Coppola’s Cannabis Collab
When I was approached to write an article about Francis Ford Coppola’s business interests, my mind swam with visions of wine tasting by the pool, playing bocce ball, and dining at one of the numerous restaurants at his massive theme park of a tasting room. But joke’s on me. This article isn’t actually about wine. Because apparently, film making, wine making, restaurant ownership, literary publication, and owning one lifestyle brand already just didn’t cut it for the guy.
Adding to his renaissance man resume, Francis Ford Coppola is now venturing into the budding California cannabis industry. Though this business may be a new branch of Coppola’s resume, he himself is not new to cannabis. Throughout the years of Coppola’s career, cannabis has played a part in his creative process - which should be no surprise at all to anyone who’s seen Apocalypse Now.
The new San Francisco based business called “Sana” first launched the flagship project in 2018 after business licenses were approved for adult recreational cannabis production in California. Coppola’s vision for the project was a sampling of marijuana flowers that exemplified the highest quality available. According to Kathleen Murphy, Sana’s Vice president of Innovation, Coppola envisioned a product to show that “just like (how) some of the best grapes come from Napa and Sonoma, that the best cannabis comes from the Emerald Triangle.”
Like grapes, cannabis will show what wine marketers call a “sense of place,” meaning that the fruit (or in this case flower) will have different qualities and properties depending on where it’s grown. In the wine industry, the term used to describe this effect is terroir which refers to the combination of environmental factors including soil, water, climate, and farming practices which will affect not only how well the plant grows, but how the resulting fruit or flower smells and tastes.
Wine grapes have myriad types of chemical compounds that correspond to other recognizable scents (i.e. pyrazines make Sauvignon Blanc smell like grass or bell peppers, and esters are responsible for fruity, tropical flavors). Among these are a chemical compound called terpenes which are also found in cannabis. The grape varietal or cannabis strain will determine the initial combination of these chemical compounds. For instance, pinot noir will almost always have some scent of cherries, whereas syrah will likely smell more like blackberries or blackcurrants; and likewise, a strain of indica may smell like lavender whereas a sativa will smell more like citrus. And then on top of that, the different soil, climate, and sunlight in the plant’s growing conditions will further influence the flavors to make each fruit or flower unique to its home.
Though marijuana has been accessible in California for decades regardless of its legality, it hasn’t always been easy to know what product you were buying at all, let alone to choose what you were buying based on terroir. Because of the wild west nature of production and distribution in the black market, there was little enforcement regarding quality, sustainability and how the product was marketed when it was sold. Therefore, one of the largest resulting benefits of legalization has been a new-found accountability for producers regarding product quality as well as practices honoring sustainability and environmental responsibility. This has provided validation for the producers that have been doing it right all along, and has empowered consumers in informed purchasing.
So when Coppola set out to design a product that exemplified the best marijuana in the game, it was important to him that the samples not only came from Humboldt County, but that they partner with producers who value growing the highest quality product they can while prioritizing sustainable and environmentally responsible methods. Cue Humboldt Brothers.
Humboldt Brothers was founded by Johnny Diem (CEO) and Brett Todoroff (Chief Farming Officer) who are not actually brothers, but friends of about 12 years. Diem was raised in southern Humboldt and later moved to San Francisco to expand his 15 year IT career. In 2010 he had started purchasing property in the Benbow area in anticipation of what would become a booming industry once legalized.
Todoroff was raised in the East Bay of San Francisco, studied Finance at UC Santa Cruz, was involved in the founding of the California Farmer’s Market Association, managed Markets in the Bay Area, and has been cultivating cannabis since the early 2000s.
The two were introduced by Todoroff’s father who, while working for Lonely Planet, met Diem at Reggae on the River. He was sure that the two needed to meet, and when they did, they were sure that they needed to collaborate. When prop 64 passed in 2016, there were a lot of people cultivating cannabis in Humboldt, but not everyone was equipped to thrive as an above-board business. The combination of Diem and Todoroff’s professional backgrounds and their passion for the industry laid ideal groundwork to not only grow cannabis, but to build a successful business doing so.
Together and along with a knowledgeable, dedicated team, Diem and Todoroff have created a shared vision of sustainable agriculture. Operating on the trademark “Farm to Flower,” Humboldt Brothers uses what Diem calls a “new spin on old school farming techniques.” Lead by Head of Cultivation, Nate Johnson, the company is paving the way for high quality, sun-grown, biodynamically farmed cannabis by planting in correlation to moon cycles, harvesting rainwater, utilizing alternative energy and using all-natural pest management techniques.
Though cannabis grown indoors or in greenhouses is popular with consumers, Diem believes that there will be a “renaissance of sungrown cannabis.” Indoor cannabis has the innate benefit of looking pretty; without having to battle the elements, indoor buds are pristine and because the growers are able to control the environment of the plant, they can be sparkly with resin and often higher in THC. But downsides do exist. For instance, without exposure to natural predators, indoor plants are left prone to infestations of mites. This is then often corrected by the use of pesticides. And regardless of how pretty the final product may be, Diem believes that “the goal should be about how it makes you feel,” and that putting in the effort to do it right is worth the quality of their final product.
After an extensive search to find the right producer, Coppola caught wind of Humboldt Brothers from a mutual contact in Napa. At this point, Coppola had yet to find a producer that offered the right product to fit his vision, or that operated their business in a compatible way; likewise, Humboldt Brothers had been approached by and turned away what Diem called, “other high end companies that just weren’t a good fit.” When they met, Coppola pitched his idea and was able to sample various flowers to choose exactly what he wanted to include. Both companies approved and they agreed to a partnership.
The final product is a selection of three different types of organic cannabis - an example of indica, a sativa and a hybrid - along with the required paraphernalia including rolling papers, a small pipe and matches. All of this is housed in a tin shaped like a wine bottle labeled as F.F. Coppola, Grower’s Series with the respective “vintage.” The package is perfect for the cannabis-curious and for those looking to legally explore some of the best of what is available in California.
Though, to my dismay, there is no wine actually included in this package, the wine bottle shaped tin suggests that there are similarities to be found in wine and cannabis, and that there may be a link for some consumers. Murphy believes that consumers’ familiarity with wine may create a bridge to education about marijuana as there are many parallels between the two agricultural products. And though as of now, there are no official appellations or geographical growing areas recognized by the government for cannabis, the California Department of Food and Agriculture hopes to be able to start approving appellations by 2021, which will draw yet another similarity between marijuana and wine and could mean a whole host of opportunities for Humboldt County.
This product first launched at the end of 2018 to correlate with the holidays, but the span of distribution was limited. According to Murphy, the original company used for distribution, Chill, just didn’t have “the geographical footprint that they were hoping for.” After another long search, Murphy says that they have found a new distributor and hope to be live for direct to consumer sales this May. Coppola’s cannabis company, Sana, will also be launching their website (coppolacannabis.com) this May and more information can be found there as well as at humboldtbrothers.com.
Though Humboldt County has long been considered a leader in California’s cannabis production, we’ve struggled to shed the negative image associated with an illegal industry (i.e. Murder Mountain.) As our home grows and evolves along with the new legal industry as a whole, it will be imperative for us to support the local producers and businesses like Humboldt Brothers who prioritize a quality product and responsible cultivation. Humboldt Brothers being recognized by such a well-known and successful name as Francis Ford Coppola could be formative to legitimizing our local industry in the eyes of consumers throughout California. Because as Diem commented, “it’s not just about Humboldt Brothers - it’s about Humboldt County.”
A version of this article was published in 2020 by Humboldt Cannabis Magazine