First Legal Doob

The other day I bought my first legal joint from a cannabis store in Lebanon, Maine. And though pot has been legal in Maine since the election in November of 2016, it felt very odd to walk into a store and come out with weed. .............. Really odd.

Since I have grown my own Doob for years, I seldom had need to try commercial weed. I wanted to check out how buying Doob over the counter would go. I brought a friend along who was well versed in most of the pot shops within a 40 mile radius. As it turned out he was less than useless other than being able to put pins in the atlas. But we had some fun when we got back to his place.

The shop I picked was on the border with New Hampshire. I walked in the front door, which in any other building would have been the side door. It opened into what looked like a very small waiting room one might find at any doctor or dentist's office. There was a window over a counter with a slot under it. Behind the glass sat a gregarious young man who asked me first:

"Is this your first time visiting us here at East Coast Cannabis?"

How did he know? I smiled though and told him it was. He asked for some ID. I slid my license through the slot. He took a picture of it and slid it back through the slot. He then gave me a well worn spiel of how this visit would go down. 

He pushed a button that released the next door and I proceeded into the main store. The showroom was small, maybe 100 sq feet. It was new, cool, and hip people waited behind a counter to sell me whatever I could want in the way of Cannabis products. Well, as it turned out, they did not sell seeds. Mentally, I scratched them off my list of future visits. There was absolutely no bud, or as they refer to it at the store, no flower anywhere to be seen. I was directed to two flat screens hanging on a wall. A multitude of pot strains were listed with their price per quarter ounce, eighth ounce, and rolled joints, blunts and regular. Prices seem to be based on THC content. I looked the choices over, picked a pre-rolled blunt with a claimed THC content of 34% and proceeded to the cash register.

Before I could tell the neo hippie behind the counter what I wanted, he immediately began what was a another well worn spiel he had to give before selling. It went something like:

"We only accept cash, so if you need an ATM, there is one outside at the far end of the building. We do allow you to inspect any product we sell, just let us know what to fetch from the back. There is no removing the flower from the sealed containers for a sniff or a squeeze. All sales are final .......... Now, how can I help you."

All business and professional to this point until I told him my choice, "White Truffle Avalanche".

"You know sir, the Avalanche has a 34% THC level. It is fortified with kief. Maybe for your first visit you might want to pick, oh, maybe the "Pure Durban" or "Blue Gelatti". 

I stopped him before he could name any other strains available. And because he called me "Sir" with hint of condescension, I said:

"Son, how old are you?'

He looked startled. 

"Uh what? How old am I, uh well if it matters, I'm 29."

"Well, I've been smoking pot twice as long as you have been alive. I began growing it in college and then  grew it off and on until this year. I long ago learned to school myself regarding the drugs I ingested. I doubt seriously the "Avalanche" is going to make me cry for my momma or send me to the ER."

He said nothing. His face hardened and he stepped back. "I will be right back with your pre-roll."

He came back with the pre-roll inisde a little glass tube with a cork stuffed in it. My first thought was, "No wonder this joint costs $15.45."

He slipped the pre-roll into a black zip lock bag. I gave him a twenty, got my change and I left.

All in all, if this first experience is any indication of what I can expect if I ever visit another Recreational retail pot shop, I will not be visiting many of them again and actually spending money unless they have seeds to sell. That is my next quest; to find seeds produced in Maine. It would be wonderful to not be paying some outfit in the Netherlands each year.

The verdict on the kief enhanced "White Truffle Avalanche" was a big ho hum, underwhelmed reaction from both my friend and myself. It was certainly good pot. No doubt about that. But neither my friend nor I found it to be worth $15.45. That's okay. I threw some support to a local pot shop and later enjoyed a nice buzz. 

Keep it tween the ditches ......................................

___________________

I thought of the song for this post before I wrote it. This song was an anthem for a small group of heads I often shared joints with back in the day we had all our teeth and all our hair (well except from Tommy, he was bald at age 18 before he even went to college).

Here is "Don't Bogart Me", by Fraternity of Man from the 1969 movie "Easy Rider".