Small California cannabis farms are struggling- we all know it, it’s a result of the fragmented government mandated supply chain and price suppression, coupled with exorbitant regulatory fees and obstructionist local officials. But what does this look like at the consumer level? At Higher Origins, we spend more time with small outdoor farms than any other category of cannabis business- they are our friends, neighbors, and clients. We decided to look beyond our production-centered niche in the industry and explore the retail side of things: how are the small outdoor farms we know and love being represented to consumers through the retail environment? For the purposes of this article, we define a small farm as one that has 10,000 square feet or less of licensed active canopy. This category currently makes up 9-10 percent of the production capacity of the state, or 6-7 million square feet total.
Methodology
To explore how small farm outdoor cannabis is sold throughout California, I visited ten dispensaries throughout the state. These were mostly randomly chosen due to convenience along the route I took. Here they are on a map.
When visiting these dispensaries I did the following:
Specifically asked for a small farm outdoor 8th.
Specifically mentioned that I was looking for lower THC products that have a good terpene expression. Higher THC levels have not been shown to correlate with increased intoxication. Higher terpene concentrations have been shown in outdoor plants and correlate with improved entourage effects.
If asked for my preference of Indica/Hybrid/Sativa, tell them that it wasn’t a factor in buying for me. Centuries of cultivation, breeding, trade, and genetic selection has resulted in everything being a hybrid, with certain phenotypes being associated with the indica/sativa categories during cultivation, but no demonstrated chemotypical patterns or repeatable effects.
Once I made these things clear I would let them guide me towards a product that they recommended with these criteria and not provide too much resistance to their sales pitch.
Only mentioned price as a factor if they tried to sell me something over 40$ for an 8th, in which case I would ask for something cheaper.
Was polite, friendly, brought cash, and tipped.
The point of this is to loosely gauge what it’s like trying to shop for small outdoor products in California. This isn’t meant to criticize any budtender specifically, and any poor experiences I had were clearly due to lack of training, the management’s sales priorities, or poor infrastructure at the stores, not the staff who were universally friendly and polite everywhere I went.
Stop #1:
601 I St # B, Arcata, CA 95521
Instagram @theheartofhumboldt_
The Experience
Starting my trip from the North end of the state I was excited to pick up some weed in Arcata, the cultural center of Humboldt county, famed for outdoor cannabis. The dispensary was nice inside, with a lot of community involvement displays for things like charity drives. When I asked for small outdoor 8ths, the budtender asked me if I preferred Indica, Sativa, or Hybrid, and I let them know I wasn’t worried about that and was only interested in lower THC levels and good terpene profiles. There were no displays and the POS seemed slow so the budtender had to take their rough printer paper menu from me and read it for reference. She pulled out two jars and let me smell them- but when I asked what farm they were from she said she didn’t know the name but it was nearby on the way to Mckinleyville and they were a partner of the dispensary. I asked about the terpenes of the flower and she told me that she had seen the plants being grown and that they smelled good, but gave me no more information. Since both options she showed me had higher THC levels, and she didn’t recommend one or the other, I just chose the one with less. Overall a nice place but for a place in the heart of cannabis country it felt like the staff had little information about their products and business partners, and the menu was small with limited outdoor offerings.
What I Bought: First Impressions
For $13.50 with a first-timer discount, I ended up with some Heart of Humboldt branded Gushers Hybrid Smalls. 25.74% THC, no CBD, 28.97% total cannabinoids. It was harvested on 8/15/24 and packaged 11/20/24. This was the only product I got on this trip that had a harvest date on it. The packaging was a simple black plastic zip bag, cheap and reliable. The buds were smaller, not too dense, not too wet or too dry, with some slight leafing and visible stems. The smell was strong, sweet, and fruity with darker undertones almost like coffee or chocolate.
Further Research
I looked for the product on Heart of Humboldt’s website and found it here, but the online listing offers no further information that wasn’t already on the bag. Looking around the website, this page mentions they grow in house under their microbusiness license, and they have a partnered farm nearby in Kneeland. Since the budtender mentioned the 8th I got was grown on a partnered farm nearby, I assume this is the one she was referring to, however since there is no further identifying information and the town locations of cultivation licenses are not public information, I was unable to find the actual farm this came from.
Stop #2:
195 Seminary Ave. Ukiah, CA 95482
The Experience
After a fast and easy check in where the door lady informed me about several discounts, I headed straight into their clean showroom and was immediately greeted by the budtender. I asked for small farm outdoor, and he was immediately 100% onboard, saying that was their specialty. I let him know I was looking for lower THC flower with a good terpene profile and he started grabbing stuff out of the case to show me. He never asked if I preferred Indica, Sativa, or Hybrid. The first product he showed me was from Scissor Sisters, but then he showed Medellin by Perrin Family Farms which he recommended because he claimed to smoke it himself. He let me know that the buds in the display jars were old and not fully representative of the fully packaged buds. Then he realized that Medellin was a higher THC strain, and showed me the Forbidden Fruit because it had 18% THC instead. I asked about Perrin Family Farms and he told me they were cool locals growing nearby in Redwood valley. This was a pretty decent dispensary experience that really gave the impression that the staff there was in touch with the people who grow the products they sell.
What I Bought: First Impressions
For 24$ I got an 8th jar of Perrin Family Farm’s Forbidden Fruit. It has 18% THC and 20% total cannabinoids, and was packaged on 10/21/24. The 8th was packaged/distributed by Tall Tree Society. Perrin Family Farm is certified as an OCal Farm by CCOF. The jar is nicely stickered with a safety seal under the lid. The buds are dense and fuzzy with no large stems or leaves, and are a mix of sizes from medium to large. They smell like a fruit smoothie, maybe raspberry or mango, with a slightly tangy herbal note, somewhat minty.
Further Research
When I visited Perrin Family’s website on the jar, I found an extensive gallery, and information about the farmer’s history, growing practices, and farm environment in Mendocino county. When I looked up their license information, I found their active specialty cottage outdoor license which lets them grow up to 2,500 square feet- actually a very small farm. I went into this interaction at Local Roots completely cold, they didn’t know I was part of Higher Origins or had any relationship to Perrin Family Farms, and I never told them that I did even when they recommended their products. As luck would have it, Perrin Family is active on Higher Origins and you can check out their Business Page.
Stop #3:
4100 San Pablo Dam Road El Sobrante, CA 94803
Instagram@ theartisttree
The Experience
Check in was easy, and their showroom doubles as an art gallery. When I was there, they had a display of art that I think was either by or in support of incarcerated people- colorful paintings featuring flowers and handcuffs. I was greeted by the budtender, who immediately hit me with about a minute and a half long talk about their various discounts. I asked for small farm outdoor, and they had to consult their Ipad for a long minute before showing me to a specific display, and indicated a few jars on a table. At no point did they ask me if I wanted Sativa, Indica, or Hybrid. All the display products had cards that had a section for terpenes but some were filled in, some were not. The terpenes for the products I was recommended were not filled in. One product the budtender indicated looked good on display with nice nugs and I asked about it, but it was sold out, so they had to go back to the iPad and scroll to find what was available. I told them I was looking for something with lower THC and good terpenes, and they eventually showed me two other products by the same brand that were in stock, then recommended the lower THC one to me. I asked where they were grown and they said they did not know. Checkout was very fast and responsive. My experience is that this is a very nice space with cool artistic vibes but there is little budtender training on inventory and while terpenes are listed as product info in some cases, they aren’t always and don’t seem to be a sales focus. Likewise, they have a small outdoor selection, their POS iPad system seems slow and buggy, and they clearly rely heavily on discounting and promos to drive sales.
What I Bought: First Impressions
For 18$ with a first time buyer discount I got an 8th bag of West Coast Trading Company’s Wildflowers product line of Ghost OG Indica smalls. This product has 24.29% THC, 0.07% CBD, and 27.69% sum of cannabinoids. It was packaged on 11/07/24 and packaged/distributed by TerpX Inc. The label declares the buds to be sungrown, and to have the lineage of “OG Kush Phenotype”. The buds themselves are small with negligible traces of leaf and stem, medium density, and somewhat dry and crumbly. They have a medium strength smell, with an initial vaguely skunky note that gets more vegetal like cut grass as you get your nose in the bag.
Further Research
This bag had a LucID Green QR code on the label which directs to this page. Interestingly the total cannabinoids and THC% on the LucID product details page do not match those on the product, the info on the LucID test results page does match the product, and the test results on the actual linked COA don’t match anything. The LucID description page vaguely explains that this product’s effects are calm and mellow but also euphoric, good for pain relief and sleep. To me that sounds like most weed, but that’s what they’re claiming. The COA test was performed by 2 River Labs on October 30 2024. The cultivator is listed as NLT NCA-5851, a microbusiness in Sacramento county that is licensed for indoor, as well as some other form of cultivation under 10,000 square feet of area. The COA was ordered by Talarya Brands, which owns West Coast Trading Company, also owns the Sacramento microbusiness, as well as a distributor and volatile extraction manufacturer in Sonoma county. West Coast Trading Company, who can be found on Instagram @westcoasttradingco, has a fairly generic website with no information identifying who grew their cannabis, only some basic brand copywriting. Their Wildflower line of flower that I bought from is advertised on their site as “always above 20% THC” and claims to “Support Artisinal Farmers” (their typo not mine). In general, there is no transparency whatsoever on who actually grew the product, and where it came from. While technically this could come from a small farm, there’s no way to tell if it was grown at the Sacramento microbusiness or bought by them from someone else, and the amount of cannabis industry nerd sleuthing it took to get this info makes their claim of supporting artisanal farmers a hollow claim- if they supported them they would represent them.
Stop #4
1327 E St Gertrude Pl, Santa Ana, CA 92705
Instagram@ farmacy.ca
The Experience
The first thing that grabs your attention in the Farmacy are the big screens showing video from inside GlassHouse Farms, who own the chain of Farmacy stores. After a quick check in with no discount pitch, I was greeted by a budtender and I asked for small farm outdoor. She asks me if I want Indica, Sativa, or Hybrid, and I tell her I don’t care and am only interested in lower THC and good terpenes. She brings out several jars of Redwood Roots for me to look at, but doesn’t really volunteer any additional information. While I’m looking at them she tells me they have Glass House 8ths that “Count as outdoor because it’s grown under glass”. I gesture at the screens showing their gigantic greenhouses and say “well yeah but they’re not a small farm they seem pretty huge to me”, which she doesn’t dispute. Beyond that, I was basically left on my own with the jars on the countertop to figure it out and make my own decision- there was no sales effort beyond that and she just watched me read the jars. I did exclaim “Oh, the label says it’s from Humboldt, I've heard they have great weed” but that didn’t result in a response. There was no actual low THC flower in the selection she showed me, everything was over 25%. I chose the jar that had a farm’s name on the lid because it would be easier to research. The whole experience felt like once I had indicated that I wasn’t interested in their core Glass House product, I was no longer a priority, and that there was zero interest on their part on promoting anything that didn’t come from their farm. I’m not sure if this is intentional or a result of their sales training but the message I got was “Let us sell you our weed or you’re on your own”. At the end of the day though, I did get small farm outdoor flower.
What I Bought: First Impressions
For 27$ I got an 8th jar of Redwood Roots SunRoots Farm Headrush Blush. It has 27.28% total cannabinoids, 25.1% THC, under 1% CBD, and 1.75% total terpenes. It was packaged on 9/24/24, by Redwood Roots Distribution. The label indicates that the packaging contains recycled contents, and the product is listed as “Farmer’s Choice”, and “Legacy”. A QR code on the jar directs to Redwood Root’s main website, although for some reason it was not scannable with an Android phone, only an iPhone. Interestingly, the jar did not mention indica, sativa, or hybrid. There was a safety seal under the jar lid. The buds were large, slightly crumbly, and a little leafy, with a lot of fuzz and frosty trichomes visible. The smell was not very strong, with a faint citrus tangerine black tea odor. Based on the package date and smell, I would guess this was grown last year.
Further Research
On Redwood Root’s website they go into great depth explaining the legacy of cannabis growth in the Emerald Triangle, and showing appreciation for legacy farmers. I wasn’t able to find any product listings for this product on their site, so I proceeded on to the Sun Roots Farm website. Their site introduces the two growers, shows off their regenerative farming practices, and lists their location as Covelo in Mendocino County. They cultivate under license CCL18-0000654, which allows them to cultivate up to 5000 square feet of outdoor cannabis. Their site lists several cultivars with impressive looking pictures, but Headrush Blush is not listed. They also sell merch and herbal products through the site, and you can find them on Instagram @sunrootsfarm. The situation here is that Redwood Roots provides packaging, sales, and distribution for small farms like Sun Roots, which is a common strategy to move small farm products throughout the state without the small farms having to invest in all the infrastructure to do it themselves.
Stop #5
433 Pine Ave Unit 500, Long Beach, CA 90802
Instagram @catalyst.cares
The Experience
Catalyst Long Beach has cool architecture on the inside with a funky metal futuristic ceiling. The space is pretty large, with lots of staff there. During check in they pointed out some discounts they had going but weren’t overbearing about it. The budtenders were friendly, and I felt more of a talking to a chill person vibe than a sales pitch interaction. I told the budtender I wanted small farm outdoor. She said they had a slim selection, but was able to pick a few sample jars out of the case for me to look at. She asked if I wanted Indica, Sativa, or Hybrid, and I let her know I was mainly interested in terps and low THC. We chatted about how the samples looked and she got a few of the consumer packages off the shelf to read me some of the details about terpenes. There wasn’t much of a low THC selection available. We chatted more and she was telling me that she was unhappy about a regional rule that kept them from letting us smell the sample jars, and we commiserated about the needless regulations in the industry. She did name drop Coastal Sun farms as a suggestion, but then remembered they were a greenhouse farm and that I wanted outdoor. Of the options she showed me all had high THC so I chose the one that seemed to have the most terpene information. On the way to the register she also offered me some Coastal Sun prerolls but I declined.
What I Bought: First Impressions
For 30$ with no discounts I got an 8th of Catalyst California Love branded Catalyst Cherry, a hybrid. It has 29.18% THC, 0.08% CBD, and 35.1% total cannabinoids. The jar was packaged/distributed on 9/12/24 by El Dorado Group. The jar lists four top terpenes with flavor notes: Caryophyllene (spicy, herbs), Humulene (earthy, woody), Limonene (lemon, orange), and Linalool (earthy, sweet). Also on the jar are listed the Instagram handle @californialove.co, and the website californialovecannabis.com. One note about the jar, it has a foil label that seems to scratch off easily and is a little too reflective making it hard to read in the wrong light. The buds are medium and small, very dense with a few little leaves and heavy crystalline trichome coverage. They have a medium strength smell, tangy and herbal with notes of dusty oregano or maybe sage.
Further Research
Upon checking out the California Love website, I wasn’t able to find this exact product. The site lists a variety of products but not this one. There are two licenses listed on the site, C11-0000173-LIC, a distributor called El Dorado DBA Coastal Business Distribution, and CDPH-10003593, an infusion manufacturer also called El Dorado, both in San Luis Obispo county. Nowhere on the site was I able to find a mention of any specific farm or region of origin. The Instagram account did show a variety of different hoop houses, and did mention that they had sourced Trop Cherry from a farm near Monterey recently. Could this be the same weed? Searching the Catalyst Menu for that location, I couldn’t find the product, so it may be sold out there. After searching through the menu for EVERY SINGLE LOCATION of Catalyst (there are 28) I was unable to find this exact product, or even something of a different strain from the same style of packaging, nor could I find this on Google. Finally after searching on Weedmaps I found this 8th at their Florence location, which matches the name and THC% but not the packaging. After some digging, I found the website for El Dorado group, which shows no evidence of owning any cultivation. From what I can see, the 8th I bought was a specially labeled one specifically for Catalyst, who seems to be partnered with California Love/El Dorado Group. This 8th could have been sourced from anywhere in the state through El Dorado, since they just wholesale, white label, and distribute, not grow. While California Love’s site claims to showcase how cannabis can be ethically grown, I question how that can be done without at least being transparent about who grew it where.
Stop #6
2590 S. Maple Avenue Suites 103-104 Fresno, CA 93725
The Experience
At check in there was a delay, it seemed that the check in guy was having trouble reading my ID so it took quite a while to get all the information entered. While he figured that out, he listed off some promotions and discounts they were doing. Once I was finally checked in, I went in and noticed that the place was packed, more than any other location I’d seen on this trip. I looked around while waiting, noticed their wide variety of smell jars, and that most of the weed in the smell jars was incredibly dry, brown, and lacked smell. There was a random customer next to me looking around who told me he had “Struck out here last week” and had bought something there that wasn’t that good but didn’t have time to elaborate because my turn was called. I told the budtender that I wanted small farm outdoor, with a preference for low THC and high terpenes. She seemed really unsure about this request, and went in the back to talk to someone. Eventually she came back and showed me a product, but another employee came up to her and told her that the product isn’t outdoor. She apologized and started looking for another product to show me. She never asked if I wanted Indica/Sativa/Hybrid. It seemed like their Treez POS was crashing all the time and she had to spend a lot of time on the Ipad logging in and out to get product info. Eventually she finds something and recommends it, and brings me a jar to look at, only to tell me that it costs 68$ for an 8th, which I politely but firmly decline, even after she reminds me that with the first timer discount it’s only 48$. At this point she seems pretty frazzled so I start looking around for something and find one display that has lower THC listed on the product card and looks less dry than the others. I ask if it’s outdoor and she confirms it is, so I go with that to give the poor lady a break. At checkout the POS is still buggy so I get shuffled between registers a few times until one of them works. To top it all off, when I look at the jar they’ve sold me, it said indoor right on it. One interesting thing was that on the wall was a poster from 710 Labs that talked about not buying based on THC%, and to buy based on freshness, terpenes, and genetics. This poster shows that someone there is aware of more careful ways to market cannabis, but their frazzled staff and unreliable software seem to be getting in the way of that.
What I Bought: First Impressions
For 24$ after a 30% off first timer discount, I got an 8th of The Real McCoy branded Cotton Crush indoor. It has 24.71% THC, 0.028% CBD, 25.21% total cannabinoids, and 1.7% terpenes. It was packaged on 11/15/2024 by RDS Management and Consulting. The jar also displays the website mysterybaking.com and an associated Gmail address. The labels are placed unevenly and the batch number QR is misprinted. There is a safety seal under the lid and the entire jar came shrink wrapped. The buds are very dense, no leaves or stems, with deep purple accents and heavy trichome coverage. The smell is strong, tangy and earthy, with gasoline and rose notes.
Further Research
The first thing that stands out is that the website listed on the packaging is down, and the company associated with it, Mystery Baking Co, had its sole infusion manufacturing license expire in May. If this was packaged in mid-November, it looks like they are using old packaging. Likewise, why is the information for an edible company on an indoor 8th? Further research reveals that both RDS Management and Consulting and Mystery Baking are owned by the same licensee, whose initials are RDS. I was unable to find a website for RDS management and Consulting. I can’t find the product on Culture’s menu, so it must have sold out. Further searching across Google and WeedMaps lead to no matching results for Cotton Crush or The Real McCoy. I did find one piece of info that might be an explanation, however far-fetched. One of the licensees who owns Culture has the last name of McCoy. Possibly this is an in-house brand sourced through RDS and named after the owner? This is as far as I got. I have no idea where this weed came from. RDS could have gotten it from anywhere in the state.
Stop #7
426 McHenry Ave, Modesto, CA 95354
The Experience
This store has a large showroom, plenty of space to move around and explore. My first impression when walking in was of an insane amount of Stiiizy products front and center in the main display counter, dozens of different bags of dozens of different strains. The budtender paused for a second when I asked for small farm outdoor, but then showed me two products from what she said was their only brand matching that description. One of them had lower THC and I mentioned that I was looking for that plus good terpenes. She replied that in her experience higher THC doesn’t actually matter for quality. She said this strain had come in recently and that when she sampled it, it stood out as something good to her. She mentioned that outdoor flower usually has more variety of flavor. She said it was really terpy, but didn't get into any specifics about what that meant- it seemed like that was just a comment that popped up in conversation rather than something that seemed part of a sales approach. I mentioned I was from the country and liked outdoor, she said that was cool. We chatted a bit, and I commented on their Stiiizy selection and that they must be a huge brand. She told me that they were, and compared them to MedMen, then we talked about the MedMen collapse for a while and commiserated about the state of the industry. This was a very social visit, everyone was really chatty and friendly, and they were pretty fast with their recommendations. After the visit, I checked and this is actually a dispensary owned and operated by Stiiizy, which explains the large selection of their products, although for some reason this isn’t publicly openly advertised.
What I Bought: First Impressions
For 13$ I got an 8th bag of Mr Zips branded hybrid Triple Gelato, by Headwaters. It has 19.471%THC and 21.354 THCA. It was packaged and distributed on 10/11/24 by Alkhemist DM LLC. Other than government warnings the package doesn’t contain any more useful information. The buds are medium and small, slightly leafy and of medium density, with a faint earthy lemon scent.
Further Research
Looking up the Mr Zips brand, I found their website, which advertises them as one of the few “end to end cultivators” in California. Likewise their site also says that their product is grown in mixed light greenhouses. Further site exploration shows a strain description for this triple gelato, which is claimed to be derived from a cross between Sherbet and Gelato 41. The Mr Zips site lists Headwaters as their source. Headwaters apparently started in Humboldt but is now based in Santa Barbara county and is advertised as the “Largest greenhouse operator and bulk supplier in the state.” The Headwaters website repeats the claim of being founded in Humboldt, and boasts about selling over a hundred thousand pounds a year, sourced from their own one million square foot plus farm and a network of partnered farms. There are no licenses listed on the Headwaters website, although by searching the license listed on their Instagram I was able to find this distribution license based in Humboldt. Following the name of the owner through the State license list, I was able to find 55 licenses with their name, across several companies, the most relevant being Ceres Farms, CP1 Supply Systems, and Emmawood B1 LLC, all active greenhouse farms around Carpenteria in Santa Barbara county. Searching Alkhemist DM LLC returns a website advertising them as the #1 copacker in the state, complete with a video showing a huge bustling facility, and a list of high profile clients- although Mr Zips and Headwaters are not listed. The license list shows 5 active licenses across different focuses in LA, clearly a large operation. So, what we have here is an 8th that came from somewhere in a network of central coast megafarms and was packaged by one of the largest copackers in the state. Sure, there’s a chance that this was outdoor from a small farm that was sourced through the distribution arm of the Headwaters conglomerate, but how likely is that? I can’t trace this weed back to its source.
Stop #8
6233 Mack Rd, Sacramento, CA 95823
Instagram @embarcsupply
The Experience
This one was all about fast service. Check in was very quick, without any discount pitches. The store has smell jars but they don’t seem to be a big focus of their sales process. I went straight in and was immediately greeted by a budtender. He asked what I wanted, and I told him I wanted small farm outdoor. He never asked about sativa, hybrid, or indica preference. He brought out an 8th he said was outdoor but before I could get a good look at it he said it cost 45$ and I said that was out of my price range. He started looking for something else for me and I mentioned I wanted lower THC and good terpenes. As soon as I said that he went straight for another jar and assured me this was what I wanted- a 4th from Humboldt for a decent price. I trusted his judgement and bought that one on the spot. This was a very fast sales interaction- everything is laid out at the budtender’s fingertips behind the counter, so it was easy for him to grab stuff to show me, and he seemed to have a very good understanding of the inventory, he never referred to the POS or menu. Embarc was the most efficient experience I had on this trip, although the speed meant that I was given very little information about the products and didn’t have much time for conversation.
What I Bought: First Impressions
For $28.70 with a Saturday deal discount I got a 4th of Humboldt Family Farms Grapelicious Indica. It has 21.75% THC and was packaged/distributed on 10/31/24 by PrussianSticksLLC. The jar clearly indicates it was grown by Full Moon Farms. The sticker on the lid states an expiration date of 10/31/2025. The Humbold Family Farms website is written on the jar, and also has a QR code. There is a safety seal under the lid. The buds are medium density and not too dry- they feel well cured. They have just a few small leaves and visible stem, with very pronounced trichomes. The smell is intense, sweet berry, somewhere between blueberry or raspberry, with a dank almost woody undertone.
Further Research
Looking at Full Moon Farms, their website has a very in depth write up on their founder, methods, plants, environment, and virtually everything someone would want to know. Full Moon has a total of 7 licenses in Humboldt, including a Medium License which allows them to grow up to an acre. It could be argued that they are no longer a “Small Farm” at this size, but judging from the content and messaging of their website, they clearly try to represent small farm values. I found it interesting that this was the only product I bought on this trip that had an expiration date on the jar.
Stop #9
1998 Alcott Avenue Chico, California
Instagram @sweetflowershops
The Experience
This is the nicest dispensary I visited on this trip by far, lots of natural light and a large showroom with high ceilings. At check in I was given a long list of discount offers, including ones specifically for Stiiizy and Jeeter. I asked the budtender for small farm outdoor, and she was straightforward with me that they didn’t really have much of it in stock. She seemed a little unsure of the selection and had to refer to the iPad a lot. She asked me about my preference for Sativa, Indica, or Hybrid, and I said I wasn't worried about that but was mainly looking for a good terpene profile and lower THC. All the weed in the showroom had the top three terps on the sales cards and she was able to give me some flavor notes of certain things based on these. She seemed slightly confused at first if High Terps meant high THC, but she corrected herself quickly and when I reiterated wanting less THC she was supportive and seemed pretty stoked on me making that clear. She made a recommendation but it turned out to be 50$ an 8th,which I politely declined, and asked for something else. She recommended another product that said indoor on it, but she assured me that because it was apparently grown half outdoor and really only brought indoor later in the cycle that it was pretty much the same as outdoor. She reiterated her recommendation for that one so I bought it. The staff were all very nice but I got the impression there wasn’t much training on basic cannabis terminology.
What I Bought: First Impressions
For 33.46$ with a 20% first timer discount I got an 8th bag of FloraCal South Tahoe OG Indoor Indica, listed as “Premium AAA”. It has 23.57% THC, 0.07% CBD, and 24.84% total cannabinoids. It was packaged/distributed on 8/22/2024 by FloraCal. The lineage is described as FC OG x Tahoe OG, and the package proclaims it is “small batch, consciously grown”. On a personal note, I really like the packaging design on this one, the snowy apple is a cool picture. A QR code on the bag links to FloraCal’s website. The buds are dense, with no leaves or stem, and seem slightly ground down like they were machine tumble trimmed. The flavor notes on the bag describe it as “tart earthy diesel” and while I agree with the earthy note, I get no diesel or sharp notes, more of a floral fruityness.
Further Research
The FloraCal website has in depth information about their methods and farm story. While there is no license registered under the name FloraCal, their site lists the license number of Sonoma’s Finest California Cannabis, a medium indoor facility in Sonoma County which allows them to grow up to an acre of indoor. While they do have a strain index on their site, it does not list South Tahoe OG as one of their strains. One thing that stood out to me on their site was the text at the bottom that read “Grown by Cresco Labs”. Cresco Labs is a cannabis multi-state-operator, FloraCal is apparently operated or owned in some capacity by Cresco. Even after digging through the FloraCal Instagram, I wasn’t able to find any evidence of the budtender’s claim that their cannabis was grown half outside, or anything else that would give me the impression that it was anything other than pure indoor. Unfortunately, given the size of Cresco, and the massive financial resources it takes to run an acre of indoor, I can’t really consider this to be a small farm product.
Stop #10
5340 Shasta Dam Blvd, Shasta Lake, CA 96019
The Experience
Check in was super easy at the door. Upon asking the budtender for small farm outdoor 8ths, he told me they probably didn’t have any outdoor, and didn’t mention small farms at all. He brought me a fancy jar and told me it was half indoor, half outdoor so it could be like what I wanted, telling me that it was “like the weed your dad smoked but better.” It looked good but at 38$ it seemed a bit expensive, so I asked for something else. At this point in the interaction, the budtender has clearly stopped looking for small farm or outdoor to sell me and just wanted to get me to buy something. He never asked me for a preference on Indica/Sativa/Hybrid. I told him I'm looking for some low THC flower with a good terp profile. He brought out some quarter bags for the same price, and launched into another sales pitch about how this was owned by some famous football player who took an active interest in how the brand was run, which didn’t seem relevant to me but I let him explain it. I asked him where it was from and he said he didn’t know but supposed it was from “somewhere in SoCal. He did specifically show me that it was lower THC which was nice, and alluded to the fact that high THC or Indica/Sativa/Hybrid mattered less than the weed being good, but didn’t elaborate beyond that. He mentioned that he frequently had to explain to people that high THC isn’t always a good selling point and he said that sungrown produced the most interesting flavors. I picked one of the quarter bags, although all four strains he showed me looked identical. At no point was I offered a discount, although there were promos listed around the store.
What I bought: First Impressions
For 38$ with no discount I got a ¼ ounce bag of Halfpipe branded Maui Wowie Sativa Sungrown. It has 21.59% THC and 22.427% total cannabinoids. It was packaged on 9/12/2024 by GBH Manufacturing LLC. There is a QR code that links to the Halfpipe Instagram. On the back, it says it is packaged by GBH Distributors LLC in Parlier California, and lists the website of Greenbriar Holdings. The buds are leafy, stemmy, and small, with an overdry crumbly feeling and low density. They have a faint smell of hay and possibly citrus. This cannabis seems low quality and does not smell fresh at all.
Further Research
The Halfpipe website states that “Our high-quality cannabis is grown in the sunny coastal town of Carpinteria”. The contact email listed on the Halfpipe website is for Greenbriar Holdings. Exploring the Greenbriar site reveals that they are a central valley based conglomerate cannabis company, with farms in Carpenteria- a massive center for well-financed corporate cannabis grows. Researching GBH Distribution in the State license list reveals that they used to have dozens of cultivation licenses in Fresno county but they are all expired or cancelled, but their distribution facility is still active, along with some facilities in Kings county. I could not find any common link between the owners or companies that can connect GBH to any specific farm in the Carpenteria area. We can’t know for sure, however it looks unlikely that this was grown on a small farm, considering the scale of investment involved here.
Conclusion and Discussions
So, after all of that in depth breakdown, what have we learned? Generally speaking, it seems that small farm outdoor is not a priority for dispensaries to sell, and often doesn’t seem to be a category that their budtenders are aware of. Of the ten dispensaries I went to, only three were able to sell me anything identifiable that qualifies. The rest either sold me something completely different and ignored my request, claimed that what they were selling was small outdoor, or were so unsure of their inventory and supply chain that I was basically left to choose a product off the shelf myself. The simple question of “where was this grown?” seemed to always devolve into a time consuming internet search that required a lot of specialized industry knowledge- not something accessible to the average consumer at all. The web of distribution is too obscure to provide any clarity. Of course, METRC UID’s supposedly allow for regulators and businesses with shared API access to track things back to the farm, but that’s also not accessible to a consumer.
Different operators in the industry can learn different things from the results of this experiment. Small farms may see that retailers really aren’t prioritizing them, and be curious why. Some perspective on this may come from the retailers themselves. In a recent interaction on LinkedIn, an experienced retail manager stated:
- tbh it [small farm outdoor] sounds like a market differentiator that no one is asking for.
I can’t tell you the last time a customer came in and asked specifically for outdoor. Or specifically for small batch. Or even low thc. Or even terpenes.
These are things that are uncommon on most shelves, because most people are not looking for them.
Outdoor is being stocked and sold, but it’s typically sold and promoted as a cheaper option to indoor instead of as a premium option BECAUSE it’s outdoor, Some of our best sellers are outdoor/GH, but they typically are bought by customers looking for a lower price point option instead of being sought out for being outdoor.
The marketing for outdoor highlighting terpene rich, environmentally friendly, small batch, etc just fails to connect with the customer.
Additionally, there's so much low grade outdoor available that craft high quality gets lumped in as lower quality. Similarly to how there's almost no high quality live resin on the market, so much low grade was pumped out that it bifurcated the market into resin=low quality and rosin=high quality.
But as far as low thc or terpene specific flower, there is too small a market for it, which I blame on the labs and brands who have inflated their numbers to the point that 25% is considered “low thc”.
This perspective suggests that the traditional small farm outdoor niche is being swamped by high volumes of low quality outdoor, and that the differentiators that true weed nerds are looking for simply are unknown to the vast majority of consumers so there’s no pressure for retailers to differentiate based on that. I would say my experience on this trip largely supports this hypothesis- while some budtenders were willing to pay lip service to the concepts of terpenes, low THC, indica/sativa being largely meaningless etc, it was only after talking to me for a while and reacting to my requests- not as a core sales pitch.
This begs the question: if a retailer tomorrow changed up their entire sales approach, retrained their staff, and curated their purchasing to focus a majority of their inventory on small farm outdoor (or even small farm mixed light), how would that go? Would they make money? Would consumers who have already become used to the status quo of weed sales push back against budtenders correcting their assumptions? Would this category which we are highly biased towards blow all their previous offerings out of the water in terms of quality and make consumers hungry for more? To any retailers reading this who are considering a pivot in their sales approach as a market differentiator, consider these questions- we don’t have the answers necessarily, but the question should be asked: what, if anything are retailers leaving on the table by not offering and emphasizing small outdoor cannabis?
Finally, brands. Every brand site features feel good copy with words like “curation”, “connection”, “craft”, and heady statements like “we strive to support the true roots of the cannabis industry” or “our flower reflects our values to represent decades of cannabis agricultural heritage”. How, exactly, does not naming your farmer fulfill that mission? Are you just paying lip service? Are you worried that if you say “Our weed is grown in a massive indoor factory farm on the Central Coast” that people will think less of you? Are you so ashamed of the people growing your weed that you can’t put their name to your product? Or did you wholesale it from some farmer for 300$ a pound and don’t want to advertise the source in case people start asking you how your financial relationship with your farms is? Are you okay with budtenders misrepresenting your products to get a sale? These are the questions that people ask when there is no transparency.
So, assuming our small farm bias is accurate, how do we fix this? We’ve written a lot on this subject, specifically a 3 part series called Ideal Cannabis Economics, in which we discuss how the market can evolve to support small farms. Here are the links for part 1, part 2, and part 3. Likewise, our continued evolution of the Higher Origins platform has optimized it to shorten the supply chain between retailers and small farms, allowing retailers who are interested in taking a chance on small farms to more easily source their products and learn about them. Finally, we’ve done a lot of legwork over the years getting products from our own and our clients' small farms into retail, and the key piece of advice we can tell retailers is this: customers respond to a good story and a product that has a clear source. Sure, they may not be experienced in asking for it, but if you show them, they’ll appreciate it and ask for products like that again. A little budtender training, one shelf in your store, and you too can help put the product category that started our industry back in the hearts and minds of consumers.
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Thanks for reading, and Happy Holidays from the Higher Origins team!
