It seems making a huge markup on marijuana isn’t enough for the poor coffeeshop owners. Go ahead and ask to see a few varieties next time you’re in a coffeeshop. Look for those big buds dripping with white resin. Did you find them? If not, you’re the next victim in the big Coffeeshop rip-off – Shake & Sell!
Most growers and coffeeshop personnel nowadays have discovered the wonders of pollinator and isolator hash, which is the concentrated resin from the cannabis flower. It’s extremely pure and potent, and goes for a very high price, usually double or triple the price of imported hashish. The demand for this has grown as the Dutch preference for these forms of cannabis becomes more widespread.
Unfortunately to get enough to meet their own in-house demand and for those willing to pay the price, most of the marijuana being sold in Coffeeshops now gets “shaken” not once but twice or three times. What does that mean? It means that you no longer get what you pay for. Instead the best part of the cannabis plant, the THC bearing tricomes get skimmed off by “shaking” or dragging them over a screen, or using a pollinator which tumbles the precious buds. Doing this causes the biggest, juiciest resin glands to fall from the bud and thru the screen. This is collected and made into hashish which is then either sold separately or consumed by those supposedly selling you intact buds.
But really this process is akin to “stepping on” the drug, where you dilute it with another substance to make it go further and increase your profits. But rather than adding something, the thing you most want and the substance that gets you high (THC), is being STOLEN from you. You are paying for buds without getting the full amount of THC that was present on that bud when harvested. The cream has been siphoned off leaving you with far less potent marijuana. Just a shadow of what it was.
Do you remember a time when they had microscopes on the dealer counter for you to view those tricomes close-up? Try to find one now. Yup, Amsterdam’s coffeeshops once had pride in the products they sold. Now it’s just another business trying to maximize profits. At your expense.
Some might see some logic in this. After all by “diluting” the THC content, they are selling a less potent product, which is probably a good idea since most tourists who purchase marijuana in Amsterdam aren’t used to the “heavy” stuff. Thus it’s like insurance against tourists overdoing it. Also some might say by allowing the coffeeshops to skim off the best and make more expensive hashish, it keeps down the price of the grass. Sort of a subsidy. For an inferior product. I wonder what the EU Agricultural commission would think about that.
But I say it’s an insult to those who bred the strains to sell a “brand” of cannabis that is anything less than advertised. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do about. Or is there? What if when you go to the dealer’s counter to make your next purchase, you ask if the pot has been “shaken”. Look them in the eyes. Note their response. Check out the buds. Can you see sticky resin on the outside? I don’t mean small tricomes here and there (there’s always some that doesn’t fall off). I mean big beautiful buds covered by tricomes that stick to your fingers.
Are you getting large dense buds? Or somewhat smaller broken up pieces? That’s a sure sign the pot has been well-shaken, and much of the THC has been removed. If it isn’t to you liking, ask to see what they have that hasn’t been shaken. If they don’t have anything else that hasn’t been molested to offer you, then take your business to another coffeeshop. Repeat as often as necessary.
I know there are some coffeeshops and growers who still take pride in what they sell, and want you to experience the full effect of their products. However it’s getting much more difficult to find a fair deal anywhere. So unless you, as a consumer, demand unshaken buds, you will continue to get ripped off.
Next week: Coffeeshop Rip-offs, Part 3: Bio, Hydro, Organic or what?