Budding interest in growers’ farm-to-toke pot salons
By Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle
In the days before medical cannabis dispensaries offered dozens of strains, marijuana smokers blindly scored their weed on the street. Or, more likely, “from a guy I know.” Some still do.
But in this era of heirloom tomatoes and shade-grown coffee, a more discerning generation wants to meet the farmer who grew their bud — and they prefer their pot as pesticide-free as their kale.
“These are the people who shop at Whole Foods,” said Mendocino grower Nikki Lastreto as she mingled at a cannabis tasting party she helped organize this week at the Cole Valley home of a friend. “We want them to have the same experience with cannabis.”
In a backyard lit with the glow of fire pits and dusted with the smell of herb, elder statesmen like Frenchy Cannoli — a Frenchman who has been making hash for 40 years — extolled the virtues of Northern California terroir to young tech workers as he offered them a hit of his prized 5-year-old hash.