One of the most pleasant experiences as a budtender is the fortune of assisting first time customers in a dispensary; guiding individuals through a complex, intimidating, and oftentimes large menu. Something that surprises me quite a bit is both the number of novice cannabis users as well as the sheer volume of individuals who don’t know what it is that they’re looking for.
So, my first piece of advice to the recreational cannabis novice is to be willing to engage in a dialogue about cannabis with either your friends, family members or your budtender. Keep in mind, this is not an instantaneous process. A dialogue might have to take place in order for you to develop more of an understanding, appreciation, or respect for the topic. You don’t enter the grocery store without knowing what you need and for what meals you’re planning to prepare. Try to think of shopping for your cannabis like that!
Remember, cannabis can take on many different forms. It can be referred to in many ways, often meaning different things. Let’s use the word “hash” for example. The dispensary you are at may have actual hash, if you refer to your plant as hash, this may cause a bit of confusion. Something to be aware of is there is a vocabulary associated with cannabis that spans multiple generations and it can very easily give way to one’s experience or inexperience with cannabis. I recommend educating yourself on some of the different ways to consume cannabis as well as how to properly describe the things that you enjoy or do not enjoy with your cannabis. Have a basic understanding of the offerings enough so that you don’t ask these questions:
Customer- “Do you have joints?”
Budtender – Hundreds. What kind of joints would you like, a single, a pack? Do you want something for day time or nighttime use?
C – “What do you like?”
B – I have an answer, but everyone is different, what works for me will probably not work for you.
C – “What would you recommend for anxiety”
B – What is your relationship with cannabis? How often do you consume? What is your tolerance like? Metabolism?
Your local dispensary is going to have offerings outside of the realm of flower. I would implore you to consider the multitude of ways you can reap the benefits of cannabis flower without having to smoke it. It comes in a variety of tinctures, topicals, edibles, and concentrates that all have their own medicinal and recreational properties that are worthy of the cannabis consumer!
But for now, I want to shift gears back to bud tenders as a source of knowledge.
Budtenders talk about cannabis nearly every day, with a wide range of demographics. Just a friendly reminder, budtenders have very little in common with your previous dealer/plug/guy/person in terms of the way they operate. They are performing a service, a concierge/sommelier type of position, operating in a setting more akin to a therapy office crossed with a bar. Many budtenders are up front, personable, stand up individuals who are willing to engage in honest dialogue about products, their history, the company’s current industry standing, as well as their own personal experience with products.
It’s astounding to me the number of people who shop at a dispensary with limited knowledge of the products available to them – there are a lot of brands and options for nearly every type of product. But because Illinois is overwhelmingly corporatized, a lot of the brands you see are related to or belong to the one next to it! A good example is Cresco. Their products are somewhat tiered in terms of quality. Starting with FloraCal as their premium top shelf offering, their ‘best’ product. Cresco being their mid tier ‘better’ and High Supply being their ‘good’ / affordable line. The strains packaged in FlorcaCal packaging is the same flower found in High Supply- it’s just not a premium top cut cola. Those top cola cuts are reserved for the FloraCal jars. If you were able to wrestle with that- just know that many cultivators are doing this across the board. Another example is PTS with their Paul Bunyan line. Paul Bunyan is their affordable / ‘good’ line offering – the average or first time shopper might not know that the cannabis menu is tiered in such a way.
So my second tip is do your research on what is available to you in the state of Illinois. Look at dispensary menus and familiarize yourself with the categories, brands, and forms of cannabis. Write down questions you have! Outside of dispensary menus, there are a multitude of websites I have found to be great sources for knowledge into the recreational cannabis scene- such as Illinois News Joint, Reddit’s IL Trees page, and other cannabis review sites including my own- can be a starting point resource for those brand new to the topic. I offer you a glimpse into the jar as well as my feedback on the product. You will be quite astounded to see that the world is larger than Cresco, Rythm, and NuEra. Don’t limit yourself.
My third tip is to make sure you have the time to shop EVEN if you have an online order – I already mentioned that conversations are a necessary part of the process. Countless times I could tell people were shocked at the amount of time consumed doing the following even with an online order; checking into the facility, waiting in line, and then paying for your materials. The options on a menu coupled with the variety offered in most places, does indeed take time to sift through, Waiting in line for product to be pulled, and then waiting for the procedural transaction to complete under state initiatives- it is not estranged to spend 20-40 minutes in a dispensary in central Illinois, for the most part waiting. Waiting to get on the sales floor. Waiting for your order to be prepared / placed into a fulfillment cart. Consider what time of day you will be picking up your cannabis- I personally think one of the best times to shop is right at open or mid day. Weekends will always be more busy. Evening when everyone is getting off work is definitely going to affect your in-store experience.
My fourth tip is to make sure you have a valid driver’s license or ID with you. You will not be allowed to shop with an expired drivers license or ID even if it just expired. You can shop with a passport- but you will NOT be able to purchase the maximum allotment for in-state with a passport because it does not have an address attached. Fun fact.
My fifth tip– have an understanding of your local taxes. In Illinois, if you are a recreational user- you will be subject to heavy taxes. It’s a tremendous burden for some and oftentimes after having spent the time getting to know the product and getting recommendations the price tag is just too horrifying to even consider. Just know that most purchases will be hit with somewhere around 20-35% tax rate. Your $50 pre-tax eighth will indeed be more like $65-$70 after taxes are applied with no discount. If you consume large amounts of cannabis, consider pulling the trigger on a medical card and saving yourself money. I’ve heard individuals announce after their very first purchase, that the card has just paid for itself.
My sixth tip– take advantage of all of the discounts that you can. If your dispensary offers a rewards program, join it. If your dispensary has an app, download it. I had people under the impression that joining a rewards program means you’re going to be bombarded with emails- and that was enough reasoning for him not to save money on his purchases. Not wanting to provide an email address… To each their own. There is no reason to give your money away carelessly. When the taxes are what they are there is a need to be vigilant and diligent with one’s funds.
Tip number seven is to tip your bud tenders. When you’re purchasing your cannabis, there is an actual human being helping to ensure and facilitate that the process is executed according to state laws. They’re the ones keeping the facility open. Without their composure, professionalism, and dedication to serve and provide the public with access to cannabis- we would be dealing with a black market. I’ve been treated with great respect by some of my fellow stoners at other local dispensaries, but I’ve also left feeling incredibly frustrated, confused, and beyond tense. The experience of shopping for cannabis shouldn’t be a bad experience. I would encourage you to immediately acknowledge and thank your budtender for their help, even if they’re just trying to make sure you’re having a good time and experience. It will make an impression, and they will want to help you out and bring that energy to you next time.
Tip Eight, don’t consume cannabis on dispensary property. It’s a bad look and the cops can be called out.
Tip nine, you’re entitled to product satisfaction by a lot of these dispensaries. You can get product credits or replacements for bad products. Take videos of your dead carts, take photos of your moldy weed or your bad cures. Make a lot of attempts to document your product issues so that you can get something for your trouble, if it happens to come your way.
Last but not least, Tip Ten. Document your experiences. Establish a journal or log of what works for you and what doesn’t. You’re going find out that there are a lot of things out there that don’t work for you. Document your favorites, and document the things that don’t work. Reddit’s r/ILTrees is a good place to start dialogues, interact with other cannabis enthusiasts, and educate yourself on the local markets and products.
This has been written in the hopes that it will help prepare the less experienced cannabis consumer with some tips and knowledge to make your next trip to the dispensary a pleasant one. I have faith in you. Happy smoking.
-Joey
