Pubdate: Wed, 11 Sep 2013
Source: Seattle Weekly (WA)
Column: Toke Signals
Copyright: 2013 Village Voice Media
Contact: 
http://www.seattleweekly.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.seattleweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/410
Author: Steve Elliott
Note:
Steve Elliott edits Toke Signals, tokesignals.com, an irreverent, 
independent blog of cannabis news, views, and information.

BATTLE OF THE BREMERTON BUDMASTERS

Evergreen Health Center, which opened June 1, was the very first 
storefront medical-marijuana dispensary in Bremerton's history. They 
held that distinction for all of a month, until competitor Emerald 
Coast Collective opened just down the street (both access points are 
on Waaga Way). And while Evergreen Health is a perfectly respectable 
shop, a couple of factors work in Emerald Coast's favor in the 
head-to-head (pun intended) match-up.

Those are, quite simply, pricing and selection. While Emerald Coast 
(reviewed here in the July 31 issue) has an across-the-board 
$10-per-gram rate for flowers, the four best strains at Evergreen 
Health are all $12 a gram. And while Emerald Coast typically has 
about 15 strains in stock, Evergreen Health had a scant six available 
the day I visited-in other words, just two $10 strains in addition to 
the four at $12.

Roger, who really is a very good budtender, apologetically told me 
that Evergreen usually has a few $8 strains in stock as well, 
mentioning that the shop was "getting ready for the High Times 
Cannabis Cup," which, when I visited, was two days away. But if a 
shop values serving its customers more than taking part in a 
superficial, glitzy glamfest (after all, ganja-fied glitz is still 
just glitz), something as trivial as the Cannabis Cup competition 
shouldn't affect the medicine inventory.

There may have been only half a dozen strains to choose from, but 
Roger knew the good points of each. He guided me to a $12 pre-'98 
Bubba Kush (the reason pre-'98 matters is because after that year, 
other genetics were introduced into the mix), an exemplary indica, 
and to a $10 Cinex (also known as Cinderella X or Cindy X), an 80 
percent sativa-dominant.

The Cinex would make excellent driving-and-listening-to-music weed-if 
Washington state's benighted "legalization" law didn't criminalize 
driving with anything over 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of 
blood. As it is, you can still enjoy the musical part of Cinex's 
effects without the risk of negative legal consequences; if you do, 
your homework is some stoned, attentive listening to Seattle's own 
Supersuckers, in particular the song "Killer Weed."

The pre-'98 Bubba Kush left a delightful catch in my throat with each 
toke; these are deliciously potent flowers that produce profound 
relief from body pain. The Bubba also lends a pleasant soft-edged 
fuzziness to the thinking process. It makes a good nighttime smoke, 
with each toke increasing your relaxation level all the way past the 
point where your eyelids get heavy.

Evergreen Health also has a good selection of reasonably priced 
medibles, many of them for $6 (mostly cereal bars of the Rice Krispie 
Treats ilk), as well as tinctures and concentrates. Notably, the shop 
has its own CO$ID/aalt32 hash-oil extractor right there onsite; the 
impressively scientific-looking chrome-covered machine is behind some 
plate glass found just behind the bud counter.

EVERGREEN HEALTH CENTER 1405 N.E. McWilliams Rd., Suite 103, 
Bremerton, 360-377-0192, evergreenhealthcenter.com,  10 a.m. 7 p.m. daily.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom