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Short Summary
In this educational episode of the Legacies Podcast, hosts Tom Ritchie and Wesley Bowles share their highlights from the recent Retailer Summit and support a voting campaign for High North Labs’ award nomination. They review Golden Goth by Origine Nature and preview an upcoming craft processing special at JointCraft. Rosanna Bertrand of Heady Dab Supply joins the show to discuss concentrators, dabbing community culture, and coordinating events in Quebec and British Columbia. Finally, they welcome Canadian cannabis pioneer Abi Roach. Abi shares her extensive career, from opening the landmark Hotbox Cafe in Kensington Market in 2000 and operating it for two decades, to serving as Senior Category Manager at the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS). She explains the launch of Jane Dope Inc., which provides size-inclusive clothing and licenses its brand to the H.E.R.B. craft cannabis line launching on the OCS.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s going on, everyone? Check out what’s coming up this week on Legacies.
Tom Ritchie Says: What always impresses me the most is how many incredible people are building in this industry when you get to rub shoulders and connect in person.
Abi Roach Says: When I registered my first business in 1999, the security guard asked what I was selling. I said, ‘Marijuana stuff.’ He wrote down ‘Gifts and Glass’ on the form. If that man hadn’t checked that box, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you today.
Wesley Bowles Says: I’m throwing a beverage in my top three because the category deserves love—and it’s still Cheech & Chong’s Orange Cream soda!
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, welcome to Legacies, everyone! I’m your host, Tom Ritchie, joined by Wesley ‘The Wizard’ Bowles. Good morning, Wes!
Wesley Bowles Says: Good morning! We are all set up with new mobile recording gear for our upcoming live studio visits.
Tom Ritchie Says: A reminder that Legacies is brought to you by Breadstack. Retailers, upgrade your e-commerce platform and optimize your local SEO. We were just at the Elevate Cannabis Retailer Summit yesterday in Toronto, organized by Jas, and there was massive discussion around retail tech and search optimization.
Wesley Bowles Says: Elevate was incredible. It was inspiring to see independent dispensary owners sitting down with notebooks, taking deep notes on retail economics, inventory curation, and data analytics.
Tom Ritchie Says: I had the honor of moderating a retail panel with Marisa from ShinyBuds, Katy Perry of Toke Cannabis, and Sara from Oak Analytics. Marisa reminded everyone that despite regulatory friction, Canada holds a powerful advantage as a federally legal, regulated market on the world stage.
Wesley Bowles Says: Owen Allison from Highland Cannabis gave brilliant advice for independent retailers competing against corporate discount chains. Corporate chains often lean heavily on data monetization deals, stocking paid shelf space rather than consumer-curated products.
Tom Ritchie Says: Owen emphasized: do not try to race corporate discounters to the bottom on price matching. Instead, curate the craft, small-batch, bespoke SKUs that corporate chains ignore. Highland Cannabis runs an insane 2,500-SKU menu and consistently stocks the freshest craft drops in the province.
Wesley Bowles Says: A major highlight of the summit was Detective Constable Ann Goodwin from the OPP Provincial Joint Forces Cannabis Enforcement Team. Operators grilled her on why unregulated storefronts aren’t shut down immediately, and she handled the tough questions with total professionalism.
Tom Ritchie Says: She explained that joint enforcement requires highly experienced senior officers, not fresh recruits, and building ironclad legal cases against organized operations takes time. Kudos to her for engaging directly with operators.
Tom Ritchie Says: As we were leaving the summit, Kyle Gordon, national sales rep for MediPharm Labs, caught up with us to say he listens to Legacies on his cross-country sales drives. He gifted us a pack of Wildlife Cannabis Co.’s Golden Banana 1:1 pre-rolls.
Tom Ritchie Says: They are 0.3-gram dogwalker-style joints with an authentic ripe banana terpene profile. I smoked one last night while watching TV, and the balanced CBD:THC ratio delivered an exceptional, relaxing body effect.
Tom Ritchie Says: Big congratulations to our friends at High North Labs! They have been nominated for Lab of the Year at the prestigious MJ Awards through MJBizCon.
Tom Ritchie Says: If they win, they will be the first Canadian testing facility to take home an MJ Award. Go to LinkedIn or Google the MJ Awards, cast your vote for High North Labs, and let’s prove Canadian analytical testing leads the world. Leave a comment on this clip confirming your vote, and we’ll enter you to win a custom bespoke Legacies sweater!
Wesley Bowles Says: I’ll put the direct voting link in our episode description.
Tom Ritchie Says: I’m rocking my new black-and-white Origine Nature hat today. Alex and Dave sent over a care package with Golden Goth, which won 1st Place at the Grow Up Cup. It was packaged in a glass mason jar inside a CVault, and the pungent gas and sweet pine aroma punched right through the seal. Exceptional craft flower.
Tom Ritchie Says: For our upcoming holiday special, Wes and I are taking our mobile studio to the new Joint Craft Sensory Room with John Prentiss, Ryan Brandt, and Amy. Under Health Canada regulations, their sensory testing facility allows licensed producers to gather direct qualitative feedback on flower, concentrates, and packaging.
Wesley Bowles Says: We are fully equipped with multi-mic mobile mixers and in-ear monitors so we can record on-site across Ontario and Quebec.
Tom Ritchie Says: My current top three 1:1 balanced cultivars are: Purple Mountain Majesty by Mendo Select, Apricot Cream Cheese by Clemon Co, and Harlequin by Simply Bare.
Wesley Bowles Says: My top three right now: Apricot Cream Cheese by Clemon Co, Atlantic Cultivation’s Pure Michigan glass-tip pre-rolls, and Cheech & Chong’s Orange Cream cannabis soda.
Tom Ritchie Says: Retailers told us consumers are buying cases of Cheech & Chong beverages before they even hit the retail floor. We are having Jackie on soon to talk beverage manufacturing!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back! We are joined by Rosanna Bertrand of Heady Dab Supply and Heady Dab Events!
Rosanna Bertrand Says: Hi Tom, hi Wes! Great to be here with you guys.
Tom Ritchie Says: Tell us about Heady Dab Supply and how your consumption events originated.
Rosanna Bertrand Says: We started Heady Dab Supply on the South Shore of Montreal offering concentrate consultations. Because Quebec enforces strict bans on retail vape cartridges and high-potency concentrates, we saw an urgent need to create safe social spaces where processors, extractors, and consumers could connect.
Rosanna Bertrand Says: Our first event in a Montreal shisha lounge brought together brands like Sauce Rosin Labs, Tribal, and Altacan. When processors connect in person, it sparks direct wholesale collaborations that result in new commercial SKUs reaching dispensary shelves in Ontario and Alberta.
Rosanna Bertrand Says: In solventless processing, there is a distinct difference between traditional flower growers and trichome farmers. A trichome farmer manages their canopy specifically for hash production—monitoring trichome head gland maturity, membrane fragility, and resin cap detachment under the microscope to know the exact window to harvest for ice water hash washing.
Tom Ritchie Says: That is brilliant. Cultivating specifically for trichome density and resin collection transforms how craft extractors formulate rosin.
Rosanna Bertrand Says: On November 21st, we are hosting our sixth Heady Dab Event at the iconic New Amsterdam Cafe in downtown Vancouver! We have incredible legacy and craft solventless brands showcasing their extractions.
Tom Ritchie Says: Rosanna, congratulations on uniting the concentrate community across Canada!
Rosanna Bertrand Says: Thank you, Tom and Wes! Have a wonderful day!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back! We are joined by true industry royalty, Abi Roach—founder of Hotbox Cafe, former OCS Senior Category Manager, and founder of Jane Doe and HERB by Jane Doe!
Abi Roach Says: Hi guys! So great to be here with you today.
Tom Ritchie Says: Before we dive into your legendary career, what was the worst job you ever had?
Abi Roach Says: In 1995, I had an internship at an event company run by an older Deadhead. His office was plastered with Grateful Dead posters, and he would constantly try to give 19-year-old interns back massages. It was creepy and inappropriate, so I quit and vowed to run my own businesses.
Abi Roach Says: One of my most formative early jobs was working at Blue Moon, a vintage boutique on Queen Street West in the 1990s. The owner taught me visual merchandising—facing garments, sizing denim, window displays, and customer psychology. Those fundamentals shaped everything I built later.
Tom Ritchie Says: Walk us through how Hotbox Cafe was born in Kensington Market in 1999.
Abi Roach Says: I was 20 years old and took a self-employment program that offered a small startup grant. When registering my tax ID, the security guard helped me list ‘Gifts and Glass’ so it wouldn’t get flagged.
Abi Roach Says: After visiting Blunt Brothers in Vancouver and cannabis-friendly guesthouses in Jamaica, I wanted to normalize social consumption in Toronto. I leased space on Augusta Avenue, took out a $500 Home Depot card and a $1,000 IKEA card, and built Hotbox Cafe. Criminal defense lawyer Alan Young helped me design operational house rules based on the legal concept of aiding and abetting.
Abi Roach Says: I applied the Chapters/Starbucks retail model: coffee, breakfast, and munchies brought daily foot traffic into the back patio lounge, while the high-margin bongs, vaporizers, and glassware in our Roach-o-Rama front retail shop generated the actual profits. For 20 years, Hotbox normalized cannabis culture in Toronto.
Tom Ritchie Says: Will we ever see licensed consumption lounges in Ontario?
Abi Roach Says: Politicians will never stick their necks out to authorize indoor public smoking. However, under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, cannabis consumption is permitted anywhere tobacco smoking is allowed. Entrepreneurs can establish private boutique hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, or outdoor patio domains where guests order room service edibles and consume legally.
Tom Ritchie Says: In 2019, you sold Hotbox to Friendly Stranger and joined the Ontario Cannabis Store. What was that transition like?
Abi Roach Says: I saw an OCS job posting for Senior Category Manager of Flower. I interviewed, and the executive leadership created a bespoke role for me as Senior Product Manager for Merchandising. I called it my ‘MBA in legal cannabis.’ I spent years analyzing real-time POS data, tracking sell-through velocity, and designing core frameworks like Flow-Through, FarmGate, and provincial product calls.
Abi Roach Says: When I took over concentrates and pre-rolls at the OCS, the market only had black, low-grade shatter. I brought legacy concentrate masters into the legal framework—introducing Rosin Heads and Bubbleman to provincial buyers.
Abi Roach Says: I fought to introduce infused pre-rolls when corporate buyers didn’t understand the category. During a product call, I spotted Carmel’s Animal Face (3×0.5g) and told leadership it would dominate the market. Sure enough, it became the top-selling pre-roll in Ontario.
Tom Ritchie Says: Why do so many successful flower brands stumble when they expand into vapes or edibles?
Abi Roach Says: A brand is an authentic persona with a distinct voice. When a craft flower brand suddenly launches generic botanical distillate vape carts, it destroys brand credibility. If you try to be everything to everyone, you appeal to no one. Focus intensely on the one consumer demographic and product format you execute better than anyone else.
Wesley Bowles Says: What advice do you have for independent retail buyers shopping the OCS catalog?
Abi Roach Says: Walk into your store every morning through the consumer’s eyes, not your own. Look at Headset retail sell-through data rather than relying on wholesale shipment metrics. Utilize Flow-Through to curate exclusive, craft SKUs that corporate discounters ignore, and build high-margin accessory displays—glassware, apparel, and lifestyle tools—where you can double your retail margin.
Tom Ritchie Says: What sparked the creation of your brand, Jane Doe?
Abi Roach Says: I was sitting in an OCS boardroom with male executives discussing ‘female-focused’ brands, and they pitched low-THC pink packages with bows. I cringed. Real cannabis women smoke high-potency craft flower, hit 90% live rosin vapes, pay their own mortgages, and have bold opinions.
Abi Roach Says: Jane Doe represents the unapologetic, discerning woman who embraces cannabis lifestyle without patronizing stereotypes.
Abi Roach Says: To keep Jane Doe lifestyle apparel and skincare accessible in mainstream stores without age-gating, we licensed our cannabis line under HERB by Jane Doe. In my day job as Director of Sales for McIntyre Creek in BC, we cultivate certified organic, living-soil cannabis specifically for live extraction.
Abi Roach Says: We are launching Canada’s first true Live Flower line: harvesting at peak trichome development, flash-freezing at -36°C, freeze-drying in a 450kg/day industrial lyophilizer, and moisture-curing back to 12%. Because it bypasses traditional degradation, every volatile terpene and cannabinoid remains as fresh as the day it was cut.
Abi Roach Says: We extract our hydrocarbon live resin crumble from that exact same live flower batch, pairing it with liquid diamonds in custom rose gold hardware. We also created single-strain infused pre-rolls featuring Bloom Cones: the filter tip is coated in organic beeswax embedded with wildflower seeds. When you finish smoking, you plant the filter in the soil and grow a wildflower garden.
Tom Ritchie Says: That is next-level product design—single-source inputs, pristine aesthetics, and biodegradable environmental packaging.
Abi Roach Says: In cannabis, the average SKU lifecycle is roughly 12 months. Like high fashion, 20% of your catalog represents core staple sellers, while the remaining 80% must rotate with consumer trends. Successful brand builders project product roadmaps 18 to 24 months in advance to stay ahead of market fatigue.
Tom Ritchie Says: Abi, thank you for sharing your incredible journey, pioneering retail wisdom, and inspiring the entire industry!
Abi Roach Says: Thank you so much, Tom and Wes! Keep doing what you guys are doing!
Tom Ritchie Says: Talking with Abi Roach is like a masterclass in cannabis history, retail strategy, and product innovation.
Wesley Bowles Says: Her insight into SKU lifecycles, data-driven retail curation, and sustainable product design shows why she remains a visionary in Canadian cannabis.
Tom Ritchie Says: Vote for High North Labs for MJ Lab of the Year, check out Breadstack to upgrade your dispensary e-commerce, and we’ll see you next week on Legacies!
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Founder & Commercial Advisor
Abi Roach is a Canadian cannabis industry pioneer, founder of Hotbox Cafe, and commercial advisor behind Jane Dope and Dope Brands Consulting.
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Lifestyle Apparel & Licensing Brand
Jane Dope is a lifestyle and apparel brand founded by cannabis industry pioneer Abi Roach. Originally inspired by the community...
Learn More About Partner ↗Founded in 2000 by Abi Roach in Kensington Market, the HotBox Cafe was a landmark cannabis boutique and Toronto's first consumption lounge, playing an active role in normalization and social change for two decades before its sale in 2020.
Jane Dope Inc. is structured as a lifestyle and clothing corporation that licenses its brand to craft cannabis lines like H.E.R.B. This model allows the brand to distribute products on the OCS while maintaining an age-gate-free apparel brand.
Heady Dab Supply coordinates educational B2B and consumer events in Quebec and British Columbia to support craft concentrates and solventless extraction brands, helping them connect directly with retailers and consumers in a compliant setting.
