In a crowded, highly regulated legal cannabis market like Washington State’s, carving out a meaningful identity isn’t easy. That environment is where Knots Cannabis found its footing, not by chasing every trend or chasing shelf space with every category under the sun, but by choosing a singular focus, solventless rosin.
On a recent episode of the Respect My Region podcast we sat down with Jared Michelman, Director of Solventless Production and leaders behind Knots Cannabis to talk about how the brand got started, why rosin became its heartbeat, and what it’s like to survive and even thrive in the -I-502 landscape in Washington State.
Knots Cannabis Rosin-Only Mission
Knots Cannabis was conceived out of both passion and practicality. Early on the core group just focused on helping brands acquire biomass for products and projects. Not long after, they realized that instead of diversifying into every category possible, an actual brand could focus on just doing one thing exceptionally well: rosin.
This wouldn’t be a sideline focus or a product line among many; rosin was the identity.
Every batch, every strain, every iteration would reflect that commitment.
For most consumers and cannabis connoisseurs, solventless rosin isn’t a throwaway product. It’s a clean, pure expression of the plant, untainted by solvents, minimal in processing, and expressive of terpenes and cannabinoids in their natural balance.
Rosin also resonates with consumers who prefer products that feel closer to craft cannabis than mass-produced extracts such as distillate, cured resin, live-resin, or Co2 concentrates.
The Greenbeard Family: Knots, Greenbeard & Co and Greenstate
One of the unique aspects of Knots Cannabis’ journey is how it fits into a broader family of brands and business structure anchored under Greenbeard & Co, a wholesale and supply-chain oriented entity in Washington that helps curate, distribute, and scale products in a market that can be hard to navigate for smaller operators.
At the heart of the Greenbeard ecosystem is two distinct brands:
• Knots Cannabis — Premium Rosin Only: This is the flagship. Knots takes a more artisanal, premium-batch approach, focusing all efforts on crafting solvent-less rosin that reflects high quality and consistency. This brand lives at the upper end of the concentrate spectrum, appealing to consumers who are willing to invest in premium cannabis experiences.
• Greenstate — Value Rosin: Not every consumer in the legal cannabis market wants or can afford premium pricing, but everyone deserves access to good products. That’s where Greenstate comes in. As part of the same family, Greenstate delivers rosin products that are more affordable and price-approachable, while still honoring the solventless and flavorful essence that defines Knots.
This structure allows Knots to shine at the boutique level while Greenstate democratizes access to rosin products.
Surviving I-502: High Hurdles and Hard Lessons
In the Respect My Region podcast, Jared talked openly about what it took to survive in what many refer to as a “hyper-competitive” marketplace. I-502 brought legalization, sure, but it also brought compliance costs, state testing regimes, packaging requirements, and an avalanche of competition from day 1.
What became clear in that conversation was that survival wasn’t about luck, it was about domination of a niche, relentless quality control, and a willingness to define success on their own terms rather than simply chase market share.
A rosin-only philosophy wasn’t just a branding choice, it was the entire strategy.
For a small team, focusing on a single category meant they could make iterative improvements faster than bigger companies juggling dozens of product lines.
It also gave them a tighter narrative to tell retailers and customers — “this is who we are, this is what we do, and we do it well.”
That kind of clarity is huge in a market where confusion often equals missed differentiation.
Knots in the Wild: Market Presence and Customer Response
Knots Cannabis rosin products are carried across multiple Washington dispensaries, from Seattle to Spokane and beyond. Walk into places like Cannablyss in Lake Stevens or Apex Cannabis on Market Street in Spokane and you can find rosin products and cartridges that proudly wear the Knots name.
Customers seeking high-quality solventless options consistently point to the brand’s bold terpene profiles and pure extraction as differentiators.
Rosin may seem simple on the surface, heat and pressure, but the nuance of strain selection, pressing technique, and batching schedules matter deeply to the final product.
Meanwhile on the more value-oriented side, Greenstate products offer everyday options for consumers who still want rosin but aren’t looking for the premium price tag.
Knots Cannabis products include the 1G rosin dabs plus 1G infused prerolled-joints. These joints feature .25G of rosin + .75G of flower.
Rosin Culture’s Place in Cannabis Evolution
To understand Knots’ place in cannabis culture, you also have to look at how rosin itself has evolved.
Rosin extract is part of a broader shift in cannabis consumption where consumers increasingly value purity, process transparency, and plant-centric expression. Compared to solvent-based extracts like BHO or CO2 concentrates, rosin is perceived as cleaner.
No additives, no solvents, just the plant.
That speaks to a consumer who cares about both flavor and experience.
In states like Washington, where extract products can run the gamut from massive commercial cartridges to small lab-grown extracts, companies like Knots remind the market that there’s still space, and demand for craft, solvent-less approaches.
As Jared discussed on the podcast, Knots wasn’t built overnight. It was built through years of refining product, understanding compliance, stewarding relationships with retailers, and figuring out what their consumers truly valued. They pushed forward even when the heavy machinery of legalization threatened to flatten small operations.
Podcast listeners heard about the failures, the pivots, the moments when uncertainty was the only constant. But what stood out was commitment. It wasn’t a brand that chased what was easiest; it sought what was right.
And it worked.
Knots now sits at a sweet spot in Washington’s market. Recognized by connoisseurs and interesting to everyday consumers who want more out of their rosin than just a generic extract.
The journey of Knots Cannabis is a microcosm of the Washington cannabis evolution where regulation meets creativity, where small operators carve a path through complex markets, and where niche specialization becomes a competitive advantage.
By choosing rosin only, by building a family of brands that speak to different consumer segments, and by leaning into their identity rather than away from it, Knots offers a playbook for how craft cannabis can survive in a legal world that often favors scale over substance.
Their story isn’t just about surviving I-502, it’s about defining success on their own terms, and in the process, showing that even in regulated markets, there’s room for craft, passion, and purity.
