By Emily Merrell
The only thing I ever learned in school about marjauana was not to do it. After moving to San Francisco, the DARE program has faded into the background of my understanding and I’ve loved learning how this plant can help your body, mind and sexuality. I’ve enlisted Cyo Nystrom of Quim and Jewel Zimmer from Juna to walk us through the history of 4/20 and explain what micro dosing is all about.
SDS: Can you start by talking about the history of 4/20 and why it matters?
CYO NYSTROM: This video describes it perfectly. The concept of 4/20 was started by a group of high school students in San Rafael who referred to themselves as the Waldos. They would often meet at 4:20pm to find an abandoned crop of cannabis plants out in Point Reyes (smoking joints the whole way, which probably wasn’t the best but ya know, the 70s). They never actually found the plants, but they spread the term to the Grateful Dead, who they had a few different connections to. The band then catapulted the term through the height of their fame and here we are today!
SDS: Now, let’s talk about female pleasure. Cannabis and vaginas don’t typically end up in the same sentence. What does cannabis have to do with vaginal health and why should we start putting our hoo-ha in the hands of THC? How can Quim be applied to our everyday lives and rituals?
CN: When cannabis is absorbed vaginally, it acts as a vasodilator – meaning it dilates blood vessels and allows blood to flow more easily through. This augments natural lubrication and enhances sensation while decreasing coitus-related vaginal pain.
We believe that vaginal health is the precursor in the pursuit of pleasure. Happy vaginas make for better, more intimate sex. So we make products that keep your vagina in mind and use ingredients to help keep UTIs and yeast infections at bay. Our products also decrease dryness and can be used as daily vaginal moisturizers and proactive vaginal health supplements. Use them post-shower, post-sex or any time your quim needs a little TLC. Now you’ll be asking yourself why you’ve never used THC vaginally before!
SDS: On the topic of functionality, let’s talk about microdosing. Juna has created a functional way for people to incorporate CBD and THC into their daily lives with microdosing tinctures in their coffee or water. As a former pastry chef who previously created addicting chocolates, how does cannabis play a functional part in your life and what can you tell people who want to start incorporating micro dosing into their lives?
JEWEL ZIMMER: First of all, I believe cannabis is a complete superfood and the adaptogen of all adaptogens. I mean, I’m a mom of two young girls and an entrepreneur, so creating something that could fit into my daily routine was paramount. After extensive chocolate R&D, we settled on tinctures because they effectively fit into any part of my day. Whether it’s morning coffee, a pre/post yoga drop under the tongue, or a dinner party, it was one for all.
By having precise doses made from the same single varieties strains, there was consistency and I was never concerned about overdoing it. Which, as a mom, is an absolute. This is also rare for a company to use the same strain for a product. Usually the strain is obsolete and the mg or dosage is the focus.
As a chef, taste and quality are my metier – it’s everything. So from a formulation standpoint, I learned we needed to use a single farm (single strain flower) to extract a full spectrum of compounds from. We used different temperatures during this extraction process to make sure the terpene flavor and efficacy was not compromised. The less concentrated the cannabis extract is, the lighter and brighter the flavor it has. It is better integrated into food and beverages.
Each THC bottle has only 150mg cannabinoids, 30 (5mg) doses or 60 (2.5mg) doses enough to feel a shift in perception that’s still functional. While starting on a low dosage, go slow. It may be ubiquitous at this point, but it’s paramount to building a relationship.
We thought holistically about how people would incorporate cannabis in their lives. We wanted to reinvent the Ultimate Dinner Party and bring a sense of sophistication and savoir faire. We refer to Juna as the new bottle service.
SDS: With all of us living the new norm, stress and anxiety are on the rise. What are some ways that we can practice new routines and integrate CBD or THC into our lives? For those that aren’t comfortable with consuming the product, what are other ways people can make small integrations within their lives?
JZ: Let’s face it, everyone is literally home cooking and baking right now. Try incorporating micro doses of CBD or THC into your food or drink to elevate your overall everyday experience. While at home all day, this is the perfect time to experiment.
Try 1-2mg of THC an hour before yoga and see how it enhances your practice. Or try it with your morning coffee and test your productivity. This is such a small dose you may not feel “high”, but you will notice a shift in perception, mood lifting and mind centering.
SDS: Education is still a big part of cannabis, do you have certain types of questions that keep coming up? What do you suggest we can do to better educate the public to take control of their understanding with cannabis?
JZ: Unfortunately, the answer is complicated. As a chef I try to focus on efficacy, taste and overall experience versus medical advice. Legally, Juna and any cannabis/hemp company isn’t allowed to use verbiage like pain or anxiety relief to describe their products. The good news is that the media has made it clear that CBD and THC have some serious medical benefits. I believe that certain strains or varieties of cannabis and hemp are better for some things than others. Beta caryophyllene is terpene found in hemp and cannabis that is a potent anti-inflammatory. It works synergistically with CBD to help reduce physical discomfort.
I could geek out for hours over the companion plants that share soil, and rich nutrients, with Juna’s hemp harvest. They boost the bioavailability of gold-mine compounds including healing cannabinoids, aromatic terpenes and healthful omegas that contribute to the overall benefits and experience.
Juna is not the average high dose medicinal tincture. Juna drops are a new category: low dose and refined to mirror the plants naturally occurring therapeutic and experiential benefits. Juna drops can be added to a beverage to enhance the pleasure of good company. We encourage that “less is more” consumption philosophy so you can imbibe frequently versus the one-and-done. Our products heighten social dynamics and transform culinary experiences into voyages of sensory discovery.
