The founder talks sun-grown flower, fake strain names, and functional highs.
After visiting Amsterdam in his teens, Oliver Higgins became enamored with cannabis—both the plant and its casual inclusion in the city’s culture. Higgins started growing cannabis in his mother’s Brentwood, Los Angeles garage, and when California legalized recreational cannabis ten years later, he decided it was time to create a company that would pay homage to the first cannabis culture he fell in love with.
Now, Higgs employs a handful of individuals and focuses on pre-rolled indica and sativa joints. On a sunny afternoon in the LA neighborhood of Silverlake, I met up with Higgins to discuss his relationship with cannabis, why he switched from growing indoors to outdoor cultivation, and how he created beautiful yet functional packaging. This is his story as told to Proper.
On Loving Cannabis
I started loving cannabis when I visited Amsterdam. That pairing of cannabis and food and coffee—it was a lifestyle. You can go to the Van Gogh museum high. You could have a cold glass of orange juice on the street and look at people. So what I want with Higgs is that particular feeling of cannabis as part of a lifestyle. I want you to feel what it used to be like to get high with your friends and do things. That’s why I created a recreational product because I believe cannabis is a recreational product. You want to pair it with all the other things you want to do in life, whether that’s sitting and watching a movie or going surfing or skiing.

To do that, we grow our flower at Honeydew Farms in Humboldt. I think when we were allowed to transition to growing outside, we found the full power of the sun. The sun here is why 90% of the world’s agriculture is grown in California and shipped elsewhere. I think outdoor growing is a little cleaner and allows for a more natural-feeling high, which is important for Higgs because I don’t want it to be a knock-your-socks-off kind of cannabis. I want you to be able to go do all the other things, so whether you’re a novice or an advanced smoker, you’re still going to get high. I just think for the everyday smoker—which is who I want Higgs to be for—it’s something that’s a little cleaner, a little lighter. That’s all you need sometimes.
On Smoking At Work
The Higgs White pack is very, very similar to what I’d like to smoke every day: a strain called Green Crack. Higgs just started selling in Colorado, and while it’s impossible to get the same genetics across states, I always want that White pack to be the same feeling whether or not you have knowledge of cannabis strains. I’m the final tester of all this cannabis, so what goes into every pack I test and I approve. So, yeah, I went to Colorado to smoke weed for work. [Laughs]
About the Author
Emily Berkey is a freelance journalist and photographer from Portland currently living in Los Angeles. She writes about and takes photos of musicians, artists, and creatives from an intimate perspective. Emily exclusively uses 35mm and Polaroid film.