At a glance
1906 New Highs is a cannabis-edibles company built around low-dose, fast-acting products organized by intended experience instead of strain. Co-founder Peter Barsoom came to cannabis after more than two decades in finance. In interviews, he has described the original problem plainly: he and his co-founder liked flower but wanted a smoke-free format that felt more predictable and easier to understand than the edibles available when they started the company.
Origin and name
Barsoom says he left finance in 2014 and began building 1906 with a co-founder in 2015. The brand name refers to the period before federal drug regulation and prohibition pushed cannabis out of mainstream medicine. The company’s own origin story treats 1906 as the last year cannabis was broadly accepted as a medicinal ingredient before the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and later restrictions changed that relationship.
That history is part of the positioning, not proof that any individual product treats a medical condition. 1906 sells intended-use products for adults; its own site states that they are not designed to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease.
What 1906 makes
The core range is Drops: small pressed tablets packaged in tins. Go, Genius, Bliss, Love, Chill, Sleep and Boost are names that describe how the company positions each formula. Pain AM and Pain PM are gummies. Go Beans and Love Beans put selected formulas into a bite-sized format, 1906 Spirits is designed to be added to a drink, and Off Duty is sold in single-serve packets. Bundles and a Discovery Kit let shoppers compare multiple lines.
The formulas combine cannabinoids with other ingredients, and those additional ingredients matter. Some products include caffeine or botanicals; the useful comparison is the label, cannabinoid amount, full ingredient panel and batch certificate—not the promise implied by a product name.
Fast-acting technology and testing
1906 markets its Drops around an onset of twenty minutes or less, versus the longer onset associated with many conventional edibles. That is the company’s performance claim, not a guaranteed timetable: onset and response vary by person, product and context. The company also publishes laboratory results, giving shoppers a way to check available batch documentation.
The current direct-to-consumer catalog is hemp-derived Delta-9 THC under the federal 0.3% threshold. The website also routes visitors separately to non-dispensary and dispensary locations, reflecting the brand’s presence in both hemp-derived retail and regulated cannabis channels. Laws and availability vary by state and can change quickly.
Why the company matters
1906 helped make intended-use navigation a recognizable category in cannabis edibles. Instead of asking a new shopper to decode cultivar names, the package begins with a use label, a measured amount and a compact format. The company’s differentiation is therefore as much information design as formulation.
The High Rise read
The strongest part of 1906 is clarity: the range is easy to scan, the formats are portable, and batch lab information is accessible. The necessary caveat is equally clear. Names such as Sleep, Genius or Pain AM describe the company’s positioning; they are not guaranteed outcomes. Read the active ingredients and current lab sheet, and treat the label—not the lifestyle language—as the source of truth. Explore more edible brands in the High Rise brand directory. 21+.
Products and consumer context
Brand names can span multiple formats, product generations or licensed partners. Compare the exact item, ingredients or materials, producer, batch or model, and date rather than assuming every product carrying the name is identical.
Availability and licensing
Availability changes by market and date. Use the official site or store locator for current inventory, and for regulated cannabis products confirm the licensed seller and manufacturer in the jurisdiction where the item is sold.
Awards and recognition
Awards mentioned in this profile are historical snapshots tied to a particular year, category and entry. They do not certify every current product, and the reviewed source list should not be treated as an exhaustive award ledger.