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In this educational episode of the Legacies Podcast, hosts Tom Ritchie and Wesley Bowles discuss several key events and product profiles within the Canadian cannabis market. They cover the Canna Golf Classic tournament, detail the Astro Boyz launch party, and analyze Truro Cannabis’ Tres Dawg dried flower cultivar. The hosts also touch upon media updates, including The Tragically Hip’s presence on Sirius XM, before reporting on a recent meeting with High North Labs to review laboratory standards.
Later, they welcome Alexandre Poulin, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Quebec-based licensed processor Gayonica. Alexandre shares insights from his global travels studying hashish traditions, including traditional cultivation in Morocco, processing methods in Australia, and experiences in the Philippines. He details how these ‘old-world’ learnings inform the product formulation and craft concentrates manufactured by Gayonica under its wellness brand Jublee, notably the history and production of traditional Montreal-style aged hash.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s going on, everyone? Check out what’s coming up this week on Legacies: So what are you doing? You doing whippets now? What are you doing?
Alexandre Poulin Says: And then I got to buy myself a camel. And people looked at me when I had my camel. With the camel, I could get in.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hold on! How the fuck do you buy a camel in the Sahara Desert? Is there a camel dealer?
Wesley Bowles Says: And he’s looking lean and mean—no, look at him, swole!
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, welcome to Legacies, everyone! I’m your host, Tom Ritchie, joined by Wesley ‘The Wizard’ Bowles. This episode of Legacies is brought to you by the Canna Golf Classic, happening August 20th and 21st in beautiful Vancouver, BC!
Tom Ritchie Says: Wes, I’m excited and disappointed at the same time about the Canna Golf Classic because we can’t make it out there—I’ve got family holidays booked way in advance. But I would be there in a heartbeat. You know my stance on events like this for our industry; they are incredible.
Wesley Bowles Says: You’ve got family responsibilities. I’m a single bachelor with none of those responsibilities—send me wherever we need to go!
Tom Ritchie Says: That’s a great shirt, though. I love how the gradient came out on the Canna Golf Classic merch.
Tom Ritchie Says: Speaking of shirts, did you see Jonathan Wilson’s post this morning in his Legacies shirt?
Wesley Bowles Says: I did! We’ve got to get a photo and post that, it’s hilarious.
Tom Ritchie Says: Jonathan, our apologies—you asked for a medium, but I’m 99% sure they accidentally packed a women’s medium in the box! If you look at the tapered shoulders, it’s definitely a women’s cut. But Jonathan completely owned it. He’s looking lean, mean, and swole!
Wesley Bowles Says: He totally owned it, and it looks great regardless.
Tom Ritchie Says: Last week was a complete blur. A massive thank you to Jazz Samra for hosting such an incredible event for the 420 Affair and the launch party for Astro Boyz. Jazz knows how to throw a party!
Wesley Bowles Says: That was a great party. I was completely stuffed after that night—the food was incredible. Being English, I love good curry, and that was the first chicken tikka masala in a long time that didn’t feel dumbed down on spice for Canadians.
Tom Ritchie Says: And of course, Jazz runs Dope Box. The takeaway gift at the end of the night was the Astro Boyz edition Dope Box. If you’re a retailer tuned in and not signed up for Dope Box, it’s filled with compliant samples, brand product sheets, and QR codes to provide immediate feedback. It is a genuine engagement platform, not just sending random samples blindly.
Tom Ritchie Says: Have you tried anything from the box yet?
Wesley Bowles Says: I tried the Truro Tres Dawg x I-95 pre-roll last night. It was fantastic. A nice half-gram pre-roll with a clean burn, and they clipped the twist off right at the top—hashtag #ClipYourTails!
Tom Ritchie Says: That’s what you want. As a retailer, when you get a sample that good, it’s an easy decision to put it on your shelf. Over time, craft brands refine their product just like legacy distilleries in scotch and cognac.
Wesley Bowles Says: David Gerrard, the CTO back at Ample Organics, could talk for hours about single malt scotches and the different regions. Scotch tastes like burnt paint to me, but I appreciate the craft.
Tom Ritchie Says: I’m the same way—I keep bottles in my bar for guests, but I prefer a nice cognac if I’m having anything.
Tom Ritchie Says: I don’t know if I’ve been living under a rock, but did you know The Tragically Hip have their own dedicated Sirius XM channel on 757?
Wesley Bowles Says: Really? Whenever I’m on Sirius, I’m usually listening to Ozzy’s Boneyard.
Tom Ritchie Says: When I commuted five hours a day, I listened to Howard Stern constantly. Having Channel 757 dedicated to The Tragically Hip is phenomenal. We would love to have Rob Baker or someone from the Hip family on Legacies to talk about UP Cannabis and their legacy in Canadian music.
Wesley Bowles Says: I’ve never understood the appeal of satellite radio over streaming apps like Apple Music or Spotify, where you have everything on demand.
Tom Ritchie Says: For me, Spotify algorithms just feed you what you already look for. Satellite radio lets you discover deep cuts, artist interviews, and backstories—like Tom Morello hosting shows with his mom talking about rock history. But Wes, you’re heading down to Virginia soon, right?
Wesley Bowles Says: Yeah, heading down to Virginia to visit my dad. He moved from Texas and bought a small farm. He’s wearing overalls, feeding chickens, raising cows, and fully embracing the farm lifestyle. The pace of life down there is completely different from the non-stop rush of Toronto or Dallas.
Tom Ritchie Says: Being around animals and stepping out of the consumer buzz is so grounding. We get so caught up in the 24/7 noise.
Tom Ritchie Says: Did you catch Jordan Peterson’s recent interview with Elon Musk on Daily Wire?
Wesley Bowles Says: Jordan Peterson got famous because his University of Toronto psychology lectures were recorded and went viral with young people looking for common sense. The interview was fascinating, showing a different, vulnerable side of Elon, though Jordan tends to jump in with his own philosophies rather than letting guests finish their thoughts.
Tom Ritchie Says: People take small video clips out of context on X, but when you watch the full long-form interview, you see how intellectual the conversation is. You don’t have to agree with everything someone says to appreciate their insights.
Tom Ritchie Says: The piece that resonated with me was the discussion on overregulation and censorship. Elon gave the example of building rockets at SpaceX: under ITAR federal laws, he was strictly forbidden from hiring non-citizens or foreign nationals due to national security. But then the Department of Justice sued him for not hiring enough refugees! You create so many layered, conflicting laws that businesses are trapped in a stalemate. We need critical thinking, personal sovereignty, and less censorship.
Tom Ritchie Says: Yesterday, Wes and I had a meeting with Rick Myers and John at High North Laboratories as a follow-up to the StratCann potency report. They completely schooled us on the data behind lab testing.
Wesley Bowles Says: It was supposed to be an informal meet-and-greet, but it easily could have been an entire podcast episode. The data they have is incredible.
Tom Ritchie Says: What infuriates me is hearing about LPs ‘lab shopping’—sending samples to multiple testing labs until they find one that falsely inflates their THC numbers to 35%+, or paying for inflated certificates of analysis. If we find out an LP is doing that, we will call you out 100%. Authentic craft quality is about terpenes, flavonoids, and proper curing, not fake laboratory numbers. We’re having High North on the show in mid-September to break this all down.
Tom Ritchie Says: Now, let’s bring in today’s guest: Alexandre Poulin, founder of Gayonica, Jublee, and Chili Kush. Alex is an anthropologist, ethnobotanist, and world traveler who has studied traditional hash-making across Morocco and the globe. Let’s get right into it!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back, everyone! We are joined by Alexandre Poulin—founder of Gayonica, Jublee, and Chili Kush. Alex, welcome to Legacies!
Alexandre Poulin Says: Thank you so much for having me, gentlemen! I was really looking forward to this.
Tom Ritchie Says: You have a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and a master’s in tourism management. How did your background in anthropology shape your relationship with cannabis?
Alexandre Poulin Says: My relationship with cannabis is threefold: First, the teenage Alex who sold hashish and cannabis in Quebec for most of my early life. Second, the Alex who traveled the world for a decade, living with indigenous cultures and studying traditional plant medicine and ethnobotany. And third, the legal entrepreneur who combined ancient traditional knowledge with modern science to launch Gayonica and Jublee.
Tom Ritchie Says: Explain the history of Montreal hash and why it has such a legendary reputation in Canada.
Alexandre Poulin Says: The Port of Montreal was the primary gateway for imported hashish into North America for nearly a century of prohibition. Immigrants arriving from Lebanon, Morocco, Jamaica, and India brought centuries of ancestral resin-making knowledge. In Montreal, we learned traditional sifting and pressing techniques directly from these immigrant communities. Montreal hash is the fusion of ancient global hashish traditions with local Canadian craft culture.
Tom Ritchie Says: In your early twenties, you traveled to Morocco. What happened during that expedition?
Alexandre Poulin Says: I went to Morocco for what was supposed to be a three-week trip and stayed for eight months! I lived in the Rif Mountains making traditional sieved hashish during Ramadan. Later, I traveled south to the Sahara Desert at M’Hamid El Ghizlane near the Algerian border. Gaining acceptance among nomadic Berber tribes was tough—they ignored me at the town well for an entire week.
Alexandre Poulin Says: I realized they respected camels above all else. So I went to the camel souk, bought myself a dromedary camel, loaded it with dried figs, cured meats, and 250 grams of Rif mountain hashish, and walked back to the well. An elder came over, patted my camel, and hashish became our universal language. I lived with them as their camp butcher for three months, migrating through borderless desert terrain between Morocco, Algeria, and Mauritania.
Tom Ritchie Says: That is unbelievable. What did you learn about medicinal cannabis use while living in the desert?
Alexandre Poulin Says: I witnessed my own ignorance. In the West, we thought we knew cannabis because we had fifteen indoor strains. In Morocco, an elder woman gave me two distinct old-world fruit and spice pastes: one made with daytime botanicals that relieved physical inflammation without sedation so you could work the fields, and another formulated to induce deep restorative sleep. They understood functional synergy and the endocannabinoid system centuries before Western science named it.
Tom Ritchie Says: You also traveled to Australia and the Philippines. How did that influence your topical formulations?
Alexandre Poulin Says: In northern Luzon in the Philippines, while trekking through the rice terraces, I sprained my wrist while cooking in a tribal village kitchen. A local elder named Anita prepared a traditional paste made of rendered beef tallow, citronella, and hashish. When applied to my wrist, the relief was incredible. That sparked my research into fat-based lipid carriers: animal and plant fats provide 25% to 30% higher cannabinoid bioavailability in the peripheral nervous system compared to water-based creams.
Tom Ritchie Says: When Canada legalized cannabis, what challenges did you face launching your first legal brands?
Alexandre Poulin Says: We faced immense hurdles. My first ethical ‘bean-to-bar’ cannabis truffle company collapsed when Health Canada delayed Cannabis 2.0 edibles and Quebec banned chocolate and confectionery edibles entirely. I was furious, so I joined the Quebec Council of Edible Cannabis as a registered lobbyist to fight for sensible edible regulations. Once the regulatory framework opened, we created Jublee.
Tom Ritchie Says: How did Jublee’s fruit bites come to life under Quebec’s strict regulations?
Alexandre Poulin Says: Quebec prohibited anything appealing to children—no candies, no bright shapes, no added refined sugars. I sent 28 different whole-food recipe formulations directly to regulators. When they rejected spherical shapes, I smashed the fruit paste flat on a table, sent a photo, and molded them into geometric prisms! In Quebec, we branded them as ‘BlĂ©’ because ‘Jublee’ sounded too much like ‘jujube’ (gummy candy in French).
Alexandre Poulin Says: Our fruit bites use subcritical CO2 full-spectrum crude extract, whole dried fruits, and functional botanicals like reishi mushroom, matcha, and lavender. We use no artificial preservatives, yet our products achieve a 16-month shelf stability because beta-caryophyllene, whole-plant flavonoids, and natural spices act as organic antioxidants. In Quebec, Blé holds over 60% of the edible market share because consumers feel the deeper entourage effect of full-spectrum oil compared to stripped distillate gummies.
Tom Ritchie Says: Tell the story behind the wild blueberry and lavender fruit bite.
Alexandre Poulin Says: That recipe is dedicated to my 93-year-old grandmother. When I was a boy in Quebec, she sent me into the woods to pick wild blueberries, and she cooked a rich jam infused with fresh lavender from her garden to calm us down before bedtime. She was harnessing the natural relaxing synergy of linalool and caryophyllene. Today, my grandmother eats those exact infused blueberry lavender bites before bed. It has come full circle.
Tom Ritchie Says: You also launched Montreal Style Aged Hash and Chili Kush hot sauce!
Alexandre Poulin Says: We analyzed traditional 1980s import hashish profiles—none exceeded 42% THC, but all contained rich minor cannabinoids like CBN, CBD, CBG, and over 2% natural terpenes. We aged our sieved kief to allow natural CBN degradation, delivering that authentic 1980s cottage nostalgia. For Chili Kush, Quebec regulations banned pure honey and maple syrup in cannabis products. To solve that, we partnered with a local commercial beekeeper next to our facility, blended his raw honey with Quebec cayenne peppers, and infused it with full-spectrum extract to create a legal hot honey sauce that pairs perfectly on pizza!
Wesley Bowles Says: Last week, Canadian Army veteran Glen Coyle answered Jonathan Wilson’s question about unifying the industry and asked: ‘Once we deliver a unified message to consumers about the true costs of compliance and excise taxes, what will consumers actually do with that information, and how will it change their purchasing decisions?’
Alexandre Poulin Says: As a lobbyist, I believe consumers must be organized into formal advocacy associations. Individual complaints are ignored by governments, but federated consumer and industry coalitions—like the Quebec Council of Edible Cannabis, the Cannabis Council of Canada, and retailer associations—can sit at the same table and hit the exact same nail. When consumers understand that outdated excise taxes and flat packaging rules inflate prices and limit product quality, their collective organized voice creates legislative change.
Tom Ritchie Says: What is your question for next week’s incoming guest?
Alexandre Poulin Says: ‘What specific consumer-facing educational initiative or concrete action are you actively taking right now to bridge the gap between industry advocacy and public consumer awareness?’
Tom Ritchie Says: Alex, thank you so much for sharing your incredible journey, your ethnobotanical knowledge, and your passion for authentic wellness. You are doing phenomenal work across Canada!
Tom Ritchie Says: What an incredible conversation with Alexandre Poulin. Hearing about trading hashish for camels in the Sahara Desert and creating full-spectrum fruit bites inspired by his grandmother’s recipes is what Legacies is all about.
Wesley Bowles Says: It completely changes how you view a brand when you understand the decades of global ethnobotany, food science, and tradition behind every single product.
Tom Ritchie Says: A huge thank you to the Canna Golf Classic happening in Vancouver on August 20th and 21st. Make sure to support legal craft producers, check out Jublee and Gayonica, and we’ll see you next week on Legacies!
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Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer
Alexandre Poulin is a Canadian cannabis educator, entrepreneur, and the co-founder and CIO of Quebec licensed processor Gayonica.
View Guest Profile ↗
Licensed Cannabis Processor & Manufacturer
Gayonica is a licensed Canadian cannabis extraction and processing company based in Sainte-CĂ©cile-de-Milton, Quebec. Co-founded by Philippe Bonnet and innovation...
Learn More About Partner ↗Montreal historically served as the main Canadian port of entry for imported hashish from Lebanon, Morocco, and Jamaica during prohibition, which blended with local immigrant techniques to create a unique regional hash-making culture.
Under the Jublee brand, Gayonica manufactures wellness-focused products including natural fruit-based edibles, Montreal-style aged hash, and CBD-infused skincare topicals.
Alexandre's anthropological travels in Morocco, Australia, and the Philippines allowed him to study ancient, traditional hash-making and botanical extraction methods, which are now applied to Gayonica's legal concentrates.
