How Will We Smoke Weed in the Future? The Consumer Has Spoken and Picked These Two Ways!

Smoking weed, as old as the Bible and maybe even done while writing the Bible.

How will the new wave or cannabis legalization affect the way we smoke weed?  Will anything change from the traditional tray, grinder, papers, filters, rolling a joint or hitting a bong classic?  While everyone will have an opinion on what will or will not happen in the future regarding smoking weed, as opposed to eating it, vaping it, drinking it, or putting it under our tongues, the Cannabis 2.0 consumer is speaking loud and clear about how they plan on smoking weed in the future.

Two data points are starting to emerge about the future of smoking marijuana, the consumer does not want the mess and fuss of trays and papers, and they want as little work as possible to enjoy smoking weed.  The most recent data points consumers are showing the weed industry is the continued growth of pre-rolls as a preferred choice to smoke cannabis, as well as the emergence is search volume and advertising of dry her vaporizers.

Both point to common retail trends of “do it for me, even if I have to pay a little bit more”, and in general human nature, “I want to do as little work as possible”.  The dry herb vaporizer trends also has a few extra benefits like being more discreet in a still-not-accepted-everywhere cannabis world, as well as being clean and compact.

As MJ Biz pointed out in their recent article here, with the help of Headset Data, sales of pre-rolls were up over 50% in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.  For those unfamiliar with the term pre-rolls are exactly what they sound like, someone pre-rolls the joint or blunt for you, adds a few dollars on to the price for labor and time, and you buy a completely assembled, ready to smoke joint or blunt.  Consumers are clearly saying that days of trays, grinders, filters, learning how to roll a joint, taking the time to roll the joint, and cleaning all that ancillary gear up is not worth it.  Add $2 to $3 to that gram or two of cannabis if you want, but the roll the joint for me and just let me have it ready to smoke.  One interesting change that may come from this trend is the quality of weed used in pre-rolls.  As we covered the subject here, many in the industry believe that pre-rolls are filled with the lowest quality weed left at a dispensary in order to package the schwag or “party mulch” leftovers into a product. If consumers demand better quality cannabis in their pre-rolls, shops that are putting lower quality leftovers into pre-rolls may have to change that habit.

The Cannabis 2.0 consumer is leaning to paying a bit more to have a joint rolled and ready to smoke, no mess, no fuss, no work, and much less discreet.

A similar data point supporting this new trend in smoking cannabis is the advertising dollars and search volume starting to emerge around dry her vaporizers.  What is a dry herb vaporizer you may ask?  Just like the words say, it takes cannabis flower and vaporizes it at around 220 degrees, and you can then inhale it. Some studies have shown vaping cannabis flower is the best method of consumption for alignments such as insomnia and chronic pain.  While similar to smoking cannabis flower in that you inhale the product and need to blow out the smoke or vapor, it is much cleaner than using combustion or fire to burn the plant.  Dry herb vaporizers are simple to use, can hold as much flower as a small glass pipe, are very discreet, and can be heated up in less than 90 seconds. To be clear, this is not vaping cannabis oil and dealing with the history of cannabis oil and lung inflammation.  This is just breaking off a small amount of flower, crumbling it into a small chamber, putting the cover on, hitting a button, and 90 seconds later you have enough cannabis to “smoke” for about 3 people in one session.

The consumer search volume is starting to establish a floor as more consumers see videos and ads for dry her vaping and decide to check it out or buy a unit.  A good dry herb vaporizer can run you anywhere form around $100 to as much as $250 depending on the bells and whistles you want with your device. Do you want to control it with an app, do you want fancy lights, how big of a chamber are looking for in your device, etc.

Conclusion

The actual act of smoking cannabis can be messy and requires time and a learning curve to rolling a joint.  The new cannabis consumer, despite being short on funds due to the current economic conditions around the world, is willing to pay for “labor and supplies” in order to have an already-done-for me joint rolled and ready to smoke. The consumer is saying the extra $2 o $3 added on to the product is fine if it means they don’t have to deal with rolling trays, grinders, filters, and the time and energy needed to roll a joint. In a similar trend, smoking tends to be smelly and messy, and using a dry herb vaporizer to “smoke weed” is cleaner, more discreet, and can lower the whole process of inhaling cannabis to 90 seconds or less. Vaporizing has its own health benefits compared to smoking, as well as using less product per use than is required for smoking weed, ie, your stash will last longer by dry her vaporizing.

These trends are not unique to the cannabis industry per say, consumers have always paid up for “installation” or “you just do it all for me”.  Buy a huge TV?  There are now services that come and hang it up and get it set up correctly for you. Buy a great surround sound system but don’t want to deal with hooking it all up, there is a service for that, “just do it for me and get it right”.  Cannabis consumers are saying the same thing, “I don’t have the time or energy to do this part, so I will pay more for X”. With cannabis discretion still needed in some areas and households, dry herb vaporizing is a quick and stealth way to inhale cannabis, blow it out, be done in 90 seconds, and slide the vaporizer back into a purse or bathroom shelf. The benefits of cannabis flower with trays, grinders, spilling sandwich bags of flower out, and the much more pungent smell created by burning or combusting cannabis flower.

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