{"id":2076,"date":"2021-10-29T20:34:51","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T20:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/wp-home\/?p=183197"},"modified":"2021-10-29T20:34:51","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T20:34:51","slug":"some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=2076","title":{"rendered":"Some of Canada\u2019s favourite cannabis brands are American"},"content":{"rendered":"
Some of Canada\u2019s favourite cannabis brands are American – Leafly<\/title> <!-- This is Index Exchange, a script\/\/3rd-party integration that interjects GAM. It needs to be 'ahead' of GTM in the DOM, which comes from Cephalopod. GTM loads GAM. This script needs to setup it's interjection stuff before GAM loads. --> <!-- End Index Exchange --> <!-- Quotes = strings--><!-- No quotes = boolean-->\t <!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.1.2 (Yoast SEO v17.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ --> <!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- BEGIN Sailthru Horizon Meta Information --><\/p>\n<p><!-- END Sailthru Horizon Meta Information --> <!-- Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- End Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- Google Tag Manager --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager --> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --><br \/>\n <!-- Google Tag Manager (noscript) --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager (noscript) --> <title>Leafly<\/title> <title>Leafly \u00ae<\/title> <title>Loading\u2026<\/title> <\/p>\n<div class=\"bg-white fixed flex hidden inset-0 items-start md:h-auto md:items-center overflow-auto\" id=\"age-gate-container\">\n<div class=\"bg-white md:h-auto mx-auto p-lg text-sm w-full\" id=\"age-gate\">\n<p><label for=\"select-country\">Where are you from?<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"age-gate__info\">\n<p><label for=\"select-province\">Which part of Canada?<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"age-gate__age hidden\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"error error--underage hidden\">Darn! You’re not old enough to use Leafly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"error error--unavailable hidden\">Sorry, Leafly isn’t available in your location yet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"hidden age-gate__loading\">Redirecting you to<span class=\"redirect-domain\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-xs mt-auto\">By accessing this site, you accept<br \/>\nthe <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"tou-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/info\/terms-of-use\">Terms of Use<\/a><br \/>\nand <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"pp-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/info\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"container my-xl\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col md:col-9\" id=\"article-content\">\n<p>It\u2019s been three years since Canada <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/news\/canada\/cannabis-legalization-anniversary-year-in-review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">legalized adult-use cannabis<\/a>, and already, some of the most popular brands on the market hail from south of the border.<\/p>\n<p>As of August, Colorado-based <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/brands\/wana-canada\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wana Sour Gummies<\/a> held 38% of the edibles market, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiva.com\/press-releases\/releases-2021\/indiva-reports-second-quarter-fiscal-2021-results\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HiFyre<\/a>. And Bhang chocolate, the award-winning California-based edibles brand, is among the top-selling cannabis-infused chocolates in the country. <\/p>\n<p>Both brands regularly dominate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.headset.io\/the-best-selling-cannabis-products\/alberta-edibles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Headset\u2019s<\/a> best-seller lists too, which crunches sales data from Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, products aren\u2019t being shipped over the border between legal states and Canada. Instead, they\u2019re making their way to Canadian customers via licensing deals. <\/p>\n<p>Canadian companies buy the rights to use American intellectual property and genetics, then make and package according to Canada\u2019s regulations. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"791\" alt class=\"wp-image-183249 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american.jpg,compress&w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american.jpg,compress&w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american.jpg,compress&w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american.jpg,compress&w=1480 1480w\"><figcaption>Cannabis can\u2019t cross the border so US brands are partnering with Canadian cultivators. (Ashley Keenan|Adobe Stock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>That\u2019s how California-based <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/brands\/cookies-canada\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cookies<\/a> made its way north: headed up by rapper Berner. Cookies Canada launched in Ontario with two cannabis strains: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/strains\/gary-payton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gary Payton<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/strains\/georgia-pie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Georgia Pie<\/a>, both selling out within days. <\/p>\n<p>And Colorado-based drinks company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/search\/shop?q=keef\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Keef<\/a>, which makes infused sodas like Bubba Kush root beer, recently launched in Canada. The result of Stigma Grow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newswire.ca\/news-releases\/stigma-grow-announces-sales-license-partnership-to-launch-bevcanna-s-portfolio-of-cannabis-infused-beverages-and-products-892504482.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">partnering with BevCanna<\/a> to bring the infused beverages to market.<\/p>\n<p>But are there any differences between what\u2019s sold in American markets versus what\u2019s on Canadian shelves? And why are some so popular? Leafly took a closer look.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-start-with-a-bhang\">Start with a Bhang<\/h2>\n<p id=\"h-when-london-ontario-based-indiva-signed-its-first-licensing-deal-with-bhang-in-2018-president-and-ceo-niel-marotta-said-some-were-dubious-about-the-idea\">When London, Ontario-based <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/brands\/indiva\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Indiva<\/a> signed its first licensing deal with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/brands\/bhang-canada\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bhang<\/a> in 2018, president and CEO Niel Marotta said there were some doubts about the idea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a lot of people saying, why would you license a brand? Nobody knows the brand name. Anyone can just put cannabis into chocolate\u201d he said in a phone call. \u201cBut we knew better than that. That\u2019s just not true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With a background in capital markets, not cannabis processing, Marotta said Canadian consumers are accustomed to US brands coming to market. And if customers were loving Bhang in Colorado and California, he thought they would likely love it in Canada, too. <\/p>\n<p>So far, he\u2019s been proven right.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-default\"><img width=\"725\" height=\"725\" alt class=\"wp-image-183240 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american.png,compress&w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american.png,compress&w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american.png,compress&w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american.png,compress&w=1480 1480w\"><figcaption>Bhang THC dark chocolate in Canada. (Bhang)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Despite their US brand roots, Marotta said he still considers the products Canadian. He credits the success of Bhang and Wana not just to the US brands who created the recipes, but also to the manufacturing and office staff in Canada who have been able to meet demand quickly and with consistency.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond packaging, where Canadian labels are far more restricted, one of the most obvious differences between American edibles brands in Canada is potency: Bhang bars, for example, come in 100 mg formats in the US, while Canada is limited to 10 mg per package.<\/p>\n<p>That limit is likely eating into the edibles market share and driving more experienced consumers to other sources, he said. If that limit was increased, the edibles market \u2014 and brands like Wana and Bhang \u2014 would likely grow to be even more successful.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-xxl wp-block-leafly-blocks-leafly-related-articles\">\n<p><h2>More great reads<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s still a group of folks that have higher tolerances, be it from prior medical use or being heavier cannabis users,\u201d explains Marotta. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I think there\u2019s a public safety issue here where if we\u2019re not allowed to provide a safe legal alternative in terms of the potency of edibles in the package, it will keep this category as undersized and it will need to drive people back to the illicit market.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-cookies-brand-comes-to-canada\">The Cookies brand comes to Canada<\/h2>\n<p>Licensing intellectual property for processed cannabis products is one challenge, but replicating a consistent source of California flower in a Canadian facility is another.<\/p>\n<p>This is exactly what Cookies set out to do with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newswire.ca\/news-releases\/gage-growth-brings-iconic-cannabis-brand-cookies-to-canada-862078670.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">partner Gage Cannabis<\/a>, who they had already worked with on a number of dispensaries in Michigan. <\/p>\n<p>Together, working with Canadian cultivator Noya Cannabis, the team at Gage and Cookies were able to bring the popular Gary Payton and Georgia Pie strains to the Canadian market.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cIf you open a blue bag right now in Toronto, you should have the same experience that you would if you did it in San Francisco in our store on Haight,\u201d <\/p>\n<p><cite>said Crystal Millican, the VP of retail for Cookies, in a phone call.<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But the blue bag is distinctly different\u2014gone are the <a href=\"https:\/\/cookies.co\/products\/flower?utm_source=corp&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=ongoing&utm_content=header\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">playful illustrations<\/a> on US bags, replaced with a solid blue colour with a big \u201cC\u201d at the top. The name Cookies, after all, could be considered appealing to children\u2014a big no-no in Canadian branding regulations. <\/p>\n<p>Luckily for Cookies, the freedom to market and hype up their cannabis flower in the US\u2014founder Berner has 1.8 million followers on Instagram alone\u2014likely helped them to completely sell out of the products within days of launching. <\/p>\n<p>That high demand has also meant the prices for Cookies strains. The pre-rolls are currently priced at just under $18 on the Ontario Cannabis Store website. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" alt class=\"wp-image-183232 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american-1.png,compress&w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american-1.png,compress&w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american-1.png,compress&w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/some-of-canadas-favourite-cannabis-brands-are-american-1.png,compress&w=1480 1480w\"><figcaption>Cookies packaging in the US is fun and artistic. (Cookies)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe hype behind the brand and the development behind what was established already from the Cookies community, and being able to bring that to Canada is what excited everyone to want to go out and purchase it. Even if their store is selling it for higher prices,\u201d said Cassia Bommarito, marketing ops manager for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/brands\/gage-cannabis-co\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gage Canada<\/a>, in a phone call. <\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-us-brand-invasion-is-not-over\">The US brand invasion is not over<\/h2>\n<p>Cookies plan to expand to other provinces, bring more of their signature strains, and will even open a flagship store in Toronto in 2022. Gage has extended their licensing deal by two years, to the year 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The influx of US brands with Canadian licensing deals will continue to make their way to market. TREC\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newswire.ca\/news-releases\/cannabis-brand-house-trec-brands-to-acquire-licensed-producer-agripharm-corp--868511402.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent acquisition<\/a> of Agripharm, for example, gives them the exclusive rights to more award-winners from the US\u2014Bakked and O.pen.<\/p>\n<p>As for Indiva, they\u2019ve also launched homegrown edibles brands such as Ottawa-based <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.ca\/brands\/slow-ride-bakery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Slowride Bakery<\/a>. Their licensing deal with best-selling Wana has another three-and-a-half years, but that could be complicated by Canopy Growth\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newswire.ca\/news-releases\/canopy-growth-announces-plan-to-acquire-wana-brands-the-1-cannabis-edibles-brand-in-north-america-874227593.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently announced deal<\/a> with the Colorado company. <\/p>\n<p>The deal allows Canopy to acquire Wana in full, but the deal is contingent on federal cannabis reform in the US\u2014something that\u2019s far from a sure thing at this stage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not 100% clear how everything\u2019s going to go,\u201d said Marotta. \u201cBut we\u2019re enthusiastic about this. We think it\u2019s a great testament to the brand, seeing Canopy buy Wana and maybe a testament to the licensing model, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"leafly-sailthru-signup p-lg my-xl bg-white rounded elevation-low border border-light-grey\">\n<p class=\"text-xs pt-lg\">By submitting this form, you will be subscribed to news and promotional emails from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\">Leafly<\/a> and you agree to Leafly’s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/tos\">Terms of Service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>. You can unsubscribe from Leafly email messages anytime.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --> <!--\nPerformance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: https:\/\/www.boldgrid.com\/w3-total-cache\/ Served from: _ @ 2021-10-29 21:10:28 by W3 Total Cache\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some of Canada\u2019s favourite cannabis brands are American – Leafly Leafly Leafly \u00ae Loading\u2026 Where are you from? Which part of Canada? Darn! You’re not old enough to use Leafly. Sorry, Leafly isn’t available in your location yet. Redirecting you to By accessing this site, you accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. It\u2019s been three years since Canada legalized adult-use cannabis, and already, some of the most popular brands on the market hail from south of the border. As of August, Colorado-based Wana Sour Gummies held 38% of the edibles market, according to HiFyre. And Bhang chocolate, the… <\/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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076","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=2076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}