I often hear the conversation about the canna business get compared to alcohol industries. The shortcomings of doing this seems slippery. A lot of the medical states, as well as recreational, seem to have modeled their laws based to some degree on alcohol - age restrictions, consumption limitations, regulations about the production and distribution, etc. And I often hear cannabis compared to the wine industry, especially the craft-canna world, where mass produced weed is likened to Gallo Wines, and the finer, more connoisseur flower compared to exquisite Napa wines - with talk of appellations, terroirs, noses, notes and heritage, etc.
ā¦ My inquiry is this: Is there a better way to talk about the business of weed? It seems to beg to be compared to other industries, perhaps like fine chocolate, or cheeses. Where do these comparisons shine? Where do they fall short? Does there need to be a comparison?
Iām curious to hear what you think.
Letās take fine cigars for instance. They are their own thing onto themselves. However, they are often enjoyed along with fine food and fine wine or spirits. If you have ever listened to āCigar Daveā, besides talking about cigars, food and wine, he often speaks of enjoying a good cigar along with good entertainment and fine women and comradery. In other words, it is part of a life style. It blends in with all those things you mentioned, and takes its rightful place.
That is my opinion, and I am welcome to it.
I agree with you. Iām starting to see and hear a lot of āwine-likeā comparisons in the cannabis industry. Ultimately, I donāt think itās a bad idea. When people choose a wine, theyāre usually interested in how it will taste with a particular meal. Iāve read similar musings about particular strains of cannabis. My thoughts immediately went to āWowā¦ XYZ sounds amazing - Iād like to take that on my trip to Palm Springs to help me unwindā.
The descriptions - to me at least, made a difference. Different strains for different mood settings? Why not?
Same with cheese. During a recent business meeting - the hor dourves included a cheese Iād never had. It was amazing! Yes - it was JUST cheese (Manchego if anyone is wonderingā¦maybe not?) but, the taste was distinctive and stood out to me.
Describing strains the way you would for food or wine is sure to vet out Cannabis Connoisseurs - who will validate and vouch for what they believe are superior strains.
Hey - ultimately itās advertising for your buds. IS that really such a bad thing? Several varieties of strains for the ārightā occasion?
Iād buy. 
Fine cigars is a great comparison. It works in so many ways. The lifestyle of weedā¦ Thanks for the input, @tamarindotradingco
And wine, and also cheese. The curiosity of experience. Very powerful drivers. I also think you point at an interesting thing when you talk about READING descriptions and musings of strains. I love going on seed vendor sites and reading the descriptions for the type of weed it will be once itās grown out. I liken it to looking at travel brochures. Very relaxing in and of itself!
as well, @digicole, you mentioned in another thread about Starbucks, and I immediately thought of coffee as a comparison to weed. Thereās a lot of craft coffee, which has now sort of taken over the industry. Things like Peeteās and Starbucks, even McDonalds are getting into the the frappe explosion.
Maybe thereās so much caffeine running the show now that people need to chill a bit - relax into a nice kush. Interesting idea.
I understand your point of view with questioning whether or not to compare the cannabis industry to other industries, specifically alcohol. But I think cannabis and alcoholās Venn diagrams have a much larger overlap with regards to their history and how they are treated publicly.
I think it is valuable to see what happened to alcohol when it was made illegalā¦specifically the black market, bathtub bourbon, crime rates, etc. All can be attributed to the attempt to ban a substance that the public wanted. People forget many of the major alcohol brands today were bootleggers during prohibition. Cannabis is following a similar path. Your top cultivators, or dare I say āMaster Growersā, who are being head-hunted for six figure salaries to run grows today, were breaking the law when they began their career.
But for total honesty, I think most people are much more familiar with the alcohol industry, vs. cigars or cheese. So it makes for more relative conversation and understanding. But I would be curious from your perspective of which industry you think best represents the cannabis industry for comparison?
What a nice response, @RayWearCC!
What Iām looking for is perspective, as well as try to point out the limitations of holding on to a certain perspective, as in the canna industry is just like the alcohol industry. Yes, thereās a lot to compare, but also be mindful of the differences.
So the idea of chocolate and cheese (as well as being the name of a great Ween album - product placement here, folks!) is a thought experiment to see what other ways there are to look at the canna industry, and to see if new insight can be found.
I read it somewhere, but it fitsā¦ a lot of the canna legalization movement is built upon the success of same-sex marriage legislation. Thereās power in that perspective, power to re-contextualize, to re-frame, to actā¦ Thatās sorta what Iām trying to point at.
Uhhh, I would be really interested to see where the parallels from same-sex marriage and cannabis overlapā¦maybe in regards to stateās rights? I have not heard that perspective before.
I think there are several factors playing a role in todayās legalization fight:
ā¢ a general acceptance of cannabis as a healthier alternative to alcohol
ā¢ a more libertarian approach by Republicans - most people still believe that right hates cannabis, when in reality they truly donāt care, especially enough to vote against the legislation. This isnāt meant to imply that Republicans are pushing the movement forward, but rather that most of them are no longer in the way.
ā¢ more education about cannabisā¦specifically with its medical applications
ā¢ push back against the failed āwar on drugsā and the number of lives wasted over cannabis incarcerations
ā¢ legalization - most people arenāt activists or are willing to break the law, so by it becoming legal, you have expanded the user base significantly.
ā¢ PROFIT - politicians see a cash cow and want their cut
From my limited interactions, these are the shifts that I see in the industry, but I donāt know if these go to your original question of how to frame the cannabis industry for comparison with other industries.
I agree with @RayWearCC insofar as the political inferences. Once Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2012 and the tax revenues were glaringly apparent after the first year - it was like the 1800s Goldrush for other states to follow.
Only when the balance of political power and $$$ starts to tilt and neighboring states can put the money to work for their states with Joe Lobbyist- will you see more eases in regulations.
Like the repeal of alcohol - it wonāt seem so bad with "moderate" regulations in place. I believe this is when descriptions and efforts to stand out will become more apparent and more important.
Marijuana and Hemp will eventually (like alcohol) become a highly regulated but mainstream industry. Highly commercialized and owned by conglomerates like PEPSI - ( Gawd - I hope not) but who knows?
Parallels among discerning strains, terpenes, and pharmacology will be written by clever Ad Men, for sheeple that want to be in the know with the best grow!
You make really valid points @MonsterGrow. I donāt look lovingly at companies like Pepsi or Philip Morris playing a large role in the future of cannabis, but it is the only outcome to the legalization debate. I applaud the efforts of those who have worked tirelessly to get legalization to the point it is today, but many failed to truly grasp the reality of what they were asking for. Large conglomerates arenāt going to just allow a competing market to exist. They are FOR SURE going to get their piece.
Just like the beer industry is doing with the microbrew phenomenon. How many āmicroā labels are owned by Coors or Budweiser, who I believe is owned by the company that owns Heineken. Everything is owned by someone else these days. Cannabis is on the exact same trajectory with the ālargerā cultivations and the synthetic patents.
It is easy to get lost in the negative, rather than focusing on the positive. The cannabis industry has its flaws, but I truly love this industry! And I like working every day to try and make it a little better.
Agree with everything you stated!
Cannabis is not alcohol.
Sorry to interrupt your love-fest, but alcohol, nor tobacco, is not cannabis. No matter how much you try to paint it so, no matter how much you imagine their likeness to be, no matter how much HUGE industries are going to try to model it after their own pre-existing industries, they are not the same, nor will they be the same. They may have shades of same-ness, a kind of like-ness when you squint your eyes, but they are not, no matter how much you say otherwise, the same.
Besides. the point of my question is, what other ways are there to look at the nascent industry of cannabis? What models are there to adopt in order to get another perspective?
I recently went to a dispensary and got a vape penā¦ and a lot of packaging. Even the vape cartridge is ultimately going to be thrown awayā¦ all this garbage!
I recently found this article about the environmental impact of coffee and it mentions waste. I thought it might fit here well:
Even John Sylvan, one of the founders of Keurig, says he wishes he heād never introduced coffee pods to the world. āI feel bad sometimes that I ever did it,ā he told The Atlantic, in 2015. āNo matter what they say about recycling, those things will never be recyclable.ā
Note: Canna comparison with tomatoes, both commercial and home-grown, made by @edrosenthal in todayās AMA:
More tomatoes in the United States are grown by home growers than all the commercial growers combined. I have two more comments to make:
- As for tomatoes the reason store bought tomatoes can never be as good as homegrown is because the fruit stops producing sugars when its cut form the plant. In order to get a firm ripe tomatoes rather than tomatoes buy that you buy from a tomato in the store they have to be picked mostly green. They never have a chance to develop the sugars that a vine ripen tomato creates.*
ā¦ Thanks, Ed