LED lights are used in the flower rooms at 3-D Denver Discreet Dispensary in Denver, CO December 04, 2013. (Denver Post file photo)

Vape CEO: Pot concentrate sales will soon outpace cannabis flower

OpenVape CEO Ralph Morgan says that cannabis concentrates will be more popular than smoking marijuana buds in the next couple years.

When Morgan and Cannabist columnist Ry Prichard joined our editor Ricardo Baca on The Cannabist Show they were asked to dream big and imagine what the near future could hold for marijuana concentrates, even as Colorado considers limiting extracts’ THC potency to 16 percent.

After discussing advances in technologies that will allow for a more targeted, consistent product and better terpene or flavonoid extraction techniques, Morgan dropped the bomb: Concentrates will be more popular than cannabis flowers by 2017.

“I see concentrates becoming a part of folk’s daily regimen,” Morgan said.

He went on to note that people take daily vitamins and minerals to be healthy, and he sees room in that market for THC or CBD delivered via cannabis extracts.

Cannabist concentrates expert Ry Prichard wasn’t at all surprised by Morgan’s statement or his timeline.

Amalia Janisch, center, exhales at the crowded dab bar during the "Prohibition is Over!" party at Casselman's Bar on Dec. 31, 2013 in Denver. (Joe Amon, Denver Post file)
Amalia Janisch, center, exhales at the crowded dab bar during the “Prohibition is Over!” party at Casselman’s Bar on Dec. 31, 2013 in Denver. (Joe Amon, Denver Post file)

“Most of the clients that I work with have seen their sales go from 20 percent to 30 percent to 40 percent and now they’re about even,” Prichard said, “and a lot of shops, especially on the boutique end of the spectrum, are 70 percent concentrates.”

Prichard continued, adding that when you consider that most edibles are made using concentrated cannabis, the market may already be closer to the popularity swing than one might think.