The clanking of dishes. The terpene-drenched aroma of herbs and savory cuisine. The sweet, dank waft of smoke billowing throughout the air. The laughter. Cultivating Spirits, a three-course cannabis dinner pairing, is about the overall combined experience.

Celebrating its 10th year in operation, Cultivating Spirits provides three-course dinners complete with carefully matched cannabis pairings—the first of its kind to offer such services to the general public in the U.S. The journey began many years ago, and founder Philip Wolf now wears multiple hats as an active mover and shaker in the cannabis industry. He also co-founded the Cannabis Wedding Expo, and launched the recent venture CashoM, a cannabis masterclass program designed for consumers.

Cultivating Spirits events bring together three different strains with three different courses of gourmet dishes that are specifically selected to work in harmony together. Since the process involves smoking rather than infusing the food, guests can choose whether or not they want to participate in the cannabis portion. The team helps diners navigate through the flavorful notes of both the flower and the food, and more importantly, how they will enhance each other. Past dinners include items like chef Joseph L. Paire III’s spot prawn bisque with green garlic chili oil, paired with Cherry AK, and a crème brulée dessert by chef Tye Idleman, paired with Bazookies.

Since launching Cultivating Spirits, Wolf and his team have curated experiential dining events and provided educated guidance for over 4,000 people. The concept was born from recognizing a glaring need for a better experience that incorporates both fine cuisine and cannabis. Ten years ago, and still to this day, there is no blueprint for running a cannabis pairing event.

“Essentially, I started wanting to create wine-style experiences,” says Wolf. “This was in December of 2013 and it was really deep-seated in my mind.”

Wolf founded a medical marijuana dispensary in Colorado Springs—Colorado Cannabis Caregivers—in 2009 during Colorado’s medical era. Once Colorado voters approved adult-use in November 2012, that’s really when things began to change. Wolf noticed a rising interest in consumers enjoying edibles as the marketplace began to open up.

When designing Cultivating Spirits, instead of infusing dishes with cannabis, Wolf decided to pair cannabis smoking courses like wine.

“This was a period when we [began hosting events involving] smoking and that allowed for the legalities to be easier to operate with more, from a regulatory standpoint, doing it that way as opposed to doing infusions,” Wolf says, speaking of the early days of Cultivating Spirits and noting that if he was infusing foods with cannabis, it would be regulated entirely differently. “Ultimately, at that point, we’re selling cannabis, and we can’t sell cannabis. And there’s also a lot more, there’s obviously more variables [when businesses operate] in that way.”

Cultivating Spirits, depending on the state, partners with nearby cannabis retailers like Colorado-based High Country Healing—the flagship store they work with today. When they host dinner pairings in California, it’s entirely different and the businesses are not typically vertically integrated. In California, they’re hosting events for brands, so Wolf works with smaller farms as much as possible there. In 2018, Cultivating Spirits moved into Las Vegas.

Upgrading Experiences with Terpenes

Wolf wanted to create a new way to fine-tune his dining experiences by way of choosing terpenes to have specific effects and interact with the flavors.

“That’s what I realized was missing,” he says. “At that point, I created the cannabis pairing protocol. And what that is, is [pairing] terpene profiles of cannabis with flavor profiles [of food] to harmonize the flavors. So opposed to a wine where you want to cut that flavor in their mouth, what we were really doing was enhancing and harmonizing flavors.”

Then Wolf discovered that terpenes actually steer the type of mood that cannabis consumers are going to experience, and that’s what creates the feeling. Myrcene is believed to have sedative properties. Limonene is believed energize the mind like espresso.

“Once I realized that, I started studying,” he says. “And that is when I fully dedicated myself to cannabis at that point, because I realized that on the platform of fine dining, that I could teach people how they can identify what type of high they’re going to have, before they even consume.”

He says he wanted people, “to consume something that’s going to enhance their experience and not take away from it while enjoying the culinary arts. Indulging while also being able to not only break bread, with their friends and family at the dinner table, but also through the sharing of smoking.”

One of the perks of pairings versus infusions is the faster onset (depending on how cannabis is infused).

“To me, it was the most brilliant way to present this plant because it gave people a tool that they can use to consciously consume cannabis, as well as it really made for a night of unification and pleasure,” Wolf says. “And so that’s when we really started taking off with these dinners, and once we fully committed to that. And so since then, we’ve done over four hundred events.”

Wolf explained that most of the Cultivating Spirits dinners seat between eight to 14 people. People usually book private events for celebratory experiences like a bachelor-bachelorette party, graduation, wedding, or birthday party. The company also hosts ticketed events held at different locations such as the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, California. 

On January 21, 2015, Wolf organized an invite-only private cannabis dinner on the opening night of X Games Aspen. The event was city approved and became one of the first cannabis consumption events ever authorized by a municipality.

“That night we did a 56-person dinner with five courses,” Wolf says.

Since then, the concept has expanded and been refined. Now Wolf seeks to move away from the limitations of comparing cannabis pairings with wine events. This is why he has mostly retired the word “sommelier” from his vocabulary in recent years. Cannabis can be so much more than just wine culture, he says.

Educating Dinner Guests

Wolf explains that in general, his patrons are not quite so worried about getting busted by police, as he operates in mature markets in California, Colorado, and Nevada. Instead, they’re more worried about getting too high. Or even worse, being judged for deciding to get high.

“We get a lot of discerning questions from people making sure that they weren’t going to get themselves in trouble. But a lot of them are not worried about getting themselves in legal trouble. It was more like people worried about their photos. And honestly, it was about societal judgments against them from friends, family, neighbors or their job. I felt like that was more of a fear [of getting judged].”

But guess what? Another perk of doing pairings versus infusions is the fact that diners can bring along a friend that doesn’t smoke as the food is separated from the cannabis.

“I would say typically, on average, about 10% of the people on our dinners don’t consume,” Wolf says.

Wolf explains that at the beginning of each dinner, he tells diners that they don’t need to keep smoking after they’re already high.

“It’s important for me, as the steward and server of this plant, to make people understand that this isn’t about mass consumption,” he says. “This is actually about tuning into your body, mind, and soul, and consuming something that’s in alignment with those three areas of yourself, for you to enjoy the best experience around.”

One of his favorite chefs to work with is Jessica Catalano.

“She’s incredible,” he says. “She totally believes in what we have done. And she’s the one who really first opened me up to terpenes over a decade ago, and ultimately has allowed me to land where I’m at today.”

Catalano used to teach the Cooking with Cannabis class and the Sensational Private Dinners class at Cultivating Spirits. He’s also worked with Chris Sayegh, aka The Herbal Chef, and celebrity chefs who wanted to experiment with cannabis infusions such as Hosea Rosenberg, Bravo TV’s Top Chef Season 5 winner in 2009.

Throughout all of the dinners, the concept is a focused intention.

“It’s really communion with yourself. What is the why to consuming? What is the purpose? That’s something that I really try to teach people, let’s be intentional,” Wolf says. “Why are we consuming right now? And to me that’s gonna allow for the best experience possible when you are consuming cannabis.”

This article was originally published in the May 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

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Upgraded Points, a travel information site, released a data report on Oct. 24 detailing which U.S. states are best and worst for a “canna-cation.”

For the top best places, the first three included Colorado cities of Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs; followed by Oakland and San Jose, California; Henderson and Las Vegas, Nevada; and lastly, Portland, Maine (the only east coast state to make the list). “In these states, economies of scale have been built over the last decade, bolstered by a booming weed market that includes dispensaries, farm tours, and cannabis lounges,” said Alex Miller, Upgraded Points founder. “The industry supports over 83,000 jobs in California alone.”

Upgraded Points analysts based their report on a four-day cannabis vacation for one person. They based their results on numerous averages, such as roundtrip airfare, fast food meats and other meal prices, nightly lodging, local rideshare rates, the current price of 1/4 ounce of weed, and the cost of a 100 mg pack of edibles.

The report shows that in western states, cannabis flower prices are more affordable than eastern flower, and northern states also have a higher price for vacation factors as well. The top most expensive states include Burlington, Vermont; Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Boston, Massachusetts. “Canna-cations in eastern states like Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts can be much pricier… as the infrastructure for using, purchasing, and producing cannabis is far less established in these areas,” Miller said.

The most cost-efficient locations were Oakland, California ($1,068 per day) and Spokane, Washington ($1,135 per day). Both of these locations were noted as 22% cheaper than the national average, which is $1,262.

Unsurprisingly, Denver was at the top of the list because of its many cannabis-related attractions, such as bus tours and a plethora of licensed dispensaries. Other more affordable locations include states on the west coast, especially those with an adult-use market that has been in place for anywhere between 6-10 years.

Locations such as Washington, D.C., Illinois, and Vermont record some of the highest flower prices, such as $590.50 for one ounce.

According to Miller, the U.S. cannabis tourism industry will only continue to grow. “Cannabis tourism is flourishing. The U.S. cannabis industry now supports more than 428,000 jobs and is anticipated to exceed $72 billion in sales by 2030. Recreational marijuana is currently legal in 19 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam, and weed tourism will only grow as more states are poised to legalize recreational retail sales of marijuana later this year. If you’re looking for the ideal destination for your ‘canna-cation’ this year, the grass is greener in cities like Denver, Oakland, Boulder, and Portland.”

A report released in June 2022 projected that the U.S. cannabis tourism industry could be valued at $17 billion. “By 2025, 50% of travelers in the U.S. are going to be millennials,” Cannabis Travel Association Founder Brian Applegarth. “And their relationship to cannabis consumption is extremely normalized compared to the stigmatized industry leaders of today.”

On an international scale, the tourism industry is beginning to open up. While Canada’s adult-use program is thriving, bringing cannabis over the border was prohibited, as of July 2021. In Amsterdam, cannabis tourism is being discouraged. However, in November 2021, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates ended jail time for travelers with THC.

Aside from the usual cannabis attractions, such as grow tours and having multiple dispensaries to choose from, cannabis-themed museums have continually begun to grow. In June, a hemp museum opened in Spain, and continues through February 2023. A Croatian museum also opened up back in April in the city capital of Zagreb. In 2019, the University of California, Berkeley had a limited exhibit called “Pleasure, Poison, Prescription, Prayer: The Worlds of Mind-Altering Substances.” Of course, Las Vegas will soon become home to a museum called the Cannabition Cannabis Museum, and the city council also recently approved consumption lounges in September which is expected to boost tourism numbers.

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Activists intent on legalizing recreational pot sales in Colorado Springs, Colorado cleared a significant hurdle this week with the announcement that two related adult-use cannabis sales voter initiatives have qualified for the November ballot.

The first ballot measure advanced by the group Your Choice Colorado Springs would legalize recreational weed sales in Colorado Springs, while the second would impose a 5% tax on purchases of adult-use cannabis. If passed by the voters, tax revenue from recreational sales would fund public safety improvements, expand mental health services, and support PTSD programs for veterans.

“Voters in the city stepped up and demanded their voice be heard with respect to ending the prohibition of recreational cannabis sales in Colorado Springs,” Your Choice campaign manager Anthony Carlson said on Monday after announcing the measures had qualified for the ballot. “Especially in these tough economic times, it is critical to ensure every tax dollar that rightfully belongs to Colorado Springs taxpayers stays in our community working to improve our quality of life.”

Colorado voters legalized sales of recreational cannabis with the passage of Amendment 64 in 2012, and regulated sales began in the state two years later. However, the Colorado Springs local government banned recreational cannabis sales in 2013, although the city is home to more than 100 medical dispensaries.

Your Choice Colorado Springs announced its plan for the ballot measure to legalize recreational cannabis sales in January and began circulating petitions to qualify the measures for the ballot in March. Activists had until June 20 to collect 19,245 signatures from Colorado Springs residents. The group far exceeded the requirement, turning in more than 98,000 signatures last month.

Pot Taxes Go to Other Cities

Your Choice Colorado Springs maintains that city residents who purchase adult-use cannabis legally must travel to other communities, which reap the tax benefits of recreational cannabis sales. If the initiatives succeed in this November’s election, a portion of the tax proceeds will help fund mental health services and support PTSD programs for military veterans. Colorado Springs has one of the highest veteran populations in the country, with 17% of adult residents identifying as veterans compared to the national average of 7.1%, according to a recent report from The Center Square.

“Our region led the state in suicides last year,” Carlson said, noting that 30% of those who took their own lives were veterans. “This initiative will provide significant funding to ensure we finally have the resources to take control of this crisis.”

Under the legalization initiative, no additional cannabis retail stores would be permitted in the city, but existing medical cannabis retailers would be able to add recreational cannabis on the same premise as their medical location. Karlie Van Arnam, a small business owner and lead elector sponsoring the initiatives, said the campaign “is about practicality.”

“It makes zero sense to continue the prohibition of a product that is 100% legal to possess and consume in our city,” said Arnam. “This campaign isn’t just about revenue. It’s about personal freedom and choice for our residents. It’s about supporting our small businesses and the thousands of people they employ. It’s about expanding mental health access for citizens and ensuring our veterans have access to world-class PTSD programs right here in Colorado Springs. It’s about time this decision is taken out of the hands of a few politicians and given to the people.”

Colorado Springs Mayor Opposes Legalization

Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, who has opposed approving recreational cannabis sales in the city for years, issued a statement warning voters about potentially negative aspects of legalizing.

“I remain vehemently opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs. There are no regulations in Colorado limiting THC levels which continue to rise and adversely impact young marijuana users,” said Suthers. “In cities with recreational marijuana, it’s not paying for the full cost of the damage it’s doing. Denver, in particular, offers a cautionary tale. In three years, it has dropped from No. 2 to No. 55 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings for best city to live. The pervasive influence of marijuana is a significant factor.”

Carlson said that despite the opposition from city leaders, voters are likely to approve the ballot measure in this November’s general election.

“Colorado Springs residents overwhelmingly voted to approve Amendment 64 in 2012. Our City Council and Mayor have repeatedly defied the will of Colorado Springs voters by keeping recreational cannabis—and its tax revenues—out of Colorado Springs for the past decade, at a loss of $150 million,” Carlson said in an email to High Times. “Now our citizens have spoken again, submitting a record 98,000 signatures—more than 2.5 times more than required—to get these measures on the ballot. The will of Colorado Springs citizens is crystal clear: They want to keep tax revenues from recreational cannabis in Colorado Springs to support efforts including mental health and veteran services.”

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A decade after Colorado made history and legalized recreational cannabis, the state’s second largest city may be ready to get in on the action. For years, Colorado Springs has blocked adult-use cannabis sales within its jurisdiction. Last week, organizers of a campaign that seeks to end that prohibition officially hit the ground running.

The group “Your Choice Colorado Springs” said last week that it had “completed the title setting process with the City,” meaning that it can now start rounding up signatures to get its proposal on the city’s ballot this November.

If it qualifies, voters in Colorado Springs will get to decide on whether or not adult-use cannabis sales should be permitted in the city.

“The citizens of Colorado’s second-largest city finally have it within their power to direct taxes from recreational cannabis sales back to their hometown, rather than to cities like Denver and Manitou Springs,” Anthony Carlson, campaign manager for “Your Choice Colorado Springs,” said, as quoted by the Denver Gazette. “In the coming weeks and months, Your Choice campaign team and volunteers will fan out across the city, seeking signatures from Colorado Springs voters who would like to make sure our hard-earned tax dollars are staying at home serving our community.”

The group announced its intentions in January, saying that Colorado Springs has missed out on precious tax revenue from would-be cannabis customers who buy weed in other cities like Denver.

The state of Colorado legalized recreational cannabis for adults aged 21 and older in 2012; according to the Colorado Springs Indy, a “majority of city residents approved recreational sales in 2012, but elected officials have refused to allow recreational pot sales within the city, often citing the presence of numerous military bases here.”

Westword has more context on the situation.

“Colorado Springs allows around 120 medical marijuana dispensaries to operate within city limits, but the Colorado Springs City Council banned recreational pot sales in 2013, the year after Coloradans legalized recreational marijuana and the year before retail dispensaries opened. Multiple attempts to get the council to approve recreational sales in the city have failed since then, so Your Choice Colorado Springs is now going the election route,” the website reported.

Your Choice Colorado Springs estimates that the city has lost roughly $150,000,000 in revenue over the last 10 years due to the ban, saying that “every year 10 to 15 million dollars of tax revenue that can improve our quality of life is lost to Denver, Manitou Springs, and Pueblo.”

The group’s proposal “would allow only current medical dispensaries to apply for recreational sales permits, in order to comply with the city’s licensing cap; there would be no new stores,” according to Westword, noting that the campaign has “has ninety days to collect around 33,000 signatures” in order to qualify for the ballot.

John Suthers, the mayor of Colorado Springs, reiterated his opposition to allowing recreational pot dispensaries in the city after the group launched its campaign in January. “The petitioners would be asking to allow all 120 medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado Springs to become recreational dispensaries. Despite the many promises made in the initial Amendment 64, marijuana revenues have not successfully funded schools, and, instead, revenues have been largely used by the incredibly high cost of regulation and enforcement, including illegal grows and illegal exportation of marijuana,” Suthers said in a statement at the time, as quoted by Colorado Newsline. “Further, the lack of a THC limit in Colorado has resulted in recreational marijuana having such a high THC potency that it is having severe adverse health impacts on its users, particularly younger people.”

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A group of business and community leaders in Colorado Springs, Colorado has launched a bid to legalize sales of recreational cannabis in the city, arguing that tax revenue generated by purchases of legal cannabis by local residents should stay in the community.

Colorado voters legalized sales of recreational cannabis with the passage of Amendment 64 in 2012, and regulated sales began in the state two years later. But Colorado Springs banned recreational cannabis sales in 2013, although the city is home to more than 100 medical cannabis dispensaries. 

Colorado Springs Ballot Measure Filed

On Monday, the group Your Choice Colorado Springs filed ballot language for a proposed voter initiative that would allow the city’s existing medical marijuana dispensaries to apply for licenses to sell adult-use cannabis. In a statement from the group, the coalition of community and business leaders said that Colorado Springs residents are forced to travel to nearby cities that allow recreational sales. As a result, the city is leaving millions of dollars in potential sales tax revenue on the table, according to Your Choice Colorado Springs.

“It’s hard to believe just how much tax revenue politicians have robbed our city of over the past decade,” said Cliff Black, an attorney and the lead elector petitioning the city for adult-use cannabis sales. “Recreational marijuana is 100 percent legal for every single adult living in the city. Yet the city gets none of the benefits. Instead, residents drive and spend their hard-earned money in Manitou, Pueblo, and even Denver, and then bring their marijuana right back home to Colorado Springs. With this initiative, we are asking voters if they want to keep their tax dollars local.”

The group noted that Manitou Springs is the only city in El Paso County that permits recreational cannabis sales. Thanks to limited competition and high local demand, the two dispensaries in Manitou Springs are among the most profitable in the state.

Voters in Colorado Springs approved Amendment 64 by a margin of about 3,000 votes, according to Westword. Activists have made previous bids to legalize recreational cannabis sales, but have failed to gain the support of a majority of the city council. Additionally, Colorado Springs Mayor Mayor John Suthers, who once served as state attorney general, has been a vocal opponent of recreational marijuana sales since taking office in 2015.

“When Colorado began adult-use sales of cannabis in 2014, we anticipated that our local officials would respect the will of the voters and craft a regulatory structure allowing recreational sales,” said Karlie Van Arnam, a mother, small business owner and former candidate for city council. “But instead, year after year, politicians have declined to provide a regulatory structure to collect precious tax revenue for our city. Today, Colorado Springs residents are taking this decision back into our own hands to finally give ourselves the choice to vote on allowing recreational sales in our community.”

Organizers Hope for November 2022 Vote

If the proposed ballot language submitted this week by Your Choice Colorado Springs is approved by the City Initiative Review Committee, the group will have 90 days to collect the approximately 33,000 signatures needed to place the initiative on the ballot for the November 2022 general election.

To comply with the city’s cap on retailers, the ballot measure would only permit existing medical marijuana dispensaries to sell recreational cannabis with state approval. The proposal would not allow new cannabis dispensaries to open in Colorado Springs.

Sales tax revenue generated by recreational cannabis sales in Colorado Springs would help fund public safety improvements, an expansion of mental health services and support for military veterans, according to the Your Choice Colorado Springs website. Recreational cannabis revenue would be subject to an annual audit by a citizen committee “to ensure that money is being spent where voters approved,” according to the group.

“It’s time for Colorado Springs to catch up with the times and make sure we’re keeping the tax revenues that rightfully belong to the people of Colorado Springs,” Jimmy Garrison, a veteran and founder of a PTSD retreat and camp for veterans Lost Creek Ranch said in a statement for Your Choice Colorado Springs. “As a veteran, I’m thrilled to see that a portion of these tax revenues will support our American heroes and my fellow veterans who paid a price for their service and now struggle with PTSD.”

An informal survey conducted by a local television news station last year found that a majority of respondents favored legalizing recreational marijuana sales in Colorado Springs. And Black said that organizers of the ballot initiative have also collected data that shows support for the issue.

“We’ve done the polling, and believe the voters are in favor of allowing recreational sales in Colorado Springs,” he said.

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