Why You Should Start Producing Infused Pre-Rolls: A Billion-Dollar Opportunity

The cannabis industry has seen explosive growth in recent years, and infused pre-rolls have emerged as a major driving force. In fact, infused joints became the top-selling pre-roll category in the United States last year, dominating 43.4% of the market share, according to data from Headset. The demand for these premium products is showing no signs of slowing down, with infused pre-rolls claiming a 44.4% market share in the first half of 2024.

This surge in popularity suggests that consumers are increasingly looking for a premium experience when it comes to cannabis. Infused pre-rolls, which combine dried flower with cannabis extracts like distillate or added terpenes, offer higher potency and a more tailored experience. It’s no surprise, then, that sales of these products skyrocketed to over $1.75 billion in 2023 and the first half of 2024, surpassing the $1.64 billion in sales of hybrid and single-strain pre-rolls during the same period.

Take General Admission's infused pre-rolls, for example. After Health Canada clarified its regulations in 2022, allowing the combination of two cannabis classes, infused pre-rolls became a game-changer. According to industry insiders, their distillate-infused pre-rolls quickly became their best-selling product, positioning them as leaders in the market. These products had already seen massive success in U.S. states like Colorado, California, and Oregon, where high-potency pre-rolls with added terpenes were exactly what consumers wanted.

You can think of distillate infused pre-rolls as the value option, which generally have terpene blends added to them for flavor. Whereas pre-rolls infused with live resin or rosin are the creme de la creme of infused pre-rolls and can make a brand stand out as a connoisseur favorite.

Infused pre-rolls are a trend that continues to gain momentum. Jeeter CEO Sebastian Solano notes that in markets where non-infused pre-rolls initially dominated, accounting for 70%-90% of sales, the entry of infused pre-rolls flips the script. In some cases, infused pre-rolls now account for up to 70% of pre-roll sales. If anyone is paying close attention to the infused pre-roll market it’s Jeeter, as they have become the most well known brand for this product category and are selling their infused pre-rolls in California, Michigan, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Canada.

The writing is on the wall: consumers are moving toward high-quality, potent cannabis products, and infused pre-rolls are at the forefront of this shift. With sales numbers soaring and market share continuing to grow, there's never been a better time to start producing infused pre-rolls. Whether you’re an existing brand looking to expand your product line or a new entrant seeking a competitive edge, infused pre-rolls offer a clear path to success in this thriving market.

Producing infused pre-rolls, especially at scale can be a very difficult task as mixing concentrates and flower can create a sticky, gunky mess. Without the right production process, these products are either too costly to produce or the quality suffers. At Strategic Leaf, one of our consulting specialties is our innovate flower infusion process for infusing ground flower with cannabis oils such as distillate, live resin, and rosin. Our process creates an infused material that isn’t sticky or clumpy and can flow through pre-roll automation very well. In fact we have over a dozen clients who are using this process to produce infused pre-rolls using the same automation they use to produce non-infused pre-rolls.

As mentioned before, pre-rolls infused with distillate are more of a cheaper value product, and pre-rolls infused with savory concentrates like live resin and rosin are premium infused pre-rolls. To create the highest quality infused pre-rolls using these premium concentrates you need a process that isn’t going to degrade or cause you to lose the terpenes and flavor molecules in the concentrates. Some manufacturers use solvents or additional heat to infuse their pre-rolls and this leads to losing terpenes and reduces quality. Strategic Leaf’s infusion process maintains all terpenes and flavor compounds, producing the highest quality of infused pre-rolls.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to tap into this billion-dollar segment—infused pre-rolls are the future of cannabis. Contact us to discuss using Strategic Leaf’s infusion method so that you can produce the best infused pre-rolls at scale!