Pubdate: Thu, 01 Oct 2015
Source: Westword (Denver, CO)
Column: Ask a Stoner
Copyright: 2015 Village Voice Media
Contact: http://www.westword.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.westword.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1616
Author: Herbert Fuego

WHICH MOUNTAIN TOWNS SELL POT?

Dear Stoner: Which Colorado mountain towns sell recreational 
marijuana? I'm not saying it'll dictate where I go skiing this 
winter, but it would still be nice to know.

Erwin

Dear Erwin: You don't have to lie to save face, Erwin. I'm the last 
person to judge you for planning your Colorado vacation around 
recreational marijuana - and when you see how busy these 
mountain-town dispensaries are, you'll know that you're far from the 
only one doing it. Most ski towns allow recreational sales - out of 
fear of losing tourist dollars, among other reasons - and if the town 
you're thinking about visiting doesn't, there's a good chance the 
next one over does. As of today, Aspen, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, 
Dillon, Eagle, Frisco, Georgetown, Silverthorne, Silverton, Steamboat 
Springs and Telluride all allow recreational sales, but rec stores 
remain banned in Avon, Vail and Winter Park. Check 
westword.com/marijuana for a complete list of recreational 
dispensaries around the state, as well as an updated look at who 
sells what where. Still, if you're flying into Denver before trekking 
up to the mountains, you might want to buy your pot in the city: 
Prices at ski-town dispensaries are routinely higher.

Dear Stoner: I was just at a dispensary that was selling something 
called "live sift," which basically looked like some discolored kief. 
I asked the budtender what it was, and she mumbled something about bubble hash.

Sky

Dear Sky: I don't know what that budtender was talking about, because 
it's definitely not a form of bubble hash. Kief is a collection of 
trichomes sifted from cannabis buds, which "live sift" technically is 
- - but the process of extracting it is a little more detailed than 
shaking around some loose flower in your grinder. Instead of breaking 
up and sifting cured pot like a forty-niner panning for gold, you 
make live sift by deep-freezing freshly harvested cannabis plants, 
then sifting the buds through a couple of micron screens and 
collecting the trichomes that fall through. Just as it does with live 
resin, the freezing process preserves terpenes and oils from when the 
plant was alive, giving live sift an extremely smooth and flavorful 
hit (no more throat-scarring kief). However, unlike live resin, sift 
is free of solvents and is even said to maintain more terpenes and 
resin glands because of it, making it a preferred choice for purists 
and medical patients. If you ever decide to purchase some, treat it 
just as you would kief: a few pinches over a bowl or in a vaporizer 
provides one helluva fade.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom