Rui Pereira of NJ Garden State of Mind has pioneered cannabis community events in New Jersey and developed the new pre-roll brand Blank Canvas.
NJ Garden State of Mind has held many fun Paint and Puff around New Jersey and other states where people gather, paint, and consume cannabis often by smoking weed.
The concept is a play on paint and sips where people drink wine and/or alcohol and paint. They are very popular events. Often, people are given a prompt or guide on what to paint. Others paint whatever they want.
Rui is speaking on our Legacy to Legal Forum panel this Saturday, where you can hear more from him and others about their experience in Jersey cannabis!
The New Blank Canvas Pre-Rolls
He recently launched the Blank Canvas pre-roll, working with the new grower Niche Cannabis.
Rui said the name is a reference to his Puff and Paints.
“The way you get stoned from it could be different from how I get stoned. Each person could paint their own picture,” he argued about each person being a sort of blank canvas.
Rui noted it is a white-labeling brand deal.
“My dream when I started this was to start my own product. They gave me the chance,” he said. “This was my goal.”
“I wanted to create a name people would be proud of. It’s a dream come true, bro,” Rui added.
Blank Canvas has two strains with OG Kush Breath (OGKB) and Sherbanger 2022. There are available in the following dispensaries:
- Mass Grown
- Holistic
- Releaf
- Hashery
- Doobiez
- Ohm Theory
- Nirvana
- NJ leaf
- Indigo
- Enlightened
- Puffin Store
- Urb’n
- Baked by the River
- Cloud 9
- Scarlet Reserve
- Med Leaf
- MPX
- Downtown Flowr
- The Station
- The Dispensary of Saddle Brook
- Taste of Earth
- Flower and Flame
- Monteverde
- Roots
- Bleachers in
- Aunt Mary’s
- Cannabis Clubhouse
He said they had helped many of them and done events with them encouraging people to shop there.
Developing Strains
OGKB was the first Blank Canvas pre-roll developed.
“It’s an old school strain, brings you back to the early 2000s,” Rui explained.
He said he has been a fan of the Girl Scout Cookies strain for a long time, which is similar to OGKB.
Rui said Sherbanger 22 is “Super tasty. It’s uppy strain. It’s a daytime strain, so I’m a fan.”
“It tests a little bit lower (in THC),” he noted.
Rui noted many adult-use cannabis consumers are only concerned with how much THC, the cannabinoid known to get you high, is in a product.
“Just because it says 32 percent THC doesn’t mean it will be the best strain that will do the best for you,” Rui said.
“Cannabis is such a baby in New Jersey. The education will come,” he argued.
Launching NJ Garden State of Mind
Rui noted he launched NJ Garden State of Mind post-COVID.
“I saw the separation in people. I wanted to bring people together through my creativity and cannabis,” he said.
“What’s more communal than passing a joint? Passing a joint is like passing a smile,” Rui added.
“I wanted it to be for people to kind of like feel they have known the brand for years,” he said about the name.
Rui explained he has been working with the marketing agency Jersey Media to create the logo and promote the company. He noted he launched the businesses himself and bought supplies. They debuted on Instagram on 4/20/2021. It went well quickly. His first event was in the backyard of Hemp Social Jersey smoke shop in June 2021.
“People just kept coming over and over,” he said.
“We started noticing the moms, the grandmas, the cousins, the aunts. (Then) we started seeing families coming out,” Rui added. “We were breaking the stigma. They started feeling safe. Everybody gets along.”
Making Progress
They then did events in New York City at the Cookies Blue House Lounge across from Macy’s in Herald Square and an event at the co-working space Work ‘N Roll.
Rui noted they also did an event in Houston, Texas, and Worcester, Massachusetts, and expanded to Hawaii. They most recently hosted an event in Puerto Rico.
“We had fans reach out, and they asked us to come out and host events in their cities. I took a risk. Let’s give it a shot,” he said.
Rui explained that professionally, he was a union construction Laborer but then hurt himself. When he did, he needed something else to do. He is from Lodi in Bergen County and is now a homeowner in nearby Garfield in North Jersey. It was important for the business to succeed.
“I have a mortgage. I have a son,” he explained
Rui joked he has smoked a lot of weed in his life.
Growing NJ Garden State of Mind
Since launching they have held events at a range of places.
“I’m well over 200 events. Hopefully, ya know, another thousand to come,” he said.
“Anywhere we can break the stigma a little bit more. Another 60 people at a time. Thirty people at a time,” Rui noted. That’s been my goal. Keep going.”
He explained he has been working on finding sponsors and partners for events.
“Josh Kesselman called me from Raw and wanted to make my events more Raw-some. They started sending us boxes of Raw merch,” Rui explained.
He noted Weedmaps has been very supportive and has sent products. He was also appreciative of Mood Mats sending products to give away.
“Tuxedo Rolling Papers, OGeeze! is now sponsoring us. They’ve helped me keep my head above water,” Rui noted.
He said they want a brick-and-mortar event venue location to do events on a regular basis.
But just getting here hasn’t been easy.
“It’s been a lot of long drives, lonely setups,” Rui noted. “It feels good to ya know see a little bit of light at the end of the rainbow.”
