Years after storefront medical-marijuana dispensaries became a fact of life in most of the counties surrounding Puget Sound, Kitsap patients had to either take a road trip or resort to delivery services—that is, until this year. That’s when storefront dispensaries started opening in Gorst, just outside the Bremerton city limits; now they are in Bremerton itself.
Emerald Coast Collective, across from Fred Meyer, wasn’t the first storefront dispensary in town, but opened only a month later. A recent visit showed that Emerald Coast has a selection and prices that rival most Seattle shops, and knowledgeable, friendly budtenders as well.
To Emerald Coast’s credit, they haven’t tried to capitalize on the novelty of storefront marijuana in Bremerton by jacking up their prices (Shelton shops, I’m looking at you); they have an across-the-board $10-per-gram rate for flowers, $240 an ounce. The selection is quite good; on the day I visited, there were close to 25 strains, color-coded for indicas, sativas, and hybrids.
After eyeballing and sniffing a few jars, I settled on an eighth each of Her Majesty, a sativa-dominant hybrid I hadn’t previously seen, and God Bud, a well-known medicinal indica.
Her Majesty has a sweet, citrusy bouquet with fruity undertones. It works wonders on anxiety, stress, PTSD, and depression, but doesn’t have the energetic zing of a pure sativa. It’s OK to smoke Her Majesty at night—it won’t keep you up, and in fact, due to the indica portion of its genetic heritage, in larger amounts it can help with insomnia.
The God Bud flowers were perhaps the best expression of that strain I’ve yet encountered. Subtly but gorgeously tinted with a hint of purple, God Bud’s trichome-encrusted blooms are much fluffier than is typical for most indica flowers, which are usually dense. The toke test revealed them to be quite effective for pain, insomnia, and appetite; keep smoking and you may get pleasantly couchlocked. Don’t stress; lassitude can be therapeutic, man.
While you’re in Emerald Coast, don’t forget to check out their medibles, at the far end of the bud room as you enter. There’s a cooler full of goodies and a shelf of non-refrigerated treats, including Better Budder Bon-Bons for $5 apiece (they’re worth it, trust me—and they come in both milk chocolate and white chocolate), and Almond Joy Treat Bars, which according to the label contain 50 milligrams of THC apiece. I haven’t seen a lab test to confirm this, but the Treat Bars are quite worth the $6 donation, based on the effects. Make sure you have room in your tummy before you take one on, though; it’s a sizable hunk of carbs.
Emerald Coast also had a respectable selection of clones, reasonably priced at $12 apiece (one of the Juicy ladies looked so good I had to bring her home with me), and an extensive selection of oil concentrates for dabbers. New patients get a free pre-roll on their first visit.
tokesignals@seattleweekly.com
Steve Elliott edits Toke Signals, tokesignals.com, an irreverent, independent blog of cannabis news, views, and information.
EMERALD COAST COLLECTIVE 1600 N.W. Roseway Lane, #100, 360-813-1006, emeraldcoastcollective@gmail.com. 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Mon.–Sat.
