The Importance of Consistent Jar Appeal with Cannabis Extracts

There’s no longer any doubt that cannabis extracts, especially dabbable concentrates, are quickly becoming a keystone part of most cannabis operators' product lineups, especially for those who have their own manufacturing lab. According to data from MJBizDaily, the total projected market value in the United States for concentrates was over $3.22b for 2024. With this kind of money on the table combined with competition that never seems to let up in most states, more processors than ever are hunting for ways to get on more dispensary shelves, get repeat customers, and cut costs wherever possible without sacrificing quality. 

Why Consistency with Cannabis Extracts is Critical

In order to accomplish all three of those goals, labs need to produce dabbable concentrates (whether they’re made with or without solvents) that make their customers happy so they come back to their brand every time they want to pick up a gram. One of the easiest ways to do that is to follow the golden rule of CPG: consistency. This is why Starbucks is a $100bn company by itself – every time you walk into one of its locations and order something, it will be basically the same in New York or Alaska. 

When it comes to cannabis extracts though, consistency in the traditional sense is devilishly difficult to achieve. Different strains are going to provide different terpene and cannabinoid profiles, which make for textures that can be challenging to replicate. Thankfully, with modern extraction equipment such as closed loop hydrocarbon systems and automated solventless wash-press setups, technicians’ jobs are easier than they were even a year or two ago to implement stricter controls on what comes out of their machines. 

Consumers of concentrates aren’t much different than people buying coffee or hamburgers or anything else they ingest even though many purchasers want to try new strains, flavors, or different profiles. They still want an extract that’s packaged neatly and is easy to dab. That’s why presentation not just on the outside but most importantly what’s in the jar is what helps operators secure brand loyalty in addition to getting the price point right for the type of concentrate they’re selling. 

For your customers, there’s no worse feeling than opening up a jar of live rosin or live resin that the budtender hyped up and discovering what they just spent their hard earned money on was poorly packaged at the lab with scrapes on the side or a misshapen blob. 

How to Achieve Consistent Jar Appeal with Cannabis Concentrates

Although there will be differences from batch to batch across different genetics which consumers expect, the number one way to ensure a winning concentrate presentation is with automation. Historically most labs until recently have employed armies of packaging technicians, which are expensive and inconsistent in all sorts of ways. Anyone who has operated a plant touching business for more than 24 hours knows that the less people you can employ to run your company successfully, the better. When concentrates are packaged manually, you're never going to get the same amount of units per hour or the same look, no matter how skilled or caffeinated they are.

The solution to solve both the throughput bottleneck and appearance inconsistency problem more manufacturers are turning to is our Lowtemp Concentrate Dispenser, which instantly alleviates both problems for labs without the massive upfront capital expenditure that competing concentrate packagers require. It dispenses completely uniform concentrates with almost no visually detectable differences from jar to jar at 400 “shots” or more per hour with a single technician. This means no more side scrapes on your jars, significantly less labor to package up the same batch as before manually, and a much more accurate, process-oriented automated system for getting your extracts to market. 

Other Packaging Considerations for Extracts

In addition to the look of your extracts themselves, the packaging your brand chooses is also extremely important to your bottomline. We like to tell our clients that just like with the consistency of your concentrates themselves, your brand needs to be instantly recognizable no matter how it’s being presented. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with different colors and styles, which are strongly encouraged to attract attention, but that your packaging should be a realistic representation of the product that it contains.

Many companies, especially ones that are shooting for a top shelf or premium ethos, will self sabotage their margins unintentionally by putting their concentrates in very expensive packaging. It’s an easy mistake to make: my products are high quality, so my packaging needs to be even higher quality. Unfortunately that’s a quick recipe to ensure your costs end up higher than they need to be, so always shop around diligently to find a packaging solution that looks good but is still affordable. Customers don’t usually care as much about a fancy cardboard box as they do about a reasonable price point and a tasty, potent extract

Another thing that you want to assess carefully is the container your rosin, budder, crumble, or whichever extract you’re making is going to be situated in. Dry hydrocarbon concentrates really don’t need anything fancy and you can get away with a cheaper glass solution without any frills. On the other hand primo live rosin made from 90-120u micron ice water hash is going to need a better seal on the jar and be fridge or freezer compatible for maximum shelf life. Thankfully just about no matter which type of concentrate you’re selling, our Concentrate Dispenser will effortlessly get it into whichever jar you choose.

Automating Your Concentrate Packaging

Taken all together, it’s easy for operators who work overtime to forget that their end customers tend to be more discerning about some of the finer details in their choices: does my live rosin “wow” them when they open it so that they want to post about it on Reddit? And when you crunch the numbers to figure out your true, fully burdened cost of goods sold, is manual packaging labor hampering your margins? If you aren’t sure about the answers to either, our cannabis processing experts can help you figure out true automated end-to-end cannabis concentrate production and dispensing solutions. That way your lab can offer truly competitive products that look as good as they taste and feel. Contact us today to get your free lab consultation and learn more about our industry leading solutions that the best in the business trust more than any other company.