For so many people, cannabis is truly medicine. Access to high-quality, full terpene products continues to increase. Simultaneously, scientists are beginning to understand the plant and how it interacts with the human body like never before, something that is only going to increase as reform efforts continue.
Caldwell Botanicals is one brand dedicated to providing all-natural, broad- and full-spectrum hemp products while also honoring the countless people who have had their lives negatively impacted by the criminalization of cannabis. With smokable flower, tinctures and soft gels, there is something for every type of consumer.
In this episode of Cultivate, Boveda’s Drew Emmer returns to the trade show circuit, sitting down with Caldwell Botanicals Founder Margaret Caldwell. The pair discusses her company’s rise to prominence, the importance of the ensemble effect and the quest for answers about the cannabis plant’s true nature.
“There’s a lot of people that are hungry for relief from their pains and their aches and their maladies, but there’s also an increasing amount of people that are relying on CBD and cannabis overall for health,” Caldwell said.
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Read Full Interview: Video Transcript
Drew Emmer (DE):
So, I’m super excited. I am beyond excited to have our very first interview at TPE. The first trade show that we’re back involved in, live and in-person. I’m so excited to have our first interview be with Margaret Caldwell. Hi, Margaret.
Margaret Caldwell (MC):
Hi, I am so excited. I’m honored to be here exhibiting, but also to do this interview with you. And I was a little nervous, but after talking for a little bit, I’m feeling comfortable and I’m excited to tell you a little bit about my product line.
DE:
Well, and it’s about firsts, you know, you’re exhibiting at a combined cannabis and premium tobacco trade show for the first time as a brand. I get to interview you for the first time. I don’t know how many interviews you’ve done, but this is, it’s exciting for us. Let’s just start at the very beginning and talk about Caldwell Botanicals and we’ll zoom in and show some of the products as we’re talking about it.
MC:
Okay. So, initially I, when the farm bill passed in 2018, it was, I’ve grown medical cannabis in the mountains of Santa Cruz for seven years, but for 11 years total in California. And there’s a lot of red tape and we operated as a nonprofit and so after harvest that year, the farm bill passed one month later and I decided I was sick of the red tape and kind of wanted to go all-in with the CBD flower.
DE:
And so, the farm bill is the instrument that caused the hemp to be normalized throughout the United States?
MC:
Absolutely. So, yeah, legalized in 50 states, as long as it’s less than 0.3% THC, which all of our products, all of our flour is 0.04 THC, which is extremely low. Our oils are 0.17% THC and so, initially, I just wanted to have flour because I saw that the hemp flour on the market that was being grown that first year was all very seeded, oxidized. I’m not really quite sure what they were doing to make it look so schwag, but I decided I wanted to have a boutique premium quality flower line and also rolling shag, which is kind of like a roll your own 21%, really high CBD. And so, I went all-in with that and then I thought, I should probably have oils because that’s a staple as well. So, decided on, you know, starting out with 500 milligram, 1,000 milligram oils, both full spectrum, which is trace amounts of THC and all of the other beneficial components in the plant. And broad-spectrum, THC free, which is all of the beneficial components minus THC and then we also have the soft gel capsules, which come in full spectrum.
DE:
So, what would you tell someone that’s never tried cannabis, never been a consumer and they look at all the news and all the publicity out in the marketplace about what CBD is doing for people? How would you invite people into trying your product?
MC:
So, I think so, it’s kind of like, you know, the taboo of just smoking CBD flower’s a little bit, you know, everyone has a different opinion about it. So, if you don’t like the ritual of smoking, maybe you don’t want to smoke the flower, but the bioavailability, the effects are stronger for me, I personally like smoking it the best. But I recommend the 500-milligram full-spectrum oils to anyone that’s new to, you know, never used any of these products. They’re sublingual. Our oils also come in THC-free broad-spectrum, which we don’t use any isolate products. So, you have-
DE:
Which is huge. That’s a very serious distinction.
MC:
Yeah. So, the broad spectrum has all the, you know, flavonoids and lipids, all the beneficial cannabinoids minus THC. So, a lot of folks like my mother and, you know, a lot of friends of mine prefer THC free. I prefer the full spectrum. And then, kind of, you know, the tincture, the oil droppers, they take effect pretty immediately. The soft gel capsules, they go through your gastrointestinal so, it’s, you know, it takes a couple hours, but I take two of those every morning. So, I recommend the soft gels, but the 500 milligrams for anybody that’s never-
DE:
Let’s nerd out on this for a second, because you’ve mentioned three things that I think are great distinctions for people and we’ve got to take the extra time to help people understand. So, different ways of ingestion. If you were to inhale the smoke of cannabis flower, it’s being absorbed through your lungs and that’s a very different barrier cross than if you were just to go through your digestive system and metabolize through your liver, through your stomach and so forth. And then, the other thing you mentioned was sublingual, which just not to, I know most people know what sublingual is, but you’re talking about-
MC:
Taking, so you do a full dropper, is one dose, typically.
DE:
Under your tongue?
MC:
Under your tongue and you’re really supposed to hold it there as long as possible.
DE:
So, that’s a different kind of absorption that goes through the tissues in your mouth?
MC:
Right. So, I recommend the oils to anyone that’s never tried any CBD product. Also, the soft gel capsules, there’s 30 milligrams of CBD oil in each capsule and those are kind of like, you know, good for throughout the day for relief. But the flower, smoking the flower is really the most effective for me and for a lot of folks. And we offer, you know, 500 milligram and 1000 milligram of our oils and then our flour comes in one gram bags. We have seven different strains. For anyone that, you know, isn’t familiar with these specific strains, they can, you know, get the one-gram bag. It’s like, retails for $8. So, that’s, you know, before you go and spend $25 or $40 on a larger size bag, you can kind of decide which strain’s right for you. We have like sativa dominant, indica dominant strains depending on, you know, the person and their preference. And then, we’ve got indoor flower that’s amazing. A little bit lower CBD than our sun-grown, which is all 16.4% to 21.7%, which is really, really high CBD and all of our flour is 0.04% THC, which is extremely low.
DE:
So, one of the things that we’ve become obsessed with within the last year in the cannabis industry that we serve with our Boveda products is the preservation of terpenes.
MC:
Absolutely.
DE:
So, talk about terpenes and talk about the smokable flower and tell me about how you perceive terpenes and how important they are in the general quality experience or the therapeutic experience of ingesting.
MC:
Absolutely.
DE:
Go for it.
MC:
So, well, I found initially when I was here last year, I’ve grown cannabis for, since 2009 and we, you know, before I ever knew about Boveda, I think I told you last year, I would be like tossing tortillas in my bins. And I was, you know, wet paper towels and it’s like, trying to figure that whole situation out. But once we tried the Bovedas, at first I was using for my cannabis that I was growing, I think I was using the wrong size Boveda.
DE:
Yep. Well, you were using the wrong humidity level.
MC:
Yes, exactly. Okay. The wrong humidity level. And it’s a learning curve, but so we talked about that last year, and then you gave me a bunch of, you know, boxes and I used those in my larger one-pound bags and they’re amazing. And so this year, when we, when I launched my flour line, which was actually just in December, I decided to, yeah, we went with, we’ve got the one gram bags with the little pieces.
DE:
Well, you protected your flour at every possible level. Everything you package has this little tag in it and thank you very much.
MC:
Of course.
DE:
So, what I’m curious about is, I want to go into the conversation about this branding and what happens. So, just for a disclaimer, there’s a guy in the room here at TP that’s known as Margaret’s brother. And I say that somewhat facetiously because he’s really made a name for himself in the boutique craft cigar business, Robert Caldwell and that’s how I met you. I was talking to Robbie last year or two years ago. I don’t even know how long ago it was at one of these shows and you were there with Rob’s wife and we got into a conversation about you getting into the CBD business. So, now that vision has come true. You are the proprietor of your own line. You’ve developed the brand, you’ve gone through all the experimentation and all the trials and tribulations of figuring out how to do this. And then you come up with this brand and I don’t know, maybe we can go, we’ll get a zoom picture of this brand, this face. Tell me about this face.
MC:
So, as I’ve been mentioning to a few folks today, when I was launching my line, I found out about this guy, Samuel Caldwell, and he was actually the very first arrest for cannabis in history.
DE:
Same name, but not necessarily related to you?
MC:
No, but we joke because my dad was adopted and we’re like, he kind of looks like dad. No, but so, he was arrested just one day after the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. After that passed, for two joints, he was sentenced to four years of hard labor and prison, and a thousand dollar fine in 1937 for two joints. And so, I told my brother, who’s Caldwell Cigars, I really want to be Caldwell Botanicals. I have an idea of using this guy’s historical image, but his mugshot for my logo and I wanted to alter his, you know, mugshot and the image a little bit for legality reasons and a lot-
DE:
So, you put the blindfold on him.
MC:
So, we put a blindfold on him, which makes it even more, you know, what’s going on here. So, it was, the idea was justice is blind. We blindfolded him. It’s basically, we hope that when you see our logo, it inspires a moment of gratitude for all the pioneers, for the advocates, activists that fought tirelessly for decades to make this plant we all know and love, legal and accessible for all to enjoy. You know, it’s been around for thousands of years and you know, and so, now here we are after 2018 farm bill and we’re paying homage to the OG plug and you know, all these folks. So, I’m really happy with how it turned out.
DE:
The packaging is just beautiful. The brand has a great story, very compelling. You as a proprietor and owner of the brand, really compelling and wonderful to listen to. I just want to do a shout out here. If you want to get connected to Caldwell Botanicals, just go to Caldwell, C-A-L-D-W-E-L-L botanicals.com and you’ll be connected to an opportunity. And I’m going to buy, I’m going to be your customer at this show because I’m totally sold on what CBD is capable of doing for people, but I’ve also been really skeptical because I’ve been at a lot of shows where at the end of the show somebody’s selling at a discount. They want to get rid of some of their show stock so that they don’t have to take it home with them and I end up with a lot of stuff that’s isolate based and nothing against isolate, but it’s just a different-
MC:
I support anyone taking CBD in any way, but with the entourage effect and all of the, you know, beneficial components that the plant has. It’s like, I mean, it’s basically, I don’t want to dog it either, but it’s much more effective with all of those cannabinoids, you know, terpenes, all of the flavonoids, lipids, everything. Our indoor flower is amazing. All of our products. I’d love to give you some samples to try too, but-
DE:
Well, I’ll take some samples to try too, but the other thing to encourage our viewers to do is to do your homework about the endo-cannabinoid system, realize that every one of us, regardless of your feelings or opinions about this or any other industry, we all have an endocannabinoid system and that we have discovered, and there’s a lot of growing research.
MC:
There’s a lot of cannabinoids we’re going to be discovering too here to come. It’s like a new one every other month. I’m like, oh my goodness.
DE:
It’s awesome, and we’re getting hip to what terpenes are capable of doing and the overall ensemble effect or the, what was called the entourage effects.
MC:
Entourage effect, yeah.
DE:
Yeah, and I’m excited because people are hungry for information. There’s a lot of people that are hungry for a relief from their pains and their aches and their maladies, but there’s also an increasing amount of people that are relying on CBD and cannabis overall for health, for you know, augmenting their workout program, their nutritional program, all of that. And I just think you’re a glowing example of a great personality that’s out there pitching a brand, putting a product out that’s super high quality.
MC:
Absolutely. Thank you.
DE:
I’m really happy for you.
MC:
Yeah, and I’d like to mention too, all of our flower, it’s, you know, it’s sustainably grown, it’s all organic, regenerative agriculture methods. So, and then on the backs of all of our products, there’s a QR code, you know, so you can scan it. It will take you to the lab results with the, you know, the terpene profile and all of that information too, on our website.
DE:
Just to be clear, you’re, it says Miami, Florida. You grow in Colorado-
MC:
It’s confusing.
DE:
You grow in Oregon, you grow and extract in California.
MC:
Okay. So, I grow cannabis. I grow in Santa Cruz, California. I’m based out of Santa Cruz, California. All of our CBD flower that’s in these bags is grown in, outside of Bend, Oregon and then, our flower that’s grown for our oils is grown in Colorado and then, my distribution says Miami. So, it’s very confusing. My brother has a fulfillment company out of Miami. So, until I get my, you know, a little bit of funds and the ball rolling a little more. Hopefully, I’m going to have, you know, Santa Cruz on my distribution because that’s been a, you know, a lot of the shops in California, they’re like, we want to support local and I’m like, I’m local. But you know, it’s only, I was trying to budget where I could. So, the distribution is out of Miami currently, but hopefully, you know, in the near future.
DE:
So, I say that because I wanted people to know that you’re diversified, you’re in different states, you’re doing great things, putting together a beautiful brand. I really think the focus for this brand is standing apart from other CBD brands in terms of quality, in terms of what you’re bringing to the table for people. I love how invested you are in the cannabis industry and the CBD industry, helping people understand, educating people about what’s important and how quality matters and we’re grateful as a company to be able to call you guys, friends, you know. Robbie with the cigar business, you with the CBD business.
MC:
Yes, me too.
DE:
What a treat to have a chance to talk to you.
MC:
Thank you so much. I’m so excited.
DE:
And we’re going to do this again, as time goes by and we watch your brand grow and evolve. We’re going to keep track of you. We’re going to keep talking to you and we’ll do updates to tell people how your distribution has expanded into different parts of the country and of different parts of the world.
MC:
Oh my goodness, it’s been crazy. I’ve been like, well, right now I’ve been, you know, driving and flying all over the country and literally walking into like 20 to 40 shops a day, getting my products on the shelves. I’m in 54 shops currently, all that I went in and physically met all the store owners and I have a distributor now out of Redding. So, we’re in seven states and it’s moving right along and yeah, I’m thrilled. Thank you.
DE:
It’s such a colossal undertaking to launch a brand. People don’t realize how, oh, well I have an idea of good-looking artwork or something cool and it’s like, so much more than that. There’s so many details to connect.
MC:
And I love going into the shops and meeting folks. It’s like, you can send emails, you can, you know, first of all, no one answers the emails ever, but I call the shops, I let them know I’m coming. You know, I give them samples. I’d like them to see the quality of my products, the packaging, which really stands apart, and also to meet me and I feel like, I know obviously know more about my products than anyone else.
DE:
Nobody better to sell your product than you. That’s beautiful.
MC:
So, yeah, I’ll be in Miami next week and trying to get my products on the shelves down there. So, we’ll see how it goes.
DE:
So, if you’re looking for the product, go to caldwellbotanicals.com. We’re thrilled to have Margaret Caldwell from Caldwell Botanicals, hanging out with us at TPE 2021, the first trade show that we’re back live, seeing each other. Great to have you as our first interview, really happy for you. Congratulations on a beautiful brand and we’re going to look forward to going along and growing with you.
MC:
Perfect. Thank you so much. I’m honored to be here and I appreciate it and I’m excited about this week. It’s going to be fun!
In this episode of Cultivate, you’ll learn…
- How the different ways to consume cannabis compare and how they affect the body (4:50)
- The fascinating origins behind Caldwell’s branding and its homage to the victims of the criminalization of cannabis (10:08)
- What the endocannabinoid system (ECS) is and the exciting discoveries being made about it (13:11)
