Throughout history, Cannabis and hemp have had their fair share of unsung heroes. Still, many of these heroes are forgotten by time for the most part, but without the unsung heroes, medicinal research of cannabis and hemp may not have happened and without the increase in the medicinal space, legal recreational use by adults would have been slowed greatly, if not stopped all together. In this article, we will cover 3 of those heroes today: a Victorian doctor who introduced Cannabis to western medicine, an organic chemist the government had no choice but to accept, and possibly the most famous name in Cannabis. These are 3 unsung heroes of weed. 

W.B. O’Shaughnessy 

A young Irish assistant surgeon set out for India in 1833 and ended up being the first noted cannabis researcher while introducing cannabis to western medicine.  The 24-year-old O’Shaughnessy had failed to acquire his license to practice medicine from London College of Physicians and Surgeons and turned his focus to medical research. While in India, he would notice cannabis being used as an intoxicant by the natives. He witnessed the effects it displayed and started experimenting with the plant in hopes of using it as an anesthetic. In 1839, he published his findings in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 1. That article introduced cannabis as a medical treatment and set in motion the curiosity and love for the plant that has led us to where we stand today. 

Roger Adams 

In 1889, 50 years after O’Shaughnessy published his first medical findings on cannabis, Roger Adams, our first respected modern cannabis researcher, was born in Boston. Adams quickly rose in the ranks of organic chemistry. He and his team were the first to identify, isolate, and synthesize many of the compounds we all know and love today.2 Like O’Shaughnessy, he wanted to use these compounds as forms of anesthetic to be used in field combat. This didn’t come without adversity of course. Adams witnessed the tragedy that comes with world war and the second one was on the way. North America was gathering its top scientists for the war effort and Adams was near the top of that list. However, J Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI as a “Suspect American Citizen” and advised the Navy to refuse him security clearance. In the end, Adams would develop a synthetic rubber compound that helped win the war, he was granted security clearance, and allowed to continue his research as he saw fit. 

Jack Herer  

Most cannabis consumers have heard the name, but few know why. Jack Herer is known more for the strain of cannabis that bears his name than the deeds that inspired growers to name one after him. Commonly referred to as The Emperor of Hemp, Jack’s vocal activism for cannabis law reform made him legendary. He was a founding member of the organization Help End Marijuana Prohibition or simply H.E.M.P. In 1895, he published his book The Emperor Wears No Clothes.3 It shined a light back on other uses of the plant aside from medicinal and recreational. He stressed the importance it could have in textiles as well as alternate fuel consumption. The Emperor Wears No Clothes reinvigorated national talks of cannabis decriminalization for the first time since the early 70s. Jack would live to see the medicinal marijuana market be born and grow but passed just two years before his dream of recreational marijuana became reality. 

Summation 

These are just 3 of the unsung heroes of weed. There are so many more (if you guys enjoy this maybe we’ll do part 2). Or maybe we will look at the villains of marijuana in the next profile. Who knows? From the plant’s humble beginnings, there have been voices demonizing the plant and voices praising it. Only one thing is certain today. The good guys are finally winning. 

Shopping for THC products can be a daunting task for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you are as happy and confident as the prize pony or nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, there is a lot to take in and a lot you may not know about. RiverBluff is here to try to make your next shopping experience go smoother and more enjoyable by giving you tips we’ve acquired shopping and working in the industry. So, kick back in the cut and let’s learn how to buy some weed stuff. 

How Do You Want to Consume 

There are three basic ways to consume THC products:  

1. Drink 
2. Eat 
3. Inhale. 

Knowing which of these three you are looking for before shopping will immediately shorten your time in the store. If you can’t smoke or have sugar, your options will be limited. If you genuinely don’t know which is best for you, don’t be shy. Ask your budtender! They are there to be a resource and guide you through your experience. 

How Do You Want to Feel? 

Once you know how you want to consume your THC products, you should consider why you are consuming them. People use cannabis and hemp products for a large variety of reasons recreationally and medicinally. To learn more about specific hemp compounds check out this article. The most common medical reasons are lack of sleep and mood elevation. If you need sleep, seek Indicas out or if you are THC adverse CBN gummies. You should probably avoid Sativas. If you seek help with mood elevation, avoid Indicas and seek out Sativas or if you are THC adverse CBG gummies. If you are a recreational consumer, the world is really your oyster. Sativa is great for creative endeavors, it is less lethargic than an Indica, and is most consumers daytime choice. Indica is great for relaxation and zoning out with some gaming, binge watching your favorite show, or reading a good book after a long day. It is most consumers’ nighttime choice. Some people only consume Indica. Some people only consume Sativa. Most mix and match. The important thing is finding the right one for you. 

How Much Should I Take? 

If you don’t know the answer to this because you are a new consumer, always start off at the smallest dosage. No need to be brave here. You can always take more. When it comes to inhalable THC products, this is a tougher question to answer. The effect of smokable THC varies greatly from person to person. Again, no need to be brave here. Slow and steady wins the race. Here are some general tips: 1-4 hits of cannabis or hemp flower should suffice for a new consumer and 1-2 hits of THC concentrates. That means 1g of flower could last over a week and 1g of concentrate over a month. So, consider how often you plan on consuming so you can have an idea of the quantity you will be shopping for and again shorten your time in the store. 

Now You’re Ready to Shop! 

If you have a general idea of where you are at with those three topics, you are ready to shop. The only thing left to consider is your budget, feel free to be the prize pony again. Cannabis and Hemp dispensaries can be magical places. We hope we eliminated some of your questions so you can safely enjoy the wonder of buying weed legally from an open store front. We have locations on either side of the Mississippi River for you to enjoy. You can visit our location in Dubuque for most of your edible needs. Sorry no smokables in Iowa. You can stop at our East Dubuque location and check out our full line of products. If you prefer shopping from the comfort of your own home, our website has a slightly limited selection in comparison to our store fronts but provides easy discreet shipping right to your door. 

In this article, we will cover specific products that we recommend for specific issues, specific products for different methods of consumption, and specific products for different levels of experience. At RiverBluff, we strive to have a product for everyone, and we believe we’ve accomplished that. So, kick back in the cut, fire one up, and let’s learn about some weed stuff. 

What if I Only Smoke? 

We offer many hemp-derived products for you to enjoy smoking: 2g Blended Disposable Pens, 1g Delta 8 THC Cartridges, 1g Prerolls/6 Packs of .5g Prerolls, our variety of Dabs (The 3.5g THC-A Badder is a steal), and of course our By-Weight Flower. Since we are a hemp-derived store, our smokables have no purchase limits! Unfortunately, we only  offer our smokeable products in-store at our Illinois location. If you are looking for help sleeping or with pain management, check out the Indicas we offer. We enjoy our 2g THC-A Sunset Sherbert disposable. It is sweet, citrusy and easy to smoke. If you are just looking to elevate your mood, check out our Sativas. We like our 2g THC-A Ghost Train Haze disposable. The strain is earthy and tastes like weed. We assure you we have a smokeable option for everyone. If you need help selecting your purchase, your budtender will be glad to help guide you. 

What if I Only Do Edibles? 

Riverbluff built our reputation on the quality of our edibles. We don’t do Indica or Sativa edibles, everything is Hybrid. To achieve the effects desired by those shopping for Indica/Sativa, we use other compounds from the plant commonly found in Indicas/Sativas. If you want a Sativa effect, try our fast-acting water soluble 5mg THC 5mg CBG gummies. Besides being great for mood elevation, these strawberry gummies also work well for migraines, trembles, and even clarity and focus. If you want an Indica effect, try our fast-acting water soluble 5mg THC 5mg CBN. These grape gummies may be the most requested item in our store. Perfect for relaxation and a good night’s sleep. For a more recreational experience, try our 150mg Delta 9 THC chocolate bars. Our French Toast bar offers a legendary experience you won’t find elsewhere; At 15mg per square, it is epic flavor explosion you’ll never forget. For the more advanced consumer, we suggest our Starman. At 50mg per gummy, this powerful grape gummy covered in candy packs quite the punch. It is available in a single count or a 5 pack.   

What if I can’t Smoke and Don’t Like Edibles? 

Fear not, we’ve spent the last year upping our game for you. RiverBluff offers a host of premade drinks as well as our notorious Simple Syrup. We have two Lemonade options for new to moderate consumers: Kyles Killer Lemon Haze, a classic tart lemonade, and The Dude, a slightly sweeter tangier raspberry lemonade. Both options are dosed at 10mg Delta 9 THC. For the more advanced lemonade consumer, we present Shake and Bake, our 100mg Delta 8 THC strawberry lemonade. Shake and Bake is not for the faint of heart. Want something bubbly, try our Cresent 9 seltzers. Want something bubbly and sweet, RiverBluff in partnership with 7 Hills brewery has released our Soda Pop. Coming in Grape, Lime, and Punch, each flavor comes in a 10mg Delta 9 THC option and 50mg Delta 9 THC option, and are handcrafted in Dubuque, IA. Want to get creative, you can try our Delta-9 Simple Syrup and create your own concoction.  

Always Pushing Forward 

RiverBluff is constantly developing new hemp-derived products to meet the needs of our customers. We listen to our customers and make decisions based on their wants and needs. In this article, we’ve barely scratched the surface of all the products we have available. If nothing mentioned in this article is up your alley, stop into our Dubuque or East Dubuque locations and talk to one of our budtenders to see if we have a product that does suit your needs. If you prefer online shopping, continue on the website (sorry no smokables). We want your shopping experience to be as satisfying and easy as possible by giving you the basic tools to identify the products you need.  

Like the chicken and the egg, which came first, the soda or the pop is a question that rattles around some of our brains. We don’t know why we want to know, but we know we want to know. With the recent release of our outstanding RiverBluff soda pop, we set out to answer that question and look deeper into why some people call it soda, some people call it pop, and some people call it soda pop. So, kick back in the cut, fill one up, and let’s learn about soft drink stuff. 

Spoiler: It was the Soda 

Early methods of carbonating water consisted of adding sodium bicarbonate to water to create a fizzy drink. Hence the name soda. They first came in seltzers and tonics as they were believed to calm the stomach. That is why many early soda fountains were in pharmacies and why your parents told you to drink lemon/lime soda when you were ill. This dates back to when ginger was a common ingredient in sodas as ginger is believed to help relieve stomach discomfort. The term soda water dates back to 1798 2. 

How Did it Become Pop? 

By 1812, bottled soda water started to become available. In that year, English poet Robert Southey is credited with creating term Pop 1. in a letter he wrote saying, “drank some most admirable cyder, and a new manufactory of a nectar, between soda-water and ginger-beer, and called pop, because ‘pop goes the cork’ when it is drawn .” Early soft drinks contained all sorts of wild ingredients, so who knows what was in that mystical drink Robert Southey consumed…but Coke was named Coke for a reason. 

What About Soda Pop? 

Around 1863, the terms soda and pop had started to be connected when ordering a soft drink. By this time some companies had started using other methods than cork to seal their products, so no more pop. They were also now carried in saloons, a far cry from their early days in pharmacies. New sealing methods and the introduction to the saloon were a direct result of America’s westward expansion. The product needed to travel farther to the consumers and not every town had a pharmacy but almost all of them had saloons. The cultural crossover in the west made soda pop the standard for the time. 

If Soda Pop Became the Standard, Why Do We Still Say Pop or Soda? 

Chances are if you are on one of the coasts, you call it soda. If you live in the middle of the country, you probably call it pop. If you live in the south, you probably call it Coke because of brand loyalty (Coke was founded in Atlanta, GA). So why not soda pop anymore, given the chance to say something quicker, most people will air on the side of brevity. Why would you use two words that most people understand mean the same thing when you can say one? To that we say, “We are bringing soda pop back! 3” 

What Did We Learn? 

It doesn’t matter what you call it. People have loved soda pop for centuries. It is in many of our first memories. It is as American as apple pie and baseball. Some of the most recognizable brands in the world produce soft drinks. We strive to be the most recognizable brands in cannabis world. With that in mind, in partnership with 7 Hills Brewing, RiverBluff set out to develop our hemp-derived THC soda pops. A traditional soda pop taste with a lift! The result gave us three soda pops we are proud of and delighted to be able to offer, don’t wait purchase them today!