Ben Cohen of the iconic duo known as Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream has introduced a new venture of another love in his life, cannabis. Ben’s Best Blnz or known as B3, the just-launched company is a bright, bold cannabis brand that offers low-THC pre-rolls and full-spectrum vapes.
B3 is registered as a nonprofit, with 100% of its profits split between three entities: 10% will go to the Last Prisoner Project, an organization dedicated to freeing individuals impacted by cannabis criminalization; another 10% will be donated to the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, whose mission is to “secure sustainable power, ensure agency, and provide security for American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS)”; and the remaining 80% will be administered in partnership with NuProject as grants to Black cannabis entrepreneurs.
Cohen worked with Pentagram’s Eddie Opara and Jack Collins to design the brand’s visual identity, which includes packaging, website, and merchandise. The brand is vibrantly designed and transparent in its celebration of Black designers and vendors, who are also listed on B3’s website. As a Black designer who is well aware of the industry’s whitewashed makeup, Opara was conscious of involving other Black creators in building the brand’s visual language.
B3’s most striking gesture is the copy that covers both the website and product packaging. Printed on the tins for B3’s low THC pre-rolls are quotes by renowned abolitionist Angela Davis and the late former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. The power of the quotes, combined with what Opara describes as “authentic embossing,” creates “something to treasure, something you remember.”
