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It’s been a minute since I used a vape pen. I love the concept of a disposable cartridge. It’s just so easy. It travels well, it’s discreet and you don’t need a lighter to use it. Despite all of this, I haven’t had the best of luck with the vapes I‘ve bought over the years. Granted, I never really pursued purchasing one after a few feeble attempts during which the disposable stopped working, or a cartridge wouldn’t hold a charge. That is until now.
It’s been said the first cut is the deepest. My first inhale of Muha Med’s live resin Sour Diesel sativa disposable slayed. After one inhale, my brain blew its own mind. Though it’s a sativa, I woke up on my couch an hour and half later without the foggiest idea as to what had happened. Then I looked down at the disposable on my coffee table and it clicked. One pull on that little guy and I was down for the count.
I’m happy to report that since that first inhale, I’ve managed to stay awake and enjoy the heady high. On subsequent uses, I’ve found myself swaying on my couch listening to music. Feelings of contentment and a sense of ease from the vape pen cause me to wonder if the convenience of feeling this good, this easily, could be dangerous. Who am I kidding? If it only takes a puff or two to make me feel this good and de-stress, I probably should embrace it. I think I will.
The distillate vape pens are made with 100% solvent free oil. The 1 gram disposable sour diesel sativa pen contains 1,000mg live resin THC. The package says the user can expect 300-500 puffs. The inhale is smooth on the lungs even with the size of the smoke produced from the pen.
I also had the pleasure of trying some of Muha Med’s flower. I loaded a bowl with Skittles, an indica, and got lit. Again, the smoke gently glided through my lungs and back out again. It tasted sweet and light. I felt calm and experienced a lovely body high. My everyday aches and pains melted away as I melted into my bed. The only downside was a strong case of the munchies. About an hour after I smoked, I devoured a second dinner and convinced myself I needed dessert.
Like many of the flower packaging from Muha Meds, the Skittles comes in one that resembles an album with a twist from the brand. Skittles channels the Beatles’ Abbey Road. In Muha Med’s version a Bored Ape NFT, the brand’s mascot, walks alone across the crosswalk epitomizing a Beatle—my guess is John Lennon, since he’s wearing the white suit with his hand in his pocket.
I thought it might be too cute if I were to listen to Abbey Road after I loaded the bowl. But then I thought, screw it, I’m stoned and what if this combo rocked my world. It did. The music didn’t sound different—it was still familiar—but I heard the words to songs differently. Songs that I’ve loved and listened to for years like “Here Comes the Sun,” “Oh! Darling” and “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” suddenly took on new meaning. I listened to the album on repeat until I fell asleep.
Ali and Muhammad Garawi founded Muha Meds in 2018. The brothers had found success selling vapes online before they started the brand. With $15,000, which was self-funded, they purchased their first set of packaging and first liter of distillate. Since then, the company has grown to roughly 250 employees and they turned that start-up money into a multimillion dollar cannabis enterprise.
The Leaf was curious what it was like to work with a sibling. Muhammad Garawi, the chief sales operator, tells the Leaf, “It’s good because you hear about a lot of other partnerships in this space and how people are fucking everybody over. And you feel like you don’t have to deal with that as much. I love my brother. I trust him. We have the same business practices. The same work ethic…If you know you’re on the same page, you’re communicating. You both know what the angle is, then it’s kind of like a blessing to be able to work with your brother. We’re close in age, so it makes it a lot easier.”
Speaking of age, Muhammad is 26 and Ali, the company’s CEO, is 28. “At an early age I kind of fell in love with it (cannabis) and its power to bring people together, calm people down,” Muhammad says. “Without that exploration and trying it out, I don’t think we’d be where we’re at today.”
The Garawi brothers grew up in Los Angeles. The love for their hometown can be found throughout the brand. In the early days of Muha Meds, they were involved in a lot of small parties and recording sessions around LA. They were introduced early on to NRG Studios, where products from the company are available in the studio’s lounge for recording artists. “We’ve always loved music,” Garawi says. “We love all types of music. It’s kind of like an entryway to help with marketing and getting your brand out there. Weed and music are usually toe to toe. They’re really tight with each other for some reason.”
Besides a play on the Abbey Road album, the strain White Truffle comes in a package resembling Nirvana’s album Nevermind. The strain Lolipop comes in packaging with a play on Kanye West’s Graduation album. Regarding the album-themed packaging, Garawi says, “We just wanted to do something kind of different… Something relatable to a lot of youngsters and everybody really who likes music. That’s what we’re really big on. So we take some of the top albums and recreate them with our Bored Ape.”
Muha Meds is known for its vapes, both disposables and cartridges. “We’ve developed a really, really cool disposable,” Garawi tells the Leaf. “It’s super powerful. The flavor, the amount of smoke you get out of the disposable..We spent years on research and development making sure it hit the right way. Changing the coils, getting it really dialed into exactly how it’s supposed to hit and giving it the most flavor, the most smell without having it burn. I think we perfected it to be honest.”
Muha Meds is headquartered in downtown Los Angeles. The company’s products are available in California, Michigan—where they grow—and, as of just a few months ago, in New Mexico. So far Muha Meds has partnered with Skull 420 and is looking to partner with more dispensaries in the state. Currently, disposables and cartridges are available here, but in the next two to three months the plan is to roll out pre-rolls and edibles. You can find Muha Meds products in several cities and dispensaries in New Mexico, including Albuquerque, where they’re available at Oasis. Asked if products will be available in Santa Fe, Garawi tells the Leaf he and the sales team will get to work on it. “We’re excited to be in the New Mexico market,” says Garawi. “We’re definitely looking to expand our menu and add some more skus that represent the brand and the company.” This gal can’t wait.
Shake: Odds & Ends in New Mexico and Beyond
- According to KRQE, Cookies dispensary in Albuquerque has reached a settlement with the New Mexico Cannabis Control Division after it was accused of violating several provisions of the Cannabis Regulation Act. Blue Whale Enterprises Inc., which operates Cookies, agreed to the settlement on July 16. Alleged violations occurred at the grand opening party of the dispensary on Nov. 18, 2023. As a result of the settlement, Blue Whale Enterprises Inc. will have to pay the Cannabis Control Division $50,000 for five penalties and $300,000 instead of closing its doors for two weeks. The alleged violations include allowing someone under 21 to attend the event and consume cannabis on the property, posting someone consuming a large amount of cannabis on the premises on social media, allowing people to consume cannabis on the property and promoting public consumption without a cannabis consumption license, allowing attendees to publicly consume alcohol on the property, and for having cannabis products on display in the parking lot, outside of the lawful retail perimeter. If Blue Whale Enterprises Inc. has any repeat violations in the next two years, the settlement dictates the company could receive further fines and could face a temporary suspension of its commercial cannabis operations in the state.
- Travis Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, thinks athletes should be able to use cannabis and still compete in the Olympics despite the World Anti-Doping Agency’s no weed policy regarding an athlete’s participation at the Olympics. Green State reports that while other sports leagues have loosened the ban on cannabis testing, the Olympics has yet to do so. Tygart told Yahoo Sports that the agency isn’t in the recreational drug policing business; rather, its purpose is to prevent fraud and cheaters who use performance-enhancing drugs from competing. Tygart spoke out when Sha’Carri Richardson was prohibited from competing in the Tokyo Olympics due to a positive cannabis test. The disqualification was especially heartbreaking, according to Tygart, because Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was allowed to compete despite a positive drug test for an illegal performance enhancing drug. Even though Valieva was stripped of her 2022 European Champion title and her results from that year’s Olympics, she was still allowed to compete. In April 2024, the New York Times reported that 23 of China’s swimmers tested positive for a performance enhancing drug in 2021 before the Tokyo Olympics. These results were not disclosed at the time. China blamed food contamination for the test results. One of China’s elite swimmers, who tested positive back in 2021, was on China’s roster for the Paris Olympics.
