Unique Cultivars That ‘Check All the Boxes’: How Shango Stands Out in a Crowded Arizona Market

Headset

Arizona began adult-use cannabis sales in January 2021, just two months after voters greenlit the market in the first place, and already the Southwest state has emerged as a powerhouse in the broader U.S. industry. The market plays host to a lively community of growers with a well rounded calendar of cannabis competitions and events. But Arizona is not immune to the harsher economic trends seen across the country, like ongoing price compression.

So, it’s incumbent now on growers to stand out on crowded dispensary shelves.

Shango, founded in 2014 in Oregon and now rooted in five states, has taken that mantle to heart.  

Mikal Osborne, cultivation manager for Shango’s Arizona facility, says the company’s cultivation teams keep in close contact with breeders across the U.S., monitoring the most compelling new cultivars to hit the market. It’s one thing to stand pat on Sour Diesel or Do-Si-Dos; customers will flock to stawart strains. But it’s another thing to deliver eyebrow-raising genetics to a dynamic marketplace like Arizona’s adult-use space.

“Shango is bullet-proof just because of their experience,” he says. “Shango’s advantage is the networking they’ve done over the 10 years they’ve been around. We’ve got a great pulse on what’s coming out when it’s coming out.”

Not for nothing, according to Headset data, Shango produces two of the best-selling cultivars in the Arizona market. Both Modified Banana and Frosted Donuts rank among the top-three best-selling flower strains in Arizona in the previous 90 days (as of March 22). 

Osborne been with the company since first landing an entry-level cultivation job in Oregon right at the start of the company’s history, and he’s seen consumer tastes evolve steadily over time. Modified Banana and Frosted Donuts slot easily into the current landscape in Arizona. That state market, he says, is much more geared toward THC content and flower. Oregon, meanwhile, has seen more growth in concentrates. The kicker for Arizona is in the events, Osborne says. “The events in Arizona are phenomenal,” he says. “There’s a lot of very positive energy in Arizona.”

Partly those events are good drivers of innovation. But the push for high-quality cultivars comes mostly from an eager consumer base that is still only two years into legalization.

Courtesy of Shango

“We pay attention to THC, but we don’t scoff at a strain that checks other boxes rather than just THC,” he says. “Modified Banana checks all the boxes, and that’s very, very rare.” Shango has been growing Modified Banana for at least the past five years, making it something of a staple cultivar for the company. Obsorne says it’s got frosty jar appeal reminiscent of its Banana OG and GMO lineage. The flower’s tight bud structure also lends itself to an easy trim.

Frosted Donuts is similar—but different. “Frosted Donuts, to me, probably has the best jar appeal,” Osborne says, adding that there’s a certain mystique to the cultivar bred by Clone Guy Industries. It’s not super well known, even in Arizona, despite the high sales numbers on Headset.

That jar appeal is key because it ranks among the clearest signals to consumers of whether this particular cannabis flower is worth purchasing. High-quality genetics help. But Osborne also points to Shango’s diligent cures. Over time, the company has implemented a 14- to 20-day hanging cycle followed by one to two weeks of curing and burping. “We’re in no rush,” he says, adding that the team has spent a lot of time and attention on dialing in these processes.

It’s the cure, he says, that gets a cultivar like Frosted Donuts from being a compelling cultivar to the No. 1 best-selling package of cannabis in the state of Arizona.  

Coming down the Shango pipeline may be a third strain to watch in Arizona: Lemon Shiv, bred by Capulator Genetics. This sativa-leaning hybrid has captured the attention of the entire production team at Shango’s Arizona facility. Osborne says when growers start hearing excitable chatter through the packaging room grapevine, they can rest assured that they’ve got a winner on their hands.

As for broader trends coming out of the breeder segment that have captured Osborne’s attention? He provides a simple answer: “Purple.” After years of green, green weed, breeders are generally moving forward on a brilliant spectrum of exotic colorings in their flower. And as more and more compelling cultivars hit store shelves in states like Arizona or Oregon, consumers may find that they’re tilting toward the breeder’s curiosities.

“Hopefully the market sees the trend of the breeders and follows that trend,” Osborne says.

In between breeder and consumer is the grower, and Osborne now ranks among industry vets who’ve been in the game long enough to see more fleeting trends come and go. It’s important to know what’s hot today, yes, but it’s perhaps even more important to know why a certain terpene profile might be capturing attention—or how to cultivate a crop of plants for a specific appearance.

He’s got some advice for younger growers eager to make their way in this business: “Put the time in. There are really no short cuts. Ask a lot of questions. Try to put yourself around someone who’s been in the industry a long time and ask a lot of questions.”

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