To Be Blunt: Tito Romero of Roadrunners Cannabis Co.

Welcome to the latest installment of To Be Blunt, the Question & Answer series that aims to put the spotlight on the people, places, brands and companies that make the Arizona cannabis community unique. Today's feature is on Tito Romero, founder of Roadrunners Cannabis Co. and a state-licensed care-giver.

At To Be Blunt, we're big fans of donuts. You name it, we eat it. But have you ever heard of a "terp donut?" How about a "hash-hole?" Maybe "rosin worms?"

Even we were stumped as to these confectionary delights. Luckily, Tito Romero, the founder and operator of Roadrunners Cannabis Co. is throwing a sold-out bash downtown, promoted as #DONUTBAR, to help introduce the latest cannabis creations to Southern Arizona.

To Be Blunt spoke with Romero about the upcoming event, how Roadrunners Cannabis Co. came to be and why he thinks brands and companies like his truly represent the local cannabis culture of Tucson.

Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

To Be Blunt: Tell us a little about Roadrunners Cannabis Co., where did the idea originate from and what are the brand's goals?

Tito Romero: Roadrunners Cannabis Company started in 2017. The role and idea behind the brand and the business model is to be able to supply people with safe, accessible medicine.

I'm a licensed caregiver here in the state of Arizona, so I do work alongside medical patients to get them their flower needs as well as flower concentrates, whatever their needs.

We also have a social justice component to our brand that makes us unique from a lot of other people. I come from a social justice lens, meaning that, yeah, growing up I was really exposed to social and economic issues going on in Tucson and Southern Arizona.

I bring some of those practices and ideas along to Roadrunners Cannabis. I make sure that there's opioid overdose kits at my events, make sure there's some type of resources for rights restoration as well.

We want to make those resources as accessible — and cannabis affordable —  as possible for the general public.

TBB: So born in 2017, back in the medical program days. And you operate mostly out of Tucson and Southern Arizona then?

TR: We are out of Tucson and we're hoping that in the near future we will be able to expand to other cities across Arizona if we can make it onto a dispensary shelf.

TBB: Talk a little about what it takes for a brand operating outside of the dispensary model independently to make it, and talk about what it takes to get onto one of those shelves.

TR: It's really difficult right now because as the industry is changing, it's kind of bottlenecking and squeezing out a lot of traditional market folks. People who have risked their lives, their safety, their livelihood to build community.

And not just build community, but build the popularity that we have around the plant cannabis that we know today. You know? So it's really unfortunate.

 TBB: So what kind of product lines does Roadrunners Cannabis offer?

TR: We have locally grown cannabis flower and we also have concentrates in solvent-less form, meaning that it's not extracted with any ethanol, any butanes or any type of gases.

It's only extracted with ice and water and heat. So we only have those type of concentrates,

We are actually famous for our terp donuts! Our terp donuts are a two-gram cannabis flower pre-rolled joint with half a gram of rosin concentrate down the middle.

So when you're smoking it, it creates this really cool donut effect down the middle of the joint.

TBB: We've been smoking for years and never heard of that, but it does explain the name of the event Roadrunners Cannabis Co. will be hosting on January 21 in Downtown Tucson: #DONUTBAR. Talk about the event and what attendees can expect.

TR: It's all centered around terp donuts, hash holes, hash rolls, rosin worms, it's all blowing up popularity and really taking off, not even just in the United States, but almost all over the world.

(The products are for) people trying to get more bang for their buck. People are trying to get more potency for their taste. And they want to elevate their experience, their overall experience when they're smoking.

So creating these terp donuts, these hash holes, they have really taken off all over.

What we're trying to do with this event is provide Southern Arizona with its first hash and donut event and introduce people to their first terp donut.

We'll be welcoming people who have been supporting us already in the past to one place at one time, where we can all enjoy, network and come and be in community together.

But #DONUTBAR is also showcasing other people who won't necessarily get the opportunity through other dispensaries or through other methods of promotion.

So I'm using Roadrunners to build a runway for other traditional market brands who are also not really known, but are also doing amazing work and creating great products.

TBB: Will #DONUTBAR be open to the public or is it invitation only?

TR: The event is actually a sold out event now. There's no more tickets. It sold out in less than a week. I'm super, super blessed.

The tickets were only 40 bucks and considering the amount of raffles that we're gonna have, the giveaways that we're gonna have, the experience that people are gonna have and the free food? it's a hell of a deal.

It's really important for us to make these events accessible and affordable to the general public.

It's gonna be held at The Ruckus Room downtown and we're super, super blessed to be in this position.

TBB: We're assuming attendees will be able to toke and light up then?

TR: Correct. Actually, the event's gonna be in a private space on private property. It's gonna be 21 and over. Or, only for 18 and up if you have a medical card.

You are able to smoke on site, but there will be no sales, absolutely no sales. That means that you can bring your own stuff that you have bought from a licensed caregiver or that you have bought from a licensed dispensary. Or that means you can have fun with some of the free giveaways that we will have there.