New Episode
Short Summary
In this special on-location holiday episode of the Legacies Podcast, hosts Tom Ritchie and Wesley Bowles visit The Sensory Room, a pioneering facility designed and operated by JointCraft. They are joined by industry veterans John Prentice (Founder) and Andrew Ross (Co-Founder) to explore the evolution of cannabis product research, development, and compliant manufacturing.
The conversation covers the creation of Pinnrz and how JointCraft transitioned from a craft pre-roll brand concept into a contract manufacturing powerhouse producing up to 200,000 pre-rolls per day. The guests share their operational hurdles, including the 7-month transition period with Health Canada to secure their facility license in Bowmanville (the former CanTrust/Fina site).
John and Andrew also reflect on the early days of Canadian legalization, sharing the history of building Ample Organics—the compliance software infrastructure that standardized seed-to-sale tracking—and their subsequent integration with Shoppers Drug Mart and the challenges of fitting complex medical requirements into standard e-commerce platforms like Shopify. Finally, they discuss the operational structure of The Sensory Room, criticizing sterile laboratory sensory environments and highlighting the importance of consumer comfort, jukebox music, and dynamic settings to collect accurate, objective product feedback.
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome to Legacies, everyone! We are broadcasting live from the brand-new JointCraft sensory room in Vaughan for our official Holiday Special! I am joined by my co-host Wesley Bowles, and our special guests, Andrew Ross and John Prentice.
John Prentice Says: Welcome, gentlemen! We are excited to have you here.
Tom Ritchie Says: A mandatory disclaimer: this episode is strictly for educational purposes and intended for mature adult audiences. We want to thank our amazing sponsors who made this mobile production possible: Mendo Medical, Weedgets, Aveo, Stok’d Cannabis, Stewart Farms, and Sheesh! Sodas. John, you and I go all the way back to the early Ample Organics days, and seeing you build this incredible sensory facility brings everything full circle.
Tom Ritchie Says: John, walk us through the journey. How did JointCraft and Pinnrz come to life?
John Prentice Says: It started with a very simple consumer problem: joints on the legal market were just too damn big. Everything was a one-gram baseball bat that would completely sedate you for the entire afternoon. If you have work to do, small, elegant, micro-dosed sessions throughout the day are much more functional.
John Prentice Says: We couldn’t find pre-rolled cones on the market that matched the slim, elegant profile we envisioned. So we bought a 3D printer, printed custom mandrels, hand-rolled paper around them, and sent the prototypes to paper suppliers overseas. When we brought the first samples to Andrew Ross at his co-processing facility, he looked at them and told us there was no way standard machinery could fill a cone that thin.
Andrew Ross Says: The standard equipment in the industry relies on vibration knockboxes. Shaking milled flower into a skinny cone simply causes bridging and blockages. You couldn’t get the flower to fall into the paper at commercial scale.
John Prentice Says: We tracked down a patented mechanical tamping technology that compresses the flower evenly. We leased a 1,500 sq. ft. room at the Maricann facility in Bowmanville and launched Pinnrz in November 2021. When Maricann went into insolvency, we relocated our operations down the street to Final Bell.
John Prentice Says: At Final Bell, we began contract manufacturing pre-rolls for third-party brand partners alongside Pinnrz, rapidly expanding into medical sales channels. We quickly outgrew our footprint—we had skids stacked to the ceiling in hallways—and by early 2023, we needed our own standalone licensed facility.
John Prentice Says: We looked at multiple distressed sites, including the James E. Wagner facility, but the economics didn’t work. Then CannTrust’s flagship 60,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Vaughan became available during their restructuring.
Tom Ritchie Says: That facility was built like a fortress—over $100 million invested with industrial I-beams, massive electrical capacity, and pharmaceutical vaults.
John Prentice Says: I parked myself in the CannTrust boardroom for weeks until the definitive lease assignment was signed. It relieved the bankrupt estate of a massive lease liability, saved the landlord from having to demolish a complex industrial buildout, and gave JointCraft a world-class manufacturing campus for pennies on the dollar.
John Prentice Says: We signed the paperwork in April, but it took **seven months** just to change the corporate name on the existing federal license from Phoena to JointCraft. We were burning half a million dollars a month in carrying costs waiting for bureaucratic paperwork to move between desks.
John Prentice Says: When licensed producers pay a mandatory 2.8% annual regulatory fee to Health Canada, operators deserve efficient service standards. The barriers to entry in this sector are astronomical, and small private operators face immense structural headwinds just to get open.
Tom Ritchie Says: JointCraft currently produces roughly **200,000 pre-rolls a day**. What makes your mechanical process superior to traditional pre-roll machines?
John Prentice Says: Most pre-rolls in Canada are produced on vibration tables where heavy resin glands and kief settle at the bottom near the filter while loose leaf sits at the top, leading to canoeing, harsh burns, and severe airflow clogging.
John Prentice Says: Our patented mechanical tamping process ensures precise, uniform density from the crutch all the way to our signature flat Dutch crown fold. When you roll a Pinner between your fingers, there is zero paper crinkling. It provides an effortless draw and a completely even burn every single time.
Tom Ritchie Says: A huge thank you to our incredible sponsors:
– **Mendo Medical:** Delivering premier craft flower nationwide, including Purple Mountain Majesty.
– **Weedgets:** Patented smoke-filtering hardware designed for cool, smooth draws.
– **Aveo:** High-performance, sustainable hardware with plant-based biodegradable plastics.
– **Stok’d Cannabis:** Top-notch independent retail across Scarborough and Niagara Falls.
– **Stewart Farms:** Restorative topicals like Arctic Heat and craft cultivars.
– **Sheesh! Sodas:** 100% strain-specific live rosin craft beverages.
Tom Ritchie Says: Shoutout to Lisa Bigioni and the Stok’d Cannabis team for hooking us up with these custom #420 hockey jerseys! Stok’d runs three premier dispensaries in Scarborough and one right in Niagara Falls, delivering exceptional customer education and authentic community support.
Tom Ritchie Says: Andrew, tell us about your journey from early cannabis security consulting into launching **Ministry of Sativa**.
Andrew Ross Says: I’m from New Brunswick. In 2014, while designing high-security prison systems, I met the founding CEO of Organigram at Saint James’s Gate in Moncton. I helped Organigram build out their original security systems and secure their federal license.
Andrew Ross Says: I moved to Toronto, joined CCI Cannabis Compliance in 2017, and worked with hundreds of applicant LPs before joining a co-processor. In November 2022, alongside my partners Corey Way, Jeff Goldenberg, and Paul, we launched Ministry of Sativa to celebrate true functional sativas for daytime creative focus.
Andrew Ross Says: When our original processing partner ran into financial distress, we moved Ministry of Sativa over to JointCraft. Despite being out of stock during the transition, consumer demand for our flagship *Durban Diesel* remained strong.
Andrew Ross Says: In February, we are dropping a landmark collaboration with Northern Canna: the **Yin Yang Pack** (2x7g format featuring Ministry of Sativa’s Chocolate Boogaloo alongside Northern Canna’s Sticky Glue). Brands should collaborate and grow together rather than constantly fighting over isolated shelf space.
John Prentice Says: JointCraft operates three distinct brand formats:
1. **Pinnrz:** The iconic slim pre-roll format. *Blue* (gassy Gas Face), *Yellow* (fruity Frosted Fruit Cake), and *Purple* (our balanced 2:1 THC:CBD blend). We use whole flower—the exact same premium flower found in $50 craft jars.
2. **Woodyz:** Chamomile leaf wraps finished with reusable natural wood tips, available in bubble-hash infused and non-infused craft selections.
3. **Triple Eh!:** A value-focused large-pack format that we plan to sunset to focus 100% on contract manufacturing, Pinnrz, and Woodyz.
Andrew Ross Says: In high-volume contract manufacturing, many operators treat pre-rolls purely as an extraction or biomass disposal exercise—pushing low-grade trim out the door to chase fast invoices. At JointCraft, we have produced millions of pre-rolls over the last year and a half with **zero product quality complaints**.
Tom Ritchie Says: When you operate with Six Sigma manufacturing discipline, lean inventory flow, and authentic plant passion, client retention takes care of itself.
Tom Ritchie Says: If you could send one regulatory reform letter to Santa, what single rule would you change?
John Prentice Says: **Excise tax should be collected and remitted by provincial wholesalers (like the OCS), NOT licensed producers.** Provincial distribution monopolies hold all the cash, purchase the product, and control retail supply. Forcing cash-strapped producers to front excise duties before receiving payment is the primary driver of LP insolvencies.
John Prentice Says: To buy physical excise stamps, producers must write authorization letters to the CRA just to have Canadian Bank Note apply adhesive to the stamps before shipping them. The administrative bureaucracy is completely detached from operational reality.
John Prentice Says: Consider a 1g vape cart. We purchase high-grade wholesale distillate for under $2 per gram. When sold, we must pay **$9.30 in federal excise tax**. The provincial distributor applies a ~29% markup on top of both the product and the excise duty (adding another $3+). The retailer marks it up another 35%, and the consumer pays HST on top of every compounded layer.
Tom Ritchie Says: Over 70% of the final retail price goes directly to government coffers and wholesale markups. That is predatory taxation on an agricultural wellness product.
John Prentice Says: The City of Vaughan currently opts out of retail cannabis stores. Because the provincial framework does not distinguish between standard dispensaries and farm-gate retail, federal license holders like JointCraft are barred from operating an on-site craft store, unlike local craft breweries that sell directly to consumers.
Tom Ritchie Says: Let’s look at the **Maze-X pipe by Weedgets**, designed by medical device engineer Michael Birnbaum. Unlike traditional short pipes where heat and particulate burn your throat, the Maze-X features an internal maze of anodized aluminum cooling paths combined with medical-grade charcoal filters, endorsed by the American Cannabis Nurses Association.
Tom Ritchie Says: Tanner Stewart and the Stewart Farms team sent over a holiday care package featuring their *Arctic Heat* high-potency muscle cream stick and their signature *Daily Grape* craft cultivar, alongside artisan East Coast raspberry chocolates.
Andrew Ross Says: Stewart Farms proves that authentic agricultural craftsmanship and functional wellness formulations are the future of the industry.
Tom Ritchie Says: John, tell us about the vision behind this sensory evaluation lounge.
John Prentice Says: Health Canada permits non-therapeutic research under specialized licenses, but traditional LP research environments feel like stark psychiatric clinics—white walls, fluorescent lights, and QA officers in lab coats watching you with clipboards. That sterile environment induces anxiety and skews consumer feedback.
John Prentice Says: We designed a comfortable social playground with commercial-grade positive airflow ventilation, restored 1971 Seeburg jukeboxes, games, and an interactive digital app. Participants can relax naturally while providing real-time sensory data on aroma, draw resistance, burn quality, and onset.
John Prentice Says: In our digital research protocol, participants evaluate dry draw aroma, paper texture, pack consistency, and flavor profiles under strict compliance guidelines.
Tom Ritchie Says: Testing the *Purple* balanced 2:1 Pinner—the dry haul is smooth and fruity, the draw is effortless, and the ash burns clean white. It delivers perfect functional clarity without heavy sedation.
Tom Ritchie Says: Jonathan Carfield and the Aveo team engineered revolutionary vape hardware utilizing hemp-derived biodegradable plastics that break down naturally in under four years, eliminating single-use plastic waste while preventing hardware clogging.
Tom Ritchie Says: John, take us back to 2014 when you founded **Ample Organics**.
John Prentice Says: I was working in medical devices and helped my friend Jeff write an application for Peace Naturals (which became Cronos Group). I partnered with my colleague Evan to build a dedicated medical compliance and seed-to-sale tracking platform on my dining room table.
John Prentice Says: George Dickinson from Growhouse drove me through a snowstorm to Leamington to pitch Aphria. They signed on as our first enterprise client, followed by Whistler, Aurora, and Canna Farms. We scaled to 137 employees, powering over 80% of all licensed producers in Canada.
John Prentice Says: In 2020, US-based Akerna acquired Ample Organics. When it became clear that public market leadership lacked the operational commitment to invest in client roadmaps, I published an open resignation letter to control my narrative and signal to the Canadian industry that I remained fully dedicated to supporting our operators.
Tom Ritchie Says: That integrity is why the entire Canadian community continues to back John Prentice in every venture he builds.
Andrew Ross Says: Those early 2017–2018 days at CCI Compliance were the wild west—helping operators navigate Section 11 record-keeping, intense Health Canada inspections, and massive capital raises.
John Prentice Says: Some of the best memories include the Ample investment roadshow staying in the Royal Suite at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel, watching the Montreal Grand Prix from the Formula 1 Paddock Club with UPS, and flying in helicopters over Canadian facilities.
Tom Ritchie Says: Thank you, John and Andrew, for hosting our Holiday Special inside the JointCraft Sensory Room! Happy holidays to everyone across the Canadian cannabis industry—we’ll see you in the New Year on Legacies!
Jump to 01:28
Jump to 04:12
Jump to 03:35
Founder
John Prentice joins the Legacies Podcast to discuss his journey in the cannabis industry, from founding Ample Organics to launching JointCraft's Sensory Room.
View Guest Profile ↗
Cannabis Organization
JointCraft is a Canadian cannabis organization focused on advancing the standards of product research and development. Recognizing the need for...
Learn More About Partner ↗The Sensory Room is a dedicated facility designed by JointCraft to conduct structured, compliant sensory evaluation and product research for the Canadian cannabis market.
Ample Organics was a foundational software platform that provided seed-to-sale tracking and compliance infrastructure for Canadian licensed cannabis producers.
Sensory testing provides objective data on product formulations, allowing producers to refine product quality and consistency in a regulated environment.
