When we check out events we try to experience them as the customer would. We have only done a few events where we used a press pass to get experiences that customers would not be able to get. So Clutch bought tickets to Canna Con St. Louis this year. It was a two day convention August 28th – August 29th 2026. Day 1 took place 10:00 am until 6:00 pm and day 2 happened 10:00 until 3:30 pm, with seminars happening in an area off to the side in the hall. We did not attend day 1 due to other obligations, so I cannot attest to the amount of people that attended the first day. I also could not attest to the vendors that were there the first day.
We arrived to the America’s Center about 12:30 pm and noticed it was rather empty. We did smell the sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet smell our “Neighbors.” We get in and get our badges at the check in both. It was simple, quick, and our badges were printed right there on the spot. These badges are quite large, about half the size of an A4 sheet. We also received our S.W.A.G bag that contained various pre-formed cones, currency checking pens, and an insert for a beverage formulation company. The freebies amounted to about $40 in total value. The cones are on average $9.99 for a box of 8 cones. The pens are $16.99 on Amazon and $7.50 individually from Office Depot at the time of August 30, 2026.
We could hear a seminar going on, and a quick glance at the schedule of events informed us it was Craig and Marc Wasserman, Pot Brothers at Law. If you have not heard of them by name, you may have come across one of their many social media posts telling you to “Shut the F&*# Up.” No……… it is not what you think. Their goal is to inform people in the cannabis community of their legal rights when dealing with law enforcement. It is great to see people taking the time to learn from experts in person and not some social media personality that only has “trust me, Bro” sources.
We made our way down the first row and ended up talking with Sean Hicks from iKrusher. This company specializes in portable vaporizers and your classic 510 cartridges. I have used quite a few vaporizers recently due to ease of use and need to hide the classic flower smell. My biggest contention is the vast amount of waste these products generate. From the packaging, plastic shell of the vape, the ceramic or metal core, to the batteries; that is a lot of waste not being recycled. Well iKrusher is trying to help solve part of the problem it generates. They are able to have produced for them an all in one unit where the plastic shell is able to be composted. The catch is that it has to be in an industrial compost system. The battery can be disconnected and recycled as well. Hopefully more companies start to take note and look at more eco friendly products.
After talking to Sean we moved down the aisle to the other booths. We were “blown away” with the lack of vendors in the row……Don’t me, that was my little “Dad Joke.” We stopped by the Ag Fan booth and I got a chance to stand in front of some seriously powerful fan. There was a series of three increasingly larger fans attached to a display in the AG Fan booth. In our current room we are fighting the Midwest humidity constantly along with rising utility costs. I was able to stand about 25 feet away from the AG Fan BVS24, which is a 24 inches in diameter, and it felt like I was standing only two feet away from the fan itself. I do know that it was not turned up past half because it would have have knocked down some of the other vendor spots. I am already thinking of ways to get a few BVS12’s into our grow. As of this writing I was able to find the BVS12 for approximately $341 not including shipping on the ChopAir site. Dave Donohoe gave us a run down of the product and how it is made and assembled in the USA. Each fan has a 3 year warranty.
Our next stop lead us to this simple yet cool looking set of metal tubes on display at ZCannabis. When you first look at the product you are would have a hard time guessing what it is for. It looks like it could be the handle of a light saber, sans the added flair/design additions. These tubes are made of aircraft grade aluminum and come with a lifetime warranty. The Grindz-n-Pack’r comes in 8 colors and the Grindz-n-Pack’R King comes in 7 colors. The company started as a way for a couple of out of work airplane machinist to earn some income during COVID 2020. Air travel was down significantly which lead to less maintenance requests. These machinist decided to put their skills to use and design and tool out the products presented at this convention. It is designed to allow you to grind your flower and have it fall into the cone that is packed into the middle chamber. There are similar products on the market but none are built this well.
Walking around conventions and being on your feet all day you want to have comfortable shoes. We were walking past Olive Ridley Studios when I heard “Those are some cool shoes!” I turn to see Brendan pointing at my all brown New Balance 515’s. Now me being in my early 40’s I don’t expect to stand out in the crowd as much. When in business mode I really don’t expect to be noticed as my goal is to blend into the scene to cover a story. The goal is not to be the story………well Brendan and his coworker Megan made sure I was the story today. Megan is the founder of the company, and Brendan is the Director of Sales. They focus on improving your brand’s image and showing that your small business can have a big impact with proper branding. Now it is always a safe bet that at a convention for Cannabis there is “one schmoker or retired schmoker.” We discussed branding and how it played into our business strategy, plus they got 2 of the original “Toastee” slaps. Back to the business at hand. Megan and Brendan understand the importance of making your brand fit your business image. If you are looking to make your small business stand out in this market reach out to Megan at Olive Ridley Studios
Traveling down the isle we came across more and more empty booths. A lot of the vendors had packed up by 1:30 pm and the seminar for the lawyers had ended. We made our way back up the middle isle and end up stopping at the House of Gardens booth. There stood a tall fellow with his hat pulled down just above his glasses, talking to passing attendees. House of Gardens is a premium cannabis nutrient company. I have seen their nutrients in their own standalone display shelving at our local grow store. That could mean two things; the nutrients are really good or, they paid extra/gave freebies for that space. Well there is only one way to find out. We head over to the table and I start to ask about nutrient lines and running the products because I was torn between picking up their line of nutrients to find a replacement for Cutting Edge Solution products. I spoke with Ward who is the Northern Territory Manager. Incredibly smart guy, that was willing to share insight into the products past the marketing sheets. He was honest about how their product lines stack up against similar lines. I received a two sample bottles of Roots Excelurator Gold and one full size bottle of Magic Green to try on this next run of plants.
With more beverage and food producers starting to create cannabis infused products, we are being inundated with products that are full of artificial flavorings. Amoretti is trying to fix that problem. Terence let us sample the hazelnut and pistachio butter spread. If you were looking for an alternative to using Nutella or Jif as flavoring for your cannabis infused goods, this might be the one. The spreads are made with real nuts and ingredients. The only downside is the price of some of the products. You can buy a lot of the products in smaller quantities and sizes. What you do get is a better quality product that can raise the quality of your product. We picked up a jar of the peanut butter, hazelnut, and pistachio spreads. The Gremlins are excited to to try the spreads.
Rounding out our visit after catching up with some of the local cannabis community members, we stopped by the Solfire Gardens booth to check out their inventory at the event. They had 12 strains varying in prices from $140 for 6 seeds to $80 for a pack of 6 fem seeds. We picked up Sour Situation after speaking with the guys at the booth about terp profiles. We also was tossed a pack of 3 Formula X seeds. Plus we ended up getting 2 of their Phoenix Forge cards. We each got a Sinferno and Ward card. We had to go back and ask Ward about the card he was holding. Pretty dope of them to have their own card game involving Cannabis themes.
As of writing this article Canna Con posted to their Instagram CannaCon2.0 that they are going back to their roots and wanted to focus on the entire community. It seems they are moving away from the business to business model. If this year’s Canna Con St. Louis is any indication, then this might be the right move for the business to survive. It is a delicate balance as a lot of “legal” businesses are still unwilling or unable to be associated with Cannabis related products. Canna Con in their last post also states they were sold but does not list the new owner of Canna Con.
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