Cannabis Breeder FreeWorld Launches Flower Line

When we talked to the folks at FreeWorld in February, the cannabis breeder's warehouse in Boulder County was recovering from an electrical fire. As if that weren't enough of a challenge, Colorado's pot industry was and still is stuck in low tide, with prices and sales both receding significantly from the year before.

"It's been a wild year — one where you're trying to think outside of the box and not cry in your beer. But there's always light deep in the darkness," co-founder Sam Epstein says today.

Things have certainly brightened since February, and FreeWorld recognizes that. The phrase "Burning today for a brighter tomorrow" is even printed on new product labels.

The company responsible for strains like Blue Chem and Chem Squeezy recently branched out to pre-filled live resin and rosin cartridges, and now it's added a branded flower line. FreeWorld flower launched in late November with three strains, according to Epstein, with plans for more.

As a breeder and seed company, FreeWorld's creations are typically purchased by other growers and cultivated without much oversight. As flower prices fell over 60 percent in Colorado this year and sales went down with that drop, however, Epstein began brainstorming ways to collaborate with other cannabis companies to spread FreeWorld's brand beyond seeds and clones. But FreeWorld's facility is 2,500 square feet, which is quite small compared to the majority of commercial cannabis cultivations, and largely dedicated to breeding, not commercial flower production. So Epstein and his team partnered with Vera Cultivation, a wholesale growing operation that had worked with FreeWorld in the past.

Epstein was already a fan of what Vera had done with his genetics. And although this new grow is licensed to Vera, which handles much of the day-to-day cultivation, Epstein says that FreeWorld is able to participate heavily in the growing cycle and receive important information on strains that a breeder can't gather.

"The biggest thing when you're breeding cannabis is getting proper data and figuring out what you've got. When we do our pheno-hunting, we get a sneak peek at things like population data, extraction data and customer feedback — stuff that completes the full picture of what you've created," he explains. "When we give Vera our genetics, it's sort of like watching them graduate. We decided to just rope that coming-out party in with our products."

On top of the three FreeWorld strains grown at Vera's hybrid greenhouse in Boulder County — FreeMO, Lemonhead Delight and Orange Cookie Chem — FreeWorld has also released ten varieties of rosin in pre-filled vape cartridges, a project it rolled out over the summer. Over the course of both ventures, Epstein expects to learn more about genetic traits that react well to solventless extraction, which is becoming a more popular commercial technique.

In turn, all of this will also help FreeWorld provide better strains to its commercial growing clients, Epstein adds: "You can get it straight from the source now, and after we have fun with the strain at our brand, we're really excited to share our creations with the greater market. We'd just like to take it for a little dance first."

FreeWorld flower is currently sold at Karing Kind in Boulder and Medicine Man dispensaries along the Front Range, while the resin and rosin cartridges are sold at a handful of additional retailers in metro Denver. The company hopes to expand its retail reach in the near future, Epstein notes.