Marijuana Strain Review: Lee Roy at Green Man

Only a fool ignores his audience, and foolish is how I felt after finally visiting Green Man — after failing to follow the recommendations of many readers for months. It wasn’t like I didn’t believe them; a friend of mine once had me try some Ghost Train Haze that he’d bought at Green Man, and it was one of the finest versions of the strain I’d ever smoked. But after learning how much he’d paid for it — over $20 per gram! — I turned a little green myself. My stubbornness held true for a few months, but after continuing to hear praise for the two Green Man dispensaries, I finally surrendered. I walked into the Green Man at 1355 Santa Fe Drive expecting some mouthwatering, mind-melting buds at Midwestern prices.

And that’s exactly what I found. Green Man’s cuts of Skunk Berry and Super Lemon Haze could glow in the dark, and each had a unique odor that was full of different terpenes. (There was even a jar of coffee grounds on the bud bar to cleanse the nostrils between sniffs, which pot geeks love.) The $60 pre-tax price tags were a bit of a turnoff, though, so I went the cheap route and bought a gram of the low-tier Lee Roy for $17 after tax. Although it was on the bottom shelf because of its stemmy buds, the indica-dominant hybrid gave off intoxicating citrus and pine aromas that lured me like a gin and tonic.

Evergreen smells continued to bounce around my nose as I broke up a half-gram for a morning joint. The budtender had been kind enough to pick out some of the larger nugs, so I was able to appreciate the electric-lime and amber colors, and it looked almost as beautiful broken up, radiating with bright green and orange hues as I caressed it with a rolling paper. My remaining buds were covered in a blanket of opaque trichomes that only made me wish I had more of it, to shake in a kief box. Even as the well option at Green Man, Lee Roy was off to a very impressive start.

Five minutes into the joint, I was glad that I hadn’t underestimated its potency. My eyes started tearing up after a few hits as flavors of pine and lemon-lime took over. The fresh, earthy tastes and aromas were a great example of the connection between hops and cannabis, because I couldn’t stop thinking about dry-hopping a beer with this shit. Although it left me slightly higher than I’d planned for, Lee Roy’s effects didn’t kill my productivity; in fact, it subdued my back pain while I shoveled snow. But for an indica, the effects were much mellower than I’d expected. A Citra IPA would’ve gone great with this strain; too bad I smoked it at 9 a.m.

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