For this edition of Budtender of the Month, we’re talking with Darryl Chimbel of 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center in Richmond. Chimbel has spent the past decade working across prominent Bay Area dispensaries before landing at the legendary shop, long considered one of the finest in the northern East Bay.
Chimbel originally made the jump into the Cannabis industry in 2013. These days, he’s mainly a flower smoker, though he says he’s also a fan of 1,000-milligram tinctures.
“I used to work in corporate,” Chimbel said of his life before Cannabis. “I was a customer service trainer for Zappos for a while, and I moved to Vegas. I hated it. My job sent me there.”
After deciding corporate life wasn’t for him, he moved back to the Bay Area and attended one of the final in-class programs at Oaksterdam University. With his longtime love for Cannabis and the momentum of the industry at the time, it seemed like the perfect way to get his foot in the door.
“I knew if I went to Oaksterdam, it would give me a knowledge base,” Chimbel explained. “You think you know something until you realize you don’t. I thought I knew a lot about weed, and I ended up learning a lot more.”
After graduating, he landed his first dispensary job and had a front-row seat to California’s transition from medical Cannabis to adult-use. Alongside the new regulatory hurdles, Chimbel felt the shift changed the culture.
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but Cannabis went from a very special thing (to something more normalized). You had to get your card. Everybody’s on their best behavior. It was a privilege. Once we switched over to recreational, it has become more like Target, with these huge companies competing,” he said.
Beyond the corporate influx, Chimbel felt the transition made life harder for patients, many of whom were priced out by new tax burdens. Practically overnight, he watched the clientele shift. Over time, though, he found his own place amid the chaos.
Chimbel says his background in customer service has served him well throughout his decade in the industry. One of his favorite parts of budtending today is being part of the 7 Stars crew.
“I feel that the clientele — the customers at 7 Stars — really get it. Aside from selling joints to people, which is fine and part of the job, I do a lot more consulting here than I did at my other jobs,” Chimbel said. “Because of the quality of 7 Stars, people send other people here.”
He notes that he regularly consults with customers coming straight from their doctor’s office. “I get a wide range of people, and I’m actually making a difference in their lives.”
