🍫 New Cannabis Consumerism

Why eating your cannabis has never been more complicated

I just realized it’s been 6 months since I’ve smoked cannabis.

Don’t worry though, I’m still getting high thanks to a plethora of consumable cannabis products that have been hitting the market from gourmet edibles to micro-dose beverages.

And while I stopped smoking cannabis for personal and medical reasons, I know I’m not the only one seeking alternative ways of consuming the plant.

Yes, smokables still lead the pack, but recent data from New Frontier Data reports the edibles segment grew “$3.4 billion in 2022” which is “up 18% from the $2.9 billion in 2021”.

What specifically makes up that $3.4 billion and growing? Data from BDSA suggests: candy is currently the biggest subcategory accounting for 73% of sales in 2022, followed by chocolates at 9%, beverages, and pills tying for 7% and then infused foods at 4%, and “other edibles” accounting for less than 1% of sales.

I want to clarify that this data is just pertaining to the regulated marijuana market (Adult use and Medical) and does not include hemp-derived products.

It also goes on to further outline demographics that I think are relevant to the points I’m about to make.

The data is slightly tipping towards females, preferring edibles over other cannabis products at 57.63% compared to men at 42.37%. It also highlighted the majority of consumers choosing edibles are between 35-54 at 43.62%, then 18-34 at 28.68%, and 55+ at 27.7%.

One of the areas I think making edibles a contender for new and familiar consumers alike is the technology specifically in how fast the onset of the effects can take place.

This comes down to the molecule size and how your body absorbs it, also taking into consideration how our bodies break down these cannabinoids due to our biochemistry and the overall fact that cannabis is fat soluble.

If you’ve ever eaten a pot brownie at a party, you know the luck of the draw you’re playing with your body.

Hell, I’ve even had a couple of close encounters of staring at the ceiling for too many hours after indulging in chocolates purchased legally from the Colorado recreation market between 2014-2015 right after they legalized adult use.

Proper homogenization regulation has also been implemented since those earlier years of recreational legalization that provide more consistency from one edible to the next giving the consumer more predictability when consuming.

However, with all those advancements, it’s still (in my opinion) a gamble because of a variety of inputs mostly, extraction methods, type of infusion (isolate, distillate, or full spectrum), dosage, and other variabilities like other ingredients or technologies used.

Accessing cannabis edibles has never been more complicated.

We have an abundance of choices, but a variety of applications.

And on dosage alone, potency really matters and can play a massive role in a positive or negative outcome for the consumer because 5mg is a vastly different experience compared to 10mg.

But despite all those hardships, we’re seeing the edibles category continue to grow year over year.

As well as I mentioned above, have personally transitioned to 95% edible consumption. (I gave a 5% variance for the occasions I use a topical, patch, capsule, or oil.)

It’s been an interesting personal journey, I’m not going to pretend that I don’t miss smoking cannabis and over the last 15 years or so I’ve explored it fully, from flower in glass pipes, to bongs, and evolving into concentrates, dabs, and spending a few too many years puffing on the all too enticing world of vape cartridges.

My last stint as a cannabis smoker was exclusively using herb vaporizers, specifically from Storsz & Bickel as I think they make the most superior products on the marketplace.

I still argue if you want to maintain smoking cannabis but do it in the most health-conscious way, you’ve got to kick combustion and move towards herb vaping.

Unfortunately for me and my circumstances, I just had to stop altogether, and initially I decided to take a full-on tolerance break until I could get to the bottom of some health stuff I had and still have to navigate through.

Which was an interesting break in and of itself, I have been consuming cannabis consistently for a while and while I’m aware of tolerance breaks, the importance of them, I also use cannabis to help me manage my pain and I was so nervous about what my life would be like without any cannabis.

My T-break lasted about 4 months, and I’ll probably write about that experience more thoroughly in the future, but a big takeaway was:

1. I can be cannabis free and get by.
   

2. I don’t want to just get by, I want to enjoy cannabis instead of the alternatives that I was grabbing for like non-stop Motrin — which led me to…
   

3. I will continue to use cannabis, but since I’m no longer smoking, I’ve got to figure out how to use edibles to get me to where I want to go and quickly considering they’re not as immediately effective as inhaling something.

Because of my circumstances, I’ve been reflecting a lot on the consumer journey.

With RESTART being a retail operation, I’ve also gotten to have first-hand conversations directly with our customers who have helped validate some of my thoughts and opinions on this subject.

To be blunt, people just don’t enjoy smoking. And it’s not just new users, there are a myriad of reasons why someone is electing to not smoke but would still very much want to enjoy cannabis.

And the market has responded, the edibles and nonsmokable category is only growing.

Hemp-derived has cracked the marketplace wide open offering a myriad of ways to indulge in THC with direct-to-consumer nationally.

We’re seeing innovation with beverages, savory items like crackers, baking oils, and sauces, really anything you can imagine infusing cannabis into.

And while this is all exciting, and I’m certainly on board I’m wondering what’s going to stick in terms of product category? And how will this shape consumers’ usability of cannabis?

I’m still learning, because again, different products are manufactured differently so 5mg of THC in “product A” very well could hit differently than 5mg of THC in “product B”.

So of course the industry itself is still learning.

That part is an uphill battle for marketers to communicate their extraction method, their cannabis infusion, or the technology used to a consumer who really doesn’t understand those nuances.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe consumers are mature enough yet, and that’s not to say some aren’t, but new consumers can’t grasp those differences at this time.

And in a world where we crave consistency, will we ever see that applied to Cannabis?

Education is important, but so is proper regulation.

More products are hitting the market, more states are opening up their cannabis programs, and that means more first-time consumers are entering the chat.

Do you ever stop to think through their perspective?

I’ve been playing around with different doses, a microdose of 1-2mg THC in the morning seems to help me numb my pain enough without numbing my mind, whereas my evening dose is generally between 10-20mg of THC.

Consumers, like myself, are still navigating dosages, onset times, and delayed effects.

The worst is when you overconsume and you feel buckled into a roller coaster ride you’re trying to get off.

This just happened to me this past weekend, I had a 1:1 ratio 5mg of CBG, CBD, and THC gummy that basically hit me like a sedative which just further proves my point that from brand to brand and even the incorporation of other cannabinoids and ingredients can vary the effect a consumer has.

So I’ll leave you with this.

How do you suggest we handle this as an industry, knowing that edibles are only increasing as a category and that there is still so much variability?

Personally speaking, I could have a bad experience and I will still return to the plant.

I understand the reality.

But does the general consumer?

Will they come back if they’re let down once?

Whose job is it to ensure consistency?

And probably most importantly, what defines consistency?