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In Episode 45 of the Legacies Podcast, hosts Tom Ritchie and Wesley Bowles discuss Meta’s recent social media policy updates regarding cannabis and Tom’s personal search for clean CBD relief in the Canadian adult-use market. They are joined by Orville Bovenschen, President of Pure Sunfarms, and Carolyn Cudmore, Product Development Manager and creator of Soar’s Canna CZAR.
The conversation explores the operations of Pure Sunfarms’ massive 2 million square feet greenhouse under glass in Delta, British Columbia. Orville explains the high risks of crop-wiping diseases in commercial greenhouse agriculture and details their strict biosecurity and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) protocols. Drawing from his Dutch background, Orville provides historical insights into the Netherlands’ decriminalization and backdoor policy since the 1970s, comparing it to Canada’s legalization framework and discussing the public safety arguments for indoor safe consumption cafes.
Carolyn Cudmore shares her journey from Vancouver video game production to cannabis product development. She explains the concept of “twaxing”—the art of adding a concentrate to flower—and outlines the development of the Canna CZAR blunt under the Soar brand. She details the technical challenges of hand-rolling a shatter snake, coating it with distillate, and curing the final kief layer to ensure a slow, uniform burn. Finally, the guests reflect on their early regulatory struggles at Emerald Health Therapeutics, describing how they overcame Health Canada’s prohibition on combined product categories and navigated strict homogeneity testing protocols by slicing joints vertically rather than horizontally.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s going on, everyone? Check out what’s coming up this week on Legacies!
Orville Bovenschen Says: When I sneeze in our processing building, I sneeze pure kief. We are dedicated to respecting legacy craftsmanship.
Carolyn Cudmore Says: The Cannisaur is entirely handcrafted from start to finish. It takes ten minutes to hand-roll each individual piece—there is no machine on Earth that can replicate this craft.
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome to Legacies, everyone! I’m your host, Tom Ritchie, joined by Wesley ‘The Wizard’ Bowles. Wes, good morning, sir.
Wesley Bowles Says: Good morning, Tom. You sound like you’re battling through a heavy winter cold.
Tom Ritchie Says: This episode is brought to you by sheer entrepreneurial willpower and Tylenol Complete! As founders, when it’s showtime, you show up. Wes, I see you rocking those new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses over there.
Wesley Bowles Says: They have built-in open-ear audio and AI capabilities. You can tap the frame and run voice queries through ChatGPT hands-free.
Wesley Bowles Says: Meta has quietly begun updating its community guidelines on Instagram and Facebook. They appear to be loosening restrictions on organic, educational cannabis discussions and product experiences, though direct promotion and e-commerce links remain strictly prohibited.
Tom Ritchie Says: For years, legitimate Canadian licensed businesses have had their accounts shadowbanned or deleted without recourse. Any step toward open, sensible dialogue on social media is a welcome shift for the legal sector.
Tom Ritchie Says: While resting yesterday, I watched extensive policy discussions analyzing Canada’s economic trajectory. Over the last decade, federal public service headcounts expanded by 40%, while outside consulting expenditures climbed past $21 billion.
Tom Ritchie Says: Canada possesses abundant clean energy and agricultural resources that could be exported to drive GDP growth. We need pragmatic, business-minded governance that supports domestic enterprise and cuts bureaucratic red tape.
Tom Ritchie Says: I’ve been researching high-dose cannabinoid therapy for joint inflammation. The clinical literature suggests therapeutic anti-inflammatory protocols require meaningful daily doses—often 150mg to 250mg of CBD daily.
Wesley Bowles Says: Tanner Stewart from Stewart Farms and clinical researchers have frequently pointed out that typical 10mg over-the-counter gummies don’t reach therapeutic thresholds. Consumers seeking anti-inflammatory relief rely on high-potency oils, such as Nextleaf’s Glacial Gold 200mg/ml drops or whole-plant tinctures.
Tom Ritchie Says: Today we are thrilled to welcome the leadership behind one of Canada’s most successful producers: **Orville Bovenschen**, President of Pure Sunfarms, and **Carolyn Cudmore**, the Master Blender and ‘Cannisaur’ behind the ultra-premium *Soar* portfolio.
Orville Bovenschen Says: Thank you for having us on Legacies, gentlemen.
Carolyn Cudmore Says: Great to be here!
Tom Ritchie Says: Orville, Pure Sunfarms operates an astonishing agricultural footprint in Delta, BC. Put the sheer scale into perspective for our audience.
Orville Bovenschen Says: We cultivate across **two million square feet under glass**. When managing a greenhouse of that magnitude, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and strict biosecurity are paramount. A single crop pathogen or pest outbreak could decimate hundreds of thousands of plants. We enforce rigorous quarantine procedures to safeguard our genetics.
Tom Ritchie Says: Orville, you grew up in the Netherlands where cannabis culture developed decades before North American legalization. How did that shape your philosophy?
Orville Bovenschen Says: The Netherlands decriminalized cannabis in the early 1970s. Growing up in Dutch culture, cannabis was viewed without the harsh social stigma seen in North America. We developed an early appreciation for traditional hashish, clean cultivars, and coffeeshop community spaces.
Orville Bovenschen Says: In Holland, everyone learns the traditional Dutch ‘inside-out’ roll—rolling the paper backwards and burning off the excess paper to minimize smoke harshness. When interviewing key production personnel at Pure Sunfarms, I ensure they understand the tactile art of rolling and handling the plant.
Tom Ritchie Says: Carolyn, tell us about your journey from high-tech gaming into legacy cannabis craftsmanship.
Carolyn Cudmore Says: I moved from the East Coast to Vancouver in 1999 to develop video games at Electronic Arts. After years in tech, I transitioned into catering and culinary arts. My passion for precise recipes led me directly into cannabis.
Carolyn Cudmore Says: Prior to 2018, Vancouver was the epicenter of Canadian cannabis culture with over 180 legacy dispensaries. I became a dispensary purchasing manager, graduated from Oaksterdam University’s horticulture program, and began experimenting with blending craft flower, artisanal hash, shatter, and solventless extracts.
Tom Ritchie Says: Carolyn, break down the intricate engineering of the **Cannisaur**.
Carolyn Cudmore Says: The Cannisaur is an artisanal blunt crafted with surgical precision:
1. **Core Flower:** Premium whole-flower Chemdawg grown by Pure Sunfarms.
2. **Central Shatter Core:** A hand-rolled shatter ‘snake’ placed precisely down the central axis, acting like an authentic Thai stick to provide an even, centered core burn.
3. **Distillate Coating:** A micro-layer of high-purity distillate hand-applied with a spatula.
4. **Dry-Sift Kief Crust:** Rolled in golden kief, creating a protective crust that cures for several days.
5. **Organic Hemp Wrap & Bamboo Tip:** Finished in organic hemp wrap with an all-natural bamboo tip for optimal airflow and pure flavor.
Tom Ritchie Says: In a legal market where SKUs churn every six months, Pure Sunfarms’ **Pink Kush** has remained a top-selling cultivar for six consecutive years. How has it maintained that dominance?
Orville Bovenschen Says: Our Pink Kush lineage traces back to authentic Vancouver Island genetics from 2017. It represents roughly **30% of our entire flower volume**. It rarely tests at astronomical 35% THC levels—it naturally lands between 22% and 26%—but its dense gassy profile, deep myrcene and caryophyllene terpenes, and iconic body relaxation keep consumers returning year after year.
Orville Bovenschen Says: There is an unfortunate narrative that large-scale producers are soulless corporations that don’t care about the plant. We are standing on the shoulders of legacy pioneers who fought for decades to legalize this medicine.
Orville Bovenschen Says: We hang-dry our crops, hand-manicure our tops, and invest in authentic craft recipes like the Cannisaur. Our mission is to bridge legacy craftsmanship with modern, compliant greenhouse scale.
Tom Ritchie Says: How long did it take to bring the Cannisaur from initial concept into provincial distribution?
Orville Bovenschen Says: It took **five to six years** across multiple regulatory iterations. In the early days at Emerald, QA teams couldn’t comprehend combining extracts with flower in a pre-roll format. When I became President of Pure Sunfarms, I called Carolyn immediately to finally bring this legacy masterpiece to legal retail.
Orville Bovenschen Says: When we shipped our first release to the BC Liquor Distribution Branch, over half the master cases sold out in under 45 minutes.
Tom Ritchie Says: Why couldn’t this product be automated on high-speed industrial rolling lines?
Carolyn Cudmore Says: Automated machines cannot handle delicate shatter snakes or apply uniform micro-layers of extract without clogging or creating harsh hot spots. Each artisan can hand-craft approximately 60 Cannisaurs per day. Every unit features an inspection sticker identifying the specific roller who crafted it.
Tom Ritchie Says: The legal market has become distorted by a race toward arbitrary 35%+ THC numbers on packaging.
Orville Bovenschen Says: Cannabis is a complex agricultural botanical, not a single chemical isolate. True connoisseurs look for terpene complexity, moisture retention, smooth ash, and the holistic entourage effect. The Cannisaur delivers a clean, balanced, multi-hour experience because its ingredients are tuned in harmony.
Orville Bovenschen Says: We structured our portfolio to serve distinct consumer segments:
– **Soar:** Our ultra-premium craft line featuring hand-selected cultivars and artisanal products like the Cannisaur.
– **Pure Sunfarms:** Our flagship mainstream brand, home to iconic BC staples like Pink Kush and Fraser Valley cultivars.
– **Fraser Valley:** Accessible, large-format bulk whole flower.
– **Super Toast:** Ready-to-use, high-potency milled flower designed for grab-and-go convenience.
Orville Bovenschen Says: I am deeply passionate about traditional hashish. Much of the modern market has been flooded with botanical-infused distillate, but consumers are maturing and seeking authentic, full-spectrum live resins and solventless concentrates.
Orville Bovenschen Says: Provincial wholesalers frequently refuse to list exceptional 1:1 balanced cultivars like *Pennywise* simply because they don’t hit 30% THC. Regulators must allow standardized potency ranges on packaging (e.g., 22%–26%) rather than forcing single-batch decimal-point labeling, which introduces massive packaging waste and restricts genetic diversity.
Orville Bovenschen Says: Health Canada inspectors have conducted audits on two-year-old Facebook photos, claiming that a bicycle parked inside our greenhouse promoted a ‘glamorous lifestyle.’ In reality, our greenhouse covers millions of square feet—staff ride bicycles simply to travel from one end of the agricultural facility to the other!
Tom Ritchie Says: Micromanaging agricultural logistics while ignoring major economic reforms shows how out of touch federal enforcement can be.
Orville Bovenschen Says: When we presented the Cannisaur to provincial boards like the OCS, they requested immediate production orders of 10,000 units. Because every blunt is rolled by hand, we refuse to compromise quality for speed—craftsmanship dictates our release schedule.
Tom Ritchie Says: It’s fascinating how Carolyn’s background in gaming development and culinary arts converged with Orville’s European cultivation expertise to build a world-class Canadian operation.
Wesley Bowles Says: Pure Sunfarms proves that large-scale greenhouse efficiency and deep legacy authenticity can coexist successfully.
Tom Ritchie Says: Thank you, Orville and Carolyn, for sharing your story on Legacies! Make sure to look out for the Cannisaur under the *Soar* brand, and we’ll catch everyone next week on Legacies!
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President
Orville Bovenschen is the President of Pure Sunfarms, overseeing commercial greenhouses, IPM crop protection, and brand development in Delta, BC.
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Licensed Producer & Cultivator
Pure Sunfarms is a major Canadian licensed cannabis producer based in Delta, British Columbia. Operating a massive 2 million square...
Learn More About Partner ↗Pure Sunfarms is a Canadian licensed cannabis producer operating a 2 million square foot hybrid greenhouse facility in Delta, British Columbia.
The Canna CZAR is an ultra-premium, hand-crafted twaxed joint under the Soar brand, featuring a hand-rolled shatter snake inside flower, coated with distillate and rolled in kief.
The backdoor policy refers to the Dutch regulatory framework where retail cannabis purchasing is tolerated and legal in coffee shops, but commercial cultivation and supply remain illegal.
