Despite having friends from Boulder I visit often and a wife who went to CU — not to mention the countless hours I spend in the city — I still find myself with a rather poor sense of direction every time I visit. If it isn’t on Pearl Street or The Hill, I’m probably going to have to circle the block a few times before I get where I’m going.
Want to really lose me? Name your dispensary Magnolia Road Cannabis Company when there is no such road in town (it’s up the canyon in Keystone Gulch, further confusing the issue).
Magnolia Road Cannabis Co.The dispensary actually takes up the corner spot of a low-rise shopping center, with tinted windows and a few discreet signs on the door. Magnolia is in the same 1950s-era shopping center as Boulder Botanics, tucked off of 30th Avenue behind Best Buy. Overall, Magnolia has a much more discreet storefront than Boulder Botanics. That might change soon, though, as Magnolia Road is in the process of expanding to the vacant space next door with a recreational dispensary. I was the only person in during my visit aside from a guy ahead of me finishing up at the bud bar, which means I didn’t spend much time in the waiting area of the shop other than to use the ATM before heading back to the bud bar. But "briefly" is really the best way to see a waiting room. After checking me in with my card and ID, my budtender, Rachel, walked me back to the bud room.
1750 30TH ST. #84
Boulder, CO 80301
720-502-4867
Magnolia Road Cannabis Co.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Raw marijuana price range (members): $4-$7gram, $15-$26/eighth-ounce, $120-$200/ounce. Non-members pay $.50 more per-gram.
Other types of medicine: Edibles, wax, shatter, propane-extracted hash, edibles, tinctures, pipes, vaporizers.
Online menu? Yes.
Handicap-accessible? Yes.
Recreational sales? Not currently, but the shop is opening a recreational half soon.
Stock jars of cannabis were laid out on the counter, with more on the tiered shelves behind the bud counters. Strain names are written on the jars in dry-erase marker. White rubber bands around the jars indicate sativas and black ones are for indicas. Clearly, there was a lot going on, but the shop is otherwise clean and uncluttered. Concentrates are kept in a counter on the far left, with shatter and wax offerings from TerpX, Better Concentrates (an offshoot of Sweet Mary Janes), TC Labs, High Altitude and Craft 710 — the latter with a propane-extracted hash “sap” for $25 a gram. Everything else ran from $30 to $40 per gram. Get in before 11 a.m. on any given day and you’ll get 10 percent off those prices.
Not bad.
The pricing on the buds wasn't bad, either. And neither was the quality, for that matter. Patients and first-timers pay around $15-$27 for an eighth and $120 to $200-ish for an ounce. First-timers get a free gram of bud if you spend over $50, a way of getting you out the door with a sample from the top shelf of the shop. With nobody behind me in line, I got a full tour from Rachel — who was awesome, by the way. It's not often, sadly, that a budtender knows something about each and every stain on the shelf. But Rachel rattled off strain lineages and potential effects like it was her job (because it is, obvi) and was kind enough to keep answering my questions with a smile every time. It’s amazing how such a simple thing as actual customer service can brighten a dispensary and make you want to return again and again — and even more amazing how some shops don’t get that very simple idea.
But, of course, your bud also has to be good.
Lucky for Magnolia Road, the shop is stocked with quality stuff. A potent Strawberry Cough kicked things off, with Rachel suggesting that I vape the strain instead of smoking it to get the full flavor. Also noteworthy was the lemony Presidential Kush, a buttery, hazy, fox-tailed Kizzle that looked like the long, hairy legs of some mutant green spider. Magnolia Road also had a few shop-exclusive strains, such as the Crookie Monster, a cross of Blue Dream and Girl Scout Cookies, as well as Toxic Avenger, which crosses Girl Scout Cookies and Chem 4. The Toxic Avenger looked great, with a sugary, punchy sweetness on top of the fuel-Chem spiciness. But it also had a slight fertilizer/fresh-cut-grass funk to it.
Instead, I preferred the Crookie Monster. The Blue Dream side of it seemed appealing, and I wasn’t disappointed by the uplifting but calming effects of the buds. Dense and tight, the nuggets had massively fat orange pistils for such small calyxes, plus trichome crystals that blinged like a rapper at an awards show. It didn’t stink up the place, however. Broken up, the hydro-grown buds had an earthy, clay-like smell and a light piney finish that showed up a few seconds after taking your nose away. Still, it burned clean, with a light soil finish, in a pipe and offered a potent blast of THC that scrambled me for the first twenty minutes before settling down into a calming, euphoric buzz that lasted for two hours or so.
The Silverback OG was the stinkiest kush in the place, and I was immediately drawn to its rubbery tartness, which smelled like the inside of a Big O tire store. The buds were all marble-sized chunks trimmed from the stalk, sandy-looking due to a dusting of amber trichomes that collected in the folds of the calyxes and leftover sugar leaves. A pretty example of Silverback, a cross of Silver Skunk and Platinum OG, the buds burned with a skunky hashiness on top of the full, earthy, terpene-rich funk of the OG. I immediately put it in the “Let's smoke another bowl of this” category and was really impressed by the potency of the Indica-leaning hybrid. Definitely a mellow strain, but not so mellow that I couldn’t get work done around the house. Where it really worked was for back pain and stress tension. Three or four tokes loosened me like a massage. At just over $25 an eighth and around $200 an ounce, this is the type of bud that would make signing Magnolia Road up as your caregiver a worthwhile endeavor.
Not everything was outstanding, but I wouldn’t have been disappointed to bring home the discount strains, either. The Blue Dream that was selling for $20 an eighth was chunky and crystal-coated, and even the jar of “Headband” that smelled way too hazy to be Headband (it sold at $30 a quarter-ounce) was frosted like a surprise March snowstorm. I left about $50 lighter in the wallet for a quarter-ounce and was happy with my purchase. The buds were quality enough to make stopping in the shop worthwhile. For Denverites, Magnolia Road may be just out of range if it's your only reason to drive up to Boulder — but if you’re in the area and looking to restock, it should be on your map.
Even if it technically isn’t on your map.
