Some brands add wellness products to fill a gap in their retail offerings. Others use the plant’s therapeutic value as the soil from which they sprout their mission.
Founded a decade ago in Northern California, Papa & Barkley is named in honor of founder Adam Grossman’s dad and his dog, Barkley. Grossman started the company after using Cannabis-based therapeutics to help his ailing father’s battles with debilitating back pain.
“I made the first product, our pain balm, for my dad when he was in terrible pain,” Grossman told the Leaf. “It changed our lives and started our mission, so it’s my favorite. I use it a lot on my back and hip, before and after working out.”
Since those balmy foundational days, Papa & Barkley has added a number of other wellness-focused product types, including roll-ons, gummies, tinctures and capsules. Where many companies blend distilled or isolated compounds to produce their infusions, Grossman’s goal is to harness the power of the plant’s full beneficial spectrum.
“We make all our products using a proprietary lipid infusion process that retains all of the plant’s cannabinoids, terpenes, plant fats and phytonutrients,” Grossman said. “By cooking the plant in only oil and water, we infuse the base oil with the full spectrum of medicinal compounds. This is true plant medicine without any chemicals or solvents.”
The Leaf had the chance to try an array of Papa & Barkley’s products, including the effects-based gummy line, which takes its full-spectrum oils and blends them to achieve cannabinoid ratios tailored to specific results. The Sleep formulation, with its equal ratios of soothing CBD, euphoric THC and sedative CBN, proved particularly effective. The high-THC Active Releaf Balm Stick — made with Cannabis, cacao butter, beeswax, menthol, vitamin E, lavender oil, tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil and coconut oil — made for an excellent addition to the post-gym routine and was especially helpful for the knees and hips on leg day.
Papa & Barkley is a part of the Mammoth Distribution brand portfolio, and is available in more than 600 California dispensaries and 300 New York retailers with its adult-use Cannabis line, and its hemp products are available in 46 states online.
Papa & Barkley plans to launch into the regulated market in New Jersey in 2026, and they will also be adding transdermal patches to the national hemp line, as well as body lotion to the lineup for California and New York retailers this year. As the landscape continues to shift with rescheduling on the horizon, they’re staying mission-focused.
“The actual (Papa & Barkley) mission is to unlock the power of Cannabis to improve people’s lives,” Grossman said. “We do this with industry-leading pain and sleep products, including our hero product, the Releaf Balm.”
Look for the lineup at your local California or New York retailers or online at papaandbarkley.com.
