This Cannabis Brand Made an 850-Pound Pot Brownie

This cannabis-infused brownie weighs 850 pounds, stands 15 inches tall and contains a whopping 20,000 milligrams of premium THC. Let the stoner jokes begin, along with a flood of recollections from people who tripped out on the heavily spiked homemade treats from back in the day. MariMed, a multi-state cannabis operator, leans directly into the lore around do-it-yourself pot brownies, but there’s more than nostalgia going on with this stunt, dubbed “The World’s Largest Cannabis Infused Brownie.” As the parent company of new brand Bubby’s Baked, MariMed aims to grab mainstream attention for its weed-laced dessert line by latching onto tomorrow's National Brownie Day, potentially getting the kind of exposure it can’t buy in the highly regulated, federally illegal cannabis industry. The company also wants to create momentum at the dispensary level around Bubby’s as it launches into a fiercely competitive segment. The edibles market, one of the fastest-growing product categories in cannabis, is expected to top $10 billion in annual sales by 2025, according to Brightfield Group. And there’s a bit of controversy to boot. MariMed executives reached out to the Guinness World Record folks about submission criteria but learned that the group “no longer accepts applications or creates new record titles that are related to the consumption, preparation or use of tobacco, cannabis or nicotine products,” according to a statement from Guinness. Even though it’s not an officially sanctioned “world’s largest,” this brownie is a spectacle meant to “preserve and celebrate ‘OG’ cannabis culture,” Ryan Crandall, chief product officer and senior vice president of sales at MariMed, told Adweek. “For many people, a homemade pot brownie was one of their first and most memorable cannabis experiences, and that was the inspiration behind Bubby’s.” The giant version has been made for marketing purposes, but it’s already been sold to a medical cannabis patient in Massachusetts, Crandall said. The everyday Bubby’s products are much more reserved in their size and potency, containing 5 milligrams of THC per edible. The line features brownie, snickerdoodle and chocolate chip snacks. Crafting the highest-quality edibles MariMed already has a foothold in edibles with its Betty’s Eddies products, which are popular handcrafted fruit chews. To branch out, the company’s research and development teams have invested “countless hours” trying to come up with baked confections that “would be a consumer favorite even if the recipes weren’t infused,” Crandall said. Not unlike those dorm-cooked brownies from people’s college days, edibles have often suffered from a quality control problem. “Our research indicates that, generally speaking, cannabis brands fall short on taste, particularly in the baked goods category,” Crandall said. Bubby’s, with a name and packaging purposely “reminiscent of simpler times,” is part of MariMed’s plan to “build a house of brands that meets different consumer needs across a diverse range of occasions,” according to Crandall. Bubby’s debuts first at one of MariMed’s own retailers, Panacea in Middleborough, Mass., before its planned expansion to the rest of the state, followed by Delaware and Maryland in 2022. As for the sanctioned title holder, per Guinness: the World’s Largest Brownie—not infused with weed—was created in 2013 and weighed 243 pounds. That’s a fraction of the Bubby’s treat, which used 450 pounds of sugar, 212 pounds of butter and more than 1,300 eggs. Though “disappointed” to learn they wouldn’t be in contention for a new world record, “that didn’t deter us,” Crandall said. In fact, the brand hopes “to bring attention to these kinds of outdated policies and further normalize cannabis use in America.” Happy Danksgiving: How the Holiday Season Has Become a Boom Time for Cannabis

Cannabis

Why This Cannabis Brand Made an 850-Pound Pot Brownie—Possibly the World's Largest

There's more than nostalgia at play with this stunt from MariMed

T.L. Stanley

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T.L. Stanley