Cannabis oil cartridges are, unsurprisingly, really popular. Emerging from relative obscurity in just the last few years, cannabis oil cartridges are quickly gaining on bud sales in California. According to data collected by Eaze, a kind of Uber for weed that operates in California, cartridge sales have leapt from representing just 6% of overall product sales in 2015 to a whopping 24% in 2016.
In that same time period, sales of traditional cannabis dropped from representing nearly three quarters of all sales to around half. To say that vape cartridges are getting more popular by the day is to vastly undersell how rapidly they're catching on with buyers.
There's good reason for that, Ray said:
"The first reason that's very obvious is the convenience. You don't have the downsides of smoking — the smell, the need to carry around flower [bud], the need to find a way to consume it. Essentially the disruption of what it takes to smoke vs vape. It's just very easy. It fits in your pocket, it doesn't disturb the people around you, it doesn't smell like cannabis. For a lot of people, especially the casual consumer, that's very important."
Another good reason cannabis oil vaping is so popular? It removes much of the traditional stigmas associated with buying and consuming cannabis. It's a friendlier product than traditional cannabis, and it uses far less jargon in product descriptions.
"Maybe I need a mood enhancer," Hanks said. "I have a really stressful day/life/career, and I need something that takes the edge off. I don't have to be high, I just want to be 'elevated' (if you will). The vape pen cartridge is more of the mainstream for that group."