Younger legal consumers are the center of gravity in cannabis retail. Across U.S. markets, Millennials remain the single biggest spending cohort, while Gen Z is the fastest-growing; together they already account for a majority of cannabis dollars. Multiple analyses drawing on retail scanner data show Millennials at roughly 46% of spend with Gen Z rapidly gaining share, a dynamic that continues to pull assortment and pricing toward their preferences.
Vape oil specifically skews young. Category deep-dives from Headset show a clear age gradient: the younger the consumer, the higher the propensity to purchase vapor pens. In Canada, for example, Gen Z already over-indexes for vape-pen spend versus other categories, and U.S. trendlines show similar patterns. Millennials, meanwhile, contribute the largest absolute dollars in vapes because of their scale.
Familiarity with vaping hardware is a major driver. Gen Z came of age with nicotine e-cigs, so “puff-to-go” hardware feels intuitive. That familiarity reduces the learning curve for cannabis vapes and favors all-in-one devices and disposables that mirror nicotine form factors. Retail and hardware reports highlight the growth of disposables and “postless” designs that improve airflow and reduce clogging—features younger buyers reward with repeat purchases.
Lifestyle fit matters, too. Younger consumers prioritize convenience, discretion, and dose control—attributes where vapes excel. In broader consumer tracking, inhalables remain the most used and preferred cannabis form factor, and vapes combine inhalable immediacy with portable, odor-light formats suited to urban living and social settings. Those use-case advantages align tightly to Gen Z and Millennial routines, from concerts to commuting.
Macro attitudes amplify the shift. National polling shows cannabis use is far more common among adults under 50, and younger adults are also reassessing alcohol—some reducing or replacing drinking, which leaves room for “sessionable” cannabis formats, including low-odor vapes. While overall marijuana attitudes ebb and flow, the age gap in regular use persists, supporting ongoing demand from younger cohorts.
The numbers are hard to ignore. Synthesizing Headset data frequently cited across industry outlets, Gen Z and Millennials represent roughly 62%–63% of total U.S. cannabis sales and about 71% of vapor-pen sales. For operators, that concentration means product strategy (oil type, terpene profile), pricing (value 1g carts vs. premium live resin/rosin), and packaging (sleek, pocketable, recyclable) are increasingly calibrated to what these two generations buy and rebuy.
Product expectations are getting sharper. Younger consumers compare cannabis devices with consumer electronics and nicotine vapes, expecting consistent draw performance, fewer clogs, USB-C charging, and transparent oil windows. Vendors and brands report fast adoption of 2-gram disposables and all-in-ones that hit those marks—evidence that hardware innovation and industrial design now influence cannabis share just as much as strain names.
For brand builders, the takeaway is pragmatic: meet Gen Z and Millennials where they already are. Use retail data to localize assortment by cohort; balance value (house 1g distillate) with premium (live resin/solventless SKUs) to capture trading-up moments; emphasize reliability and transparency (COAs, material specs) in product descriptions; and market dose control, discretion, and convenience rather than only flavor or potency. With younger cohorts driving both penetration and category mix, vapor-pen winners will be those who treat vape oil as a tech-forward convenience product backed by credible quality signals—not merely another extract on a shelf.