16 Feb 2012
by brodiein Dispatch from the Front Line Tags: Beer, Cruise, Fun, funk, Haiti, Jam Cruise, Jamaica, jazz, music, Pure Hemp, Reggae, Sweetwater, Zebra
Time to brag, Hempies: We went on Jam Cruise 10 in January. We gathered ourselves in Ft. Lauderdale on January 8th and congregated to exchange hellos with old friends and new acquaintances over drinks the night before embarking on a 5 night voyage around the Caribbean sea. If you’re unfamiliar with Jam Cruise, it’s basically a music festival on a cruise ship. We can only assume they stock the bars a little more than usual for this one and the average cruiser age is drastically lower than your typical cruise. The main deck becomes a stage and the various lounges on board become intimate venues for jazz and funk musicians.
On January 9th, we set sail and the party, though it had already begun, went into overdrive with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band setting the musical bar at an incredible height . The SweetWater Brewing Company purveyed sufficient tasty beer to quench the thirst of 4,000 music-loving passengers. Galactic , Toots and the Maytals, Trombone Shorty, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe , and others provided music so energetic that it could have probably reanimated a corpse.
We made 2 port stops. One in Haiti where some of our passengers went ziplining down a mountain and others planted trees and donated shoes as part of the Positive Legacy project. Zach Deputy and Toubab Krewe played on the beach for wobbly-legged seafarers.
Our second stop was in Fallmouth, Jamaica where we could wander past the tourist plaza into the streets to see what it’s all about, dodging eager taxi drivers trying to convince us to go to Montego Bay. Fallmouth seemed to have quite a history involving pirates but we didn’t have enough time to get a full history lesson between drinking Island Guiness and eating Jerk chicken and pork at Pepper’s Jerk Center and wandering around. (Some of us had a hard time getting off the boat due to excessive partying the night before too.) We were a bit behind.
On the second last night of the cruise, a passenger (not one we know) made some poor decisions and ended up injured which isn’t normally a good thing, but it delayed our return to Ft. Lauderdale for disembarkation by three hours, giving us a little extra time to sleep in on the 14th. Once out of our rooms on the final morning, we sat around on the main deck and used the last of our drink tickets, ate some breakfast, and reminisced about our journey. We’d had fun. That much was certain. Pre-book for next year? We did.
03 Mar 2011
by rollyin Dispatch from the Front Line
Back in Vegas for a double hitter – ASD and TPE, just a week after Brodie and Nick hit the town for CHAMPS to kick off their epic road trip (more on that soon). This time R&D were back at it for a week of shows and the North American launch of Smoking Brown.
B&N were pretty stoked for having hit the record for the best show ever at CHAMPS, but not to be shown up by the youngsters, R&D kicked it up huge at the ASD. Unbleached are taking the market by storm, and both the Pure Hemp Unbleached and new Smoking Brown were huge hits!
It really is great to hear how people all over the country are looking for Pure Hemp – from NYC to NOLA to LA, new distributors came looking for us to add Pure Hemp to their offerings. We’ve been doing this for over 15 years now and the momentum just keeps gaining. Thanks be to all of you faithful & keep spreading the word!
D&X made the journey over from Barcelona for the Tobacco Plus Expo and the winning streak kept on rollin’. Good laughs, good food (a special shout out to Tiger at Mushashi) and good company (especially connecting with Mark from D&R) made for a memorable end to the week.
17 Dec 2010
by nickin Dispatch from the Front Line
Well this December the Pure Hemp team took our expertise in the quality rolling sector to Denver Colorado to attend the 2nd Annual KushCon! With all the attention KushCon’s been getting we felt it necessary that we represent our fine hemp products at such a grand event.
Upon touchdown, and an hour long trip from Airport to our hotel Downtown Denver, we dropped off our suitcases and went to fill our insatiable hunger. With Bubba Gump being the only eatery open at this hour we made our way in for some deep fried goods and Forrest Gump trivia “i should really watch that movie again”. The morning comes around all too soon, and the first day of KushCon II is upon us. We register at the front desk, and go find our booth, unfortunately we are stuck at the very back, facing a giant blinding white wall.
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08 Dec 2010
by rollyin Dispatch from the Front Line Tags: Barcelona, Miquel y Costas, Pure Hemp, Smoking
The second Rolly & Dave Barcelona Junket kicked off a bit earlier than expected. The night before our departure we (well one of us anyway) couldn’t resist a night out with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals at Lee’s Palace here in TO. A great show which ended in a killer extended second encore motivated us to head over to the Orbit Room to close out the night right. As it so often happens when great music is involved, the synchronicity meter was off the charts and so it was that on back patio of the Orbit Room we ran into Emelio. Turns out Emelio hails from Barcelona and was on his way back a couple of days later and he left us with an open invitation to hook up in BCN for some local flavour.
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08 Dec 2010
by rollyin Gallery Tags: Barcelona
read about our Barcelona adventures here
12 Nov 2010
by brodiein Dispatch from the Front Line Tags: Anaheim, Kush Expo
Back in November. Pure Hemp hit the OC for the Kush Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Now for those of you who don’t know, the Anaheim Convention Center is right across the street from Disney Land. Not even a block away from Disney Land, there we were: Thousands of Medical Marijuana proponents smoking freely in the outdoor designated smoking area. We’ve come a long way, Friends. The show itself was loads of fun. On the first night, there was a Led Zeppelin tribute band, the next night, a Pink Floyd tribute. Not too shabby.
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07 Jan 2010
by rollyin Dispatch from the Front Line Tags: Jam Cruise
Damn – think it can’t get any better and it does! Every year Jam Cruise gets better and better. First off, I’ve gotta say, bringing along a group of friends definitely shakes things way up. First stop Jamaica doesn’t hurt either! To say nothing of the music, old favourites and new. This time around the old JC faithfuls Galactic, Karl Denson, Skerik, Robert Walter, Mofro,… didn’t let us down. Add to the mix some old school heavyweights (Maceo, George Porter, Ivan Neville to name a few) and some new face (to us anyway – John Brown’s Body, Zach Deputy) and you’ve got one hell of a mix!
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07 Jan 2010
by rollyin Gallery Tags: Jam Cruise
Read all about our fun on the high seas here.
15 Jun 2009
by adminin Dispatch from the Front Line Tags: Dispatch from the Front Line, THC Expo
The THC Expo was a blast! Hats off to Todd and Brian for putting it all together. Seeing as this was the first ever THC Expo, we were really quite uncertain of what to expect. Arriving in L.A. Thursday evening we check into the Biltmore… a spectacularly vintage hotel. Friday is setup, and we walk down to the L.A. Convention Center. The exhibit hall is swarming with exhibitors setting up. We meet up with old friends from the hemp industry, and meet some new faces. Set up is a breeze, and our booth is stacked with cases of Pure Hemp in anticipation of what the next two days will hold.
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