Dear Stoner: What are sugar leaves? Are they for smoking or eating? I’m embarrassed to ask the budtender.
Meredith
Browsing: Dispensaries
Dear Stoner: How can types of pot have the same name but different parents? Some shops have a strain with one set of genetics, and another shop will have completely different information.
Gil
Very rarely do I let a budtender’s spiel persuade me to buy a certain strain, but solicited advice is always appreciated. A new strain (new to me, anyway) called Lemon Cap was on my mind as I headed to Northern Lights Cannabis Co. in Edgewater, but after a quick conversation with the budtender, I was instead dreaming about strawberries.
Being a cannabis critic isn’t all joints and blow jobs. Some of these strains are hard to understand, especially for an outsider to the industry. Amendment 64 passed five years ago, in November 2012, and Denver now houses over 200 retail pot shops and MMJ dispensaries, with hundreds more around Colorado. How could one person possibly profile everything they stock?
Whether you use cannabis medically or recreationally, there are certain terms you should know. It’s smart to walk into a dispensary armed with knowledge, so there’s no miscommunication between you and the budtender. The more educated you are, the better your chances of having a fairly priced, fulfilling experience.
So we’ve come up with a dispensary dictionary. While some of this might seem a little remedial to experienced consumers, it should come in handy for new marijuana users and transplants alike. Knowing what’s in your cannabis is important, just as it’s important to know what’s in your food; it also arms you with info to pass along to other people who might have questions. To begin your ascension to informed cannabis consumer, study these definitions:
We all have our own reasons for loving cannabis, and one of my biggest is the way it enhances nostalgia. Cartoons, music and food from my childhood all have a little extra meaning after I smoke pot — and let’s face it: No one my age has any other reason to watch Good Burger. My love for Halloween has undoubtedly returned to peak levels thanks to the plant, leading me to geek out on slasher films, popcorn balls and pumpkin carving during and after each smoke sesh this past month.
One of Colorado’s largest hash manufacturers has added another product to its lineup. O.penVape, known for its pre-filled vaporizers cartridges, has rolled out ISH pens, a new line of distillate products geared toward novice cannabis consumers.
I get a little spooked whenever I see a strain named after another drug. Ecstasy OG and Herijuana make me feel like I’m about to smoke something other than cannabis, and it’s never good to have a grimy state of mind when lighting up. LSD, however, conjures a different vision: The expanding psychedelic effects of the drug never really scared me, so maybe that’s why the strain named after it seemed more approachable than Herijuana. (If it was called “Acid,” that might be different story.)
As cannabis industry experts and commercialization opponents continue to warn about the big-tobacco takeover of legal pot, we know that at least one local operation doesn’t want any part of Philip Morris. “We don’t want to be Jim Beam; we’re Leopold,” explains Joe Patierno, general manager of Kush Concentrates.
Shopping for retail marijuana in Denver is like time-traveling both into the future and back to the past. You can buy products here that aren’t available anywhere else in the world, and that includes on the Internet. Unlike clothes, electronics, books and even groceries, you can’t order cannabis delivered to your door in Colorado (although legal states Nevada and Oregon allow it, our state currently bans that option). And while the consistency of infused products’ effects has greatly improved since required potency and homogeneity tests began, it’s just as hard to keep up with cannabis trends today as it was when this all began in January 2014.
Newer, stronger forms of concentrates, more refined edibles brands and innovative infusion techniques are improving at a rate that’s tough for industry insiders to track, much less the average consumer. Just when you think you’ve figured out live resin and pressed rosin, distillate and isolate show up. Think lotions, patches and balms are the only topicals out there? Think again. These days, picking out the right product can feel more like spinning a roulette wheel of pre-filled vaporizers and CBD/THC mixtures than making an educated choice. To help you catch up, we’ve picked out our favorite cannabis products for the season, choosing edibles, drinks, concentrates and accessories that go exceptionally with hoodie weather and pumpkin-patch vibes.