Best Dispensary Bang for Your Buck 2016 | Lightshade | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Scott Lentz

Everyone loves cheap weed, and if that cheap weed happens to be good, then all the better. Unfortunately for us, those two qualities don't usually go hand in hand at a dispensary. Lightshade is the exception to that rule. The Denver dispensary chain has found a nice balance of potent strains and low prices, with skunky cuts of Juicy Fruit, Orange Herijuana and Primus OG at $9 per gram and $30 per eighth — and those aren't daily specials or discounted strains. Every day and every strain will hold the same resin-glazed price tag — no coupon or positive Yelp review necessary.

Best Dispensary to Impress Your Pot-Hating Father

The Clinic

Your old man is in town and disapproves of your newly found freedom, and you don't want him to continue living in the dark. What to do? Go to the Clinic. On top of award-winning strains and some of the most knowledgeable budtenders in town, the Denver-born chain is known for its charitable contributions, which includes hundreds of thousands of dollars given to the National MS Society since 2010 and annual donations to Colorado's PrideFest. If the pot-for-a-good-cause route doesn't work, take him to the annual Clinic Charity Golf Classic to hit some balls after a joint of the clinic's barrier-breaking Durban Poison. There's not a man out there who hates both weed and golf.

If not by virtue of being one of the only cannabis-friendly classes to stay around longer than six months, Puff, Pass & Paint's award is easily earned by the warm, funky vibe created by local artist Heidi Keyes every Thursday and Saturday as she walks students through a self-described experience of "Canvas and Cocktails, but with a cannabis twist." Keyes will take you on a step-by-step journey to a trippy painting as you consume as much (BYO) pot as you choose, but if the haze inspires you to go off on your own, she's just fine with that, too. And if you want to do more than smoke and paint, keep an eye open for periodic Bob Ross-themed classes, Puff, Pass & Pottery sessions, and cannabis-oriented cooking classes.

2087 S. Grant St.
[email protected]
puffpassandpaint.com

Unless you grew up in Denver, the name Pig 'N Whistle may not evoke much nostalgia as you drive by the medical dispensary on West Colfax Avenue. But anyone who remembers boxer Eddie Bohn's famous complex — a motel, barbecue joint and lounge on the Fabulous 40 strip patronized by such celebrities as Jack Dempsey and Roy Rogers — can't help but appreciate the skunky-smelling homage sitting right where the original Pig once did. Sadly, Bohn's place burned down in 2010, but the pot shop that rose from its ashes remains committed to keeping the Pig's memory alive — as well as doing a little burning of its own.

Readers' choice: The Giving Tree of Denver

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