Pantheon started as a promise between friends.
Nearly 20 years ago, before cannabis was legal in New Jersey, Pantheon Co-Founder Tanner Travers was a teenager growing up in Toms River with his childhood friends Joe Dai, Roy Currie and Liam. When Liam was diagnosed with stage 4B Hodgkin lymphoma, his friends started sourcing weed for him, something cancer patients have long turned to for help managing symptoms. They’d often joke about what they’d do when he got better; they would start a weed farm. Liam would study business, Tanner would study agriculture and they’d figure out the rest together.
Tragically, Liam passed away two years later.
Life took the friends in different directions. Tanner and Joe joined the Army, while Roy headed west to Colorado, where he spent five years learning to grow in the legacy market. He eventually got his medical card and ran his own medical cannabis grow in the mountains.
Getting the Guys Back Together
After his military service, Tanner moved back to New Jersey and enrolled at Rutgers to study plant biology with one goal in mind: becoming a cannabis cultivator.
Then New Jersey started moving toward adult-use cannabis, and suddenly that weed farm they had talked about as teenagers didn’t seem quite so far-fetched. With the help of Roy and Joe, they began the journey to get a veteran cultivation license all while working full-time.
“We did the license ourselves. The whole packet, the whole application. We got endorsements from townships, sourced investors, found a property, designed the building and GC’d the project,” Tanner said.
Interestingly, Pantheon was never meant to be the official brand. Their friend Matt sketched their first designs, and after he passed away suddenly, the guys kept the name and his work in his honor.
Inside Pantheon’s Grow
Pantheon is focused on one thing: growing really good weed.
“We don’t want to integrate too fast,” Tanner said. “I want to focus on growing good weed for my manufacturers, our customers and the market. When I feel like we’ve got a really good hold on this, we’ll bring another project into it. We don’t want to sacrifice quality by spreading ourselves thin.”
Here are a few things that stood out:
- Some of Pantheon’s genetics came all the way from Colorado: Co-Founder and Lead Cultivation Director Roy Currie brought personal cuts from his Colorado grow, including Wedding Pie and Dulce de Papaya. While Pantheon spent two and a half years getting licensed and built out, his friend Hunter kept the genetics alive.
- You have to go through an air shower before entering. Everyone has to pass through a clean-air shower before entering the cultivation area. The goal is to knock off potential hitchhikers like dust, spores and mites before they ever reach the garden. In addition, employees wear clean scrubs and dedicated shoes that never leave the facility.
- Their pest control eats the pests. Pantheon doesn’t use pesticides or biocides in its grow. The team uses biological controls, including beneficial bacteria and predatory mites. Every two weeks, the tiny carnivorous mites are released into the rooms, where they seek out pests such as thrips and aphids. When there’s no more bugs for them to eat, since they’re carnivorous, they die.
- They’re hunting through 60+ phenotypes. Pantheon recently completed its first pheno hunt and had around 60 phenotypes growing when we spoke with Tanner and we’re excited for very limited batches coming soon.
- But a plant doesn’t earn a spot just because it could make money. Some genetics simply don’t perform well under LEDs or make sense at a commercial scale. When that happens, they’d rather find the plant another home than kill off something special. According to Tanner, “When something doesn’t work in our program, we’ll reach out to another farm and say, ‘Hey, this is super cool. It’s not working for us. Do you guys want it?’ We don’t charge them for it. We’d rather keep the genetics around so other people can enjoy them, even if we don’t make anything from it.”
- They woke up 20-year-old seeds. One of the coolest projects growing at Pantheon right now is Goji OG, grown from seeds Roy had been holding onto for close to 20 years. After sitting dormant for that long, getting them to germinate took a little extra plant science from Tanner.
- “When seeds sit around that long, abscisic acid helps keep them in a dormant state, and they don’t want to crack. You need to trigger gibberellic acid to help them germinate and get the shoots to come out. I got three out of seven to crack, and they’re in the garden right now.”
- Indies supporting indies: Pantheon isn’t rushing to do everything in-house. Instead, they’ve partnered with independent New Jersey manufacturers including Onyx, Gotta by Florent Labs and Hashtag OG. Tanner and the team met with each, sampled their work and chose partners whose products they were genuinely impressed by.
Veteran-Owned, Veteran-Led
“We run a pretty tight ship. We’re not corporate, but the organization moves a lot like the military,” Tanner said. “Joe, Roy and I are basically the sergeants major, then we have our NCOs who run their individual teams.”
For Tanner, though, the biggest influence isn’t the hierarchy. It’s the responsibility that comes with being in charge. “We’re big on leading by example. You don’t walk in, tell your team what to do and disappear into your office. If 100 units need to be packaged, you get on the line and help your guys. When you’re in a position of responsibility, you make sure your people are taken care of first.”
Pantheon carries that commitment into its hiring, too, giving preference to veteran applicants and hoping to bring more veterans into New Jersey cannabis. And if you’re a veteran interested in getting into NJ cultivation, hit us up. We’d be happy to make the introduction.
Look Beyond THC Percentages
“When we were growing up, we didn’t have test results on our weed. We tried it, we liked it, we got it again, and that was it.” – Tanner
If you’ve shopped at Pure Blossom, you probably already know we’re big believers in shopping beyond THC percentages. It’s something we talk about all the time and THC-first shopping does have consequences. When lower-testing flower doesn’t sell, cultivators have less reason to keep growing it, regardless of how good the genetics, flavor or actual smoke may be.
Due to low popularity, Pantheon is discontinuing their Cobra Kai.
“One of the coolest strains in our program. Heavy Thai lineage, super frosty, gassy, creamy, bubble gum on the nose. The whole farm agrees. It’s the best smoke in the farm, but because it only tests between 18 to 20%, people don’t buy it,” Tanner explained. “Don’t limit yourself. If you see something with lower THC or lower terps, that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. You don’t know what you could be missing. There’s a whole world out there beyond Certificates of Analysis (COAs).”
The good news: Cobra Kai isn’t disappearing completely.
Pantheon plans to keep the genetics alive and submitted Cobra Kai to Best in Grass NJ, hoping the strain can earn some recognition.
Tanner’s Top Shelf
“I’m definitely more of a flower guy. My favorite way to smoke is a joint with a ceramic or glass tip so I can really taste everything. But who doesn’t like a convenient dab here and there so you don’t have to walk outside? My top three are Cobra Kai, Vader OG and Magic Marker. I’m really into gassy, creamy flavors, with citrus as a strong number two.”
Community Note 💛
“This is my dream. I want to be here. If you’re interested in cannabis, get out there and don’t shop based on a COA alone. Try different things, figure out what you like, and learn what to look for. And if you’re a veteran looking to get into the cannabis industry, apply to Pantheon. We want you.”
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