Voices of the Pack: The Story of Howls Tinctures

Author: Autumn Lopez

Howls Tinctures , with its distinctive wolf logo and colorful packaging, has become a trusted name in the New England cannabis community. Renowned for its holistic, full-spectrum tinctures, Howls has emerged from the longstanding traditions of holistic medicine and legacy cannabis culture, solidifying its place in the Massachusetts market. As Gage marks the fifth anniversary of our partnership with Howls, we had the pleasure of sitting down with founder Peter Glantz to discuss the origins, philosophy, and products of this enduring brand.

Infused throughout Howls' practices, from its formulations to production methods and origins, is a people-first philosophy essential to understanding their approach to cannabis. The ethos of Howls Tinctures reflects a deep appreciation and respect for the history and culture of the cannabis community as a fundamentally humanistic space dependent on meaningful interpersonal connections and subjective experiences to produce and share knowledge.

One cannot simply learn the social etiquette and shared language of cannabis as a sommelier learns about wine - through structured academic study. Rather, the knowledge of how to roll a joint, the effects of different strains, or the do’s and dont’s of the smoke circle can only be understood by being in community with others. Incorporating the legacy of oral traditions and experiential knowledge, a practice as old as our species itself, into the development and production of their products is a defining feature of the Howls origin story and mission.

Origins - Creating The Pack

For Peter, the creation of Howls was a deeply personal journey stemming from his own experience as a medical cannabis patient. After being diagnosed with a chronic medical condition, Peter was searching for ways to manage his pain when a friend introduced him to cannabis tinctures. Drawing on his 15 years of experience making other herbal infusions, Peter began experimenting with his first cannabis tinctures. After joining a cannabis co-op in 2012, Peter began batching tinctures more frequently, gifting them to other patients in need, and, before long, a community quickly formed around his products.

“The response was really powerful…I went to visit the co-op and this one woman - she had a walker - and she looked at me and flung it out of the way and started dancing around the room, and she said, ‘Yesterday, I cleaned my house for the first time in two years.’ That's when it really sort of hit for me how important it was to keep making this valuable plant medicine and sharing it with people… and that became the mission really to make this medicine available to everyone…” says Peter.

During those formative years, Peter gained insights about his tinctures directly from patients, incorporating their feedback into his next batch, allowing his formulas to evolve organically alongside the needs and experiences of the consumers who used them. It is this spirit of co-creation that inspired the Howls name.

Originally, Howls was spelled with an apostrophe (Howl’s), using the symbol of a wolf pack to represent the tight-knit community of patients that formed around the tinctures. As the brand continued to evolve, the apostrophe was dropped, and the name Howls gained new meaning - a joining of voices and stories of real-life patients at the heart of Howls’ mission. “...Really, what it means now is about the voices of everybody in the pack, the sound the wolves make all together, and that's why it's called Howls,” says Peter. This collaborative creation process is still the driving force of Howls approach to production.

Tinctures - How It's Made

Following a millennia-old infusion process, each product at Howls was created with the patients’ experience in mind. Using a similar technique as described by Chinese Emperor Shen Nung in the year 2700 BCE, Howls starts by harvesting fresh greenhouse-grown flower. After the flower is harvested, the production team gently shakes the bud to dislodge and collect the live kief (or trichomes) from the bud before curing the flower. Once cured, the flower and live kief are combined in avocado oil and gently stirred over low heat to infuse the compounds into the oil.

This combination of live kief and cured flower strikes the perfect balance of potency and flavor, allowing Howls to capture the essence of the flower in a bottle. As Peter describes, “Live kief is really good because it allows us to bring out the flavors of the flower, while the bud will provide a more earthy taste through the additional plant material.”

This traditional infusion method continues the long practice of herbalist medicine that provides an alternative to traditional pharmaceuticals. At the heart of this production method is a commitment to honesty, transparency, and trust that Howls sees as central to cultivating a responsive community of tincture consumers.

“I’ve met people working in the industry that said I need to change my process, to use butane and other more efficient techniques…but I didn’t want to risk changing what we did just because there may be a financial benefit that would go against our mission,” says Peter. Instead, Howls continued to use traditional methods, prioritizing transparency and continuously fielding customer feedback to refine their product line.

The distinct formulas of Howls Tinctures address the various needs of consumers, both recreational and medicinal, from sleep aids to anxiety relief, pain management, and enhanced mood.

Benefits of Tinctures

With so many cannabis products on the market, you may be wondering what benefit tinctures can provide. From dosing to versatility, tinctures offer a unique cannabis experience for many consumers. Here are a few things that make tinctures so special:

• Precise Dosing: With the measured dropper, users can get precise dosing, allowing them to tailor their cannabis experience to their unique needs. This is especially valuable for patients using tinctures to manage chronic symptoms or daily recreational users who want to curate a specific experience.
• Efficiency: The new, higher-dose Howls formula allows users to consume 80% less tincture to receive the same dose, reducing packaging waste and costs.
• Full Spectrum Experience: Howls’ unique infusion process preserves the full spectrum of essential oils, cannabinoids, and terpenes of the flower, improving flavor and effects.
• Versatility: Drizzled on pizza, infused in teas, or placed right under the tongue, there are many ways to consume tinctures, making them great for any occasion.
• Community Engagement: Howls always seeks to incorporate consumers’ experiences into its formulas and brand. If you have feedback or stories to share, you can reach out to Howls directly at [email protected]

New Dosing with Howls

Howls new and improved higher-dose formula comes with some dosing changes. Check out the chart below to learn more!

At its core, Howls is more than just tinctures. It is an organic and ever-evolving community of passionate individuals organized around a shared practice of healing, storytelling, and meaningful human connection. As Howls Tinctures continues to thrive in the Massachusetts cannabis market, their commitment to community, transparency, and traditional methods remains unwavering. By integrating the voices and experiences of patients into their production process, Howls has created a brand that truly resonates with its consumers. As they celebrate their fifth anniversary with Gage, Howls looks forward to many more years of innovation and collaboration, ensuring their products continue to meet the needs of their ever-growing community.

If you want to hear more from Peter about Howls and his journey in the cannabis industry, be sure to stop by The Flower Expo, where he will be featured on a panel discussion about legacy entrepreneurship!