Take the word “OIL” and flip it upside down. What number does it resemble? 710! Happy 7/10 (July 10th), the equivalent of 4/20 for cannabis concentrate enthusiasts. This is because “OIL” is a type of concentrate and a way to reference extracts in general.
In celebration of 7/10, we’re going to profile 10 of the best-selling Canadian cannabis concentrate brands with data provided by Neobi Technology.
What are Cannabis Concentrates?
Cannabis concentrates, also referred to as extracts or dabs, are a concentrated distillation of the active compounds from the cannabis plant (including cannabinoids and terpenes) without the presence of excess plant matter. Cannabis concentrates are essentially a collection of trichomes and can be made through a variety of solvent-based or solventless extraction techniques.
Solventless concentrates are extracted using only heat and pressure through a variety of methods. Examples are hashish, rosin, live rosin, bubble hash and dry sift. Solvent-based concentrates are most commonly made with either butane, propane, ethanol or CO2 to strip the plant of its trichomes. Formats include Shatter, Wax, Budder, Rick Simpson Oil (RSO), Distillate, Live Resin, Diamonds and Sauce.
The Top Selling Cannabis Concentrate Brands in Canada
Cannabis concentrates have been enjoyed by Canadians for decades and have been federally legal since October 17, 2019 – one year after flower and ingestible oil and capsule products were legalized. Over the past three years, the cannabis concentrates category has completely changed and continues to evolve. We partnered with Neobi Technology to examine some of the top-selling concentrate brands across the country. In no particular order, here is a non-comprehensive top 10 list based on estimated revenue data from select legal dispensary Point-Of-Sale systems.
Tremblant Hash
Tremblant Hash (or Tremblant Haschich or Tremblant Cannabis) is a sub-brand launched by large Licensed Producer Organigram. Tremblant exclusively focuses on old-school hashish and hashish-infused pre-roll products. The brand’s logo is a mountain, seemingly playing on ‘Mount Tremblant”, a ski-resort city in Quebec. Tremblant is extremely popular in Quebec and Canada’s Maritime provinces including New Brunswick and Newfoundland. The brand’s signature products – their 2g old school hashish and 2g Afghan black hash – can be found all across the country in more provinces including Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alberta. Organigram is also responsible for brands including Edison, SHRED X, Holy Mountain, Big Bad O’ Buds, Trailblazer and Monjour.
RAD
RAD (which stands for Really Awesome Dope) is a concentrates brand launched by Heritage Cannabis, who is responsible for other brands including Premium 5, Pure Farma, Feelgood. and Pura Vida. RAD employs a retro 1980’s plus early 2010’s vaporwave aesthetic in their branding. The brand targets the value consumer with their marketing and slogans such as “RAD is committed to Pricing Weed Like It’s The 80’s”. The brand offers numerous SKUs of shatter, live resin, THCa live diamonds, infused pre-rolls, infused milled flower, infused cannagars and vape cartridges.
Bluenose Labs
Bluenose Labs is a Licensed Cannabis Producer Located In Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Bluenose Labs has launched their own namesake brand, which primarily offers dabbable concentrate products. Their sub-brand, Vape Breton, exclusively offers 510 thread vape products. Bluenose’s line-up is available in both Ontario and Nova Scotia. The brand invites consumers to “set sail with Bluenose” and features an array of Maritime-inspired Atlantic imagery. Having launched quite recently, it is impressive to see this new independent brand gain so much market share in such a small amount of time.
ENDGAME
ENDGAME is a legacy cannabis company that is quickly establishing themselves as the coolest concentrate brand in Canada, by far. The brand supports the hip-hop community with Canada and has aligned themselves with some big name artists. ENDGAME is well-known for throwing parties and activating at cannabis events across the country. Their brand imagery is hip, engaging and plays off elements of streetwear and hip-hop. EG offers vape cartridges, shatter, live resin, infused milled flower, infused pre-rolls, diamonds, sauce and disposable vapes. ENDGAME is owned by Adastra Holdings which also operates other legacy-to-legal brands such as Phyto Extractions.
Vortex
Vortex is a Quebec-based cannabis brand and producer that offers a variety of hash, vape and pre-rolled products. Vortex offers Afghan black hash and Alaskan Thunderfuck Live Resin at affordable prices – which are two of the top-performing SKUs since legalization 2.0.
Good Supply
Good Supply is one of the top-selling cannabis brands across all categories across all provinces in Canada. Good Supply was originally launched by Aphria, which was subsequently acquired by Tilray Brands. Along with flower and pre-rolled products, Good Supply has an extensive line-up of vape cartridges, temple hash balls, ingestible oils, dabbable wax and more. The brand is one of the most well-known and developed brands in the industry with a fun, approachable feel and appearance.
Sherbinskis
Sherbinskis is an iconic American cannabis brand born in Los Angeles and brought to Canada by Final Bell. Sherbinskis was founded by Mario Guzman, a cannabis tastemaker and breeder of the Gelato family genetics. Sherbinskis is highly-coveted and respected in California and across the world. In Canada, the brand exclusively offers vape products including 510 threads and disposable vapes. This is the only brand on the list that sells exclusively vapes and no hashish or dabbable concentrates. The reason Sherbinskis was included in this data set is because all of their vapes are made out of Live Resin, making them one of the top brands selling Live Resin (a cannabis concentrate) in the country.
Dab Bods
Dab Bods promises to provide only the highest quality full-spectrum cannabis extracts and infused flower products at a price point that is “more than comfortable”. A play on the term “dad bod”, Dab Bod’s logo features a dad with a belly wearing an oil-drippy hat. Dab Bods is one of several brands launched by Stigma Grow, an Alberta-based Licensed Producer. Dab Bods sells a variety of concentrates and concentrate-infused products including infused pre-rolls, shatter, moonrocks, vape pens and more.
Dymond Concentrates
Dymond Concentrates is a legacy-turned-legal cannabis concentrate brand that is powered by Cicatrix Labs, a producer and distribution company based in Kelowna, BC. Dymond established a name for themselves in the illicit market and now offer a variety of solvent-based concentrates on the legal market including vapes, shatter, live resin, infused pre-rolls and diamonds. Dymond is a masculine yet colourful, powerful brand with a good amount of brand recognition among previous legacy consumers.
MSIKU
This Indigenous-founded East Coast brand under the Atlanticann umbrella is best known for their house-made concentrates crafted from meticulously bred fresh-frozen cannabis. Consumers have really enjoyed MSIKU’s Live Resin Variety Pack, which offers the chance to try three 510 carts containing the sativa-rich Star Struck, mellow indica Moon Mist and balanced 1:1 Sweet Island Breeze. Ontario cannabis consumers should keep an eye out for additional carts and disposable vapes as MSIKU expands their distribution across Canada and their selection in this product category.
Honorary Mentions
The following brands didn’t make our top 10 list but ranked highly in the overall data of top-selling concentrate brands in their respective markets. Nugz, 1964, Truro Cannabis, San Rafael ’71, Roilty Extracts, Highly Dutch Organic, MTL Cannabis, HEXO, SHRED X and Phant. Congratulations to all the brands defining and innovating this exciting and ever-evolving category.
The Future of Cannabis Concentrates in Canada
The cannabis concentrate category is set to develop and progress well into the future. Concentrates have consistently been one of the fastest (if not the fastest) growing categories in the country. When examining mature markets elsewhere such as California and Colorado, we see that cannabis concentrates account for approximately 25-30% of all sales. By examining market data in provided by the Canadian federal government, we can see that “cannabis extracts” as a category accounts for around 23% of all sales in the country. However, these numbers are skewed higher due to the Canadian government’s definition of extract which includes the products this article has outlined in addition to softgels, tinctures, vape pens and suppositories.
When comparing Canada’s data to mature markets elsewhere, it’s clear that the category itself has some growing and maturing to do. Likewise, the product formats will continue to evolve. California and other mature markets set the trends for which product types are popular and markets like Canada follow behind, typically with a 1-5 year lag. For example, there is a real opportunity for high-quality solventless concentrates like live rosin in the Canadian legal market. These types of products dominate the legacy market and mature markets like California. Canadian concentrate companies would do well to study brands in other markets, see where trends are headed and get ahead of them up north.
All of this to say, the concentrate category in Canada is extremely exciting and is one to watch for overall market growth and conversion of illicit consumers to legal. Happy 710 dabbers!
Last Updated on July 10, 2023 by ADCANN
