This dispensary has closed.
Fittingly, Boulder MMC is right next to the office of Boulder's pot-friendly congressman, Jared Polis, who has repeatedly stood up for state rights to medical marijuana. Boulder MMC owner Frank Horwich says the congressman has been over to his shop a few times, adding that Polis seemed to like what he saw. And he should.
Boulder MMCThe shop isn't overly done up or made to look fancier than it should -- but its pleasing, Asian lounge-meets-art-gallery feel defies the college-town vibe of so many other Boulder dispensaries (check back next week to see what I mean). Though the designers didn't stay away from the ubiquitous green paint nearly every dispensary uses, they did tone it down to a mellow, earthy olive color that contrasts with the orange-tan wood floors and mauve accent walls. Persian rugs separate the patient lounge and receptionist desk from one another in what is otherwise a large, breezy space.2006 Pearl Street in Boulder
303-449-2888
Hours:11 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week Owner/manager: Frank Horwich, Ryan Anderson Opened: November 2009 Raw marijuana prices for members: $10-$14 Raw marijuana prices for non-members: $12-$16 Online menu: Yes Other types of medicine: Hash, tinctures, edibles, BHO Handicap accessible? Yes
If this is what Congressman Polis is thinking of when he's fighting for the rights of medical marijuana center owners to have bank accounts like operators of every other legal American business, then I'm cool with it.
I was the only person in during my visit, so I went straight from walking in to filling out paperwork at the reception desk while shooting the shit with the three women running things that day. I was given a short spiel about the various massage services they offer, including something called Rolfing -- which I later learned is a way of increasing movement through controlled stretching and massaging. These wellness services are offered to the entire community, although I imagine this service works out about as well as it does for other shops who try it. Which is to say, patients don't usually take advantage of those services; all they want is a place to get quality herb.
And as I learned when I made my way back to the bud bar, Boulder MMC has plenty of it. The bud bar was toward the back of the shop in a cozy little room packed in with heavy wooden display shelves. A glass-and-wood display case full of hash, tinctures and a few edibles separated me from the budtender, and a refrigerated display case full of edibles buzzed in the corner behind me.
Strain selection was great, with nearly thirty different cuts on the shelves broken down into three price and quality categories (four, if you count the jar of mixed shake they sell for $10 a gram). Members can expect to pay between $35 and $42 per eighth, with price drops as the weight goes up. Non-members pay a bit more, capping out at $45 per eighth. All prices are before taxes, though, which put an eighth right under my maximum cutoff of $50.I mostly stuck with the upper-shelf herb, as that was where the in-house-only strains like Super Noff and Dutch Treat Haze were hiding out. Other impressive cuts included a piney, menthol Jackie White, a spot-on OG x Chem cross, and a frosted cut called Dank 13 that was a cross of the shop's Dutch Treat Haze with a Skunk. Owner Horwich says his business partner, Ryan Anderson, doubles as head grower and has been cultivating cannabis for more than fifteen years. He adds that Anderson is constantly coming up with new crosses -- products that have become something of a trademark for Boulder MMC. Everything is run in an organic soil mix indoors, and from the looks of the fat, healthy buds and fall colors on some of the sugar leaves, Anderson lets the buds develop for as long as they need to.
The hash also looked well produced, with at least a dozen of the in-house strains all crafted into two or three different micron sizes. The hash was left unpressed, in a pebbly, rocky texture. Shitty hash makers miss the step of drying and curing their product, rushing it out wet and bragging about how much it sizzles under a lighter. Hash like this melts down and bubbles up properly. At least I assume it does. The problem with the Boulder MMC price structure is that an eighth of herb put me at $50, and my broke ass wasn't about to drop another $20 for a half-gram of hash. Spending $70 for a half-week's medicine might be okay on the college trust-fund budget, but not for tight-belted weed critics.
The shop does have lower price levels, too, though, and some strains, like the Dutch Treat Haze, could be found on more than one shelf. Prices also go down the more you purchase, which is nice, although I don't think I'll ever get past charging more per gram than per-gram on an eighth. No need to make people who can't afford even an eighth of herb pay more for their meds in the long run.
But fixable issues like pricing aside, Boulder MMC is among the few shops I've been to in Boulder worth visiting twice based on the meds alone.
Page down for strain reviews and photos. Dutch Treat Haze: $45/eighth (non-member price) Horwich is right: Master grower Anderson knows his shit, and this cross of Dutch Treat and an unnamed haze is one of the more powerful in-house strains I've seen. Very tight but well-formed calyxes with dark-green sugar leaves, some browning out in fall colors. The herb was clearly given time to do its thing, and the coating of hash-tan and dark-brown trichome heads was visible from the naked eye. In the shop, I got a berry-hazy finish from the unmolested, perfectly trimmed buds. Broken up at home, the bud smelled like cherry-flavored children's Tylenol and brought back memories of choking down that icky stuff when I was sick as a kid. It left my fingers oily, with a hashy smell that lingered for a few hours. Light, hazy finish to the smoke. Nothing as powerful as a straight Super Silver, but still enough to give a slight funk to the air and tickle the nose on the way out. Overall, it was well grown, well dried and well cured -- generally a winning trio. A big bowl of this left me foggy for a good thirty minutes before blasting me with sativa-strong focus and attention. It did little for my appetite, but was perfect for the raging ADD I tend to have when trying to write these reviews. Super Noff: $45/eighth (non-member price) Another of Boulder MMC's high-testing strains, the Super Noff is also another in-house wonder created by Anderson. In a test back in January, the strain topped in at over 23 percent THC, with a healthy 1 percent CBD. My budtender said the current crop is even better in terms of potency and overall bud development. Like the Dutch Treat, the herb was fully developed and ripe with trichomes, but it was missing any gnarly-funky or mouthwatering sweetness in the smell department. The Super Noff had a much harsher burn than the DTH, too, with a rough, borderline-seedy taste on some hits -- nothing like I would have expected from the look of the beautiful buds. I poked and prodded and didn't find any sneaky passenger beans inside, though my thorough scoping showed that the bud was harvested well into the darkening of the trichomes, with a large majority of the color recalling wet Gulf Coast sand. Still, this cut was stoney as a rock. It was the type of relaxation from a strain that begs for a hammock, a book and some Pink Floyd. Unfortunately, it also called for a hit or two of some flavorful Chemdawg or something similar to leave a good taste in my mouth.William Breathes is the pot pen name for our wandering medical marijuana dispensary critic. Read more of his reviews here, and catch up on your pot news on our marijuana blogs.
