{"id":167,"date":"2020-11-02T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CBMiaWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmhhcnRmb3JkYnVzaW5lc3MuY29tL2FydGljbGUvc3VmZmllbGRzLWxhc2EtZXh0cmFjdC1zZWVzLW9wcG9ydHVuaXR5LWluLWJ1cmdlb25pbmctY2JkLW1hcmtldNIBAA"},"modified":"2020-11-02T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T08:00:00","slug":"suffields-lasa-extract-sees-opportunity-in-burgeoning-cbd-market-hartford-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=167","title":{"rendered":"Suffield’s Lasa Extract sees opportunity in burgeoning CBD market – Hartford Business"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rick Sotil jokes that, as someone who\u2019s \u201cnever even smoked a joint,\u201d he may seem the unlikely leader of a CBD business.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy kids were laughing,\u201d he recalls, when he first began exploring the venture about two years ago. <\/p>\n

Indeed, it seems a far cry from the Cuba native\u2019s past as a professional world champion jai alai player; and from his other business, Sotil Tree Service, which he\u2019s run for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

But these days he\u2019s bringing the same passion he brought to jai alai and woodworking to Lasa Extract, the Suffield-based business he runs on what used to be a tobacco farm. <\/p>\n

Unlike the dozens of CBD retail shops that have popped up throughout the state, Lasa Extract is a CBD manufacturer. Local farmers bring him hemp plants, which he dries out in a kiln. He can dry 3,000 pounds of wet biomass into 500 pounds of dry biomass in about five days, he said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/article>\n

Once it\u2019s dry, hemp samples are sent to be tested and approved for quality purposes by the state Department of Consumer Protection. Once he gets approval from the state, he grinds the dried plant matter very fine and runs it through an extraction machine, which pulls out oil that is then deep-frozen and processed. <\/p>\n

His state-of-the-art extraction process, which relies on carbon dioxide rather than the more commonly used ethanol, results in a high-quality and cleaner product, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there, you can make whatever you want,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Sotil, 59, originally planned to be a CBD oil wholesaler but said he believes so strongly in the quality of what he\u2019s producing that he now plans to launch his own line of CBD products. He aims to begin manufacturing products within a few weeks. He\u2019ll start with tinctures and lotions, he said, \u201cand then we\u2019ll experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focus on quality<\/b><\/p>\n

CBD, which stands for cannabidiol, is one of the active ingredients of marijuana, or cannabis, but is derived directly from the hemp plant and does not, by itself, cause a \u201chigh\u201d in users. It lacks the THC found in marijuana. <\/p>\n

CBD is marketed for a wide range of uses, including pain relief and anti-anxiety uses, and has grown in mainstream popularity in recent years. Since it typically is sold as a supplement, not a medication, it is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, CBD is big business. The U.S. CBD market is projected to reach $4.7 billion in sales this year, up 14% from $4.1 billion in 2019, according to market research firm Brightfield Group. While retail sales have taken somewhat of a hit during the pandemic, according to the report, the industry largely continues to thrive. <\/p>\n

The total U.S. CBD market could reach $16.8 billion by 2025, as growth is being driven by expanding distribution channels, media coverage, and natural wellness trends, Brightfield Group said.<\/p>\n

CBD also presents new opportunities for Connecticut farmers, who could earn between $5,000 and almost $12,000 an acre for growing hemp, according to a February report by UConn\u2019s Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy and Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a high demand for CBD hemp, but challenges for farmers remain since many states are quickly expanding their production, which drives prices down, and CBD imports could pose an additional threat, the report says.<\/p>\n

Sotil has owned the Suffield farm where Lasa Extract is based for about 18 years; he originally bought it to be the home base for his tree business, which he still owns today. But when someone suggested he consider getting into the hemp business, he looked around his 37,000 square feet of barn space \u2014 perfect for hanging the plants \u2014 and said to himself, \u201cLet me investigate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once he learned how popular CBD products were on the West Coast, and after Connecticut legalized the sale of hemp products in May 2019, he was inspired to take the plunge, especially since he had most of the needed infrastructure already in place. <\/p>\n

The company name came easily, too \u2014 Lasa means \u201ccalm down\u201d in Basque, and is the nickname under which Sotil played jai alai. <\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Gov. Ned Lamont visited the business, where he signed a bill that updated state law to keep Connecticut hemp producers in compliance with federal requirements.<\/p>\n

There have been some bumps in the road, Sotil admits, like when he tried to grow thousands of hemp plants a couple years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig mistake,\u201d he said. \u201cI am not a farmer. We\u2019ve made some mistakes, and we don\u2019t repeat mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed his growth plans a bit, since he\u2019s limiting the number of contractors he allows to work on-site. <\/p>\n

Lasa Extract currently includes Sotil, his wife Valentina, and a chemist, but Sotil says the business is poised to grow its employee base as it launches its product line and expands production. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in this so much,\u201d he said, adding his process will give consumers a reliable, high-quality product. \u201cWhen I take some CBD, even sometimes from the same company and the same milligrams, it has a completely different effect on me. That\u2019s what I don\u2019t want at Lasa Extract. What we\u2019re going to bring to the table is consistency. I\u2019d much rather have product quality over quantity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rick Sotil jokes that, as someone who\u2019s \u201cnever even smoked a joint,\u201d he may seem the unlikely leader of a CBD business. \u201cMy kids were laughing,\u201d he recalls, when he first began exploring the venture about two years ago.  Indeed, it seems a far cry from the Cuba native\u2019s past as a professional world champion jai alai player; and from his other business, Sotil Tree Service, which he\u2019s run for more than 20 years. But these days he\u2019s bringing the same passion he brought to jai alai and woodworking to Lasa Extract, the Suffield-based business he runs on what used… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut-cbd-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}