The Products
Pot's come a long way, baby.
Different strains from Sweetspot Farms. Photography by Angel Tucker
Pot’s come a long way, baby. No longer is the standard rolled joint de rigueur — nowadays it’s all about choice. Being weed novices ourselves, we turned to Peter Franklin, vice president of retail operations at Sweetspot Farms, which has a dispensary in Exeter, for help.
Flower
The most popular choice for consumers. Cannabis flower that you can grind up and roll into joints or smoke in a bowl, pipe or bong. Dime bags 2.0, if you will.
Pre-rolls
A pre-rolled joint ready to smoke. No muss, no fuss!
Vape cartridges
A container holding cannabis oil that’s heated and inhaled using a vape pen. The vapor has little to no smell, making it a discreet choice for users.
Concentrates
Refined, potent forms of cannabis made through a method known as extraction. They come in different consistencies like shatter, wax, diamonds and batter and are usually smoked with a dab rig, a glass accessory that looks like a bong. Concentrates are definitely for more experienced users, Franklin says. “They’re an easy way to get too high too quick.”
Edibles
Gummies, chocolates, baked goodies, hard candies, drinks and more that have been
infused with cannabis extract.
Tinctures
An alcohol- or oil-based cannabis extract administered under the tongue or into a drink with a dropper.
Sweetspot Farms has several East Coast-based dispensaries, including one in Exeter. Photography by Angel Tucker
Low & Slow
There’s a mantra you’ll hear often if you’re new to cannabis: low and slow.
A new user may not have a high tolerance, so it’s important to start with a low dose of THC and a small amount of product.
If you’re smoking, take a drag and then wait fifteen to twenty minutes, says Peter Franklin of Exeter’s Sweetspot Farms. If you’re not where you want to be after that, then it’s probably safe to take another drag.
With an edible, he recommends starting with 2.5 milligrams at a time of day when you don’t have a lot to do. See how you feel and don’t try any more cannabis for the rest of the day. It may take two to four hours to kick in, depending on when you last ate, what kind of edible it was, and your metabolism.
“The worst thing you can do is take too much,” he says.
Sweetspot Farms. Photography by Angel Tucker
RHODE ISLAND PRODUCT SALES
(Units sold in August 2023)
181,043 Pre-packaged bud
168,287 Pre-rolls
66,193 Edibles
52,903 Vape cartridges
12,553 Concentrates
11,197 Infused pre-rolls
1,734 Tinctures
1,412 Infused non-edibles
989 Topicals
—Source: R.I. Office of Cannabis Regulation
