properly cured before sealing and freezing. Check out this forum for more info on the subject.

are you really a 28-year-old female??

Wouldn’t you like to know? I think that would make you a lesbian since you’re my girlfriend. Hot!

what i want to know..eh? hmm..
i want to know what kind of tests or experiments you guys do with your products. like they do at car test tracks or those condom testing facilities where they blow them up like balloons to see when they’ll burst!
durability? freshness? smellyproffness?
what kind of science experiments are you guys doing?

We test all our products before we introduce them to market. If it’s not something that we’d use ourselves we don’t want to sell it. (Needless to say we have a lot of jars in our house.) Fortunately we aren’t promising that our jars will keep you from getting pregnant, so rigorous testing of every jar isn’t required. We do require Brian to keep a watchful eye on jar quality. We hate sending out inferior products. We’re testing out some new jars right now to make sure they keep the freshness in. After all, freshness matters.

“Anything, aye? Well I use a Volcano for smoking and my tolerance is high using the usual pieces, but my tolerance never changes with my Volcano, I ALWAYS AM RIPPED.

That’s not much of a question, but as a Volcano owner, I couldn’t agree more. What should also be mentioned is that a Volcano uses less product and you’re able to save the leftover duff and bake with it. It’s a very efficient way to smoke and well worth the investment. Check out www.gotvape.com and pick one up.

“whats the highest precent of thc i haerd it was 9.6″

I think this is almost a bit of a stoner myth. I did some research and came across a rather comprehensive study done in 1999. They sampled 42 strains with the highest being 31.6% THC. 9.6% is what would be a decent mid grade smoke. Most high potency strains are closer to 20% With all the advances in breeding that have come about over the past decade there is no doubt in my mind that the number will rise. Link to Article

I know you guys/girls are becoming pretty successful and was wondering if yas ever wanted to go for Tv Commercials on the 420 Science products, will the mainstream media punks let you or people like us advertise pro-cannabis products on tv?

I really doubt you’ll see anything cannabis related advertised on major networks anytime soon. Our industry is underground and mainstream America isn’t quite ready for us yet. It would be nice to think with the current budget crisis that the government will be changing how it spends money and end the war on a plant, but I’m not holding my breath…

Anyway we find that our advertising dollars are spent on print publications. There are a few web based video shows out there, but we’ve found that their impact is minimal compared to advertising in print publications. We are working on some of our own videos currently. So keep a watch out for those.

so do you sell anything but jars and magnifying glasses
I m from L.A. why would I go through all the trouble of ordering those things from you ? Im not being a dick I m just wondering what makes it better than the hundreds of types of jars I can get out here.

That’s an easy one. I’ve collected jars for a long time. Long before 420 Jars was even an idea in my cloudy mind. There are a lot of great ones out there. I especially love little jelly jars. Repurposed jars are great. They’re free and you’re reusing something rather than throwing it away. (good for the earth) But there is a problem. You’re paying a lot of money for quality smoke and probably spent a lot of money on a fancy pipe or two. Why would you want to keep you stash in a mayonnaise jar? Ghettooooo. This is where we come in. Our jars work great to keep your finest fresh and look good while doing it. The lids provide an airtight seal. Any hand-blown jar with a cork lid can’t compete with that. Our decorations aren’t just stickers either. We use high quality glass enamel decals. These are fired in a kiln at over 1000 degrees. Our jars are a high quality and stylish storage solution that’s affordable. Not to mention the ladies will be impressed.

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Experiment: What do you want to know? Send me a message with questions about our business, industry, design or whatever. I’ll pick out a few of the best and drop some knowledge.

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You’d be amazed by how many people message me through myspace asking if we sell herb. Ummm, no. That’s illegal. (not to mention totally retarded) I have no idea what gives these people the impression that we would be selling anything other than jars or scopes. Maybe I need to include a disclaimer in all the photos – “jars come empty” – but really? Buying something that’s illegal over the internet? I tried to rationalize what these individuals might thinking…maybe I’m just really well informed and some people actually think that you can buy weed online? Needless to say I try to be cordial to these misinformed stoners. Maybe they just got into the lifestyle. Maybe they’re only 16 and don’t know a bong from a steamroller. I remember when I started smoking. I was so eager to learn everything I could about cannabis. So I try to give then a break and reply back (mostly) with a kind email pointing out that selling and possessing cannabis is illegal in the US. Maybe I need to come up with some canned response to these emails. Something helpful and productive. Something that can inform people that trying to purchase illegal substances over the internet is probably not the best idea. I guess in the end I should just have a little laugh (and pity) over these emails. There’s always going to be people that ask misinformed questions. I suppose it’s my duty as a so called “pot expert” (I do own 420 Science after all) to help these people that are in our tribe. Yes, I just called you a tribe. Get used to it.

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Over the years we’ve amassed quite the collection of business cards. We never print more than 500. This allows us to update our design more often. Most companies don’t have that luxury. Designers are expensive after all. (good ones at least) This photo is every business card that we’ve had over the past 5 years. Excessive? Perhaps, but it serves as a great time capsule of 420 Jars design evolution. A few different versions of the logo, color palettes and card sizes. I have the tendency to look back at our older designs and laugh. “oh look how cute we were!” Our brand has definitely improved over the years. The big question is where do we go from here? Lately we’ve really been rocking white space in our ads. Will our new business card reflect that? Do we even need business cards? We don’t hand out that many. But I suppose it’s something that’s needed. I would look down on a business that didn’t have a card to give me. Though if they had a card to give me they open themselves up for my own design judgment. Yes, I’m a design snob.

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I’ve been working on this ad for the past week. We won’t be attending this cup this year due to our move to Austin. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t sell some jars. I blogged about the 2008 Cannabis Cup logo a few weeks ago and still think that this is going to be a great looking jar. The photo in this ad is a blank jar with the logo photoshopped in. Looks pretty good right? It is my job after all. Matt and I spent a while this morning coming up with the headline. I wasn’t happy with some of the first ones, but as soon as “Don’t get stoned without it” came out of his mouth we both erupted with laughter and knew it was the one. We’re oh so fucking clever I know! I’m really happy with this ad. I like that we’ve gotten away from ads that are really heavy on graphics and background clutter. Whitespace works well for us. Taking pictures of our products with prop weed has really added to our ads too… sometimes I can’t believe that I take pictures of weed for a living. Yep, just another day at the office…

UPDATE: Cannabis Cup Jars will be available starting December 1st

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The office has been productive the past couple days. Getting a lot of little projects crossed off the list. We’re also slammed with orders, so it looks like we’re going to have a busy holiday season. The impending move to Austin is also bearing down on us. Less than 10 weeks away and still so much to do. We can’t even start packing until mid-december. Not to mention we still have to find places to live. It could be the hardest thing we’ve done to date… but we’ll work it out. Anyway, I made this today. In case you didn’t know, the 420 Science Club is our special mailing list. You can join anytime. Like today. Right now.

Nothing really here that you didn’t already know if you read this blog. However, you probably didn’t know about our sale jars. Check out our website for more info.

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I’ve received a lot of comments on the photo of Guillermo Díaz with the giant 420 Jar. Probably the best photo of the night. Both Matt and I got to talk to him a little bit too. Both of us, and just about all our friends, are huge fans of the show. Going into the event I wasn’t really sure who was going to be there, but as soon as I saw him walk in the room I knew we had to meet him and get him to take some photos with the jar. I had no idea what his name was. I was surprised and somewhat relieved to find that his name was the same as his character on the show. From there we proceeded to tell him we were big fans of the show, got the pictures with the giant 420 Jar and took some hits from the Helix (both of these items were huge hits that night). We brought a few Helixes with us to give away and I knew that we had to hook up Guillermo. He was really nice to us and very appreciative of everything. Quite opposite from his character on Weeds. It must be fun for him to play such a bad ass. Later in the night we also gave him a Gravitron. He almost didn’t want to take it (we’d given him so much already) but the girl that he was with nudged him and was like “I want that dummy, don’t say no!”. He graciously accepted it and thanked us again. Guillermo was awesome and definitely one of the highlights of the evening.

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We’ve been back nearly 4 days and I’m only now starting to recover from the Stony Awards. It was a great experience for 420 Science and all our friends who we brought along with us. We were able to connect with some major celebrities and even smoke out with a few of them. We handed out over 200 gift bags and various other schwag from Gravitron and Holy Waters. We also printed out a banner to have celebs stand in front of with our giant 420 Jar. Unfortunately the bouncer in the VIP room was under strict orders and no photography was allowed. (I guess famous people don’t want pictures of them smoking pot floating around) I did manage to squeeze out a few decent photos. The most notable being some of Weeds star Guillermo Díaz posing with the giant 420 Jar.

Other notable meetings included James Franco from Pineapple Express, Madeline Zima from Californication (showtime), the Sprint Guy from the Alltel commercials, a group of actors from Battlestar Galactica (weird), a transvestite, the O-face guy from Office Space and…the list could go on. I recognized a lot of people, but wasn’t sure from where. TV I’m guessing.

It was crazy back in the VIP room. Once we started handing out gift bags we could hardly set them out fast enough. Not to mention we were demoing the new Helix pipe from Gravitron. (I haven’t shown you that yet, though you have seen the logo) The gift bag included a 420 Jar and various 420 Science propaganda. We also gave away 4 Gravitrons, 200 Tasters, 420 Scopes and a bunch Holy Waters Tshirts. High Times was also giving out gifts bags that included some pretty cool stuff. (We’re planning on giving a few away during the holidays)

By 8:30 it was all over. I couldn’t even tell you who won what, but we definitely made some great connections back in the VIP room. Everyone in our party was toasted (some more than others) and it was time to head back to the hotel. This, unfortunately is where the story turns a little sour. In all the chaos of the evening Matt misplaced the keys for my truck, locking us out, and sending me into panic. We spent about an hour looking through all our possessions with no luck. We decided that none of us were in the right frame of mind to continue the search and headed back to the hotel for some Volcano love and the after party.

I wish I had some crazy after party stories to tell, but to be honest, we’re old. I had been up since 5AM and we were all pretty wiped out from the experience. A few of us did venture into some other rooms with special rice crispy treats that I had concocted. Those were gone instantly. It’s amazing how trusting people are. Who knows what I could have put in them. Maybe next time I’ll just make regular ones and hand them out. It’s not like anyone would know. They’re already wasted right? We stayed up a few more hours smoking, drinking and mocking Sarah Palin. By midnight the hotel was quiet and we called it a night.

The next morning I woke up early and made some calls in order to get into my truck so we could all go home. I now own a $325 key for my truck. Maybe I should paint it gold… Anyway, we made it out of Malibu at a reasonable time and back to Phoenix safely. The Stonys were a great experience for us and we look forward to see what comes of our trip in the coming months. Hopefully some product placements and celebrity endorsements.

I’ve posted some of the photos on 420 Science MySpace page already. More to come.

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