Crowded vape market expected to emerge despite health concerns, heavy competition

Canada’s nascent vape market is set to become extremely crowded when the products can go on sale next month. BNN Bloomberg reported that Health Canada has received 746 notices to sell cartridge-based vaping systems ahead of the start of next-generation cannabis product sales on Dec. 16. While some of those may reflect a duplicate submission by two separate licence holders, it does signal the opportunity that the legal marijuana industry sees for these devices. As well, cannabis producers will need to manage the recent wave of headlines after multiple people have suffered lung illnesses from using cannabis-infused vapes sourced from the illicit market. Despite those challenges, Canadian pot companies are not shying away from the market, which some analysts believe could generate double the amount of gross margin potential for those firms.

Canopy Growth adds five Ontario stores to Tokyo Smoke retail portfolio

Canopy Growth said Thursday it has entered into agreements with five Ontario retail licence winners who have progressed to the public inquiry stage of the province’s licensing process. The new locations will be operated by independent business owners with support from Canopy’s existing retail team, as Ontario legislation forbids the cannabis producer from controlling the actual outlets. Canopy said that once all of the five new retail stores are open, it will have 32 total legal pot shops across Canada, with an unspecified amount planned to launch in the coming year. The new store count doesn’t yet include the Canopy’s other Tokyo Smoke location set to open on Toronto’s Mink Mile.

Pot pickups: Supreme adds new 7Acres GM; Sundial appoints new board member

Supreme Cannabis tapped Dan Sippel to run the company’s 7Acres recreational cannabis brand as its new general manager, the company announced on Thursday. Sippel comes to the company after serving in plant management roles at Natra Chocolate America, Export Packers Seafood and Sofina Foods, Supreme said in a statement. Supreme said current 7Acres GM Ram Davloor will move to a new role within the company as senior vice-president of quality and operations.

Meanwhile, Sundial Growers appointed hedge fund executive Zachary George to the company’s board. George, who co-founded the alternative investment firm FrontFour Capital Group, will run the board’s newly-formed operations and capital committee, Sundial said.

Aleafia Health to ship cannabis oil to Australian medical market

Aleafia Health launched a white label cannabis oil product earmarked for the Australian medical marijuana market, the company said Thursday. The Toronto-based cannabis producer said it will soon ship oil products produced at its Paris, Ont.-facility for distribution in Australia, where it will be sold by Melbourne-based Montu Group under the newly-established Circle brand. Aleafia said it has already secured import permits from Australia’s Department of Health and expects shipments to begin in late 2019 once it receives the necessary Health Canada export permits.

DAILY BUZZ

270,000
— The amount of Aurora Cannabis shares purchased by the company’s CEO Terry Booth on Nov. 25, according to Canadian Insider. Booth purchased the shares at a price of $3.68 on the open market at a total value of $993,600.

Cannabis Canada is BNN Bloomberg’s in-depth series exploring the stunning formation of the entirely new — and controversial — Canadian recreational marijuana industry. Read more from the special series here and subscribe to our Cannabis Canada newsletter to have the latest marijuana news delivered directly to your inbox every day.