Q&A with HOLOH | Interview
Recommended listening: Master P – Ghetto D
What’s up fellas; who do we have on the microphones?
Robert: I’m Robert Cerrone, I’m the director of marketing for HOLOH.
Alfred: My name is Alfred Hermes, I’m the chief science officer and co-founder of Endo Farms. Endo Farms is the company that produces all of HOLOH products. HOLOH is the first product that we are releasing, it’s our concentrate line.
What is HOLOH?
Alfred: HOLOH is boutique hydrocarbon concentrates, we use hydrocarbon solvents – things like butane, propane, we use a closed loop system. We are really pulling what we consider some fun science. For your average person, we are using gases and solvents to take out the medicinal components of that cannabis. Then we are in the backend recovering, evaporating, and ripping out that butane, the hydrocarbon gas. So that when we are done we have a full spectrum oil resin extract that basically has all the most desirable constituents that the plant possesses into a finished product, minus everything that it took us to get there, which in our case is the solvents and the hydrocarbons that we use. The process that we do is in a controlled environment. We are backed by science, everything that we do is based on science, instead of just throwing stuff in a tub and seeing what we come out with. We had a lot of R&D into the process but at the end of the day, HOLOH is just fire concentrate, but on a deeper level we try to make clean, consistent, reliable products.
You guys came out swinging with the lab tests before it was required by law.
Alfred: This has been in the works for three years now. Anything that you try to do overnight, or you’re thinking, ‘Hey, this is going to be quick, we’re going to get to market, this is going to be great.’ You run into a million hurdles along the way. Those growing pains along the way that any company or start-up has. Three years ago, we would have been really radical and really new with the testing that we are doing. Now, we’re just really ahead of the curve because the new laws are going to come into effect in November. We’re testing for everything the new laws will require.
Robert: From my perspective, I’ve gone up to the lab a lot and the way that Alfred and his team do stuff up there is truly lab based. Clean room, the time that they spend, the system that we have, it’s going to sound cliche, but there is a lot of love that goes into that. They love what they do, they love the science behind it and they want to make sure that is clean. I have seen them do the work, it’s a passion and the love that his team has and it really comes through in the products.
When did HOLOH become a company?
Alfred: The grind has been going on for a while. I started Endo farms, the parent company, as a consulting company over five years ago. We were just doing building design, designing cultivations, and extraction labs for people. We ended up seeing the ins and outs of the industry, the good and bad. That sparked me to think that this could be done better. We can do this right, we had seen a lot of things that had been done wrong, corners that were cut. It pushed me to think that we can do this better, we can do this right. I partnered with a couple of my current partners and from there we started the process to get into the market, develop the brand HOLOH and it’s been a love/hate relationship since then. With everyone that is growing a company, you realize it’s such a difficult process when you have this insane passion that I have, and a lot of our team has with what we are doing. It motivates you, each hurdle is like a new challenge. Sometimes, you don’t even think that you will get through it. When you do, you realize this is the wherewithal of the squad. This is all of us banding together to make this happen. The chips seem stacked against you, when you make it through those things you tell yourself “what you are doing makes sense.” There might be a reason behind this shit that’s been a big motivation for us. For us to say we are onto something, made it through tons of storms, and hurdles, but we are still in the fight.
How long have you been growing for?
Alfred: When I was 19 years old, I went to Canada and bought seeds, because we were able to drink up there. Went up there and got the seeds and that was the start of it. We converted my buddy’s cabin into a grow and never stopped since then. The industry came ten years later, we thought we had this figured out to a degree, even though in reality we had nothing figured out.
What mediums are you putting out?
Robert: We have the shatter, the badder, the crumble, we now have sugar, we are going to start testing on some live product that we are going to be bringing to market.
Can you explain the difference between the different types of concentrates you offer?
Robert: Shatter, badder, and crumble are all different form factors of an extract. Extracts maintain real high terpene profiles and hold the flavors really well. Crumble is exactly that, it’s crumbly, you take a little bit and fire it up. You basically vaporize it whether it’s using a pen or something like that. Shatter is translucent, glass like a piece of glass, hence the shatter.
Is it extracted the same way?
Alfred: Everything is extracted the same way, it used to be that everyone would start for shatter and you go from there. Now the market has changed to where shatter doesn’t matter as much, even though some people like shatter. All the different consistencies that we make; shatter, badder, crumble all start in the same place, live resin has a little bit of a different life. Depending on what you are shooting for the extractor does have some control for the end product, so depending on how we manipulate it. We can whip something into a crumble, depending on the container you put it in you can get some of those consistencies by accident.
Any final thoughts?
Alfred: It was a great time, we would love to be back anytime. Thanks for having us, you guys are an awesome squad. For anyone looking for HOLOH products, we are in a lot of dispensaries – you can look us up on leafly. We’re out here trying to bring good products to the market.
Robert: We are trying to bring awesome high quality products to the medical market.
Thank you HOLOH for your attention to detail; we appreciate the support, and we are going to keep telling everyone about it.
