LP Profile: Riff Cannabis

Salutations~


One more day until a month has past since Canada legalized cannabis.

Still a major shortage of products at recreational cannabis shops across Canada and Winnipeg is no exception.  I paid a visit to what I am now dubbing the Marijuana Mile- 3 shops within a few minute drive in the Ft. Rouge area of Winnipeg.

First up was a new shop in town called Meta Cannabis Supply. Located in a strip mall with ample parking in an easy to reach part of the city, it was the smallest location that I have visited so far.  They had 10+ strains available with a decent range of prices and quality- but the were sold out of anything under 7 gram packages.

I ended up taking a pass, headed over to Tweed.  They only had two types available this time and were fairly apologetic, also hinting that Tokyo Smoke had a better supply at the moment. ( again )

Tokyo smoke still had about 10 people hanging around, talking with staff on the floor and checking out the remaining products.  In stock- they only had seven available strains between 9-16$/gm.

I noticed a new brand of products from RIFF.   I want to link you to the page, but I think I need to drop a SEIZURE WARNING for their home page.  Flashing monochromatic lights gives the appearance of style over sunstance.  I wanted to find out- what is Riff? Turns out that is the actual name of the website.

It took a bit of digging to uncover anything other than a brand statement saying they value artistic collaboration.   Apparently they maintain a relationship with artists involved with street art? Anyways- Fast forward to being sold to APHRIA.

Aphria is one of the biggest cannabis players in the world.  12.5 Billion dollar market cap, they own a lot of brands under their umbrella.  Broken Coast and Solei are also subsidiaries of Aphria as well.

Riff was initially aimed at newer users with thematic design of packaging and "hip" marketing to bring their brand to relevance.  Aphira is still going with the newer users angle, but the Canadian advertising standards are really limiting what could / would be a more effective marketing campaign.

Riff, at this point- has no identity on the shelves of retail cannabis.  But they are trying to get involved with artists such as at their Aphria launch party that showcased some notatble talents in a gallery setting with DJ's playing electronic music. (mostly to corporate suits at the invite only event.)

I picked up 3 strains which I will review briefly in the next post-  Purchasing 1 gram packages seems to generally offer lower grade buds to inspect and I would prefer to review more in depth from a better specimen of product when possible.  I prefer to blind taste new samples before letting reviews online alter my perspective, but Reddit has been rather harsh on RIFF so far as a whole.

Up Next:
Sweet Jersey 3- Two Tone Ban- Blue 98 from Riff