Interview: AJ the Hashman of At Home Baked, and Colorado MMJ Meet and Greet

Weedists: Meet AJ the Hashman

“Weedists are the people who are out there fighting the good fight and these are their stories.”

Many MMJ patients in Colorado have probably seen, or at least heard of, At Home Baked, an edible that you can bake at home in your own kitchen. I recently got the chance to talk to one of the founders, AJ “The Hashman” Ashkar, to not only chat about the great edibles and hash they make, but to discuss one of AJ’s other ventures: the Colorado MMJ meet and greets.

Usually taking place the last Sunday of each month, the meet and greet is open to any Colorado red card holder. Featuring a bud bar with a selection of many dispensaries’ bud to try, lots of samples from different edibles makers, glass blowers and plenty of opportunity to try dab hits, and a ton of other MMJ-related fun, the meet-ups are definitely one of the best chances to meet many people involved in the ever-growing MMJ scene in Colorado.

Of all the awesome stuff that you are a part of (like At Home Baked), right now I’m most interested in the Colorado MMJ meet and greets. How did you first get the idea to start doing a party like that- was it just your idea more communal?

It actually was my idea. What had happened was I had signed on with Keef Cola a long time ago. I was their Director of Infusion. It was a soda, and so I figured: what better avenue to give the product out to patients then to have a party where we give out the soda?

It started with that idea and went from there. Actually, the very first one was from my own bud- my homegrown bud- and I got the guys at Keef Cola to give me a few cases of soda. We just had a bar at the venue that was our location at the time, and you know…I just wanted to hand out some cards and have people try our soda, try my bud, and I wanted to try everyone else’s too.

And how long ago was that? When was the first one?

Um…that’s a good question. Almost 3 years I think now.

Ok, so it’s been going on for quite a while now.

Yeah, The last one that we did was our 21^st or 22^nd.

It started with Keef Cola, and then after I left them, the patient parties were still my deal. Towards the end they had started to wean off of them- started to give us less and less products even though the parties were getting bigger and bigger. That’s when we started looking at other dispensaries and other edible companies because we were having like, 150+ people at many of these events.

We were doing some at the Oriental (Theater in Denver), and before one of them the MMED called and basically gave us a heads-up that they didn’t want us anywhere in a place with a liquor license. They said that I couldn’t get in trouble for the event, but that they could go after the venue and take their liquor license.

I have to imagine that it’s pretty hard, considering that almost all larger venues have liquor licenses?

Exactly. We did a couple of smaller places over the summer, but then took some time off. We took about 7 months or so off after doing about 6 parties on our own.

We started them back up about 4 months ago. It was definitely hard to find a good venue for them, but we did a few in some art galleries that were really very cool. We’ve definitely outgrown the indoor space, and it works well to have the back patio open during the summer…but now that it’s colder, we need a space that’s both all-indoor and much larger.

The challenge is to find a venue that is: A) able to hold about 300 people; B) smoker-friendly; and C) doesn’t have a liquor license.

The liquor license issue brings me to a big question I have: When you and I first talked at the last meet and greet, you told me that it was the first event of its kind that was officially OK’d by the city. I’m curious as to what that process was like and what the city of Denver’s reaction to the party was?

(AJ laughing) It’s not really that exciting. Basically, the owners of the venue got a call from the Denver Police Department and said ‘ we’ve been alerted to this event…blah blah blah…’ and they wanted to sit down and discuss it. I sat down with the Denver Police Department, the sergeant that was in charge of the entire area, and the MMED (Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division)…

…so the MMED was at the meeting?

Oh yeah. Their police liaison- I have his number now, and he told me to pass it on to any dispensaries that were concerned about the legality of the event. He said if any shops were worried about participating, they could call him and he would let them know that it was OK.

They had a whole line of questioning about it and I explained the whole thing to them. I told them that the event was only for patients, so basically we are just giving meds patient-to-patient. They asked if there was any liquor involved, and I told them that we keep a liquor-free environment, cause we don’t want to mix the two and don’t want to worry about liability… Someone who drinks too much can often get out of hand, but most smokers are pretty passive people and we’ve never had an issue at any of our events.

They appreciated that, and told me I had to go get a special events permit and I was happy to oblige them. So now I have their contact info and they have mine, and each time we do the event I just let them know and I get the permit and it’s all good.

Now that Amendment 64 has passed, do you think that there is room to work with the police to have more events similar to yours in the future with the general public?

That’s actually something I’m planning on addressing with them in the next month or so. Essentially, once the governor signs the bill in January, I want to sit down with them and say that we’re going to have patients only at the bud bar, and then I’d like to have a lower fee for anyone who wants to just come and bring your own bud and smoke at the event. (editorial note: Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper quietly signed the bill earlier this month, after this interview took place)

So what would the difference be between patients at the bud bar and people who don’t have red cards bringing their own? Is it an issue of distributing it?

Yes. Me as a patient, I can’t just give meds to someone who isn’t a patient. That’s technically distributing illegally…but as long as we’re all patients, then it’s fine. In 2014, once they have all the new regulations figured out and anyone can just sell marijuana, then it’s gonna be a whole different story.

It would be cool to almost have a flea market type deal- someone with the right license will be able to sell to the public. I don’t know simply because DPD and dispensaries might be against it per se….

I started this event with patients in mind. I think it gives patients an outlet to go try meds from different dispensaries, instead of having to try around to all these different places. So few of us have the opportunity to spend gas money buying little bits at all these different dispensaries.

I hope that soon it gets back to the way it was, where we had 6, 8, or 10 different dispensaries each give us an ounce of a few different types of bud. That way, patients can really get a large cross section of all the different things available in Denver. If there is something that will help a patient’s specific need, then they should be able to try it. I wanted to have a place where people can be exposed to high quality edibles, hash, and meds.

What is the infusion process like for the At Home Baked stuff? Is the start-to-finish process just like any other edible?

We do all of the steps that will make your house stink and take hours to do on your own. We start with our very pure, all cold-water hash and we infuse it into an oil blend that is all vegetable based. We then mix that with other natural items -we only use all natural and common ingredients like vanilla and stuff like that. The final product is what goes into our liquid packs, and when you mix that packet with the dry packet, then you finish the process by baking them together. So it puts the patient back in control.

You’re the one making sure that every corner of the batch has meds in it. You’re the one making sure that it’s the right texture or flavor for you.

I imagine it’s also good because it allows the patient to control the exact dosage, instead of buying an edible off the shelf and taking your chances?

That’s exactly the idea. It’s giving the power back to the patient, and allowing them to have fresh edibles, which are the best edibles you can get. If you want to put some peppermint or more vanilla or chocolate chips or butterscotch or whatever, go ahead. We suggest you bake it an 8″ x 8″ pan, but you can do whatever you want. Bake it all into one, super-thick brownie- whatever floats your boat.

We want to provide people with a consistent experience. I’ve had Cheeba Chews and cookies and other edibles, and especially if you get different batches, the consistency will usually be all over the place. If I ate something the first time it would floor me…so I would say, next time I’ll only eat half…but then the next one I got wasn’t as strong, so I only ate half and it didn’t do anything. And then I would eat 3/4 and it would do nothing..and then eat 2 and be wrecked again.

If I were mediating strictly for pain like many patients do, I would be really pissed off. I have a busy life, and let’s say I was trying to take care of my kid and suddenly an edible I thought would be mild ruins me.

So I said, what can I do? When it came up to do a mix, it was perfect.. Instead of spending $150, 200, 250 on a bunch of different edibles that may or may not work, they can just spend $50 or $60 on 1 box and know exactly what’s going to happen, know if it’s going to be sativa or India, and know the dosage. After the first or second brownie of ours they try, they will be able to know how it will effect them every time from there on out.

How much is in each box?

Well we’re silly and like to keep upping the dosage, so it’s always changing a bit. Right now all of the boxes going out are 1400 mg for the indica and about 1800mg for the sativa.

We test every single batch we make, so we know exactly how many milligrams we’re putting in every single packet.. We know that if you eat ¼ of a box, you’ll be high for way more then a 24-hour period. We give people the little bites at the events, and they eat 4 or 5 of those bites and then are jacked up the entire next day.

I learned my lesson at the first meet-up I went to. I ate…I dunno how many, but I had a real hard time getting home. I learned my lesson, and so that the last one I knew not to take them when I saw you walking around with the tray. I paced myself and waited until the end of the night to have one.

(AJ laughing) Yeah, it can get you. I think that many people don’t trust edibles any more or think that they’re not as strong as they could be, so that’s why we offer a product that allows people to control exactly how much they’re getting.

AJ was recently featured on CBS news to give a response to an edible dosage incident in Colorado (video) . It’s a much better source of information on At Home Baked then I could possibly provide here. As the video states, At Home Baked has also recently launched a line of medicated pixie sticks. (You can bet there will be a review once I get some more myself).

Colorado MMJ patients should look to Facebook or their local dispensaries for word on the next patient party, which will happen this January.