Cannabis & More

Colorado’s cannabis sector has been stuck in a drought, with wholesale prices and dispensary sales dropping for about five years now. The tough times have stifled growth and passion as brands try to survive or look elsewhere for glory, but Malek’s Premium Cannabis and its rosin arm, Malek’s Melts, make sure we still have fun weed at home. Led by founder Malek Noueiry, the outfit’s special releases, new products and active presence in competitions and breeding keep Malek’s top of mind.

Founded by Colorado cannabis veteran Kyle Atkins, Chimera Craft Cannabis took a couple of years to get off the ground, but good things come to those who wait. The Denver cultivation’s harvests in 2025 and early 2026 have been some of the best in Colorado, with affordable, pungent buds quickly selling out at the small handful of dispensaries that carry them. The 5280 and Donny Burger are stanky, savory and built to put you in the dirt, while the Gushcanna and Lemon Cherry Driver are invigorating, smokeable fruit smoothies. Showing homage to classic genetics like Banana OG and Bubblegum while embracing powerful new hybrids such as Carbon Fiber and Kept Secret, Chimera has proven itself a fun and worthy addition to Colorado. If you want the widest choice of Chimera strains, head to the grow’s sister dispensary in Boulder, Flatirons Reserve.

Most premium cannabis growers prefer to keep their buds in smaller, personal jars to increase both brand awareness and profit. Single Source has been doing this for years and had no problem selling out at dispensaries, so imagine how happy we were to learn that the longtime Denver cultivation is now offering deli-style flower in addition to its pre-packed jars. There’s no discernible drop in quality, and the price point — around $30 an eighth post-tax at most stores — is virtually unbeatable for such heat. Whether it’s an OG-heavy cut or a newer strain, like the fruitier Champagne Patties or Slap and Tickle, your taste buds will be impressed with the terpenes, and your eyes will stay cloudy, with a chance of munchies, for hours.

Let the philistines hit their flavored vape pens. Refined cannabis users prefer regular weed, thank you very much, because no amount of “natural flavoring” in your sultry Penjamin will replace the sensory qualities of something like Chocolate Diesel. A gorgeous hybrid of New York City Diesel and Chocolope from SPCY Canna, Chocolate Diesel is a chip off the ol’ block from both of its parents — and that’s a very tall order, given how lauded those classics are. With a potency and bud structure worthy of a magazine spread (if those still exist), the strain fits right in with today’s standards, but with timeless notes of dark chocolate, fresh rubber and Kush that transcend older and new generations. This is a true bridge strain for the young and old, a deserving addition to your desert island stash, and an easy way to impress fellow stoners at the park. Well done, SPCY. It singes the nostrils.

An early adopter of rosin edibles, Colorado solventless extractor Olio has been making top-tier solventless gummies since 2022. As the brand’s fruit chews gain popularity, customers have been able to cash in as well, with consistent flavor expansion and price reductions at the retail level. Olio’s rosin gummies come in standard and sour varieties, and it’s common to find them priced at $12 or less at dispensaries, which is quite rare for strain-specific rosin edibles. The sugar-coated sweets (think Sour Patch Kids, but softer) won’t scare you away with weird flavors, but Olio still keeps things interesting enough with varieties like Sour Grape Soda, Pomegranate Limeade and Tangerine, all of which go down the hatch with ease.

Rewind Edibles is both new and old at the same time, which is exactly what makes these THC-infused candies so charming. A young offshoot of Mountain High Suckers, Rewind Labs makes dispensary edibles inspired by treats and colors of our past. The “Rad Rocks” are essentially THC-infused versions of Pop Rocks, and they taste and explode in your mouth just like the original. The “Elementals,” tubes of infused candy powder that glow under a black light, might evoke memories of making Creepy Crawlers in the garage or backyard. Even Rewind’s logo and website are bright and reminiscent of Microsoft WordArt and AOL landing pages, making its edibles all the more fun to snarf down before watching an old episode of Legends of the Hidden Temple or throwing around a whistling Nerf ball.

Have you seen the world right now? Not great, Bob. Wildfires, unsolicited political opinions, a continued lack of mainstream comedies in movie theaters … when will the burning end? Probably never, but at least you can fight fire with fire with Champagne Patties by Single Source. The smell of rancid fruit and gasoline, a product of its Mimosa and Donny Burger lineage, might scare the uninitiated away at first, but they’ll quickly come to love the aroma and look of Single Source’s cut, which sweats trichomes and has the color scheme of a petrol rainbow. The comforting high is mellow and high in “fuck it” side effects, leaving enough energy to enjoy life without sweating the small stuff. And if it’s the big stuff that’s troubling you, take another rip, because the news will still be there to scare you tomorrow. No use letting the Champagne go flat.

Cannabis laws largely prohibit any semblance of THC-infused milkshakes at restaurants or dispensaries in Colorado, but whipping one up at home is easy with a bottle of Dialed In Rosin Drops. Each jar is filled with an ounce of unflavored simple syrup and 100 milligrams of solventless hash rosin, so all you need to do is pour a little in the blender along with your favorite ice cream and milk, both of which are high in fat cells that love binding to THC and enhancing its intensity. The hashy flavor found in most rosin edibles is nearly impossible to detect in Dialed In’s Drops, so keep your pour hand steady as you add this versatile THC syrup.

Weed gummies are great, but their vast popularity also makes them kinda boring. Bravo to Bachaz for spicing things up, literally. A small-batch edibles kitchen, Bachaz was founded by Beatrice Carranza, who wanted to share some flavors of her Mexican childhood with American dispensary shoppers. Carranza named her company after a Spanish slang term for a joint roach to honor the “most intense and savory part” of legal cannabis, and her flavor profiles showcase that inspiration. Bachaz’s gummies come in mango, pineapple, strawberry and watermelon flavors, all of which are covered in a chamoy and tamarindo mixture that fans of Lucas and Tajin-covered candies will appreciate. What are you waiting for? ¡Vamos al dispensario!

Love the smell of that gas in the morning? Even if you’re not a wake-and-bake person, a good whiff of petrol-leaning flower will widen the eyes and bring vitality to the nostrils. (Some say it even adds vigor to the undercarriage.) If you don’t believe us, perhaps it’s time to fuck around and find out with Green Dot Labs. Short for exactly what you think it means, FAFO is a distinct, hair-raising hybrid of Underdawg OG and Han Solo Burger from the Boulder-based growing operation. Such strong gasoline fumes make for one delightful stoner aroma – the kind that has you do a giddy little happy dance at home after work — while notes of hash and fermented garlic remind your brain of the couch-lock to come. Think you can burn a joint of this and exist in public? Maybe you should FAFO.

You can always count on Joyibles to bring a level of creativity to the edibles shelf, whether it’s the brand’s Skittles-inspired Joy Bombs candy or Joy Gum, a line of THC-infused gum that has sadly been put on a hiatus. But what Joyibles currently lacks in gum, it more than makes up for in cinnamon-induced heat with Fire Bombs. These tiny cinnamon hot chews are candy-coated and infused with 2.5 milligrams of THC, and the hot flavor is a welcome change from most of the fruit gummies and sugary flavors out there. Lovers of Atomic Fireballs, Hot Tamales and that godforsaken whiskey, look no further. This is the kind of sweet heat we can get behind.

Maybe it’s the allure of a good deal, or we were just indoctrinated by Happy Meals. Whatever the reason, we love a good combo, and no dispensary has as much fun with it as the Center. Following the model of both a takeout special and staff recommendations at old movie rentals, the Center’s Happy Packs contain various combinations of flower, hash, edibles, vapes, rolling papers and other dispensary goodies, all of which are selected by the store’s featured budtenders. Combos range in price and allow for some customization, such as what kind of flower or hash you’d like, but all of them will save you a few bucks over buying each product individually. There’s no toy or golden Pokémon card included (yet), but the Center’s Happy Packs provide a fun and affordable way to test out different dispensary products while getting to know the staff a little better. Whaddup, Vincent!

Finding a sports bar is easy in Denver, but Tetra Lounge is the only place in town where you can legally light up and watch the game. The licensed venue in RiNo is Denver’s longest-running cannabis lounge, and owner Dewayne Benjamin knows ball. If Tetra is open and sports are on cable, you can count on him to have the action on his flat-screen TVs, especially if his beloved Las Vegas Raiders or Los Angeles Dodgers are playing. Tetra also hosts watch parties for playoff games, big boxing matches and UFC fights, with food trucks and snack vendors regularly on the scene. Even during the dog days of the regular season, Benjamin will usually put a game on one of the TVs if you ask and no special events are taking place. This place really scores with stoned sports fans.

Like the rest of Colorado, Boulder’s dispensary scene has taken some hits over the years, topped off with the closing of popular pot shop Eclipse Cannabis last fall. But the city received a much-needed shot in the arm from Flatirons Reserve soon after. The house dispensary of our favorite new grower of 2026, Chimera Craft Cannabis, Flatirons Reserve is sure to have a deep menu of dank flower. You’ll find a wide display of Chimera’s genetics at the store, with prices competitive against other Pearl Street dispensaries, popcorn buds on sale for less than $15 an eighth, and a nice selection of edibles and extraction brands, from Wyld to Soiku Bano.

Colorado is full of talented extractors and well-stocked dispensaries, so why not enjoy both at the same place? In addition to being home to some of the best hashmakers in Denver, Allgreens quickly evolved as a dispensary with a deep inventory after moving a few miles and adding a recreational license. One-, two- and four-gram buckets of internally crafted rosin can all be had at Allgreens, and each jar brings something to the table. Allgreens is one of the few extractors still working with Sour Diesel, and it has an extensive list of new genetics and interesting combinations, like Crusty Maple (a mix of Black Maple and house favorite Crusty Weasel), Georgia Diesel and the timeless Cheese and GG4. On top of maintaining the best value in town for its own rosin, Allgreens also carries Denver’s other top extractors, such as In-House, Malek’s Melts and Single Source, and usually has old-school brick hash on sale, too. If you haven’t visited the south Denver rosin hotspot, give it a go. Your Puffco will thank you.

Standing out for flower selection is becoming harder in retail cannabis as store inventory becomes more ubiquitous, but Colorado Harvest Company has kept its floral section interesting and updated for years now. On top of a respectable internal cultivation, Colorado Harvest Co. carries the state’s most esteemed growers, like 710 Labs, Green Dot Labs, Malek’s and Single Source, but it’s not all about the most deluxe and expensive here. On top of fair prices and deals throughout the week, Colorado Harvest Co. sells flower from many of its top growers in both pre-packed and deli-style varieties, a rare distinction for persnickety pot shoppers, and it stocks a long list of middle-tier growers that deserve a look, too.

Visiting a dispensary nowadays feels like stopping at a cross between a liquor store and used car dealership, with plenty of low, low prices, product promos and made-up reasons for sales that are actually the regular price. Maikoh Holistics is able to avoid all of the cheesy tactics, however, largely because its budtenders aren’t pushy and the daily prices are just about unbeatable. Flower from SPCY and 710 Labs, two of the state’s best growers, is priced around $30 an eighth or less after tax, with buds from Indico, Locol Love and other popular growers even more affordable. Maikoh’s $70 half-ounce deals are some of the best day-of bargains in town, too, while the pre-tax prices on Green Dot Labs are often below $40 en eighth. And after enough Costco cannabis runs, the loyalty points stack up fast. Now, that’s reefer rewards.

A Cut Above was a longtime favorite among Denver cannabis shoppers, even as the ownership situation fluctuated behind the scene for years and the store went through a mini rebrand. Long story short: The original owners agreed to sell the dispensary to a group from out of state, who changed the name to ACA, but the new group never fully paid the original ownership, resulting in a lawsuit and a brief closing of the store in 2025. Judges sided with the original owner, Hobby Farms, which has since taken back the South Broadway dispensary and reopened it under the original name and signage, with many familiar faces from the initial crew behind the counter. The vast selection, jar lineup and competitive prices are back as if they never left, and the good juju is palpable when you walk in. No wonder this place is a cut above the rest.

Infused mini joints are fastly growing in popularity, and for good reason: These little pocket cannons are no larger than 0.7 grams in total weight and can get the entire dinner table high. You’ll find various price points, and flower and concentrate combinations, but we’re right at home with Seed & Smith’s live resin pre-packs. Each little tin comes with five half-gram joints filled with specific combinations of Seed & Smith flower and live resin. The dogwalker-sized-doinks pack a mighty punch inside of fifteen minutes, and you can usually find them for around $25 before tax, which is much more affordable than similar products. If you’re not careful, these can turn a quick corner smoke into an early night inside, so try to share these with a friend or two.

Cannabis is a fickle game on social media, with most personalities and influencers staying clear of anything that might get their account suspended or banned. Bradleigh Turner, known better as @brollinfingers, doesn’t really care about playing within those rules — nor does she care about joint papers. Miss Brollin is all about blunts, so much so that she’s had to create multiple new accounts and deal with Instagram suspensions before finding some stability with her latest effort. But it’s not just blunts you learn about when following Turner. She’s more keyed into cannabis-friendly events and dispensary products in Denver than just about anyone else, and she has a knack for twisting up blunts for hip-hop acts when they come through town. Turner is somewhere between a professional weed roller, social media personality and cannabis fanatic, and her authenticity (and nonstop view of weed smoke) leaks through the screen.

A relatively new extraction operation that specializes in solventless concentrates, Bubbleman deserves brownie points for trying new things, and accolades for doing them well. While rosin is likely Bubbleman’s main moneymaker, we’re huge fans of the company’s bubble hash offerings. One-gram hash pucks and its two-pack Hash Hits — small disposable pipes pre-filled with milligrams of bubble hash for a quick and easy hash toke — are always welcome sights at the dispensary, but it’s the big bricks that really make us beam. Sold in four-gram slabs, Bubbleman’s bubble hash bricks are sensibly priced, usually $50 or lower, and provide a fun, old-school solventless bowl garnish, allowing you to save the rosin for the dab rig. And, like a bag of chia seeds for your morning yogurt, this bowl topper will last a long time.

Years in the making after a reported $3 million makeover, Cirrus Social Club opened in April 2025, right before 4/20. The swanky cannabis lounge allows guests to peruse a cannabis menu and hit Volcano vaporizers and high-end glass, sip on THC mocktails, and nibble on non-infused snacks from an elevated munchies kitchen. You’ll find a player piano, weekly jazz and monthly live performances from national drag queen stars at Cirrus; special events include burlesque shows and heavily decorated holiday parties. This place offers a sense of class that Denver’s cannabis scene sorely lacked, and you can book reservations on OpenTable for a first date or happy-hour session. Cheers to the new clouds on Colfax. The sense of normalcy was a long time coming.

Plenty of stoners know the tough situation of having a lone Andrew Jackson in your pocket and no weed at home. Gone are the days of a dealer who can hook it up for cheap or put it on your tab, but the Green Solution still has recreational deals to help you survive. A $20 bill can nab you a one-gram vape cartridge, a 100-milligram pack of gummies and a fat Kaviar joint filled with infused flower all day, every day, at a TGS shop. Even a daily toker should be able to stretch that out for a while, and with a dozen locations in the metro area, as well as daily deals and loyalty points, you can take those purchases even further.

Burning on a budget often means sacrificing quality for price. For dedicated hash-pen users who don’t want to give up the luxury of live resin cartridges, Bonanza’s products are the best option for striking a balance. Bonanza live resin cartridges deliver a reliable high and a smooth but strong drag. The rich, herbal hits of oils derived from strains like Sour Diesel and Trainwreck are great for pen-hitters who love the taste of cannabis, not butane. Popular dispensary chains like the Green Solution and Mecca Cannabis carry Bonanza’s one-gram live resin cartridges between $12 and $16 out the door, and half-gram varieties can occasionally be found for around $5.

Between the rising popularity of functional and food-forward fungi and Colorado’s natural psychedelics laws, mushrooms have never been hotter in Denver. If you’re interested in learning how to live and grow within this world of mushrooms and mycelium, perhaps it’s time to go back to school at the Mushroom Classroom. The west Denver learning space runs classes and workshops for everything from psychedelics to tasty delicacies, with introductory cultivation classes, microdosing workshops and grow-bag demonstrations held every week. Beginner, intermediate and advanced mushroom growers are all welcome, and you can even sign up for an introductory terminology course for free.

First dates often revolve around coffee or alcohol, so why not psilocybin? Plant Magic Cafe hosts a monthly Mushroom Matchup dating event, during which dozens of singles participate in a mixer and speed-dating session after taking small doses of psychedelic mushrooms. The unorthodox affair — a legal event for adults 21-and-up under Colorado’s psilocybin sharing rules, according to organizers — is meant to remove the stress and anxiety from first dates, and help participants open up to each other emotionally. After taking a break for the winter, Mushroom Matchup is scheduled to return on April 22 and will be held on the last Wednesday of every month thereafter.