Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
That's right folks, specialty paper is showing up in medical marijuana. Not literally, of course. But specialty papers like parchment, glassine and PTFE are all being used in the medical marijuana market.
I don't think a soul out there reading this post has not seen or heard of the marijuana marketplace taking off.
The adult usage in regards to market sales in 2014 was $373.8 million, and then in 2015 in grew by 232 percent to $1.24 billion. This is the fastest growing market area to date.
Where does specialty paper fit in?
I'm going to leave the actual marijuana 101 out of this article, as there are plenty of sites out there that are incredible about explaining marijuana.
For the purposes of this article, it is all about the process of extracting marijuana for the oils. And during this process, specialty paper is used.
Growers will heat and compress the buds, causing a sap-like oil (sometimes known as "hash oil") to be forced out. But before this happens, they put a square of parchment paper down. When the oil starts oozing out, it can easily be scrapped and removed. (For the avid marijuana growers, please exclude the crudeness in the simplified explanation.)
There are several sizes of specialty paper used for this - anywhere from 4-inch-by-4-inch to 12-inch-by-12-inch squares. Some folks are needing printing/branding; others need shapes similar to ring boxes; and others need some type of folding pattern.
The most common request we see is for silicone-coated parchment paper - the kind you would line your typical baking sheet with. For the small mom-and-pop growers, Costco and BJ's have been filling their needs here.
There is also Quilon-coated parchment. This has been around since the dawn of time, but it has recently received a bad rap due to the chromium inherent in the paper. Before you think it's so bad, just realize every cupcake you ate when you were a kid was baked with a Quilon-coated paper cupcake holder, and you are still here today reading this post - go figure.
Also used is glassine paper. A smooth paper that has a barrier resistance, glassine is not as good as parchment, but can work in certain applications.
But for paper that is 100 percent greaseproof, waterproof, barrierproof and extremely resistant to all chemicals, you would want Teflon-coated paper, known at PTFE. The drawback? It is the most expensive of the papers listed.
Markets served
The paper industry is just one industry that is benefiting from the growing marijuana market.
Medical and biological labs have transformed into marijuana extraction facilities, due to already having a lot of the gear and process in house. Manufacturers that were selling into the fragrance markets were hunted down by marijuana experts to "tweak" their machinery for extracting the oil.
And farming - no explanation needed here. Just look at the areas in Colorado and Washington that were barren and are now being transformed into a rich paradise for growing.
Mircosoft is even in on the game. That's right, the computer folks are helping to write software that will monitor the growth of the plants and help monitor the whole process. Think about this, Microsoft is putting energy into the marijuana space. Heck, even Whoopi Goldberg has her own company around a certain strain of marijuana.
Conclusion for the paper industry
So you get the point. This is not a fad. It's not going away. In your lifetime, all 50 states may be medical marijuana enabled.
For us specialty paper suppliers, these are exciting times. We have already been dealing with several small growers, several medical labs, marketing specific companies and publicly traded companies with their only mission being medical marijuana. We have been helping companies find the correct parchment or correct size, as well as working on educating them about printing on certain materials, what oils work best with what paper, etc.
We have also in the last month partnered with a local mill in using their parchment-like paper to create a unique offering - using nanotechnology to align cellulose fibers, which makes a barrier-resistant, parchment-like paper. Then, we coat with silicone both sides, creating a truly unique specialty paper.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Who Put Paper In My Marijuana?
Author: Jeff Ell
Contact: 972.402.7070
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Multibriefs
I don't think a soul out there reading this post has not seen or heard of the marijuana marketplace taking off.
The adult usage in regards to market sales in 2014 was $373.8 million, and then in 2015 in grew by 232 percent to $1.24 billion. This is the fastest growing market area to date.
Where does specialty paper fit in?
I'm going to leave the actual marijuana 101 out of this article, as there are plenty of sites out there that are incredible about explaining marijuana.
For the purposes of this article, it is all about the process of extracting marijuana for the oils. And during this process, specialty paper is used.
Growers will heat and compress the buds, causing a sap-like oil (sometimes known as "hash oil") to be forced out. But before this happens, they put a square of parchment paper down. When the oil starts oozing out, it can easily be scrapped and removed. (For the avid marijuana growers, please exclude the crudeness in the simplified explanation.)
There are several sizes of specialty paper used for this - anywhere from 4-inch-by-4-inch to 12-inch-by-12-inch squares. Some folks are needing printing/branding; others need shapes similar to ring boxes; and others need some type of folding pattern.
The most common request we see is for silicone-coated parchment paper - the kind you would line your typical baking sheet with. For the small mom-and-pop growers, Costco and BJ's have been filling their needs here.
There is also Quilon-coated parchment. This has been around since the dawn of time, but it has recently received a bad rap due to the chromium inherent in the paper. Before you think it's so bad, just realize every cupcake you ate when you were a kid was baked with a Quilon-coated paper cupcake holder, and you are still here today reading this post - go figure.
Also used is glassine paper. A smooth paper that has a barrier resistance, glassine is not as good as parchment, but can work in certain applications.
But for paper that is 100 percent greaseproof, waterproof, barrierproof and extremely resistant to all chemicals, you would want Teflon-coated paper, known at PTFE. The drawback? It is the most expensive of the papers listed.
Markets served
The paper industry is just one industry that is benefiting from the growing marijuana market.
Medical and biological labs have transformed into marijuana extraction facilities, due to already having a lot of the gear and process in house. Manufacturers that were selling into the fragrance markets were hunted down by marijuana experts to "tweak" their machinery for extracting the oil.
And farming - no explanation needed here. Just look at the areas in Colorado and Washington that were barren and are now being transformed into a rich paradise for growing.
Mircosoft is even in on the game. That's right, the computer folks are helping to write software that will monitor the growth of the plants and help monitor the whole process. Think about this, Microsoft is putting energy into the marijuana space. Heck, even Whoopi Goldberg has her own company around a certain strain of marijuana.
Conclusion for the paper industry
So you get the point. This is not a fad. It's not going away. In your lifetime, all 50 states may be medical marijuana enabled.
For us specialty paper suppliers, these are exciting times. We have already been dealing with several small growers, several medical labs, marketing specific companies and publicly traded companies with their only mission being medical marijuana. We have been helping companies find the correct parchment or correct size, as well as working on educating them about printing on certain materials, what oils work best with what paper, etc.
We have also in the last month partnered with a local mill in using their parchment-like paper to create a unique offering - using nanotechnology to align cellulose fibers, which makes a barrier-resistant, parchment-like paper. Then, we coat with silicone both sides, creating a truly unique specialty paper.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Who Put Paper In My Marijuana?
Author: Jeff Ell
Contact: 972.402.7070
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Multibriefs
