National cannabis brand Leune launches in New Mexico
Nidhi Lucky Handa couldn’t stop seeing the color palette of her cannabis brand Leune everywhere during a brief period she spent in Santa Fe at the onset of the COVID pandemic. She knew that as her company grew, New Mexico would be a state she would want to expand into.
Three years later, that has become a reality. Leune — a cannabis company that specializes in pre-rolled joints and THC vaporized products — launched in New Mexico in May with the help of Stash House, a multi-state operator with a local manufacturing license.
“I’m a very aesthetic person — the brand and the creative is so important to me. And I just couldn’t stop seeing the colors of our brand in Santa Fe,” Handa said. “I felt this weird kinship to the place and the people, and I loved the idea (of bringing Leune here).”
Leune products include two-pack pre-rolls, vape cartridges and disposable vaporizers in packaging that features earthy tones with minimalist designs. Its products are already sold in dozens of stores across the state, and will likely expand into more as the brand and its products become more of a household name, Handa said.
For Handa, it is important to make Leune a brand that meets the consumer where they’re at, meaning easy-to-use products that don’t require much work to consume. It was also important, she said, to make the brand for “everybody” and not just for “male stoner consumers” like many cannabis brands tend to do.
“As someone who’s been consuming since I was a teenager, I don’t identify with that trope,” she said. “I am surrounded by people who consume, and I don’t think they do either.”