Sunstone Winery owner Teddy Cabugos talks about the upcoming debut of his new cannabis spritzer beverages, and the recent approval of his new State Street cannabis shop, in the latest episode of Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina, shot on location at the Sunstone Winery.

He said Sunstone will sell cannabis spritzers for delivery in March, and that the beverage allows people to enter the cannabis space without ever having to smoke anything.

“There’s a whole new audience of non-cannabis users,” Cabugos said. “I’ll never be able to convince someone that hasn’t been smoking, ‘Hey, try smoking this or try smoking this vape pen,’ but if I say, ‘Hey, take a sip of this, tell me what you feel.'”

It’s a five-ounce beverage with five milligrams of THC.

He said people will feel the beverage’s impacts within about 7-12 minutes, in contrast to a traditional gummy, which he said could take 40 minutes to an hour for some people.

“We’ve had many, many tasting parties, and it’s gotten great reviews,” Cabugos said. “There are people who say it helps them focus more.”

Cabugos attended San Marcos High School and formerly worked in the Hollywood movie industry. He and gas station mogul John Price recently won approval to open a cannabis dispensary at 4235 State Street.

Cabugos also talks about his family, wife Djamila, and two kids.

“I love Santa Barbara so much,” Cabugos said. “To be in a position to give back, or make people feel a certain way, is extremely special to me. It’s a dream to create such memorable experiences for people.”

Joshua Molina is journalist who currently writes for Noozhawk and teaches journalism at Santa Barbara City College and Cal State University, Northridge. He formerly covered politics and land use for the San Jose Mercury News. Santa Barbara Talks is an independently owned podcast where Molina looks to bring together voices from all perspectives to discuss and provide solutions to the challenges related to housing, education, transportation and other community issues. Subscribe to his podcast here and consider a contribution here.