"Optimizing Cannabis Quality and Longevity with TerpLoc Packaging" Jack Grover, the co-founder and CEO of Grove Bags joins Dan Humiston to explains how their innovative packaging system, TerpLoc is revolutionizing the cannabis industry by creating a controlled microclimate to optimize the curing and preservation of cannabis products. He discusses the evolution of the cannabis industry and its need for long-term viability, and he shares insights into the company's future plans, including sustainable packaging materials and continued growth. Grove Bag plays a crucial role in enhancing the quality of cannabis products and is poised to thrive as the industry matures. Produced by PodConx
"Optimizing Cannabis Quality and Longevity with TerpLoc Packaging"
Jack Grover, the co-founder and CEO of Grove Bags joins Dan Humiston to explains how their innovative packaging system, TerpLoc is revolutionizing the cannabis industry by creating a controlled microclimate to optimize the curing and preservation of cannabis products. He discusses the evolution of the cannabis industry and its need for long-term viability, and he shares insights into the company's future plans, including sustainable packaging materials and continued growth. Grove Bag plays a crucial role in enhancing the quality of cannabis products and is poised to thrive as the industry matures.
MJBulls - https://podconx.com/podcasts/raising-cannabis-capital
Dan Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/dan-humiston
Jack Grover - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-grover-3a82a023/
Grove Bags - https://grovebags.com/
Recorded on Squadcast - https://squadcast.fm/
[00:00:00] Today on the M. J. Bulls Raising Cannabis Capital Podcast, we are joined by Jack Grover, the co founder and CEO of Grove Bag. Jack, welcome to the show.
Thanks so much for having me. It's great to be here.
Well, I appreciate you being here today. When people talk about the cannabis industry, and we, and I, so many times when I talk to people outside of the industry they're like, well, what do you mean you're, what business are you in growing dispensary?
Retail, , you make products and I'm like, that's just the tip of the iceberg. The industry is filled with what people always like to refer to as to picks and shovels. The glue that keeps the industry running is all of these ancillary businesses and your business. I would put func Being able to function without your product.
And that's probably where I'd like to jump in, explain to people, the difference between having a Ziploc bag and having a packaging [00:01:00] system that actually works with the cannabis product , as well as preserves it.
Absolutely. So your normal plastic bag is a typical, high density or low density, depending on what's cheap, polyethylene. It's got a very poor barrier quality. It's very susceptible to static charge, very susceptible to ultraviolet light. It really does a lot to degrade and damage cannabis across its life cycle.
The advantages of Turplock, which is our signature innovation and what Grove Bags is famous for, among, A couple other products that we've developed for the industry is Turplock is really the first of its kind package that is in gassing and out gassing and curating a very specific gas mixture, microclimate and relative humidity range for cannabis to optimize its self life and its curing process.
So what I mean by that is Turplock is trying to create an antistatic antimicrobial environment that's ultraviolet light resistant, and it's going to maintain about 58 to 62 percent relative humidity. Now, the way [00:02:00] that works is we package our flower. Into Turplock, we recommend 11 percent moisture content or more accurately, and this is really I think the way cannabis is going as we mature in sophisticated industry, is a water activity level based measure, which gives us a better idea of what's happening enzymatically from the plant as those residual chlorophylls and sugars are breaking down into additional cannabinoids and terpenes and sub cannabinoids.
Is that 55 to 58 water activity level really is, was kind of our first, valuable piece of research that we found, because that was really the point where We identified, okay, cannabis is no longer drying, it's now curing. And what we're trying to do in that curing process is balance out, homogenize the moisture content between different size colas, but also most importantly, balance out that residual moisture content so it can allow the flower to continue to develop.
Medicinal benefits and part of that is the gas exchange that I mentioned earlier. So cannabis really wants about a 98 percent hydrogen, nitrogen environment with a 2 percent oxygen level [00:03:00] after it's been dried. And what that does is allow for residual respiration at a very slow and steady rate to give you the optimal cure.
So that's what a little bit about our product and why we brought it to market. Why it's so popular, it is the indisputably best way to cure and store flour for long term viability and medicinal integrity.
Let me ask you one question to follow up on that, because I think this is it's reminiscent or reminds me of wine in that the product gets better in time if it's packaged correctly or if it's stored correctly. Is that what the bags provide?
definitely not a bad way to think about it and that in a way that's what the bags are providing. The bags are curating a very specific microclimate and gas mixture with an active humidity exchange and gas exchange and what that's doing. is creating a lung that allows the long term viability and steady curing.
Of course, the same as in with wine or cigars or any aged natural product, there is, an optimal point and [00:04:00] then you have a decline cannabis doesn't continue to cure and improve forever, but there's certainly a noticeable timeline in terms of Advantage in terms of final product that has been cured or has gone through that much, much like a wine that's been optimally cured.
So the tannin levels are balanced or cigars that have been cured out. So the oils are properly balanced in the world tobacco leaves with a proper moisture content. And the oils have been able to permeate the entirety of the cigar and homogenize and balance between the Rhine or bat. Wrap binder wrapper and filler leaves of that tobacco as they sweat out and age out that nicotine.
That's not a bad way to think of it.
It's interesting. It's really interesting. And , working backwards in previous periods of our industry, when there was this, the demand was really high. I mean, the supply wasn't keeping up with the demand.
There wasn't an opportunity for this stage, but now as the industry has matured and products stay on shelves a little bit longer , and there needs to be. [00:05:00] Or take advantage of this process. I think you're in the perfect position. Is it, have you noticed a change in your business since that supply has overcome the demand?
That's a great question. I think you, you kind of touched on a couple of things there. One, we were a very nascent industry. There wasn't a lot of awareness or certainly care for the difference between drying and curing post harvest storage and protocol and good SOPs, nobody had really considered that product was moving so quickly as we moved to, eventual gluts and whatnot, the need for long term viability became evident.
And the benefits of it started being discovered by operators in mass. But really we were, when we started as a business, we were trying to create value around something that no one had heard of or really cared about. So obviously we had to, let the industry mature into the business a bit, but I think it definitely served us well to build a product for where we believed the industry was going instead of where it just happened to be at that time.
Well, it makes a lot of sense. And you're, it sounds like one of [00:06:00] those overnight successes that took seven years to get there but it's. It's great that you're in the position that you're in right now, because like I said, you're an integral part in what we're doing in the industry.
And one of the things that I found really interesting when looking at your website was that you really touch every stop along the supply chain. From the cultivators, to distributors, to dispensaries, all the way to the customer. Your product is necessary for every one of those stops along the supply chain.
So you have a really good insight as to where the industry is at any moment.
Yeah, we we've definitely been privileged in that regard. I myself have probably been in a thousand cultivation facilities on six continents. Over the seven years I've been doing this, which, it's crazy to say that we've been doing this for over seven years now, but. Only takes a decade to be an overnight success.
So, check back in with me and two and a half, three years. But no it's been a, it's been a privilege and it's really, it's incredible to see the industry and the way it's developed. And for us we really have always [00:07:00] strived to be we want the face of our business, no matter where you are, to be the best grower, and I think we've slowly marching along that and we have some incredible partners we work with that are really the best in the world, the best in their region, the best in their city, the best in their state, best in their country what they do. And I've been privileged enough to see that and I believe it.
I've seen rooms in Thailand, Australia, South Africa, Israel that would be, at the very elite, level in Sacramento or, East Bay. I so we're really in a global industry now and that's been exciting and for us to be a product that's, widely adopted. And by global industry that we admire and, wanted so desperately as young guys, that loves pod to be involved in.
It is pretty, pretty amazing.
Yeah, it's so cool. That's so cool. Here's a two part question for you for the future. What's next? And will you need any funding? Or will you be looking for investors? Or is there any opportunity for people to participate in what's next?
Great question. So we're pretty excited. I think if you look at [00:08:00] packaging overall. Beyond cannabis, the cannabis industry has driven a lot of innovation in packaging. But the global packaging industry is a trillion plus dollar industry. That's really a dinosaur. It's been more or less flat for 20 years.
The only real growth is in flexible packaging, which is the type of packaging that we do. So we're in a good spot in the industry. I think it is an exciting time in packaging though, just beyond flexible given. How close we are to market viability for a lot of these sustainable resins and some of these bio resins and green materials, to support, this trillion dollar global industry that almost exclusively uses non renewable imports or inputs that is really exciting.
And the ability to tangibly do work. That makes the planet better. And, to heal the world, since it was just, we don't go poor yesterday. I think so. It's a real thing. So we're excited by that. We're excited by the cannabis industry. I think we're still in the nascency of the cannabis industry.
I think out of the top a hundred brands, five years from now, I think 90 of them don't exist. And when I say don't exist, I mean, it's not some guy, working in his basement or in a small warehouse or underneath the machine shop. I mean, they, [00:09:00] it does not exist. There's nothing conceptualized. And I think that's exciting.
In terms of what's next for us we've always prayed, played it pretty close. I think. We've all seen some really good companies in this industry that had great products that were creating value. I think we've all seen a lot of companies like that. Unfortunately go by the wayside.
So we're pretty healthy, thankfully. I think we're always looking to have interesting conversations and always looking ahead towards the future. But right now we're excited about what we have in our product pipeline for MGM Viscon. We've got some great new products and some innovative materials that we're reusing and some new compostable recyclable materials that are truly, at home compostable and truly single stream recyclable that we're pretty proud of and we're excited about that.
But yeah, I think for us every day in cannabis is a great day. So we're not planning to go anywhere.
Well, that's great. If the overnight sensation in 10 years, I definitely will be back with you in the next three so we can follow back up with this one, but I'm going to have all of Jack's information in the show notes. So [00:10:00] if you're looking for an opportunity that it might be a good company to talk to me, Jack, I'm sure Jack would love to shoot to have a conversation with you or if you're a company that's looking for , a new packaging pro partner, I'm sure Jack's team would.
We'd love to work with you. So, reach out, use the link in the show notes, Jack, really fun getting to know you. And I'm really proud of the company that you've built. This is great. Keep it up.
Thanks so much. Appreciate it. And we're working hard on making sure you can say the same about us tomorrow.
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