TIME TRAVEL EDIBLES

Rewind Labs looks to the future with a retro vibe.?...

By Elizabeth Mcwilliams

Rewind Labs is an experiential edibles company entering the market in Colorado. When we say experiential, we truly mean that Rewind has an outside-the-box experience in mind, or perhaps behind the box, since Rewind casts its line not forward in time but backward to the 1990s and 1980s.

Their team of players live in far-flung corners of the country (Wisconsin, Florida, and Colorado), so they function virtually much of the time, meeting somewhere in the digital cosmos. Despite the distance, they share a camaraderie and sense of fun that is truly unique. In fact, their electric energy nearly popped through the phone lines during their recent interview with Sensi, underscoring a zing that defines not only their org chart but also their core tenets. Their founder, known in the virtual halls of Rewind Labs as Wonka of Weed, has a simple missive: if it isn’t fun, it’s not Rewind.

Determined to break free from the ordinary, Wonka of Weed wanted a team unbridled by corporate restraint and, in order to unleash their creativity, he started with simple measures: nicknames. To that end, his team now includes The Pixel Punisher (aka Christopher, graphic design), Doc Op (aka Nick, head of operations), and The Mix Master (aka Tom, top chemist and developer). As they like to say, ?it’s as if “Doc Brown, Willy Wonka, and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air came together to start a side hustle.” But don’t let the nicknames fool you into thinking that Rewind Labs lacks expertise. On the contrary, each of the principal players comes with the credentials to make their particular brand not only fun, but effective. Wonka of Weed leads that charge.?A molecular scientist who specializes in medical devices and nanotechnology, Wonka of Weed first became passionate about edibles after working with people suffering from Parkinson’s. He had developed certain technologies that were extraordinarily effective in moving chemicals across cell membranes to ease symptoms quickly.

One patient wrote to him to say, “We’ve been trying your product, and I can play cards with my dad again. He’s interested in books, and he talks to my mom, and we have my dad back.”?

Feedback like this inspired Wonka of Weed to help more people, but he didn’t want to stop at just healing. He also wanted to infuse his products – with fun – by introducing an edible that would transport the consumer back in time to the 1980s and ’90s, when many of us were kids.?

Meanwhile, The Pixel Punisher has been researching the science behind nostalgia and how it impacts our frame of mind. “Nostalgia,” he says, “is a complex emotion that’s actually healing.” The word itself joins the two Greek words nostos and algos,? meaning ‘“to return home” and “pain.” Together,? it connotes a bittersweet longing for a time past. “But here’s the weird science,” he continues. “You’d think that ruminating on the past would make you depressed. But it does the opposite.” Scientifically proven to increase serotonin while decreasing cortisol, nostalgia fights anxiety and stress while making us happier and more relaxed. “It makes us feel a better sense of self because it reminds us of who we really are … just big kids. Big kids with really hard jobs, complicated relationships, and high taxes. But when we’re brought back – by a sight, by a taste, by a smell, by a song – it reintroduces us to our truest selves.”

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, many of us kids were busy breakdancing or rollerblading, strutting around in our favorite jean jacket with a boombox hoisted on one shoulder, or feeding coins into the Mario Bros console at the local arcade. For the team at Rewind, this time represents pure, unadulterated fun, and they are determined to infuse their candy-based products with a sensory experience that will also transport their consumers.

A tall order in an edible, but certainly well within their particular skill sets. As The Pixel Punisher succinctly says, “We’re not just sprinkling THC onto a vat of candy that we bought from Alibaba.” Between Wonka of Weed’s background in molecular science and The Pixel Punisher’s talent for color and graphics, they have their bases covered.

“We have a lot of technology in our products,” explains Wonka of Weed. “We are using established scientific principles to develop ways to effectively move medicine into the body while still having an experiential treatment of nostalgia. This is not the status quo edible.”

The first product that Rewind Labs will release is called Rad Rox—nanocrystals that pop on the tongue. Rad Rox will come in various super delicious flavors, including blue raspberry and watermelon. One belief Rewind holds sacred is that their edibles aren’t “tiny doses,” they’re “experiences.” As kids, who would eat a single gummy bear or take one tiny bite of a candy bar? No one. And that’s precisely the point. Rewind’s edibles will be something to enjoy, experience, and indulge in. And each new snack, to be unveiled according to a consistent schedule, will come with a new adventure and multi-sensory experience.