Even in an industry sector teeming with product variety, ample room for innovation remains. Luigi Oil intends to be a leader in bringing new ideas to market.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer Hovik Sudzhyan segued into the industry following a history of successes in another notoriously competitive space. He’s not unaware of the challenges facing startups.
“Before Luigi, I built a successful career in the clothing manufacturing industry, where I learned firsthand how critical it is to blend quality, efficiency, and scalability,” he said. “I transitioned into cannabis because I saw a huge gap: A lot of brands were either accessible but lacked quality, premium but overpriced, or operated without real integrity. I wanted to build a brand where consumers didn’t have to choose, so I made a promise that Luigi would be premium, accessible, and consistent.”
Quality, accessibility, and integrity
Sudzhyan believes every consumer product should provide an experience that transcends simple functionality. That perspective often is missing in the cannabis industry, he believes. “At Luigi, we approach everything through the lens of hospitality,” he said. “How does this product make you feel? How easy is it to use? How proud are you to share it with friends?”
But those are just the surface features. Beneath them lies a foundation of rigorous research and development. “Having a leading flavor scientist on our team is absolutely critical,” Sudzhyan said. “It ensures we aren’t just creating products that taste great, but ones that are made with exceptional purity, consistency, and effectiveness. Science is at the core of our integrity promise. It’s what allows us to confidently say we’re delivering a premium product every single time.”
Luigi Oil’s Honeydew Melon product line showcases the brand’s vibrant pop art packaging and bold design ethos. The lineup includes a 2-gram live resin disposable vape, matching pre-roll tube, and a resealable pouch, reinforcing Luigi’s focus on both flavor and flair.
Where science meets style
Luigi produces its own distillates at a downtown Los Angeles manufacturing and production facility. There, the team tests its vaporizers and oils for safety, flavor consistency, performance, and durability. Sudzhyan said providing an elevated experience can be expensive, but such is the cost of properly building a brand that will live up to his — and consumers’ — expectations.
“Instead of focusing on short-term corporate profit, we’re focused on long-term retail and consumer adoration and obsession with the Luigi brand and products,” he said. “We will happily pass the ultimate experience on to our partners and consumers rather than ourselves. Currently, every penny of profit goes back into strengthening our product and the consumer experience. By funneling the majority of revenue back into the operation, Luigi keeps prices competitive with the rest of the market while maintaining a standard of quality that is typically not achievable at this price point.”
Listening to customers fuels innovation
Much of Luigi’s product research comes from customer interaction. For example, consumer response to the free pre-roll delivered with every vape purchase encouraged the company to expand into new product lines. The company soon will launch Fattones, which are multi-smoke packs including infused blunts, pre-rolls, and gummies, “all for what consumers are used to paying for a six-pack of pre-rolls from most other brands,” Sudzhyan said. Consumer response will determine whether the edibles get their own line.
Testing new products as free tagalongs with existing customer favorites allows Sudzhyan to plumb another of his core beliefs: that consumers crave variety. He said experience has taught him brands should anchor their business with a quality product line, but customers can become bored if the lineup never changes. Like Starbucks, Luigi is committed to seasonal releases that generate excitement and anticipation.
Seasonal flavors that keep the product line fresh
“Our seasonal flavor releases like Blue Razz Lime and Cherry Pie are scientifically designed to keep things fresh and fun for our customers while staying true to our high standards,” Sudzhyan said. “We focus on creating limited editions that celebrate the vibe of the season, whether that’s something lighter and fruitier for summer or richer for fall. Every seasonal drop is carefully crafted, never rushed, and designed to give our customers a little extra something to look forward to.”
Luigi Oil’s disposable vape devices, shown here in pastel gradient colorways, embody the company’s mission to unite science, style, and user experience.
That attitude extends even to packaging. Luigi’s boxes, pouches, and pre-roll tubes are works of art. The “pop surrealism meets neo-pop comic” style of the imagery blends hints of Roy Lichtenstein’s signature comic-strip aesthetic with the energetic use of color and graphic disruption that defines street art to create packages as cravable as the products inside.
Packaging that’s art in its own right
“We see every touchpoint as an opportunity to connect with the customer — and that includes the joint tube,” Sudzhyan said. “Instead of treating it like an afterthought, we design ours to reflect the same quality and style that’s in the product itself. It’s vibrant, intentional, and something you’d actually want to keep around — a subtle but powerful way to reinforce the Luigi experience.”
Launched in 2024, Luigi met the market with an aggressive plan to give consumers something different. Already, the company’s products are available in more than seventy California dispensaries; Luigi plans to expand into more states by 2026. In addition, Sudzhyan is seeking farmland so the brand can cultivate its own plants. That will allow Sudzhyan and his team to expand their meticulous oversight to every step in the seed-to-sale life cycle and help him keep the vow he made when he founded the company.
Building for the future of premium cannabis
“At the end of the day, Luigi isn’t just a cannabis brand,” Sudzhyan said. “It’s a promise — a promise that customers don’t have to choose between premium quality, fair pricing, and brand integrity. In an industry that’s still finding its footing, we’re proud to be building something that feels good, tastes good, and does good — and we’re just getting started.”
