Where Does the Hemp Market Go After Delta-8 — Blue Lotus, D9, or Something Else?

Hempire Building
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I’ve been watching what’s happening with Delta-8 and other intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids as regulations continue to tighten across the U.S.

One thing I’m curious about is where the existing D8 market goes from here — not just brands, but distributors, smoke shops and consumers.

Blue Lotus has caught my attention recently. I’m starting to see it show up in more modern formats, including vapes, pre-rolls and extracts, often positioned as a THC-free botanical product.

I’m not suggesting Blue Lotus is going to “replace” Delta-8. The effects and consumer expectations are obviously different.

But from a retail/channel perspective, I wonder whether products like this could absorb part of the demand from shops and consumers looking for something outside the traditional THC/D8 category.

For those of you working with hemp brands, smoke shops or distributors:

Are you actually seeing more demand for Blue Lotus, or is it still a very small niche?

And if the D8 market continues to shrink, where do you think that customer base moves?

  • Hemp-derived D9 where permitted?

  • Other cannabinoids?

  • Botanicals like Blue Lotus?

  • Licensed cannabis?

  • Something else?

I’m especially interested in what people are seeing at the retail and distribution level, rather than what looks interesting online.

Would be interested to hear what you’re seeing.

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Fentanyl

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:joy: Hopefully not.

But seriously, that’s kind of what I’m curious about — if D8 and similar products keep getting squeezed out, what actually takes that shelf space?

Are you seeing anything gaining traction right now?

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peptides… i bet 75% of the hemp people move to the peptide business… seems like thats the next low barrier entry industry.

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Seems likely, someone I know works for a guy that got into peptides after getting into cannabis and performing poorly.

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Yeah but are they researching/making them or just hustling what other people made?

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Obviously sourcing the highest quality mystery juice from foreign markets.

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Some people just look for low hanging fruit. They look for the easiest way to make quick money. Everyone wants to get rich quick.

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Wont be any room for them once these API manufactures complete these build outs. We are doing work for some of the real big boys and its no joke how big they are building out.

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Let me know if any of them are hiring, I’d love to go back to working with big players that are genuinely motivated.

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Japan ran this one to the end already, if it’s any use as a data point. Every rung of that ladder got scheduled here one after another - THCP, THCH, HHC and its acetate, and CBN this June. Nothing took the shelf space. What is left is CBD and CBG under a residual THC limit, and the market that survived is a lot smaller and a lot more boring than the one that existed in 2022.

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I’ve seen some large outfits in AZ doing peptides and Cannabis. One specific operation bought a large block in an industrial zone and built out a nutraceutical production campus. So far, they dropped $50 mil on just the build-out.

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Liposomal jenkem extracts are all the rage with the cool kids…but most people will probably end up buying colloidal dumpster glass syringes so they can do intrapenile things. Crystalline eyelid drugs could see a rise too

But seriously, I think kratom and various smaller markets can prop up the smokeshop industry these days. I don’t really think hemp companies will do much except pivot to the 50 other drugs that get sold in smokeshops. These markets have always been volatile, I can’t imagine why any altnoid company wouldn’t have had a plan b from day one. The people who don’t survive the bans are probably just the people that barely had any skills to begin with