Jacob Windell of Green Goods in Frederick
Jacob Windell is a Carroll County native who has found himself in the medical Cannabis industry in Frederick, Maryland. Green Goods is where he got his start, but as a glassblower he was never far from the Cannabis scene. He combines first hand knowledge with things he has learned since entering the industry, giving patients an experience that leaves them with a positive outlook on Cannabis and their medicating journey.
When did you start blowing glass?
About three years ago. I used to collect a lot of glass from artists around the area and even around the world. I became really interested in the pendants and the artistic aspect of glassblowing. One of my friends who works at Shockers (a local glass studio), blew glass at Wizard Missile’s studio in Baltimore. She introduced me to Wizard Missile, and he was nice enough to rent me some studio space in a large communal area with around eight other glassblowers.
What is your favorite style of glassblowing to execute?
I started out with pendants and had a strong focus on implosions, where I was trying to perfect the flower implosions and flower clusters, as I called them. I like pushing myself to new heights, so recently I have been trying to make more functional rigs and cleaning up my skills to make the pieces more perfect. It’s tough to pick one certain thing, because I like to get in the studio and work on my skills in different areas to keep pushing the envelope.
What makes a good budtender?
A budtender who listens and cares about the patients’ wants AND needs. You also need to have a good energy to you, and be able to understand what a patient is looking for by fully hearing them out. I like to start out novice users on the lower end of the THC spectrum and let them comfortably work themselves up to more THC-rich products. On the other hand, you need to be able to explain terpenes and cannabinoids to people that are interested in learning more.
If you could only smoke one product until the end of time, what would it be?
Unfortunately the Maryland market doesn’t carry it, but if we could get hash rosin consistently, that is what I would smoke every day. I tried Evermore hash rosin a while back, but it seems like I only had one dab of it before it disappeared. The price point is a little higher than some other extracts, but the quality speaks for itself.
What about being a budtender would surprise someone who isn’t in the industry?
Probably that it isn’t really just knowing what’s ‘fire’ or ‘gas.’ You have to be a little bit more intuitive to the medical side of it, and I think a misconception of people outside the industry is that it’s more recreational than it looks like. A budtender has to really know about the science behind cannabinoids and terpenes, and not only have a general understanding of quality Cannabis.
