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In Grasslands’ First Annual Concentrates Trend Report, industry-leading experts and pioneers of the legal cannabis market break down the industry-shaping product decisions consumers and industry stakeholders will make in the coming year.
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Cannabis Marketing

GRASSLANDS CANNABIS CONCENTRATES IN 2021: TREND REPORT

RICARDO BACA
October 27, 2021
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Cannabis flower (a.k.a. bud) has been concentrated and ingested for centuries—from hashish, the early compressed form of cannabis that spread through Central Asia and the Middle East pre-1100s, to the cannabis-based tinctures that lined U.S. corner store shelves in the 1910s. While already an intoxicating plant on its own, cannacurious consumers have long invented, experimented and passed along ways to amplify the effects of the cannabis plant, for both medical use and recreational enjoyment.

In 2021, we are living in one of the most culturally and politically cannabis-friendly climates in history, with governing bodies moving toward national legalization. While cannabis flower is the bestseller in most legal markets, cannabis concentrates are gaining traction fast, offering producers a way to tweak the cannabis experience, adjusting flavors and potency to better fit the desired experience of cannabis consumers. According to Marijuana Venture Magazine, data from 2019 industry sales found flower still held the largest market share at 37%, but vapes (32%), edibles (13%) and extracts (10%) took up the next three spots—and if we add together the two concentrate-centric categories, including vapes and extracts, we see that those combined outsold cannabis flower.

In Grasslands’ First Annual Concentrates Trend Report, industry-leading experts and pioneers of the legal cannabis market break down the industry-shaping product decisions consumers and industry stakeholders will make in the coming year. These experts and trendsetters share their predictions for the concentrates category on:

  • Scientific advancements that elevate and transform ancient hash-making techniques
  • Health-conscious consumption methods and purchasing trends
  • Pandemic-inspired shifts among long-held social mores
  • Cannabis concentrate-infused beverages sweeping the wellness world
  • Vaping consumer preferences for enhanced flavor and new tech
  • The driving demand for premium concentrates

Click here to view the full report

RICARDO BACA
FOUNDER & CEO

A proud Colorado native and one of Denver Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs, Ricardo Baca is a serial entrepreneur, three-time Marketer of the Year, 24-year veteran journalist, two-time TEDx speaker, and drug policy architect. 

Ricardo launched Clio-winning PR and marketing firm Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency® in 2016 to super-charge businesses throughout the U.S., Latin America and Europe. Grasslands was awarded a Clio Award for its public relations program, two Emjays Awards for Public Relations Agency of the Year, and a Small Business Award from the Denver Business Journal. 

In 2023, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appointed Ricardo to the state’s first-ever Natural Medicine Advisory Board to contribute to policy development around the state’s psychedelics framework. In 2025, Ricardo launched Buy Colorado Day in partnership with the State Legislature, creating a new holiday—and powerful economic driver—that celebrates innovative Colorado brands of all kinds via consumers all over the world.

Capping off a wide-spanning career in journalism, Ricardo made international headlines as The Denver Post’s first-ever Cannabis Editor in 2013, as seen in the feature-length documentary film Rolling Papers. Numerous accolades followed, including Ricardo being named one of Fortune magazine’s 7 Most Powerful People in America’s Marijuana Industry, one of Brookings Institution's 12 Key People to Watch in Marijuana Policy, and one of Time magazine’s 140 best Twitter feeds.

In 2022, Ricardo co-founded Colorado fine art biennial Biome with the mission of celebrating fine art via community, inclusivity and biennial exhibition. Before that, Ricardo co-founded Denver music festival The Underground Music Showcase, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025. 

Ricardo is proud to sit on the Board of Directors for Colorado Public Radio, where he serves as Treasurer, and on the Board of Advisors for the reMind Psychedelics Business Forum. 

A regular speaker at SXSW, Ricardo still contributes columns and op-eds to top publications, including Rolling Stone, Nosh, the New Hope Network and MJBizDaily. He has also been interviewed by The New York Times, The View, The New Yorker, This Week With George Stephanopoulos, The Colbert Report and NPR’s All Things Considered.

Ricardo lives in Denver with his wife, two dogs and two cats.