Chewing cannabis is a thing now — but only in California

Remember when old-time baseball players and 19th-century cowboys walked around with a lower lip full of dip? California-based cannabis company Cannadips sure does remember that.

 

 

Supposedly the only chewing cannabis currently on the market, the products by Cannadips consist of essential oils, monk fruit and a dry cannabis tincture packaged in a small pouch made of coconut fibre. The so-called “lifestyle pouches” mimic classic chewing tobacco, aka Swedish snus (think spittoons and gum erosion), and come in Citrus, Mint and American flavours and are available in CBD and THC variations.

When the cannabis is chewed, the cannabinoids are absorbed through the lining of the user’s mouth and are carried directly to the buccal artery, completely bypassing the liver. This creates a faster onset, as well as a more short-lived high. In order to produce chewing cannabis that could be orally absorbed, Cannadips has created a water-dispersible form of the drug.

Supposedly the only chewing cannabis currently on the market, the products by Cannadips consist of essential oils, monk fruit and a dry cannabis tincture packaged in a small pouch made of coconut fibre.

“The cannabinoids in cannabis are fat soluble. So generally to intake these products, they need to either be combusted, which has a harmful effect, or get combined into food products and are eaten,” Cannadips co-founder Case Mandel told Green Entrepreneur. “The problem with consuming things through the digestive system is that it goes through your liver and can be super psychoactive. In developing Cannadips, we were introduced to a couple of chemists who found a way to make the cannabinoids water-dispersible, meaning that they dispersed in liquid or saliva.”

Mandel says he was hoping to create an alternative to traditional chewing tobacco, which was popular in the surfing community in which he grew up and is now considered a major health hazard.

“That was our original idea,” he said. “Little did we know, at that point, there was so much more to it. We were designing a much more effective delivery system.”

A downside to Cannadips is the difficulty in dosing

“We don’t know what percent of our products get absorbed in the mouth verse the gut at this point as we haven’t been able to conduct clinical research in the U.S. There is some small level of the delayed absorption, but, unlike edibles, our product is rapid acting,” says Mandel.

So far, Cannadips is only available for sale in California.