Medical marijuana dispensary review: The Kind Room in Denver

Something about the name "The Kind Room" was subtle yet distinctively attractive, and the place has always stood out for that alone among the dozens of other shops along Broadway Broadsterdam's main drag of dispensaries. Yes, I know, the name of an MMC is hardly a reason to visit the place, but after years of driving past, I finally gave into my urge and checked it out.

The Kind Room 1881 S. Broadway Denver, CO 80210 720-266-3136 www.thekindroom.org

Owner: Taylor Snider
Manager: Mike Miller
Opened: November 2007, moved to current location in February 2009.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, Noon to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Online menu: Yes.
Other types of medicine: In-house bubble hash, vendor BHO, vendor edibles.
Handicap accessible? Yes.

South Broadway is undergoing some major renovations right now, and construction work and equipment are making it hard not only to find parking, but also to find the shops themselves. The street was worse than an old ox cart trail in the high country and it needed the renovation, though it probably hasn't helped business for the dozens of shops along that stretch. Parking for the Kind Room currently is down the street and around the corner instead of directly in front of the business.

Manager Mike Miller was in the shop the day I swung by, greeting me warmly, as if I was the first person he had seen all day. Accompanying him was a guy named Terry. No offense to the people in the shop -- and this should tell you all something about my own stereotypes -- but Terry was a taller, balding guy with a mustache to rival Magnum P.I.-era Tom Selleck and the demeanor of a high-school baseball coach. For his part, Miller was a clean-cut guy, probably in his late thirties, who could pass for a youth pastor. Actually, for all I know, he is (there go my stereotypes of non-tokers again). Either way, it was a nice change from the bro-dudes in their mid- to late twenties I'm so used to seeing behind the bar.

The MMC wasn't fancy, but it wasn't sketchy or thrown together-feeling, either. Just clean, simple furniture and a flat, basic gray paint job. To the left when I walked in was a cream-colored massage chair like you sit in at the mall for ten minutes but never would actually consider purchasing unless you were really, really baked. Yeah, these guys bought one. (Talk about undercover stoners.) Also on hand was a dining-room table with chairs set up in another corner and out-of-place yet appropriately funky mirrored panels in part of the lobby celling.

Miller scanned my info and we chatted about the upcoming Halloween holiday. Flossy McGrew's is across the street, serving as a constant reminder that Halloween is coming -- even if it's next year by now. Miller also doubled as my budtender and walked me back through the open doorway to the bud bar once I was finished with the photocopies and flashing of the card and ID for the MMED cameras. I've lately been fighting the urge to make lewd gestures and faces at them -- not really as a commentary, but more just to spice up the day of anyone from the state who might be watching on the other end.

The bud-bar room was as un-decorated and simple as the front room. Large, heavy wooden and glass cabinets take up most of the space, and there are stools for patients to pull up and cop a squat while checking out the herb. The day I was in, there were about a dozen strains on the glass shelf in one of the cabinets, ranging from sativas on the right to indicas on the left, with hybrids in the middle. Another cabinet had a few edibles from Dr. J's, Benjamins and Cheeba Chews. There are no huge jars lining the back wall of the bud bar. Everything is pre-weighed, with eighths in small plastic jars and sixteenths in small plastic baggies.

I'm not a huge fan of the pre-weigh. Sure, it saves time in the dispensary, but herb can dry out in the baggies, and as a patient, you never really know if the buds you are taking home are as good as the examples you looked at in the shop. In the case of the Kind Room, my budtender pulled out an eighth jar of several strains and left the tops off while I checked them out. That won't cause much of a problem if done once or twice, but if a jar gets popped open for a dozen people for even just two minutes, it can really affect how dry things get -- not to mention all those people sniffing and breathing on your herb.

Despite my rant, though, everything weighed out fine at home, and I didn't feel like they were pulling the old bait-and-switch move on me, either.

Miller asked me what my conditions are, and I explained my ongoing nausea and pain issues so he could make a few suggestions. The first jar I sniffed out was the Durban Poison, which smelled more like Chemdawg or Diesel than their jar of Chemdawg x Diesel did. While I question the genetics, the cut seemed to be growing well when it was cut a bit early, leaving it with nice white crystal coverage but a lot of loose, wispy buds and sugar leaves. The same was true for a lot of the shop's current harvest. The sugary-sweet-smelling Super Silver Haze was long and lanky, and the fruity Blue Dream was also a good sample, if lacking a healthy weight and density. On the indica side of things, the Blackberry looked and smelled like overripe blackberries.

The shop also stocked some in-house bubble hash as well as BHO made by an MIP company, A.L. Huxley. I opted not to bring home any concentrates this week, however, as nothing really caught my eye in a way that inspired me to spend the extra dough. I let my budtender make my choices for me this week, opting for the questionable Durban Poison on the sativa side and a crystallized OG Kush x White Widow cross. Eighths will run you $40, but tax is included, so you're really paying under $40 for the herb itself. Miller also said the Kind Room is planning to drop prices more after the stock is beefed up with a couple of more harvests.

Overall, if the center can manage to get grows dialed in and buds looking like they should, the price drop and overall quality will be worth my checking it out again.

Page down for reviews and pictures of the strains William took home.