Walmart, a national and international retailer, is now selling a product on their website that is clearly focused at cannabis consumers. First reported by Leafly, the addition of the Rosineer Manuel Rosin Press Dab Machine to their online store the superstore might be entering a new era right alongside acceptance and legalization in the U.S. and beyond. While the retailer has sold magazines like High Times , books on cooking or working with cannabis and even cannabis-themed clothing from time to time, this certainly takes things to a new level. The Rosin press, while it could technically be used with any plant matter to extract essential oils, is clearly made for use with cannabis.
If you haven’t heard of rosin before then let’s have a quick catch-up lesson. Rosin is similar to wax and shatter, two types of cannabis concentrates, which are extracted from the plant with different methods. Generally, concentrates are made by extracting the THC with butane, CO2, or cold water – however, a much safer and simpler technique is to press the buds or flowers with heat to extract the oils. When extracted, THC turns into a gooey golden (usually) colored mess – but once it’s cooled down, it can be smoked or vaped just like any other concentrate. There are dozens of videos online where you can learn how to make rosin simply with a hair straightener – but this Rosin press is a much safer solution.
The item retails for $299.99 on both Walmart.com and Amazon.com – actually, Rosineer says that competing with Amazon was the entire reason Walmart added the press to their online inventory. They are looking for any way they can possibly compete with the internet giant – which along with recent additions like car-side grocery pick-up suggest that Walmart is extremely concerned with their position in the future with the growth rate Amazon has seen. With their offer of free shipping, Walmart beats Amazon out in price for the Rosineer Manuel Rosin Press by about $20.
Will there be more items like this one coming to Walmart’s online inventory in the future? It is an interesting and somewhat bold move for them to take – but with the growing acceptance of cannabis, perhaps it was just a natural next market to jump into. After all, they sell just about everything else – so going forward, we may just end up seeing more accessories and tools for cannabis consumers coming up on more mainstream retailers online stores. However, it is unlikely we will see anything like this on store shelves anytime soon.
[Featured Image by Michel Porro/Getty Images]