I take fairly crude concentrate but get a good price. Generally I obtain what tests nominally 60% THC and the refine it by dewaxing and myriad other techniques. This morning I logged on and see the local dispensary is selling some concentrate now for $20 after tax which means as a patient for me it is much less. The rub is they advertise it testing at 81% THC. This means it has already been dewaxed and cleaned up considerably. I did the math and now it is at the point that my return on cash outlay will actually be better to purchase already processed concentrate and finish it up in just one operation.
How can a producer make money on this stuff considering this is full retail and not a med grower thing. Full retail has their own overhead and profit margin and this is the after tax price. WOW this has gotten MUCH less spendy considering how much time I would save not processing black tar and the benefit that my yield per dollar of D9 recovered will be higher. I assume the tests are not wildly innacurate and that the product has not degraded but how can a retail place offer such low prices?
The problem is I see they added terps in drat… but still easy to get out.
Yep, the bottom is gone on that industry! We switched from selling wholesale liters to just making products with the in house distillate. I think alot of people have inenvertently placed a glass celing above their heads If their lab is just geared to make wholesale distillate.
In eugene the concentrate prices are listed on the dispensary site and claim 80% thc. For me it is not relevent what type or how derived because I only target the THC. If a wholesaler is willing to part with grams that at retail and after taxes is $20 per gram and 80% then really even the black market is gonna have a tough time keeping up I would think. That just seems absurdly low to me but the simple explanation is either supply is too high or demand is too low which result in the same thing. Now when the day comes that pot is no longer illegal in any form and allowed to grow by any farmer the this price will plummet too and start to resemble oils from plants type commodities like mint oil in prices.
So while I am astonished proces have gone so low and assuming those prices are correct it occurs to me that someday long in the future that $20 per gram will seem outrageous. I doubt it will happen anytime soon but give it a generation and it will.
I totally agree black market I see goin 10 15 a g all the time in southern california think its just an abundance of weed and oil since there are so many people hopping on board
Yeah right before thca crystals were coming out distillate eas the thing everyone wanted to grt in seemed like so many nee investers came straight into distillate …now seems like everyone tryong to ride the sauce wonder whats next!!?
The most likely strategy corporate biz types will use is to artificially raise prices. Once the play field is open say to Phillip Morris then what they will do to squash the easier diamond mining and lower tech competition is to simply lobby congress to pass strict limits of Volitile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that congress has asserted cause global warming AND that each currently has MSDS sheets advising against personal exposure. VOCs are a group that includes terpenes and the pitch will be that those are known health risks with repeated exposure and should have strict limits. Those limits then will be defined as the limit of what corporate money can muster to remove easily and which the small guy will never be able to keep up.
This is only one conspiracy theory but mark my words somebody is gonna jump on the terpene is bad band wagon sooner or later and if they then legislate it the landscape changes.
we make distillate to sell b2b and also to use downstream for further products. The way to survive is two-fold:
diversification/flexibility. As I am an R&D chemist I make all kinds of goodies to go out under our in-house and co-branded products.
Alliances. Small b2b alliances are what will keep you afloat. We work with top tier producers so even though we make smaller quantities it’s diamonds. Figuratively, not literally
Finally, this is not the path to success but a path, I create new processes that don’t use solvents. The only way to not be Phillip Morris is to not sell the same thing. I can’t compete with that but I can work on being a Bonyeyard / Rogue / Ten Barrel brewing equivalent.
Wholesale price point on distillate is low but we also do add on services. Vertical integration beeyatches!!!
Theres more profit in Turning flower into distillate vs selling by the oz. I’m my network anyways. Reason why I have 1lb of last harvest in the freezer for my next wash
It’s a tough gig… I have partnerships with some small growers for a 50/50 split on final product. I can turn 200lb of trim a week into distillate. This gives me roughly 5L of refined distillate and can wholesale it at $5/g. It means that weekly gross income is $12.5k but thats before expenses or taxes come into play. I do not hold a Type 7 license and so volatiles are out of the questions unfortunately.
Wholesale distillate, for now, is able to pay overheard, employees, and still give me a livable salary.
Unfortunately for us “small folk”, it’s not looking good long term. I never wanted to get into large-scale production but it seems it is my only hope of survival at this point.
My biggest regret is not getting into vape pens earlier.
wonder whats next!!?