Being disabled often means making lemons into lemonade, so I’m used to it. Hell, I’ve got to the point that I’m making limoncello, lemon soap, candied lemon peel, whatever. Life gives me lemons…I don’t waste them. I extract all the value I can get out of life as best I can. And, in the case of Hall of Flowers, I did the same thing.
I originally applied for press tickets for Hall of Flowers but didn’t think I’d get in. I’m relatively small, I’m new, I’m but another voice in a very large chorus of people that are more deserving than I am. So when I got the email that said that, unfortunately, they couldn’t give me a press pass as they had reached the full allotment for the event, I understood. What I didn’t understand is the fact that they were ever so generous enough to comp me two industry tickets for day two of the event. And when life gives you lemons, you make Lemon Mints. Or Lemon Gelato. Or whatever “lemon” strain you wanna insert here.
I was excited for the event for two reasons. One is the fact that it was a different event than any other I’d been to in the past. I’d been to Revelry twice and that’s dope as hell but I wanted to see what other offerings were out there. The second is that this was the first Hall of Flowers in NY…ever. I wanted to be there for that legacy. So I put on my writer’s pants, boarded a Metro-North train down to Grand Central, and made my way over to the event with my intern/disability aide in tow. Okay, fine, fine, he was in the lead but that’s only because he’s got long legs and I got short little stumps. Being short sucks. Anyway, after spending nearly seven hours there, I felt I had done enough to do the event justice and write it up. These are my thoughts.
California Love
This was an event that was pretty much dedicated to Cali in NY. The Hall of Flowers has been running in California since 2018 but this was the first event in NY, specifically NYC. And California came HEAVY. I’d say a good 40% of the vendors at the show were California vendors that had just entered, were entering (some at the show), or were in the process of entering the NY market within the next six months to a year. Again, I’ve talked about this before (and will probably devote an entire article to it) but I’m of two minds here. On one hand…Cali genetics. They’ve had years to perfect genetics, products, brands, etc. for a commercial market so I’m interested in seeing what they can offer NY. But on the other hand, I don’t want NY brands/genetics/products to suffer. I want a rising tide to lift all boats, here, but I’m not entirely sure that’s going to happen. We’ll see how it all pans out but it was definitely a California brand heavy show. There WERE NY brands, as well, and it was good to see them represented, so it wasn’t a total shutout. That made me happy, too.
NYC Location, California Vibes
When I originally talked about Revelry (I’ll be making comparisons to Revelry a lot because it’s the only other show I’ve been to), I mentioned that the show had a special kind of NY vibe going on. You know the NY vibe of “the hustle“. This show didn’t have it. In fact, it was very laid back. To be completely fair, I went on Day 2 and, from what I heard, Day 1 was THE day. Apparently it was a bit of a mad melee, honestly. But the day that I went, Day 2, it was very laid back. I liked the layout of this show a bit better: the aisles were wider, the booths were actual booths that you could step into and feel welcomed, and the organization and space optimization was better. The conversations were more in-depth, had more meaning because it wasn’t a rush that everyone had to prioritize but, from what everyone said, even the first day wasn’t totally crammed. But, on the other hand…it lacked that delicious NY chaos that I do so fervently love. So both shows had their pros and cons. I did note that there weren’t a lot of buyers on Day 2 and I assumed that was because they came on Day 1 but from what I heard there weren’t as many buyers all-told. I’m chalking this up to Revelry being less than a month before it and buyers using their discretionary “new product” budget there. Hopefully in the future it’ll be a bit more staggered but it worked out this time because some of the hype kinda carried over.
They Couldn’t Be Generous
From everyone I talked to, both brand reps and attendees, the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) clamped down HARD on Hall of Flowers. What do I mean? Well, I’ve talked before about the…uh…editorial considerations often handed out at shows like this for buyers and press alike. Apparently the OCM sent out an email a few days before the show saying that samples were completely off-limits and, frankly, that boggles my mind on multiple fronts. First off, if you’re going to be buying, in quantity, a product…you want to TRY it first. That’s a non-starter. But it also irks me because you have booze events doing the same thing and they’re allowed to sample as they please. You couldn’t get into the event without them checking your ID at the front door and confirming your tickets so I dunno what the problem was. It’s not like some 18 year old is going to spend the money for a ticket ($395 for an industry ticket) just to go get samples; they’d just BUY it from a dispensary. So I’m not entirely sure WHY the OCM decided to put the kibosh on samples for this event. And also…
No Consumption Allowed
There was no CONSUMPTION allowed, either. Everywhere outside were huge signs saying “No consumption on premises” slapped onto every conceivable surface. This…I sorta get. The cleaning fee for getting cannabis smoke out of things must be outrageous and you don’t want people to endanger themselves on what is, in essence, a giant pier. But still…a bit heavy-handed. I’m guessing this was also due to the OCM but it still smacks of unfair practices. Again, booze shows do tasting on premises so I dunno what the difference is. And everyone was DEFINITELY abiding by the rules. Yep, not a single soul smoking cannabis whatsoever. Everything was legal smoking herbs only. Just trust me, I checked. With everyone.
Conclusions?
I liked the show. I think it has great promise. It means that things will be changing in NY, with the influx of Cali brands being either licensed out to in-state manufacturers or if they decide to go a more hands on approach and build up in the state themselves. I can’t quite tell how I feel about that and I’ll get back to you on that. But the show itself was fun, despite the OCM’s efforts to dampen said fun. It was well thought out, well set up, and very accommodating. And the people running it were sweet enough to let me come for free so I can’t fault them for that. Hopefully in the future the OCM and HoF can work together to put in place a more cohesive show but for a first attempt, it was a banger and I don’t use that lightly. How do I think it compares to the big show, Revelry? Well, it’s a different beast. Revelry has a heartbeat to it that hums with the energy of NY, Hall of Flowers is more of an ode to NY in song. Both represent the market in different ways but one is a more primal feeling because they made their bones here for years, struggling against the pitfalls that New York has thrown their way. Hall of Flowers hasn’t been through the nitty-gritty, although with this show they got first-hand experience with exactly the kinds of things that NY will throw at them. Give Hall of Flowers a few years in the market and I think it could rival Revelry as THE place to shop but it won’t ever BE Revelry. They’re two different shows and I think there’s room for both of them, provided they can get the scheduling down a bit better. But that comes with time and experience. And I, for one, welcome the opportunity to see this show grow and blossom into its full potential. If they’ll have me.
Special Mentions
TICAL: I finally got the scoop on TICAL. For the longest time, I knew it was related to the Wu-Tang Clan (forgive me, I am not up on my NY rap knowledge) and Method Man but that was about it. I got a chance to talk to the partners at the show and they illuminated me to their mission. Standing for “Take Into Consideration All Lives”, they work with minority/black owned businesses and distribute their products under their umbrella which I found EXTREMELY refreshing. I asked them if they worked with any disabled people and, while they did not yet work with anyone of the disabled persuasion, they seemed quite open to it and accepting of it which warmed the cockles of my wee little heart. I’d love to work with them in the future. If you guys read this, you got my card, let’s do stuff.
Wana Brands: I continue to be enamored by the Wana brands umbrella, honestly. It’s probably due to the fact that Zach, one of the reps, was extremely kind to me at my very first event but I still like their products too. I managed to talk to Zach and Mike, one of the NYC reps, along with a few other people who work for them about what’s coming out. Nothing new…yet. They said to be on the lookout for some changes and new things coming up and I’m pretty jazzed about that. They also had a Maui Wowie line from Jetty which I didn’t recognize so I think I might have missed that one. Whoops. Side shout out to @nycannawomen, or Lindsay, who just joined the Jetty line-up as a rep. Congrats on that! Sorry I couldn’t talk longer but I had a train to catch.
PICC Platform: Shout-out to these guys for making some cool hash holes and just being overall very chill dudes. I managed to meet up with Brandon “Fresh” Overton who was a SUPREMELY awesome dude to chat with, at length. It was like running into an old friend and I had just met him. Overall, they seem to make great products and I’ll have to review them in the future.
Micro Bar: I’m not a huge vape guy but these folks were very cool and had a nice looking product. Very compact vape with good size tanks, battery availability and with great flavors. They even have double tanks that have a dual vape mode that allows you to draw from both flavors, which I thought was VERY neat. Also, they have a Shirley Temple one and I’m a SUCKER for a Shirley Temple. I once had 14 of them at a bar mitzvah and didn’t even eat dinner. I was hitting the bar cart more than anyone and I was about 9. Shoulda known at that point I’d get into booze eventually.
CuraLeaf: I know, bit of a curveball on this one. We hit them as the first booth at the show and we didn’t even know they WERE CuraLeaf, which was one of the OG Medical dispensaries in NY (along with Etain). They were debuting their Anthem line, a new line that they test drove in Puerto Rico and decided to go mainstream with it. It is classic Americana in a nice, fresh way and their pre-rolls are short and sweet, judging by the size of the display models they had on hand. They ALSO had ACE vaporizer, or Aqueous Cannabis Extraction. It’s a clear (CLEAR!) liquid that uses alkalinzed water as a solvent to extract cannabis. I’m…super fascinated by it and have been wracking my brain to try to figure out how it works from a chemical engineering perspective but I can’t figure it out. Two cool products, one cool booth.
DabCowgirl: I finally met her! I saw her first at Revelry Hudson in May and was way too shy to say anything to her but I managed to find her in the crowd at Hall of Flowers and finally say hello. She had just come off, what I can only assume was a red-eye flight, a jag at PuffCon in Cali and was there representing a few brands at Hall of Flowers. It was lovely to meet you and sorry I was so sweaty but it was weirdly hot in that building for it only being 57F outside.
Midzotics: This man must be protected at all costs. What a great guy. Had NO idea that he was actually the star of “Weed Country”, a 2013 Discovery Channel show, which would explain why he looked so damn familiar to me. He was amazing. Pleasure meeting you, Matt.
Bacchus, out
