K........3

Beauty is only skin deep. This is how I'd describe Chalice Farms-Tigard. She looks pretty on the outside but once you see what she's all about on the inside, she isn't as great as you first thought. First, there's the 2 gram minimum which wouldn't be so bad if they allowed you to smell/look at the bud before you bought their prepackaged flower. Also, the prepackaged flower I got was a couple months old and basically fell apart when I opened it. I can say the bud was decent but I wondered how good it would have been had it actually been fresh. The budtender knew very little about any of the strains and in fact when I asked him about terpenes he looked at me like I had two heads and had no clue what I was talking about. The store is big. So big in fact that it looks empty and as if they have little to offer. They would go a long way by offering 1 gram buds and no prepackaging. Oh, and educating their staff wouldn't hurt either.

I've been going to NVA for awhile now. Very convenient location with large selection of flower, concentrates and edibles. They even have a head shop with a wide variety of pipes, bongs, pens & rigs. However, I'm not a big fan of the prepackaged flower. Sometimes the weed isn't fresh and I did have a package come up less than what I'd ordered. The budtenders seem to be hit and miss. Some are very good while others act like its a huge inconvenience if you ask them a question. Also, go in around lunchtime on a weekday and you'll be lucky to find more than one budtender even though the place has 5 or 6 customers hanging out in need of assistance. Their computerized menu/checkout system has a bit of a learning curve and if it's your first time at NVA find a budtender to check you out. The upside is their concentrate and edible selection are the best and the biggest around and the head shop is a bonus.

Sure there are a couple of dispensaries downtown PDX but what downtown really needs is a top shelf dispensary with top shelf weed. This is what I thought I would find at "The Dispensary" but was pretty disappointed. I went over at noon expecting a bit of a wait because of the lunch hour rush but there wasn't any, that should have been my first clue. The budtender, a young beautiful woman, was nice but outside of what weed was her favorites she didn't know very much about the different strains except to tell us what her boyfriend or roommate liked. Eventually, the lunch crowd started coming in and all of a sudden there was only one budtender and like 4 customers in the dispensary and 8 in the waiting area. The budtender told us the shop owner decided to go to lunch and thought nothing of it to have only one budtender in the shop during lunch. That doesn't seem like a sound business plan now does it? Most of the weed looked like it was either old or over dried and many of the buds were like popcorn size meaning they were probably harvested from under grown weed or from underneath the tree where there isn't as much light. I hate to go into a dispensary and not buy anything. I think it's rude especially when you have a budtender helping you. So, I purchases a gram of the Gorilla Glue #4 and a gram of the Nice Cherry against my better judgment. Being familiar with the GG#4 I hit the Nice Cherry when I got home. It was so dry I didn't even need a grinder, I could grind it with my fingers it was so dry. Also had a lot of stem which I overlooked at the store. It smoked like a 70's skunk weed I used to get from the local weed dealer back in the day. The GG#4 was just as dry but without all the stems. Again, I could grind it with just my fingers. It was GG#4 and so it didn't disappoint but I would have liked a bit of a stickier bud, especially for GG#4. This dispensary is in a great location but the owner could use a bit of business acumen and fresher weed.

Nasty @$$ weed that's like sucking the exhaust pipe of a diesel truck. More Diesel than Kush this strain will leave your lungs feeling like they're bleeding. A potent high, if you can get past the smell and taste. Because of the high THC (up to 30%) I wouldn't give up on this strain but it would be near the bottom of my list.

What a delicious strain. This hybrid has a fruity aroma and is an easy strain to smoke or vape. A bit Stoney but not enough to glue you to your seat for hours but when this strain wears off you might want to curl up and take a nap. Just an all around yummy high.

Imagine, an all organic dispensary? Yep, Calyxes! Located in the "village" Multnomah Village in SW, Portland this dispensary offers a "top-shelf" selection of some of the best flower in town. Unfortunately, the selection is limited because their focus is one grower, Green Bodhi. Be careful, if you blink you might just miss it. Nestled right next to some cute condos, with limited parking, and signage that doesn't hint at the fact Calyxes is an actual dispensary (no big green cross or open sign) it's easy to drive right by. I have been there twice, late afternoon, and there was never anyone else in the dispensary. The budtender was not only knowledgable but very caring. It answered all the questions I had and was interested in knowing what I was interested in before presenting me a couple options. Buds are weighed on a scale in front of the customer, placed in glass Mason jars and labeled. Those jars are then placed in a bag and air sealed for freshness. I didn't find Calyxes prices too expensive, especially with the clean green, organic focus. Grams ranged in price from $14-$18 about the same cost as a few other top-shelf and clean green focused dispensaries in town. My biggest concern with this dispensary is its selection. It seemed small in contrast with other similarly focused dispensaries. Having said that I've found a strain they grow/sell and will certainly buy it at Calyxes.

WAY overpriced. Flower other top-shelf dispensaries in Portland have for $14-$18 a gram you can get here for $25. Since there's literally like 2 other dispensaries in walking distance and this one is hidden off of HWY 99, I am very surprised at their price.

Great for chillaxin and smooth as butta. Awesome for pain, too!

Some folks want something for nothing. Don't listen to them. If you want some of Oregon's best bud go to Oregon's Finest. I highly recommend the Nuken which has an unbelievably high THC content and is smooth as butta! This was my first time in their store and the staff were very knowledgable and kind. Thanks, OF!