M........P

This is a follow-up to my review of May 16, 2020. On that occasion I drove the seven miles (Chicago traffic) one way to this dispensary based upon the sweet, sweet promise of a low price on a medical product that I needed. After a person on the phone confirmed to me that the product was in stock, as the product web page also claimed, it turned out that they were totally out of stock, something I learned only when I was there. At that time, their "excuse" was that their inventory system was problematic and that they were working out the bugs. They also told me at that time that their inventory system tends to be unreliable when stock of a product is low, sometimes falsely showing that the item is still in stock. So today, exactly two months later, I decided to give them another chance. What a mistake! I found a cheap and desirable price for capsules, and decided to give it a try. The web site clearly listed the price for me as being $17.70 per bottle of ten capsules. In the grossly overpriced market of Illinois medical cannabis, that's not a bad deal. I "reserved" the product online, and the reservation confirmation affirmed that the price per bottle (I ordered four) would be $17.70. So when I got there, guess what? Golly gee, it seems that they had WAY too low a price showing, and that the bottles were actually being sold for $25 each. Are they just plain incompetent, or is this a "bait and switch" where they offer a low price they never intend to honor, and then think your knees will buckle when you get there and you'll get something at a far higher price. They swore, once again, that it was just an error, and that, gosh, they had put down a wholesale price instead of a retail price. They also told me that they would make no adjustment in price to me to compensate for THEIR (not my) error. One major pricing screw-up I can understand, but now, twice in a row? What good is Columbia Care if the pricing information on their web site is basically fictional? The state of Illinois should investigate this place's inability to list honest prices (I plan to contact them), because whether it's incompetence or deliberate, people are being lured to this dispensary based on totally false pricing information. I will NEVER shop at this place again, because I don't like their bait and switch game. Two utterly wasted trips will be quite enough for me, thank you. If your time, trouble and gas money mean anything to you, you will also be wise to take your medical cannabis dollars elsewhere. I gave one star for quality, because the quality of their online information is garbage, one star for service, because false and/or incompetent pricing is worse than no pricing at all, and is the antithesis of good service, and three stars for atmosphere, simply because the physical atmosphere was acceptable, and the staff showed routine politeness, in spite of the glaring previously mentioned careless and unethical pricing incompetence. AVOID THIS PLACE.

The products make this place more like a pot boutique (I am a medical patient), because there are relatively few items offered, and the prices are usually rather uncomfortably high, with few or no items offered at prices anyone would call a bargain. They tell customers that there are just a few products offered because they only offer the best of the best, but that is really not something that I can personally verify. However, I have gotten products from other dispensaries that seem to me just as good as what this one offers, at least if I am selective. The staff are lovely to the person, so I have no issue with them. However, they DO have a communication issue! On several occasions I have sent messages to info@dispensary33.com, which is the address that THEY have told me to use for general email inquiries, and on close to half of those occasions I have simply gotten no reply, period. What's up with that, Dispensary 33? Do they just blow off email messages because they can't be bothered? Even if that isn't the real reason, that's the way it looks to a customer waiting eternally for an answer that never arrives. The only reason I give them 3 stars for service is because of that non-answering of so many email messages. It is also annoying, because as often as not when I call them, a person doesn't answer, and the caller is given no opportunity to leave a voice mail message, leaving email as the one and only option. It's poor policy to pretend that customers don't exist just because it's too much hassle to answer their email messages. If it's a staffing issue, then they need more staff, end of story.

NOT MADE FOR LEAF OR FLOWERS: First of all, if you've missed this fact so far, be aware that this product is NOT made for leaf or flower, but only for concentrates. It cooks at a temperature that is just right for concentrates, and never combusts or burns the concentrate, as other vape pens are often known to do. This has been my experience, at least. GLOBE ATTACHMENT WAS ESSENTIAL FOR ME: It took me a long time, 2 or 3 weeks, to figure out how properly to use this pen, meaning that I was unable to get an adequate hit from it because I did not know when the vapor was ready for me to inhale. I would repeatedly inhale thoroughly, but nothing or virtually nothing, vapor-wise, would come out when I exhaled. The only way that I DID figure it out was to get the small glass globe attachment (a budtender’s recommendation, which must be purchased separately from the basic Ghost Pen Kit) for the Ghost Pen. Once I had that glass attachment between me and the cooking concentrate, I was able to see when the globe was filled with vapor, and slowly and gently inhale that vapor, and get a solid and effective inhalation. TURNING IT ON AND OFF, AND CONFIRMING THAT IT’S ON: As for how to use the button: five quick presses of the button will either turn on or turn off (it's a toggle switch) the pen. To test whether it is on or off, you quickly press the button (don't hold it more than an instant) and if the light is on when you press, then the pen is turned on. See my paragraph below titled “How I actually use it...” for more on the button’s functionality. ADVISORY!!: If you have functional hand coordination or dexterity issues of a fairly serious nature, you may not want to buy this product, for reasons stated in the section directly below. CAUTION: EXTREMELY FRAGILE COIL IN THE ATOMIZER: First of all, when you take this pen out of the box, DO NOT USE IT until you have learned a few basics about the fragile spring-like coil in the middle of the atomizer, and how not to damage and therefore disable it, which makes it useless, and requires that another atomizer be purchased. Another budtender recommended to me that I never use the included Dr. Dabber dabbing tool (a tiny flattened-out spoon, essentially) to place the concentrate (wax in my case) onto or near the coil, or to collect concentrate already cooked from the atomizer in order to reuse it. The spoon is too wide, frankly, for the tiny spaces adjacent to the coil, on either side of it. In those two spaces, cooked concentrate must be collected with some small tool in order to be placed back onto the coil and further cooked. That way, nothing gets wasted of the pricey and precious concentrate. When doing that collection of partially cooked product from inside of the atomizer, you must take great care not to touch the coil, so as not to damage it. A paper clip (use the shiny steel ones, with no paint) that has been unbent / unfolded is the ideal tool size-wise and dexterity-wise, PROVIDED that you do not directly poke any part of the coil with the end of the paper clip. BE EXTREMELY GENTLE! I cannot say it enough! Place the wax or concentrate onto a part of the unbent paper clip that is NOT the point of the paper clip, and VERY GENTLY dab that product onto the coil, typically by pulling back GENTLY on the paper clip with a lump of concentrate on it, as the paper clip DELICATELY rests on the coil, being careful not to poke the coil with the paper clip in any way. As an alternative method, you may wish to press a small amount of concentrate GENTLY onto the coil using your finger, but it may stubbornly stick to your finger. I use so many caps in my explanation because these atomizer coils are super-fragile, to be honest. I have already ignorantly damaged one, and have vowed to be more careful from now on. However, the rewards will be many if you follow these rules, including lots of money saved by not buying so many atomizers. Come on, Dr. Dabber, you can make your atomizers less fragile than this, folks, and you owe it to your customers. HOW I ACTUALLY USE IT (in my case, with the Globe Attachment), ONCE IT IS LOADED: The concentrate gets “cooked”, meaning that the coil is heating, only while you are actually pressing the button. Remember that when you hold the button down (there is only one button) for more than ten seconds (a long time in vaping terms), it will automatically disengage (the button light flashes a few times at that point) and stop cooking until you release the button and press it again. If you do your initial vaping in front of a mirror, it will help you to get the hang of it more quickly. When the atomizer is cold, meaning when you start your vaping session, it is necessary to hold the button down about 8 seconds, if needed, to see vapor starting to fill the glass globe attachment. Release the button and repeat once, if needed, but for a shorter time period. When you see in the mirror that the glass globe has a certain quantity of vapor in it, then slowly, slowly inhale it. My method is to do a very long and gentle inhale of perhaps 15 or 20 seconds, beginning when you see a respectable amount of vapor in the globe (at least several seconds into the first hold of the button). Release the button and re-push it as needed during those 15 or 20 seconds, taking care to inhale when vapor is visible, and taking care not to exhale at all during your long inhale. This is just what works for me, and your results may be different. By using the mirror, though, and the globe attachment, you will have a much more satisfying and effective experience. WOULD I RECOMMEND IT? Abosultely, but Dr. Dabber should be training people better in how to use these things effectively and to good satisfaction. The enclosed manual is tiny and essentially useless for learning the brass tacks of how to use the Ghost Pen. On that they also need to do better.