Category: buddies

When you are ready to do battle with Kong, but meet Poison Ivy instead.

Posted on by danielk1

12/12/15

The Herbal Cure

985 Logan St

Kong

KongGif1a.gif.CROP.original-original.gif

There are close to 1000 medical and recreational pot shops in the State of Colorado (949 when published. There have been a few gems and a ton of duds. This industry moves so fast as barriers to trade are coming down and coming up regularly. There is no way to discern who is good at growing herb from someone with a ton of money to spend on a new venture and just wants to make a buck.

It is much easier to have a lot of money than a lot of knowledge. The people with the knowledge are almost always lost in the vast sea of eligible labor. An entire staff could change in a year, so the herbs grown last year may not be the same as the herbs grown this year. This is a little “Quality Control” check on a place I liked last year. Two different harvests in a year is a small sample size, sure, but it can still can tell a lot.

You know what they say about being dazzled by the bullshit? The staff are always nice and the façade is covered in graffiti. I am a sucker for some good graf.

I have seen my fair share of Kong growing, and it always looked like little pineapples. I didn’t trust the owners, however, and rarely smoked their weed. It is in a large category of weed that had been ruined before it has even been tried.

But I love to tackle my prejudices, so I gave it a go. It smelled like a fresh cut lawn; more like a grassy field than a bag of grass. It was like a grassy field with pepper in it. The smoke was soft and delicate. It tasted a bit dry and scratchy, but it was not too harsh on the throat.

Kong is such a beastly name that I was expecting to get knocked over the head and my limbs torn apart. Instead, it was more like Batman’s nemesis, Poison Ivy than the excitable King Kong. It seeped into my being at the cellular level rather than the bash and beat down approach.

Just like the dreaded day camp plant that temporarily ruins the dreams of children everywhere, this Kong seemed like a minor irritation than a wild beast swatting at our Air Force. The Empire State Building would have been too much for the mighty looking Kong. The groundskeeper would have squashed this poor plant once it broke through the concrete.

Just the Right Amount of Sweets at the Mile High Green Cross

Posted on by danielk1

Mile High Green Cross

12/11/15

Kandy Alien –Indica

Grade: A

Mile High Green Cross is another place that comes highly recommended. It is in a good location in South Broadway (the Green Mile), and it is next to one of the greatest names for a bar anywhere, The Fainting Goat. I was greeted by a bubbly little cutie who seemed absolutely thrilled to sell herbs. I never wanted to leave. In the end, though, Kandy was the only lady to leave with me.

While not as pretty as the girl behind the bar, the Kandy Alien is still good to look at. This Kandy was a nice, light lime green. The crystals glimmer on the buds and the pistils are sparsely scattered about in the buds. The smoke is smooth and goes down easily. A hint of sweetness comes out in the tail end. This Kandy is subtle. She does not hit hard like many indicas. She is more like cilantro on a taco. It is not the main ingredient, but it can make a good taco great and a great taco even better!

 

Oasis Superstore is Stupendous

Posted on by danielk1

Medicinal Oasis

11/21/15

wonderland oasis

Lemon O.G.

Colorado pot shops can be strange places. They occupy boxes of all shapes and sizes. Some are just tossed-up front rooms in giant warehouses and others are sheds that could have been bought at Home Depot  and parked in a couple of parking spaces.  Former Pizza Huts have been reconverted as well as places that look like they would be just as comfortable housing a Head Start complexes. Medical Oasis has its own craziness to it. It is in a massive building. When I entered the lobby, I saw “doors, doors everywhere”! Frankly, I was looking for a rabbit to lead me along and a talking doorknob to insult me.

I managed to find the right door, and on the other side was an extremely long room and all sorts of cannabis. The staff was quite chatty and very friendly. The budtenders here even know their customers by name. The staff also remembered the previous orders of their customers and used that as a measuring stick to consult on their next purchase. Be it joints, grams, or much larger purchases, the budtender skillfully steered their locals to their preferred purchase.

It felt like a neighborhood coffee shop (only without the coffee). Just like in a vibrant café, the wait in line is just as entertaining as anything on TV. This is the kind of service that I like to see; it gives the customer a sweeter taste when they feel comfortable spending their money. This is a key intangible that separates a business in the service industry from the rest of the pack.

The Lemon O.G. is already better just because of the service I had. It smells a bit better, it looks a bit better, and it tastes a bit better. I can’t deny the warm fuzzies. I will acknowledge them and move on to how this Lemon O.G. really smells and looks and tastes.

It smells much better than it looks. It is brown and red. ”Ugly ducks” can grow into swans, and so it is on to other factors. It hits kind of harsh. Yet, it has a menthol kind of cool to it. It is almost stoney, but a second bowl had to be packed.

The second bowl brought out the flavor again. It tasted like Cap’n Crunch. This Lemon O.G. hit like a ton of bricks. It is heavy and heady. This is joint or blunt rolling herb. Just like good blunt weed, you need a lot to get stoned and it dies off quickly. This makes the Lemon O.G. just “meh”. This is some concert or party weed. It is ganja for when you want to smoke a ton of herbs.

Pepe-Le-Pew-Wallpaper

Island Sweet Skunk

While the Lemon O.G.  may have been a bit premature, I was excited for the Island Sweet Skunk. The buds were nice and big. They smelled complex and spicy as well. These dark green buds were pockmarked with hairs like divots on a golf ball.

The smoke is light and delicate. It was so light that I was a bit unsure if I smoked anything at all. The high is much more balanced as well. It is subtle and hits the back of the eyes. It is a reasonable competitor in the thick sea of mediocre get-out-the-door fast-food cannabis shops.

 

Pure

Posted on by danielk1

 

505 W. 40th ave Denver, CO 80216

10/17/15

Tahoe OG

A++++

Pure is one of those locations that is always recommended. Other than Good Chem, people in Denver mention Pure the most. They specialize in CO2 extraction, which is a much cleaner way to extract the active ingredients in cannabis. It creates a much more versatile product than BHO extracts. It is also nice to not have your herbs cooked in alcohol. Of course, healthier is usually more expensive. Most people blast butane because a BHO extractor is much cheaper than a CO2 extractor.

But I am not here to talk about concentrates (yet); I am here to talk about the Tahoe OG that the carry there. I rarely buy Tahoe OG because I am used to the pine-cone buds of California over the popcorn buds of Colorado. Popcorn buds make me think, “what else?”.

The Tahoe OG at Pure, however, was worth a look. Their jar held Tahoe OG nugs that were almost large. Believe me, this is rare. Nobody sells big buds. (I want to see someone sell ½ oz sticks!) The budtender was also quite gracious and accommodating, which is different from many budtenders who can be quite condescending. He even dug through the jar to get the biggest buds in the jar.

This Tahoe OG has a nice, earthly smell to it. It is a bit peppery too. The color reminds me of a car with chameleon paint on it; different colors come out depending on the angle of view. There are a few shades of green that are speckled with patches of red hairs. The entire bud shimmers in a grey hue given off by the plethora of crystals.

This stuff is an amazing smoke too. It is nice and smooth, almost like menthol on the throat. This is one of those “back of the eye” buds that leaves a faint dank aftertaste on the throat.

Unfortunately, the aftertaste is like eating lamb and capers, only there is hardly a caper taste to it. Capers are an important part of the dish, and it is noticeable when it is missing. Lamb and capers is just lamb and potatoes otherwise. It is still good, but it could be great. I am forever on the quest for that aftertaste.

 

 

Headband

A+++

The Headband smelled nice and spicy. There was a strange blue/white/grey tinge to the buds as well. The red hairs dominated the color-wheel of greens that this Headband also exhibited.

This herb was easy to smoke as well. It was smooth on the throat. It tasted sweet and sat on the tongue for a while. It is a nice high. It was strong and stuck around. It was also energetic and highly functional. It looks good, and smells good. It is smooth and easy. Pure is definitely one of Denver’s Phinest.

 

A Little Pinball, A Little Pot, Lyons Has it all. Even a Lazy River if You Get Too Hot.

Posted on by danielk1

10/1/15

The Bud Depot

138 E Main St
Lyons, Co 80540

Clementine Kush

Grade: A+

The Universe summoned me to Lyons after work one day. It is just down the road from Boulder and they have a Pinball museum there. The birds were chirping, the Autumn Sun grew ever more distant and the air was crisp. It just had to happen. It seemed that everybody else in the world came to Lyons too, because there was a ton of traffic. Fortunately for me, the turn into the Bud Depot parking lot was right at the beginning of the carjam, so I took it.

I parked next to a Caddy from Texas and headed in. There was a world map on the wall of the lobby that was full of pushpins. The U.S. was the densest part. I asked the receptionist where most of the guests came from. I was surprised to hear him say Texas. Now, I am seeing Texans everywhere. heck, a feller from Dallas talked me into writing this blog.

As for the herbs, well, all these Texans must be onto something, because this is some grade A herb. The buds are nice, light green and wrapped in red hairs and drizzled in crystals. Its aroma is just like the pine-forested mountains that this town is nestled in.

It is smooth on the throat and cool to smoke. There is a nice aftertaste to it that sticks around. The aftertaste gives way to the stoney feeling that this herb can provide. Bottom line: the herb is nice and stoney and can endure. The only thing missing was an inner tube for that little river that goes through town. Next time, Lyons, next time.

 

Some Dank to Fill the Tank

Posted on by danielk1

7.25.15

Dank

3835 Elm St, Ste C
Denver Co 80207

Northern Lights

I have been on a “classic” kick lately, so when I saw Northern Lights, I absolutely had to get it. I must admit, I was a bit critical at the smaller size of the buds, but there are a million reasons that they got that way.

This Northern Lights has a piney smell. It is not the most pungent aromas, which is to be expected. The buds are compact and meaty, about ½ g each. They are a ganja mulatto- light and dark green mixed with ample red hairs. A true American!

The smoke is smooth, light, and easy on the throat. It has a subtle flavor to it too. In fact, it was so light that I had to pack a second bowl. It was like one of those cups of water after working hard in the sun; so refreshing that it went down the hatch in one giant gulp.

Just like that sweet, sweet drink of water, this NL had many of the refreshing qualities that my favorite ganja should have- it was smooth, moisturized the eyes, and was stoney. But it tailed off and dissipated rapidly.

#classic

Good Chem is all Good.

Posted on by danielk1

5.1.15

 

Good Chem

330 E. Colfax St.
Denver, CO 80203

Durban Poison

Good Chem came highly recommended by a co-worker. In fact, Good Chem is almost always one of the first names uttered when I ask people what shops they think are the best. Consistently. This much acclaim for a place is not accidental, and so I knew I had to try it. I chose three different flavors; Durban Poison is a landrace classic, Sour Diesel is a classic, and Ingrid is a homemade variety.

It is always easy to choose Durban Poison. Everybody loves Durban Posion, the landrace from South Africa. While I would love to try many, many more landraces, Durban and Kush seem to be the only ones that make shelves. They dominate the shelves like the two parties dominate American Politics. I only know of Panama Red from the lore of those who survived the party of the 70’s and the drug war of the 80’s. Were Thai Sticks really even a thing? This is another indication of the massive niche market opportunities that are available in this fledgling industry.

The Durban Poison bag I got was full of nice, tight buds. These dense and aromatic herbs smelled sweet. They are dark, deep green with abundant orange hairs tightly wrapped around the bud.

The smoke is smooth. It is just a tad harsh on the throat. The aftertaste was faint, and the high was mild.

#landrace
#classic

 

Sour Diesel

A+++

When grown right, Sour Diesel is an amazing strain. Its aroma is one of a kind and truly remarkable. This indica- strong hybrid can kick you in the head like a thoroughbred- when it is respected. In the commoditized cannabis world of Colorado, it is hard to find owners who respect their product. Most owners respect the numbers at the cost of quality.

The model of quantity over quality is a basic Capitalist trait, especially when demand pummels supply like big brother smothering his little brother with a pillow here in Colorado. Yet, there are owners in this muddle of marketing crap who still respect their product. Many of the best growers are still underground, but there are a precious few who made the jump to the legal market. They are hard to find-so far I have found about 5. Good Chem is one of them.

Some buds are just a mess when it comes to their form. This is one of them. This bud was thick! It was compressed together tightly, with all of the hairs smashed together. The green flower clashed heavily with the white crystals like they were fighting for dominance on a TV screen in the wee hours of the morning. It smelled sweet and, um, soapy.

This strain of Sour Diesel is in the heavy-hitter category. I puffed on a bowl for a good hour. It was nice and smooth on the throat, and very stoney. It is prolly best to enjoy this one at the end of the day when you don’t have to get off of the couch- for anything.

#classic

 

Ingrid

A++++

Ingrid. It is like so many names in the ganja scene; completely proprietary. This is a natural progression, though. As the cannabis industry grows, the business owners will want to protect their investment any and every way that they can. Monsanto has had generations of success with their proprietary seed genetics. Of course they will do this with cannabis flavors (or brands) now that there is a legal, accessible way.

Ingrid is the local flavor for Good Chem. It is in the homemade varieties where the ultimate plan of the business can really come out. You don’t go to a Bordeaux vineyard and ask for a Pinot Grigio. Some strains grow better here than others, and indicas have a long history of growing well in high altitude environments. This Ingrid is an indica that was grown well. It had dense buds that were light green. Its smoke is light and is not harsh when it is burned.

This leads to a smooth, subtle high that is also very stony. My friend was right, I might have to pick his brain for more strains that are out of sight.

#topshelf
#localfavorite

The Day Google Maps had the Goods.

Posted on by danielk1

2/22/15

Green Man

1355 Santa Fe Drive
Denver, CO, 80204

Death Star

I was on my way to a favorite spot of mine, but the snow altered my course again (the blowing breeze has a strong affect on this guy)! Fortunately, this is a time when a quick phone consult with Google will provide a list of the closest pot shops. It is amazing how quickly things become normal in a day.

There was once a time when a whole city could go dry while waiting for the buds to cure. Now, a quick consult with Google floods the Denver map with locations to shop. It is just another chore on the list. Sometimes, the shops are even in the same plaza as the bank and supermarket, so you can get your groceries, make a deposit, and pick up some nice buds in the same trip.

green-man-logo-overlap

This trip was specifically for pot though, so it was dealer’s choice, so to speak. This Green Man location was the closest to me, but was crazy difficult to navigate to if you aren’t familiar with downtown. It is a store in a mini-mall that is stashed between two major streets and the back of a grocery store. I had to navigate through snowy, blustery, downtown traffic. I took a surprise left around a tree and then a hard right into the lot. It really is an adventure to get here.

Then I found out it was brand new, and they just got their rec. license. So they did not yet have any homegrown flower. The flowers they were currently selling came from a distributor. (At the behest of one of my coworkers, I did return at a later date to try their flowers.)

The Deathstar has an incredibly pungent aroma, which makes a lot of sense when you know that one of its mothers is a Sour Diesel. It smells like a dank, basement.

The buds of this plant are darker green and a bit skimpy. They are brittle and tend to turn to dust in my fingers. This is the same problem that I had at the other shop that sold prepackaged ganja. I’m sure it is old. These buds should be a lot meatier, but they have lost all of their moisture. To me, this is like seeing those game animals on the African savannah at the peak of dry season. They are starving and bone-thin and just waiting for a lion or hyena to come by and put them out of their misery.

The smoke was surprisingly light. Of course, it has a touch of harshness, but that is to be expected of some distributor crap. It was also able to keep a bit of flavor in it in the end. The aftertaste hinted at the stoniness of the herb, and the tingle in the eyes verified that this herb could have been dank. It comes on strong, but then it peters off quickly. Which leaves me wanting more.

The budtenders did not have any information about the distributor. It wasn’t Kindman, which is good. I can see what Green Man saw in the buds they bought, and it was good for a shelf-elf. But I like the fresh stuff, and look forward to trying their goods when they come online.

Boulder’s Phinest Reprazent

Posted on by danielk1

2/21/15

Boulder Botanics

1730 30thST #7
Boulder, CO 80301

303 Kush

A+++++

A grower from Danktown recently moved to Colorado. Last week, we went on a mini collective tour. The goal was to get all the way to Nederland, but the Rocky Mountain white-out made us turn around. So we made Boulder our new destination (a good choice in itself). I wanted to check out Boulder buds for a good long time, and Boulder Botanics looked like just the place to go! Well, more like our second or third place to go. My buddy didn’t have his doctor’s note yet, and our first a couple of stops were at medical-only places first.

I knew I was out of my element when I walked in and looked at the menu. It was a concentrate spot. There were four times as many concentrates as flowers on the menu. Shatter galore.

I am not a shatter kind of guy. I never really liked hash, and never bought it. I was lucky to grow up in the Kind Bud era, and hash was just not what I wanted. Ever. When someone did give me hash, I would just give it away. I think concentrates are bad for two reasons.

First, they allow the growers to grow sub-standard pot because they can get a lot more money for a gram of blasted poor-quality herb (up to $50 med or rec) than a gram of healthy top-shelf dank ($20 + tax rec). The market always calls the shots, and as long as the market determines shatter to be more popular than flower, the standard is lowered to concentrate-quality rather than flower-quality.

Second, this is how the big companies are going to succeed in making cannabis deadly. When I was young and fighting for legalization, there were many within the community who wanted to keep it illegal. They wanted this because they didn’t want to A) compete with a big company with big bucks and B) let Monsanto make Genetically Modified pot.

It is either quality over quantity or the other way around; it can’t be both. Philip Morris is going to go for quantity. They would also love to cross promote their product with another much more deadly product they market, tobacco. Once cannabis is rescheduled, those big companies are going to sweep in and buy the biggest, most corporate grows they can find and take over. It is just a matter of time before Philip Morris et. al. cater to the European and Middle Eastern tourists and residents and realize that they can cross-promote two of their products here.

Of course, Americans are going to want to get onto that bandwagon too. Americans love to get fucked up, and they will be there with their parents’ allowance to buy it all. It was just hash before Americans got into the game. Now it is live resin. I am not excited to see how far the fucked-up train can go.

So I stay away from the concentrates. I am going to ride that small-market high quality flower into the sunset. To be fair, I have heard about some growers who make amazing flower and turn it into high-quality shatter. I even know a guy who only smokes the live resin that he grows. He absolutely smokes the cleanest stuff in town. He does not smoke cigarettes either, so the cat is still in the bag.

________________________________________________________________

The small flower selection at Boulder Botanics showed me that the growers really knew what they were doing. But they only had indica. Their selection consisted of 6 varieties of Kush. Geez. No sativa, no hybrids, and almost no flower. Strike and strike and steeeeeeeerike. I never got on the Kush bandwagon, but I have met many Kush loyalists. Some people just really love their Kush, and who am I to tell them what is good. In fact, this focus on one strain probably means they know what they are doing with it. So I got the 303 Kush.

This bud is some serious couch-lock stuff. Normally, I am a night owl. I dunno why, but I get a second wind after the sun goes down. But this stuff was not messing around. It put my ass down by 10 PM.

The aromas for this bud are complex and strong. Stincky, incky, incky.

They were nice sized buds- thick, meaty, and dense. It has a nice, close trim job that didn’t destroy the buds. The crystals looked fresh and sappy.

The growers did a great job on the flush. It is an amazingly clean smoke. It is not nearly as harsh as many of the buds that I have smoked out here. It is incredibly smooth.

Mom’s Apple Pie is-and always will be- TH.UG.

Posted on by danielk1

TH.UG. The Underground

damnit feels good to be a knitter

11/14/14

Afghan Kush

Growers have always been the most important part of this business. The underground cannabis community has survived and thrived for generations. These men and women are so dedicated to their trade that vacations are non-existent. Many of the best, and indeed most of the better growers are still underground. They are underground for a ton of reasons. Just to name a few:

 

The recent laws here in Colorado have opened up the market so much that the experts are no longer in charge. But it is more than that. The great growers will never put their stuff on the market because it is not for us. They do it because they love themselves. Philip Morris and Monsanto are the new experts. Market trends, administrative offices, oversight, and supply-chains are now much more important than the quality. For now.

Personally, I have had a long history of successfully identifying growers in a prohibitory world. I have seen the gamut of herbs too. I even got a bag once that was rolled in spice. Fucking spice! Shithead. I still have the full bottle to remind me that some growers want to slang shit.

Fortunately, the guy who let me sample his Afghan Kush is one of the kindergrowers- growers who really know what they are doing. (On a side note, I tried talking him into getting some goats, just so I could kick it with a goat. He said they raise his anxiety because they sound like babies crying.) It was apparent in the Afghan Kush buds he gave me. These Afghan Kush buds are nice, healthy, and meaty buds.

This Afghan Kush is also light green and absolutely coated with crystals. It smells like a dank basement. But it is subtle and not too overpowering.

The smoke is nice and light and smooth, just like the high. I only needed a little bit to get good.