From Lab to Shelf: How HOH CBD Built a Thriving Seed-to-Sale Hemp Business in Michigan
Lori and Andrew Putt share hard-won lessons on branding, quality systems, international expansion, and navigating the ever-changing CBD marketplace
The iHemp Hour marked its 118th episode this December with a conversation that cut straight to the heart of what it takes to succeed in the CBD business. Lori Putt, a 37-year Dow Chemical veteran turned hemp entrepreneur, and her son Andrew Putt, who handles cultivation and extraction, joined hosts Dave Crabill and Blaine Bechtold to share the real-world challenges and triumphs of running HOH CBD—a vertically integrated, Michigan-grown hemp company.
Their story offers a roadmap for anyone considering the CBD space: start with a genuine need, invest relentlessly in quality, and be prepared to learn expensive lessons along the way.
A Business Born from Family Need
HOH CBD didn’t begin as a business plan—it began with Lori’s father.
“We started for my dad who was sick. That’s how we actually got into the business of making products… Managing that pain without being opioids was absolutely critical for us.”
What started as personal experimentation with CBD tinctures and topicals evolved into a full product development process. The family tested different formulations—1,000mg creams, 3,000mg tinctures, 6,000mg broad-spectrum options, even an 8,000mg R&D formula—tracking what actually provided relief.
“We learned a lot through that and using these different three thousand, six thousand, lipid encapsulated versus just your full spec.”
This origin story shapes everything about HOH: quality isn’t a marketing claim, it’s the founding principle. If a product doesn’t work, it doesn’t ship.
Growing Smart: Lessons from Four Years of Cultivation
Andrew Putt manages the agricultural side from their Lake Ann, Michigan operation (west of Traverse City). His approach reflects the kind of disciplined trial-and-error that separates successful hemp farms from failed experiments.
Strain Selection Through Systematic Testing
“Our first year we started out with 18 different strains. We did a lot of testing the first three years and now we’re down to about two.”
The winning genetics? A Sweetened strain sourced from South Carolina clones, plus a local variety from Dennis at Lakeland Hemp near Elk Lake.
The Lakeland genetics offered a surprising lesson:
“The plants were smaller but the cones and the oil was better. When we first looked at it we were like, ‘Wow, I don’t know, is this going to be good?’ We were used to huge plants. Small but mighty.”
Why Clones Over Direct Seeding
HOH has used clones exclusively since launch:
“With a clone you’re getting a [genetic copy] from that mother plant and you’re not guessing if it’s going to come up a male or a female.”
For operations focused on high-quality CBD flower and extraction, the predictability of clones outweighs the cost savings of direct seeding.
The Workforce Advantage
Hand harvesting requires labor. The Putts solved this by retaining the same crew they’d built during years in the hop industry—workers who’ve been with them for eight or nine years, moving between hemp, orchards, and apples with the seasons.
Building a Vertically Integrated Operation
HOH controls every step from seed to sale: cultivation, extraction, distillation, formulation, and fulfillment. This wasn’t about empire-building—it was about control.
“One of the things we wanted to do was to ensure that we could control that full integration. If something happened we could make our own adjustments. But we didn’t build it big enough to be a big processor for other farmers—we made it to scale so that we could actually do our own extraction, do our own distillation, and the formulation in the lab.”
When asked about toll processing for other Michigan growers, Andrew’s answer was telling:
“We’re so busy with our own stuff that we’re making oil and putting it in the products as fast as we can make it.”
The Brutal Education of CBD Marketing
Lori was candid about the steep learning curve in digital marketing—lessons that cost real money before they paid dividends.
The SEO Reality Check
“You can have a great website but if nobody goes to the website it doesn’t really help you… How do you make sure your social media just doesn’t get clicks but you actually can convert those clicks to sales?”
The solution required serious backend work:
“Making sure that SEO in the back engine is actually working and bringing people there and that you’re actually being brought up when you Google CBD cream—that your name actually pops up.”
The Affiliate Program Trap
Many CBD companies launch affiliate programs expecting partners to do the promotional work. Lori learned otherwise:
“If you don’t give the affiliates exactly what you want them to do, they don’t really do it. You have to provide the content for them… I just thought, ‘Well, you’re signing up so you’re going to promote my products on your websites.’ But I didn’t realize it’s better if you actually set it up where you give them the content.”
Label Design Matters More Than You Think
“There’s so many things on labeling that change all the time… Making sure you have a label that wants people to grab it. There’s a little bit of trick in that on the shelf.”
Payment Processing: The Five-Week Nightmare
One of the episode’s most valuable warnings came around merchant services—the payment processors that every e-commerce business depends on.
When Square Froze Their Funds
“We got stopped by Square. For about five weeks we didn’t receive any of our money. Square had an issue with what we had stated on the website. We had to go through filling out all the different paperwork, then we had to submit it, then we had to resubmit it, and then in the end we finally got our money—but it took about five weeks.”
The Four-Month Backup Plan
Seeking redundancy, Lori found a CBD-focused merchant at a trade show in Florida. The qualification process took four months—and delivered a final surprise:
“Only at the very end they’re like, ‘Yeah, but Lori, you can’t have these five products on your website.’ They said, ‘You have CBC [cannabichromene] and we don’t want CBC on our banking.’ I was like, ‘I’ve never heard of that. Nobody has ever told me that.’ But not until the very end did that happen.”
The Testimonial Contradiction
The same merchant imposed restrictions that illuminate the regulatory gray zone CBD companies navigate:
“The merchant said I couldn’t put any testimonials that referenced anything good about the CBD on my website… We had a lot where they had back pain, some had MS, some had cancer. You couldn’t reference any of that… But what they said—which I found really interesting—was you can put that on your social media sites, but you can’t put it on your website.”
The workaround? HOH now posts testimonials on Facebook and Instagram while keeping the main site compliant.
International Expansion: The Brazil Partnership
HOH has secured an exclusive distribution contract in Brazil—but the path revealed just how complex international CBD sales can be.
The Regulatory Gauntlet
Brazil’s ANVISA (their FDA equivalent) requires extensive qualification:
“Their ANVISA is very involved. We have to go through the entire qualification process with them, which took us—to get the first step approved, which is that we could actually ship product to a patient—about two months ago.”
Currently, HOH ships directly to individual patients. Full distributor-level approval is expected to take another nine months.
The Paperwork Reality
“The paperwork to ship to Brazil—we need almost 20 different documents to ship one tincture. All of the scripts from the doctors and everything and all of their information… If any of that is missing or wrong, it gets held up in the warehouse.”
Their first shipment cleared customs smoothly. The second got stuck in a Brazilian warehouse, requiring significant troubleshooting.
The Importance of Local Connections
“If we didn’t have friends in Brazil, we wouldn’t have been able to maneuver the system. And you need to have a good attorney—now you’re talking about two different countries.”
The Putts’ advantage: they lived in Brazil for three years, giving them cultural knowledge and personal connections essential for navigating bureaucracy.
Quality Systems: From Good Practices to Documentation
Blaine Bechtold, who has helped HOH develop their quality management system, highlighted a common trap: following good procedures without documenting them.
“We’ve always been following them but we may not have always been documenting them the way that we should each and every day. Andrew is the Gestapo of ensuring that we’re documented—that people come into our office, they sign in.”
The company now maintains SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) covering every step from harvest to finished product, with third-party verification through quality assurance partnerships.
Product Development Philosophy: Solve Real Problems
With over 52 tincture SKUs alone, HOH’s product line might seem overwhelming. Lori acknowledges the need to rationalize:
“I need to reduce the tinctures… By the time you have lipid encapsulated, broad, water, full—and then combinations like CBD-CBN, CBD-CBG—plus multiple flavors… You have to carry inventory of all that.”
But the breadth came from genuine experimentation:
“In 2018, we didn’t know what people wanted to use for CBD. Did they care about beauty products? Hair care? Pet products?”
What’s Working
- 4,000mg Deep Intensive Relief Cream: Their best-seller, consistently praised in reviews
- Ageless serums and eye serums: Beauty products gaining traction as the market matures
- Hair growth products with Anagain: Outperforming moisturizing hair products
- Pet products: Particularly drops for aging dogs and treats for puppies
The CBG Discovery
For eczema relief, CBD alone wasn’t enough:
“We had four different products in R&D and none of them worked to my satisfaction. Finally, the fifth time around, what we had to do is combine the CBD and the CBG together, and that combination actually gave us the best relief.”
Marketing Wins: Shark Discovery and Product Testing
The Shark Discovery Deal
HOH landed a promotional deal with Shark Discovery, resulting in a TV commercial and a full-page ad in Bon Appétit magazine. The learning?
“Bon Appétit—I thought they put out a magazine and it went to every region. That’s not true. Every region has a different set of articles and advertisement.”
The campaign launched in the final weeks of the year, with results still being measured.
Third-Party Product Testing
To work around testimonial restrictions, HOH partnered with a company called Relief for structured product testing:
“These are actually people who will do testing for two weeks on our products… A different way to see how well your products are doing by having people actually use them for a period of time.”
Results are expected in Q1, providing data-backed claims that can satisfy even cautious payment processors.
The Market Reality: Delta-8 Confusion and Education Gaps
The conversation turned to the broader CBD market’s challenges, particularly the confusion caused by Delta-8 THC and similar hemp-derived intoxicants.
“Our biggest issue is actually Delta-8, Delta-9. We technically can’t—we don’t produce any Delta-8 or Delta-9. A lot of the other states that can under CBD laws sell Delta-8 and Delta-9, they want us to do that, but we can’t.”
Lori recounted attending what was advertised as a CBD show in Fort Lauderdale:
“It changed from CBD to an ‘alternative’ [show]. I was shocked. We were the only—were there one other one, Andrew?—two or three CBD [vendors] out of that whole show.”
The education gap extends to retail:
“People are so afraid of tinctures. They don’t understand the difference of full-spec and broad-spec, so they don’t want to buy them—but they love the creams.”
Breaking News: CRA Processor License Enforcement
The episode closed with significant regulatory news that could affect every CBD retailer in Michigan.
Dave Crabill shared a report from Michigan Food E-News:
“A recent disciplinary hearing and license suspension of a marijuana retailer also selling hemp-derived CBD products should raise the attention of other retailers. Michigan law requires retailers selling CBD products to have a Processor-Handler license from the state.”
The implications are significant:
“This would mean that every gas station that’s selling CBD-related products would also have to do this.”
iHemp Michigan plans to investigate further and report back in January.
Holiday Recipe: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Curried Hemp Seed
Blaine shared a seasonal recipe perfect for holiday gatherings:
Ingredients:
- 3-4 sweet potatoes, cut into large chunks
- 6-8 dried apricots, halved
- Extra virgin olive oil (or hemp seed oil)
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 4-6 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- ½ cup shelled hemp seeds
- 2-3 sprigs fresh parsley, minced
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375°F
- Roast sweet potatoes with olive oil, lemon zest, and salt
- In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast curry powder for 1-2 minutes
- Reduce heat to low, stir in hemp seeds
- Toast until curry transforms from orange to vivid yellow
- Top roasted potatoes with curried hemp seeds and fresh parsley
The curry hemp seed mixture can be made in advance and stored in a sealed glass jar at room temperature for 1-2 weeks.
📍 Get hemp seeds: DownOnTheFarm.biz or your local grocery store
Resources & Links
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Resource |
Details |
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HOH CBD |
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12 Days of Christmas Sale |
20% off site-wide + free shipping + daily free gift with purchase |
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HOH Location |
Lake Ann, Michigan (west of Traverse City) |
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iHemp Michigan |
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Cannabis Tourism |
sparxandrec.com (Mike Brennan’s new venture) |
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MI Marijuana Report |
Looking Ahead
The next iHemp Hour will air Thursday, January 5th at noon, where the team will dig deeper into the CRA licensing developments and preview upcoming hemp building educational sessions planned for early 2023.
As Dave Crabill noted, Michigan’s new political landscape—with Democrats controlling the House, Senate, Governor’s office, and Supreme Court—may present new opportunities for hemp advocacy:
“It’s time to start twisting arms and ears.”
Growing the future from seeds of the past.