Howdy OG!
This past weekend I sampled Maryland’s new (July) ‘open’ rec market. Only requirements were 21+ with ID. No doctor, no registration, no apps, etc. Walk into a store and buy pot.
How does this compare to the “traditional” market? How does it compare to home hobbyist grow? This is what we hope to find out.
First stop: Dispensary Works in White Plains, Maryland. This is a family owned dispo started by Sharron Sample. Sharron retired from NASA as Chief Information Officer, Earth Science. Cool! They also have a grow called “Earthworks”. The dispensary is located in an industrial/office park type situation and feels like a prior medical/dental building. You walk into a large waiting room type area, check in with security by giving them your ID, and have a seat. I used the bathroom, which was nice. A budtender called my name after about a five minute wait and I walked into the next area, which I’ll call the dispensing area. Imagine a bar with multiple cash registers, each register has a budtender. Each budtender is serving a customer individually. Important note, they treated couples as one customer. So couples checked in together and saw a budtender together. I went solo, but was pretty heart warmed to see the heady couples chatting about the menu together.
Budtender was great, long haired nerd with a Deth Row records tee shirt on. Young guy who seemed happy to be there and happy
to chat. I gave him a schpiel about how I liked chemdogs and ogs and sours and gg4 yadda yadda. Was suggested a “Chem OG” by GLeaf, budtender says its fresh and tested high terps with dominant limonene. Also picked up some “on sale” Peanut Butter Breath, some chocolate edibles, and asked the budtender for his overall “dealers choice”. “Opals an Banonoze” by Curio. Really nice jar, beautiful buds, interesting smells I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Knockout narcotic affect. I would not have picked this out on my own but am very happy with it. The “Chem OG” was just about perfect, kinda bud that could get labeled as a sour or an OG or whatever. Great hybrid affects, taste totally on point (more sour less gas), nice and ‘wet’ not over dry. Haven’t had a chance to try the PBB but the buds looked good and weren’t over dry, what I would worry about with on sale pot. Overall I gotta give DispensaryWorks an A grade.
Next and final stop: ‘Chespaeake Apothecary’ also in White Plains, Maryland. Founded by Seth Erlin, it has operated as a Medical Dispensary since 2018. Seth’s Aunt suffered from ALS which reportedly led him down the path of medicla cannabis.
This facility is a large stand-alone building with a large parking lot right on the main highway. Big sign, a lot of outdoor space for maybe some events? Was a cool place to roll up to. Inside much more stylized than the previous place, but same general idea: There’s first a waiting room, then dispensing room. Same idea with a dedicated budtender in the dispensing area. Also a long haired guy - as a baldy balderson I am sensitive to this! Picked up two varieties - an on sale “Chem 91” (smalls) by Savvy and “Blue Dream” by Grassroots. The Chemdog was unfortunately a little on the dry side. Not old, still had the great psychoactivity you get from fresh pot, but def a little dry. Haven’t smoked the Blue Dream yet but it smelled perfect and the buds had the correct “bounce” of a great dry. Overall I give Chesapeak Apothecary a B+.
So what’s the verdict? Not bad! Cost was definitely on the high side, there were taxes, there were weird regulations…but the pot was overall very good. The available options were broad. The people, both staff and fellow patrons, at both locations were all stellar. Pre-covid farmers market style “popups” are still my fav, I still appreciate having a local “guy”, but dispos have a place. Homegrow rocks, gifted fresh pot from other hobbyists rocks, but I’m always going to also be a customer. I wanna try all the stuff. I’m glad that Maryland’s options were fun.
I’d probably only go if I could get concentrates. At least until I can make my own