March is Women’s History Month, and we’re taking the opportunity to highlight Barbari Herbal Spliffs — one of our most popular products at Rev!
This International Women’s Day, we spoke with the co-founders of Barbari, Valarie Sakota and Meryl Montgomery, to learn more about this incredible product and its inception.
How Barbari came to be
Meryl and Valarie met in college, living in a cul-de-sac of three houses with four women each. As these twelve women formed a friend group, Valarie and Meryl realized their shared interests in art and music, similar childhood backgrounds, and mutual go-getter mindsets.
Their friendship lasted throughout college and beyond, and soon both women found themselves in marketing and advertising — Meryl as a digital consultant and Valarie as a creative. Both women had to balance the superpower of being a woman in business with the tokenization that so often happens in historically men-centric industries.
“Valarie and I were very intentional about finding other women to connect with as we built the Barbari brand,” Meryl explains. “Friendship is the core and foundation of Barbari,” she continues. “It helps us support each other completely, and apply a 360 approach to decision-making.”
Something else Meryl and Valarie share is their approach towards using cannabis. “We both find that, at the appropriate dose and setting, cannabis enables us to merge productivity and functionality with self-care of our minds and bodies,” explains Valarie.
Far before Barbari, Valarie and Meryl used herbal blends to supplement their cannabis, helping their minds and bodies work in harmony. As they reaped the benefits of their herbal spliffs, they began to see an opportunity to bring harmonious healing to the masses. “The reason we felt strong enough to pursue Barbari as a product was because we shared this fundamental belief from the beginning,” Valarie reveals.
Barbari’s logo highlights this fundamental belief — by removing the lines from the A’s, the letters become a symbol that resembles upwards-pointing arrows. This signifies positive growth, upwards momentum, and the elevated lifestyle that cannabis users can achieve with Barbari Herbal Spliffs.
Creating a “Buildable Buzz” with Barbari
“The herbal spliff was really Barbari’s north star product,” says Valarie. At the time of Barbari’s birth — 2018, fairly early on in the Oregon recreational market — there weren’t many cannabis products targeted for the low dose experience. Unlike products intended to maximize the euphoric elements of cannabis, Barbari spliffs are specifically created with approachability in mind.
“We were targeting a buildiable buzz experience,” Valarie explains. She and Meryl wanted the Barbari experience to be like drinking a cup of coffee or a glass of wine — enjoy it slowly, gauge how you’re feeling as you go, and then choose whether or not you’d like a second helping. This allows Barbari users to mindfully incorporate cannabinoids into their day.
The specially selected botanicals in Barbari herbal spliffs also promote a thoughtful, holistic cannabis experience. “We do believe in whole plant medicine,” Meryl tells us. “Our botanical blends work together with cannabis, supporting specific feelings and sensations. Each Barbari blend is curated for a specific situation or desired experience.
Barbari Herbal Spliffs: Our 3 Blends
Rev is thrilled to collaborate with Barbari and curate a buildable, customizable cannabis experience for our customers! We supplement Barbari’s specialty herbal blends with our top-tier, low-dose cannabis flower, and carry Barbari pre rolls in two and five pack options across all three flavors:
1. Muse is an uplifting blend, great for clearing your head during the daytime. Peppermint gives this blend an invigorating element and a “mentholly” taste, to use Valarie’s word. Muse is Meryl’s personal favorite, helping her “clear away mental cobwebs and foggy brain” so she can stay focused, productive, and balanced.
2. Car Sex is a playful, giddy blend that’s perfect for people looking for the “loosey goosey” experience weed can supply, but none of the immersive high from THC. Car Sex contains Lion’s Tail (or wild dagga, which translates to “wild cannabis”) a plant native to South Africa with mild euphoric properties. Lion’s Tail smells like apricots before you burn it, and a little musky afterwards — creating a fun, unique experience that pairs nicely with low-dose strains.
3. Airplane Mode is a relaxing, chill blend featuring lavender and rose. Many people are familiar with lavender’s use in relaxation, due to the presence of the terpene linalool (also found in many Rev cannabis strains). This blend is best for people hoping to calm their senses and relieve stress, tension, and anxiety.
Barbari’s partnership with Rev goes far beyond fostering an incredible low-dose experience for the seasoned user and the cannabis-curious. For this Women’s History month, Rev and Barbari have teamed up with a local Massachusetts organization, The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. Along with their main mission to end the incarceration of women and girls, The National Council supports the families of presently and formerly incarcerated women and organizes local community events led by these women.
Try Barbari Herbal Spliffs today by ordering online from Rev!
