Old Pal, your new best friend: An interview with Jason Osni and Rusty Wilenkin, the founders of our favorite cannabis brand.

Mark Twain famously penned that his own “books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine. Fortunately everybody drinks water.” With the boom of cannabis branding in recent years, we are seeing brands aspiring to make more wine than water.

Today everyone seems to be launching an upscale cannabis brand. There are flamboyantly packaged edible confections and vape pens that have better technology than the first-generation iPod. But if you’re searching for the everyday weed brand — like we were — look no further than Old Pal. The brand aims to be the cheapest flower on the market while providing high-quality products with stunning branding that nods at the weed culture of yesteryear. It’s affordable, shareable, and classic. Old Pal is, indeed, the water of the cannabis industry. And everybody drinks water.

We recently spoke on the phone with Jason Osni and Rusty Wilenkin, the founders of Old Pal, about branding and the current state of cannabis. Wilenkin took the call from their office blocks from Venice Beach while Osni dialed in while driving a VW bus down the Pacific Coast Highway. We knew that we were speaking with the right people.

First off, how long have you been around?

Rusty: Not very long. We got together about two months ago. Jason had the brand already designed and he had a mission to hit the $15 price point for an eighth of an ounce of cannabis. Our first delivery was 18 days after we started. It’s been so exciting and fun to keep up with.

We really dig your brand. Can you tell us how it came together?

Jason: I started a cannabis brand called Nativ about four years ago. And most recently I started another company called Tongue and Groove, which is a partnership with LAND, a design studio out of Austin, TX. We have done some work across the cannabis space but wanted to create something that really spoke to us — Old Pal was the personification of that. We wanted to make something honest and beautiful with an old school aesthetic and feel. Keep it simple and timeless. So here we are.

Rusty: And it’s been awesome working with LAND. They put the brand together and their ideas are amazing. We told them we wanted to be the cheapest cannabis company in California and disrupt the supply chain. And we also wanted it to feel like a casual product similar to Pabst Blue Ribbon. They hit a home run with it.

What’s the motivation behind Old Pal being a “shareable” cannabis?

Rusty: Jason had the idea of “shareable” cannabis early on and it really hit the nail on the head for our other partner Ted and me. We thought about things like dabs and how they aren’t really shareable. If you share a dab with someone, that’s nearly 20 bucks out of your own pocket. It’s also a very isolated experience. Old Pal is something that you want to share with your friends. Can you roll a joint with Old Pal and share it? Absolutely. It’s a flower you grind, you roll, and you smoke. And we’re sourcing really nice flowers as well. It’s quality flower that’s meant to be recreational and shareable.

Jason: When I think of cannabis, I think of it as really fractional. It’s a lot of people in different boats who aren’t communicating. The idea of community doesn’t really come up. But when I think about my history of smoking, I think of sharing a joint with other people. That’s where “Puff, Puff, Pass” came from. People are moving away too fast from the history of smoking. They are getting too esoteric. All of the new products, like vaporizers, are single-use and that’s missing the point. It’s about community and sharing.

How much of the brand is historic, reflecting what was happening in ’60s and ’70s stoner culture?

Rusty: It’s supposed to pay homage to the older times when you didn’t buy weed from a dispensary, but from a friend who showed up at your house with half a pound of weed. It’s definitely a throwback brand. We are playing hard on the vintage, old-time feel. And we’re seeing a great reception to the brand.

Why did you want to be the cheapest cannabis on the market?

Rusty: The three of us behind the brand have been in cannabis for a while. And the conversations we often have with other people who smoke a lot of cannabis is that’s it’s prohibitively expensive with the new taxes. It’s difficult to buy a $50 eighth every other day. We felt like a lot of our friends were alienated. We wanted to create something that hit a reasonable price point. We feel passionate about that. All of our products will strive to be the cheapest on the menu.

How do you think about naming in the cannabis space?

Jason: We think a lot about naming — we have multiple brands that are about to launch and we spent weeks and weeks thinking about names. But a good portion of the naming we have comes from ancient and religious texts. We look for interesting names that talk about plants and botany from ancient scripture such as Sanskrit and other languages. Sometimes we come up with names that aim to trigger the subconscious. I wish we had a recipe for naming but we don’t.

With so much science out there about terpenes and strains, are terms like indica and sativa still relevant?

Rusty: I think for our brand, those terms fit what we do. Farmers have been using those names forever and people around the country have known those names forever. They also really fit the feel of Old Pal. Plus, we aren’t diving too hard into things like terpenes and benefit claims. But when you look at a flower growing, it’s pretty damn apparent the difference between an indica and sativa plant. So we are comfortable putting that out to the public and explaining it.

Your brand copy highlights cannabis farmers and growers. Why is that important to you as a company?

Jason: Other companies were taking a farmer’s product and selling it at a crazy markup. It didn’t make too much sense to me. The idea of taking a farmer’s cannabis and then selling it as a designer cannabis product — clearly these companies are not too focused on moving a farmer’s product and helping them out. We wanted to take a grower’s cannabis and not mark it up 100%. We just really wanted to help them move it. What better way than to sell their cannabis as cheap as possible? There’s no doubt these farmers deserve recognition. They’ve been doing this for a long time.

Can you paint a picture of your audience so far?

Jason: I had a demographic in mind for the longest time but I am finding that Old Pal appeals to nearly everyone. My mom would buy Old Pal. My 21-year-old cousin in college with no money would definitely buy Old Pal. I can’t pinpoint a demographic that it doesn’t target. But I do think it appeals to an artistic demographic. I don’t think they make up a large percentage of the audience, but I think creative people appreciate what we’re doing. Overall, the audience is scattered everywhere. The branding speaks to everyone.

What’s next for you guys?

Jason: So the next product is a roll-your-own half ounce of pre-ground cannabis with branded rolling papers. And by having it ground and with minimum manufacturing, it will be cheaper than the eighths. It will be really affordable. They are roll-your-own joints like you had back in the day. We’re also talking about a classic pot brownie — not too strong and you can eat the whole thing. Today edibles are crazy. What happened to a good ol’ pot brownie? And after that, we are just excited to grow and build the longevity of the brand.

Lastly, how did you come up with the name Old Pal?

Jason: In Austin, spitballing names over a joint. It felt powerful and personified exactly who we are.

Learn more about Old Pal here.