Marijuana Strain Review: Blue Dream Shake at Preferred Organic Therapy

It was recently pointed out to me that I don’t smoke enough of the everyman’s weed. Not in Denver, where shitty weed and light beer aren’t welcome, but in the Midwest, where words like “mids” still exist. My cousins in St. Louis and Chicago laughed when I asked them what strains they like. “We don’t get those,” one said. “We pray for no seeds and something tasty enough that it doesn’t require a blunt.” In no way did that conversation make me want to go searching for mediocre pot in Denver, but it did leave me a little more open-minded as I walked into Preferred Organic Therapy’s new recreational side at 1569 South Colorado Boulevard.

Preferred Organic Therapy, or POT, was still in the process of furnishing the new bud room, but all of its strains were on full display. When I told the budtender I needed a sativa for an afternoon pick-me-up, she recommended the Stardawg Guava and Girl Scout Cookies (strains I’ve had dozens of times), but also said she’d sell me the shake in the Blue Dream jar for $5 a gram. Thinking about how pumped my destitute Midwestern relatives would be to hear such an offer, I bought two grams for $12.26 after tax and drove home while visions of spliffs danced in my head.

Blue Dream — a mainstay in dispensaries because of its combination of high yields and potency — is a slightly sativa-leaning hybrid bred from Blueberry and Super Silver Haze genetics. Known for an intense head high followed by a full-body melt that makes me wonder how sativa-leaning it really is, POT’s Blue Dream kept its sweet Blueberry and piney smells (Pavlovian to me at this point), and there were even a few small buds among the shake. I rolled a fatty bombatty and hoped the leaves wouldn’t leave my voice too hoarse.

A few pulls before lighting were dominated by the taste of leaves, but I wasn’t expecting much nug flavor. The joint burned well and was as harsh as I anticipated a .7-gram joint would be with no one else to pass it to — which probably wasn’t a bright idea. Hacking after one hit too many intensified the cerebral effects: It took me three trips to the garage to remember my lighter, phone and, finally, Gatorade. The body melt never came, but I was hardly upset at not having a comedown at four o’clock in the afternoon.

At $5 a gram, some tasteless shake from POT wasn’t what I left the house looking for — but it was exactly as advertised. And until I’m making Demaryius Thomas money, I’ll keep taking advantage of a deal when I see it.

Strain Gang is our weekly critique of a cannabis strain at a recreational store. For MMJ reviews, go to westword.com/news. Have a suggestion for a strain review? Send it to [email protected].