New Shop-in-a-Shop Dosist Boutiques Are The Final Frontier for Vape Pen Brand

You might be too high to remember a time before cannabis was legalized, but try to think back to those maddeningly sober times, pre October 2018, as the world was readying itself for the Green Revolution. Kwantlen was welcoming its first Business of Cannabis students; I was being convinced to buy stocks in Gene Simmons’ own cannabis corporation (spoiler alert: I am never going to see that $25 again); and Vancouver bus ads cheekily advertised a product that we Canadians couldn’t actually plan to buy. 

“Dosist did push hard with our NOT AVAILABLE IN CANADA campaign,” recalls Diane Sonnenberg, VP Marketing for Dosist, a California-based cannabis company specializing in sleek, modernist disposable vape pens, each variety labelled not by strain, but by its purported results (Sleep, Bliss, Passion, and so on). The brand had been an early proponent of legalization, but when the motion finally passed, it was revealed that all non-flower products would not yet be considered legal pot products.

Dosist, who had already set up a Canadian head office in Toronto, counted down the days for inhalables and edibles to be added to the governments list of acceptable cannabis goods, only to then be advised there would be another 60-day notification period. Presumably, everyone at Dosist was reaching for their “Calm” pens when they got the news that the wait would be even longer. “It has been…a bumpy road to launch,” says Sonnenberg. 

In legalized parts of the States, Dosist pens has become somewhat of a status symbol. As another Dosist employee told me for a previous VanMag story on the newly feminized branding of cannabis as a wellness product“I live in L.A., and I can’t tell you how many times I’m out and see amazing women who have their things out on the table—beautiful bag, an iPhone, beautiful Dosist pen.”

Finally, this January, Vancouverites were able to access the coveted pot-cessory via the BC online cannabis store. For the sophisticated modern pot consumer (or as Sonnenberg likes to say, “global productive citizens”), it’s appealing to enjoy a restrained evening toke or two without having to touch a bong or utter the words “Purple Kush.” And this June, Dosist took their Canadian conquest one step further, with new shops-within-a-shop at City Cannabis’s Robson Street location and Choom dispensary.

For those new to cannabis, there’s a definite appeal in Dosist’s idiot-proof packaging. You can target specific experiences with designated formulas (Rest mellows you out after a stressful day, while Arouse is a blend designed to put you in a creative mood), and regulate your intake: the pen is designed to dole out exactly 2.25mg per dose. Inhale for three seconds, and the pen vibrates and shuts off to indicate your dose is done.“That is the true DNA of our brand,” explains Sonnenberg. “No two puffs on a joint are the same, butwe offer a predictable, safe and repeatable experience with exactly 2.25 mg of formula per dose. Just like you wouldn’t hand a bottle of cough syrup to a child, dosing with cannabis is very important.”

At the new retail locations, shoppers can sniff terpene samples and get guidance from staff, but more importantly, there’s no delivery wait time to get the pens in your paws. The government has made Vancouverites wait long enough, after all.

Dosist at City Cannabis, 651 Robson St, now open
Dosist at Choom, 191 W 2nd Ave, now open