Welcome to the Inverse
What is the fundamental element of hemp flower that makes it a phenomenon in cannabis? It is that it is a pure inverse. The value of hemp flower is most cleanly represented as having low-THC.
The existing market of cannabis has predominantly focused on the value of THC, either directly or indirectly over the past 20 years. THC has been the value story and THC levels found in cannabis have been increasing steadily as such.
The argument of this article is that people are just finding value in the inverse to what the broader market values and in doing so it is changing the landscape of how the value of cannabis is evaluated.
As any astute hemp flower enthusiast knows, one doesn’t define the quality of hemp flower by CBD potency alone. CBD potency is important, but it is not as important as the correlated THC potency represented by a minimum effective dose threshold for an individual’s unique THC needs.
It is also not expected that the future value of the floral hemp market hemp is one that correlates to higher and higher levels of CBD and lower and lower corresponding levels of THC. It seems that the hemp market, as positioned as an inverse to the current market demand, will place a pull on the two existing markets to form a larger third market that represents a middle(ish) ground for High-THC and Low-THC. It is FLWR CLUB’s belief that the future of cannabis consumption will be closer to the lower THC side of things, with more of a showcase on the organoleptic and sensory elements found in current craft cannabis market such as terpene richness, terpene diversity, flavonoid richness, visual appeal, cultivation quality, cure quality, story, marketing etc. Everything that goes into evaluating craft or artisan cannabis… beyond just high CBD % flower.
It seems the value to be found in the hemp flower market is the demand for the highest quality low-THC Type III cannabis. Type III referring to cannabis genetics that have chemotypic expression of cannabinoids that is ~ <1:10/15 and < THC: CBD+
What “low-THC” means to each individual is different and it is probably important for each individual to know what “low” means for them personally.
The question this poses for advocates of hemp flower is how do you sell the inverse?
It seems apparent that it is always easier to sell “Look at how much X this has!” instead of “Look at how little X this has!” When X represents the value in the existing market, being THC.
A lot of people are marketing the value of CBD but it doesn’t seem this captures the full value of what hemp flower is, hemp flower is just positioning the CBD:THC ratio in the inverse of what the majority of cannabis users have experienced in their lives, which is a THC to CBD ratio of 20:1.
But to re-highlight the question – how do you sell the inverse of the market narrative?
Do you create something new, as in a new phenomenon – ie “hemp flower” as different from high-thc cannabis” or do you sell the inverse “you sell the highest quality Low-THC cannabis?”
This inevitably makes the customer ask themselves, what is the value of THC for them?
What is the value of THC? What does THC do for me? Is getting stoned the goal? Why? Is THC most valuable for me in a minimum effective dose manner i.e. just enough for therapeutic value of cbd? Or is THC most valuable in its highest concentration? Or somewhere in the middle? ie some ratio.
It should be noted, the largest portion of cannabis consumption is represented by individuals looking for the highest-THC potency for the lowest price. This has been true for some time. There is some consensus by addiction psychiatrists that this demand represents a THC overuse issue and possibly represents an addiction phenomenon, which one would assume is not a sustainable market demographic for the long-run for cannabis brands. Even if this segment of the market continues to represent the largest revenue segment of cannabis, the US demand still only reflects ~14% of Amercins, It is worth asking what would the demand look like for the rest of the 77%? Would the questions above lead you to think that the demand will be represented by high-THC cannabis users or also a growing segment for low-THC cannabis users?
Regardless of the answer, it is inevitable that the average customer will begin to have options in their choice of cannabis consumption. Which leads one to assume they will have to begin to ask themselves these questions. This will not just be new cannabis users but existing users who might have never ever asked themselves these questions surrounding THC.