Cannabis Shopping 101 for Cannabis Vacations
Cannabis shopping 101, here is a brief intro into buying your first cannabis product. So you have arrived at your cannabis friendly destination, you have checked in the hotel and now it’s time for you and the misses to go purchase some legal cannabis.
You find your recreational marijuana stores of choice within walking distance and off you go. As you walk in these places you will always be greeted by someone asking to see your I.D. They will ask you no matter how old you look, so make sure to have it. This has to be a government issued photo ID, drivers license, passport or similar document. It must have a photo.
Now you will either sit in a waiting room, or be ushered to a waiting “Bud-tender”. These great people are there to help you in your selection of products, by having intimate knowledge of their stock. They should be able to educate you on not only the basics of Sativa vs Indica, but what strains are in that dank smelling hybrid your looking at, or what type of dosage is recommended for any edibles. Now most places will let you look and sniff, but don’t touch it!! That’s a foul. So be sure to ask if you may take a look and smell and they usually will oblige. Some stores have jewelers magnifiers so you can really see the crystals, don’t be afraid to take advantage of these as they work amazing to see the beauty. Also ask to see any hash or concentrates, don’t 
want to miss out on any great stock they may have. So lets get with Cannabis Shopping 101
Buying Cannabis Flower- (bud)
Now you see many choices in front of you, what to buy?? I have seen this many times and because of the vast selection some stores have, this can be a overwhelming feeling. So I always suggest to everyone, “Find something that smells great to you.“, your body has a way of connecting to the smells and alerting you, “This is it!! Buy this!!” So find one Sativa dominate and one Indica dominate that you love the smell of, take it to the magnifier and look at it. Does it look covered in white crystals? Does it look to be trimmed of all the “leafiness” and just a solid dense nug? Ask the bud-tender about the THC or CBD levels of them. Once your happy with what you have found then you can get a few grams of each. Not to much though, no need to waste money and you can always go back. They will have your purchase already pre-portioned or will weigh it right in front of you. Most places will also have pre-rolled joints, some strain specific (meaning one type of cannabis in it) that you can purchase.
Hash, hash oil and Concentrates –
Now this isn’t the hash of the 60’s, oh well maybe some of it is, but a lot has changed since those days. In the last 6 years cannabis oil and cannabis concentrates have come into a new realm of existence. The forms of cannabis concentrates out there vary now with new ways of processing coming out. Concentrates can made with water, super cooled Co2, alcohol or butane. The typical types of concentrates you will see in the retail stores are,
- Hash oil – normally very thick consistency, dark green almost black.
- Wax – a more purified hash but still gooey and sticky. Has fats and plant matter.
- Budder / cheese / flake – These are all similar to each other. These are better then wax as most of the liquids and residual fats have been removed.
- Shatter – This is the most potent of all the concentrates. This has all of the fat and liquids removed and it can be brittle, gold or amber in color.
- Bubble Hash / Ice melt – This is one of the most cleanest and healthiest ways to produce and consume hash, this product is made with ice, water and filters
- Live Resin – Plant is harvested, full plant is shredded, blast chilled, and purged with C-O2. By far the best you can buy for flavor.
(Edited 5-26-2017)
Cannabis Edibles / Cannabis Infused Drinks –
There are quite a few selections now when it comes to edibles. These are very safe and work great when done right. All edibles should have the potency marked clearly on the label, an ingredient list and expiration date. Most edibles you eat now come in pieces, to make consumption amounts easier to monitor and to help you have a safe time. Eat only 10 to 20 milligrams! You can get paranoid and anxious if you take to
Candy pieces / Gummies –
You will see a lot of different types of small hard and soft piece candies. These are great for small doses of cannabis and easily controlled. They have all types of flavors from cherry red fish to peach rings. They normally are around 10 milligrams of active THC per piece but can vary slightly. We hope these get changed to the shape of cannabis leaves, but keep the same flavor, this way you can tell whats is infused and help to keep away from kids.
Chocolates –
These come in a few different forms as in the normal candy world. You have your gourmet type chocolates, like white chocolate truffles or Carmel filled dark chocolate.
You will also see chocolate bars. Some will be very small like 4 x 2 inch shape or like a normal looking bar. They have strawberry, blueberry white chocolate bars made with real fruit. Crunch type bars, nuts and caramel and peanut butter cups. These have a design in them to be able to break them into small even doses
Baked-
You will find brownies, blondie bars, rice crispy treats and granola bars all infused with cannabis. These are harder to measure the dosage because of being one piece. We have heard cutting them with a knife into 6 pieces (at least) and eat 1 wait 2 hours for effects to help monitor dosage. Some manufactures have began to make small bite size doses to make dosages easier to monitor.
Drinks-
There are a lot of great infused drinks on the market. You will find fruit punches, sodas and teas. These deliver a quicker buzz and have to be carefully monitored. We have heard of using a shot glass and drinking one shot, wait 1 hour for effects to help monitor dosage.
Tinctures-
This is basically hash oil with a flavoring mixed in. They are taken by placing a dropper full under the tongue, letting it soak in or swallowing it. Take no more then one dropper full per 2 hours wait for effects. They come in lots of flavors and they taste great,I love the vanilla.
Lotions, patches, topical-
These are for pain relief only. You normally won’t get a real “high” from them but they can have a very relaxing effect. They have 12 hour patches to topical creams. The patches work great for calming you down, relaxation, joint, back and muscle pain. Lotions are great for the joints and muscles.
This covers the basics of Cannabis Shopping 101 and what you will see as you shop in the over 21 states for retail cannabis. Always make sure to smoke responsibly and dose slowly. Never drive intoxicated from any substance. Have a fun a safe time while your vacation.
Iron Lungs – USAWeed.org contributor.