The Sides, Secrets, and Strengths of Chong’s Choice
Chong’s Choice is a cannabis brand concerned utmost with organic growing practices to produce naturally flavorful bud that people will love. I was invited to check out their grow operation, and see why Chong’s Choice not only stands for quality cannabis, but also stands apart from the rest.
Stepping into the professionally remodeled warehouse, the lush smell of plant life could be detected as soon as we stepped inside the doors. Down a long hallway, and around the corner, we came upon the small cloning room, and the area where all the compost teas are prepared. Jimmy Nguyen, the company’s wholesale manager, explained a little bit about what makes this grow different.
“We are a full living soil grow…and when you use soil you have to implement a strong microbial life. That is the positive bacteria that will allow the plant to regulate its nutrient uptake and balance itself. We don’t [test] pH too much because a lot of these microbials should be balancing all that. That’s a secret of a real organic soil grow. I think that that’s the difference in our terpene levels and in our flavor that comes out.”
Sherpa Supply assists with distribution, packaging, and sales of Chong’s Choice in the fast-moving cannabis space, and takes pride in its high quality and affordability for customers. “We wanted to offer the best possible product at the most reasonable price,” says LeVon Terry, Director of Sales at Sherpa Supply, Chong’s Choice Colorado distribution partner. “We want consumers to have fun with the brand and receive top-notch product, but we don’t want to charge them a premium for packaging.” And fun was certainly felt in the air, as we eyed the bright green cannabis cuttings. Next we were on to the first veg room of the tour to see the next phase in these plants life cycle.
Cassandra Maffey, the head grower at this outfit, also knows the importance of quality in gets quality out when it comes to growing.
“We are relying a lot on this rich microbial balance in the soil, and a whole lot of great natural nutrients. It’s as simple as bat guano and granulated kelp, those sorts of things. We rely on the liquid nutrients just a little, to give them something extra.”
Expounding on the strong points of their grow, Jimmy told us, “One of our biggest strengths, as far our grow here, is our genetics, and we are lucky to have Cassandra who has had a decade of experience in Humboldt. When you think about the cannabis industry, some people lean more towards business, some people lean more towards plants, and we have a really great synergy as far as aligning those two things. We are very focused on the plant first, and it all starts with genetics.You can have the best grow environment, but if your genetics are sub par, you’re always going to run into sub par products.”
Moving onto one of the flower rooms, the air was effervescent with different terpene aromas. There were several strains in the first room, including some giant frosty colas that caught my eye.
As we passed around a small trichome-laden bud to smell, Jimmy told us about what they value the most in the end, “We have a lot of flavor profiles that are coming through, so for us, it’s about asking: How do we preserve all of that in the finished product. That’s why we hand trim everything with our in house trimmers. That’s why all of our growers have this attention to detail. If you neglect these plants early on, that’ll affect the flavor at the end. So it’s about giving that attention to detail all the way through, to not only achieve maximum flavor, but to also get a really nice finished product.”
After touring another couple of the flower rooms and seeing the growers at work, the ambience of the grow facility left me feeling that these folks not only knew what they were doing, but they loved doing it as well. With so much competition out there, putting genuine care into what you do makes all the difference. Our last stops were the trimming and curing areas. As we stopped through, about a dozen trimmers milled about. Rock music serenaded the workers, telling jokes as we watched their process.
“By the end, we make sure that every single bud is something that you’d want to smoke.” The impressive terpene profiles flooded my senses, and I was euphoric as I walked through the rows of hanging cannabis branches in the trim and cure areas.
The crew at Chong’s Choice are concerned with consistently meeting customers expectations, as well as bringing them full-flavored, quality cannabis. With their well-rounded line of strains, and an edibles collaboration with The Growing Kitchen in the works, Chong’s Choice is becoming one of the my preferred celebrity brands.