Intro & Catching Up (00:04)

Tom Ritchie Says: Todd, you’ve got me addicted, dude. Like, seriously, especially if you had David Hyde do your security. I mean, that guy just loved… who loved the fucking cameras, right?

Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s up, everyone? Welcome to Legacies. I’m your host, Tom Ritchie, joining me as usual, Mr. Wesley Bowles.

Wes Bowles Says: We’ve got a good show today. We got a good show. Yeah, who’s the guest today? We got Mr. Kyp from Victoria.

Tom Ritchie Says: That’s right. Yeah, looking forward to that. You know, Victoria Cannabis Company is doing some really cool stuff over there. Obviously, we see their branding, but before we get into that, we’ll certainly understand it more from Kyp’s perspective. It’s been a crazy week.

What’s Happening at BZAM? (01:05)

Tom Ritchie Says: There’s lots of news. What the fuck is going on at BZAM?

Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, that’s quite the story. And our thoughts and prayers and stuff are all gone with everyone who’s been affected by the layoffs over at BZAM. But yeah, that’s quite a week for them for sure.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah. This is, you know, typical industry maneuvering. We saw a recent announcement where BZAM was purchasing Final Bell, which obviously they’ve got a lot of brands under their umbrella. But you know, to echo your sentiment, it’s a matter of there’s a lot of individuals that are affected and there’s a lot that sound off at the top, right? This is going on at the chairman level, billionaire or not. There’s a board of directors involved. There’s upper management, obviously. Who we feel the most akin inside to are those employees that are affected. And hopefully they won’t be, but we do know that there’s been layoffs obviously throughout the BZAM brands or family brands. So it’ll be interesting to see what happens. I know Final Bell had some stern statements for the BZAM team. We’ll see what comes of that. It’s going to be interesting for sure.

Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, definitely, definitely. Tough week, tough week.

Tom Ritchie Says: Not… you know, it’s not uncommon to see this. I mean, when we back in our old days we saw CCAA letters coming through continuously and it’s not uncommon. It’s just a sad state of affairs for the industry. Obviously, excise taxes are killing us. They’re beyond astronomical. I mean, the numbers are staggering: $200 million plus owed in excise duties across 250 plus companies. You know, we don’t want this to obviously be doom and gloom, but…

Tom Ritchie Says: …individuals and companies like StratCann—David Brown over at StratCann—they do a phenomenal job at assembling this information and making it easy for individuals like ourselves to digest, because we’re all over the place trying to focus on a number of things and it’s our go-to source. So, David, keep it up at StratCann, it’s incredible.

Wes Bowles Says: I’m always impressed with how quickly I see stuff from David on LinkedIn. It’s like he’s the first source and it’s like this stuff happened five minutes ago.

Tom Ritchie Says: I understand. I know, I know. But I don’t know if he has a full team, how big his team is there, but they’re on the pulse of the industry. You know, you get us and our antics and takes of what’s going on a week behind times, right? So yeah.

New Vape Format & Hardware Debates (03:40)

Tom Ritchie Says: And on that note, you remember last week I mentioned we’d like to wade into some new products, certain things that we like to try. Obviously, I’m not a big vape guy, but I did mention last week that there’s some new vape format that is being pumped and pushed that I really don’t understand too much because I’m not into that vape scene. But I do know enough to say that the standard across the industry was typically the 510 vape carts, and apparently there must be some issues with them. I don’t know if they’re leaking or what they are, but the folks over at Motif Labs, they’ve introduced a new vape cart.

Tom Ritchie Says: I don’t know if they’re calling it Roosters as a brand, or if it’s the form—I’m not quite sure, I don’t have all those details. But there were some funny comments that were circling Reddit, and one of them was something that looks phallic by nature. We did see a picture of it and I was like, I don’t really know about that, but it kind of said, “Well, it might be refillable.” And then we start taking into account, like, if that’s the case and you can buy a jug of vape juice that is THC, obviously is it going to be taxed astronomically? So the answer I would say is probably yes. But, Wes, what do you think?

Wes Bowles Says: Okay, yeah. I think again, like you said, I’m not really 100% up to date on what the issue with the 510s is if that’s such a standard and everyone’s already using those. I don’t know if it was cost, is it leakage, is it a number of things? Maybe there’s too many faults on the production line leading to high failure rates and stuff like that, and they were looking for something new. I’m of the mindset that, like I said, it’s more so about the potential for refillability. So if you look at something like a Caliburn—it’s just a nicotine salt pod because there’s no cannabis in it—these pods you can refill. And I’m wondering, because they look very similar to me when I look at pictures, if the refillable aspect is the way we’re going. And like you said, if you get something like that which is a typical Nic salt, obviously you’re not going to get something that big filled with extract because you’d be looking at a couple hundred dollars or whatever. But yeah, I feel like that might be the way we’re going, so we’ll see. But yeah, I’m not really sure what was wrong with the 510 to be honest.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, I’m not sure. You know, maybe there’s experts out there that can weigh in if they catch a clip, or if you’re watching on YouTube or Spotify, add some comments. We’ll research it as much as we can. You know, there’s only a team of four of us right now and we’re pitching in across High Flyer, High Flyer Media, and Legacies, so it’s busy. Actually, on that, let’s see if we can get some updates from Ian on a couple of things. So send him a link when you can. I want to bring him in, so if he’ll join, catch him off guard, just have a little fun with Ian if we could. While we’re doing that…

Tom Ritchie Says: You had a little road trip, obviously. And I’m jealous because you’re wearing a Stok’d hoodie! That’s pretty cool. Where did you get that? Tell us the story.

Stok’d Niagara & Retail Experience (06:45)

Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, I made it up to the Stok’d Niagara Falls, Ontario location—not the American side, so obviously the Canadian side. Yeah, we won a giveaway, I think a Stok’d giveaway, a week or two ago.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, we give a lot of shit away, but we don’t win anything! We actually considered: should we re-give this, should we pay it forward? And then we thought, well, hold on, it’d be nice to get something for a change. So you live a little bit closer and obviously could make the trip down. But you know, from what I understand: great stuff, good location. Typical of Niagara Falls in some cases, I think, where rent is not cheap for commercial spaces within Niagara Falls. But what was your experience like in store?

Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, overall it is beautiful. The outside of the store is great. It’s in that initial area of Niagara Falls on Stanley—not quite downtown. The area around it is a little bit rough, because anyone who’s ever been to Niagara Falls before kind of knows. But the store itself is great. Beautiful store inside; it would be a nice place for an on-site episode of Legacies maybe.

Tom Ritchie Says: Lisa, Lisa, we still owe you an email! Lisa, we do apologize. We’ll get to it, there’s a lot of things cooking.

Wes Bowles Says: But no, the staff were great in there, really nice selection, and prices were great too. Nothing to really complain about. They had a pretty nice, extensive collection of accessories and stuff. I saw some glassware like glass ashtrays, bongs, and pipes that I haven’t seen in places before. Really nice selection.

Tom Ritchie Says: That cool? Yeah. I wonder if the vast majority of that is typically purchased online, I’m not sure. I don’t have a lot of accessories. I’m a lazy individual when it comes to cannabis consumption, which is, you know, for me: pre-rolls. Actually, on that note, I should mention I grabbed some of my stash to bring to the studio, and I’ve got good news!

Tom Ritchie Says: I’ve got good news! So as you know, I’ve been trying to track down Rosin Heads pre-rolls for a while. Todd announced those are going to market, they’re going to be available through flow-through. I think that was as of February 20th, and I’ve been monitoring and checking: who can I get it from? Who can I get it from?

Rosin Heads Innovation & Micro-dosing (09:20)

Tom Ritchie Says: So when I went to restock on my Rosin Heads stash last night—because, Todd, you’ve got me addicted, dude! Like, seriously, it’d be one thing to be purchasing edibles or chocolate confectioneries with THC, but you could make these without THC and I’d still buy them. They are just incredible. So this one here is the hash rosin stick, which I know you love. There is a salted caramel. Just so everyone’s aware, this is not a paid endorsement by Rosin Heads. They are a brand partner, but we love these products across the edibles category. There’s a few frontrunners for us, but I would say top of the charts definitely Rosin Heads.

Tom Ritchie Says: So this is the hash rosin stick I did manage to get, although as you can tell I’ve eaten it already! But it’s the strawberry peanut butter. Yeah, the bag looks ripped open, right? So this is the hash rosin peanut butter cup, the strawberry one. Back to the pre-roll: when I made my visit last night to restock, they are getting the pre-rolls. They’re due in today if they can get them.

Tom Ritchie Says: Now, this is the screwed up mess that we’re in when it comes to OCS and flow-through and orders and understanding what they’re going to get: they can put an order in for it at a retail level, but it doesn’t mean they’re going to get it every time. There could be very high demand with only a certain amount of units available, and then they disperse based on that. Being an OCS flow-through item is obviously a little bit more challenging. It’s nice that they did that and they can get product to market for brands a little bit quicker, but for us, the consumer in the know following some of these brands and wanting to indulge, it makes it tough.

Tom Ritchie Says: And one other thing too that I’ll mention when it comes to Rosin Heads: I love these hash rosin drops. Again, not a paid endorsement, Todd—you can send me anything you want, I know I can get swag off thehighflyer.ca, but these are phenomenal. They’re 50 tabs in the container, 250 milligrams total, five milligrams each. They have the texture of chocolate, but they’re not sweet, they’re not chocolate. I love them because they taste like hash to me! Others could probably take it or leave it, but I love the format. It’s super easy to micro-dose if you want. And we’re not talking mushrooms or acid or anything like that.

Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, those ones come in like a flavorless and then almost like a mint, right?

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, I haven’t tried the mint. These ones are flavorless if you think… depends on how you slice it. I mean, they taste like hash to me! So there is flavor from a confectionery standpoint. That’s what I really like: no sugars! And that’s how he managed it, because I remember asking him: “How the fuck did you manage to get away with this?” And he’s like, “Well, it’s not candy, it’s not chocolate. It just has the texture of chocolate.” As soon as he said that, I’m like, sold! So I picked them up, and they’re a great product.

Tom Ritchie Says: Speaking of other product innovations, you were mentioning something earlier this week about something available in Quebec. Is it a poutine sauce or something?

Infused Poutine?! (12:35)

Wes Bowles Says: I’m a little jealous I don’t live in Quebec at the moment because this seems to only be available there. I’ve got it here on screen, give me one second. It’s infused poutine sauce from 1964 Supply Co., which is part of Rubicon Organics. So it’s currently only available on the SQDC, but yeah, this is really interesting. It comes in two 5mg pouches or cups there, and I guess you just pre-mix that stuff with water in a saucepan and there you go—you have infused poutine! Very interesting.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, I mean I don’t make a lot of poutine at home, maybe I will! Interesting. Okay, and so it’s 10 milligrams THC obviously…

Wes Bowles Says: Ten mills total across.

Tom Ritchie Says: Okay, so at two 5mg packs. Interesting. And 1964, they’ve got some other good products too. I do like that brand, it’s a good brand.

Wes Bowles Says: Like, it’s confusing to me, right? Because if I want to eat poutine while high, I want to get a little high first and then eat the poutine! But it feels to me if I’m eating this poutine, I’m not getting high enough quickly enough to enjoy it to that level. I don’t know, it’s just me.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, you need this: so your poutine now becomes your pre-meal, and then your munchie snack is something else!

Wes Bowles Says: The cheese curds, maybe.

Tom Ritchie Says: Maybe I just drink this sauce from the cup! What is it, Swiss Chalet? Or there was another one where everyone just wanted the seasoning sauce. This stuff is outrageous.

Tom Ritchie Says: You like that too?

Wes Bowles Says: So good, yeah.

Tom Ritchie Says: I’ve seen people drink it! Like they love it so much they drink it. Like, who the fuck drinks Swiss Chalet sauce like that?!

Wes Bowles Says: Well, I normally get at least two or three extra of those little mini dinner rolls just for the sauce.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, that’s awesome. My dad will get those, and he’ll put the fries on there with the sauce and make a little sandwich out of it.

Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, I could see that. It really just tastes like poultry seasoning and sage to me, so you could take that anywhere.

Tom Ritchie Says: Well, we’ve got Ian. Ian’s in the lobby, so we can ride him a little bit. For everyone that’s watching, Ian is a partner with us at High Flyer Media.

Mendo Medical Feature (15:05)

Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s up, everyone? Have you ever considered medical cannabis? You probably should. Chances are, you have insurance benefits that will cover that. We at High Flyer Media have partnered with leading medical cannabis provider Mendo Medical to bring you an exclusive offer: if you sign up and register using code FLY WITH US, you’ll get 15% off your first order! But the advantage is far beyond that: the selection is one of the best we’ve ever seen, curated by Jay Schwartz himself. He ensures that every product going out the door meets his high quality standards. Again, sign up or register with Mendo Medical using code FLY WITH US.

Ian from High Flyer Media (15:39)

Tom Ritchie Says: We just wanted to grab you in for a quick second because we like to ride you a little bit. Number one: you’re Canadian—show everyone your background! You supporting the Detroit Red Wings?!

Ian Says: Wings for life! [laughs]

Tom Ritchie Says: We’ll forgive you, but you’re going to get some flak for that in the comments, just saying.

Ian Says: Yeah, I’m hoping so!

Tom Ritchie Says: And we like to ride Ian a little bit because he has to deal with a lot of customers, not our customers directly, but still has reports, which I know he loves.

Ian Says: Love them!

Tom Ritchie Says: He loves those! We were just talking about poutine sauce, Ian. What are your thoughts on an infused poutine sauce?

Ian Says: Infused poutine sauce? Trying to think… pulled pork and poutine—yeah, that would be good!

Tom Ritchie Says: Take it to the next level! 1964 has got your back. They’ve got some stuff, we’re going to see if we can get our hands on it. It’s out of Quebec, though.

Ian Says: Beautiful. And how do you say that? Make sure you say it correctly: “Un peu.”

Tom Ritchie Says: Un peu. I’m going to get in trouble—Alex is going to be all over me going, “Don’t ever try and speak French again!”

Ian Says: Yeah, don’t do that!

Tom Ritchie Says: All right, go back. We got a show to do here. Go back to work and get rid of that Red Wings shit. Jeez.

Ian Says: Perfect. Done. All right.

Tom Ritchie Says: Unbelievable. All right, see you later.

Trafficked: Hash Smugglers & Moroccan Supply (17:14)

Tom Ritchie Says: All right. What else have we got cooking? What I should mention is: I don’t know if you’ve ever seen any of the episodes of Trafficked on National Geographic? Mariana van Zeller—incredible journalist. She just goes that extra mile every time. There used to be a show called Trafficked, and now they have Trafficked: Underworld. And I caught an episode called “Hash Smugglers.”

Tom Ritchie Says: There’s a lot of shit going on in Morocco, right? They’re moving towards legalization for medicinal use. But in the process, it’s a matter of—not unlike we had to deal with in Saint Vincent with the MCA—trying to understand how do you incorporate the traditional farmers that are in the country or region into a regulated system. The challenges there: obviously they need to deal with that, go through it. But I thought it was really interesting how this is still very prevalent in the black market. We know this—Canadians have their own issues when it comes to the black market or not.

Tom Ritchie Says: If you get a chance to check it out, I highly suggest checking out Trafficked: Underworld, specifically “Hash Smugglers.” They work their way through from street-level dealer up to… ultimately, I didn’t think during the episode that she was going to get a meeting with this individual, but there’s like four or five families that control the vast majority of hash in the world, apparently, black market. She worked her way up, and believe it or not, the kingpin was a lady—which is not unsurprising. But the balls on this… we’re talking big old lady balls! She is ruthless. She doesn’t care, she’s not married, she said she doesn’t need a man. Good for her, super successful.

Tom Ritchie Says: What caught me—and I can’t remember if it was weekly or monthly—this one family exports 60 tons of hash from Morocco! I don’t care if that’s weekly or monthly, that’s a hell of a lot of hash. Now you imagine that on the scale of four to five families doing this, you could just imagine how much of the world’s hash is being produced.

Tom Ritchie Says: Another thing that they mentioned was: the traditional cannabis plant grown in Morocco decades ago was like 8% THC. And then they mentioned that nowadays it’s 60%! And I’m like, there’s no fucking way. It can’t be 60%, that must be misspoken or someone gave them the wrong information. In Canada, we know anyone that starts to claim 31% or 34% THC usually gets called out for bullshit.

Wes Bowles Says: It’d be interesting to get Chris’s take from HashCo on that number just to see what he thinks is possible.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I actually forgot that HashCo did a sponsored article with High Flyer for the resurgence of hash in Canada, and it is making a rise. Individuals that enjoy hash, they stick with it. Brandon over at Ganja Glam doing the “Wake and Bake”—shout-out Brandon—he’s a big hash guy and he will dissect that from top to bottom. And then the reviews: they don’t care, right? When it comes to review time, they have a really good scoring system and a great team that does these reviews.

Tom Ritchie Says: For us, we don’t get into that. When we originally started interacting with Brandon, it was like, listen, we’re never doing reviews. One, we’re probably not qualified to; two, we need to stay somewhat even-keeled. If you don’t see a product, chances are we’re just staying away from it. We’re not going to bash them, that’s not what we do. But if we like a product, we will certainly give it a High Flyer Approved stamp of approval. We don’t go into “smoke real nice, flavor was this, terp content…” If it’s good, we’ll put our stamp of approval on it.

Wes Bowles Says: I think, you know, the different effects cannabis can have on different people—reviews to me are very subjective, especially for cannabis. I’ll give you a general: “It was good quality flower coming out of the bag, burned really well,” and all that stuff. But as far as “this is how it’s going to affect you, this is what it did to me,” that doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone.

Tom Ritchie Says: Right. But there is a portion of people that search for reviews and recommendations. Technically, when you go into a retailer, the budtender is giving you a recommendation based on your criteria: are you looking to consume at night, during the day, control certain symptoms—although they need to be very careful with that. But it’s a recommendation based on their own personal review. For me, I don’t shop based on reviews. A lot of people do, which is why the work that Ganja Glam and that team does is important. Some brands do not like what they have to say—up your game, sorry! [laughs]

Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, I agree.

Swag Giveaways & Community Engagement (23:10)

Tom Ritchie Says: We’ll note really quickly that last week we did a giveaway for Smoker Farms swag—for the sweater—and we also did a giveaway courtesy of Rebel Records for the Bob Marley Legend album. The response to those giveaways was unbelievable! I had to shut off certain notifications on my phone, it was just fucking blowing up.

Tom Ritchie Says: Well, not only is Wes executive producer and runs pretty much everything over at High Flyer, he’s also my personal IT and tech support! It could be the middle of the night, it could be in the afternoon on a weekend: “I don’t know what the fuck is going on!”

Wes Bowles Says: No, you’re not used to it! It used to be challenging being in the office together, but doing it remotely is another level.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, I need another phone, am I supposed to click on this button? What am I supposed to do?

Wes Bowles Says: That’s all right, you’re not the worst. Ian has his moments too!

Tom Ritchie Says: Ian certainly does too, yeah! We all do—except you. You’ve got it figured out for some reason. That’s why you’re called “The Wizard”!

Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, thanks. But for those giveaways, I had a bit of a thought here. We don’t have a giveaway for today’s show, but we’d be interested to see what the audience thinks, or what they’d like to see us give away next. So I was thinking: if everyone wants to head over to thehighflyer.ca and down in the comments on this Instagram reel, tell us what you’d like to see us give away next. We’ll take the popular opinion, work with the brands, and get something to give away on next week’s episode.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, I like that! Visit thehighflyer.ca, browse the products that are there. There’s a bunch of brands, we also have vinyl and coffee. We’re expanding every week. Let us know what you’re looking for and we’ll make sure we’re cued up and ready to go for another giveaway. Thanks for all that support, it was incredible.

Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, it was amazing.

Tom Ritchie Says: So awesome. I think on that note, maybe we should take a break, and when we come back, we’ll grab Kyp Rowe. I don’t know if I told you the back story: Kyp and I have known of each other through common connections, one being David Purcell. David did so much pioneering in the cannabis space, brought me to Kwantlen Polytechnic as an instructor for cannabis, and is now moving into MDMA research. That would be a great episode—we need to understand that a little bit more. For the vast majority of individuals in Canada, as this is shaping up, they just look at it like, “What, ecstasy is legal now?” It’s like, I don’t really think it’s quite that. So shout-out to David, we need you to explain this incredible world of MDMA. Have you ever consumed MDMA, Wes?

Wes Bowles Says: No, I haven’t.

Tom Ritchie Says: No, it’s one of those things—haven’t touched that one. Shrooms scare the shit out of me! I always ended up with issues.

Wes Bowles Says: A lot of people are micro-dosing those these days.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, I don’t understand it very much, I just haven’t spent the time to research it yet. But anyways, on that note, let’s take a break. We’ll be back soon with Kyp Rowe from Victoria Cannabis Company.

CannExpo Promo (27:20)

Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s up, everyone? It’s Tom Ritchie, your host of Legacies. Just want to let you know there’s only about three weeks left until one of the coolest events in the industry: CannExpo! Head to cannexpo.ca to get your tickets. If you’re looking for a discount, shoot us a DM, we’ve got your back. Three full days at this really cool event with on-floor budtender sampling, Main Stage panels, and kick-ass industry events. You need to be there!

Welcoming Kyp Rowe from Victoria Cannabis Company (27:44)

Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back, everybody! We’re joined by Kyp Rowe, VP of Brand Development at Victoria Cannabis Company. Kyp, we’ve been trying to get this to happen, and you subbed in for us on last-minute notice. We appreciate that, you’re a good sport!

Kyp Rowe Says: You guys have got to show some love to my Central Canada buddies! [laughs]

Tom Ritchie Says: There you go! We’ve been following Victoria Cannabis Company for a while. Here at Legacies, we tell the story behind a legacy. You’ve been in this industry for a hell of a long time—probably regretting going into the legal side, as many do! [laughs] Mind if I call it VCC?

Kyp Rowe Says: Yeah, it’s good.

Tom Ritchie Says: You’ve been with the company now how long?

Kyp Rowe Says: Two years in April.

Tom Ritchie Says: Awesome. Product has been available in the market for approximately seven months, but let’s go way back because you are a true legacy individual. Prior to even MMAR, your experience dates back—you were doing legacy seeds right back in ’99, correct?

Seed Smuggling Savant (28:50)

Kyp Rowe Says: Yeah, so I opened up a seed company back in 1999 called Legends Seed Brokerage House. That’s actually what it was: a place where you could get cannabis seeds from breeders around the world. I carried Canadian seeds, and I would go over to Amsterdam and grab all the Dutch stuff: Dutch Passion, Sensi Seeds, Flying Dutchman, all the classics. We would get them back to Canada and take out ads in High Times: 1-800-GOT-SEED. Marc Emery’s Cannabis Culture, Amsterdam Seed Company, and Legends Seeds were the three companies that ran full ads across High Times, Cannabis Culture, and any cannabis media rags you could find.

Tom Ritchie Says: In my early days getting started, I remember ordering seeds from Crop King Seeds around 2010. But you said a couple of things in there that I need to unpack: you’d go to Amsterdam and bring back seeds? Mail them? How did you get them back if it wasn’t legal?

Kyp Rowe Says: This is the beauty: I was going to Amsterdam three or four times a year to buy seeds. I’d buy bulk, hit up all the companies, then spend a week packing seeds into corrugated plastic into little envelopes in my hotel room. I have the neck pains and arthritis to prove it! Once they were all ready to go, I would jump on a train, get out of Amsterdam, and go to the first town over in Germany. I’d make sure that the postmark was from a German town, not a Dutch one.

Tom Ritchie Says: Wow! There’s balls! That’s some Ocean’s Eleven level shit! [laughs]

Kyp Rowe Says: That was mine, yeah! [laughs]

Tom Ritchie Says: I remember when I was 17 or 18 working in a restaurant in a big hotel, a younger guy around 20 came back with a lot of hash from Amsterdam. I asked him, “How the hell did you manage that?” And he said, “Risk and reward, buddy! Risk and reward.” In those days, hash was the thing to have: Gold Seal, Afghani, Jamaican Gum. What’s interesting is way back then in ’95 or ’96, prices haven’t changed that much in the world of hash and cannabis, but inflation has gone way out of control!

Kyp Rowe Says: Isn’t that classic? Street-level pricing has been consistent for 40 years: $10 grams, $35 to $40 eighths, $70 to $80 quarters—that hasn’t changed much. Back in my day in the mid-to-late eighties in high school in Ontario, we were getting hash oil made with isopropyl alcohol in bins of trimmings—horrible green stuff, but that was $15 a gram or two for $25. That was my first introduction to cannabis.

Tom Ritchie Says: After the seed journey and the smuggling—using the postal service to smuggle for you—there must have been an incredible amount of success within the world of seeds.

Kyp Rowe Says: An incredible amount of success, to be quite frank. There was such a huge market, especially in the United States. If you had the ability to send to the US, you were getting paid for it. The other part: we had a bunch of grow houses going, and we hooked up with notable breeders like DJ Short of the Blueberry fame, doing seeds for them. What I could make in one room with eight lights doing seeds would be the equivalent of doing six flower grows a year in one shot. We’d get online into chat rooms and message boards back in the day, pump our gear, and get customers for years.

Kyp’s First Cannabis Experience & The Wine Interlude (33:57)

Tom Ritchie Says: That’s wild. What would you say was your first experience with cannabis? What sold you on the plant?

Kyp Rowe Says: I was 14. My buddy’s older brother was a head, and we looked up to those guys older than us. We got our hands on some hash oil at a local pinball arcade, went down to the Thames River in the park, cooked it on a cigarette, and that was it—the beginning of a very long ride!

Tom Ritchie Says: Very similar story to myself: started with hash oil! “What is this goopy shit? How do I use it?” You remember spreading oil? If you could find flat street sweeper metal bristles rather than a bobby pin, you’d have all these young stoners walking down the street with their heads down scouring for street sweeper bristles! [laughs]

Tom Ritchie Says: Then you fast forward to ’99: you start dealing with seeds, running clandestine grows all over Vancouver, supplying Hillary Black at the BC Compassion Club. At what point did you start considering the legal market?

Kyp Rowe Says: To be honest, I took a break from the cannabis industry for about seven years. I was in the wine industry in the Okanagan, working as a vineyard manager and cellar master. Those seven years prepared me immensely for the opportunity—it’s very, very similar. In 2014, I got the opportunity to jump back into cannabis with an LP up in Powell River trying to get licensed.

Tom Ritchie Says: Powell River—remote coastal region, two ferries, rich cannabis culture!

Cross-Industry Overlaps & Regulatory Paranoia (36:58)

Wes Bowles Says: Kyp, you mentioned being in the alcohol and beverage industry for a little while there. Are there aspects of that industry you wish would come over to the cannabis side of things? And if so, what would those be?

Kyp Rowe Says: At the winery, I’d work from 4:30 AM until 10:00 AM in the field before it became too hot, and then work the tasting bar during the day. That connection with consumers was great: as the guy growing the vines and bottling the wine, you can guide them through flavor profiles and give them a vernacular—a vocabulary—to describe what they’re experiencing so you can help them figure out what they like. You can only do that with live sampling. That would be the number one thing. And taking down the thousand security cameras—they make me nervous!

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, you’re like, “I’m always being recorded.” Especially if you had David Hyde do your security—that guy just loved the fucking cameras! In the early licensing days, an inspector would say an 8-foot fence was required, then someone would build a 12-foot fence, and suddenly Health Canada would say, “Well, an 8-foot fence is required, but 12-foot is nice!” As soon as a facility was stamped with David Hyde, we knew: these guys are under Big Brother control, watched every moment!

Kyp Rowe Says: I worked with Chris Bezzant, and we would laugh: every ten feet there’d be a new camera that we didn’t need six months ago!

Tom Ritchie Says: You talk about store sampling—we’re not going to see that right away, but in Toronto we’ve got Lit Research, and consumption patios and lounges are starting to ramp up in British Columbia. What are you seeing out west?

New On-Site Consumption Laws & Municipal Hurdles (39:56)

Kyp Rowe Says: Cottage Cannabis just became the first dispensary that allowed sampling on their back patio. BC did say they were going to allow on-site consumption anywhere cigarette smoking is permitted, but then municipal bylaws step in. I’ve dealt with every level of government in this industry, and the municipal level are the biggest mobsters of the whole bunch, to be quite frank! It’s tough, but we’re slowly crawling toward having on-site sampling.

Tom Ritchie Says: We get questions sometimes why our focus at High Flyer isn’t just Ontario—we spread love across Canada, but there seems to be more appetite in BC for supporting local and understanding brand marketing. Victoria Cannabis Company is doing very well with that.

Kyp’s Take on BZAM, Corporatism & Legacy Integration (41:46)

Tom Ritchie Says: We see what’s going on with BZAM, Final Bell, and CCAA restructurings. For those that sit on the fringe going, “What does that even mean?”, what is your take on BZAM and the corporate positioning?

Kyp Rowe Says: Non-cannabis people running cannabis companies with CPG corporatism. We ran game for 50 years on the West Coast in the legacy market—it worked very well, prices were stable, and it was non-violent for the most part. When the transfer came over to the legal market, corporate Canada said, “We don’t understand how any of that worked, so we’re just going to use the alcohol model.” In doing that, you miss out on all the nuances that cannabis brings that alcohol doesn’t have. If you don’t understand those nuances and the connection to the consumer, you are doomed to fail. BZAM is a classic example of corporate bloat.

Tom Ritchie Says: Does there not need to be a balance struck somewhere in there? We’d love to incorporate all the legacy individuals—they understand the plant and how to put out good product. But in managing facilities, compliance, and large standard licensing, there needs to be someone with an understanding of that CPG market. Why don’t we see that balance? We see massively corporate or massively micro.

Kyp Rowe Says: Moving forward, the in-between is what’s going to have success. What corporate cannabis never got was: you’ve got to give the cannabis decision-making to cannabis people! From the grow room to marketing, you have to have cannabis input to be remotely successful. Publicly traded companies in cannabis are ridiculous—you don’t need that much money. When you have all this corporatism, it takes ten months to make a goddamn decision! It’s like a slow-moving oil tanker trying to make a sharp right turn.

Kyp Rowe Says: Mid-sized and smaller companies can pivot quickly. Tastes and cultivars come in and out of fashion, there’s price compression, provincial board SKU rationalization—you have to move quickly. Large companies can’t do it. You need business minds for CRA excise paperwork and compliance, but let cannabis people run the product.

Tom Ritchie Says: That ability to pivot quickly is huge. With cultivars, you have a loyal following behind a strain and then six months later it’s gone. With Smoker Farms, they stick with Master Kush Ultra and rotate on their own terms, not what the market dictates.

Efficiency of the BC Market & California Influences (47:01)

Tom Ritchie Says: When you look at massive operations like Aurora Sky taking 80,000 cuttings a week, those companies can’t pivot as quickly as craft operators dialed in.

Kyp Rowe Says: We keep our ears close to the ground. We understand what’s coming up regarding new flavor profiles and what’s hot out east. A classic example: we had a little bit of overstock of a specific cultivar that had run its course. Within a one-hour internal meeting, we created a new SKU—a large-format ounce—dropped the price, submitted it through BC direct delivery, and the province picked it up a week later. In Ontario, you’re pitching flower through product calls that hasn’t even been grown yet! BC direct delivery lets you pivot and monetize inventory immediately.

Tom Ritchie Says: Navigating product calls four times a year in Ontario is tough. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, they’re still flipping through paper catalogs! But you mentioned California—does California still influence the Canadian market?

Kyp Rowe Says: Absolutely. Most of the big breeders are down in California: Seed Junky, Jungle Boys, MawMaw Seeds. They have massive social followings and do cool stuff. They might cross the same clone-only cuts, but the consumers who yell loudest on Reddit, Twitter, or Instagram connect with California cannabis culture. What’s hot down there makes its way up to BC, and it directly influences what we drop.

Tom Ritchie Says: Let’s talk about Victoria Cannabis Company. Combined, the team has over 30 years of cannabis experience—half from Shelter Cannabis and half from Broken Coast!

Tom Ritchie Says: Broken Coast was one of our early favorites—true OG micros whose product was always fire.

Building Victoria Cannabis Company (52:17)

Kyp Rowe Says: I came on board two years ago after Shelter Cannabis closed up shop. The facility in Vic West is literally a four-minute drive over the bridge from downtown Victoria. It had two micro-cultivation licenses and a nursery license, wholesaling bulk cannabis without clear brand direction.

Kyp Rowe Says: We immediately built out our standard processor license and realized we could add a farmgate store. That’s five licenses under one roof! Before launching our own branded bags, I leveraged my relationships with craft brands like Joint Venture Craft, Red Barn, and Nicole 40, selling them our flower while making sure our facility was shouted out on the bags and socials. We had a whole year of grassroots marketing before dropping our own label.

Kyp Rowe Says: We launched our first cultivar, Pomelo Skunk, in July of last year. In the first six months, we did over $1 million in sales in BC alone! Now we’re moving into other provinces and focusing on our farmgate store.

Tom Ritchie Says: Five licenses under one roof—two micros, standard processor, nursery, and farmgate—with three separate municipal addresses?! To get into each license you have to go outside?

Kyp Rowe Says: Yes! The fire marshal and building inspectors were shaking their heads going, “What the fuck?!” [laughs]

Kyp Rowe Says: Our location sees 44,000 cars pass daily, sits on the Galloping Goose regional bike trail with 250,000 people a year, two blocks from the seawall, and 30,000 new residential units being built within a three-block radius over the next two years.

Tom Ritchie Says: What is farmgate for you guys? What are you hoping to achieve with it?

Kyp Rowe Says: I want to showcase British Columbia craft cannabis to global tourists! Highlight the small micro-growers, our colleagues, and 30+ years of BC cannabis heritage. We’ll carry BC craft and our own brand, acting as a focal point for consumer and community education.

Tom Ritchie Says: You’re in Saskatchewan, entering Manitoba in May, and in Ontario with two SKUs: Pomelo Skunk and Country Roll pre-rolls, plus G-Wagon coming. And you’ll be at CannExpo on March 22nd to 24th!

Brand Aesthetics, Tarot Cards & Cultivar Pheno-Hunting (58:11)

Tom Ritchie Says: I personally love your branding—people want to collect these cards! What was the inspiration behind the brand?

Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, for viewers watching on video and listening on podcast platforms, can you explain the design of what they’re looking at on these cards?

Kyp Rowe Says: Think about an old-school tarot card: consistent outer frame, but each card tells its own story. Colors correspond to terpene profiles—citrus is lighter yellows, while rich dessert sugars are blues and purples. Brett from Shelter and I worked together on the brand. We wanted to convey: “You are buying traditional cannabis from people who have been doing it for 30+ years.” We didn’t want another graffiti street brand with the “drip and goop” trend.

Wes Bowles Says: That drip. Drip and goop, yeah.

Tom Ritchie Says: It has a vintage apothecary style. We do posters at High Flyer—we need VCC posters on the site!

Wes Bowles Says: That definitely needs to happen.

Tom Ritchie Says: How many cultivars is VCC running right now?

Kyp Rowe Says: We drop a new flavor every four or five months. Currently running four core cultivars: After Eight, Pomelo Skunk (Mansfield Genetics), Starchild, and G-Wagon (MawMaw Seeds).

Kyp Rowe Says: We live by “nose over numbers.” When our G-Wagon COAs came back, we sent them to two other labs because we couldn’t believe it—they all came back between 34% and 37% THC with over 4% total terpenes! The trim trays looked like sandboxes. We sold 15 kilos to Pistol and Paris for their Alberta drop, and we have a 5×0.5g pre-roll coming to the OCS.

Wes Bowles Says: Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

Kyp Rowe Says: Exactly. But 90% of exceptional legacy cannabis naturally sits between 18% and 24% THC. Pushing astronomical numbers misses the entourage effect of minor cannabinoids and terpenes.

Tom Ritchie Says: Pistol and Paris product is some of the cleanest I’ve ever had—High Flyer Approved stamp of approval. Mike Baynes over there knows flower inside and out.

Tom Ritchie Says: What do you see as the difference between BC and Ontario? Is it still price and potency?

Kyp Rowe Says: When you have an educated consumer base, you get past the numbers game. We released a cultivar at 21.9% THC that smelled like fresh-baked cookies and allspice, and it sold out across BC. Everyone’s endocannabinoid system is different—THC alone is a flawed metric.

Tom Ritchie Says: Educating consumers is like craft beer and distilleries. How do we bridge the gap outside of farmgate?

Kyp Rowe Says: Push in the right places and get creative. The biggest disconnect is budtenders making $17 an hour when they are the frontline brand ambassadors. We need more legal sampling events like Tether and Canndora where budtenders connect directly with growers.

Marketing Regulation Reform (1:15:00)

Tom Ritchie Says: What marketing regulation change do you hope to see most?

Kyp Rowe Says: Treat us like alcohol! Let us show people’s faces in ads like Molson Canadian does during hockey games. Cannabis is taxed to the teeth—give us a fighting chance.

VCC’s Legacy & True Craft Transparency (1:16:56)

Kyp Rowe Says: On the back of our VCC bags, we list the flowering time, inputs, cultivar lineage, head grower, complete terpene breakdown, and cannabinoid profile. Total transparency. We don’t buy other people’s flower and slap a label on it: we hunt, select, grow, process, and bag everything ourselves.

Tom Ritchie Says: 20 to 30 years from now, what do you hope people say was Kyp Rowe and VCC’s legacy?

Kyp Rowe Says: Educating people on our culture and the plant. Cannabis is personal—it’s not a blanket experience. I want to be remembered for bringing innovative flavor profiles to the world and proving the strength of the BC craft community.

Kyp’s Favorite Cultivar: After Eight (1:19:14)

Tom Ritchie Says: What is your absolute favorite cultivar right now?

Kyp Rowe Says: Hands down, After Eight. It’s a Cookies x Legend cross with nerolidol dominance—which represents less than 1% of all bred cannabis. It has lavender notes, floral sweetness, burns paper-white, and delivers an elevated, sophisticated smoke.

Tom Ritchie Says: You fucking sold me, man! Wes is usually an edibles and beverage guy, but he’s about to switch back to flower after hearing that! [laughs]

Tom Ritchie Says: Kyp, thanks so much for joining us. You’re leaving an incredible legacy on Canadian cannabis.

Kyp Rowe Says: Thanks, Tom and Wes! Much love, you guys are beauties.

Outro & Next Week Preview (1:21:58)

Tom Ritchie Says: What a guy! We could talk to Kyp all day long. Reminder to get your CannExpo tickets for March 22nd to 24th, and check out Tether. Shop thehighflyer.ca for brand apparel and vinyl.

Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, we need those posters on there.

Wes Bowles Says: And like we said earlier in the show, head over to thehighflyer.ca, tell us in the comments what you want for the next giveaway, and we’ll work with the brands to give it away next week.

Tom Ritchie Says: Love it. Catch us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Spotify—everywhere! See you guys next week. Peace!