The nation’s first marijuana franchise?

E-cigarette and vapor retailer Palm Beach Vapors has high hopes for its all-new “M-System,” which officials said could potentially be a monumental advancement in the burgeoning e-cigarette industry and could make the brand the first marijuana franchise in the United States. The franchisor is seeking patent protection for a preparation method of a cannabis vapor product that would enable customers — where medical or recreational marijuana is legal — to enjoy the same kind of flavored vapor in the same common e-cigarettes, but with a vapor base infused with cannabis oil. Palm Beach Vapors developed the product through its subsidiary Native Grow LLC. By licensing this proprietary system in markets that have legalized marijuana, Palm Beach Vapors essentially could establish the United States’ first marijuana vapor franchise, officials said. “There are a lot of people looking to establish and grow this next big industry, but they live in a state where marijuana is not yet legalized,” said co-founder Chip Paul. “But by opening a Palm Beach Vapors franchise now, wherever they are, they can lay the groundwork for being in the marijuana industry when the legal barriers in their states eventually go away, via the M-System license that for now comes with a Palm Beach Vapors franchise agreement. Our brand offers these entrepreneurs the chance to serve the booming customer base for e-cigarettes now and to expand that consumer base again significantly down the road as more states legalize marijuana.” Paul projected that the M-System could account for between 30 and 40 percent of Palm Beach Vapors’ annual revenue by 2018 if the move toward wider legalization maintains its expected momentum. He added that the product’s major appeals would be the convenience of vaping marijuana in a common e-cigarette and the ability to customize it with any of Palm Beach Vapors’ more than 100 flavors of vapor. He clarified that Palm Beach Vapors is not buying, selling or shipping any marijuana; it is licensing the M-System’s preparation method and the “secret sauce” additive that prevents cannabis oils from separating in the vegetable glycerin base common in e-cigarettes. Vendors in legalized-marijuana markets would be responsible for acquiring the raw marijuana product from licensed wholesalers, and those business owners would follow the steps laid out in Palm Beach Vapors’ preparation method to create “M-Juice” bases, in any desired THC concentration, for sale in those approved markets. “Any franchisees of Palm Beach Vapors who open in markets where cannabis is legal, or whose states legalize medicinal or recreational marijuana in the future, for now will automatically be licensees of the system, adding significant value to their franchise agreements,” Paul said. The market for marijuana, whether medicinal or recreational, is only projected to grow as more states move to legalize its use. According to the “2014 Marijuana Business Factbook,” the combined sales of legal and recreational cannabis could exceed $8 billion by 2018, based on sales from markets where marijuana is legal in some form and projections from a handful of states expected to legalize recreational or medicinal cannabis over the next four years. Another report, compiled by ArcView Market Research, found that the national market for legal marijuana could reach as high as $10.2 billion. Tomorrow on Election Day, ballot initiatives in Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia will allow voters to decide whether to join Washington and Colorado in legalizing recreational marijuana. Since 1996, 23 states and the District of Columbia have voted to legalize medical marijuana. Palm Beach Vapors’ M-System was designed as an alternative to other cannabis vapor products on the market, which often produce inaccurate or unquantifiable doses of THC per serving because their suspension methods are unreliable, allowing the cannabis oils to separate from the glycerin base, Paul said. Current products also use additives that are not food-safe and that do not stay suspended well. Current cannabis vapor products available in the marketplace also require expensive, complicated vaporizer pens that “are no bueno,” Paul noted. “Personally, I think vape pens only have a year or two left on the market,” Paul said. “They don’t work that well and are a pain to clean and maintain. They’re also producing incredibly concentrated amounts of THC in the vapor. It’s great for the recreational market, but there are a lot of people who can’t use those things because they’re flat-out too strong. Our method takes that concentrate and controls the amount of THC to be just the right amount for a traditional e-cigarette.” By making a product that allows marijuana to be vaped easily, Palm Beach Vapors is confident that the e-cigarette industry will be able to ride the growth of whatever trajectory takes shape in the marijuana industry over the next few years, he said. “As marijuana is legalized for any purpose in any state in the future,” Paul said, “our system will be ready to meet the demand for people looking to enjoy marijuana in the convenient way they already consume our flavored vapors: with an e-cigarette.”