His name may be Stinje, but when it comes to cannabis, he’ll give you the nugs right out of his backpack. Rapper and producer Stinje (born Eric Farb) has had a fascinating journey to his current reputation as the “Robin Hood of Weed.” A close friend of the iconic artist Berner, Stinje came to prominence as Berner’s right-hand man and a co-founding team member of the globally-renowned cannabis company Cookies. He’s since come into his own with a namesake strain, Stinje OG, and a Stinje’s brand featuring a line of potent pre-rolls and eighths.
Watch Stinje explain how his signature strain Stinje OG came to be:
How Did Stinje become the "Robin Hood of Weed"?
But as Stinje relates, his first impulse was to gift weed to the masses. “Stinje OG came about in 2016,” he recalls. “Berner has a plethora of weed… and one day he posted a video of a pound that went bad… and of him flushing it down the toilet. People got so mad when they saw that. I got the idea: ‘He gets so much weed and forgets about it because he always gets new weed.’ I decided to essentially steal Berner’s weed and give it to the people. So I would always have some in my backpack, I’d see somebody, and boom. Eventually [I wanted] to find a nice cut of OG [and] put it in stores… But I still give out free weed when I can.”
That he does. When Honeysuckle caught up with Stinje at Berner’s on Haight, the Cookies-owned flagship retail store in San Francisco’s historic counterculture neighborhood, the cannabis hero was at the top of his game. Not only did he stop several times to receive samples from local entrepreneurs who encouraged him to try and give away their wares, but he also displayed the “dab gun,” his giant configuration of a massive weed chamber that sprays a fine strong vaporous smoke into the faces of happy consumers. When Stinje’s invention emerged, people came running from up and down the street to experience a one-of-a-kind high.
Watch Stinje get Cookies fans high with the "dab gun":
We imagine Berner can’t be too mad that his waste-conscious companion stole his cannabis. Stinje’s is now a popular brand carried at Cookies retail locations, with new products constantly in development. Make merry, dear friends – faint hearts never won fair Lady Ganja!
What Do We Love Most About Stinje?
The Stinje OG: He knows what he wants in a cannabis strain.
Stinje created his signature OG because he was looking for a particularly strong indica-dominant hybrid. “It’s a cross of Chemdawg and Belarus OG,” he says, noting some of the original OG came directly from Eastern Europe. “Stinje OG is a fire OG. It’s a very funky, gassy cut of OG. It will definitely put you on your ass.”
Where did "Stinje" come from? He can poke fun at the origin of his name.
Some people might take offense to being called stingy, but the artist laughs about it now. He says the inspiration for his name occurred when a friend noticed he paid extremely close attention to money. “When we were at his house, there were some pants on the floor, and a dollar was sticking out of the pocket,” Stinje remembers. As soon as he mentioned the dollar, the friend remarked that he was “so stingy” – and then, Stinje laughs, it all clicked.
Berner's right-hand man: He's a loyal friend.
As part of the Cookies inner circle, Stinje is always by Berner’s side. With the rapper going through chemotherapy to fight his cancer (with which he was diagnosed in October 2021), Stinje states that he makes an effort to be as careful as possible to keep his friend’s environment clean and safe.
He also enthusiastically shouts out collaborators on new Stinje brand product lines, such as the Churro pre-roll he did in partnership with Berner’s brother Matt. And he gives nostalgic props to Champelli, creator of the eponymous strain that was one of the first to blow up in cannabis communities on the West Coast. Stinje knows his weed history well, asserting that Champelli set the bar for the many adventurous strain cultivators out there today.
Stinje promotes waste-conscious cannabis as the "Robin Hood of Weed." But is he still stealing from the rich to give to the weed-poor?
Well, Stinje and Berner are given free weed all the time. Is that really stealing, or is it more re-gifting to save the world? For the cannabis connoisseur, it’s definitely the latter. “Berner gets a lot of free weed,” he grins. “It’s my job to spread it back out!”
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Want to learn more about the inside of the Cookies empire? Check out our exclusive interview with Berner!
