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Welcome to the Good Weed Board on StratCann, part eight! This time around, it’s a special edition. There will be no reviews. Instead, for the next three instalments, I’ll write about the current state of the market and the evolution of cannabis quality grading.
Here, in part eight we scrutinize the cheap weed system and explain why consumers should beware of most pre-rolls, vape oils, and milled flower. Part nine will offer some tips on how to use the OG Rating Guide. Finally, in part ten, we look forward to introducing our new classification tool: delineating the fuel spectrum.
So, what is cheap weed? How did it become the predominant segment of the regulated market here in Canada? And why should consumers avoid it? Let’s dig into the details.
Cheap isn’t just about the cost of goods. It’s actually more about ethos. The idea of cheap is transactional, not transformative. It’s commercial. The idea doesn’t care about legacy or impact. It only cares about profit. And just like any other cheap goods, cheap weed needed a system to make it flourish.
Many different kinds of businesses were launched at the onset of the regulation era circa 2018. But only a fraction of them were the kind you would expect: traditional market growers and dealers hoping to take their craft mainstream. Instead, a new crowd of stakeholders entered the scene, and ever since, they’ve been systematically racing each other to the bottom of the cheap weed system.
Executives and market analysts will point to the data and claim that cheap weed is popular. That cheap weed sells. Then, they innovate more products to serve the market they‘re invested in because it’s what the buyer wants, right? But maybe most consumers are just susceptible to systems.
Seth Godin has written about the cheap chocolate system. “Like most systems,” he says, “It’s largely invisible. The people in it don’t mean to do harm, they’re simply making choices that feel like their best option. And most of all, the system works to defend itself, to create culture that defends the status quo.”
Supermarkets that specialize in cheap chocolate and other cheap goods have become widespread by creating this kind of culture. Now a similar ideology is taking over the cannabis industry. As Seth puts it: “It’s easier, sometimes, to just go with the system,” even when the system is detrimental to the nature of the goods we trade and consume.
Think of tobacco. Originally, it was traded by whole leaf. At some point the substance became commercialized. Systems took over. Big companies started making products for profit. Ingredients were added, and processes refined. Eventually the tobacco wasn’t just tobacco anymore. It became something more.
But specifically what is cheap weed? To me, it’s the vast majority of options on the regulated market excluding whole flower. We’re talking about pre-rolls, vape oils, and milled products.
Yes, there are exceptions, such as craft growers that utilize premium flower to make pre-rolls or concentrate products in-house. But the inputs for these exceptions aren’t cheap, and there isn’t anything extra added. Products with additional ingredients are not to be trusted.
Have you seen the Freshpet dog food commercial where the narrator asks the pets if they know about the extra ingredients in their cheap bag of dog food? He levels with them about the spray-on flavour and powdered meat. The pets look shocked and disgusted after learning the truth. I wonder if the majority of cannabis consumers would react similarly as they learn the truth about cheap weed.
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The truth is that dried flower inside most packs of pre-rolls is valued for as low as ten cents or less per gram. It’s the same with inputs destined for vape, milled, and other infused products. In these cases, the grower is already losing money. They don’t take special care of the harvest. It’s only cheap weed.
Cheap weed must be remediated before further processing. At this point, the inputs are lacking in flavour. The potency is diminished. It’s totally generic, and basically unsellable. That’s when the marketing masterminds spring into action. Names are imagined. Recipes concocted. Ingredients are added to revitalize the starting materials. An imposter is born. Weed that’s sweet, not delicious. But cheap.
Do you notice that cheap weed tastes the same, even when the flavours are advertised as different? I think it’s because manufacturers can’t copy the unique essence of something. Maybe science can identify the primary components that makeup what we experience as an aroma or flavour profile. But that doesn’t mean we can replicate the profile.
So, if a producer wants to make a strawberry product, they should start with some strawberry weed. But strawberry traits can be hard to find. The alternative is to blend various ingredients that mimic the profile of a strawberry. These synthetic, menthol-like concoctions are commonly used to disguise cheap weed.
The same formula applies to potency. Cannabinoids deteriorate rapidly when dried flower isn’t handled properly. So producers choose to add something back in as replenishment. Low-grade, THC-rich concentrate is usually the supplement of choice. COA results become satisfied while consumers are left with inferior highs.
Cannabis consumers deserve better. Purchasers should be reluctant to support brands that peddle fraudulent products. Don’t buy cheap weed. Seth is right, “We can see the system if we look for it.”
That’s all for part eight. Stay tuned for part nine as we unveil the Twelve Rules of the OG Rating Guide. Happy blazing!
Marty Wig is the cofounder of Overgrown Gardens, and creator of the OG Rating Guide. He has been grading cannabis since 2003.
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