This dispensary has closed.
The storefront and decor at Local Product of Colorado have been set up with the utmost care.
But their actual local product and its pricing may need some attention.
Local Product of ColoradoLocation: 1260 22nd Street Phone: 303-736-6850 Website: www.localproductco.com Hours of operation: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week. Owner/manager: Jason Katz Opened: September 2009 Raw marijuana price range: $40-$55 Other types of medicine: Oil, kief, hash, edibles, wax, tincture, clones. Handicap accessible?: Yes.
For a place that has so much going on inside artistically, Local Product of Colorado has a pretty subtle storefront. The unassuming building near the corner of 22nd and Larimer Street has a few head-high signs with green mountains posted on the tinted windows, but otherwise fades into the background of the nearby bars and clubs. Inside, though, the space opens up into a huge entryway and waiting area that felt like the lobby of a boutique downtown hotel. The huge windows facing the street stream light onto the polished, brick-red, stained-concrete floors and funky oil paintings that hang around the room. Along the far wall are several striped armless chairs and a couch with several large-print color portrait photos hung over the cinder-block wall.
Manager Jason Katz, who notes that all of the pieces hung in the shop are done by local artists, says the center plans on showcasing as many Colorado products as in can in addition to the Colorado-grown herb in the back. The shop also has two large brushed-steel cases featuring the work of local glass artists alongside other Colorado-based MMJ products, such as the Organic Wick. Katz is hoping to tie membership at the shop to discounts at other nearby businesses, though he didn't say which ones.
No paperwork to fill out: The staff just copied my paperwork and sent me back to the equally spacious dispensary room. The long, L-shaped bud bar is broken down into sections, with herb, edibles, concentrates, pipes, vaporizers and joints all in different sections of the counter. There's also a case containing several homemade gift bags and combo packs, each with varying amounts of small tins filled with grams. Herb is kept in squatted glass jars with labels on them. The layout is welcoming, and the budtender gave me plenty of time to ask questions about edibles, most of which were from local producers like Gaea's Harvest and Simply Pure. Overall, the place was winning me over with how mellow everything was and how well stocked it seemed to be in both edibles and strains.
The shop lost me, though, when I started looking at what they were selling for $55. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I've paid $55 at shops over the past year without saying anything about the price. But lately, as the market gets more and more competitive, I've seen the price of comparable "top shelf" herb drop to $45 at several places. Maybe it's just me (though I know it's not), but over the past few months, I've found that it has be pure fire for me to want to spend $50 on an eighth, and I'm having a harder and harder time justifying paying more than that -- especially in Colorado, where I never paid over $50 on the black market.
That said, the shop does offer lower-priced strains at $40, $45 and $50. According to Katz, price breaks are based on things like look, smell and medical potency. The more valuable product has had more care in drying and curing, he maintains. During my visit, the center also had specials on single grams and $250 ounces (I did not see what strain or quality the zips were) and signing Local Product up as your caregiver does bring top-shelf eighth prices down to a very reasonable $42, along with other member specials like free spliffs.
And Local Product of Colorado did have some good cuts, including some of the most real-fruit-smelling Grapefruit I've ever encountered and a cut called Mint that I couldn't get out of my nose. There was also an interesting looking Cali Orange x OG Kush cross, COOG, though the smell wasn't anything like the oranges-in-a-tennis-ball-can smell I hoped for. The center's lower-priced strains, like the Cali Orange, looked decent -- but I kept thinking about how my money has gone farther at other shops in recent months. Still, I walked out with a split eighth of two $55 strains just to see if maybe I was missing something.
Page down for strain reviews and pictures.
Mint ($55/eighth) Popping open the jar of this Matanuska x Grey Mist cut was like opening a pack of Wrigley's Doublemint. Breaking the herb up in my fingers let out a general sugary-fruit smell underneath, and reminded me of a pineapple mint I had in my herb garden over the summer that made great mojitos. The cut I brought home was clean, trimmed well and cured nicely. In the bowl, the ganja had a mild, cane-sugar aftertaste (I wasn't expecting a stick of gum). Medically, this was a well-done hybrid for me that helped me get over an unexpected stomach attack yesterday afternoon. Price tag aside, this was definitely a top-shelf strain for Local Product. Buddah's Sister [sic] ($55/eighth) My budtender recommended this indica-heavy strain after I asked for a good nightcap medication; without even looking at the strain, I told him to bag it up. But what I examined at home didn't look top shelf and actually had evidence of powdery mildew when I broke it up. I know this happens and sometimes can be hard to spot -- but top-shelf herb should be screened for things like this. Aside from the PM, the shapeless bud looked like something that had been rush-trimmed and packed in a turkey bag. I didn't smoke this herb and would have taken it back to the shop to exchange if I was any other patient. I spoke with one manager, Petra, who was apologetic and said the shop would gladly refund or exchange dirty meds. Durban Poison Hash ($25/gram) Local Product carried several different kinds of hash, from butane extracts and CO2 oils to pressed kief and bubble hash. I grabbed a half-gram of the Durban for a good, chunky bubble to put on top of bowls this week when a little extra oomph was needed in my medication. The dark-brown, almost green concentrate sizzled and melted into the bowl while I held a lighter over it, and it burned with a mild Durban Poison spiciness. Nothing full-melt, but no doubt decent, average hash for an average price.William Breathes is the pot pen name of our medical marijuana dispensary reviewer. Read the William Breathes bio here and be sure to check out our archive of Mile Highs and Lows medical marijuana dispensary reviews.
