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Hosts Tom Ritchie and Wes Bowles sit down with Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson, the visionary creator of Bubble Bags and a pioneer of solventless extraction. Marcus shares his 30-year history as an advocate and researcher, explaining the biological and chemical principles behind isolating intact trichome heads using only ice, water, and mesh filtration. He details the development of his multi-layered Bubble Bags in 1999, which became the universal standard for ice-water hash production. The hosts also bring in Randy Rowe, CEO and Founder of the Grow Up Conference, who discusses starting the event in Niagara Falls in 2017 to connect craft growers, navigating early marketing campaigns with Tweed, and expanding the conference into a premier national industry sation. The hosts also review Nugz’s “Happle” hash pipe accessory, talk about Ghost Drops’ spring SKUs, and discuss the history of McDonald’s Monopoly scam.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s going on, everyone? Welcome to another episode of Legacies! I’m your host, Tom Ritchie, joined as usual by Mr. Wesley Bowles himself. Wes, how are you doing?
Wes Bowles Says: Good, good! How are you?
Tom Ritchie Says: I’m good, man. I love studio days—it’s a complete break from everything else. For those slogging day in and day out, find something to break up your week. It’s definitely necessary.
Tom Ritchie Says: We have a true legend joining us today: Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson! 30-plus years in the industry, pioneer of ice-water extraction, researcher, host of Hash Church, and one of the most humble guys in cannabis. We also have Randy Rowe, founder and CEO of Grow Up Conference, joining us to talk about the evolution of cannabis industry events.
Wes Bowles Says: Jam-packed episode! For Marcus, he’s the creator of the Bubble Bag. That product is so iconic that even non-Bubble Bag water hash is commonly referred to as “bubble hash”—just like Band-Aids or Kleenex.
Tom Ritchie Says: Exactly! It’s crazy that we have a brand name like that in our own industry. I see you’ve got your Nugz Happle sitting right there. Shout out to O’Neill and Nico over at Cannara Biotech for hand-delivering these!
Wes Bowles Says: We’ve talked about this and you touching glass! I’m being extremely careful. It’s beautiful, but for me it’s very thin glass on that piece. One wrong move and it’s gone! But I really like how the stem is structured and built—super convenient.
Tom Ritchie Says: Nico and the Cannara team do branding right. The box design is playful and reminiscent of Apple packaging. And the insert card with step-by-step instructions on how to use the Happle is brilliant.
Wes Bowles Says: Super nice unboxing experience.
Tom Ritchie Says: Accessories let brands be creative without running into marketing inducement restrictions. I’m looking forward to christening this with some Nugz hash!
Tom Ritchie Says: Wes, I’ve been meaning to ask you about this. You’re our space geek—what is happening with Boeing and the space race?
Wes Bowles Says: It really kind of is a second space race going on at the moment. You’ve got commercial contractors racing across multiple areas: manned spaceflight, reusable rockets driving down the cost of each launch, and healthy competition from Rocket Lab, SpaceX, and Boeing. Starliner is Boeing’s manned capsule.
Wes Bowles Says: After the space shuttle was decommissioned, NASA relied on Russian Soyuz capsules for a long time, making crew launches extremely expensive and dependent on another nation. Now, commercial partnerships are reopening crew launches.
Tom Ritchie Says: As a space geek, was a foot ever set on the moon?
Wes Bowles Says: Yes, absolutely! People forget how costly the Apollo Saturn V program was in today’s money. It only happened because Kennedy and Nixon had massive governmental funding. Today, commercial competition through SpaceX, Blue Origin, and NASA’s Artemis program is driving missions back to the moon to create a permanent foothold, mine rare Helium-3 for energy, and explore pharmaceutical developments in microgravity.
Tom Ritchie Says: I’m just waiting to see which cannabis brand will be the first to send a plant into orbit!
Tom Ritchie Says: We saw something really cool from Ghost Drops. They assembled a clean, eye-catching product knowledge deck for their spring drops and posted the PDF directly to LinkedIn, tagging retailers across the country.
Wes Bowles Says: It was very well thought out and designed. You’re drawn directly to the important product details, and putting it on LinkedIn for anyone to download and share is a smart distribution tactic.
But looking across the industry, it feels like companies are dropping new SKUs every couple of months. In traditional CPG, brands focus on seasonal or holiday releases, allowing consumers time to build loyalty around core products. Do you feel like churning out too many SKUs creates customer confusion?
Tom Ritchie Says: Absolutely. When brands create SKUs just to create SKUs, it blends into white noise. Many micro-cultivators with 200m² canopy spaces don’t have the volume to maintain supply. If an OCS General Listing runs out of consistent flower and gets pushed into wholesale Flow-Through, it can cause severe loss of market presence—the death of a SKU.
Tom Ritchie Says: Wes, you were telling me about a wild documentary you watched on Crave last night.
Wes Bowles Says: I watched McMillion$ on Crave! Did you know the McDonald’s Monopoly game had a massive scam running from 1989 to 2001? An insider at Simon Marketing was stealing the winning million-dollar game pieces from briefcases, replacing them with common non-winning tabs, and selling the winners to friends and the Colombo crime family! For over a decade, nobody legitimately won the top prizes.
Wes Bowles Says: The FBI ran undercover sting operations posing as camera crews to interview fake winners at their homes! He stole over $24 million over twelve years. It’s a gripping six-part docuseries.
Tom Ritchie Says: That’s unbelievable! People will find a way to exploit anything. It reminds me of the tactile joy of peeling the physical game tabs on the Monopoly game board pamphlet, just like the old Roll Up the Rim cups before everything went digital.
Tom Ritchie Says: It’s almost t-shirt season! Head over to thehighflyer.ca and check out licensed cannabis brand swag from Odo, Victoria Cannabis Company, Smoker Farms, and Royal Harvest. Suns out, guns out!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back! We are joined by Randy Rowe, founder and CEO of Grow Up Conferences. Randy, thanks for joining us!
Randy Rowe Says: Thanks for having me, Tom and Wes!
Tom Ritchie Says: Grow Up started back in 2017 down in Niagara Falls. How did your background in the music industry lead you into cannabis events?
Randy Rowe Says: I spent 25 years in the music industry in Toronto before launching an early cannabis expo. At that time, Lift was really the only event in Canada, with a heavy Bay Street corporate finance focus. Coming from Niagara, which has a deep greenhouse and agricultural tradition, I realized growers had nowhere dedicated to them. I wanted an event focused on the cultivators—the people actually growing the plant.
Randy Rowe Says: In 2017, nobody knew what the marketing regulations would look like. Tweed was our title sponsor, and we ran full-page ads in the Toronto Sun before the Cannabis Act arrived! The conference doubled in size every year. Coming out of COVID, we expanded to Victoria, BC in 2022 to serve West Coast growers, hosted Tommy Chong, and headed into Alberta.
Tom Ritchie Says: Now you’re bringing Grow Up to Toronto at the Delta Hotel on Dixon Road (May 27–29). What can attendees expect?
Randy Rowe Says: We are launching our inaugural Global Executive Summit called CannaVision on Day 1. While international conferences happen in Germany and across the EU, Canada is the global capital of legal cannabis regulation and production. CannaVision focuses on global export opportunities to Germany, Australia, and Thailand, helping Canadian operators navigate international trade.
Randy Rowe Says: We’re hosting our 34-category Industry Awards Gala honoring icons like Ed Rosenthal and 80-year-old extraction pioneer Ruby Jensen. Day 2 features the Mendo Medical Pavilion with 45+ craft micro-brands, social equity grants sponsored by the OCS, curated Brands & Buyers zones by Indie Supply, live hash pressing demonstrations, and B2B speed networking with late-night consumption lounges open until 1:00 AM. Day 3 focuses on budtender education and the Growers Luncheon.
Tom Ritchie Says: Are there plans to bring Grow Up to Atlantic Canada?
Randy Rowe Says: We visited Halifax recently and are consulting with East Coast leaders like Gary Howsam. For 2025, our roadmap includes Toronto, Hamilton, and Calgary, with smaller regional events planned for the East Coast to support provincial retail education.
Tom Ritchie Says: Randy, thank you for everything you do to keep growers connected and celebrated! Get your tickets for Grow Up at the Delta on Dixon Road, May 27th to 29th.
Tom Ritchie Says: If you get overwhelmed by the endless product selection in dispensaries, subscribe to our free bi-weekly digital flyer at thehighflyer.ca for a curated list of top-tier cultivars and concentrates hand-approved by our team.
Tom Ritchie Says: And we are back, joined by the legend himself: Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson! Marcus, thanks for joining Legacies!
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: Thanks for having me on here, guys! Nice to do a podcast bright and early from the West Coast.
Tom Ritchie Says: You’re no stranger to podcasting—your show Hash Church ran for eight years, with 162 consecutive weekly episodes without missing a single Sunday!
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: It was an obsession! I broadcast live from hotel terraces in Jamaica with our Rastafarian crew, or drove through blinding blizzards from Pearson Airport to Brampton just to make our 9:00 AM Sunday broadcast. The community and knowledge-sharing were unbeatable.
Tom Ritchie Says: Take us back to the very beginning. How did your cannabis journey start?
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: I first consumed herb in 1987 when I was 14 in Manitoba. It was innocent and connecting. By 1991, I grew my first plant and opened The Hemp Exchange in Winnipeg’s Exchange District. We were conscious activists—we sold hemp paper, thread, and clothing, armed with Jack Herer’s groundbreaking book The Emperor Wears No Clothes.
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: In 1994, we approached the Manitoba Ministers of Finance and Agriculture with a pitch deck titled The Trillion Dollar Crop, referencing the 1937 Popular Mechanics article. We traveled to Amsterdam, met Jack Herer, and connected with Ukrainian breeder Sasha at the Institute of Bast Fibers. Sasha had spent 25 years developing low-THC cultivars (Zolotonosha-11/13/15) testing at 0.03% THC. We used my $25,000 car accident settlement to import tons of seed and planted Manitoba’s first legal experimental 5-acre hemp field in 1995! My business partners went on to create Manitoba Harvest, which eventually sold for $135M USD and later $419M to Tilray.
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: My mentor was Ron Hickey, owner of Nature’s Nutrition hydroponics in Winnipeg. Ron was a wild man who served 11 years across two sentences in Stoney Mountain Penitentiary. He kept peace in prison by sharing joints between rival factions and was once caught smuggling live lobsters into prison with Triad inmates!
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: One day, Ron brought home five gallons of solvent chloroform to make cannabis oil. We had fans blowing the vapor out the window. Suddenly, a massive Winnipeg squirrel fell unconscious outside the sill.
Wes Bowles Says: Chloroform is the stuff you knock people out with, right?
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: Exactly! Ron brought the limp squirrel inside, practically crying over it. While we were distracted, the squirrel woke up from cryogenic stasis, totally high, and went ballistic—shredding Ron’s curtains and couches, running wild across the house! That was just five minutes of a normal 16-hour day learning clandestine cultivation with Ron.
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: After a landlord discovered my 1,200 sq ft basement grow disguised behind a secret door with two pet iguanas, I moved out to British Columbia in 1996. The only person I knew was Hilary Black, whom I had met through Mark Emery’s Hemp BC.
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: Hilary was drafting notes on my living room floor, inspired by Valerie Corral and WAMM in California. She wanted to create the BC Compassion Club to supply clean medicine to the most vulnerable—the homeless, mentally ill, and terminally ill on the Downtown Eastside. I lit up ten lights in West Vancouver and became one of their first growers. I couldn’t stomach making a profit off dying patients, so I supplied the club at cost, donated overage from Okanagan broker runs, and paid healer Gordon Barton-Holden to provide acupressure and bodywork for patients.
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: In 1998, after the Compassion Club’s safe was burglarized, Hilary asked me to safeguard 11 pounds of vintage Rene flower. I took it back to my house after visiting my buddy Kyp Rowe. Crossing the Lions Gate Bridge into West Vancouver at 2:30 AM, an undercover roadblock flagged my plates and arrested me with 16 pounds and cash.
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: I faced up to 25 years under old trafficking laws. I hired legendary lawyer John Conroy, and Hilary testified on my behalf. In the courthouse hallway, the prosecutor—a tough guy in cowboy boots—pulled John aside. His close friend was dying of cancer in the hospital, and he asked if I could quietly score him a bag of weed for his dying buddy! Judge Paradis dismissed all jail time, returned my cash, and I walked free. But facing that risk meant I had to quit the underground flower trade for good.
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: In 1998, Breeder Steve brought over Afghan Shishkaberry trim, and we tried an early two-bag water extraction kit. The resin melted under a lighter like silly putty—we had never seen anything like it. I flew to Amsterdam to buy wholesale from Mila (Pollinator), but she kicked me out of her shop and called me a ‘silly American.’ I replied, ‘I’m a silly Canadian!’ [laughs]
Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson Says: My wife looked at me and said, ‘Why don’t we just make our own?’ I bought heavy-duty nylon screen, a Bernina sewing machine, and a Sony Cyber-shot 2.1MP camera for $6,000 CAD and launched Bubble Bags. While others sold basic two-bag kits, I pioneered 3-, 7-, and 8-bag kits isolating specific trichome head diameters (220µ, 190µ, 160µ, 120µ, 90µ, 73µ, 45µ, 25µ). We published exact micron sizes and HD macro photography on Overgrow and Cannabis Culture, generating over 25 million views on YouTube.
German inventor Reinhard Delp held the original 1997 cold-water extraction patent and sued me alongside payload bag makers. Rather than dragging out a 5-year lawsuit, I investigated the origins: an old smuggler named Elden and Mark Rose in Nepal had designed the bags after seeing Reinhard’s Ice-O-Lator mixer. I settled directly with Reinhard, paying him a six-figure sum to secure perpetual licensing and ensure he could fund a custody case to bring his grandchild home.
Through Skunkman Sam (David Watson) and Neville Schoenmakers, I learned the true history. Neville was told in the 1980s by a California grower that resin trichomes are denser than water and sink under gravity, while plant leaf matter floats.
In 1988, Robert Connell Clarke and Skunkman Sam ran a $10 mail-order ad in High Times called Sadhu Sam’s Water Extraction Secret (later popularized online as the Gumby method). Reinhard Delp added temperature controls (ice cold water between 4°C and 8°C), and our multi-screen Bubble Bag system perfected trichome isolation by micron diameter.
In the early 2000s, I opened The Melting Point vapor lounge in Vancouver and partnered with Marble Slinger on the Degenerate Art functional glass movement following Operation Pipe Dreams. We hosted our first Legends of Hash gathering featuring a 12-strain full-melt hash buffet.
We’ve now hosted Legends of Hash in Amsterdam, Los Angeles, and Barcelona, gathering 200 of the world’s finest extractors with Michelin-grade dining and oceanfront villas. We’re teaming up with DFO (Degenerate Flame Off) and Northstar Glass for a massive reunion gathering in August!
Tom Ritchie Says: What are you working on today at your processing facility?
After navigating corporate restructuring with Embark, we formed ATS—a debt-free solventless facility equipped with Whistler Technologies ice-water extraction, dual 55-ton Sasquatch Yeti rosin presses, and the brand-new Sambal Filtration Plasma Static Sifter. Static tech, which Skunkman Sam taught me over a decade ago, uses electric charge to pull pure trichome heads right out of the air without solvents!
While full-melt rosin wins competitions, 70% of consumers still smoke flower and pre-rolls. To bridge that gap, I invented Hatchets—five stainless-steel mini pipe bowls pre-loaded with 0.2g of solventless hash (1g total) inside a convenient travel tube. You light it directly with a Bic lighter for ten clean hash hits without inhaling rolling paper, glue, or burning cellulose. We’re licensed across Washington, Missouri, Colorado, Arizona, Illinois, and Michigan with Real Organic’s 17-acre living-soil farm, and working to bring Bubbleman back to Canada!
Wes Bowles Says: Shauna Levy from Madge and Mercer left an anonymous question for you: ‘Where do you see the cannabis industry in the next 3 to 5 years, and who will be the top players?’
The regulated market will follow standard CPG: large corporate entities will absorb mass-market commodity distribution, while small, nimble craft producers will own premium quality. A large corporate LP takes 18 to 24 months to re-tool a greenhouse when flavor trends shift, whereas a craft grower can pivot to a hot terpene profile in four months.
Globally, international trade must open up. You cannot replicate the authentic terroir of Morocco, Lebanon, or Afghanistan in an indoor Canadian warehouse. Just like fine Champagne or Bordeaux wine, true international appellations must be imported and celebrated legally.
Tom Ritchie Says: What is your anonymous question for next week’s incoming guest?
‘What was your foundational inspiration or the straw that broke the camel’s back that pulled you into this hectic cannabis industry?’
May the full melt bless your bowl sooner than later! I’m off to smoke some fresh full-melt Grapefruit Cake.
Tom Ritchie Says: Marcus, you are a true pioneer and legend. Shout out to Purepull and the whole extraction community!
Wes Bowles Says: Dude has some stories! The squirrel story was hilarious! 1995 in Manitoba of all places, a drugged-out squirrel on chloroform running a ruckus all over the house like Christmas Vacation!
Tom Ritchie Says: Out of everything he’s done, you just have to let Marcus tell his stories. No wonder Hash Church ran for eight years!
Wes Bowles Says: A good callout for everyone attending Grow Up May 27th to 29th: when you scan the QR codes for samples, make sure you reach out to those brands with constructive feedback! Don’t just give them empty praise—if a pre-roll burned poorly, tasted harsh, or had weak packaging, tell them. Brands need honest feedback to improve.
Tom Ritchie Says: Absolutely. Thank you for joining us for Episode 11 of Legacies. Check out thehighflyer.ca for licensed brand gear, subscribe on YouTube and Spotify, and we’ll see you next week for Episode 12. Peace!
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Inventor / Cannabis Legend
Marcus "Bubbleman" Richardson invented Bubblebags, the ice water extraction system that became the global standard for solventless hash production. His educational content and advocacy helped legitimize hash culture within the broader cannabis movement.
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Learn More About Partner ↗Marcus "Bubbleman" Richardson is a cannabis industry legend who invented Bubblebags, the ice water extraction system that became the global standard for solventless hash production. His work transformed how the industry approaches concentrate production.
Bubblebags are a set of mesh filtration bags used for ice water extraction of cannabis trichomes to produce solventless hash. Invented by Marcus "Bubbleman" Richardson, they became the industry standard for craft hash production worldwide.
