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Heavy Metal: Blasting Straight Out of My Memories

Heavy Metal: Blasting Straight Out of My Memories

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When I started doing some research into James Winokur, I realized that we have much in common. I, too, started smoking in high school, although I grew up in the leafy suburbs of New York City in Northwest New Jersey. After a short stay in the eastern side of Los Angeles for my first year of college, I finished my coursework at Emerson College, just down the road from Boston College, where James spent his formative college years. Although I never earned an MBA, having founded a cannabis libation business in California certainly feels like I’ve completed all the coursework necessary to possess an MBA.

(Laughter heard in the background…) I wish I had the business acumen of James Winokur. It’s very clear to me that he succeeds at everything he sets his mind to. I’m happy to share a little bit of his personal time with you, my readers.

WB: Please tell me about yourself. Where are you from?  Where now? What inspired you to be in the cannabis industry? Who did you first smoke cannabis with?

JW: I was raised in CT, a good boy who never did anything wrong!  I began playing the drums when I was 12 and have been rocking ever since, including currently playing in a cover band for the last 15 years. One of my best friends introduced me to marijuana in high school; he handed me a cored-out apple and a lighter…that was my first experience.  But I really had no relationship with cannabis until I got into the industry. I went to Boston College in the early-mid 80s and fell in love with the city; I met and married my wife after graduation. I moved back to CT to join our family Culligan Water Conditioning franchise business founded by my grandfather in the early ’60s. After 11 years in CT, we sold the business and moved back to Boston; I went back to BC to earn an MBA and transition to high tech. I worked for ten years for a $1B software company; In 2014, a colleague who had left the company asked for some help building a marketing plan for a cannabis vaporizer device. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I said I was happy to help. After doing my own research on the industry, I thought, wow, this is going to be a big industry. I then pitched my colleague and a partner he worked on a patent application with to have the three of us become co-founders and create a business.  The business was CannaKorp, and the product was Wisp.  Over nearly five years, we raised $8M, manufactured a working model with 1,000 units, and we were working on a round of funding to fully commercialize and distribute.  Unfortunately, that round fell apart when one of the investors dropped out at the last minute (his company was acquired), so we ended up selling the whole company to one of the other investor companies. In the wind-down of CannaKorp, I joined MSO MariMed based in Norwood, MA, as the Sr. VP of Product Group, co-leading licensing and branding as well as other operational activities.  A significant part of that role was working on licensing our products to manufacturers in other states, bringing in products under license agreements, and building our brand in multiple states.

After a year at MariMed, I joined Berkshire Roots as the CEO in December 2019

cannabis world news interviews promo poster for Heavy Metal
Photo Credit: Heavy Metal Cannabis

WB: Please tell me about your company. Where are you located? What is your specialty product? What do you do that’s better than your competitors?

JW: Berkshire Roots is a Pittsfield, MA-based, vertically integrated company.  Our main operations include 28K sq. ft. of canopy and we manufacture just about every major product in cannabis.  We have a state-of-the-art extraction lab which includes hydrocarbon extraction.  We also have a commercial kitchen.  Our first dispensary is located on the same campus.  We opened for Medical Sales in April 2018 – early days for MA.  We added Adult-use sales in April 2019.

We pride ourselves on being a craft cannabis company with an expert cultivation team that produces award-winning strains, and we receive high praise throughout the state for our flower.  Since expanding our capacity and capabilities in our lab, we have increased the popularity of our extraction products, including vape carts and concentrates.  Our lab can now produce products from distillate, botanically derived carts to High Terp live carts to multiple texture dabbles and even diamonds.

Our customers’ favorite products include flower strains Orange Chemeleon and Mandarin Cookies; our Chews with no artificial ingredients (including our sleep-inducing High-Burnator Full Spectrum Chew); our Peanut Butter Chocolate bar (PB&MJ); our Live Resin Orange Chemeleon Vape Cart and a number of our Live concentrates in different textures.

As for competition, there are a lot of great producers in MA, but we have won our share of awards in the State, which always feels good when you’re the small guy.  We have won the “Best of the Berkshires” award four years in a row and other dispensary-oriented awards.  We have won product awards for vape carts, concentrates, flower, and edibles over the years.  At the NECANN event this month (March), we took home three kitchen product awards (two for our infused seasonings and one for our PB&MJ bar) and one cultivation award for a new strain not yet on the shelf – Banana Daddy.  Overall, our team is known for its attention to detail, professionalism, and the love they put into making exceptional products.

WB: Please tell me about Heavy Metal. Do you have a mentor in weed? Indoor or outdoor? Natural soil? Coir? Lighting? 

JW: Berkshire Roots has earned a reputation as a solid brand, with well-educated staff who understand the benefits of the plant.  Our brand is associated with the spirit of The Berkshires – a wholesome, outdoorsy place where we emphasize our beginnings as one of the first licensed medical facilities.  All of our products were branded “Berkshire Roots,” and we use the slogan “Cultivation at Elevation,” reflecting our location in the Berkshire Mountains.

The idea of bringing products branded as Heavy Metal allows us to address the edgy side of the cannabis market in a fun and truly unique way.  For people familiar with the brand, we will connect them to the great artwork and experiences they would expect, considering HM fans have a big cross-over to cannabis use. Unlike other “celebrity” brands, HM is a broader set of entertainment properties that will allow us to collaborate with HM over time to keep the brand relevant and fresh and to allow consumers to engage with the brand interactively much more than any other brand.

My personal mentors since 2014 have included Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Dr. Jordan Tishler, Mike Dundas (founder of Sira Naturals in MA), and Joe Lusardi (former CEO of Curaleaf and now Board member)

Berkshire Roots grows exclusively indoors in two different buildings located on one campus.  We do use coco as our base medium.  We have tried various lighting over the years, and while we favor a particular LED light now, we do still have some incandescent.

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WB: What are your six and twelve-month goals? Obstacles you face. How do you anticipate removing them? 

JW: In the next six months, our main goals are:

  • Make Heavy Metal wildly successful. Build on a brand we are now manufacturing, Yellow Labs oral spray mist (introduced in MA last fall)
  • Introduce four more brands under license agreement: Toasty Honey Co. infused
  • honey (from ME); Partake by Kind Lab female-focused product line (from MA) and
  • Big Pete’s Treats baked goods. (from CA)
  • Introduce Berkshire Roots branded products to the NY market.

WB: What is your passion? 

JW: Since making the decision to join the cannabis industry, I have become very passionate about the manner in which cannabis can be such a great replacement for other, more harmful, substances in a variety of areas, i.e., replacing prescription or over-the-counter medications; tobacco use; alcohol consumption.  It’s so unusual to consider the origin of these replacements are all derived from cannabis and can address this wide spectrum of medicinal to recreational.  Fascinating.

I am also passionate about bringing great business practices from my experiences in other industries to the cannabis world, from marketing and branding to operational excellence to creating a great work environment for our team members.

And, unrelated to the cannabis industry, I love playing the drums in my band!

Follow on social media: @kindphilanthropy (IG)

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