Featured image courtesy of smokiez.com
In an industry fueled by hype and venture capital, Smokiez Edibles took a very different route. No big funding rounds, no celebrity backers, just a father and son rolling up their sleeves and deciding to keep going.
Ryan Wright still remembers the company’s early days like a fever dream. It was 2010, the tail end of the financial crisis, and he and his father, Chuck, were working out of Oregon with little more than determination and a sweet tooth.
“If we didn’t make money that day, we didn’t eat tacos that night,” he told Emerald. “And basically we did it with an everyday mentality of we must be profitable in order to eat and pay the bills.”
That scrappy, survivalist mindset became the backbone of Smokiez. While other cannabis brands raised millions and burned through it just as fast, Wright says their lack of capital actually saved them.
“Our lack of capital was really one of the things that kept us alive, as counterintuitive as that sounds,” Wright says. “[The companies] that went out and raised tens of millions on hundred-million-dollar rounds were hit with something catastrophic that never came to our little universe, which was the realization that these valuations aren’t real and all these dreams of multi-billion dollar cannabis companies were going to take a whole lot of time and effort before any of that would ever materialize.”
Instead, Smokiez built slowly, brick by brick, across 24 states and counting. They learned to pivot from medical markets to recreational, from candy to beverages, from cannabis to hemp. They stayed nimble in an industry that often feels like it’s playing without a ref.
“You just got to keep on deciding to keep going,” Wright says. “Whatever comes about, you’re going to have to roll with the punches and make it work.”
Rolling with the Punches
Those punches came hard and often. Most recently, Smokiez was gearing up for what should have been a game-changing partnership: becoming the official infused lemonade of the Dallas Fair Park and Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
“We put a lot of money into marketing, strategy, and presentation,” Wright says. “[This] would have taken Smokiez from being a cannabis industry household name to a true household name.”
However, after they signed contracts and placed deposits, the Texas government changed the rules again. “It doesn’t hurt any less,” Wright admits. “Playing by the rules and doing it the right way is inherently set up for failure sometimes. That’s the frustrating part.”
The Texas State Fair debacle wasn’t an isolated incident. Smokiez has weathered years of regulatory curveballs, from shifting hemp laws to chaotic state rollouts. New York’s slow-motion legalization, Wright notes, was another heartbreak to watch.
“You saw mom-and-pop growers take their life savings, reinvest, and then get yo-yoed by the state,” he says. “But simultaneously, in Manhattan, there wasn’t a single block that didn’t have a bodega or a foldable table outside selling weed.”
Through it all, Smokiez has held tight to one principle: stay profitable, independent, and kind.
The Little Engine That Could
While many brands chased scale, Smokiez focused on sustainability. The company manufactures by hand, employing more than 200 people across its facilities, with hundreds more touching its products through partnerships and distributors.
“We make real manufacturing jobs in the United States,” Wright says proudly. “We get no love for it, but we’re making things with our hands.”
That attention to craft and flavor has made Smokiez stand out. Known for their smooth chew and nostalgic taste, the brand’s gummies have become a cult favorite among both medical and recreational consumers.
“What we’re known for is our taste and texture,” Wright says. “The cannabis is there—it’s good cannabis, but when something tastes good, it makes that experience of relief or relaxation feel like a real reward.”
Smokiez calls that feeling “the mental vacation”—a small break from reality, no plane ticket required.
Hemp, Lemonade, and Lessons Learned
Smokiez’s move into hemp and hemp-derived delta-9 products came from necessity as much as strategy. Delta-9 is the compound in cannabis that delivers a familiar “high.” When it comes from hemp instead of traditional cannabis, it works the same way but retailers can sell it legally in more places including liquor stores and convenience stores in Minnesota.
“We basically did a contract manufacturing business model on the hemp side first. That was kind of our way in. But then, when Minnesota opened Pandora’s box again and allowed for delta 9 products to be sold through the liquor stores and convenience store channel, we felt comfortable enough to participate.”
They designed their first beverage, Smokiez Lemonade, for broad appeal. “If we’re going to come out with a product, it’s got to: A) Not really be carbonated and B) Have a really broad appeal and can be used to mix with a lot of different stuff,” Wright explains.
The drink has since made its way to Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Missouri, with potential for broader distribution when infrastructure allows.
Ten Years in, Still Tenacious
After 15 years in business, Wright says what makes him proudest isn’t the product line or the market reach. It’s the people.
“We just had employees cross their 10-year anniversaries,” he says. “We grew up with these people and spent a decade fighting this fight together.”
That sense of loyalty extends to Smokiez’s consumers, too. “The stories we’ve been told by patients […] people getting off opioids, people finding relief—that’s what keeps you going,” Wright says. “In 2010, family members asked us not to tell their friends what we did. Now, people thank us for helping them.”
For all the setbacks, Wright’s optimism is unshakable. He still dreams of seeing Smokiez Edibles in 50 states and nearly every country in the world. “We believe in the Smokiez story, the Smokiez product, and we think we’re putting out something superior to our competitors. And we want our end users to feel the passion and the love that has gone into making all these products by hand.”
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