Cannabis Photography/Review – Licensed
Noya Cannabis Inc. (Noya Grow)
Price $45.89 + Tax for 3.46G
Packaged on: December 7th, 2020
Purchased at Spirit Leaf
Listed as “Staff Pick”
Who is Noya Grow?
“Founded in Hamilton, Ontario in 2014, Noya Cannabis Inc. is a licensed producer under the Cannabis Act. The company received its cultivation license in 2017, and its sales license in 2018. The company has positioned itself as a premium white label producer and is working with the biggest and best cannabis brands in the world. The company’s mission is to distribute and cultivate premium craft cannabis to match the needs of the market.”
Noyagrow.ca
Originally “Radicle Medical Marijuana Inc.” recently completed a rebranding
Notable brands they produce include:
- Cookies
- Gage
- Lemon Nade
- Crooked Dory
- Ignite
If you recognize the name Ignite they were considered too risky to touch by namaste early on in the recreational market due to the behavior of CEO Dan Bilzerian, not to be outdone though it looks like Noya was happy to partner with a brand known for blatant misogyny. I’ll leave that information here so you can chew on it and decide if it’s worth supporting dudes that think this behavior is something that’s acceptable to be associated with.
Now that we know the company behind Gage in Canada, how does the product stack up? I’ve seen a lot of praise for Gage on Social Media so when someone was generous enough to contribute enough funds so I could review a more premium offering I decided to see what all the hype was about despite my own hesitancy to purchase a brand that has ties to Bruce Linton through their US arm.
Welcome to the Budstuff
The buds were actually better than I anticipated based on previous experience with Noya products so a mixture of medium to small buds to round out the 3.45 grams was a welcome sight from the all too common jar full of larf or bottom of the bag buds.
Bag appeal here was acceptable, but not something I’d consider premium, it was a solid mid appearance but priced at top-shelf prices which is a pretty big detractor.
Upon opening the jar I was greeted with a sweet smell, very familiar with the gelato cultivar and it mostly remained through the grind, but the smell of the empty jar says a whole lot of those terpenes went missing from the bud while sitting in the jar for almost a year.
On the topic of terpenes, there’s no mention of them anywhere on the package which should be standard, LP’s have this info in their lab tests the only reason I can think not to include it, is if it’s something you aren’t proud of. Many lower-priced products list this and there’s no excuse for a premium product to leave this out.
When smoked in a joint, you could still taste the bud and the taste was noticeably sweet, and smooth – buds were fairly dry, but again I think this is probably due to the outrageous age of the product.
The high was very heady, and happy but regretfully shorter-lived than other Gelato’s I’ve been lucky enough to try and at risk of sounding broken this once again is probably because of the old ass product. Ash was white, but something, something, old.
LPs: work with stores to take back unsold products.
Stores: Don’t sell people year old products.
In what is sure to be a long-winded conclusion…
What could have been a solid mid-market product is dismantled by a few key things
Price:
$45 + Tax for an eighth of Cannabis is criminal and if the length of time it’s been sitting in the package unsold is any indication most consumers agree.
When your goal and motto is premium products, that doesn’t have to mean inflated prices but I guess those licensing deals with big US brands are expensive right?
Personally, I’d rather a brand I never heard of deliver solid products at lower prices if licensing the brand is part of the inflated costs.
Age:
I’ve raised my eyebrow at 5-month-old cannabis, so imagine my surprise when I find out I’ve paid $50 for something sitting in a jar in the back of a warehouse or store for almost one year. It’s clear there is a correlation between the age and cost of the product if that’s not some hardcore market indicator I’m not sure what else these companies need to realize that the race to the top in price is not the path to long term success.
This attitude is great if your goals are short term, but we’ve already seen big players start to fall because of this attitude, and Noya isn’t really doing anything notable here with the Gage brand this is a good repeat buy at a budget price, but it’s laughable and infuriating at $50 an eighth.
Weight:
When you are pricing your gram so high, you better be damn sure you are on the nose with your weight. I realize HC allows a product to be so far under or over, but the product reaching the consumer should never be underweight, especially at over $13 a gram.
With my first venture into the world of ultra-premium and hype marketing cannabis, I’m left with a familiar feeling that reminds me of another major player that tried to come in and be ultra-premium. Having all the endorsements and licensing deals and are only surviving on how much money they stole from investors. I’ll give you a hint, it also has a Bruce Linton link.
Ran a Twitter poll to get a feel for the importance of big brand names in purchasing choices.
