The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings (TGOD.T) expanded its licensing agreement with Colorado-based Stillwater Brands, and will start selling its Ripple suite of products in Canada, including Ripple Gummies and Ripple QuickSticks.
This partnership builds on TGOD’s previous strings of successes with their cannabis 2.0 line. The company launched their TGOD Infuser 10 milligrams THC line at the end of March. It became one of their top selling SKUs within the category across the country. Having had some success the company naturally decided to expand the series to include additional formats, and now moving forward, all formats will fall under the established Ripple brand name.
“Soluble cannabinoids are the future of functional foods. Similar to what we saw in Colorado, the Canadian market was overrun by inconsistent, low-quality products early on. Novelty can only carry a product so far. Ultimately, consistency and predictability are what keep consumers coming back. The success of Ripple in Colorado proves the value of our commitment to quality above all, and TGOD’s commitment to organic, high-quality products makes them an ideal partner to carry our vision beyond the U.S,” said Justin Singer, chief executive officer of Stillwater Brands.
Ripple products have made a name for themselves in the United States, garnering multiple awards since their launch in 2016, including:
- The Dope Cup (best drink) – 2017;
- Leafly (best overall product) — 2018;
- LeafLink (best selling edible) – 2019.
All three of Ripple’s dissolvable offerings are presently in the Top 10 most sold cannabis beverages in Colorado, including the number one spot for Ripple Pure 10.
Here’s how they work:
Cannabinoids like THC don’t absorb well into the body. That’s why when you eat a quarter of a cannabis brownie, you have to wait for anywhere between an hour and a half to three hours for it to kick in. Especially if it’s a butter or tincture-based formulation. In contrast, Ripple uses the company’s own proprietary technology that renders THC and CBD water soluble, allowing these cannabiniods to enter the bloodstream. They claim to have proven an onset time of 15 minutes.
We’ve seen a lot of claims about water soluble compounds throughout the past few years, but none showing an on-set time of 15 minutes. Given all the various biochemical hurdles that THC and CBD need to go through regarding bioavailability—digestion in the stomach, passage and further digestion through into the lower intestine and then the probability of the chemical being absorbed into the lumen (or the ‘skin’ of the lower intestine) before going to the lymphatic system to the liver—there’s a certain amount of incredulity that comes along with such claims.
But that’s mostly for gummies and drinks.
Ripple QuickStick product may be different. It’s a single-serve flavoured powder that dissolves on the tongue. The tongue (and the space underneath the tongue) are great for bioavailability, because they don’t have to take the long journey through the GI-tract to the liver. The dissolved chemicals disappear into the lymphatic system and get an express straight to the liver. Fifteen minute onset is not unreasonable.
This also isn’t anything new. We could name five companies off the top of our heads using variations of this technology, making TGOD just the latest dog in an already busy dog park, and they’re not even the biggest dog here.
The good news is that nobody owns this market yet. There’s no one company that’s made a definitive product, and by definitive we mean that it’s so noteworthy as to define the product like Xerox did photocopying, Kleenex for tissues, or chapstick for lip balm. Until that happens there’s still time.
—Joseph Morton
