Intro (0:00)

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 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. What’s going on, Wes?

Wesley Bowles Says: What’s going on, Wes? We’ve got a good show today. We got a good show. Who’s the guest today? We got Mr. Kyp from Victoria Cannabis Company.

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? (1:05)

Wesley Bowles Says: There’s lots of news. What the fuck is going on at BZAM? Jesus.

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

Wesley Bowles Says: Yeah, this is 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 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? Oh, 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 and status 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 of 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.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, definitely, definitely. Tough week, tough week. It’s not uncommon to see this. I mean, 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. We don’t want this to obviously be doom and gloom. But 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, StratCann is incredible.

Wesley 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 5 minutes ago! I don’t understand that. 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.

Tom Ritchie Says: You know, you get us and our antics and takes of what’s going on a week behind times, right? So yeah. And on that note, remember last week I mentioned—so we 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.

New Vape Format (4:10)

Tom Ritchie Says: I don’t know if they’re calling it Rizzlers as a brand, I don’t know if it’s the format, I’m not quite sure, I don’t have all those details. But there were some funny comments circling Reddit, and one of them was something like it looks phallic by nature. And we did see a picture of it, and I was like, I don’t really know about that. But you had kind of said, ‘Well, it might be refillable.’ And then we start taking into account, 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?

Wesley Bowles Says: 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 this—this is a Caliburn, and it’s just a nicotine salt vape because there’s no cannabis in it, but these pods you can refill these. And I’m wondering because they look very similar to me when I look at pictures, so I’m wondering if the refill aspect is the way we’re going. And like you said, if you get something like that which is a typical nic salt, obviously I don’t think you’re going to get something that big filled with extract because you’d be looking at a couple hundred dollars or whatever. But yeah, exactly. 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 510s 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 you’re watching on YouTube or Spotify, add some comments. We’ll research it as much as we can. 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, see if he’ll join and catch him off guard just to have a little fun with Ian if we could. While we’re doing that, 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?

Stok’d Niagara (6:40)

Tom Ritchie Says: Tell us the story.

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

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, yeah. We give a lot of shit away, but we don’t win anything! And we had actually considered, should we regift this? Should we pay it forward? And then we thought, well hold on, I mean 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 staff, good location. Typical of Niagara Falls in some cases, I think, where the areas are somewhat desired depending on what it is. I would imagine that rent is not cheap for commercial spaces within Niagara Falls. But what was your experience like in store?

Wesley Bowles Says: Yeah, overall the store is beautiful. The outside of the store is great. Like I said, it’s in that initial area of Niagara Falls when you get in there. It’s not quite downtown, it’s on Stanley Ave, so 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, 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.

Wesley 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 and bongs and pipes and stuff like that that I haven’t seen in places before. So it was really nice selection.

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

Rosin Heads (9:20)

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, like 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. 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.

Wesley Bowles Says: Say that bag looks ripped open already!

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, yeah! So this is the hash rosin peanut butter cup, this is the strawberry one that he had just dropped. But back to the pre-roll, when I made my visit last night, excuse me, to restock, they are getting the pre-rolls in. It’s actually due in today if they can get them. 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. So there could be very high demand, but only a certain amount of units available, and then they disperse based on that. And 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 you know, for us the consumers that are in the know following some of these brands and wanting to indulge, it makes it tough. 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 a container, 250 milligrams total, 5 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, I don’t know, they could probably take it or leave it, but I love the format. It’s super easy to microdose if you will—we’re not talking mushrooms or acid or anything like that.

Wesley Bowles Says: Yeah, and those ones come in like a non-flavor and then almost like a mint, right?

Tom Ritchie Says: I haven’t tried the mint. These ones are flavorless if you—depends on how you assess 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, because I remember asking him about it, I’m like, ‘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 some up, and they’re a great, great product. 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?! (12:30)

Wesley 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. So it comes in two 5 milligram pouches or cups there, and I guess you just premix that stuff with water in a saucepan and there you go, you have infused poutine, which I thought was very interesting.

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, I mean I don’t make a lot of poutine at home, maybe I will. Interesting, okay, so it’s 10 milligrams THC obviously, 10 milligrams total across two 5 milligram units. And 1964, they’ve got some other good products too, I do like that brand, it’s a good brand.

Wesley Bowles Says: I said yesterday though, for me it’s confusing, right? Because if I’m going 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, maybe that’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!

Wesley Bowles Says: Maybe I just drink this sauce from the cup and then eat my poutine after!

Tom Ritchie Says: It’d be like Swiss Chalet, or there was another one where everyone just wanted the seasoning sauce. That stuff is outrageous, you like that too?

Wesley Bowles Says: Oh, so good, yeah! I’ve seen people drink it, they love it so much they drink it. Like, who the fuck drinks Swiss Chalet sauce like that?

Tom Ritchie Says: Well, I normally get at least two or three extra of those little mini dinner rolls just for the sauce! It’s awesome. And then my dad, my dad will get those and he’ll put the fries on there with the sauce and make a little sandwich out of it!

Wesley Bowles Says: Oh yeah, yeah, I could see that. Really it just tastes like poultry seasoning and sage to me, so you can make that anywhere.

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

Mendo Medical (15:02)

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Ian from High Flyer Media (15:40)

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

Ian Says: Red Wings for life!

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

Ian Says: Oh yeah, I’m hoping so!

Tom Ritchie Says: And we like to ride him a little bit because he has to deal with a lot of customer reports, which I know he loves.

Ian Says: Love them!

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

Ian Says: Infused poutine sauce? Trying to think… pulled pork and poutine sauce! Yeah, that would be good, take it to the next level.

Tom Ritchie Says: 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.

Tom Ritchie Says: And how do you say that, though? Make sure you say it correctly.

Ian Says: Poutine… I’m going to get in trouble. Alex is going to be all over me going, ‘Don’t ever try and speak French again!’

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, don’t do that! All right, go back to work, we’ve got a show to do here. Go back to work and get rid of that Red Wings shit, Jesus!

Ian Says: Perfect, done. See you later!

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

Trafficked – Hash Smugglers (17:10)

Wesley Bowles Says: All right, what else have we got cooking?

Tom Ritchie Says: You know what I should mention is I caught—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: Underworlds. And I caught an episode called Hash Smugglers. There’s a lot going on in Morocco right now. 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 St. 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 and go through it. But I thought it was really interesting how this is still very prevalent and the black market is still… we know this, Canadians have their own issues when it comes to the black market, or not if you’re a grow-at-home. But anyways, if you get a chance to check it out, I highly suggest checking out Trafficked: Underworlds, and 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 the hash in the world apparently, black market. So she worked her way up, and believe it or not, the individual or this kingpin was a lady! Which not unsurprising, but the cojones on this—like we’re talking big old lady balls! She is ruthless. Like, she doesn’t care, she’s not married, she says she doesn’t need a man. Good for her, I mean super successful! But what caught me—and I can’t remember if it was weekly or monthly—but this one cartel family exports from Morocco 60 tons of hash. I don’t care if that’s weekly or monthly, that’s a hell of a lot of hash! So now you imagine that on the scale of four to five families doing this, you can just imagine how much of the world’s hash is being produced. And there was one other thing that they mentioned too: the traditional cannabis plant used or grown in Morocco decades ago was like 8% THC. And I have to look this up because there’s just no way, it doesn’t make any sense to me, but 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, someone gave them the wrong information. But yeah, we know in Canada we have issues where anyone that starts to claim they’ve got 31% or 34% THC usually gets called bullshit.

Wesley 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, HashCo did a sponsored article with High Flyer for this, and it was 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 have a really good scoring system, a great team that does these reviews. But for us, we don’t get into that. When we originally started interacting with Brandon and understanding what we could collaborate on together, it was like, listen: we’re never doing reviews. One, we’re probably not qualified; two, we need to stay somewhat even-keel. Now if you don’t see a product, chances are we’re just wading 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 badge.

Wesley Bowles Says: Absolutely, they get the stamp of approval.

Tom Ritchie Says: We don’t go into ‘smoked real nice, flavor was this, terp content…’ But if it’s good, we’ll certainly put our stamp of approval on it. What does that mean to you, the audience? You can take it or leave it, I guess.

Wesley Bowles Says: I think the different effects cannabis can have on different people—reviews to me are very subjective, especially for cannabis. Like, you can give a general ‘it was a good quality flower coming out of the bag and it was trimmed well,’ but as far as ‘this is how it’s going to affect you, this is what it did to me,’ that doesn’t at all mean it’s right. But there is a large portion of people that search for reviews and recommendations. When you go into a retailer, the budtender is giving you a recommendation based on your criteria, typically because they’ve reviewed it themselves. For me, I don’t shop based on reviews. I know a lot of people do, which is why the work Ganja Glam and that team does over there is important. And some brands do not like what they have to say—up your game, sorry!

Tom Ritchie Says: Yeah, I agree! What else have we got going on, Wes?

Last Week’s Giveaways (23:08)

Wesley Bowles Says: We’ll note really quickly that last week we did a giveaway for Smoker Farms for their swag and sweater, and we also did a giveaway courtesy of Rebel Records for the Bob Marley Legend album.

Tom Ritchie Says: The response to those giveaways was unbelievable, dude! I had to shut off certain notifications. I had that business center and stuff on my phone and it was just fucking blowing up! And you know me, I’m not the most technically savvy individual in the world. Not only is Wes executive producer and runs pretty much everything over at High Flyer, he’s also my personal IT and tech support! And it could be the middle of the night, it could be the afternoon on a weekend, it’s like, ‘I don’t know what the fuck is going on!’

Wesley Bowles Says: No, you’re not the worst. It used to be challenging being in the office together, but doing it remotely is also adding to that challenge.

Tom Ritchie Says: I almost need a second screen! Yeah, I need another phone—’Am I supposed to click on this button? What am I supposed to do?’

Wesley Bowles Says: You’re not the worst, Ian has his moments too!

Tom Ritchie Says: Hi Ian! Yeah, Ian certainly does too. We all do, except you. You’ve got it figured out for some, that’s why you’re called the Wizard!

Wesley Bowles Says: Yeah, well, thanks! But for those giveaways, I had a bit of a thought here, and I’d be interested to see what the audience thinks. We don’t have a giveaway for today’s show, but what would they like to see us give away next? If everyone wants to head over to thehighflyer.ca, and down in the comments—we’ll split this out in an Instagram reel—tell us in the comments what you’d like to see us give away next. We’ll take the popular opinion and work with the brands to see if we can 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 for now. We’re expanding every week, having conversations. Comment and 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!

Wesley Bowles Says: Yeah, it was amazing, awesome.

Tom Ritchie Says: On that note, maybe we should take a break, and when we come back we’ll have Kyp Rowe. I don’t know if I told you any backstory about this, but Kyp and I have known of each other, and we have some very common individual connections. One of them is David Purcell. David Purcell did so much pioneering in the cannabis space, and he actually brought me to Kwantlen Polytechnic as an instructor for cannabis. And then he’s moving over now into MDMA. That would be a great episode! For the vast majority of individuals in Canada, as this is shaping up, they just look at it like, ‘What, ecstasy is legal now?’ I don’t really think it’s quite that. Shout out David, if you’re listening or watching, we’re coming for you and we need you to explain this incredible world of MDMA that I don’t understand. I do not consume MDMA—maybe I should, I think my energy levels are high enough already! Have you ever?

Wesley Bowles Says: No, I haven’t. Nope, that’s one of those things, haven’t touched that one.

Tom Ritchie Says: Shrooms scare the shit out of me, I always got gut rot. People are microdosing those these days. 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 (27:17)

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 to one of the coolest events in the industry, that’s CannExpo. Cannexpo.ca to get your tickets. If you’re looking for a discount, shoot us a DM, we got your back. Three full days at this really cool event with on-floor budtender sampling. Disciplined Stoners are hosting the main stage, and a lot of really cool kickass events happening. You need to be there! We will, will you? All right.

Kyp Rowe from VCC (27:43)

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 real quick on last minute notice. We appreciate that, you’re a good sport!

Kyp Rowe Says: Got to show some love to my Central Canadian buddies here!

Tom Ritchie Says: There you go, there you go! So obviously we’ve been following Victoria Cannabis Company for a while, and we’re going to get into that. But here at Legacies, as you know, we tell the story behind a legacy, and you’ve been in this industry for a hell of a long time—probably regretting going into the legal side of it as many do! But you’ve been with VCC—you 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: Going on two years in April.

Tom Ritchie Says: Two years in April, awesome. And obviously that’s a long process, because product has been available in the market for approximately seven months. But let’s go way back, because you are a legacy individual.

Seed Smuggling Savant (28:46)

Tom Ritchie Says: Prior to myself even—I’m an MMAR guy, we talked about that before—your experience dates back to doing legacy seeds right back in 1999?

Kyp Rowe Says: Yeah, so I opened up a seed company back in 1999 called Legends Seed Brokerage House. What it was was a place online 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, Sagarmatha, Flying Dutchmen, Serious Seeds, all the classics. We would get them back to Canada, and we would take out ads on the back of High Times. The 1-800-GOT-SEED, that was us for many, many years.

Tom Ritchie Says: Come on, that was you?! That was you guys? That’s fucking wild!

Kyp Rowe Says: The Canadian Seed Company and Legends Seeds were the companies that ran ads off of High Times, Cannabis Culture, and any cannabis media rags you could.

Tom Ritchie Says: Right. It’s interesting because in my early days ordering seeds, getting started, I would order from Crop King Seeds, that was 2010 somewhere in there. But you said a couple things in there that I need to take out: okay, you’d go to Amsterdam and bring back seeds, mail them. How did you get them back? It wasn’t legal!

Kyp Rowe Says: This is the beauty of it. I’d go to Amsterdam about three or four times a year to buy seeds. I’d fly into Amsterdam, hit up all the seed companies, then spend a good week packing seeds into corrugated plastic into little envelopes in a hotel. I’ve got the neck pains and the arthritis to prove it! And what I would do then is, once they were all ready to go, I would jump on a train and get out of Amsterdam to the first town over in Germany and get off there and make sure that postmark was from a German town, not a Dutch one!

Tom Ritchie Says: Wow! That’s some Oceans 11 level shit right there!

Kyp Rowe Says: That was my Oceans 11, yeah.

Tom Ritchie Says: I remember back a story from when I was 17 or 18 working in a restaurant in a big hotel, and a younger guy, 20 years old, had come back with a lot of hash from Amsterdam. I’m like, ‘How the hell did you manage that?’ And he goes, ‘Risk and reward, buddy! Risk and reward.’ In those days, hash was the thing to have—Gold Seal, Afghani, Jamaican gum hash. But what’s interesting is way back then, ’95 or ’96, prices haven’t changed that much in the world of hash and even some cannabis products, but inflation’s gone way out of control.

Kyp Rowe Says: Isn’t that classic? Street-level pricing has almost 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 ’80s in high school in London, Ontario, we were getting hash oil, which was just ISO-made green goo. It was just horrible, but that’s what we had at the time, and that was 15 bucks a gram, two for 25. That was my first introduction to cannabis: hash oil.

Tom Ritchie Says: After the seed journey, the smuggling—because you’re using the postal service to smuggle for you—there must have been a certain amount of success within the world of seeds, right?

Kyp Rowe Says: It was an incredible amount of success, to be quite frank. There was such a huge market for cannabis seeds, especially in the United States. And if you had the balls enough to send into the U.S., then you were getting paid for it. The other part of this too was we had a bunch of houses going as well in Vancouver at the time, and we hooked up with notable breeders like DJ Short of the Blueberry fame. We did seeds for him. What I could make in one room with eight lights would be the equivalent of doing six grows a year in one shot. We would get online into chat rooms and forums, Overgrow and cannabis forums, and we’d pump our gear and get customers, and ran that for years.

Tom Ritchie Says: Wow, that’s wild! And what would you say, if you can think back, what sold you on the plant?

Kyp’s First Experience (33:55)

Tom Ritchie Says: Not to date ourselves here, but 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. We got our hands on some hash oil at the local pinball arcade, went down to the Thames River in the park, took a little pin out, cooked it on a cigarette, and once that was it, that was the beginning of a very long journey.

Tom Ritchie Says: That’s a very similar story to myself! Started with the hash oil: ‘What is this goopy shit? How do I use it?’ The best way to spread oil was if you could find street sweeper bristles—that flat metal—rather than a bobby pin! All these young stoners walking down the street with their heads down scouring for street sweeper bristles! So then you fast forward to ’99, you’re dealing with seeds, you’ve got grows going on. At what point were you like, ‘Okay, we need to start considering the legal market’?

Kyp Rowe Says: There’s a perception gap in there. We were doing seeds and clandestine grows all over Vancouver with American consumers. We also helped out Hilary Black starting the Vancouver Compassion Club, fronting them gear all the time. But to be honest, I took a break from the cannabis industry for about seven years. I was in the wine industry. I started a winery in the Okanagan and became a vineyard manager and cellar master. Those seven years prepared me for this opportunity, because it’s very, very similar. Then I got the opportunity to jump into cannabis with an LP in Powell River in 2014 trying to get licensed.

Tom Ritchie Says: Powell River! Remote region, two ferries to get there. But you can’t throw a rock without hitting cannabis culture in those small towns.

Industry Overlaps (36:55)

Wesley Bowles Says: So 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?

Kyp Rowe Says: At the winery, I’d work from 4:30 AM till 10:00 AM in the vineyard before it got too hot, and then I’d work the tasting room bar during the day. That connection with consumers was incredible because the guy who grew the vines was talking about how we bottled and processed it. When chatting, you could guide them through their flavor profiles and give them a vocabulary to describe what they’re experiencing so you can help them figure out what matches their taste. And you can only do that when you have live sampling! That would be the number one thing: live sampling, and taking down the Big Brother security cameras that make everyone nervous.

Tom Ritchie Says: Especially if you had David Hyde do your security! That guy loved the fucking cameras, right? In those early licensing days, there was a playbook, but depending on the inspector: someone builds an 8-foot fence, someone else does a 12-foot fence, and Health Canada goes, ‘An 8-foot fence is the requirement, but 12-foot is nice!’ And then David Hyde comes in and designs security systems, and as soon as it was stamped with David Hyde, we knew those guys were under Big Brother control, being watched every moment!

Kyp Rowe Says: I worked with Chris Jones too, and every ten feet there’d be a new camera!

Tom Ritchie Says: We’re going to get into Victoria Cannabis Company, but you talked about sampling. In Toronto we’ve got Lit Research, but the patios and consumption lounges are starting to ramp up in British Columbia. What are you seeing out there?

New On Site Consumption Laws (39:55)

Kyp Rowe Says: The Farmhouse / Cottage Cannabis just became the first dispensary that allowed sampling on the back patio. BC said they were going to allow on-site consumption anywhere smoking cigarettes is allowed. But then municipalities step in, and municipal governments are the biggest mobsters of the whole bunch to be quite frank. It’s tough. We’re slowly cracking the door to have some kind of on-site sampling, but municipal bylaws push it out.

Tom Ritchie Says: We get questions sometimes why our focus at High Flyer isn’t just Ontario. There seems to be more appetite in BC for supporting locals and supporting their own. There’s brand loyalty, but also understanding marketing. If you want to expand across Canada, you have to market. And Victoria Cannabis Company is doing very well with that.

Kyp’s Take on BZAM (41:45)

Tom Ritchie Says: We see what’s going on with BZAM and Final Bell, entering CCAA restructuring. What is your take on non-cannabis corporate positioning versus cannabis culture?

Kyp Rowe Says: Non-cannabis people running cannabis companies—full stop. Corporate CPG corporatism. We ran game for 50 years on the West Coast in the legacy market that worked very well. Prices were stable, it was non-violent for the most part. When the transition came 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 corporatism.

Tom Ritchie Says: Does there not need to be a balance struck? We’d love to incorporate legacy individuals who understand good product, but managing standard facilities and supply chain at scale can be overwhelming. There needs to be a balance between business minds who understand CPG and cannabis people making cannabis decisions.

Kyp Rowe Says: Tom, you’re absolutely right. Moving forward, it’s the in-between that’s going to have success. Corporate cannabis never understood that you have to give cannabis decisions to cannabis people—from the grow to marketing. Public companies in cannabis are ridiculous; you don’t need that much money. When you build all this corporatism, it takes ten months to make a goddamn decision! It’s like a slow-moving oil tanker trying to make a right-hand turn. Mid-sized and smaller craft companies can pivot quickly. But you do need that business mind to handle Health Canada CTLS paperwork and CRA excise requirements, because if you put a guy who’s been growing for 20 years in front of that paperwork, he’ll go cross-eyed real quick!

Tom Ritchie Says: That ability to pivot quickly is critical. Cultivar trends shift every six months. If a company takes ten months to decide, the trend is gone!

Efficiency of the BC Market (47:00)

Wesley Bowles Says: When you look at the BC market and how craft producers operate compared to the rest of Canada, what makes BC unique?

Kyp Rowe Says: In BC, direct delivery and farmgate opened up a whole new avenue. You don’t have to send everything through a central government warehouse and wait months. You can sell directly to local independent retailers. That creates real relationships between craft growers and budtenders.

Tom Ritchie Says: And that local support is why BC craft flower has such high quality standards.

Victoria Cannabis Company (52:10)

Tom Ritchie Says: Let’s dive into Victoria Cannabis Company. Tell us about the facility and how VCC came together.

Kyp Rowe Says: I came on board two years ago after Shelter Cannabis closed up shop. I got the opportunity to join this facility in Vic West, literally a 4-minute drive to downtown Victoria over the bridge. It had two micro-cultivation licenses and a nursery license, and they were wholesaling cannabis. I came on board and immediately we started building out the standard processing license, and then added a farmgate Producer Retail Store (PRS) license. All five licenses in one big building a stone’s throw from downtown Victoria! It took heavy lifting. While building out standard processing, I leveraged past relationships with brand houses like Pistol and Paris, Joint Venture Craft Cannabis, and Red Barn. I sold them our flower, and all I asked was a shout-out on the bags and social media so people knew it came from our facility. We had a whole year of brand houses repping our gear before we launched a single bag with our own logo on it!

Wesley Bowles Says: That’s incredible brand strategy!

Tom Ritchie Says: Building that reputation first before dropping your own brand is brilliant.

Marketing Regulation Reform (1:15:00)

Tom Ritchie Says: Outside of that, what would you hope to see change the most when it comes to regulation to allow a brand to market?

Kyp Rowe Says: You billed us like alcohol, treat us like alcohol then! You can’t have a double standard. You’re taxing us to death as it is—at least give us a bloody fighting chance! Let us have people and faces in ads like you do booze. How many Molson Canadian ads do I see during a hockey game? In alcohol, there is celebrity endorsement, lifestyle, sponsorship, billboards. In cannabis, you pay more tax and face extreme Section 17 restrictions. Packaging should be an opportunity to educate the consumer: who grew it, what the lineage is, what terpenes are present. That’s what we do at VCC—the back of our bag lists flowering time, inputs, cultivar lineage, head grower, and full terpene and cannabinoid profiles.

Kyp’s Legacy (1:17:00)

Wesley Bowles Says: Having that transparency on the bag gives budtenders so much ammunition to talk to customers.

Kyp Rowe Says: Transparency is everything to us. We aren’t buying someone else’s flower, slapping our logo on it, and calling it a day. We hunted it, selected it, grew it, processed it, and bagged it.

Tom Ritchie Says: 20 or 30 years from now, when people look back at Kyp Rowe’s legacy, what do you hope they say?

Kyp Rowe Says: Educating people on our culture and our products. Understanding that cannabis is not a one-size-fits-all thing—you can’t put baby in a box! I want to bring innovative flavors, terpene profiles, and unique cultivars into people’s worlds. I believe in the plant and the strength of this community. Cannabis has given me everything in my life over the last 30 years, and I want to share that with everybody else.

Kyp’s Favourite Cultivar (1:19:11)

Tom Ritchie Says: Just remind everyone of your current distribution and formats, and what is your current favorite cultivar?

Kyp Rowe Says: Right now we have G-Wagon, an Afghan Lime profile with Pistol and Paris, in 3.5g and 7g formats. We also have Loud Equatorial (lemon and gas), Starchild (grandma’s baking), and Riley’s After 8. After 8 is my absolute favorite. It’s a Cookies x Legend cross, and it is nerolidol-dominant. Less than 1% of cannabis is nerolidol-dominant—it has lavender, smooth floral sweetness, and burns paper-white. An elevated, unique experience.

Tom Ritchie Says: Well, you fucking sold me, man! Wes is an edibles guy, he’s probably sitting there going, ‘Holy fuck, now I want to smoke flower!’ Kyp, thank you so much for joining Legacies!

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

Tom Ritchie Says: Kyp Rowe is quite the guy, could talk to that guy all day!

Outro (1:21:53)

Wesley Bowles Says: All fucking day long! A reminder to the audience: CannExpo is coming up March 22nd to 24th, and Tether events are happening.

Tom Ritchie Says: Shop thehighflyer.ca, tell us in the comments what you want for our next giveaway, and don’t forget we’re available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music!

Wesley Bowles Says: We’re everywhere! Global! Good episode, and we’ll see you guys next week.

Tom Ritchie Says: See you next week, peace!