Hi there, and welcome to The Dealers Diary - my musings on the cannabis industry in California, New York and Washington, and building Halara.
If you missed past emails, I recommend checking out the Dealers page where you can see the past emails I sent.
In today's entry: Northern Lights AIO lands | our lab team grew 50% | the houseboat we didn't get
The Dealers Desk
Hey Dealers,
My bad y'all for missing the last two weeks! I moved to Seattle, we grew our headcount in our lab by 50%, and I plain ran out of time. A few of them came from NorCal Cannabis, who just closed their Santa Rosa facility, which is a rough thing to watch happen in this industry, and we're lucky to have them. I'm sending this one a day early to make up for it, and so anyone in New York has a heads up that I'll be at Revelry on Friday.
The good news first: Northern Lights, one of the three new High THC AIOs I showed y'all in August, just went up on our California distributor's menu, so it should start showing up in shops this week. If you asked your budtender to flag the day these land, now's the time to ask. Here's where to find us and the Northern Lights page. Pink Lemonade Haze and Strawberry Sugar are going to the distributor this week so should hit shelves next week.
Now, the move. I have a bunch of friends up here, and I made the mistake of looking at a Zillow listing for a houseboat. I didn't get that, but it got the idea of trying out the PNW into my head, and last Thursday I moved in for what should be about 12 months.
I'm really excited for the orcas and kayaking on the Sound, and once winter hits, skiing at Crystal, so y'all may find me on the slopes handing out Halara vapes.
I'll miss the Bay though. I've been there six years, and I'm going to miss the energy of SF and being close to our facility and the team in Santa Rosa (and the California sun). Washington at the tail end of summer is lovely, sunny and green with everyone outside. When it goes gray and drizzly for weeks this winter I will absolutely be in other states, and flying back up for the sunny ski days.
Being in person in the Washington shops, with the budtenders, is how we grow there, so I want to be around for it. Washington was one of the first two states to legalize, back in 2012 with Colorado, which makes it one of the oldest adult-use shelves in the country.
Then this week I'm in New York City for Revelry's Buyers' Club on Friday, September 18. It's a trade show for dispensary buyers and budtenders (not open to the public), and we're at booth Q220 with a budtender jar contest. If you're a buyer or a budtender in New York, come find us!
Onwards and upwards,
-Malcolm
What We're Seeing
If a cart says live resin and the lab says total THC is above 88%, you're probably holding more distillate than resin. That's arithmetic rather than an accusation, since the terpenes that make live resin worth buying take up room THC would otherwise fill. We print total terpenes on the front of our resin and rosin boxes, and the potency number we publish is TAC, which always reads higher than total THC, so check our COA before you hold us to the 88 line. What THC percentage a live resin cart should be.
Strain Spotlight
Fire OG just came off the line, and it's a good one for the first cool nights of fall, which I'm getting an early start on up here. It's an indica in our Resin Sauce 510 cartridge, California only and a limited run, with myrcene, caryophyllene and linalool doing the work, so you get earthy, woody OG funk on the inhale and then a sweet, slightly citrus fade on the exhale. It's a relaxed, calm one for the end of the night. What I love is the box, which says "Buy me, plant a tree." Once this batch sells through, we'll make a donation to One Tree Planted for one tree for every cart that went out the door.
fresh off the line at our facility
Dealers Choice
Back in June someone rated their Strawberry Jack AIO in our survey, and here's what they wrote.
"Flavor 5/5, smoothness 5/5, packaging 5/5. Would buy again."
"No complaints honestly. This helped me reach Grand Champ 3 in Rocket League."
Verified Customer
Congrats on Grand Champ 3! I love this one.
Quick Hits
The hemp THC ban delay is law now. Last issue I said it still wasn't, and then the House passed the spending bill 370-48 on September 1 and Trump signed it September 2, moving most federal hemp THC restrictions from November 12 to December 11. Synthetic cannabinoids that the plant can't produce naturally still lose hemp status on November 12. Where it landed.
Connecticut is dropping its 70% THC cap on adult-use concentrates October 1. Flower keeps its 35% cap (one act removed the caps and a later one put the flower cap back), and high-potency products still carry warning and advertising requirements. The details.
The DEA told a Mississippi dispensary owner to deal with two employees' past felony convictions before she can get federal rescheduling protections. Nicole Huff of Wildflower Medical Dispensary in Aberdeen says her options were to fire them, withdraw, seek a waiver and lose expedited processing, or go before an agency judge. She says both have worked for her for more than a year without issues, and she plans to fight it. Her side of it.
Weekly Munchies
Blueberry muffins this week, forty minutes and it makes a dozen, which is about right for the first rainy mornings up here.
Refer a Friend
If you know somebody in Washington, send them this and tell them to keep an eye out for me in their shop. And if you know a New York buyer or budtender heading to Revelry on Friday, send it their way too, we're at booth Q220.
P.S - My Weekly Bops
P.S. Seattle songs this week. Heart and Macklemore are both from here, and Rain On Me is for the gray months.
