A former medical marijuana provider and dispensary owner in Denver's early days of commercial pot, Don Novak began making tinctures on the side. Sold on the potential of infused products early on, Novak left the dispensary business to launch several cannabis brands, but he never stopped making tinctures. His Colorado tincture label, ioVia, is now available at medical and recreational dispensaries across the state, and Novak says that recreational interest is on a slow but steady uptick.
To learn more about tinctures and what's holding back their popularity, we caught up with the longtime cannabis businessman.
Westword: How did you get started in the cannabis industry?
Don Novak: It’s kind of wild to think about now, but we got our start in the regulated Colorado industry by providing mobile cannabis services and sales for homebound medical marijuana patients. This was before you were required to sell from a dispensary. It was an incredible opportunity to deliver our products directly to those who needed them most.
How did you end up making infused products and tinctures?
We’ve had an infused-products license since day one, and tinctures became a simple, effective solution for our patients who needed a more precise alternative to smoking. By focusing our efforts on product development and distribution, we’ve been able to offer this kind of alternative to folks across the entire state of Colorado, and not just at a single retail location.
Tinctures have been around a long time but have never become very popular in comparison to candy edibles. Why do you think that is?
Because sugar, probably! I think consumers like edibles because they provide a familiar experience, and sweets are something that pretty much everyone can get behind. Tinctures have an older, more homeopathic reputation that we’ve become removed from in consumer culture. But if you use cannabis daily for pain, sleep or inflammation, want more control over dosing and don’t want extra calories or other fillers, then ioVia tinctures are a much better option at a better price per milligram.
What are some benefits of tinctures that you like to highlight?
Our award-winning Precision Dose Tinctures are made of two simple ingredients: cannabis extracts and coconut-derived MCT oils. They’re unflavored, vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free and free from any filler ingredients. We prioritize precise formulations and clear dosing information to help ensure a consistent experience every time. We offer several different blends of cannabinoids that include THC, CBD and even CBN — which is great for rest and sleep. Our 200-milligram CBD tincture is a safe option for pets, as well.
We really see a daily regimen of our tinctures as essential wellness. They’re designed for immediate relief as well as long-term supplementation.
Tinctures have been an underrated consumption method since cannabis was legalized, but ioVia wants to bring them to the forefront.
Courtesy of ioVia
For sublingual uptake, we recommend holding the tincture under the tongue for at least a minute. That’s the fastest and most efficient uptake method, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with swallowing our tinctures and using them as an edible. It takes longer to feel the effects, but you should feel those effects longer, because the MCT oil serves as a fat. One of the benefits of our flavorless approach is that you can add a preferred amount directly to a warm beverage or prepared food. Plenty of our customers prefer this method.
Is there a missing recreational component to tinctures? Most of them seem to be marketed toward medical use.
One big reason is the THC dosage limitations [of 100 milligrams of THC per product] on recreational sales. Tinctures are an ideal solution for users who need very large amounts of THC per serving, and we’re only able to offer those kinds of high-potency products on the medical side. This year we’ve actually sold three times as many recreational tinctures as medical tinctures, so there’s definitely an audience there. I just don’t think tinctures have become part of the public conversation in the same way that edibles or smokeables have.
Do you think the average recreational dispensary shopper knows what a tincture is and how to use it?
Product education has always been a huge focus for us. I think there’s a perception that tinctures are only for medicinal use, and that comes from both shoppers and budtenders. So we work hard to communicate the flexibility and ease of use that our tinctures offer.
"Fast-acting" edibles are popping up more. As someone who sells tinctures, how do you feel about that? And how do you think these products compare to tinctures?
I honestly think it’s fantastic to see new technologies coming into our industry, but I can’t really speak to how different of an experience those products might offer over a traditional sublingual approach. Everyone processes cannabis differently, so it’s important that consumers look past claims and try products for themselves to find their best lifestyle fit. Keep in mind that uptake speed is only one aspect of an ideal cannabis experience. What we’ve learned over the last decade of serving cannabis consumers is that finding the right dosage and being able to count on a consistent experience is absolutely critical. And that’s what our customers have come to expect from ioVia Precision Dose Tinctures.
