Why Dispensaries Prefer Mylar Bags for Cannabis

The bag you see at the counter

Walk into a well-run dispensary in January 2026. You’ll hear heat sealers snapping shut behind the till. You’ll also see a stack of flat pouches that take up less space than the staff notice.

That pouch is usually called a Mylar bag. Most staff mean a laminated barrier pouch made from BoPET film with extra layers for strength. The name stuck because retail loves shorthand.

Dispensaries favor Mylar because it fixes several daily headaches at once. Light exposure is managed. Smell is contained. Stock looks tidy on a shelf that changes every week.

It’s not glamorous. It’s practical.

Freshness is money on a shelf

Flower is fussy. Terpenes drift. Buds dry out. A pouch that blocks light and slows oxygen ingress keeps product closer to what the producer intended.

Metallised Mylar style laminates are popular because they’re aggressively opaque. That matters in bright stores with harsh LED strips. It also matters in delivery bags that sit in car boots for hours.

Dispensaries also like the routine. Staff can drop in a humidity pack then heat seal above the zip. The customer gets a reseal for later. BrandMyDispo pushes that exact workflow in its retail-focused guide. Source

There’s a counterpoint. Grove Bags is blunt about Mylar limits for longer storage. It points to moisture management problems when the pouch choice is wrong for the product. Source

Odour control and discretion still sell

Dispensaries talk about branding in meetings. They talk about smell in the back room. A well-made barrier pouch reduces odour drift through a delivery route bag. It also cuts complaints from neighbors in mixed-use buildings.

The best bags in 2026 use multiple layers. They feel stiffer than a basic snack pouch. That stiffness is not just theatre. It helps stop pinholes that turn a “smell proof” promise into a review site problem.

Discretion is not only about customers. It’s about staff traveling home with samples. It’s about waste bins behind the shop. Mylar pouches reduce the smell that lingers after closing time.

Archibald Tech frames this as pharmacy-grade thinking. It’s a tidy way to describe the same thing. A good package protects the customer experience beyond the sale. Source

Compliance is easier when the pack behaves

Rules vary by territory. The practical burden looks similar in 2026. Child-resistant features are expected. Tamper evidence is expected. Labels must stay attached.

A pouch gives a large flat panel for mandatory text. That sounds dull. It matters when warning copy expands with each regulatory update. A jar label can turn into a wrinkled mess within a week of handling.

Dispensaries also like the two-step closure. A child-resistant zip deals with day-to-day use. A heat seal shows obvious tamper evidence at purchase. D.C. Packaging sells heavily into this logic for cannabis brands. Source

There’s also a staff angle. Pouches are faster to close at peak hours. That reduces queue time. It reduces handling errors when the shop floor is busy.

Cost and logistics are where Mylar wins

Mylar is not chosen only for product protection. It’s chosen because dispensaries count pennies. Packaging is one of the few levers a manager can pull without asking cultivation to change its program.

In 2026, typical trade quotes I see for custom printed barrier pouches land around £0.08 to £0.22 per unit at 10,000 pieces. A basic glass jar with a decent closure can sit at £0.35 to £0.90 before you add labels.

Weight matters too. A mid-size glass jar can weigh 70g to 100g before product. A 3.5g pouch can be 5g to 10g. That’s a shipping weight cut of roughly 85% to 95% per unit. Couriers don’t negotiate with your margin.

Mylar also stores flat. A single pallet can hold an absurd number of pouches. Glass eats warehouse space. It breaks. It invites a price rise when freight costs twitch.

Packaging format	Typical unit cost in 2026	Light protection	Outbound shipping weight impact	Best use in a dispensary
Metallised Mylar style pouch	£0.08 to £0.22	High	Low	Flower and edibles
Glass jar with label	£0.35 to £0.90	Medium	High	Premium flower display
Plastic tube	£0.12 to £0.30	Low to medium	Medium	Pre rolls
Paper pouch with liner	£0.10 to £0.28	Medium	Low	Short life items

Print sells. Mylar makes print easy

Dispensaries are retailers first. They want packaging that looks consistent on a wall of competing brands. A pouch gives you a clean front face. It photographs well for menus and delivery apps.

Mylar pouches also take finishes that make a £25 eighth feel like a £35 eighth. Matte films are common in 2026. Spot gloss details still work. Metallic inks look sharp on metallised structures.

This is where suppliers such as BrandMyDispo lean in hard. It sells custom runs to shops that want “house” products. It also suits white label operators who need speed. A broader pros and cons overview sits here

I remain mildly skeptical about some of the “luxury” talk. Plenty of pouches look premium until the tear notch splits badly. A cheap pouch can ruin a good product story in seconds.

Some formats behave badly in anything else

Pre rolls are fragile. Tubes protect shape. Dispensaries still use pouches for multipacks because they stack better. The pouch also gives room for the compliance text that tubes struggle to carry cleanly.

Gummies and chocolates have their own issues. Smell migrates. Oils can stain. A decent laminate helps contain aromas that customers don’t want in a handbag. It also keeps the shop from smelling like a sweet factory.

Concentrates are a separate headache. Many stores pouch the outer package then keep a small jar inside. That sounds redundant. It helps with discretion and label space. It also keeps the primary jar from scraping around in a pocket.

If you want a single pack type across flower, edibles, pre rolls, plus samples, Mylar pouches are the closest thing to a universal answer.

The bits the sales pitch skips

Mylar is not magic. Thin pouches puncture. Corners from tins or cartridges can punch through during delivery. That leads to dry product and angry returns.

Static is real as well. Small buds cling to the inside. Kief sticks to the film. Some brands add internal coatings to reduce that. Many don’t. Customers notice when the bag eats their purchase.

There’s also the sustainability argument. Multi-layer laminates are hard to recycle in most local systems. A “recyclable” claim can be more marketing than reality. Shops get called out for green talk that isn’t backed up.

Grove Bags makes a fair point about storage limits. A pouch can trap the wrong moisture level. That can push flower too dry or too wet depending on what goes in. Source

How dispensaries choose a pouch in 2026

Most dispensaries don’t start with aesthetics. They start with failure rates. In February 2026, one West Coast operator told me their target is under 1% seal failures per batch. Anything above that becomes a labor problem.

Then they ask boring questions. Film thickness matters. Zip quality matters. Heat seal consistency matters. If the pouch supplier can’t provide repeatable spec sheets then the shop will swap supplier in a month.

When a buyer is doing it properly, they ask for a short list of proof points. It weeds out the “we can do anything” suppliers. It also protects your compliance position when regulators take an interest.

• Child resistant certification details
• Laminate structure and thickness in microns
• Odour barrier claim plus test method
• Lead time for repeat runs in 2026 peak season

If you want supplier starting points, the three most cited names in my inbox at the moment are BrandMyDispo, D.C. Packaging, plus Archibald Tech. Their guides show how they frame the pitch. BrandMyDispo D.C. Packaging Archibald Tech