MJBizCon Back in Full Swing for 2023

December 7, 2023

Backed by expanding international markets and a new official smoking section, MJBizCon seemingly returned to its pre-pandemic glory in 2023.

Make no mistake about it, the cannabis world was in Las Vegas last week. According to MJBizCon, 30,000 cannabis professionals from all over the globe descended on Sin City to see the industry's latest and greatest. They weren’t disappointed. One buyer who was looking for hardware in all parts of the supply chain for himself and his distributor told us he felt like a lot of innovation was on hand this year.

Octave's new Flight Box.

The innovation we found the most likely to crush in 2024 was Octave’s new Flight Box. Octave came on the scene first with awesome thermometers. Many heads regarded them as the best in the game. From there they expanded into vape hardware with a stealthy battery that looked like a nicotine vaporizer. With the Fight Box, they’ve added a filter that allows you to breathe the vapor back into the device. That’s how it got its name.

But my favorite innovation about MJBizCon itself? It had to be the new smoking section. I think they figured out how much business was getting done outside. In years past, there was value in flying to Vegas just to hang out outside and make deals. While the new section you had to check into put a stop to that, it was more inviting. There were a lot of big names that would have gone back to their balconies at the Cosmo to puff in years past that ended up hanging outside. That was really cool. At first I was put off by having to be scanned in to puff — now I’m desperate to see the list of people who actually smoked. The number I’m most fascinated by is what percentage of conference participants entered the smoking section.

The smoking section.

Southern California was out in full force. IceExtract, who we featured this summer, was right by the front door. We asked cofounder Ashley Gaetrig what the point of doing something like MJBizCon is, given their hardware for Solventless extraction, that's bubble hash that uses water as a medium to collect the trichome heads. IceExtract already is considered the top of the mountain given the massive level of QC her and her husband, Eric, have put into their bugatti bags. MJBizCon Back in Full Swing for 2023

“We felt like we haven't been to any big events in a long time and we just felt it was time,” Gaetrig told L.A. Weekly. “We're coming up on our 10-year mark so like, why not let's just do something different you know? Usually, we've always done High Times and that kind of like, you know, real weed, more culture stuff. But this time we're like, we see the change in the market from the black to white and it's definitely leaning more in the white direction. And so we felt that kind of necessary sense because a lot of people that follow us are already industry. Yeah, so a lot of people that are buying equipment aren't so good.”

Jesse Hutchinson of DXD Events built the nicest booth we saw at the event — Athena’s two-story castle with a lounge on top and demo space on the bottom was sick.

“Why is this? Why does it stand out so much? The number one fact, it’s because of the trust that the Athena brand has. They entrust their brand with me, give me their needs and wants. In return, I give them something that helps them stand out from the Joneses to the left and the Joneses to the right,” Hutchinson told L.A. Weekly. “So we've been having a great relationship with them. They relied on us and trust us with the brand and we always come through with quality for them.”

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