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 pati...
Sep 15
1 hr 50 min
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 sto...
Sep 8
1 hr 55 min
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 i...
Sep 1
1 hr 56 min
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 t...
Aug 25
1 hr 49 min
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 h...
Aug 18
1 hr 17 min
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 champ...
Aug 11
1 hr 45 min
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 n...
Aug 11
53 min
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 deve...
Aug 4
56 min
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 simplifi...
Jul 28
46 min
Freddie Bigg built from Bay Area middleman to cultivation partner. Here is what that journey actually cost and what it paid. Freddie Bigg started as a middleman in the pre-legal Bay Area market and made the call at exactly the right time: when recreational Cannabis launched, he partnered with SF Canna in 2019 and Planta in 2023, moving from distributor to cultivator. This is his third appearance on Good PizzZa Podcast, and the game has changed dramatically since the first one. In this conve...
Jul 21
1 hr 21 min
Load more