You don’t have to look hard to notice a connection between the craft beer and the cannabis industries. As each business grows, a sophistication among creators and consumers has taken form. Craft beer enthusiasts don’t just want beer all day every day. They want a smooth, aromatic hefeweizen on a bright summer day or a full-bodied, tasty oatmeal stout on chilly snow night.
What consumers began to grasp is twofold: underneath the surface, the world of beer was robust with multitudes of flavor, and those beers placed drinkers in possibly different moods. These epiphanies led to the craft beer revolution. A similar evolution of thought has been occurring for some time now within cannabis. Those who visit dispensaries and weed shops have preferences to marijuana strains and their effects of usage. In fact, consumers want to understand more about how their product will affect me, down to the science.
That is where one Boston startup hopes to step in. Crafting compact, innovative chemical sensors, 908 Industries has previously specialized in devices that help emergency responders scan for toxins or pharmaceutical companies test the makeups of drugs.
Now 908 Devices is eyeing the world of weed with their newest product, the G908. This small “push-button” mass spectrometer can identify and break down various compounds in cannabis plants.
#ICYMI we announced the G908 3-in-1 #cannabis analyzer to perform 3 state-required tests on one device. Read more: https://t.co/UzUHC6r5WG pic.twitter.com/KO4mfp9X3k
— 908 Devices (@908Devices) June 29, 2017
It is faster, cheaper, and smaller than typical, bulkier equipment used to test marijuana. In addition, the G908 is easier to use, and the developers hope it will appeal to labs, farmers, cultivations processors, and more who wish to know the ins and outs of the marijuana plant in front of them.
“We see cannabis as a growing part of the life-sciences market,” chief executive Kevin Knopp told the Boston Globe. “If this is a legal product being brought to market, we need to be able to tell whether the potency and levels of solvents are within the requirements.”
Processing and analyzing the potency and possible pesticides in specific cannabis plant is usually necessary in states with legalized marijuana. The G908 will possibly cut that process significantly, meaning the grower can know more about their product immediately and adjust, or not, accordingly.
