Recreationally legal in 10 states and medically available in 33 (plus the District of Columbia), cannabis products are in demand more than ever. Policy changes have resulted in headaches for business owners and farmers, but the slow erosion of barriers preventing consumers from purchasing cannabis has allowed the industry to boom and new technologies to emerge.
One of the biggest changes has been the introduction and incredible success of disposable vaporizers and oil cartridges. These devices are convenient and relatively odorless, making them a hit with consumers. But they also create a host of sustainability issues akin to Keurig disposable pods, which revolutionized coffee drinking while injecting massive amounts of waste into landfills.
Flower may still be the first thing many nonsmokers picture when they think about cannabis, but the manager at BARC, a Los Angeles collective near Beverly Hills, estimates that 75-80 percent of the store’s sales comprise vape pens and cartridges. On the lower end of the spectrum, Jay Handal, a manager at the Erba Collective in West LA, told High Times that vaping-related products comprise 36 percent of his store’s sales.
Bloom is one of the numerous companies competing for market share in this growing sector of the cannabis industry. Founded in 2013, Bloom had a breakout year in 2016, according to chief revenue officer Casey Ly. At the beginning of that year, the company had roughly 25 retail accounts, but by year’s end its products were available in nearly 150 dispensaries across California, New Mexico and Washington.
The company manufactures ready-to-use disposable vapes, but Ly said that half- and full-gram cartridges pre-loaded with concentrates to use with a rechargeable battery are Bloom’s best sellers.
Bloom performs its extractions and loads the cartridges with concentrate at its