Wisebird Handcrafted Products – Holy Hash | Interview
This month, we are excited to introduce a cannabis concentrate warrior in the industry. I met Jacob at Kushstock this past spring in San Bernardino, Ca., where he presented our team with a tasting of some of his amazing hash products. Jacob is a self taught chef who spent twenty five years crafting menus in the finest culinary kitchens before transferring full time to cannabis. His attention to detail in the kitchen allows him to make the most innovative cannabis extracts possible. The flavors and feelings experienced from Wisebird Solventless Hash Oils (SHO) are superior to any BHO shatter. Jacob shared with us his hope for a future with sustainable cannabis markets featuring handcrafted concentrates.
Jacob was born with a bilateral cleft palate to hippie parents in Austin, Texas in 1977. He had the first of nineteen surgeries only days after birth to seal up the hole in his face and roof of his mouth. By age four, his parents were divorced and he relocated with his mother to a rough neighborhood in Denver, CO. He remembers, “It was the kind of neighborhood where the thieves would read the obituaries and rob your family home while you are at the funeral!” Jacob says these are the streets where he first learned about socio-economics and street hustle. By his junior year of high school, he was selling weed while working as a dishwasher at a fine dining restaurant. This is when he began to blend the culinary and cannabis worlds together. Now, as an accomplished cannabis extractor, Jacob plans to continue working alongside other industry leaders to help ensure stability within the concentrate sector. His brand, Wisebird Handcrafted Products (WBHP), is focused on setting the quality standards and raising the bar for the entire cannabis community.
What is Full Spectrum SHO?
“Full Spectrum SHO” – {solventless hash oil} A band of colors as seen in Hash Rosin produced by the separation of the components by heat and pressure through extraction techniques and equipment of choice.
What is the most important thing you want people to know about hash oil?
That through aging techniques, it has been scientifically proven that the compounds CBG, CBV, CBN and Delta8 become present. These compounds are the future to world health.
How were you introduced to cannabis concentrates?
In High school, it was the older cats who had hash, so when you came across it you would buy it. There was this one time my brother was driving and I was passenger, we were at a light and a guy, the passenger in the vehicle to the left signaled us to roll the window down. He asked “Do you like hash?” It was strange coming from this guy in the street. But I automatically was excited and urging my brother to say yes. The light turned green and we pulled through and to the right there was a taco bell. He asked us how much we wanted. Not knowing the guy, I didn’t want to lose much money on the exchange. I told my brother to tell him $60 worth. He handed back a foil wrapped item the size of a cheese wedge. I told my brother to take off before there were problems. As we were driving down the road I unwrapped it, and discovered around a half oz of pure blonde Lebanese. That was when I fell in love with hash.
How did you start extracting cannabis?
Almost a year after I walked from the corporate world and four months after booking my last Private Chef dinner, I responded to a Craigslist ad – oh those were the days – in the Food and Beverage section. It said, “Super Critical Botanical Extraction Machine”. The next thing you know, I’m standing in front of a $150,000 CO2 COS an APEX 20 liter machine in the middle of a hostile country. I ran there for 4 months. I did product development for that company for a while and then was head hunted by a distillate company to spearhead their program, which consisted of a 20 liter roto into a short-path set up. This was before ethanol was classified as non-volatile, so it wasn’t something I wanted to do for a long time. In the meantime of both these projects, I attended a Frenchy Cannoli workshop because I have always enjoyed the medicinal properties of pure hashish. So then, I came full circle to base our company and our philosophies on the all natural solventless process of Ice Water Hash. I then studied different extraction methods from different artists and the equipment they used, where I then created my own, and became one of the beta testers for the stainless steel delta separations centrifuge utility processor, or CUP unit. This unit, which the maker and myself consider a ‘holy grail’, alongside a Sasquash B2 Rosin press, are the backbone to our processing and management operations. Included in these operations is one of the first ever industrial waste management programs for a solventless hash maker, and a water management program for our facility. Feel free to reach out to us to learn more about these techniques.
What makes your Rosin products different from other producers?
Quality control. It is in a chef’s blood to either become the source or to purvey the best source for quality ingredients, including fire in, fire out with cannabis – it’s what I do. Working one on one with genetics, breeders and growers, we are able to provide the insurance of our front to back products. As a chef, the understanding of time, temperatures, and pressures allows the different terpene profiles to be presented. We get the comment a lot that our hash and hash rosin is strong, and it’s because it is. The reason being is what I call “Full Spectrum” instead of “Singular terpy high” you should feel the high on the back of your neck, the weight of your shoulders and the front of your forehead, kind of like you’re on a mini ride at an amusement park.
Your concentrates have a complex aroma and flavor. Where does this come from?
Thomas Keller said it best: “A recipe has no soul, you as a cook, must bring soul to the recipe.” It’s the same thing with processing cannabis. The meticulous attention to detail and the small nuances, especially with all the variables in different strains.
What is your favorite type of extract to make?
My favorite type of concentrate to make… I can honestly say is hash rosin. I like squishing hash, it is something that is labor intensive. It is so simplistic and rewarding, it’s automatic gratitude. Another reason is the variable of adaptability to what is happening in the moment with the hash rosin. The reason I enjoy the combination of adaptive automatic gratitude, is almost a transference into our innate nature of the beast to always want both: rewarding novelty.
What are the biggest misconceptions in the concentrate market?
Most people do not realize that as we continue to let petroleum based solvents’ market share dominate, we are only giving big petro and big oil a paycut. So, the conception that this is cool – it is not. When you can create cannabis oil without giving back to private interests like Old Sam, it’s better. Put your money in the right people’s pockets, our choices are the power.
What else should people know about you or your business?
That we are a grassroots self funded dream. Our company philosophy is built upon the Four Corners of Health and Happiness which are: Diet, Exercise, Meditation, and Natural Medicine and in that order for a reason, because it won’t matter what we do as processors, breeders, scientists and if we provide the best products possible if the user/consumer is not in the proper state of mind. If the user is not taking those 15 minutes a day for growth, including self awareness and stillness, and are not used to receiving their dopamine release through positive outlets like exercise, and if they aren’t already disciplined to consciously consume proper food, then we will never fully achieve CB1/CB2 receptor entourage affect which is what we at Wisebird Handcrafted Products call a full spectrum sensory experience (FSSE).
What are your drivers in life?
When I became a business owner, I did it for three reasons. Number one: Freedom, to come and go as I please because for 25 years I have had to answer to other people. Number two: To create grassroots relationships, for 25 years I did business with a lot of people I didn’t particularly like or enjoy, but had to take orders from. So now we only create grassroots business relationships with people who have WBHP’s best interests in mind. Number three, and the biggest one of all, is for my beautiful wife and daughter, to be able to provide a positive lifestyle and environment for the two who mean so much to me that I will do anything for.
Thank you for sharing so much industry wisdom with us. We will be looking forward to you hopefully collaborating with some Arizona growers very soon! Check out Wisebird on:
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