On October 8th, craft brand Ball Family Farms and Ricky Williams’ cannabis lifestyle brand Highsman launched a collaborative strain, “Ricky Baker.”
Ricky and his team approached founder Chris Ball at Hall of Flowers last year, saying that he was a fan of the Ball Family Farms brand. Ball recalled that they’d previously met 15 years prior through the NFL.
Both Ball and Williams played professional football before advocating for the health and wellness benefits of weed for athletes.
After initially discussing the idea and working on it over the past year, Ball said, “today we brought it to fruition.”
The “Ricky Baker” custom flower targets pain and inflammation and was grown in living soil, and exclusively pheno-hunted to incorporate terpenes limonene and linalool.
Its flavor and nose are thick gas and musk, with a touch of backend sweetness producing a potent heart-pounding but cerebral high that fits Highsman’s Pregame vibe.
The strain was being cultivated by Ball Family Farms, and Ball gave about 7-8 phenos to Williams to choose from.
“I think the most special thing about it is that it’s green,” Ball said. “In this climate right now, a lot of people all they want to smoke is purple weed. With this strain, it’s actually a green weed.”
Ball said that the name comes from the brand’s approach to naming strains after movie characters. Since he was collaborating with Williams, he started by asking him what his favorite movie was. When Williams said Boyz N the Hood, Ball thought right away of the football player in that movie.
“That’s perfect, because the running back in the movie is named Ricky and so are you. So it just all fell in place,” Ball said.
Ball said that this first drop is just the start of his relationship with Highsman.
“This is our first collaboration but Ricky and the Highsman team have expressed that they would like to do something long-term for their indoor flower line, so I would love to be part of it,” Ball said.
He’s become close to Williams.
“We have history, we love each other at this point,” Ball said.
“I definitely want to be a part of his journey and make sure I’m providing him with real high-quality indoor flower,” Ball said.
“We are thrilled to be one of the few brands that Ball Family Farms has joined forces with,” Williams, Founder and President of Highsman, said in a statement.
“Chris is a pioneer in the cannabis space, overcoming obstacles and transitioning to a truly grassroots legal operation. We are proud to collaborate on a product that gives back to those persecuted for cannabis related offenses, and leads the next generation of Black cannabis entrepreneurs,” Williams said.
With a shared history as football players and longtime cannabis advocates, Williams and Ball believe in the wellness impact of the plant and support a more sustainable industry. They strive to be a good example of how brands can grow quality products eco-efficiently, something Highsman agrees is beneficial to the cannabis industry.
“Our collaboration with Ball Family Farms, the pinnacle of California cannabis culture, comes at a time when Highsman is proudly expanding our national footprint. The collaboration is representative of Highsman’s dedication to creating culturally relevant products and experiences in each of the markets we operate. We will continue to pursue this strategy in all of our markets with hopes of engaging our community in new and exciting ways,” said Eric Hammond, CEO of Highsman.
For more info, check out www.ballfamilyfarms.com and www.highsman.com or @ballfamilyfarms and @highsman on Instagram.