The dawning of the age of recreational cannabis is changing the face of the industry, bringing forth new products that could easily be displayed in glass cases at a Barney’s counter. Luxury brand Lord Jones is leading the way with high-end branding and a focus on patient health and wellness. Voted “Best Low Dose Edible,” by High Times, and featured in fashion magazine Vogue, the creators of Lord Jones have successfully bridged the world of cannabis health with the world of fashion. Founders Cindy Capobianco and Rob Rosenheck are poised and ready for the cannabis boom of 2018 as they evolve and expand their line of edibles and topicals.
From Fashion to Food to Cannabis
Just a few years ago, when Cindy and Rob brought their high-end medicated candies to shops around LA, the dispensary managers said “that’s beautiful, I don’t know what to do with it—it’s too expensive.” The couple was a few years ahead of the curve, but now the industry’s catching up. “A few years ago, everything was about the cheapest product,” Rob says, “Our peers weren’t finding products that were speaking to them; brands that were clearly labeled aspirational, transparent, effective, safe, and stood for quality.”
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The creation of the Lord Jones brand is a product of Rob and Cindy’s professional backgrounds and passion for the cannabis plant. In their previous life, the married couple ran a creative agency together for 10 years, working on fashion and lifestyle brands with clients like Gap and Banana Republic. They learned about the food business after they helped launch Lara Bars and ended up working on other organic food brands for General Mills. They always kept their client list small in order to work with brands they believe in, saying “Every brand we worked on we wanted to be a consumer of that brand, live the brand, champion the brand—they were all brands we believed in. That’s what was behind Lord Jones. We wanted to create a brand that we wanted to use and that other people who care about quality wanted to use.”
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Wellness Beyond Beauty
There are three tenets behind Lord Jones: a superior brand experience, the finest non-cannabis ingredients and formulations, and cannabis superiority. This can be seen in the brightly colored, elegantly designed packaging. Add to that the Sigurberry edible (a collaboration with the band Sigur Ros), which was launched at a Billboard-worthy Los Angeles sound bath event. The band played live at the historic LA theatre Neuehouse while patients enhanced with Lord Jones edibles laid on mats and admired the pulsing light installation.
While the Lord Jones branding is eye-catching and beautiful, it’s not all about looks. The true differentiators of their products is a result of focusing on the use of cannabis to target specific ailments. When aspiring cannabis marketers ask Cindy and Rob for advice on getting into the cannabis industry, they tell them knowledge about the plant is extremely important. “If you’re going to be in this business on the branding side you need to understand what you’re talking about in a way that’s different than any other industry. No one wants a tourist who just says ‘I can make that pretty.’”
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Cannabis Caregivers
In the beginning, Lord Jones created a nonprofit collective in order to sell their products, and ended up becoming caregivers. Cindy says, “We didn’t set out to become caregivers, but many patients who had never used cannabis got in touch and we started helping people who had never used cannabis at all or not in 30 years.” This constant interaction with patients and their needs has had a huge effect on the products. “We’ve learned more from our patients than anyone else in this business. The fact that we’re caregivers with them has shaped our product in ways that we had never anticipated.”
Their patients live with a variety of conditions, including migraines, autoimmune disease, cancer, AIDS, HIV and various skin conditions. They see groups of migraine sufferers using both the topical and the high CBD gumdrops for their headaches, while post-op or post-accident patients who can’t take opioids experience significantly diminished pain after taking their gumdrops and using their topical. Cindy listens to these patients “crying on the phone saying they never thought they would feel relief again.”
Working so closely with patients helps Cindy and Rob learn how their product can be used and also informs formulations going forward. “Many of the products we’re launching soon are inspired by our patients and their needs and their ailments.”
Terpene-Infused CBD Topicals
There are three different versions of the Lord Jones topical: a 5:1 Pain and Wellness Body Lotion which contains 100 mg CBD, a 1:1 Pain and Wellness Formula and a Pure CBD Body Lotion. The lotions contain “full spectrum whole plant medicine for maximum pain relief and aid to skin conditions.” The scented version celebrates the terpenes of the plant with notes of hep, sage, mint and green citrus, creating a bright fragrance with far-reaching appeal.
Cindy knows that topicals are often used by people new to cannabis and they want to make them feel as comfortable as possible with what they’re putting on their body. The topicals also contain Frescolat, a natural cooling agent, so you immediately feel a cooling sensation when applied, letting patients know exactly there they put the lotion on their body. The user friendly product design is also seen in the vacuum-pump feature, which dispenses exactly 1 mL per pump, containing 2 mg CBD and 0.4 mg THC in the 5:1 formulation.
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Veronica Brooks, a recognizable customer service specialist at HelloMD and her mother use the topicals for knee pain and arthritis, respectively. “This is the perfect product for patients with sore muscles, as the topical is a nice alternative for those who do not want any psychoactive effects. This pain and wellness lotion delivers rapid relief, and has quickly become a favorite in my mom’s cabinet,” she says.
The topicals are also effective for patients with more serious conditions like fibromyalgia, lupus, migraines and chronic pain, but also work for sunburns, bug bites and sore feet. Even celebrity stylists have caught on to the topical trend, using the CBD lotion on the soles of their clients’s feet before spending a long night on the red carpet in high heels. You can get a taste for the versatile uses of the topicals from their Instagram feed, which is full of patient testimonials claiming “the relief was instant!” and “my neck was pain-free for the first time in eight years.”
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Artisanal Edibles
There are six different formulations of Lord Jones edibles, including 5, 10, or 20 mg THC, with 5:1 CBD, and pure CBD options. They have created many options, including low-dose options, so people can easily find the right dose for themselves.
“With only 2 mg of THC, these gum drops are perfect for microdosing throughout the day, ” says our Director of Operations, Ashleigh Jessup, who appreciates the consumer-friendly dosing capabilities.
The ability to titrate dosage also led to the decision to make candy over baked goods because “candy is a more elegant form of food,” and “transforming the chemical state of sugar is math and chemistry more in line with dosing.” They are mindfully designed so you can eat one full piece of candy as a dose.
True to their word, the candies are all natural, handmade in small batches and can stand up to sweets made by a fine candy maker. The active ingredients include THC extracts drawn from the finest California-grown cannabis, phytocannabinoid-rich CBD extracts from specially sourced organic hemp and terpenes to ensure the medical benefits of the whole plant entourage effect. All of their products use whole plant medicine, and the CBD products are designed for health and wellness, rather than psychoactive benefit. With their Lord Jones products, Cindy and Rob are making cannabis medicine incredibly appealing, approachable and effective.
Sound Baths & Spas
The Lord Jones brand is built on wellness as a lifestyle, and beyond products, Rob and Cindy are creating wellness experiences. Their first medicated sound bath was over a year ago, and since then they have hosted multiple sound baths and yoga classes at different events. They recently became the first cannabis brand to partner with luxury fitness club Equinox, where they will produce a recovery class and a series of events that are integrated into the spa program across the country.
If you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our Cannabis 101 post. HelloMD can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it’s 100% online, private and efficient.
