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In this educational episode of the Legacies Podcast, hosts Tom Ritchie and Wesley Bowles discuss federal political updates, including Christia Freeland’s resignation from parliament. They review updates from the Cannabis Council of Canada (C3) regarding a federal excise stamp proposal in the economic statement, noting that while the government has agreed to explore a single-level stamp to replace individual provincial formats, no definitive timeline has been established. They also share marketing insights from Joey Bravo’s podcast, discussing the importance of organic search engine optimization (SEO) and web ranking for retail dispensaries. Jackie Bieman, co-founder of Sheesh, joins to share her transition from a 12-year career as an LCBO buyer to product development at Hexo, and later co-founding Sheesh Sodas (known for Tangerine Dream). Jackie discusses her book, ‘Chill: The Wine Lover’s Guide to Cannabis’, comparing the history of alcohol post-prohibition to current cannabis normalization. Finally, Nicholas Sosiak, Chief Operating Officer of Cannara Biotech, joins to outline Cannara’s indoor cultivation strategy in Quebec. Nicholas discusses managing Nugz, Tribal, and Orchid, and sharing how Cannara grew from start-up to $100 million in revenue by maintaining brand focus.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s going on, everyone? Check out what’s coming up this week on Legacies.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: We haven’t changed those three core brands for the past five years. We went from $1 million to over $100 million in revenue with those same three brands.
Jackie MacAskill Says: This plant can help so many people overcome stigma, but more importantly, cannabis is simply a natural extension of life’s refined enjoyment.
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome to Legacies, everyone! I’m your host, Tom Ritchie, joined by Wesley ‘The Wizard’ Bowles. Wes, morning! How are you holding up?
Wesley Bowles Says: Good morning! I’m pretty exhausted with editing our Holiday Special dropping next week, but the footage from Joint Craft looks incredible.
Tom Ritchie Says: A reminder that Legacies is powered by Breadstack. Retailers, upgrade your e-commerce operations. Joey Brabo from Respect My Region posted about the importance of search discovery for dispensaries—Breadstack helps your retail store dominate local organic search with fast, native menus.
Tom Ritchie Says: I’m rocking my Blackhawks Clark Griswold jersey and moose mug today. We also want to give love to our Jewish friends celebrating Hanukkah—eight days commemorating the miracle of the consecrated oil burning in the temple.
Wesley Bowles Says: What are the worst seasonal cannabis marketing puns you’ve seen in email inboxes this month?
Tom Ritchie Says: ‘Cannukah’, ‘Get Lit This Holiday’, ‘Have a Green Christmas’—enough already! Kudos to Decibel’s Qwest brand for keeping it clean with a simple mistletoe and pre-roll visual that just said ‘Pucker Up’. Simple and effective.
Tom Ritchie Says: What a circus in Parliament this week with the political fallout around Chrystia Freeland and the federal cabinet. Canadians are tired of political PR spin and economic mismanagement.
Wesley Bowles Says: It feels like elected officials are more focused on protecting their pensions and kicking elections down the road than addressing real industry problems.
Tom Ritchie Says: Jonathan Wilson highlighted a small glimmer of hope in the federal Fall Economic Statement: the government mentioned exploring a **single national excise stamp**.
Wesley Bowles Says: The Cannabis Council of Canada (C3) has pushed hard for this. Right now, licensed producers must inventory, track, and apply separate excise stamps for every single Canadian province and territory. Having one federal stamp would eliminate massive supply chain friction and inventory deadlocks.
Tom Ritchie Says: The government stated they will ‘explore’ it, so we must keep holding their feet to the fire to turn exploration into regulatory action.
Tom Ritchie Says: What is going on with these massive unidentified drones flying over New Jersey? People are outside shooting rifles into the sky, and government officials claim they’re hobbyist drones the size of SUVs!
Wesley Bowles Says: Our timeline fractured somewhere in 2020 and we are officially living in a bizarro matrix simulation.
Tom Ritchie Says: Today we have two powerhouse innovators: **Jackie MacAskill**, author of Chill: The Wine Lover’s Guide to Cannabis and co-founder of Sheesh! Sodas, followed by **Nicholas Sosiak** (Nico Dank), President and CFO of Cannara Biotech (Tribal, Nugz, Orchid CBD)!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome to Legacies, **Jackie MacAskill**!
Jackie MacAskill Says: Hi Tom, hi Wes! Thank you so much for having me on.
Tom Ritchie Says: Jackie, your background is deeply rooted in beverage alcohol. Tell us about your journey from the LCBO into cannabis.
Jackie MacAskill Says: I spent 12 years as a category buyer at the LCBO, managing beer, ready-to-drink coolers, table wines, and finishing as senior buyer for Vintages premium wines. I worked alongside Masters of Wine and master sommeliers, developing a deep passion for terroir and beverage product innovation.
Jackie MacAskill Says: After leaving the LCBO, I consulted for global beverage suppliers entering Canada. But alcohol innovation hit a plateau—if I had to develop one more generic vodka hard seltzer, I was going to lose my mind. Anthony von Mandl built an incredible empire with Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Palm Bay, and White Claw, but the category became completely saturated.
Jackie MacAskill Says: A few years ago, I severely injured my back lifting a Peloton bike. Traditional pharmaceuticals failed to relieve the pain, but high-dose cannabinoids provided immediate therapeutic relief. While sitting on the dock at my cottage, a close friend asked: ‘Why aren’t you applying your beverage category expertise to cannabis?’
Jackie MacAskill Says: I carried significant personal stigma. At social gatherings, I was the woman holding a glass of wine like a shield, turning down the joint being passed around. To truly understand the plant, I joined HEXO in 2020 as Director of Product Development.
Jackie MacAskill Says: Alongside Todd Nolte and an incredible R&D team, we launched **92 new SKUs in a single year**, creating brands like Bake Sale and scaling HEXO from the number-three to the number-one market share position in Canada.
Jackie MacAskill Says: In a 2019 study, **84% of Canadian adults consumed alcohol, while only 20% consumed cannabis**. That leaves a massive **64% consumer opportunity**.
Jackie MacAskill Says: In my book, I write that alcohol is treated as the ‘guest of honor’ at the dining room table, while cannabis has historically been relegated to the backyard barbecue. But cannabis and wine are botanical twins:
– **Sativas** are crisp white wines (Pinot Grigio)—bright, uplifting, functional for daytime activities.
– **Indicas** are bold, aged red wines (Cabernet)—deep, relaxing, full-bodied for unwinding.
– **Hybrids** are Rosé—balanced, versatile, and approachable.
– **Terpenes & Terroir:** Terpinolene found in Riesling wine is the exact same aromatic compound found in Amnesia Haze. Both agricultural crops require proper soil, climate, curing, and thermal activation to express their character.
Jackie MacAskill Says: Legacy consumers understand historical cultivar names, but if we want to mainstream cannabis to wine drinkers, naming products ‘Durban Poison’, ‘Green Crack’, or ‘Trainwreck’ reinforces fear and stigma. We need culinary, botanical, and flavor-forward branding that reflects the sophisticated aromatic profiles of the plant.
Jackie MacAskill Says: When Cannabis 2.0 launched, almost every infused beverage used generic, flavorless distillate blended into artificial sugar water. In September 2023, out of 209 beverages in Canada, **Sheesh!** was the only brand crafting 100% strain-specific, solventless live rosin sodas.
Jackie MacAskill Says: My co-founder Matt and I take inspiration from premium tonic makers like Fever-Tree. We extract full-spectrum live rosin from craft growers (like McIntyre Creek and Crop Circle) and blend it with real fruit juices, natural spices, and complementary terpenes—creating our signature Tangerine Dream and Black Cherry Diesel sodas.
Jackie MacAskill Says: We run a lean, lateral business model without massive corporate overhead. When high retail demand created inventory sellouts and supply bottlenecks earlier this year, we paused, rebuilt our co-packing pipeline, and secured robust manufacturing partnerships.
Jackie MacAskill Says: We are relaunching full beverage inventory across Ontario and other provinces, and on **January 14th**, we are dropping our new line of **Sheesh! Live Rosin Gummies** in Ontario flow-through—crafted with real fruit juice and strain-specific live rosin to mirror our beloved sodas.
Jackie MacAskill Says: I wrote Chill: The Wine Lover’s Guide to Cannabis to bridge the educational gap for wine drinkers, professionals, and curious consumers. It breaks down the history of prohibition (which took 91 years for alcohol to normalize), the endocannabinoid system, terpene pairings, and consumption methods without confusing jargon.
Tom Ritchie Says: Chill is available now on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, and audiobook on Audible. Jackie, thank you for writing such a fantastic resource and for building an incredible beverage brand with Sheesh!
Jackie MacAskill Says: Thank you, Tom and Wes! Cheers!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back! We are joined by **Nicholas Sosiak** (Nico Dank), President and CFO of **Cannara Biotech**!
Nicholas Sosiak Says: What’s up, Tom! What’s up, Wes! Great to be here.
Tom Ritchie Says: Nico, you’re a CPA by trade who also happens to be a passionate legacy dab and extract connoisseur. How did you land at Cannara?
Nicholas Sosiak Says: I started as a straight-A accounting student, earned my CPA, and served as VP of Finance for a major international luxury real estate development firm. I invested heavily in the 2017 cannabis stock boom and lost a substantial amount of capital when corporate hype collapsed.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: In April 2019, Cannara called me stating their first public financial statements were due in ten business days with no accounting systems built. I joined, delivered the statements on time, established our finance department, and immediately challenged our executive team on plant genetics.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: Our CEO Zohar Krivorot built our flagship facility with top-tier HVAC and dehumidification, but had no prior growing background. Instead of hiring arrogant consultants, Zohar rolled up his sleeves and worked the grow rooms seven days a week.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: We executed **52 consecutive weekly harvest cycles before selling a single gram of flower to the market**. We dialed in VPD charts, irrigation curves, hang-drying, and cold-room hand trimming until every harvest was consistent and repeatable.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: I threw out generic legacy seeds like AK-47 and brought in exotic genetic cuts: Gelato Mint, Cuban Linx, Galactic Runtz, and Triple Burger. That operational discipline laid the foundation for our success.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: In 2019, I designed our brand portfolio:
1. **Tribal:** Our flagship craft house dedicated to hunting elite single-strain exotic phenotypes—offering premium whole flower, whole-bud pre-rolls, cured resin, fresh frozen live rosin, and our *Trifecta* triple-infused rolls.
2. **Nugz:** Our vibrant 90s-inspired California lifestyle brand focused on volume, big-bag formats (Early Lemon Berry, Guava Jam 28g), blended solventless hash, and accessible cured resins.
3. **Orchid CBD:** Our dedicated medical and wellness line featuring exotic 1:1 and CBD genetics like CBD Runtz.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: We have maintained those exact three brands for five years, scaling from **$1 million to over $100 million in annual run-rate revenue** without creating confusing sub-brands or acquiring distressed labels.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: Cannara has **never sold a single gram of cannabis that was not grown inside our own facilities**. If an input is out of stock, we leave money on the table rather than white-labeling someone else’s flower.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: We hunt for ‘unicorns’—rare cultivars with exceptional terpene yields, unique bag appeal, and long-term shelf staying power like Cuban Linx and Gelato Mint. Each winning genetic fuels 20 to 30 product SKUs across flower, pre-rolls, vape carts, and concentrates.
Tom Ritchie Says: What is the biggest marketing hype in concentrates right now?
Nicholas Sosiak Says: **’Melted Diamonds’**! It is a deceptive marketing term for 99% pure decarboxylated THC isolate stripped of native minor cannabinoids and botanical terpenes. Chemically and experientially, melted diamonds are almost identical to basic distillate.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: True hydrocarbon live resin preserves the plant’s live monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and flavonoids directly from fresh-frozen biomass. Tribal live resin vape carts contain zero distillate, zero added botanical flavoring, and zero cutting agents.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: We operate a ‘$0 marketing spend’ consumer ecosystem:
1. **Curated Accessories:** We partner with artisan inventors to bring premium consumption tools to market at near-cost—like the Happle hash vaporizer, custom gold-coated quartz bangers with opaque heat-retention bases, and dry herb vaporizers.
2. **Fairly Priced Apparel:** Instead of selling $60 branded hoodies, we manufacture $200-retail-quality heavyweight streetwear and sell it directly to consumers for $25 to $35 with zero margin, turning fans into authentic brand advocates.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: The Green Organic Dutchman spent over $300 million constructing their 1,000,000 sq. ft. Valleyfield facility in Quebec. In 2021, Cannara purchased the entire campus out of restructuring for **$27 million—roughly 10 cents on the dollar**.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: The cultivation bay spans 600,000 sq. ft. divided into 24 climate-controlled grow rooms of 25,000 sq. ft. each. Each room houses 10,000 plants and generates roughly **$10 million in net annual revenue**. We currently operate 10 rooms (~$100M+ run rate) and fund the activation of 2 to 4 new rooms each year purely out of operating cash flow without debt or share dilution.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: Quebec enforces a 30% THC cap on vape hardware. Instead of complaining, we accepted the challenge and engineered a true full-spectrum live resin formulation that delivers rich terpene flavor and smooth entourage effects within the regulatory threshold.
Nicholas Sosiak Says: In 2025, we are launching the new Tribal All-In-One live resin device, expanding the Trifecta infused pre-roll line, and scaling our Valleyfield rooms toward full capacity.
Tom Ritchie Says: Nico, what you and Zohar have accomplished with Cannara Biotech is the gold standard for Canadian cannabis execution. Thank you for joining us on Legacies!
Nicholas Sosiak Says: Thank you, Tom and Wes! Keep crushing it.
Tom Ritchie Says: What an incredible episode! Jackie MacAskill showing how cannabis can conquer the broader beverage market, and Nico Dank proving how disciplined operations and authentic genetics create an undeniable $100M+ powerhouse.
Wesley Bowles Says: Make sure to tune in on Christmas Eve for our Legacies Holiday Special recorded live inside the Joint Craft Sensory Room!
Tom Ritchie Says: Check out Breadstack to upgrade your dispensary tech stack, grab a copy of Jackie’s book Chill, explore Tribal’s live resin lineup, and we’ll see you next week on Legacies!
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Co-founder
Jackie Bieman is the co-founder of Sheesh, creators of Sheesh Sodas, and author of Chill: The Wine Lover's Guide to Cannabis.
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Infused Beverage Brand
Sheesh (Sheesh Sodas) is a Canadian manufacturer of cannabis-infused beverages. The company produces craft-flavored sodas, including their signature Tangerine Dream,...
Learn More About Partner ↗Written as a guide for wine enthusiasts, 'Chill: The Wine Lover's Guide to Cannabis' translates cannabis education into the familiar language of wine appreciation, focusing on genetics, terpene profiles, and social normalization.
Cannara Biotech achieved this scale by maintaining absolute consistency across its three main consumer brands (Nugz, Tribal, and Orchid) for over five years, focusing on genetic selection, indoor cultivation efficiency, and consumer category segmentation.
Currently, Canadian producers must purchase and apply separate excise stamps for each province they distribute in, creating massive logistical friction. A single federal stamp would allow nationwide distribution from a single inventory pool, significantly lowering operational costs.
