As they stood above Mexico City on a 17,000 foot volcano, the owners of Pure CBD Exchange decided to go all in on CBD flower by launching Aspen Valley Hemp Company.
Pure CBD Exchange began in 2016 as a low-cost, high quality brand for organic CO2 extracted CBD oil products. Since that time, the company has been steadily building a trustworthy name in an industry where generic brands and a lack of regulation are leaving many customers confused, turned off, and uncertain of where to buy.
With the CBD industry expected to grow to $22 billion by 2022, establishing a base of credibility has been essential, but many are left wondering: what does the future of CBD look like?
While products made from hemp extracts are here to stay, Aspen Valley Hemp Company is willing to bet that the whole-plant experience of CBD flower is the next revolution in how consumers use CBD products.
Greener beginnings
A healthier world has been one of Aspen Valley’s goals since the beginning. Originally, the idea was to create a hemp cigarette made entirely from biodegradable material to replace tobacco. Some may find it hard to believe that, in the United States, it is currently illegal to create cigarette papers from recycled materials or natural sources. This law exists to prevent cigarette companies from doing anything to make smoking more attractive to users.
Aspen Valley’s goal was to create a hemp cigarette that would replace tobacco, and it has become clear after some initial experimentation that filtered hemp cigarettes could do exactly that. Hemp cigarettes do not contain any tobacco, but instead replicate the experience of smoking. However, it has begun to sink in that CBD flower is much more than a replacement for tobacco.
What is CBD flower?
You may or may not have seen CBD flower begin to pop up in stores around you. If you have been lucky enough to stumble across it, you might only know CBD flower to look like mid-to-low grade cannabis.
This doesn’t have to be the case. Aspen Valley has made it their mission to spread premium flower that looks and smells exactly like a high-quality cannabis strain.
Due to years of work in breeding genetics, hemp flower is now able to yield terpene and trichome-covered strains (terpenes and trichomes are the aromatic compounds that give cannabis its unique fragrance, also found in lemons and oranges) that smoke just like medical dispensary flower. The result is a product with substantially higher CBD content and almost no THC whatsoever (less than 0.3%).
Why are people smoking hemp?
In order to understand this question, you need to understand the difference between industrial hemp, CBD-rich hemp, and typical cannabis.
By now, many people know what a typical cannabis or marijuana strain might look like. Most cannabis strains are high in THC, comprised of dense buds. These strains have a wide array of cannabinoids and are covered in terpenes and trichomes that give it rich flavor and potency. True industrial hemp looks a lot more like a bamboo plant. It can be up to 18 feet tall, yields few buds or cannabinoids, and is mostly comprised of a dense core stem that can be processed into fiber, plastic, or hundreds of other consumer products.
CBD flower grown in the United States is a hybrid of these two types of cannabis. It is classified as hemp based on its extremely low THC content, but visibly it looks much more like traditional cannabis. This allows farmers to get dense CBD-rich buds while minimizing THC production.
A personal journey
Dillon Gross, the owner of Pure CBD Exchange, began his personal journey with CBD flower looking to kick a tobacco habit after years of smoking cigarettes while working concerts in the music industry. “I was given a bag of flower to try it out,” said Gross, “and before I knew it, I wasn’t smoking tobacco or THC heavy cannabis anymore. I quickly realized that what I want out of weed isn’t entirely centered around getting high. For most of the day, I want less anxiety, less back pain, or a more general sense of calm.”
Gross explained that many of his friends have expressed similar sentiments. The feeling of being high can be a burden for many when it’s time to work or communicate with others, but pain relief or relaxation without expensive, powerful pharmaceuticals is a must. This is not to say that there isn’t a time, place, and application for being high, but many people are interested in getting the benefits of cannabis while saving the high for later.
“I still like to smoke a joint in the evening by mixing CBD flower with THC buds, but during the day I’d prefer to be able to take a call from a client without losing my focus or train of thought,” said Gross. CBD flower gives people the relief they want from cannabis without the overwhelming psychoactivity.
Can I get CBD flower in my state?
Aspen Valley Hemp Company is now delivering Hemp CBD Flower nationwide. You can order it and a variety of other CBD products at PureCBDExchange.com.
CBD flower has gone mainstream, and unlike any other smokable cannabis product, it is not limited to one heavily regulated state market. These products are revolutionizing the accessibility of cannabis through e-commerce, allowing people in conservative states a chance to get involved in the ever-expanding wave of a greener lifestyle.
