On KMUD’s The Cannabis Show, we have advised our listeners to diversify their product line. The industry is obviously struggling to increase the price point of regular flower and may never do so. Once the price has stumbled, it is not in the interests of buyers to do anything about that. Somehow these folks don’t realize that if they jam the farmer, they are jamming themselves. The growers and producers are not static entities, they are evolving.
First, it seems, what is your new market to be? Are you targeting medically challenged people, or older people, or edibles or epicures, or the vape market, or the hash market? And there are more ways to go. Figure this out and then go out and meet those particular needs.
Folks seeking medically focused cannabis may be an older crowd looking for pain relief and not couch potato status. Might this audience be looking for an edible or an oil? They are definitely looking for purity in product. Given the recent news in the LA Times about polluted cannabis, how do you reassure this group of people? And you should know, it is you; your happy smiling face, your enthusiasm and your charm. And, of course, super clean product. The authenticity of the actual producer goes most of the way.
If your market is an older crowd, you may have an uphill battle out there. In a way, dispensaries have confused things and dampened this market what with their demands for high THC or die. The older customer is potentially a very big group but, consider, they want an experience and don’t necessarily want to get loopy. You know, someone who doesn’t smoke regularly, might just get high as a kite on 18%. Blue Dream is potentially a perfect candidate for this customer – it gets A marks on fragrance, color, trichomes, but keeps the THC where you want it. Your challenge, again, is reaching this group despite the dispensaries. Try some demos specifically speaking to these folks – they are easy to recognize.
Edibles are a particularly easy way to consume cannabis and quite a few people do so. Private cannabis dinners are happening down in the City. Edibles are well-received for pain relief. Vape pens as well; except they have a problem – at present, the consumer can’t trust testing – and it does not help to say that its not my fault, no one said I had to test for that. The consumer just thinks they have been poisoned.
Although it’s kinda old school vape, hash isn’t for everyone. It’s thick and heavy; but it does have some very attractive characteristics. Top of the list is the aroma and the taste – talk about gourmet pot.
One final thing I would like to mention, infused pre-rolls. They saved our butt when they got popular. Consider, the dispensaries want high THC but you only have what you have; so we took the kief at the bottom of our trim and mixed it up with the lower potency weed – presto, a very respectable, high THC product. We re-birthed it. Good luck out there.
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Steve Dodge owns Homegrown Farms and Humboldt Growers Network. Besides The Cannabis Show, he is on Substack (https://nevergiveup.substack.com/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/home_grown). Been in the biz since 1978. His farm comes equipped with Gizmo, the black cat and Leda, the really big Rottweiler. Oh, did he mention the gold fish that got him in trouble? Yeh, the CDFW threw a fit.
Photo Credit: Steve Dodge
