Dude, Where’s My Dab? The State of Extracts in Pharmacies

Some patients are even asking, “is it legal here?” and “why don't you guys have any dab?’”

The answer to those questions are, “yes, it is legal and there have been some extracts for sale in Utah’s market.”

However, the extracts have been limited as Utah’s flower supply is still catching up.

The lack of dab-able extracts in the market has driven patients to mostly rely on vape cartridges and other products like the RSO from Standard Wellness, and the Full Extract Cannabis Oil (FECO) from Life Elevated. Although vape cartridges and products like RSO are technically extracts, they are not the type that patients are familiar with when it comes to extracts that are meant for dabbing. Patients want to see extracts that one can scoop and dab onto their dab rig or electronic vaporizer.

“As far as concentrates go, the lack of flower coming into processing has been our biggest hurdle to why we haven't had any rosins or live resin.” said Kevin, when asked why there has been a lack of concentrates,

Narith said. “Limited supply of product that's coming. Most of the product that does come out, is all reserved directly for either flower, vapes or other products because those are some of the biggest categories in the market right now. Concentrates, in most markets, are usually less than five-percent of sales. So it’s a smaller market, even though it's still a growing and trending market”.

Narith also mentions that “creating high quality extracts is more than just picking flower that grows, you have to grow very specific strains. You’re not just picking anything. Most growers weren't even planning to grow products specifically for concentrates and extracts”.

Given this challenge of lack of supply, it’s going to take a couple of months until cultivation catches up to the point where patients can expect to see a variety of extracts. SPRING 2021 I SALT BAKED CITY MAGAZINE 37

kevin carter

Life Elevated

Narith Panh

Dragonfly Wellness

“As soon as we start getting flower, which we’ve started to see some more from Dragonfly and Tryke, we can start to do a lot more rosin,” said Carter. “It’s going to be awesome because we have some very good formulas for that. We’ve done really small test batches to make sure we can produce what we want to produce and it’s golden and it’s going to be good”.

Narith specifically mentioned that the reality is going to be closer to the end of the year.

“Not until other cultivators start producing in big amounts can then other companies like us or Tryke start flipping our production and planning it for concentrates because it takes a significant amount of biomass for us to be able to dedicate to concentrates,” he said. “What our future plans are, is we want to dedicate at least 10 percent of our biomass, specifically for cultivars that are meant to go to fresh frozen so we can have those live rosins, and those other extracts, because we need to have fresh frozen. So, of course, that takes time. So that's why I'm saying realistically, we won't have a consistent supply of concentrates in the market until towards the end of this year.”

Boojum has so far had three release drops of their Mother Liquor Hash Rosin. Meanwhile, Life Elevated extract is sold under the subbrand Jilu FECO, and has been the only consistent dabbable concentrate on the market. Currently available for purchase at 120 dollars per gram at WholesomeCo and is now available in a small puck instead of a syringe to make it easier for dabbers.

“We use our CO2 extracted butter. We do a light filtration to get out the waxes, lipids, and unfavorables that you don’t want when you’re vaping or ingesting. And then we go through a couple of our proprietary filtrations, “ said Kevin, describing the process of making the FECO. “Everything we keep in vacuum-low temperatures. That way we’re not degrading but we’re keeping all those minor cannabinoids that a lot of people will heat off and evaporate off. We don’t want that, we want to keep everything in there.”

“That’s why I’m proud of our FECO. And that’s why you’re starting to see a lot of CBG. Because CBG with THC is such a wide array of help and benefits when combined with THC,” he said. “When we’re doing our full spectrum FECO, because of our CO2 extraction, and our low temp, we’re able to keep the clarity without having to go to a distillate. We try not to use full out distillation. With full out distillation, that’s how people are getting their high THC. That’s why ours stay in the 80s range. We do what we call our fine line, so basically riding that fine line of going full distillate and still keeping all our minors.”

Kevin also mentioned that Life Elevated has plans to roll out other cannabinoid-based concentrates that are dabbable. For example, CBD and CBG dabs instead of high THC dabs.

SBC