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REEFERFRONT TIMES
[WEED NEWS]
High Gear Heya Wellness closes out a busy summer with launch of new vape and edible product lines Written by
DANIEL HILL
C
apping off a busy summer that saw the opening of five Missouri dispensary locations under its brand, including St. Louis-area shops in St. Ann and St. Peters, Heya Wellness has rolled out two new product lines. Building off of its successful cultivation operation, which has seen its products — including ower strains Runtz, Grease Monkey and Duct Tape — become wildly popular throughout the state, Heya has just this month begun stocking Smokiez edibles and Conte Concentrates cartridges, each coming via its manufacturing division. The former is a partnership with the popular edible company Smokiez, which has worked with manufacturers in states across the country, including Oklahoma, Washington, California and Oregon. Smokiez products are vegan and gluten-free, and their Heya debut comes in five avors peach, watermelon, blackberry, blue raspberry and green apple. Each bag contains 100 milligrams of THC total — ten milligrams per gummy — and are manufactured at Heya’s irksville facility. Joe Judd, dispensary director for Heya’s St. Ann location, says the Smokiez brand is one of the more popular in the entire country. “I know that they’re either No. 1 or No. 2 in North America,” he says. “ eople are loving them they go over very well. he company is all about making sure that the consumer is taken care of, and that they have the right product for that consumer on a consistent basis.” In addition to the Smokiez partnership, Heya has also introduced its own line of vape cartridges, known as Conte Concentrates, manufactured at its Excello loca-
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Heya’s new products come via its manufacturing division and are available in dispensaries now. | DANIEL HILL tion. The one-gram cartridges debut in fruit punch, blood orange, cotton candy and pina colada avors, ranging from sativa to indica to a hybrid of each. At $80 before taxes for one gram of concentrate, these carts are on the ine pensive side, with other brands often going for twice as much at Missouri dispensaries. “Best price point ’ve seen thus far in Missouri, at $80 for a onegram cart that’s completely full,” Judd notes. “If you look at it, it’s completely full with no bubbles, which is very rare that you’re going to see in a cart — especially in a one-gram at that price point — because a lot of half-grams right now are going between $60 to $80.” Now, we at the Reeferfront Times know a good deal when we see one, so we picked up a onegram cart of the blood orange avor, which, thanks to a riday sale, was marked down to just before ta . A sativa-dominant concentrate, the Conte-branded cartridge clocks in at 65.38 percent THC and 10.05 percent CBD, and the instructions on the pack-
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It’s a good concentrate for getting stuff done without being overly medicated or incapacitated. age put the dosage at one or two “puffs,” with each puff representing approximately eight milligrams of concentrate. This would mean that, theoretically, each cart should be good for 125 puffs apiece, though we haven’t been able to confirm that because such a test would basically require us to be stoned 24/7 since the date of purchase and we (unfortunately) have other things to do. Plugged into a standard cheapo vape pen battery, the blood orange cart is smooth on inhale, with very little coughing and a bright, citrusy taste consistent with its namesake on exhale. The
recommended two puffs brought an elevated but focused mood two more puffs for good measure seemed to be the sweet spot, bringing increased euphoria without muddying up the brain’s functions too much. his is definitely a sativa, and in keeping, couch-lock was not a concern. It also didn’t have much in the way of appetite stimulation, and, pleasantly, very little in the way of dry mouth. It’s a good concentrate for getting stuff done without being overly medicated or incapacitated. In all, the new products mark yet another victory for Heya ellness in a year that’s already full of them. And according to Judd the company is just getting started, with its cultivation operation currently working on a move into the sizable St. Ann space that until recently housed the Manhattan Antique Mall. “It’ll be 30,000 square feet of cultivation, Judd says with a palpable sense of pride. “I want to say middle of next year.” or more information and to purchase Heya’s new products, visit heyawellness.com. n