From Butterwolf to Cherry Super Boof, they’re cultivating “unique expressions to share.”
Even before we get to the room where a whole corner of their newly crowned Super Boof Cherry is glowing in bloom, Tower Three Head of Cultivation James Wormser is radiating under the intense grow lights. He brags about his plants like they are school-aged children, smiling with pride as he describes the journey that his seeds have taken.
“Butterwolf is Swamp Thing crossed with Peanut Butter Breath, the Swamp Thing is Triangle Kush crossed with Grandpa’s Breath, and the Grandpa’s Breath is OG [Kush Breath], Tahoe OG [Kush], and [Grandaddy Purple].”
Fresh off a win at the Harvest Cup in the Limonene Dominant Flower category, Wormser showed off his impressive MSG plants, some Diesel Smoke they are currently pheno hunting, and Cold Snap, an indica that he described as a “menthol cross” in the “earthy gassy kush range,” which is his sanctum.
“We’re introducing a lot of new strains, from seed and from clone,” Wormser said. “We’re trying to grow a lot of strains that no one else has—some of my work, some other people’s work. We’re looking for unique expressions that we are excited to share.”
He added, “You pop the seeds, you find what you find—for me, I just find whatever I think tastes the best, and then you look at it afterwards and you say, Is this plant practical?”
One thing that is guaranteed to render a strain practical in today’s cutthroat market—winning accolades. We visited Tower Three just days after they took home high honors for their Super Boof Cherry in Worcester.
“We chose it because of its aesthetic, its flavor, its coloration—it’s kind of the full package,” Wormser said of the Harvest Cup winner.
Director of Operations Isaias Correa said, “It was a hit right away”—even before this latest trophy brought them broader recognition. “It’s just loaded with trichomes … [with a] strong citrus [smell].”
“It tastes the way it smells and that’s something people really like in cannabis—for it to be named in a way that shows how it tastes and smells and then for it to actually taste the way that it smells,” Wormser said.
Tower Three CEO Michael Kinahan said while they don’t grow to win awards, the added attention is definitely welcome: “We’ve had retailers call back and say that people are coming in and asking for it since the Harvest cup win, so it’s been great all around.”
In a saturated market, Tower Three increasingly stands out for its outstanding buds. Their Taunton cultivation is just 12,000 square feet in total, with 6,200 square feet of their available 10,000 square-foot canopy in use by the company’s 22 employees. But demand for their products is strong, and in 2024 they plan to boost production to almost double their current 2,400-pound annual output—all while keeping their extremely elevated standards.
“Living soil was the main idea that was going to separate us from everybody else,” Correa said. He and Wormser explained how, unlike the vast majority of grows, they continuously “use existing soil and amend it,” so “basically the soil will stay here, [with] the leaves, everything recycled back into the next crop.”
“I knew they were in living soil and I knew those were the practices that I believe in,” Wormser said. With that foundation, he’s been able to experiment and support many of the magnetic genetics that he has always gravitated to. Before joining the team at Tower Three, Wormser grew in the medical market for Patriot Care, and he also runs the seedmaking and strain collection company Teaming With Terps.
“I did a series of Chem 91 reversals in response to all the candy dessert weed which is like a California thing.” Wormser showed off the new Mussels strain he’s working on, an homage in part to the legacy of Western Mass native Greg “Chemdog” Krzanowski. “I’m sort of trying to have an East Coast take—I keep all my strains on the savory sort of side. Specifically, with the Chem 91 being a Massachusetts strain, I felt the coastal theme fit … and now these crosses are actually falling in that same spectrum of flavor.”
“We’re trying not to let the market dictate,” Kinahan said. “We’re trying to do the opposite, which is to lead the charge. That’s why we’re growing new things that not a lot of people have.”
“There is a distinction that’s not just about canopy size,” Wormser said. “A lot of growers are claiming craft, and there are a lot of facilities that are labeled as craft, but their practices are no different than any of these [large multi-state operators].”
