Medical marijuana dispensary review: Nature's Cure III in Denver

My budtender was a middle-aged guy with a mustache and the same friendly, positive outlook as Bruce from Family Guy. He had a personal aside for almost every one of the strains I went through, pointing out whether the sativas were too speedy or the indicas were too day-ending. Another budtender -- a younger woman with a punk-rock thing going -- helped out at the counter, too, throwing in her two cents now and then. It was a nice change from the flat-brim bro-dude budtender who just nods at strains and describes herb with a floating scale of "fire" (fire, super fire, bomb fire, forest fire). Instead, the Flo was "lovely" and the Super Ogre was "very fun," while strains like the Super Lemon Haze smelled "delightful".

Super Ogre from Nature's Cure III.

The shop had more than a dozen strains on deck when I stopped by, most all falling in their super-low $25/eighth price range. Also available were four or five "top shelf" strains on display as well, all selling for $35 an eighth. Nature's Cure III grows all of their herb in a hydro setup, which for the most part results in a lot of herb for them -- but not really much top-tier quality. Of course, for the super-discount pricing being offered (eighths sell for $25 and ounces for as low as $150), there's really not much I can complain about here. You get what you'd expect to get: fluffy buds without much character to them. Sure, a few strains, like the top shelf OG Kush and Purple Urkle, had some stank to them and probably wouldn't have been bad to take home -- even at their $35/eight price

The stock jar was filled entirely with popcorn nugs like the ones above, sporting dirt-brown hairs and a dusting of thin trichomes that hid underneath the sugar leaves left behind. It had a spicy, Chinese-food scent working out of the jar in the shop that dulled in the bag overnight. Smoked, the bud popped and cracked like a wet campfire log and burned to a similarly charcoaled ash that gave off only the faintest hint of piney OG flavoring in the very first hit of the tippy-top of the bud from a crystal clear pipe. Stoney as hell, though, which kind of made up for everything else. I threw out my back snowboarding a few weeks ago and the lingering pain has made me take notice of strains like this. It's not quite as effective as hot needling or a stone massage would be, but it's noticeable relief nonetheless. I'd just like to see this grown out to a more enjoyable fullness and flavor, especially when it's offered as a top-shelf strain.

Kali Dream from Nature's Cure III

But others, like the wispy Strawberry Cough, premature Northern Lights and generic MTF were exactly what you'd expect $25/eighth Colfax meds to be. The Kali Dream, for example, had a piney, almost minty aroma to it out of the jar in the shop, with the bright orange pistils curling around the slim, tiny calyxes. Trichome coating on the buds was decent, with a lot of clear and silver crystals in the folds of the bud itself. Broken up, the buds smelled artificially fresh, like a Tide dryer sheet, though they burned with a dull, hashy taste. The instant, middle-of-the-forehead Sativa buzz was unexpectedly strong for the first 45 minutes but tapered off quickly, leaving me with a case of cottonmouth and a paltry appetite.

As I figured from the get-go, the shop didn't carry anything mind-blowing; it pretty much relies on low prices to get people in the door. And hey, if you're the type of person who cares more about saving $5 or $10 on an eighth than how well a strain was grown, the relatively clean buds are probably right up your alley. That, and the staff was beyond-friendly and I can see how it's a nice shop to come back to again and again -- like a stoney version of Cheers.

Read more reviews from Westword's medical marijuana dispensary critic, William Breathes, in our Mile Highs and Lows blog, and keep up with all your Colorado marijuana news over at The Latest Word.