As more people turn to vape cartridges to consume their cannabis, Massachusetts brand Fernway has made it its mission to provide quality, flavorful vapes to the state. This blog will delve into the history of Fernway, the art that goes into making their vapes, and the many options they offer.
Fernway is about the good life, and they make vapes to make a good life even better. While most Massachusetts residents think that the name “Fernway” is a play on Fenway, it’s actually a different word altogether. Fernway is based on the word “fernweh”, which is the longing for faraway places.
Let me offer some background into vaping for those who haven’t vaped before or who might be weary of vaping. In order to vape cannabis, it will most likely come in a distillate form, though you can find vapes that use live resin or cold press. Most vapes come in a cartridge form, called a 510. This refers to the threads on the bottom of the cartridge. In order to vape the concentrate inside, you would need to screw the cartridge onto a 510 battery. These come in small, fat batteries, or long, slim, pen-like batteries. Other vapes can come in a disposable form, where the cartridge and battery are pre-attached and cannot be removed. Once a cartridge or disposable is finished, it can be disposed of. In the case of a cartridge, a new cartridge can go right on your battery, given that it is a 510.
Fernway now has its hand in both cartridges and disposables, but their disposables are different. They’re actually recyclable. When it comes to cartridges, Fernway has two main lines that they create. The Flavor Line consists of distillate vapes infused with botanically-derived terpenes to create wonderful flavors like Mandarin Orange, Wild Mint, Cranberry Jam, and others. Their Strain Collection consists of distillate infused with cannabis-derived terpenes to create a more full-spectrum feel in their vapes. These vapes will taste more like traditional cannabis and come in sativa, hybrid, and indica options.
The Fernway Traveler is Fernway’s response to the disposable market. This fully recyclable vape is an all-in-one system, which includes a pre-filled chamber and an attached battery. Currently, Fernway has one each of sativa, hybrid, and indica, but will come out with Limited Editions from time to time.
We had the opportunity to sit down with Liam O’Brien, CMO and Co-Founder of Fernway. Here’s that interview:
What was the initial inspiration for Fernway?
I grew up with the other Fernway co-founders – who were also the first people I ever got high with – and that history definitely inspired us. But it was also a right-time, right-place thing. We were working in different industries, but all of us were eager to build something of our own. Massachusetts had just voted to legalize. We saw vaping getting more popular. And most importantly, we saw that there was an opportunity to build a cannabis brand based on our authentic experiences of being recreational consumers – so we went for it.
How important was it to make your cartridges and travelers fully recyclable?
When we decided to make the Traveler, we wanted to offer a new vape to customers who appreciate the convenience and simplicity of all-in-ones. From the moment we decided down that path, we knew we wanted to make that product recyclable because customers and budtenders are increasingly sensitive about wastefulness in the vape marketplace. That’s especially true with so-called “disposable” vapes – they’re not really disposable, since that material can and should be reclaimed and not just tossed into the trash. So it was really setting up the recycling program that’s allowed us to make this change to full hardware recyclability. It wasn’t 100% easy to launch the program with the launch of the Traveler, since we had to validate our approach with the regulators, source hundreds of recycling boxes and ship them to dispensaries, and include a recycling reminder in every single Traveler product box, among other things we’d never done before. But we were happy to do it since it’s finally meeting the significant consumer demand for a sustainable vape.
What’s the inspiration behind the design of your vapes and packaging?
At Fernway, we design everything custom – everything from our hardware, our packaging, our merchandise, and our displays. It’s not an easy task, but we love doing it because it means that when we have a creative vision, we can actually make it happen.
What are some added benefits to vaping cannabis as opposed to smoking straight flower?
Everybody has their own preferences – and I love smoking flower – but vaping has a few unique benefits. First, it’s the most discreet way to carry and consume cannabis, since there’s no strong or lingering odor and you can just toss a vape into your pocket or purse without worrying it’ll melt or fall apart. Second, it’s the most bang for your buck, since a half-gram vape cartridge (especially a potent one like a Fernway) can last for a whole lot more sessions than a preroll or an eighth. And finally, I think that flavor is a really important and sometimes underrated benefit. Vaping gives you a clearer flavor than smoking, and our vapes also offer a wide range of delicious natural flavors so that we can serve the people who don’t seek out or prefer the taste of cannabis.
Any plans to make Fernway accessible outside of Massachusetts?
Yup! We’re expanding to New Jersey in 2023, which is super exciting. Even though we’re only available in Mass right now, we have lots of customers who drive to buy their Fernways coming from Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New York, New Jersey, and beyond. We want to make sure those fans can always get their favorite vape, and we also want to share our message – that cannabis makes the good life even better – with more people because we know how powerful that message can be.
Where can we find Fernway on the internet landscape?
Check us out on Instagram @fernway, Twitter @fernwaytweets, Facebook, and our website www.fernway.com. And if you ever have any questions for me, find me on Linkedin and send me a message! I promise you I’ll answer.
Thank you to Liam O’Brien for this wonderful interview. Still have questions about vaping, you can contact one of our education specialists by calling us at Bask. Want to grab your new Fernway? Check out our menu at the link here. Happy vaping!