Anonymous That Dude built Head Stash during the founding era of exotic weed. Here is how he got there, and what it cost him.
Anonymous That Dude was in the cannabis game before the industry had a name for what he was doing. An upstate New York kid who hit the road at 18 on Grateful Dead and Further Fest tours, learned to source and move exotic work across state lines, and eventually built Head Stash into one of the first dessert-era cannabis brands, right alongside Runtz, Cookies, and Sherbinskis.

This conversation covers the full arc: the early tour hustle and door-to-door sales career that taught him how to sell anything to anyone, the first California plug connects and car-for-packs trades in Ukiah, a Pennsylvania traffic stop that ended in extradition and 29 days in a gang module, and how a single validation post from Ray Bomb turned Head Stash from a brand nobody would stock into one shops were calling about within hours. He also breaks down the 90-acre Oklahoma outdoor operation he built in the first wave, the supply chain decisions that separated his harvest from everyone else's, and what happened when the market collapsed, a close friend died, and a spinal tumor sent him to emergency surgery on the same farm where he was trying to rebuild.

This episode also gets into the pheno hunt series he is running now: 60-jar limited drops in different cities and countries, no strain information at point of sale, scan-code feedback from buyers, and a December reveal party in Los Angeles where every numbered jar becomes a ticket. It is one of the more creative community engagement plays in the current cannabis market, and he explains the whole architecture.

JP and Anonymous That Dude also get into what the early Haight Street Cookies scene actually looked like from the inside, how Berner shaped his understanding of what a cannabis brand could be, and what it meant to watch the branded bag era go from $4,500 packs to $20 eighths in what felt like no time.

Chapters below.

Connect with Anonymous That Dude:
Website: headstashnow.com
Instagram: @anonymousthatdude | @headstashonly

Follow Good PizzZa:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodPizzzaInstagram: @_goodpizzza_ | @goodpizzzapodcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HHXF0ijATYi8eHIq0rDToApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-pizzza-podcast/id1622059263#goodpizzza #headstash #podcast
CHAPTERS
01:45 Cold Open: The Festival Story That Explains Everything
07:50 Growing Up in Upstate New York and the Opiate Epidemic
10:00 First Dead Show at 18 and Learning to Work the Lot
12:30 The Arizona Play: Sending Money, Getting Robbed, Driving Out Armed
22:30 Landing Homeless in Tucson and Building Up From One Ounce
37:31 The Fugitive Years: Fake News Paranoia and Bootleg Clothes as Cover
47:00 Door-to-Door Meat Sales and the Sales Philosophy That Carried Into Cannabis
55:00 First California Trip, the Sir Francis Drake Okie-Doke, and Cars for Packs
1:00:00 The Pennsylvania Stop, Extradition, and 29 Days in a Gang Module
1:17:00 Becoming a Rapper as a Cover Story That Turned Real: Berner and Kevin Gates
1:55:57 Pipe Dreams on Haight Street and the Birth of Head Stash
2:03:30 The Runtz Cut, Ray Bomb's Validation Post, and Breaking Into the Rec Market
2:20:00 Oklahoma: 150,000 Clones, 90 Acres, and the First Legal Money
2:27:00 Cookie Monster's Death, the Bird Omen, and Buying Land on the Lake
2:44:00 Spinal Tumor Emergency Surgery and Making a Will in a Moving Car
2:55:30 Getting a License After 16 Years and Going Fully Legal in Oklahoma
3:09:30 Hash Hole Island, Berlin, and Relaunching Head Stash
3:31:00 The Pheno Hunt Series: 60 Jars, No Info, Crowd Feedback, Party Reveal
3:36:48 Top 3 Strains of All Time and Closing
e describes as his personal forever strain. According to this episode, multiple early candy-era brands used Head Stash's Granita genetics, sometimes rebranded under names like Razzles, Sheesh, and Certz, without attribution. He named his dog Nita after it.

Connect with the guest: Instagram: @anonymousthatdude | @headstashonly
Website: headstashnow.com
Spotify: Good PizzZa Podcast   |   Apple Podcasts: Good PizzZa Podcast
Follow Good PizzZa: goodpizzza.com   |   Instagram @goodpizzza and @goodpizzzapodcast
#goodpizzza #headstash #podcast

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Ed Rosenthal wrote the grow book that changed everything. Then the feds arrested him. This is the full story.
Ed Rosenthal has been in this longer than the modern cannabis industry has existed. He wrote his first grow book in 1973, co-founded High Times, and watched the New York Times review the guide that taught a generation how to grow. Then, in 2002, the federal government arrested him for doing exactly what the city of Oakland had officially asked him to do: grow cannabis for medical patients. The trial that followed became one of the most extraordinary legal moments in cannabis history, and Ed has never stopped since.

In this episode, Ed walks through the full arc: growing up in the Bronx with no clear direction, discovering cannabis at 21 and knowing immediately it was going to be a lifelong relationship, building the first grow tents, co-founding High Times, and writing the books that shaped how American growers think about cultivation. He goes deep on his 2002 federal trial, including why the jury was never allowed to hear that Oakland had deputized him, and what happened when nine of those jurors came back three days after the verdict to hold a press conference saying they were duped, slimed, and felt dirty. He then shifts to where the plant is going: breeding cultivars specifically designed for the coming consumption lounge era, preserving landrace genetics in the Arunachal Pradesh region of India, and the science of transferring THC-producing genes directly to yeast for industrial concentrate production.

Good PizzZa episode 200 exists to document the real history of cannabis culture. There is no more fitting guest for that than the man who has been in it longer than almost anyone alive.

Chapters below.

Follow Good PizzZa:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodPizzzaInstagram: @_goodpizzza_ | @goodpizzzapodcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HHXF0ijATYi8eHIq0rDToApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-pizzza-podcast/id1622059263#EdRosenthal #GoodPizzZa #CannabisHistory

CHAPTERS
00:00 Ed Rosenthal on Good PizzZa Episode 200
06:09 Ed Rosenthal's Origin Story: From the Bronx to Cannabis
11:04 Writing the First Cannabis Grow Book in 1973
14:44 Co-Founding High Times and the Yippie Movement
19:17 Oakland Deputized Him. Then the Feds Arrested Him.
27:29 Nine Jurors Returned to Apologize After the Verdict
45:40 Grateful Dead, Bay Area Music, and Cannabis Culture
48:28 Going to India to Preserve Landrace Cannabis Genetics
57:45 NL5 Haze: The Strain That Locked Into His Brain
01:01:00 Skunk Number 1 Changed Everything and Then Disappeared
01:07:40 Breeding Cannabis Specifically for the Lounge Era
01:20:47 Gene Transfer, Yeast-Grown THC, and the Future of the Plant
01:34:00 Top Strains, Overrated Picks, and Judging Cannabis on Effects
01:43:10 Billy Kimber OG, Get a Firm Contract, and Closing Wisdom

Y’all know what time it is…
Roll ‘em fat, torch your rigs, pack your bongs, bag up some work, water your plants—do what you gotta do because we’re about to take this journey with Ed Rosenthal!

JP
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Elusive built his California grow operation when there was no competition, no playbook, and no real rules. He survived a fake dispensary, staged police robberies, a seven-figure rebuild that ended with a blown transformer, and a market that has changed completely around him more times than he can count.

What he built out the other side is a 200-light boutique operation with 40 proven genetics, platinum baked onto glass, and a name that people in Berlin knew before he got there.

The full story, from Baltimore to the Prop 215 era to Prop 64 to the world stage, is on Good PizzZa Podcast right now. Elusive sits down with JP for the whole thing: legacy market realities, the genetics hunting process, the Toad market warning, what it costs to build a real cultivation operation, and the advice he would give the young him the day before he jumped in.

New episode. Link in bio.

#goodpizzza #elusivela #podcast #entrepreneur #culture
#goodpizzza #podcast #interview #westcoast #culture

Y’all know what time it is…
Roll ‘em fat, torch your rigs, pack your bongs, bag up some work, water your plants—do what you gotta do because we’re about to take this journey with Elusive!

JP
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Errl Hill built one of California's last craft BHO live resin operations out of Humboldt. Here's what it actually took.
Scott and Harry of Errl Hill came up through the legacy market before most people had heard the word legalization. Scott started in Humboldt in 2006, running grow teardowns every 90 days to beat landlord walkthroughs. Harry left Atlanta at 16 and found his footing on Grateful Dead tour before spending two decades in the California underground. The brand they built together is one of the few craft BHO live resin operations left in the state that is doing it right, and this conversation is the unfiltered version of how that happened.

They break down why BHO live resin still produces a more flavorful extract than live rosin for certain strains, how CRC color remediation chromatography strips terpenes and passes off adulterated product as quality hash, and why fake terpenes added back into low-grade extract have quietly damaged the entire live resin category. They also explain how the Blueberry Muffin strain from Humboldt Seed Company became the product Errl Hill is known for, and why some cultivars simply do not wash well but shine under BHO.

The conversation goes deep into what the 2021 California cannabis market crash cost the Humboldt community, how Prop 64 shuttered more farms than any law enforcement raid ever did, and what it means for a legacy operator to build a branded product instead of wholesaling into a broken market. This is the part of the California cannabis story that almost never gets told from the inside.

Chapters below.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Good PizzZa Podcast Errl Hill Introduction
04:50 Scott's Origin Story: Sacramento, SoCal Dealing, Glass Blowing
09:20 Scott's Dad Gets Busted Under Prop 215 in 1996
11:29 Moving to Humboldt: The Rental House Grow Teardown Game
13:54 First Outdoor Busts, Trinity Partnership, Fresh Frozen Begins
17:40 Compliance Letters, Four Years to Go Legal, Building Errl Hill
26:15 Harry's Story: Atlanta, Military School, Grateful Dead Tour at 16
33:10 Oakland Indoor Grows, Everything Falls Apart, Finding Errl Hill
42:20 Blueberry Muffin: Meeting Nat from Humboldt Seed Company
1:08:30 BHO vs Rosin: CRC Explained and Fake Terpene Fraud
1:25:00 Howard Buffett's Private Helicopters Over Humboldt
1:30:50 Top Strains, Dream Cypher, Advice, and Where to Find Errl Hill


Connect with Errl Hill:
Website: errlhill.com
Instagram: @errlhillhumboldt

Follow Good PizzZa:
YouTube: goodpizzza.com
Instagram: @_goodpizzza_ | @goodpizzzapodcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HHXF0ijATYi8eHIq0rDTo
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-pizzza-podcast/id1622059263

#goodpizzza #errlhill #humboldt

Y’all know what time it is…
Roll ‘em fat, torch your rigs, pack your bongs, bag up some work, water your plants—do what you gotta do because we’re about to take this journey with Scott and Harry (Errl Hill)!

JP
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Always Faded built his cannabis brand from Queens street corners to a Lil Baby collab that moved 200 units in one day. Here is how.
Always Faded grew up in Woodside, Queens, started selling at 12 years old, and moved to Sacramento in 2012 with a plane ticket and a mission. Ten years later his brand has landed rapper collabs, moved serious volume without gimmick packaging, and survived everything the market has thrown at operators who refused to cut corners.

This conversation goes deep into the Always Faded story: from running the Humboldt dep era with his New York crew, known throughout the county as the paper boys who showed up 10 deep and bought everything, to getting Connected Cannabis black bags in Sacramento during the Gelato 41 and Biscotti golden era, to pivoting south to LA and going back to ounce routes to rebuild from the ground up. JP and Always Faded also break down the Lil Baby Babyland collab from the first phone call to 200 units gone in a single day, reveal the Trippie Redd collab in the works for 2026, debate whether Toad Venom displaces candy as the next dominant market wave, and call out gimmick packaging as one of the biggest problems in the game right now.

This is the Good PizzZa Podcast doing what it does: real access to operators who built something, told in their own words, with nothing cleaned up for a mainstream audience.

Chapters below.

Connect with Always Faded:
Instagram: @alwaysfaded

Follow Good PizzZa:
Website: goodpizzza.com
Instagram: @_goodpizzza_ | @goodpizzzapodcast
Spotify: goodpizzza.com
Apple Podcasts: goodpizzza.com
CHAPTERS
00:00 Always Faded Cannabis Brand Intro
04:08 Old School New York Street Culture vs the Instagram Era
06:00 Queens Upbringing and Puerto Rican Family Roots
07:48 Selling Weed at 12 in Queens
09:47 Spofford, Rikers, and Staying Slick
14:33 The Decision to Leave New York for California
17:44 Landing in Sacramento and Running Humboldt Dep Farms
28:07 California Cannabis Regional History: SF Exotics, LA OGs, Humboldt
30:44 Meeting Doja Pak and the Connected Cannabis Black Bag Era
46:26 New York Market Explodes: The Za Era and Brand Scaling
51:05 The Always Faded Name Origin and Brand Founding 2014 to 2015
59:07 The Lil Baby Babyland Collab: 200 Units Gone in One Day
1:08:51 Trippie Redd Collab 2026 Announcement and Candy Drop Strategy
1:12:00 Toad Venom: Best Batches, Trusted Camps, and Who to Watch
1:19:44 Five-Year Vision: Clothing Line and Raising the Bar
1:22:01 Why Gimmick Packaging Is the Biggest Problem in Cannabis 
Right Now
1:23:56 Top 3 Strains: Sour Diesel, Biscotti Era, and Toad Venom
1:36:27 Dream Cypher: Big Pun and Jeff Bezos
1:43:47 Advice for the Youth: Do Good Business, Keep Your Face Clean
1:45:23 The Hardest Thing He Ever Overcame
1:46:36 Advice to His Younger Self: Trust Less, Wall Up
1:48:22 Where to Find Always Faded and What Is Coming Next

LINKS
Connect with the guest: Instagram: @alwaysfaded
Spotify: Good PizzZa Podcast   |   Apple Podcasts: Good PizzZa Podcast
Follow Good PizzZa: goodpizzza.com   |   Instagram @goodpizzza and @goodpizzzapodcast
#goodpizzza #alwaysfaded #podcast


Y’all know what time it is…
Roll ’em fat, torch your rigs, pack your bongs, bag up some work, water your plants — do what you gotta do… because we’re about to take this journey with Faded!

✌🏼❤️🍕

JP

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Ted Lewis built Ted's Budz into California's top flower brand. He started with no money, no corporate background, and a distribution license he wasn't sure what to do with.
Ted Lewis grew up between Omaha, Nebraska and half a dozen cities across California, attended six high schools, and landed at Cal State Northridge on a biology track before a Bay Area roommate showed him what the game actually looked like. He opened a Prop 215 dispensary in South Central, lost around $60,000 learning the hard way, slept on a futon in the back to hold it down, got broken into twice, and never stopped.

What came after is the real story. Ted pivoted to growing in a Victorville rental house with 15 lights and his cousin Trey, chased genetics obsessively through online seed communities, connected with Dubz Garden and Backpackboyz, and handed Juan a Cookie  sample through a car window that changed everything, and eventually landed a California distribution license with zero corporate experience and one mandate: only sell what you would smoke yourself. He did his own driving. Thursday routes from LA to San Diego, 4am runs north to the Bay, a MacBook in hand for manifest corrections at every shop. That footwork built the budtender relationships that still hold Ted's Budz up today.

On this episode, Ted breaks down how he built a cannabis distribution company from nothing: the three-way collab with Dubz and the Goonies that produced the Horchata and Oreoz jars in 2020, how meeting Doja Pak through Hi Tek changed the direction of the brand, the QC process behind every drop, the marketing philosophy that nobody in the industry predicted would work, and why putting his grandfather's name on the bag means he cannot afford to put out anything subpar. He also gets into his music, his plans for retail and a members-only concept, and exactly what he thinks is wrong with the industry right now.

This is what Good PizzZa Podcast is built for: the full story, told by the person who lived it.

Chapters below.

Connect with Ted Lewis:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tedsbudzco_Websites: https://tedsbudzgoods.com/https://tedsfest.com/Follow Good PizzZa:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodPizzzaInstagram: @_goodpizzza_ | @goodpizzzapodcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HHXF0ijATYi8eHIq0rDToApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-pizzza-podcast/id1622059263
CHAPTERS
00:00 Ted Lewis and Ted's Budz: Intro and Zalympix Sellout Story
04:05 Growing Up in Omaha: Segregation, Mids Culture, and Nebraska Pride
05:50 Six High Schools and a Nomadic Childhood Between Nebraska and LA
11:18 Cal State Northridge, the Bay Area Roommate, and the Turn
20:10 Opening a Prop 215 Shop in South Central as Husker Boy Associates
25:35 Grow House Life: Victorville, 15 Lights, and Cousin Trey
30:37 Genetics Obsession: Thug Pug, Peanut Butter Breath, Backpackboyz, and the Cookie Wreck Handoff
36:39 Going Legal: Applying for Cultivation and Distribution Licenses
43:00 The Three-Way Collab: Dubs, the Goonies, Horchata, and Oreoz
47:45 Ted Was the Driver: Thursday Routes, 4AM NorCal Runs, and MacBook Manifests
59:09 Ted's Budz Today: 15 Strains a Week, QC Process, and a Team of 18
01:05:44 Marketing, Music, Acting, and the DMX Energy Behind the Brand

Y’all know what time it is…
Roll ’em fat, torch your rigs, pack your bongs, bag up some work, water your plants — do what you gotta do… because we’re about to take this journey with Ted!

✌🏼❤️🍕

JP

⸻

🔥 Big up my sponsors!

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Please help our brother Jade with Buck Mountain fight his battle against cancer! Anything helps. Much love!
https://gofund.me/e27f086a1

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Michigan's Growing Pains bred and grew the Banana Taffy, entered it last minute, and beat every California grower in the Proper Smoke League.
Tom and Seth of Growing Pains came up through Michigan basements, illegal caregiver traps, and the gray market years before a single license existed in the state. They built a 300-light indoor operation, bred their own genetics, and then flew to California and won. This is the full story.

In this episode, JP sits down with the Proper Smoke League champions to unpack what it actually took to get here. They break down why the Banana Taffy nearly did not get entered, how harvest timing and their in-house dueling process shaped a Michigan craft cannabis operation that now competes with the best growers in the country, and what separates a craft cultivator from a production farmer in the current market. If you have ever wondered how Michigan cannabis growers stack up against California, you will have your answer by the end of the first hour.

Tom tells the real GMO origin story on record for the first time: three Chem Cookies seeds popped by his buddy Billy in a Michigan basement, the corn-stalk structure that gave it the name, and why Ann Arbor dispensaries refused to sell anything called GMO and renamed it Garlic Cookies. They also get into the Motorbreath 15 history, the genetics game-changer moment that shifted Seth's entire growing approach, and what the cannabis industry loses when people consume the product wrong. This episode covers the craft, the business, and the culture that built Growing Pains from the ground up.

Good PizzZa documents real cannabis culture, the growers, the breeders, the legacy operators, and the stories that do not get told anywhere else. Growing Pains is exactly what this show exists for.

Chapters below.

Connect with Growing Pains:
Website: growingpainsofficial.com
Instagram: @growingpainsofficial

Follow Good PizzZa:
YouTube: youtube.com/@GoodPizzza
Instagram: @_goodpizzza_ | @goodpizzzapodcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HHXF0ijATYi8eHIq0rDToApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-pizzza-podcast/id1622059263#GrowingPains #ProperSmokeLeague #MichiganCraft
CHAPTERS
00:00 Growing Pains Michigan: Proper Smoke League Champions
01:48 LANTZ Rosin Pen and First Impressions of the Grow
05:15 Building a Cannabis Team: Empowering People to Own Their Role
08:12 Tom's Origin Story: Ohio, Skateboarding, and Action Sports Sales
12:45 Learning to Grow Illegally: Michigan Basements and the Code of Silence
17:45 The Decision That Built Growing Pains: Doubling Down on Cannabis
21:50 Work Ethic, Delayed Gratification, and Turning Down $10 Million
34:03 Seth's Origin Story: Tennis Instructor to Michigan Cannabis Grower
39:44 First Warehouse, City Politics, and Linking Up with Tom
47:00 Connecting with California: Zalympix Michigan and the Genetics Shift
50:44 Harvest Timing, the Flush Debate, and Growing at 300 Lights
55:10 How Long Does Great Weed Last: Strain Longevity and Preservation
56:28 The Real GMO Origin Story: Michigan Basement, Three Seeds, Two Names
01:01:15 Motorbreath 15 Michigan History and Legacy Genetics
01:02:48 Terpene Profiles, Regional Taste, and Joe's Genetics Library
01:10:00 White Ash, Water Activity, and What Actually Measures Quality
01:17:15 Sacramento, North Jersey, and Growing Pains Reacts to NorCal
01:20:45 Top 3 Strains of All Time: Old School, Desert Island, and New
01:26:43 Cannabis Industry Pet Peeves: Pay Your Bills and Mean What You Say
01:29:05 Mary Jane Berlin, International Markets, and the Hash Conversation
01:34:08 Resurrect One Person from the Industry: A Question from the Last Guest
01:41:00 Cannabis Education, Pheno Hunt Parties, and Why Community Matters
01:42:32 Final Life Lessons and Where to Find Growing Pains

LINKS
Connect with the guest: Website: growingpainsofficial.com
Instagram: @growingpainsofficial
Retail: Refinery, Detroit / Kalamazoo / New Buffalo, Michigan
Partners: King of Buds, Bloomery, Vibe, Herb, Cake House, Da Cut, Bo's, Jars, Puff Bodega
Spotify: Good PizzZa Podcast   |   Apple Podcasts: Good PizzZa Podcast
Follow Good PizzZa: goodpizzza.com   |   Instagram @goodpizzza and @goodpizzzapodcast
#GrowingPains #ProperSmokeLeague #MichiganCraft

Y’all know what time it is…

Roll em fat, torch your rigs, pack your bongs, bag up some work, water your plants, do what you gotta do because we’re about to take this journey with Tom and Seth from Growing Pain!
✌🏼❤️🍕

JP

⸻

🔥 Big up my sponsors!

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Helga built a global budtender training program in 8 countries. Here's how she got there, and why the culture needs more people like her.
Helga is a Costa Rican-born cannabis educator who worked her way from restaurant manager to cannabis club manager in Barcelona before launching Global Budtender Training, a worldwide certification program built in partnership with Oaksterdam University. In under a year she has trained over 100 budtenders across more than 8 countries, and the world tour is not close to finished.

In this episode, recorded live at Mary Jane Berlin 2026, Helga and JP go deep on the gap between what the top of the cannabis industry knows and what actually reaches the person standing behind the counter. They break down the THC percentage myth and how lab manipulation pushes quality cultivars out of production. They talk through what day one for a new budtender should actually look like, why tasting the product is non-negotiable, and why a budtender is part psychologist, part pharmacist, and part friend all at once. Helga also tells the full story of how a stranger in a wheelchair at Spannabis handed her a cannabis university scholarship that changed everything.

JP brings the legacy side: the original Cheese strain and why more people should be asking for it back, the history of piff and New York haze culture before Sour Diesel and Cookies took over the Northeast, and why passion for the plant is the only thing that keeps operators standing when the business gets hard. Good PizzZa is built to document conversations like this one. Educators, cultivators, legacy operators, and the people who love the plant enough to build something real around it.

Chapters below.

Connect with Helga:
Website: www.globalbartendertraining.com
Instagram: @globalbartendertraining
YouTube: Global Bartender Training

Follow Good PizzZa:
YouTube: goodpizzza.com
Instagram: @_goodpizzza_ | @goodpizzzapodcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HHXF0ijATYi8eHIq0rDToApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-pizzza-podcast/id1622059263
CHAPTERS
00:00 Global Budtender Training Program Introduction
01:43 Costa Rica Cannabis Culture and Helga's Background
05:06 Costa Rica Rosin, Hash, and the Path Toward Legalization
07:36 How Helga First Got Into the Cannabis Industry
08:55 Barcelona Cannabis Clubs and Starting as a Budtender
12:24 Spannabis, the Scholarship, and the Moment That Changed Everything
14:31 Cannabis University, Certified Budtender for Spain, and Launching Global Bartender Training
17:22 How the Global Bartender Training Curriculum Works
19:33 THC Percentage Myth and How Lab Testing Hurts the Culture
25:01 Growing Up in Cannabis Culture: JP's Mom Still Grows at 73
30:17 Day One Budtender Advice: Tasting Products and Building Team Culture
35:55 Original Cheese Strain, Piff, and New York Haze History
47:44 Ted's Budz and the California Rec Market
50:51 Follow Your Dreams: Where to Find Global Bartender Training

Find upcoming dates and registration at www.globalbartendertraining.com or on Instagram at @globalbartendertraining.
LINKS
Connect with the guest: Instagram: @globalbartendertraining
Website: www.globalbartendertraining.com
YouTube: Global Bartender Training
Spotify: Good PizzZa Podcast   |   Apple Podcasts: Good PizzZa Podcast
Follow Good PizzZa: goodpizzza.com   |   Instagram @goodpizzza and @goodpizzzapodcast


Y’all know what time it is…

Roll ‘em fat, torch your rigs, pack your bongs, bag up some work, water your plants—do what you gotta do because we’re about to take this journey with Helga!

✌🏼❤️🍕

JP

⸻

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Some of the best cannabis stories are about redemption.

This episode was filmed at Mary Jane Berlin from the incredible Mills Nutrients activation, where JP sat down with Mile High Dave for an honest conversation about one of the wildest journeys in cannabis.

Growing up in Southern California, Dave’s passion for the plant led him down a path that eventually put him on the run from law enforcement for nearly a decade. During those years, he continued cultivating, refining his craft, and developing the obsessive attention to detail that would later define his reputation as a grower.

When cannabis legalization opened new doors in Colorado, Dave made the decision to face his past, clear his outstanding legal issues, and build a new life around the plant he always believed in. Today, he’s known as an award-winning breeder and cultivator whose genetics have earned respect across the cannabis community. His celebrated Dante’s Inferno #6 phenotype has won multiple competitions, and he’s become known for meticulous pheno hunting and selecting elite keeper cuts. 

Now living in Minnesota with his wife and two children, Dave continues hunting exceptional genetics while watching the next chapter of legal cannabis unfold.

💨 In this episode, we get into:

Growing up in Southern California
Living on the run for nearly 10 years
Turning a difficult past into a successful cannabis career
The move to Colorado and starting over through legalization
The story behind Dante’s Inferno #6 and elite pheno hunting
Building a reputation as a breeder and cultivator
The emerging Minnesota cannabis market
Why passion, persistence, and patience always win

🧠 Dave’s story is about more than cannabis. It’s about second chances, dedication to your craft, and proving that your past doesn’t have to define your future. This is one of those conversations that reminds you why we document these stories.

⸻

Y’all know what time it is…

Roll ‘em fat, torch your rigs, pack your bongs, bag up some work, water your plants—do what you gotta do because we’re about to take this journey with Mile High Dave!

✌🏼❤️🍕

JP

⸻

🔥 Big up my sponsors!

@grovebags
@buckmountaincannabis
@cadre.verde
@bambinas.sac
@millspaysthebillsamsterdam
@flowermillusa
@dr.dabber

💸 Get a DISCOUNT at:
http://www.grovebags.com
PROMO CODE: GOODPIZZZA

🌿 Grab a Flower Mill with the Good PizzZa discount:
https://www.flowermillusa.com/discount/GOODPIZZZA?ref=GOODPIZZZA

Promo Code: GOODPIZZZA

⸻

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#GoodPizzZaPodcast #MileHighDave #MaryJaneBerlin #MillsNutrients #DantesInferno #CannabisPodcast #CannabisGenetics #PhenoHunting #CannabisBreeding #ColoradoCannabis #MinnesotaCannabis #LegacyCannabis #PremiumFlower #CannabisCulture #WeedCulture

Support the show

Shop Merch: goodpizzza.com
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Mills Nutrients founder Mike built a top-5 global cannabis brand from the streets of Amsterdam. Here is how he actually did it.

Mike from Mills Nutrients grew up in the center of Amsterdam, skateboarding behind trams, hustling in the red light district, with a father and grandfather who were bouncers. After Dutch Green Beret service and 5 years in the Foreign Legion, he came home, started growing, and saw a problem: the nutrients market was overcomplicated, confusing, and nobody had simplified it for the people actually using it. In 2010 he built Mills Nutrients, went broke 3 times along the way, and eventually built one of the top-5 cannabis fertilizer brands in the world, operating across 5 continents.

In this episode, recorded live at Mary Jane Berlin, JP sits down with Mike for a conversation that covers how the Dutch cannabis industry actually got its start (Americans taught them, not the other way around), what it took to crack the US market from Holland with no connections and no money, why Mills deliberately stayed small while competitors scaled up and burned out, and the story of chartering 2 KLM Boeing 747 cargo planes during the COVID port lockdown to make sure his customers never ran dry. The episode also gets into the new Mills Salads dry nutrient powder line, what 94% team retention actually looks like in practice, and what Mike would tell his younger self the day before he jumped into the game.

This is what Good PizzZa is built to document: the operators who built something real, the decisions that looked crazy at the time, and the culture behind the brand that nobody covers in the trade press.

CHAPTERS
00:00 JP Intro: Recording Live at Mary Jane Berlin
01:35 East Berlin History and the Mary Jane Show Origins 
03:57 Growing Up in Amsterdam: Streets, Skateboarding, Red Light District 
05:18 Dutch Green Berets, Foreign Legion, and Finding Cannabis 
05:47 Who Actually Invented Indoor Cannabis Hydroponics 
06:53 The Idea Behind Mills: 4 Color-Coded Bottles for Stoners 
08:19 Mills Nutrients Founded in 2010 and Early European Struggles 
09:14 From 2 Pallets to Containers: Cracking the California Market 
10:07 Where the Name Mills Comes From: Dutch Windmills and Delft Blue 
13:54 Grove Bags Sponsor Read 
14:18 California as the Center of the Cannabis Universe 
16:55 Building a Loyal Small Team: 94% Retention and Family Culture 
19:23 Staying Small on Purpose: Agility as a Competitive Strategy 
20:33 New Mills Salads Dry Nutrient Powder Line: 4 Years in Development 
22:49 Mills Organics Line and Keeping Plants Green Through Week 9 
24:00 Why Small Batch Growers Are the Heart of the Culture 
25:33 5 Continents: Global Expansion and South America Agro Projects 
27:38 Giving Back: Supporting Small Grower Cups With No Strings Attached 
28:51 Mills Salads Sponsor Read 
29:27 Advice to Entrepreneurs: Military Discipline and Going Broke 3 Times 
32:28 DNA Genetics Collab and the First Fertilizer-Seed Company Partnership 
33:27 The COVID Cargo Plane Story: 2 Boeing 747s to Supply His Customers 
35:23 How Mike Smokes: Flower, Old School Hash, and the First Dab Story 
38:39 Strain Talk: White Widow, Tangie, and Desert Island Pick Enemy of the State 42:33 Mike's 5-Year Plan and the Question for the Next Guest 
44:44 Closing Jewels: Believe in Yourself and Call Me

Connect with Mills Nutrients: Website: millsnutrients.com Instagram: @mills_nutrients

Follow Good PizzZa: 
goodpizzza.com 
Instagram: @goodpizzza | @goodpizzzapodcast 
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HHXF0ijATYi8eHIq0rDTo
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-pizzza-podcast/id1622059263

Y’all know what time it is…

Roll em fat, torch your rigs, pack your bongs, bag up some work, water your plants, do what you gotta do because we’re about to take this journey with Mike From Mills Nutrients!

✌🏼❤️🍕

JP

⸻

🔥 Big up my sponsors!

@grovebags
@buckmountaincannabis
@cadre.verde
@bambinas.sac
@millspaysthebillsamsterdam
@flowermillusa
@dr.dabber

Get a DISCOUNT at http://www.grovebags.com
PROMO CODE: GOODPIZZZA

Grab a Flower Mill with the Good PizzZa discount:
https://www.flowermillusa.com/discount/GOODPIZZZA?ref=GOODPIZZZA

Promo Code: GOODPIZZZA

⸻

💨 Dr Dabber Discount

http://www.drdabber.com
PROMO CODE: GOODPIZZZA15

⸻

🍕 GRAB SOME SWAG

http://www.goodpizzza.com

Support the show

Shop Merch: goodpizzza.com
Instagram: @_goodpizzza_
Instagram: @goodpizzzapodcast
Show some love: patreon.com/goodpizzza