The Broccoli Report 
Friday, May 20, 2022
Time to read: 5 minutes, 58 seconds. 1196 words.

What does it mean to be a luxury cannabis brand—or industry? 

Let me tell you the story of a brand. Devambez started in the 1800s as a fine paper printer making royal stationery and early Hermès ads. Later, Maison Devambez served as an art gallery and printed art books, like a celebrated tome cataloging the legacy of Goyard, the legendary luggage-makers. In 2017, they debuted a line of rolling papers at famed Parisian boutique Colette. In the years since they have continued to elevate the humble rolling paper into something rare and exquisite—their papers are made with French hemp by paperiers with over a century of experience, packaged in 100% cotton cardstock from one of Europe’s oldest paper mills, and assembled by hand. They just dropped a true watercolor pre-roll, each hand-painted with dyes Audrey Louise Reynolds made from foraged plants. And yes, they’re expensive—$20 for a simple pack, $88 for the Imperial pack of 32 papers and accompanying crutch tips. 

When I wrote about Devambez’s watercolor pre-rolls, I was struck by how special their brand feels—it’s truly a unique combination of legacy, expertise, care, and materials. In a word: it’s luxury.

Luxury is a slippery concept—famously, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart defined porn as “you know it when you see it”, and the same could be said of luxury. Our read on what’s luxurious is highly personalized. This doesn’t stop marketers eager to claim a little luster. And the market opportunity is there—luxury sectors saw growth over the past couple of years. The notion of luxury is having a pop culture moment, too, as the world reopens and the youth makes up for lost time with glittery, anti-minimalist fervor. So it’s no surprise that the language of so-called "luxury" is everywhere in marketing, from crappy apartments (ahem, “luxury studios”) to actual crap. And boy, do we use it a lot in weed. I get it—besides the allure of claiming a higher price point, there’s the assumption that high-end branding not only legitimizes a brand but also works to destigmatize the plant. And what brand doesn’t want to be rapped about like Louis Vuitton?

But the concept of luxury is not an unalloyed good. While benefits could come from getting it right, there are real problems with this whole conversation.