It’s been half a year since VIGR Life Cannabis Inc. (VLC) started cultivating its first crops in Regina, and now they’re ready to launch their first series of products.

The company, which is the first micro-grower in Regina, will be introducing a line of buds and pre-rolls which will be available at local dispensaries starting on April 20.

“Our plan is to bring things that maybe the market hasn’t seen yet,” said Jared Dumba, vice-president of operations in an interview Monday.

VLC started growing their first crops in the fall, shortly after construction on their facility finished and just in time for the two-year anniversary of pot legalization in Canada. Now they’ll enter the next phase of business, where they test their products on the public and work on perfecting their growing process.

“The growers, I kind of compare them to athletes,” Dumba explained. “They’re always looking at how to get better, what can give them the edge. There’s all these little things that they’re tweaking that are going to change. They’re never going to do the same process twice.”

VLC is currently producing a strain called Black Cherry Punch, a fruity-peppery hybrid plant which Dumba said is 80 per cent indica and 20 per cent sativa. They’re offering multiple sized jars of bud and pre-roll packs at half a gram each.

“It’s a strain that’s got high THC,” he added. “It’s a highly medicinal product.”

Their products, which will be available at multiple dispensaries in Regina including Lucid Cannabis, Farmer Jane Cannabis Co, Wiid Boutique Inc and The Bakery Cannabis Shop, are part of a growing demand for high-quality locally-produced pot.

“Like the beer market, there’s those who want Molson Canadian and there’s those who want craft products,” explained Landyn Uhersky, co-owner of Wiid Boutique Inc.

Uhersky said that since January, most of the merchandise they’ve received has been from micro-growers, and he estimated that this trend will only continue to climb.

“Anyone looking for quality. It’ll definitely steer them towards the products,” he said.

Unlike mass-produced strains of cannabis, they maintain micro-grown brands produced in smaller facilities have a stronger focus on quality.

“Their drying time may be six to eight hours, while ours takes two to three weeks to fully dry out … It is more of a pure numbers games obviously when you’re dealing with 1000 to 2,000 square foot facilities,” explained Dylan Bailey, master grower at VLC.

Bailey said the extra drying time makes their pot supply more potent, increasing its medicinal compounds like THC, terpene and cannabinoids.

Since their first harvest in January, VLC has worked on perfecting the aging process, curing their buds in large stainless-steal vaults and allowing them to dry in order to release moisture. Dumba says their next step will involve monitoring the plants more closely and introducing new strains to the mix. He said they’re eventually looking to market oils and supplements.

“In the cannabis world right now, everything’s moving so fast with the science that’s going on and it’s just really about keeping up with that, keeping up with the technology,” he stated.