The Sierra’s New Flavor Architects: Inside Higher Vibrations’ Terp-Wave
In the Sierra foothills above Nevada City—technically North Columbia, about 90 minutes north of Sacramento—Higher Vibrations is two seasons into a long game: breed, hunt, test, and only then scale. It’s not a faceless company; it’s a family story. Chris Bondoc runs the project with his wife, Cindy Ruvalcaba, and his mother-in-law, both of whom are in the garden daily. Rusty (Duke of Doja) has mentored them in outdoor cultivation, while the brand leans into tight alliances with Doja and Duke of Herb. The ethos is connoisseur to the core: solventless extracts, rosin vapes, and flower that “wow” on the first hit.
What the landscape doesn’t show is the intensity happening behind the scenes. Heavy rain recently hit the property, and the team has been harvesting at night to save what they can. “Chris has been out there every night with the harvest team trying to systemize things. When storms hit, you realize fast how small your team really is,” Cindy says. The couple, fully self-funded, has learned to do every job themselves — from cultivation to compliance, design to distribution planning. “Everything we’ve built has come from our own money, our own time. No investors. Just belief.”
“We’re building manufacturing on site so we can be fully vertically integrated—from seed all the way to oil,” Chris says. “We’re hands-on now, and every batch goes through QC, even if it did well previously.”
Right Photo: JP Good Pizza Podcast. Chris, Duke of Erb and Doja's Ryan Bartholomew
Cindy helps that system run by managing nearly every operational piece that isn’t genetics or sales. “I do all the creative output—digital assets, packaging, hardware R&D, licensing, site plans, accounting, compliance. Chris does the front-facing brand and the genetics. Everything else lands on me.” Her background in child protective services might seem unrelated, but it shaped her project-management and crisis-management instincts — skills that now anchor the business.
The land carries decades of heritage from growers of the ’60s and ’70s, but Higher Vibrations is creating a new chapter. After acquiring the property three-and-a-half years ago and grinding through permits and site plans, their first season launched late; this year the rhythm aligned. Plants hit the ground by June 1 and now rise 12–14 feet under crisp mountain light. At 3,100 feet, the farm sits closer to the sun—more UVB, cooler nights, and fewer pests combine for thicker, denser trichomes, the resin farmer’s gold.
“More UVB at elevation means thicker, denser trichomes—better resin, better yields.”
Ask what he’s chasing and Chris talks translation—aroma becoming flavor becoming full mouth-coat. Two favorites right now: Rosewater (bred by Rusty; selected from 50 phenos) and Ruby Red (grapefruit and citrus). The pursuit isn’t just potency; it’s identity. They want the profile you can name from across the room—like GDP, OG Kush, or Sour Diesel—flavors so singular they become cultural landmarks.
“We want the next profile you can name from across the room—like GDP, OG Kush, Sour Diesel.”
The solventless program is exacting: jar tests for yield potential, machine runs for accuracy, and the overriding rule that flavor can trump numbers. Chris and his wife are aligned in that search—she walks the rows, monitors health, and keeps the canopy disciplined while he obsesses over SOPs, pheno data, and post-harvest QC. His mother-in-law, with roots in Salinas agriculture, steers the day-to-day. Together, they’ve turned the farm into a true three-pillar family operation.
Cindy is equally invested in the manufacturing future. Their next launch: a rosin bar collab with DOJA, featuring Rusty and Duke of Erb. “We’re dropping rose water, ultraviolet, ruby red — and CCELL was the only hardware that kept the flavor consistent from the first hit to the last. Nothing muted the terps the way other hardware did.”
On the hardware front, live resin carts are already locked. Live rosin disposables took longer—rosin terps burn hot and mute cold. The breakthrough came with an atomizer that heats differentially: cooler at the edges to preserve terps, hotter in the core to activate THCA. It’s the closest they’ve come to bottling the low-temp dab experience.
“First hit, mouth-coating, smooth—that’s the wow factor.”
Higher Vibrations soft-launched in New York and sold out in week one. A proper hard launch is next, with events to match. Chris sees New York as educated but underserved: “Consumers are dialed; producers need to catch up.” West Coast SOPs are already seeding change.
Rusty (Duke of Erb) left, Ryan Bartholomew of Doja, right and middle and Chris at the farm.
Culturally, he doesn’t see medicine versus community—it’s both. Pharma may circle the medical lane, but cannabis culture, with its rituals and connoisseurship, isn’t going anywhere. “Like wine, there’s an art to the search.”
For Cindy, that art is also personal. “I’ve used cannabis daily for fifteen years — it helps me focus, unwind, sleep, manage projects. I’m a productive stoner. It’s my medicine.” That philosophy threads directly into the brand. “Higher Vibrations isn’t just product — it’s conscious consumption. Be your best self so you can help others elevate too.”
The first dab memory—trim-run shatter torched until lungs exploded—sits worlds away from today’s precision. Now, it’s all about controlled heat, terp expression, and flavor that lingers. That progression mirrors Higher Vibrations itself: from new farmers navigating permits to a vertically integrated brand poised for multi-state expansion.
Harvest begins within weeks, with fresh phenos rolling into wash and QC. Flower drops are slated in 6–10 weeks; live rosin disposables in 3–4 months. An end-of-year phenos & hash showcase in Sacramento will bring it full circle. Beyond California and New York, Arizona and Florida are next, with GMP certification laying groundwork for global play.
“There’s art to the search—we’re careful, consistent, and chasing flavor that hits on the first inhale.”
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