Crown Cooperation becomes one of Canada´s first craft cannabis resellers
The Ontario-based shop is also selling the new products online.

Ontario's provincial cannabis wholesaler and online retailer has launched its highly anticipated Craft category. On Thursday the homepage of the Crown Corporation was dedicated to the new name, with the definition of the shop, what craft means and links to craft products. "We created a new craft label to help you find the handcrafted, small-volume buds you're looking for," the website says. "All of the dried buds and pre-rolls in this collection are hand cut, hang dried, hand packaged and grown in a facility that produces less than 10,000 kg of dried cannabis (or equivalent) per year." The new category comes in parallel with a shift in the provincial store in order to offer consumers a more focused product range. A "core range" program was announced in January to keep high-demand items in stock while weeding out about 200 less popular offerings. The OCS has developed a craft badge to highlight products from smaller manufacturing facilities that use artisanal processes in the manufacture of dried cannabis and pre-roll products, says Daffyd Roderick, senior communications director. "The Craft Badge helps fight the illegal market by offering consumers more products that reflect traditional, old-fashioned production methods," he said in an email to Mugglehead. "It also maximizes product diversity in the OCS range of dried flowers and pre-rolls, and provides a platform for small production facilities to tell their story." To be considered artisanal, the products must be: dried exclusively hanging: cut at the base of the stem and hung in a room with controlled temperature and humidity for 10 or more days to preserve aroma and taste; exclusively hand-cut: each bud is given an individual manicure so that the optical properties of the variety come into their own and packed entirely by hand to minimize damage from overhandling and to maximize product integrity. From now on, only dried flowers and pre-rolls can qualify. And it is the individual products, not the furnishings, that are recognized. Craft pre-rolls must be made with craft flowers, but they don't have to be hand-rolled, says the OCS. Products with the Craft distinction are marked with a yellow Craft badge. Brands included in the new category include Msiku, Royal City Cannabis Co., Carmel Cannabis, Ogen, and Tenzo. The label was first teased in a Reddit question with Chief Commercial Officer Cheri Mara last April.





