From my experience working for a dispensary from 2007 thru 2009 in the East Bay of California, while also moonlighting at Harborside Oakland as a vendor, and a few dispensaries in SF is that there are many things that come into play.
Smell
Dry/Cure
Size of what's in the bag
Match of Genetics to what the vendor says it is to what it appears to be
Trim quality
Visible signs of how grown (OD, GH, vs ID)
Previous relationship with vendor
Nobody is curing 6 months. Your lucky if you get any cure at all with some vendors.
I've seen the perfect OG purchased for some of the highest prices paid. This dispensary paid by the gram, higher per gram price, meant higher up on the shelf. It turned out that OG was not finished drying and had no cure. As it dried, the OG smell never came out. It looked like fire but tasted like booty, and because the buyer wanted the strain in the inventory, went out on a limb and bought it even though they really had no idea how it would come out in the wash. It didn't come out well.
Top shelf was $60/eighth with $5 increments down to $15/eighth (mexi-brick normally). Grams at the time were $18 for top shelf, down to $5 gram for Mexi brick.
The kicker is that in the $35-$45 price range would be GreenHouse (GH) grown fire or Outdoor often Organic fire. These buds didn't look as good as top shelf but if you knew what you were looking for and had a nose for it, you could find top shelf on the mid shelf on any given day. Obviously, post outdoor harvest in November/December time frame brought out the best of the best in terms of finding that top shelf on the mid shelf.
Over the years, Harborside has promoted Full Sun Outdoor grown to top quality with their own program of putting it in a nice cork topped jar. Still comes in cheaper than the top shelf indoor they are selling. It was always great seeing outdoor come in that looked like indoor, and get thrown on the top shelf, didn't happen all the time, but I've seen it happen more than once.
One of the things that bothered me was when vendors would give the dispensary a good deal on some littles or shake, like $1/gram good deal, and then to see the dispensary sell it for $20/eighth. I often thought that people should get the $10/eighth hookup but never saw it happen. I know we were paid pretty well, but I also knew how much cannabis was selling daily/monthly, and that there was room to pass on some savings to patients in need.
For anyone who has access to Harborside in Oakland, San Jose, or Portland. They have some of the best most knowledgeable buyers in the industry.
Now living in Vermont since 2012 is a different story. Vertically integrated dispensary system has removed competition from what I knew in California. Some dispensaries, I rarely find an amber trichome and am lucky to find anything cloudy even. Hash is compressed when it doesn't need to be with excess moisture and improper cure. Poorly packaged edibles, barely childproof/pet proof. Buds smaller than a dime sold as top shelf, too much leaf/lumber on trims. Hopefully the state passes legalization over the next month or two.
Smell
Dry/Cure
Size of what's in the bag
Match of Genetics to what the vendor says it is to what it appears to be
Trim quality
Visible signs of how grown (OD, GH, vs ID)
Previous relationship with vendor
Nobody is curing 6 months. Your lucky if you get any cure at all with some vendors.
I've seen the perfect OG purchased for some of the highest prices paid. This dispensary paid by the gram, higher per gram price, meant higher up on the shelf. It turned out that OG was not finished drying and had no cure. As it dried, the OG smell never came out. It looked like fire but tasted like booty, and because the buyer wanted the strain in the inventory, went out on a limb and bought it even though they really had no idea how it would come out in the wash. It didn't come out well.
Top shelf was $60/eighth with $5 increments down to $15/eighth (mexi-brick normally). Grams at the time were $18 for top shelf, down to $5 gram for Mexi brick.
The kicker is that in the $35-$45 price range would be GreenHouse (GH) grown fire or Outdoor often Organic fire. These buds didn't look as good as top shelf but if you knew what you were looking for and had a nose for it, you could find top shelf on the mid shelf on any given day. Obviously, post outdoor harvest in November/December time frame brought out the best of the best in terms of finding that top shelf on the mid shelf.
Over the years, Harborside has promoted Full Sun Outdoor grown to top quality with their own program of putting it in a nice cork topped jar. Still comes in cheaper than the top shelf indoor they are selling. It was always great seeing outdoor come in that looked like indoor, and get thrown on the top shelf, didn't happen all the time, but I've seen it happen more than once.
One of the things that bothered me was when vendors would give the dispensary a good deal on some littles or shake, like $1/gram good deal, and then to see the dispensary sell it for $20/eighth. I often thought that people should get the $10/eighth hookup but never saw it happen. I know we were paid pretty well, but I also knew how much cannabis was selling daily/monthly, and that there was room to pass on some savings to patients in need.
For anyone who has access to Harborside in Oakland, San Jose, or Portland. They have some of the best most knowledgeable buyers in the industry.
Now living in Vermont since 2012 is a different story. Vertically integrated dispensary system has removed competition from what I knew in California. Some dispensaries, I rarely find an amber trichome and am lucky to find anything cloudy even. Hash is compressed when it doesn't need to be with excess moisture and improper cure. Poorly packaged edibles, barely childproof/pet proof. Buds smaller than a dime sold as top shelf, too much leaf/lumber on trims. Hopefully the state passes legalization over the next month or two.
