2019 Dispensary Pre-Roll Challenge! Does YOUR Pre-Roll Make the Cut?

In the interest of increasing the generally available quality, I'd like to propose the following challenge.

In my experience, pre-rolls are generally the lowest grade cannabis a shop has. It's pre-rolled, meaning you have no idea what is in it without breaking it open. Over the decades I've come across some pretty gnarrly pre-rolls. *hack*cough*


When you roll the roaches from YOUR dispensary's pre-rolls, does it make for a tasty joint?
Is the cannabis from the roaches still terpene rich, with the smoke still smooth and delicious? Obviously it will have a little bit of 'roach' flavor to it, but secondary to the flavors of the cannabis.

How does your dispensary pre-roll rate? Keeping your personal security in mind before answering, where are they located? Anyone wishing to post their answer anon can send it to me by PM. I'll copy/paste the post without your info and delete your pm.

We definitely want the better quality dispensaries getting more business. The only way to change the game is to vote with your dollars. The reality of it is dispensaries are needed by a great many folks, for a great many different reasons. Anything we can do to increase their desire to produce better cannabis will help greatly.

I got some good prerolls once, back before prop 64, (before the normie mersh industry went full Mcnugget) Tasted like alien armpit all the way through (propionic acid). My fave. They call that rancid autism skunkweed today a mere 15 years later. You know, the real complex introspective highs from naughty smelling, rich tasting weed-flavored aka natural weed.. That nasty medical grade stuff for the weird black market era 90s stoner.. Good weed basically gives you temporary savant power, a shame so many minds wasted on wannabe 21st century legal weed.

But it's all about the perfumanenes now, the nonsensanenes, barely-smellonenes, soccermomanenes, dishsoapanenes, dontgetyouhighanenes, isthisevenweedanenes, easy-to-sprayanenes and taste-badonenes. All about thc/cbd and make-believe perfumed novelty nutes and pseudo pharma highs. This is the present of legal American weed, Prerolls or not, normies have ruined any concept of acceptable retail Cannabis, partly by pushing this "a strain for everyone" nonsense while simultaneously accepting full on bottle/res terroir crops that do not reveal a hint of genes, only the taste of nutes and res. Dank no longer means dank to the average person, it can mean stagnant res now. Blue ribbons for all special ed growers, hurray!


Good weed will never happen in a fake society influenced only by the upper echelons of fakeness, a society that clings to OG Kush because Snoop Dogg, not it's flavor or effect. A society that cannot tell the smell of organic Space Queen from the smell of Serenade-sprayed stagnant hydro garbage,or BT infused coco bud from clean soil Catpiss, let alone a society who actually prefers the Regalia or BT and tosses the Space Queen/Cat piss because it smells "rotten/moldy".

Pseudo hipster normie America is scary backwards... Going by evidence alone, America hates good/natural/loud/skunky/sticky/creativity/autsm pot. They choke down botanicare-tainted resin that clings to their lungs indefinitely while denoting expectorant qualities of natural weed as characteristics of "bad weed cuz it made me cough". Lung expansion is now a myth. Flushing is now a visual issue not a chemical poisoning issue. The average consumer tokes "indica only " distillate and throws a fit if their freerolls they get for writing Leafly reviews says hybrid on it. There's NO hope for the legal market. Its dictated by the lowest common denominator and cheapest, shadiest production methods. The entire fallacy around terpenes = weed smell is propaganda to support this type of industry.

Very well expressed, thank you for sharing it.

Your last sentence confused me, until I figured you meant the weak effects, more narrowly defined 'flavor' terpene profiles of today vs. the full and strongly effective profiles of yesteryear. (right?) The very reason you preferred those strains is the particular terpene profiles they have. Did the roaches taste just like the strains? Personally, the few times a year I've had to hit dispensaries, I've not entertained many new strains. I have to say my experience is limited in that regard. Most of what I grow are strains from 20 years ago.

What I -have- noticed about roach flavor, which has nothing to do with strain, is how well it was grown and handled. It's surprisingly easy to add off-flavors to your roaches, since small inputs add up over time during flower. Cannabis is not like most plants in several ways.

At any rate, perhaps it is "too-much" to expect from dispensaries at this point. However, like I can buy a high quality cigar in nearly any city in the U.S.A., I know the day will exist when I can buy a premium pre-roll, and actually enjoy it past the roach. Who knows, maybe someone is already selling them somewhere. We'll see, yeah?

Nah, all my places would fail this on their pre rolls. a few of them offer "pre packaged moon rockets" but i'm pretty sure that ISN"T what you are talking about.

Its only a matter of time, before ounces and half ouunces are available in a pre manicures and pre rolled format.

lol, ouch.

Same here in the Cortez, Co area. I still pick up the occasional pre-roll for the wife. The roaches all smell and taste like an ashtray, which stinks up the room they're smoked in. We smoke cannabis all day, and you can smell the pre-roll smell almost exclusively for half a day afterward. heh

I've trek'd the majority of southern Southern Ontario Canada (windsor to trenton and all inbetween)

Its all mostly the same, pre-rolls are bottom of the jar end of the week stuff.

It is already stale from being in a massive jar nearly empty for too long. if lucky it will be mostly mixed pop corn buds. Normally its popcorn and shake.

halfway through it tastes like the nastiest resin roach and I normally toss them at that point, putting it out and roaching it at that point creates the most ungodly nasty smell..

It will likely be Brand that jumps on this first, I don't see Dispensaries, atleast around here dip into their high grade - non bottom of barrel for pre-roll options.

First trip to Amsterdam 15-20 years back I got a good pre-roll. At the time it was the coolest shit, I think my wife scrapbooked it. Very good chance that is me looking back with rose colored glasses though as I haven't encountered one I enjoyed since. It's to the point I turn them down when getting as a freebie or I just give it to a homeless dude. Just gross tasting weed that gives me a headache and no buzz.

Cavier pre-rolls can be over 45% total cannabinoids. For those not familiar, Caviar is potent cannabis flowers that are dipped in oil and coated in kief.

At $20 to $30 usd each they aren't cheap.

Kaviar Caviar pre-rolls have a glass tip so you can smoke it all the way down and don't end up with a roach. I like to use my own glass tip when sharing a doobie with dudes.

SuperMac said:

Cavier pre-rolls can be over 45% total cannabinoids. For those not familiar, Caviar is potent cannabis flowers that are dipped in oil and coated in kief.

At $20 to $30 usd each they aren't cheap.

Kaviar Caviar pre-rolls have a glass tip so you can smoke it all the way down and don't end up with a roach. I like to use my own glass tip when sharing a doobie with dudes.

Click to expand...

This is interesting, thank you. What is the end smoke quality like? Still the same flavor as the first few hits, or does it get the strong 'roach' flavor before halfway through? Do they smoke smooth, soft and tasty?

There's definitely room in the market for a few companies to offload premium pre-rolls.

Maple_Flail, this has been my experience as well. I really prefer folks smoke those outside my house, because I definitely can't stand the gross smell from the roaches. lol

Here's a free preroll I got and tore open yesterday.Swear to God some of these pre rolls I rip open are just fanleaves

most prerolls are too tight

Drewsif said:

Good weed will never happen in a fake society influenced only by the upper echelons of fakeness, a society that clings to OG Kush because Snoop Dogg, not it's flavor or effect. A society that cannot tell the smell of organic Space Queen from the smell of Serenade-sprayed stagnant hydro garbage,or BT infused coco bud from clean soil Catpiss, let alone a society who actually prefers the Regalia or BT and tosses the Space Queen/Cat piss because it smells "rotten/moldy".

Click to expand...

what the hell is wrong with og kush and bti?

you think snoop dog has anything to do with the popularity of ogk these days? no..its bc ogk is still the market leader, its still what 90% all dep's here in the epicenter are being planted up with, pure or ogk derivatives...so please give the market and the market demand some credit. Saying ogk is popular mainly for reasons other than the effect and the bag appeal and the nose and taste makes little sense in reality

and do you have a study which shows the effect of bti being anything but safe to humans and animals and insects, besides moth larvae, gnats and maybe one other insect? Do you really think it imparts a flavor onto the weed? its a pretty awesome tool in the commercial growers handbag. Actually various bacteria inoculations are gaining ground in canna ag, and they seem to offer many benefits. Even homemade LAB's and such are showing promise.

also i never had a preroll that was that great...maybe a few, but not higher than one in 10

theJointedOne said:

Saying ogk is popular mainly for reasons other than the effect and the bag appeal and the nose and taste makes little sense in reality

Click to expand...

OGK is extremely popular, because the 'terpene' profile works on pain the way opiods do for many people. Interesting factoid, OG works better for pain when it's a high terpene variety, vs. a high THC or CBD variety.

The point is, DO THE ROACHES TASTE LIKE GOOD OGK terpene profiles in a pre-roll? If so, which dispensary are they at??

I don't live in a legal state, so my pre roll experience is limited to the few times I've visited CO.

And my experiences were not good.

Bad tasting, burning funky, harsh. Definitely not what I was expecting.

Every pre roll I've had tasted like shake and early can leaves. Compared to fresh flowers. But also dispensary buds aren't as good flavor profile as home grown. They do t burn as clean either, most of the time. This too was several years ago on tour.. so I can't speak on it now as I haven't had access to them as of late, but other than to get clones or test something I've only read about, I probably won't go to a dispensary for pre rolls, I've gotten so I don't care for joints like I use to..

GOT_BUD? said:

I don't live in a legal state, so my pre roll experience is limited to the few times I've visited CO.

And my experiences were not good.

Bad tasting, burning funky, harsh. Definitely not what I was expecting.

Click to expand...

Thank you. This is what I want dispensaries to see. Folks should be able to pick up an 'enjoyable' pre-roll, on their way through the state. Colorado has massive cannabis tourism... and this is what they're running across?

Colorado is not alone, it's nearly every dispensary in the union right now. Still waiting for a report of some dispensary somewhere offering premium pre-rolls. Like the best coffee shop in town at 6am, they should have a line out the door when they open up.


Dispensaries... ARE YOU LISTENING??!!

Is that because you hate homeless dudes?

xavier7995 said:

I just give it to a homeless dude.

Click to expand...

I have literally nothing useful to add, but dufous made me think of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr5E52sPVik

Douglas.Curtis said:

Thank you. This is what I want dispensaries to see. Folks should be able to pick up an 'enjoyable' pre-roll, on their way through the state. Colorado has massive cannabis tourism... and this is what they're running across?

Colorado is not alone, it's nearly every dispensary in the union right now. Still waiting for a report of some dispensary somewhere offering premium pre-rolls. Like the best coffee shop in town at 6am, they should have a line out the door when they open up.


Dispensaries... ARE YOU LISTENING??!!

Click to expand...

I know of one place out of Washington - Saints Joints. I think they're in Seattle, or at least somewhere in the Sound.

They only make premium pre rolls out of flower. Same with Liera Cannagars.

I'm going to share a bit of an insiders perspective from a mom n pop. A close childhood friend of mine owned a dispensary for a number of years. Id help out when I could so I saw lots of what he dealt with on a regular basis.

Some dispensaries use premium flower for their house rolls. We always used fresh flower, bottom of the bag shake went to concentrates/edibles. There is little reason to risk reputation by not to using flower, it's selling by the gram--huge markup for the shop! However, the reality is that unless you sell them quickly, its ground up flower, there's not a huge shelf life on that. So what doesn't fly, often get passed out as freebies. Naturally, not all places run the same way. I have seen other owners that rolled up less desirable parts of the plant, but they generally gave them away or sold them dirt cheap.

The comparison to cigars and tobacco isn't ideal because we put additives/preservatives in tobacco to retain appearance, color and taste--even rolling tobacco.

There are brands that offer good prerolls. I wont go into names because it's subjective, but there are lots of quality prerolls commercially produced now. Just gotta do your local research.

Basic consumer tips.

As for house rolls, ask when they were made, from what, and who makes them. Vague answers=red flag

If looking for specific brand, look/ask about packaging dates. Think like the legit consumer you are now! The best flower in the world will lose its luster if its been sitting on the shelf for six months.

Stop being an asshole to the poor budtenders, talk to them how you'd like to be spoken to. Not all freebies are bad, and if the person working the line likes you, they might give you a heads-up before you have to ask shit.

Lastly, Use common sense. If you see an ad that says "a dozen free joints with 1st purchase," be skeptical and ask, ask, ask. Sometimes its just a good promo and sometimes its nasty business.

I honestly hope this helps.

Oh and BTW, in CA i have seen prepackaged 1/2oz-oz joint packs. I'm too poor to buy anything at the shops but they exist! Happy hunting folks!