Mario Guzman, the cannabis breeder and entrepreneur widely known as Mr. Sherbinski or simply “Sherb,” has provided Beard Bros Media with a detailed account of his separation from the business operating the Sherbinskis brand and his dispute with people and companies connected to Primetime, Boutiq, and Doja.
Guzman alleges that promises involving compensation, equity, executive authority, licensing opportunities, and the cultivation of his genetics were never fulfilled. He also claims that his name, personal history, social media audience, signature, designs, and reputation have continued to be used without his approval.
These are serious and disputed allegations. Beard Bros Media is reporting what Guzman says happened, not declaring his account to be an established legal finding. The precise ownership of the Sherbinskis brand, particular business assets, and any related intellectual property depends on contracts and corporate records that have not all been made public or reviewed by Beard Bros Media.
What is already clear is that the conflict reaches beyond a failed business relationship. It raises a recurring question in legal cannabis: what happens when the identity of a founder, the ownership of a company, and the stewardship of influential genetics no longer remain in the same hands?
Editorial note before publication: This article reports allegations contained in a written statement Mario Guzman provided to Beard Bros Media. Beard Bros Media has not independently verified every assertion concerning contracts, ownership, compensation, social media access, intellectual property, or the intentions of the named parties.
From the Medical Cannabis Movement to a Global Reputation
Guzman has spent more than two decades cultivating cannabis and building a reputation around genetics that helped define the modern market. His history is closely associated with Sunset Sherbert and the Gelato family, cultivars whose influence can now be found across dispensary menus, breeding programs, and branded products around the world.
Beard Bros Media previously examined that history in The Cannabis Trail Blazers Series: How Mario “Mr. Sherbinski” Guzman Changed the Flavor of the Game with Sherbert and Gelato. That reporting described Guzman’s early cultivation work in San Francisco, his development and selection of Sunset Sherbert and Gelato phenotypes, and the cultural influence those varieties gained as dessert-forward cannabis moved into the mainstream. You can also read more here about Famed Gelato Strain Breeder Clears the Air on Imposters.
Guzman founded the Sherbinskis company around the nickname by which the cannabis community already knew him. The brand eventually expanded beyond flower into retail, manufactured products, licensing, and international recognition. In Guzman’s telling, the commercial brand was inseparable from his public identity because his name, face, story, relationships, and genetic work supplied much of its meaning.
That connection now sits at the center of the dispute.
The Primetime Transaction and the Promises Guzman Says Brought Him In
According to Guzman’s statement, a group operating through Primetime approached him in 2023 about combining their businesses. He describes Primetime at that point as primarily a California cannabis flower wholesaler that also controlled Boutiq, then a much less established brand.
Guzman says the proposed transaction was presented as a way to expand the combined operation. He alleges that written proposals contemplated cultivating his genetics at scale in Massachusetts, converting a dispensary on Abbot Kinney into a Sherbinskis flagship, pursuing licensing opportunities across the country, retaining him in an executive position, and increasing his compensation and parent-company equity when agreed performance targets were met.
Public reporting confirms that a transaction between Primetime and Sherbinskis occurred in 2023, although accounts differ sharply over what followed. An article summarizing Primetime’s version described the deal as a merger in which Primetime assumed significant Sherbinskis liabilities and later changed the brand’s team and operations. The exact terms of the transaction, Guzman’s continuing ownership position, and the performance provisions he describes have not been independently verified by Beard Bros Media.
Guzman says he spent approximately 18 months promoting the combined business, making introductions, and pursuing opportunities through relationships accumulated over his career. He points to a Florida licensing relationship as one example of the value he believes his involvement created for the organization.
The compensation structure he says was promised never arrived. According to Guzman, his requests for information were initially met with explanations that the company’s financial records were not ready. He says he was later told that profitability would need to come first before the board could approve additional equity. Guzman characterizes the evolving answers as a pattern in which the conditions kept changing while the promised benefits remained out of reach.
Beard Bros Media has not reviewed the complete transaction documents, board records, financial statements, or communications necessary to determine whether the alleged commitments were contractual, conditional, amended, disputed, or legally enforceable.
Guzman Says He Lost Access to the Instagram Account He Built
Guzman’s account also centers on an Instagram profile he says he personally developed over many years. For a founder whose public identity and professional network were closely tied to social media, control of that profile carried value beyond the follower count. It was a direct channel to cultivators, consumers, collaborators, retailers, and other people who associated Guzman with Sherbinskis and Gelato.
According to Guzman, he was asked to provide temporary access so a designer could clean up the account. He says he agreed reluctantly and was locked out soon afterward. Guzman alleges he was first told the loss of access was a mistake and would be corrected, but says the account was never returned to him.
Guzman views that episode as the start of a wider effort to continue using the credibility associated with his identity while reducing or eliminating his control. He further alleges that former employees were rehired in an effort to obtain access to designs, marketing methods, and relationships connected to his work.
The Distinction Between a Brand and Its Genetics
The most consequential part of Guzman’s argument is his insistence that control of the Sherbinskis brand does not confer ownership of his genetic library.
Guzman says the original genetics remain solely his and are held through Voice of the Plant. He rejects any suggestion that another company can claim possession of the originals merely by operating under the Sherbinskis name or entering a commercial agreement involving that brand.
“There is only one originator of Gelato. That is me,” Guzman wrote in his statement to Beard Bros Media. “I am the sole owner of the originals, and they live in my genetics library under Voice of the Plant.”
Guzman says he created and selected the cultivars through work conducted in HIS homes and garages and supervised the breeding process. The broader cannabis community has long associated him with the creation of Sunset Sherbert and Gelato. Legal ownership of plant genetics, however, is a more specific question than historical attribution. It can involve contracts, licenses, plant patents, trademarks, trade secrets, custody of living material, and the provenance of particular cuts or seed lines.
Beard Bros Media has not reviewed a complete chain of title for the genetics or any agreements that may define how they could be cultivated, licensed, marketed, or referenced. The article therefore distinguishes between Guzman’s documented place in cannabis history and his present legal claims about exclusive ownership and authorization.
Boutiq and the Value of a Founder’s Reputation
Guzman identifies Boutiq as one of the largest beneficiaries of his time with Primetime. He says the vape brand was relatively unknown when the transaction began and argues that his public promotion, podcast appearances, relationships, and association with the company helped increase its visibility.
Boutiq has since become a prominent vape brand. That growth alone does not establish how much should be attributed to Guzman, Primetime’s operators, the company’s products, distribution, marketing, or other factors. Guzman’s point is that his cultural credibility was used to support the wider business while the compensation and equity he expected allegedly failed to materialize.
He says he eventually began distancing himself from the operators while remaining a shareholder, and that the ownership issues are being handled through formal channels. Beard Bros Media should verify the existence and status of any arbitration, lawsuit, shareholder demand, mediation, or other proceeding before describing those channels more specifically.
The Doja Dispute and the Use of “Sherb”
Guzman’s statement also describes a conflict with Ryan Bartholomew of Doja. Guzman says the two had done business years earlier, when Gelato genetics were commanding intense demand, but that their relationship had ended poorly.
According to Guzman, Bartholomew repeatedly sought a meeting after learning about the conflict involving Primetime. Guzman says Bartholomew told him he wanted to help and had spoken with the other side but wanted to hear Guzman’s account. Guzman says he told Bartholomew that supporting him would mean declining to work with the people Guzman believed had wronged him. Its important to note that Ryan had been talking/working with Primetime way before it was public that Sherb wasn’t involved, so the timing of when he approached Sherb was suspect which made it clear that the intentions weren’t sincere.
Guzman attributes the following response to Bartholomew: “Times are tough, Mario. I just need the money.”
Guzman says a Doja x Sherb collaboration appeared roughly two weeks later. He argues that “Sherb” has long been used as a shortened version of Sherbinski and that the collaboration could lead consumers to believe he had approved or participated in it. He says he did neither. He also contends that packaging production timelines suggest the collaboration was already underway when Bartholomew contacted him.
Bartholomew has publicly disputed Guzman’s characterization. In a response described by cannabis publication Newsweed, Bartholomew reportedly acknowledged contacting Guzman and discussing his need to make money but framed the call as an attempt to be transparent. He denied betraying Guzman and described the decision to work with the current Sherbinskis operators as a professional one. Newsweed’s report also noted that Doja and Sherbinskis had previously released co-branded products.
Claims About the Sherbinskis Website and International Deals
Guzman further alleges that people operating the Sherbinskis website have continued to describe the business as the home or originator of Gelato and have used his personal signature after his departure. He says those uses falsely suggest his continuing participation or approval.
He also rejects representations that his genetics or endorsement are involved in certain international arrangements. Guzman specifically states that SOMAI does not possess his genetics and does not have his blessing. More broadly, he says he has not consented to the use of his face, story, name, or designs in deals he is not publicly supporting.
These claims require careful, transaction-specific reporting. A company may have rights to a trademark, brand asset, marketing archive, licensed product, or genetic material without holding every right associated with a founder’s identity or entire genetic library. The reverse is also true: cultural authorship does not automatically determine ownership of every commercial asset connected to that history.
Why Mario Guzman Is Speaking Now
Guzman says he remained silent for a long period while trying to address the dispute through other channels. He is speaking publicly now because he believes people should hear his account and decide how they view the conduct he describes.
He also places his experience within a longer pattern in cannabis. Founders, breeders, growers, and creators frequently built valuable identities and intellectual property before legalization produced conventional corporate structures around them. When investors, licenses, holding companies, trademarks, and national expansion enter the picture, the person who created the culture can discover that cultural recognition and legal control are very different currencies.
That tension does not determine who is legally correct in Guzman’s dispute. It does explain why the story will resonate beyond the parties named in it.
Guzman is asking consumers and members of the cannabis community to scrutinize products, events, booths, and collaborations that invoke his history without his visible participation. He says people who have smoked, cultivated, bred with, or profited from Sunset Sherbert and Gelato should care about whether originators retain control over the work and identity that made later commercial success possible.
His request is direct: he wants the community’s support.
For now, Guzman’s statement puts his position on the record. He says the Sherbinskis brand may be controlled by others, but his personal identity, his account of the history, and the original genetics he claims to hold should not be treated as interchangeable with that company.
In an industry where a founder’s name can become a trademark and a cultivar can become a global product category, that distinction deserves more than a social media shouting match. It deserves documents, direct answers, and careful reporting.
