Michigan's Flower Price Changed What Gets Manufactured
When flower falls far enough, the economics of infusing it invert.
Michigan's sustained decline in retail flower prices changed the manufacturing decision before it changed the menu.
Independent cannabis reporting
Moon Rock Times
Reporting on infused and concentrate cannabis. Clear explanations of how products are built, tested, labeled, and sold.
20+
Original reports
6+
Coverage desks
20+
Source images
Latest report
Latest · MARKETS ↗Lead story
New analysis
002–003Field reports
California's Retail Map Is More Concentrated Than the State's Size Suggests
Most of the market sits in a handful of regions.
Oklahoma Built the Densest Licensed Retail Network in the Country
Door count per resident, not market size, is what makes it unusual.
Coverage desk
03 reports ↗MOON ROCKS
Weight Is the Wrong Unit for a Three-Layer Product
A gram of moon rock and a gram of flower are priced the same way and are not the same thing.
The Moon Rock Is a Producer Product, Not a Strain Product
Strain names describe one of three layers and predict almost nothing about the other two.
What Moon Rocks Actually Are
The three-layer format that started as a novelty and became a category.
Coverage desk
03 reports ↗CONCENTRATES
Distillate Built the Infused Category
The format needed a concentrate that behaved the same way every time, and only one did.
Terpene Loss Is a Handling Problem Before It Is an Extraction Problem
Most of what a concentrate loses, it loses after it is made.
Solventless Is a Method, Not a Quality Tier
Rosin commands a premium for how it is made, which is not the same as how it performs.
Coverage desk
03 reports ↗INFUSED
Infused Pre-Rolls Are a Manufacturing Problem, Not a Recipe
Anyone can make one. Making ten thousand identical ones is the business.
The Wrap Decides More Than the Infusion Does
Paper, hemp and leaf burn at three different rates, and the infusion has to be built for each.
What "Infused" Means on a Label
One word covers at least four different products, and the label rarely says which.
Coverage desk
03 reports ↗TESTING
A Batch Number on a Hand-Assembled Product Means Something Different
For most products a batch is a volume. Here it is a shift.
Homogeneity Rules Were Written for Edibles and Applied to Everything
The regulation assumes a product that was mixed. Moon rocks are assembled.
A Potency Figure on a Composite Product Is an Average
Testing rules were written for uniform products. Moon rocks are three materials assembled by hand.
Coverage desk
03 reports ↗PROCESS
Packaging Decides How Much of the Product Survives to the Customer
A correctly built piece can still arrive stripped.
Cold Rooms Are the Real Capital Expense
Temperature control, not extraction equipment, is what limits how much a producer can make.
Why Two Pieces From One Batch Are Not the Same
Hand assembly puts a variance into the category that no amount of process control removes.
Coverage desk
03 reports ↗MARKETS
Michigan's Flower Price Changed What Gets Manufactured
When flower falls far enough, the economics of infusing it invert.
California's Retail Map Is More Concentrated Than the State's Size Suggests
Most of the market sits in a handful of regions.
Oklahoma Built the Densest Licensed Retail Network in the Country
Door count per resident, not market size, is what makes it unusual.
The complete file
004–020Latest reports
- PROCESS
Packaging Decides How Much of the Product Survives to the Customer
A correctly built piece can still arrive stripped.
- PROCESS
Cold Rooms Are the Real Capital Expense
Temperature control, not extraction equipment, is what limits how much a producer can make.
- TESTING
A Batch Number on a Hand-Assembled Product Means Something Different
For most products a batch is a volume. Here it is a shift.
- TESTING
Homogeneity Rules Were Written for Edibles and Applied to Everything
The regulation assumes a product that was mixed. Moon rocks are assembled.
- INFUSED
Infused Pre-Rolls Are a Manufacturing Problem, Not a Recipe
Anyone can make one. Making ten thousand identical ones is the business.
- INFUSED
The Wrap Decides More Than the Infusion Does
Paper, hemp and leaf burn at three different rates, and the infusion has to be built for each.
- CONCENTRATES
Distillate Built the Infused Category
The format needed a concentrate that behaved the same way every time, and only one did.
- CONCENTRATES
Terpene Loss Is a Handling Problem Before It Is an Extraction Problem
Most of what a concentrate loses, it loses after it is made.
- CONCENTRATES
Solventless Is a Method, Not a Quality Tier
Rosin commands a premium for how it is made, which is not the same as how it performs.
- MOON ROCKS
Weight Is the Wrong Unit for a Three-Layer Product
A gram of moon rock and a gram of flower are priced the same way and are not the same thing.
- MOON ROCKS
The Moon Rock Is a Producer Product, Not a Strain Product
Strain names describe one of three layers and predict almost nothing about the other two.
- TESTING
A Potency Figure on a Composite Product Is an Average
Testing rules were written for uniform products. Moon rocks are three materials assembled by hand.
- PROCESS
Why Two Pieces From One Batch Are Not the Same
Hand assembly puts a variance into the category that no amount of process control removes.
- CONCENTRATES
Live Resin, Cured Resin, Rosin, Distillate
Four names that answer two different questions, and why the labels get confused.
- INFUSED
What "Infused" Means on a Label
One word covers at least four different products, and the label rarely says which.
- PROCESS
Kief, and Why the Outer Layer Falls Off
The third layer is the one buyers notice first, and the one producers get wrong most often.
- MOON ROCKS
What Moon Rocks Actually Are
The three-layer format that started as a novelty and became a category.