Woman-owned and Family-Run
Say hi to Sussex Cultivation, recently responsible for your go-to gassy Obama Runtz live resin carts! Sussex is one big, green-loving family affair, led by founder and president Brian Dowling, owned by his mom, Lori and helped by dad, Chris, with brother-in-law Phil DeMuro getting the word out about the brand.
We caught up with Brian and Phil to get inside Sussex Cultivation’s operation, the recent launch of their first brand, Onyx, and what’s next for them.
Best of Both Worlds: Live Resin & Rosin
Six years back, the Dowlings set their sights on a medical license. While those efforts didn’t pan out, it positioned them to apply and successfully secure a pair of recreational licenses—one for manufacturing and the other for cultivation.
Under their manufacturing license, Sussex Cultivation employs two cutting-edge extraction techniques: solventless (only using ice water and pressure) and hydrocarbon (a 70/30% solvent blend, but it varies per recipe). Translation? Expect a broader selection of high-quality, potent extracts readily available at PB!
Meet Onyx: Where Locals Support Locals
Just a month into its launch, Onyx—named after Brian’s trusty pup—is all about the local love. “We love New Jersey,” DeMuro emphasizes. “We want New Jersey people and businesses to thrive… and we want to uplift all the other independent New Jersey operators.“
In that vein, Sussex has partnered with Garden Greens, a Pure Blossom favorite award winning cultivator from Vineland, using their fresh frozen buds to craft Onyx’s first batch of badder and vapes. “It’s been a tremendous relationship so far…[Joshua Krane, Garden Greens GM] was one of the first people, from our standpoint, to really start doing fresh frozen and allowed us to get what we need,” says Brian.
New Jersey’s Trusted Brand
“We really want to be on the forefront of educating people…we’re really trying to lead the charge from the manufacturing side with transparency and openness, showing people what we’re doing and the faces behind the company,” says DeMuro. “We’re not just a corporate entity; we’re people from New Jersey who love what we’re doing.”
“We want Onyx to be a trusted brand, both cultivation and manufacturing and anything else that we put out,” Brian adds.
Onyx Launches at Pure Blossom
After a thorough vetting and vibe check from Onyx back in May, Pure Blossom was in the first small wave of dispensaries to debut Onyx in the Garden State. “We meet almost all the dispensaries we’re in, either face to face or at least video calls with everyone, and actually meet the people behind the scenes…We’re looking for positive relationships…that are willing to expose us…who’s pumped up about a local brand…and somebody who’s around here,” the team explained.
Vernon, NJ Fresh Cannabis Flower from Sussex: Coming Soon…
Get ready, New Jersey! Sussex Cultivation is gearing up to launch fresh flower in the next few months. As a dual-licensed cultivator and manufacturer, they’ve consulted with industry leaders like Nicholas Joseph Tanem (aka Nikka T.), founder of Essential Extracts, the first tax-paying U.S. hash company.
“We have our indoor and light deprivation greenhouse canopy that scales to 30k sq ft. Our controlled environments & light deprivation maximizes flavor & enhances terpene profiles. We believe this facility combined with living soil techniques will maximize our customers experience.” explains Brian. With this setup, “we’re going to be able to put out a live resin product very shortly, at price range that almost matches distillate,” Brian declares.
Stay tuned and sign up to hear more from their cultivation team and see what products they have coming down the pipeline including: fresh flower, hash holes, pre-rolls and more!
💚 Shout-Outs to the NJ Cannabis Community 💚
We want to shout out, “first and foremost, McCarter & English, specifically Ryan Magee and Guillermo Artiles…they have done an incredible amount of positive work for New Jersey as a whole, not just our company. They’ve been very loyal to us…for about four or five years through the medical application. They’re somebody that I think is doing great work for the industry as a whole, not just Sussex Cultivation.” We’d love to also recognize, “Canna Business Services, Emily Seelman. She was super helpful…in that final stage with our CRC inspector…and she had a sense of urgency that matched”. Last but not least “our operations team—consisting of five or six dedicated individuals—has stood by us through the past year of delays and challenges. They’ve brought invaluable experience from both saturated and thriving markets, and notably, they all played crucial roles in one of New Jersey’s first medical licenses. Their commitment and expertise have been instrumental in navigating this journey.”
