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Best New Dispensary

The Center

Thomas Mitchell

After operating at 6853 Leetsdale Drive for almost ten years, the Center moved into a different neighborhood in 2023 — but its new digs aren't your typical storefront. The old brick building on South Broadway has been there since the late 1800s, serving as a firehouse until the 1970s. The Center's ownership put over $3 million into purchasing and renovating the building, which now hosts one of the area's best-stocked dispensaries. On top of getting high on history at the Center, you'll have your pick of Denver's most popular growers and extractors, including 710 Labs, Green Dot Labs, Iion, Lazercat, Locol Love, Mighty Melts, Single Source, Soiku Bano and more. And if you're trying to save a few bucks, the Center's internal growers aren't slouches, either.

Best Way to Share a Vape Cartridge

O.Pen Sesh

Released in late 2023 with a $200 price tag, the Sesh was a hot toy on the block for cannabis users last holiday season. Made by longtime Colorado vape brand O.pen, this unique machine relies on traditional 5/10 cartridges — the most common cart for hash pen batteries — to fill up a glass with THC vapor, which users then inhale all in one hit. Simply screw in the cartridge at the base, turn on the machine and let the glass fill, then inhale or pass it around. The Sesh comes with a chamber for traditional concentrates such as wax and rosin, as well. Besides giving new life to those half-empty vape cartridges in your desk and couch cushions, the Sesh provides a unique way to enjoy hash cartridges with friends, which never felt quite the same as sharing a joint — until now.

openvapeshop.com

Best Cannabis Collaboration

Rosin Geodes by Malek's and Lazercat

Cannabis collaborations are rare, thanks to restrictive industry rules and a competitive atmosphere, but Malek's Melts and Lazercat sifted through all that bullshit in the name of flavorful dabs. The two solventless extractors put their rosin together for Geode grams that combine both cold cure rosin and rosin jam — two different consistencies of solventless hash — in a limited run in February. The combination of different consistencies looks like a mini tart, mashed potatoes and gravy or, according to Malek's founder Malek Noueiry, the inside of a hollow rock. Combining the different forms of rosin in a dab makes for a full hit with several layers of flavor, and by using different strains for each extraction, the rosin combo hits even more tastebuds. Noueiry said he and Lazercat would likely work together again if the first drop was successful. Based on how quickly it sold out, we expect (and plead) to see more.

Best Savory Edible

Sweet Mary Jane Milkshake & French Fries Bar

Everything Sweet Mary Jane makes is delicious, from the Boulder kitchen's lightly infused popcorn (a breakroom favorite) to brookies. But anyone who's dipped fries into a chocolate Wendy's Frosty knows how good a sweet and salty combination can be. Founder Karin Lazarus, once dubbed the "Martha Stewart of weed baking" by New York magazine, put that combo in a bar, then added a little THC to the mix — and the results are glorious. Each Milkshake & French Fries Bar, a mix of malted milk chocolate and shoestring potato chips, tastes like a cool, crispy dip right after the drive-thru. If that's not worth savoring, then what is?

sweetmaryjanebakery.com

Best Pre-Roll

Green Dot Labs Live Resin Rolls

Green Dot Labs is one of Colorado's best flower and extraction brands, which is made clear after you take a dry puff of the Boulder operation's Live Resin Rolls. Each pack of five half-gram joints is made with flower and resin combinations geared toward specific flavor profiles, so if your mouth didn't water from the gassy, tangerine notes of Reba Jam or the tongue-pinching sweetness of Peach Oblivion the first time, it definitely will with these. The small dog-walking size of the Live Resin Rolls perfectly encapsulates the flavor and potency Green Dot pumps out, but they can still be overpowering for new users. For those of us who can handle it, though, these strain-specific combinations of flower and resin are a welcome slap to the face — like a shot of concentrated juice in the morning — that keeps you high until happy hour.

greendotlabs.com

Best Pre-Roll

Green Dot Labs Live Resin Rolls

Green Dot Labs is one of Colorado's best flower and extraction brands, which is made clear after you take a dry puff of the Boulder operation's Live Resin Rolls. Each pack of five half-gram joints is made with flower and resin combinations geared toward specific flavor profiles, so if your mouth didn't water from the gassy, tangerine notes of Reba Jam or the tongue-pinching sweetness of Peach Oblivion the first time, it definitely will with these. The small dog-walking size of the Live Resin Rolls perfectly encapsulates the flavor and potency Green Dot pumps out, but they can still be overpowering for new users. For those of us who can handle it, though, these strain-specific combinations of flower and resin are a welcome slap to the face — like a shot of concentrated juice in the morning — that keeps you high until happy hour.

greendotlabs.com

Best Cannabis Gift for Romantics

Green Sativa High Notes

Green Sativa, a Denver-area dispensary chain and growing operation, began selling Valentine's Day cards with one-gram joints dubbed Love Notes in 2023. After they sold out in a matter of days, the staff quickly decided to bring them back this year. "This is a fun way for people to appreciate others, and gummies and other things are usually a little higher priced," Green Sativa operational manager Frances Comeau said in February. The $7 canna-grams were made in-house and came with Valentine's Day graphics and sayings like "Cannabe Your Valentine?" and "For My Best Bud," while each joint was filled with herb grown by Green Sativa's cultivation staff. Made for lovers, friends "and even your mother," according to Comeau, High Notes are the ultimate impulse buy, and a fun way to surprise someone important on V-Day.

Best Cannabis Hospitality Service

Colorado Cannabis Tours

Colorado Cannabis Tours has been providing pot-friendly tours around Denver and other parts of Colorado for a decade, with plenty of bumpy roads thanks to overzealous city enforcement. The company is now licensed, however, allowing you to book a cannabis-friendly seat for trips to the mountains, visits to popular art spots around the city, or a tour of a Denver dispensary and growing operations. Once the party bus leaves the Colorado Cannabis Tours headquarters, you can light up and get ready for a visit to gardens run by brands such as Del Mundo Cannabis, where you'll learn about the ins and outs of growing and selling weed. Trips are offered daily and start at $69, with seasonal options like haunted ghost tours and holiday lights excursions.

Colorado Cannabis Tours
1904 South Cherokee Street
303-420-8687
coloradocannabistours.com

Best Cannabis Brand on Social Media

Joints

As if social media's prohibitive policies weren't tough enough, cannabis companies are going through a boring period online right now — mostly educational posts focusing on things we already know about, along with product shilling and weed porn. But where's the fun? Where's the sarcasm? Where's the transparency? It's all on the Joints Instagram page, where you'll find funny digs at cannabis industry norms and stock market bros, peeks inside of a Denver cannabis factory and influencer spoofs. "We're a group of young stoners, and we intend to have fun and communicate that to the market in a way that feels authentic, welcomed and common sense," says founder Hunter Garth. "We're really just talking about weed for what it is and making fun of weed for what it is. We don't take ourselves seriously." In a world full of sales pitches, we could use more of that.

instagram.com/jointscolorado

Best Dispensary for a Connoisseur

Eclipse Cannabis Company

Denver might be Colorado's cannabis capital, but just about every ambitious Colorado grower and hash maker is trying to get inside a dispensary on the outskirts of Boulder. Established brands like 710 Labs, DabLogic, Green Dot Labs and Lazercat account for much of the real estate at Eclipse Cannabis Co., but good weed sells itself, biscuit, and pushing the popular stuff don't mean shit. What this space-themed dispensary does better than others is spot new talent. Premier brands like Bubba's Kush, Red Roots Rolling Co. and Sunshine Extracts all got off the ground with the help of Eclipse. We can't wait to see what's on the horizon for 2024.

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