Warren Bobrow, Alchemist

This profile was originally published in 2019, within Sharon’s series What’s in Your Stash for High Times. Bobrow has since founded the extremely successful cannabis beverage line, Klaus.

Cannabis Alchemist and author of many spirited books, including Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics, and Apothecary Cocktails, Warren Bobrow, hails from New Jersey, where he still makes his home.

His grandfather wore many high profile hats, including maker of Aqua Velvet and Geritol – with Bobrow leaning toward cannabis, which eventually led him away from the family circle.

Diagnosed with glaucoma, Bobrow turned his teenage love for the herb into remedy in the conservative state of New Jersey that just recently came on board for cannabis as medicine.

According to Webmd.com, Glaucoma is progressive condition, passed down through generations, caused by an intrinsic deterioration of the optic nerve, leading to high-fluid pressure on the front part of the eye. The increased pressure is called intraocular, damaging to the optic nerve that transmits images to the brain. While there is no cure and no warning signs early on, it’s only detected via a routine exam for glaucoma. If not managed properly it can lead to permanent blindness.

A paper published in the National Institute of Medicine’s site states that glaucoma patients who smoke cannabis have decreased intraocular pressure (IOP). This is due to the discovery of ocular cannabinoid receptors, prompting more studies on treating glaucoma with cannabis.

These findings make Bobrow’s smoking habit serious, keeping the pressure down and his spirits lifted, as he openly admits, he really likes the feeling of being high.

Interestingly enough, Bobrow doesn’t really consider himself a full-fledged patient, stating that he uses the herb mostly to de-stress. That said, distressing can also be done by taking a pharmaceutical, such as Valium – making chilling just for fun a highly debated subject.

His finely made leather stash is the brain child of New York wardrobe stylist, Jessica Cadmus, via her company, Rogue Paq. Cadmus is a Goldman Sachs alumna, also known as the Wardrobe Whisperer, as she’s also a guest stylist for brands such as Hugo Boss, Reiss, and Alexis Bittar.

When Cadmus noted cannabis being put inside old pencil cases and plastic baggies, she jumped into action, designing attractive soft tooled leather pouches, purposefully for the mindful partaker.

“I enjoy a plethora of flavors and effects during the day,” Warren shares. “I’m fortunate to enjoy a plethora of flavors and effects during the day, and my Rogue Paq stash is scent-suppressant and elegantly visual. I’m always proud to whip it out in social situations.”

Inside Bobrow’s Rogue Paq holds a Stonedware pocket pipe, makers of high fashion and high quality pipes created in Portland, Oregon.

Bobrow penned a piece about Stonedware’s pipes for Forbes stating they are created by Ariel Zimman of GeoPipe. He praised the artist’s work stating, “The GeoPipe is that good because the person who created it is filled with abundant love and oozing with unending creativity.”

Also in his stash are a Lobo and a Xiaolin Cannagar, both equally high-end and hand rolled, with the skill taking up to a year to master, as each leaf must be carefully rolled over the next.

Fashioned after a high-end, hand-rolled fine cigar, cannagars, which can cost several hundred dollars each, go a step further and are often rolled in the leaf from the premium flower inside. They are also typically infused with hash, concentrated oils, and last up to a week or longer, depending on the partaking and how many partakers are involved.

The flower in his stash was purchased from a local New Jersey shop, Harmony Dispensary – self-proclaimed leading botanists using “advanced robotic controlled environment.”

A stash comes in many forms, and while his Rogue Paq sits in one pocket, in the other you’ll find a small flask filled with his latest cannabis-infused creation.

Recently featured on Viceland, the brew currently nestled in his breast pocket was featured on the popular show, via a roasted blood orange masterpiece, inspired from a classic whiskey punch.

The Viceland Punch for two

2 oz. Cannabis (THC/CBD) decried and infused into Bourbon of your choice

8 oz. Oven Caramelized Blood Orange Juice- peel- remove the bitter white pith- and split the blood oranges. Scatter some Demerara Sugar over the tops, dot with Angostura Bitters, and roast for an hour at 300 degrees, cool and juice- you’ll need a couple pounds of oranges! 

2 oz. Fruitations Craft Soda and Cocktail Syrup- Tangerine Flavor (just three ingredients!)

2 oz. Plain Seltzer

Dash of Cardamom Bitters

Dash of Chocolate Mole’ Bitters

 

Prep:

Add the juice and the Fruitations to a Boston Shaker filled 3/4 with ice

Cap and shake hard

Add to two old fashioned glasses with ice that doesn’t smell like garlic

Splash seltzer over the top

Dot with cardamom bitters

Dot with Chocolate mole’ bitters

Serve.

 

Bobrow waxes poetic about the first time he smoked cannabis, knowing full well the herb has brought him to a place of wellness, wonder, and a newfound acceptance by his peers.

 

“My family used to spend time in Bermuda every summer,” he shared. “We stayed at a place with pink cottages and cerulean blue waters with massive parrot fish that splashed up against pink beaches. I made friends easily with the bartenders, who made me Pina Coladas and fruit punches – minus the rum. One summer a bartender sold me outdoor grown island weed. It may or may not have gotten me high, but what it did for me was make me a cool kid, when I was really a nerd. I’m thinking it still does that for me today, but in a more high profile way,” he laughed.

 

For more information on the items mentioned, visit the following sites:

Roguepaq: https://www.roguepaq.com/pages/about-us

Wardrobe Whisperer, Jessica Cadmus: https://www.wardrobewhisperer.com/

Stonedware: http://stonedwarecompany.com/our-story

Harmony Dispensary:  https://www.harmonydispensary.org/

Lobo Cannagar: http://lobocannagar.com/

Xiaolin Cannagars: https://madeinxiaolin.com/rolled-proper.html