Introduction

For the first time, Vapor Pens have surpassed Flower to become the top-selling product category in Washington State. While Washington is the only market where the category currently holds the top position, this milestone reflects a broader structural shift unfolding across the U.S. cannabis landscape.

Over the past several years, Vapor Pens have gained share steadily, delivering growth in an environment marked by price compression, margin pressure, and uneven demand. What was once a high-growth challenger is increasingly emerging as a category leader.

This report explores the performance trends, competitive dynamics, and consumer behaviors driving Vapor Pens’ ascent, and the signals that point to what comes next.

Methodology

Data for this report comes from real-time sales reporting by participating cannabis retailers via their point-of-sale systems, which are linked to Headset’s business intelligence software. Headset’s data is very reliable, as it comes digitally direct from our partner retailers. However, the potential does exist for misreporting in the instance of duplicates, incorrectly classified products, inaccurate entry of products into point-of-sale systems, or even simple human error at the point of purchase. Thus, there is a slight margin of error to consider.

Unless otherwise noted, sales data is from ON, AB, SK, BC, markets in Canada and WA, OR, CA, AZ, CO, MI, FL, MA, NV, MD, IL, NY, OH, NJ, CT markets in the US. The following analysis reports on sales occurring in Q4 of 2025 unless otherwise indicated.

Key Takeaways

• Vapor Pens rank among the largest product categories in both markets, second in the U.S. and third in Canada, and are growing in each country.
• In mature U.S. markets, particularly on the West Coast, Vapor Pens are challenging Flower for category leadership. In newer markets such as Connecticut, performance has been more volatile as assortments stabilize. In Canada, Vapor Pens are expanding across provinces at varying levels of share penetration.
• While Pre-Rolls have gained share rapidly, Vapor Pens have grown more gradually and sustainably. Both categories are capturing share from Flower, signaling a structural shift within inhalables.
• Within Vapor Pens, share continues to migrate from Cartridges to Disposables, with the majority of segment growth concentrated in the latter.
• The 1g format remains dominant across both markets, but growth is centered on larger formats such as 2g offerings, reflecting a broader value-driven shift toward larger pack sizes.
• 510-thread batteries remain the industry standard, with increasing consolidation around this hardware type. The U.S. market shows more fragmentation, where proprietary systems, led by Stiiizy, have captured share with mixed success.
• Distillate remains the leading extract in Vapor Pens but is gradually losing share as consumers trade up to more premium formulations.
• Vapor Pens are the most expensive inhalable category, creating a competitive challenge against lower-priced options such as Flower and Pre-Rolls.
• Pricing compression is occurring across the industry, with Vapor Pens experiencing steeper-than-average declines. While this pressures margins, it improves relative affordability and competitive positioning.
• Preference for Vapor Pens is strongly correlated with age. Gen Z shows the highest affinity, and as this cohort ages into the market, its preferences will increasingly shape category innovation and growth.
• Vapor Pens demonstrate balanced gender appeal, indexing similarly among men and women, in contrast to Flower and Concentrates, which skew more heavily male.

Sales Performance

Assortment

Flower continues to lead U.S. category mix at 38.8% of sales, with Vapor Pens holding a clear No. 2 position at 25.5%, ahead of Pre-Rolls (mid-teens) and Edibles (~12%). Despite maintaining leadership, Flower share declined 0.7 percentage points quarter over quarter and 1.8 points year over year, while Vapor Pens posted a modest sequential gain (+0.3 pp) but remain slightly below prior-year levels (-0.6 pp YoY), reflecting gradual mix shifts across formats. In Canada, Pre-Rolls lead at roughly 34% of sales, followed closely by Flower. Vapor Pens rank third at 20.7% and show the strongest momentum among major categories, gaining 1.6 points year over year, while Edibles also posted incremental gains from a smaller base.

Market Analysis

In Q4 2025, Vapor Pens account for roughly one-quarter of U.S. cannabis sales, with adoption strongest in Western markets. California sits near the high end at 29.8% share, while Michigan lags at 18%. In Washington, Pens have reached parity with Flower as the top-selling category, a clear signal of how far the format has advanced; California and Oregon are approaching similar territory, reinforcing the West as the leading edge of category shift. Year over year, results were uneven, including a sharp pullback in Connecticut (-13.9%), suggesting normalization in markets where penetration had run high.

In Canada, Vapor Pen share spans from the high teens to low 30s. Saskatchewan leads at 30.3% and continues to gain momentum (+7.9% YoY), while British Columbia remains at the lower end at 18.2%. All provinces in this group posted sequential gains, pointing to steady expansion nationally. Overall, Pens continue to deepen their foothold, with leading markets widening their lead and others gradually moving up the adoption curve.

Category Performance Over Time

Through December 2025, category mix continued to shift toward ready-to-use formats across both markets. In the U.S., Vapor Pens rose to 25.5% of sales (+1.1 pp vs. January 2024) and remained near recent highs, while Pre-Rolls climbed to 16.2%. Flower declined to 38.4% (-2.9 pp), extending its gradual share erosion as consumers diversify across formats. Edibles (low teens) and Concentrates (mid-single digits) were largely stable.

In Canada, Pre-Rolls strengthened their lead, peaking at 36.2% during the year and maintaining clear separation into December. Vapor Pens closed the year at 21.1%, hovering near annual highs and reinforcing their position as a core inhalable format. Flower fell to 31.1% (-4.2 pp vs. January 2024), continuing its downward trend, while Edibles and Concentrates remained smaller, steady components of the overall mix.

Brand & Product Performance

Top Brands

Top Products

Metadata Traits

Segment

Across both the U.S. and Canada, the Vapor Pen segment has consolidated into a two-format market centered on Cartridges and All-in-One Disposables. Cartridges remain the leading format holding 53.1% share in the U.S. and 70.2% in Canada in Q4 2025, but are trending lower, with share down year over year in both markets (-13.2% and -9.1%, respectively). Disposables continue to capture that incremental demand, rising to 46.7% share in the U.S. (+20.8% YoY) and 29.8% in Canada (+30.7% YoY).

Package Size

Through 2025, 1g remains the dominant Vapor Pen size across both markets and continues to gain traction. In the U.S., 1g units account for 75.1% of sales and edged higher sequentially, reinforcing their position as the industry standard. Growth is concentrated in larger formats, with 2g units surging (+95.8% YoY) and expanding into the low-teens share range, while 0.5g products continue to decline sharply (-40.5% YoY). In Canada, 1g similarly leads at 67.3% share and is strengthening. Over the longer term, 0.95g has posted meaningful gains (+34.6% YoY), while 1.2g formats are losing ground (-26.8% YoY). Overall, the category continues to consolidate around 1g as the core size, with selective growth emerging in larger pack formats.

Hardware Type

Vapor Pen hardware continues to standardize around 510 Threaded across both markets. In the U.S., 510 Threaded accounts for 91.3% of sales and is still inching higher, while a small group of proprietary systems, led by Stiiizy at 5%, remain niche and show mixed to negative momentum overall. In Canada, concentration is even more pronounced, with 510 Threaded capturing 99.8% of sales and alternative formats collectively representing a negligible share. The clear takeaway is ongoing consolidation toward a single dominant hardware standard, with proprietary systems struggling to maintain relevance.

Extraction Type

Across both markets, Distillate remains the leading Vapor Pen cartridge extract but is steadily losing share as consumers migrate toward premium formats. Through 2025, Distillate accounts for 56.7% of U.S. sales and 43.1% in Canada, declining year over year in both markets. Live Resin continues to gain traction as the clear No. 2 format, posting solid growth, while Diamonds stand out as the fastest-growing segment, up more than 60% YoY in each market. Canada is notably more Diamond-weighted (29.7% share versus a low-single-digit footprint in the U.S.), but the overarching narrative is consistent: share is gradually shifting away from traditional Distillate toward higher-end, terpene-rich, and potency-forward extracts.

Pricing

Category Pricing

In Q4 2025, Vapor Pens remain the highest-priced major inhalable category in both markets. In the U.S., Pens average $21.81 per gram equivalent, well above Concentrates at $14.49, even as pricing continues to compress ( -11% YoY), broadly in line with double-digit declines across the market. In Canada, Vapor Pens command CAD 34.05 per gram equivalent, again sitting meaningfully above Concentrates (CAD 21.08). Pricing trends were more stable with Vapor Pens easing modestly year over year (-1.9%). Overall, Vapor Pens maintain a clear premium position despite ongoing, and in some cases moderating, price pressure.

Market Pricing

In Q4 2025, Vapor Pen EQ pricing shows wide dispersion across U.S. markets, ranging from a high of $54.94 in Connecticut to just $8.24 in Michigan, underscoring significant structural differences in market pricing. Arizona recorded the steepest sequential decline (-7.6% QoQ), while Connecticut saw the sharpest annual compression (-26.3% YoY), pointing to continued price normalization in higher-cost states.

In Canada, pricing is far more tightly clustered, with British Columbia at CAD 35.07 and Saskatchewan at CAD 31.27. Quarter-over-quarter movement was modest, led by Ontario (-1.1%), while Saskatchewan posted the largest year-over-year decline (-4.7%).

Pricing Over Time

Since January 2024, EQ Price has trended downward across all major categories in both markets. In the U.S., Vapor Pens posted one of the steeper declines, falling from $28.30 to $21.70 by December 2025, while Flower dropped from $4.89 to $3.78 over the same period. The broader pattern reflects sustained pricing compression, with Vapor Pens declining alongside, and in some cases faster than, other inhalables. In Canada, price erosion was more moderate but directionally similar. Vapor Pens eased from CAD 35.22 to CAD 34.01, broadly in line with Flower’s softer decline and less pronounced than the pullbacks seen in Pre-Rolls and Concentrates. Overall, pricing pressure remains a consistent theme across categories, with the U.S. experiencing sharper compression than Canada.

Demographics

Age Group

Millennials account for the largest share of Vapor Pen sales in both the U.S. (43.3%) and Canada (43.9%), but the defining characteristic of the category is its strong appeal among younger consumers. In the U.S., Gen Z represents 31.7% of Vapor Pen sales compared to 21% of total-category sales, a sizable over-index that underscores where the category is outperforming. Millennials track closely with the broader market, while older consumers, particularly Boomers, participate at meaningfully lower rates. In Canada, the skew is even younger: Gen Z makes up 37.7% of Vapor Pen sales versus 24% overall, driving a disproportionate share of demand, while Millennials slightly under-index and older cohorts remain underrepresented. As more Gen Z consumers age into the legal market, Vapor Pens are well positioned to benefit, reinforcing the category’s strategic importance among emerging adult demographics.

Gender

The U.S. Vapor Pen category mirrors the overall market’s gender split, with men accounting for 66.1% of sales (vs. 66.0% overall) and women 33.9% (vs. 34.0%), indicating no meaningful skew. In Canada, however, the category leans more male: men represent 65.2% of Vapor Pen sales compared to 63.2% overall, while women slightly under-index. The result is a modest but clear male skew in Canada, versus a neutral gender profile in the U.S.

Conclusion

Now the top-selling category in Washington and nearing parity with Flower in mature markets like Oregon and California, Vapor Pens are evolving from high-growth challenger to structural leader. Demographics reinforce this shift. As the number one category for Gen Z, Vapor Pens stand to benefit as younger consumers age into the legal market and expand their purchasing power. Their preferences are already reshaping the category — from the rise of disposables to bold, maximalist product design. Winning younger consumers is central to winning the category.

The primary headwind is price. Vapor Pens remain the most expensive inhalable format, creating tension in a value-conscious market. Sustained leadership will depend on delivering greater value, whether through manufacturing efficiencies, pack innovation, or pricing strategy without sacrificing the quality standards consumers increasingly expect.

‍