The evolving cannabis market has made way for new products that put customers more firmly in the driver’s seat.
Whether it’s monitoring how much THC they consume, finding more discreet ways to consume it, or measuring the cannabinoids in their home-baked edibles, these products are designed to give customers more control. These three products were highlighted at the “Seed Lab” exhibitor section during last November’s Marijuana Business Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.
Testing the cannabinoid levels in an edible can be a tricky proposition for small-scale producers, as well as consumers who make their own edibles at home. tCheck, designed by Engineered Medical Technologies, is designed to solve that issue. The handheld device lets customers test the potency of cannabis-infused oils.
The device was created with medical patients in mind, said Peichen Chang, CEO of the company based near Sacramento, Calif. The company’s mantra? “Cannabis can be used as a medicine,” he said. Consequently, correct dosing is critical in edible production.
“As with any medicine, you have to know exactly how much to take,” Chang said. “If you don’t take enough, you get no relief. If you take too much, you can get sick.”
tCheck harnesses the power of light waves to pinpoint the cannabinoid levels in infused oils. The device is essentially a small spectrometer, which uses light waves to determine what substances are dissolved in a liquid, Chang said.
The device is accurate to within plus or minus 10 percent. So, for instance, if an infused oil contains 15mg of cannabinoids per teaspoon, the tCheck reading will be within plus or minus 1.5mg per teaspoon, he said.
Currently, the device works with infused butter, coconut oil and olive oil. A firmware upgrade is underway that will allow the device to test alcohol tinctures. Eventually, the company plans to make the device compatible with other oils, including safflower, grape seed and any other varieties that customers would like added to the roster, Chang said. He added that tCheck began shipping last September, and it can be shipped anywhere.
Another new product headed to market lets customers brew coffee, tea and cocoa infused with cannabis flower.
Brewbudz are fully compostable, single-serve brew pods that work in many single-cup brewing machines. Each pod contains decarboxylated cannabis flower, a self-emulsifying bonding agent and coffee, tea or cocoa. The decarboxylation process essentially activates the flower, converting non-psychoactive THCA into psychoactive THC, said Kevin Love, director of strategic accounts.
During the brewing cycle, combustion occurs within the pod. The result: A fully homogenized beverage infused with cannabinoids and terpenes, he said.
Pods will be available in 10mg, 25mg and 50mg doses. The product will first launch in Nevada by the end of the month. Entry into the Colorado market is planned for mid-February, and further rollouts are scheduled in California, Washington, Oregon and Arizona, Love said.
Brewbudz pods were created with a specific target audience in mind. They’re specially tailored to customers who seek the benefits of cannabis but want to avoid the stigma sometimes associated with it.
“We offer something that’s lifestyle-integrated, and we allow people to actually medicate in public or around their friends without feeling insecure or uncertain about what they’re doing the actions that they’re taking,” Love said.
Because the brew pods are flower-based, they can also be strain-specific to target ailments such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and inflammation, he added. “We want it to be about quality of life of the user.”
Finally, a new vaporizer helps customers monitor exactly how much THC or CBD they’re consuming. INDOse—a product of the Oakland, Calif.-based firm Cannanite—meters how much cannabis they inhale, and alerts them when they’ve reached a pre-set dosing amount, President Ari Freeman said.
These vaporizers come with a pre-programmed dosing limit. An LED display on the device shows how many milligrams of THC or CBD they’ve consumed. The device calculates the total cannabinoid consumption over the course of the session, so customers can take their dose in one large puff or in a series of smaller inhalations. Once they’ve reached their prescribed dose, the device beeps and then pauses. They can consume more, if they wish, or they can stop, Freeman said.
INDOse is scheduled to launch within the next 30 to 60 days; the initial launch includes disposable vaporizers with pre-set dosage quantities. Various models are designed to prompt specific effects, such as drowsiness or pain relief. Ultimately, the company intends to release a model that customers can program themselves, he said.
These vaporizers are “geared toward what we call the ‘responsible user’,” such as parents with children and working professionals, Freeman said. “It’s a product that really is about control. It allows the consumer to control their cannabis use.”
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