Alexander Farnsworth, left, and Adam Lippes founded Farnsworth Fine Cannabis, which opened last month in Great Barrington.
BIG BUTTON – Say goodbye to the joints of the past, the head shops of the past.
Farnsworth Fine Cannabis, one of the state’s first LGBTQ +-owned marijuana retailers, will sell packs of its own product-filtered cannabis cigarettes starting Friday, something the company’s founders say is “a new, collaborative innovation.”
Some of the products in a shop on North Main Street. The company will sell various types of cigarettes, in addition to flowers and other products, a line of jewelry and clothing, as well as new and antique cigarette goods.
The company, which opened on North Main Street last month, will sell a wide variety of cigarettes, in addition to flowers and other products, a line of jewelry and clothing, as well as new and vintage cigarettes, including Jack Kerouac’s table lighters.
It is the fourth shop in town to open since it was legalized, and owners Alexander Farnsworth and Adam Lippes, from Monterey and New York City, demolished an old building and poured their passion for beauty into the shop.
Their current marijuana comes from several Massachusetts farmers, including those in Pittsfield and Worcester. And they have promised that 65 percent of the workforce is LGBTQ +, people of color and veterans.
Farnsworth, a businessman whose brothers and sisters helped found the company, said that, after a long journey through a maze of rules, he was thrilled with his creation here with Lippes, a fashion designer.
“It was a dream,” he said, noting that customers so far consisted of locals, New York City residents, and people from 17 states. He had been working on the floor most of the time the shop was open.
And because his family is part of the company, Farnsworth says it has warmed the customer experience.
The store required a license several years ago, and a last-minute name change after the state said it “Highminded” would violate any nameplate rules intended to envelop the product.
“We have about 24 hours to choose a new name if we want to continue the licensing process,” said Farnsworth. “But I can’t say I wasn’t warned.”
They wanted regular street entrances where people could see inside, so, to comply with state regulations, they had to lobby where products other than marijuana were visible.
Farnsworth said the company plans to sell cigarettes to other markets and in other states. They’re unique, he says, in that they have a long filter to “keep heat away from your face.”
The shop also honors the family’s history of innovation, with a display of Farnsworth Radio that once lived in her grandmother’s Utah home. They were discovered by Farnsworth’s great-uncle, Philo Taylor Farnsworth, who was known for his work on perfecting television. He has 300 patents.
Alexander Farnsworth said that his family can provide a lot of new home radios here, because his grandmother’s house was taken over by the leading domain for the construction of the hospital. He is 92 years old.
“This comforted him,” he said. “To him, it felt like there was a resting place for this.”