L........e

I came here on a whim and I must admit, this is probably a contender for one of my favorite dispensaries, next to Health for Life in Mesa. First of all, the products here (aside from some of the edibles of course) are, for the most part, grown, harvested, and prepared by Tryke, the company that actually runs these dispensaries. I thought that was pretty neat, and a testament to the care put into and quality of their products. (I mean, they actually put their bud in glass jars instead of plastic!) You have to be putting out good products if you're able to run as a self-sufficient dispensary chain. The place itself is rather small, but very clean and professional. They have a really nice pickup area for online orders, and despite the size and popularity of this place, it's very well-organized. Their products are displayed very neatly along the walls behind the counter in their naturally very appealing individually packaged glass jars. Another thing I really liked about this place is that instead of having to use the ATM to pay with cash (where you can only withdraw set increments at a time), they have these "Linx" gift cards that can be loaded and reloaded right there at the register. Sure, there is a $3 fee each time you do this, but my fee at the ATM is almost always a minimum of $3.50; so at any rate, it is both cheaper and more convenient to use the Linx card. I also HAVE to mention how awesome the people here are, from the guy at the front (security?) to the budtenders! The budtender I had, Lo, was AWESOME, definitely one of the best (if not the best) I've had! She was very pleasant to talk to, extremely knowledgeable when it came to cannabis and its terpenes (not JUST THC or CBD), made excellent recommendations for what I was looking to treat, and really seemed to have a passion for what she was doing. Plus, she loves cats, and anyone who loves cats is amazing. Thanks for being awesome, Lo! I will definitely come back here. It is probably the closest dispensary to my house, plus the quality of service, product, and environment can't be beat. Well done!

I stopped by the Reef dispensary in Queen Creek yesterday to pick up something to... pick me up. Had a really rough day with family issues and other life things left me feeling drained, depressed, and anxious. To add a little context so that I can properly convey how shitty I was feeling: following a pretty serious fight with family, I essentially locked myself in the bathroom, took a few slashes at my arm with scissors, then stormed out to my car and took off to no place in particular. I wasn't planning to stop at a dispensary until I had a second to sit down and collect myself outside of what was a presently toxic home environment. This is when I realized I needed some medicine. At first I was thinking I wanted something to just bulldoze me over and put me to sleep; I was thinking of a heavy indica or indica-dominant hybrid. I asked my budtender (who was SUPER awesome btw, check my review for the dispensary itself out), what she recommended for depression and anxiety though, since there were many strains I was not familiar with, and she naturally recommended some sativas and sativa-dominant hybrids. Though I usually prefer indicas, as I usually smoke during the weekend or at night, I decided to give a nice, energetic, uplifting sativa a try in the end. The first strain she recommended was Dutch Treat Haze, which looked and smelled amazing, and happened to be a strain I'd actually heard a lot of good things about; thus, I went with it. The next strain she recommended was Mimosa, which, again, smelled great and apparently possesses very light, happy effects, so I decided to try that as well. I did want to add at least one sleepy time strain to the mix, in the form of GG4. Then she recommended one more... Lemonage. It was a strain I'd never heard of before, and one that she didn't seem to be able to find in the dispensary's strain guide, but she said a lot of people actually preferred that over the Mimosa. I decided that, since the Mimosa sounded great as it is, why not give a lesser-known, house specialty strain a try? I am SO glad I did. Let's get into the actual review here. First, the smell is that of wet earth and fresh lemons; it is stronger than Mimosa's aroma, but still not overwhelming. Very pleasant, and evokes feelings of contentment. When smoked, the smoke leaves a sweeter scent in the air and what is by far one of the least overpowering odors I've experienced from any strain. I got my flower in the form of a preroll, but I did get to take a look at the buds in the "tester" jar I was presented. The flower is a bright green-orange, with flecks of yellow and modestly (but not too modestly) frosted in sparkly trichomes. The taste, like the smell, is also on the lighter side, and reminds me very strongly of lightly sweetened lemonade, sweet earth, and a general herbal flavor. I love my earthy and herbal strains, especially when it comes to settling anxiety, so for all the lemon and citrus notes, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a lot more to the flavor profile than that. Now for the effects... At first, I wasn't quite sure I was feeling much of anything. A few hits of the joint maybe produced a mild calming effect. About ten minutes into my sesh, however... I suddenly just felt inexplicably happy. I wouldn't say I ever experienced strong, full-on euphoria, but I was definitely well rid of my depression. Along with this came a wave of calm and contentment, something that actually helped to ground me and wave off any of the anxiety and stress that had caused me to snap earlier in the day. Fifteen minutes in and I was definitely high, but I didn't feel "stoned". Though I did expect this of a sativa-dominant strain, I was baffled by how "high" I was but also how "high" I wasn't? This strain had a very confusing effect to where my imagination and creativity went wild, and I definitely felt a significant decrease in my fatigue (not to mention my depression and anxiety were totally gone), but I wasn't necessarily "energetic"; I would probably describe the effects as more "bubbly" than anything else. Sure, I could get up and do stuff and would probably love to do some housework, reorganization, and decoration with this strain; but I also just loved to lay on my bed and stare up at the ceiling, lost in imagination and content to just... be. At the time I was actually watching videos on the WeedTube, and they suddenly became much more enjoyable and entertaining, just like housework or laying on my bed staring at the ceiling would have been; hell, anything would probably become more enjoyable and entertaining on this stuff. Overall, I just felt very... happy-go-lucky. The effects were light yet powerful, and my symptoms were absolutely no match for this strain. I think that in order to more accurately describe the effects of this strain I should assign it a theme song, one that just kind of popped into my head as I was coming down: "Hot Air Balloon" by Owl City. As cheesy as it sounds, my soundtrack for this strain would be a playlist of cheery, whimsical songs by Owl City, because this strain makes me feel like I'm living in a cheery, whimsical Owl City song. (It could have also been the fact that this strain is called "Lemonage" and there is a lyric in the previously mentioned song about drinking the Great Lakes like "cold lemonade", maybe?) I just still can't get over how light and cheery of a high this was, totally cerebral, yet still so powerful to stand up to the shit day I was having. It also totally eliminated the headache I had as a result of it all. Pain relief AND a light, happy, bubbly head high? I love this strain. I will absolutely be going to this dispensary again for this strain, even if for nothing else.

I got this strain as recommendation from my budtender to treat depression, and I have to say that this was a STELLAR recommendation! She definitely hit it out of the park. I actually ended up trying this strain for the first time yesterday afternoon after waking up from a nap to some moderate-severe pain in my left arm due to tendinitis. I've had bouts of tendinitis in this arm off and on since high school, and I think the recent resurgence has something to do with swinging around heavy doors at work; at any rate, my entire left forearm was on fire. Having just woken up from a nap, I wanted something that would give me a bit of a "pick me up", but also serve to relieve my pain... so I decided to light up some Tangerine Dream. First of all, this strain smells unbelievable. I thought Pineapple Express gave me those strong tropical vibes and citrus notes... This strain hardly smells like weed. It smells like fresh oranges with just a little bit of dankness thrown in (and even then, it's almost like a sort of... spice). Needless to say, the aroma alone had me excited to try this strain out. It made me happy just smelling it! Of course, the taste was equally as amazing. Got a few more pungent, hashy notes mixed in with juicy citrus on the inhale, with a very warm, sweet citrus taste on the exhale, and a very small hashy aftertaste. After maybe 4 hits or so from my bong, my arm wasn't hurting so much anymore; a couple more hits and the pain was gone, and I was floating in a blissful, bubbly euphoria, just hanging out up in my room and watching some Youtube videos. After I finished I came downstairs and played online games with my boyfriend... then the munchies set in. First it was a craving for ice cream sandwiches... then I thought of fresh-baked motherfucking cookies. So I got up, and (somehow) baked some motherfucking cookies. They were damn good, too, and let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've tried an ice cream sandwich made with freshly baked white and milk chocolate chip cookies. This strain would be great for anything. It's great if you want to get up and do stuff, great to just sit around and watch Youtube or play video games with... and I don't know how someone could stay depressed with some of this in their system. I was pain-free, uplifted, and had a grand old time; probably some of the most fun I've ever had while high, even though I really didn't even do all that much! It might also be worth noting that the strain doesn't have as strong of a "weed" aroma when smoked, either: I was worried that my room would smell super dank after smoking that, because it was hot outside and I didn't want to open the window and let out the cool air. When I went back to my room for the night, I was pleasantly surprised at how mild of a smell still lingered. Nothing like hotboxing myself in my room with something like, say, God's Gift. (Or even the Bubble Gum I have, which, for some reason, REALLY reeks.) There are a few minor negatives with this strain, the main just being your run-of-the-mill dry eyes that can be fixed with a few eye drops. I also did notice a little bit of paranoia for the first time, but that was mainly because a family member had come over to work on something in the garage, and I was worried that they would smell the weed; nothing overwhelming or super anxiety-triggering though. I just chilled upstairs with my phone and Youtube until they left. In summary, this is an awesome strain for depression, pain, and even managed to help with my chronic fatigue (seriously, I never have the energy to bake cookies). Also an all-around awesome strain for some social smoking and just straight up having fun while stoned. I'll make sure I pick up some more of this in the future!

Looks like I'm one of the first to review this new location! I have been meaning to go to their East Mesa location for a while; I had a bit of a rough day yesterday, so I decided to treat myself with a new piece from a favorite head shop of mine (High Maintenance Smoke Shop on Power and Southern). Got a really nice bong from Illuminati Glass, and the guy told me that this new location had just opened, and their new patient special was a BOGO on eighths. I wasn't going to go, but I though... what the hell? I could use some fresh flower to christen my new piece. So I decided to swing by. The place was PACKED. Wait time was about... 20 mins? 25 mins? For the first day of operation though, I didn't think that was bad at all. Very clean lobby, very relaxing, the round chairs in the middle were SUPER comfy for someone with back pain after a long day at work. Over all the lobby had a very zen, chill, relaxing atmosphere... Most other dispensaries I've visited or have seen have more cold-feeling lobbies. The back is equally as warm and inviting, and genuinely looks like a clean, professional medical dispensary. Not to mention, the staff is SUPER friendly; my budtender was Katie (I hope I spelled it correctly!) and she was probably the most awesome budtender I've ever had. She made some super awesome recommendations, and I walked away with a grand total of half an ounce of flower (four eighths, all different strains) for $101; a pretty bangin' deal, if you ask me. I don't think I've mentioned yet how awesome their selection is. Wide variety of awesome products and strains. I got some top-shelf Wedding Cake and Deep Sleep, and some mid-shelf Tangerine Dream and Platinum Blue. VERY high quality cannabis, every one of those strains had its own distinct, signature aroma, and I can feel the tingly euphoria just smelling them. I tried the Wedding Cake last night and god DAMN did I feel great: no pain, happy and relaxed, and I slept beautifully. (I will do some strain reviews later!) This dispensary is a bit out of my way, since I travel down the 60 and it's a bit of a drive down Crismon, but it is absolutely worth it. A new dispensary that blows away most of the seasoned ones. Cannabis connoisseurs MUST check this location out. Great products, great atmosphere, and exceptional staff. I will be visiting again!

I cannot say enough about this strain. Holy shit. This is my new favorite strain. I got a gram of this for free as a first-time patient at a local dispensary, and I am SO glad I grabbed this instead of the Indica I was looking at right next to it. For one thing, the smell and flavor are on point. Pineapple Express lives up to its tropical, fruity-sounding name; each hit brought a strong taste of a tropical fruit cocktail, with earthy/woody undertones to even out some of the sweetness. It hits VERY smoothly (through a bong at least), and is an all-around pleasant smoke. Typically I like to vent my room well after I smoke weed, since the smell can linger a bit much, but I don't mind the lingering scent of this strain; it really is quite sweet and fruity. Reminds me of smoking cannabis in paradise! When I smoked this, I smoked it out of the relatively large bowl of my brand-new bong. I'd only smoked out of it once before, and I only smoked maybe half a bowl, since that's all I had left in my grinder at the time. It was some God's Gift, so it hit me pretty fast and knocked me out; was a great high though, and that being my first time ever smoking out of a bong and having such a great experience, I was super excited to try this new strain (a popular one of Hollywood fame) for the first time using a bong. It was Friday night, after work, and Friday nights are usually my stoner nights where I get high and let my stress of the week burn away with the bowl... therefore, I packed a pretty full bowl. The bowl wasn't even finished and I was gone. And by gone, I mean off in another dimension, another pocket of time separate from that of the rest of the world. One minute seemed like ten, it seemed like I was floating in a blissful, carefree cloud. My body was totally relaxed, but my mind was active, flying free. It. Felt. Amazing. I was completely separated from my pain, completely separated from the stress of the work week. I was existing in my own little paradise without a care in the world (which is absolutely, insanely remarkable considering how I am usually in a constant state of anxiety over everything ever). I pushed myself to polish off the bowl and I am so glad I did, because this feeling only grew. I was super fucking high. Probably too high, but I didn't have that "too high" feeling. I just felt great. Another thing that was absolutely amazing about the high produced by this strain is that it stimulated my imagination to the point of extreme clarity. Like... I'm talking VIVID visualization. Not hallucination or anything like that (I had complete control over what I was picturing as well), but if I tried imagining something, the image or sensation would come to me very easily and very clearly. I do practice witchcraft as part of my spirituality, and visualization is a very important part of this. I feel that smoking some of this could easily bring my practice to new heights. I also absolutely would like to get a "stoner journal" for when I smoke strains like this, because just lying on my bed I came up with some pretty amazing creative writing/fantasy story ideas, and I would LOVE to be able to write them down and revisit them when I'm sober instead of just telling my boyfriend to remember them for me. Things just... came to life in my mind. Seriously. I cannot get over how vividly I was able to imagine visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli. Which brings me to the next part of my review... ***MATURE CONTENT, POSSIBLE TMI FOLLOWING*** This is DEFINITELY going to be one of my go-to sex strains. Idk if anyone else has experienced this while smoking this strain, and maybe it was a mix of the high and my hormones being a bit out-of-whack... but along with that vivid imagery and visualization came a WHOLE lot of horniness. Of course I started thinking about a sexual dream I'd had the night before (and previously masturbated to) and it came back in vivid detail, both visually and in terms of practically being able to feel certain parts of my body being touched... Long story short, I had the BEST masturbation session I think I've ever had. I have never come so much in my life. I told my boyfriend about it (we're long distance at the moment) and he said he'd be open to possibly bringing cannabis into the bedroom after I described my experience; he's previously been pretty hesitant about it. ***END MATURE CONTENT/TMI*** On top of all this, I don't think I experienced a single negative side effect. The high was unrivaled; when I started to come down I did get a bit tired, but it didn't hit me like a ton of bricks like it does with some strains. It just relaxed me enough for me to ease into bed and float off pleasantly to sleep. I had some pretty interesting dreams (actually interesting, like fun) and ended up sleeping VERY well and waking up feeling more refreshed than I've felt in a while. A lot of times when I wake up I feel like I hardly slept at all, even if I slept for 10+ hours; that was NOT the case after going to bed with this in my system. I slept very well, slept in, and woke up feeling totally rejuvenated and in an amazing mood. Best Saturday I've had in forever. I wish I felt this way every morning. Perhaps I'm going to have to make a nighttime ritual of smoking a generous bowl of Pineapple Express... But yeah. Absolutely mind-blowing strain. If you want to create your own little slice of paradise with your high, you MUST pick this up. Every cannabis user should try some of this at least once in their lifetime.

The third strain I've tried, the first true sativa, and oh BOY is this a good one. Before anything else, I have to comment on the taste: the flavor of this strain is A++ AMAZING! When I got this, it was in concentrate form in a vape cartridge from Timeless Vapes. They were having a 15% off sale on vapes at the dispensary I got this from (Nova Dispensary in Mesa, AZ). I told my budtender I enjoy sweet, fruity, floral flavors, and was looking for a strain that is great at relieving severe pain (my menstrual cramps have been AWFUL this time around and I was in desperate need of something other than a heavy indica to smoke for the following reason), while also either not making me any more tired, or even better, LESSENING my fatigue. (I am always tired and run down, I haven't been diagnosed but I'm almost positive it's Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I plan to see a doctor about it once other more pressing medical issues are addressed.) He suggested a cartridge of Clementine. I had never heard of this strain before, so I asked him what it tasted like, and he said it was like eating those little mandarin oranges, or like biting into one of those sweet little Halo/Cutie oranges. He was TOTALLY right! This strain is like inhaling the freshest, sweetest orange you've ever tasted. Also a few other citrus/tropical flavors: some hits taste faintly of lemon and/or grapefruit (mainly in the form of a sweet-and-sour accent), and I picked up on a few spicy, herbal, earthy notes as well. I can't speak so much to the smoke from the flower-form of this strain, but the vapor produced by the concentrate smells AMAZING. Even my grandmother, who's newer to the whole idea of medical cannabis use and previously never much liked the smell of cannabis products, said that the vapor smells great. I'm almost tempted to sit in my car and vape on this so the interior of my car smells all tropical and fruity. Now onto the effects. When I asked what symptoms this strain helped to relieve, my budtender used the information from good ol' Leafly's strain page: stress, depression, fatigue, pain, headaches. Sounds like me in a nutshell. I was a bit concerned because pain was the 4th out of 5 symptoms listed in terms of what the strain popularly helps with, but I decided to try it anyway... and oh my GODS I'm glad I did. First of all, this is a great wake-and-bake strain. Just a couple good hits off this concentrate and I was motivated to leap out of bed, make a decent breakfast, and hop right into the shower. I even took a "full" shower (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shaved everything, and lotion afterwards), which I usually only take once every one to two weeks or so simply because I so severely lack the energy to take anything but a quickie. Now I'm chilling out on the couch, waiting to go out and get my nails done, all nice and clean and smelling sweet and fruity (just like this strain) with soft, clean skin and hair. I feel GREAT! As someone whose depression can destroy motivation and the will to get out of bed in the morning, this is WONDERFUL medicine. Then there's the pain: two hits and I was feeling happy, energized, and motivated. Four hits? My killer menstrual pain? GONE. My pain is often worse in the morning right when I wake up. I rolled over and toked on this, and within minutes, the pain was bearable. A few more minutes and it was gone. Simply amazing. The only thing that gets this strain docked a star has to do with some of the negative side effects. Granted, I did get a little TOO stoned on this yesterday (I mean, it was Stoney Saturday), so it could have simply been because I just partook a bit too much, but after a while I started to experience a pretty severe headache. I know "headache" is one of the symptoms this strain was listed to help, but maybe after a certain amount of it, its effects sort of start to contradict itself. (Or maybe it's just one of those cases of "every person experiences it differently".) In any case, the headache was bad enough to where I had to actually try to take a nap. I slept a couple hours but the headache came back later and I ended up just going to bed early. After a while I also started to notice some dizziness, blurred vision, and disorientation. My eyes also got SUPER dry and burned a little; just really uncomfortable. Over all though, in moderation, this strain is awesome. It provides great symptom relief for both pain AND fatigue, and is a great "get up and go" strain for those who may struggle to get out of bed in the morning. It's not something I would get totally baked on, but a few hits here and there would definitely keep me bright and active throughout the day. I have a feeling this will DEFINITELY remain one of my favorite wake-and-bake strains!

Just an overall awesome, feel-good high. This is the second strain I've ever tried, the first being God's Gift. This definitely doesn't knock me out quite like God's Gift does (predictably so, as that's an Indica and this is a Sativa-dominant hybrid). A great day smoke with the happy and chill-yet-alert feeling it brings. It also hits VERY smooth, and smells and tastes faintly sweet. I'm feeling the effects a bit heavy after two bowls (mind you I am a brand-new cannabis user); not like I wanna nap, but like I could just sit on the couch for hours floating off into space and think up all kinds of crazy stories, songs, etc. I actually was magically inspired by this strain to create a look for my character in a video game that I was having a difficult time deciding on, and, not surprisingly, it came out in "bubble gum" colors (pink and blue), LOL! There's no way I could possibly be depressed on this strain. It's just too happy and uplifting. It brings a TON of creative and pleasant thoughts, not to mention that this strain hits, tastes, and smells equally as pleasant while smoking it. Would absolutely recommend while watching something funny, or when you need inspiration to write/draw/otherwise create something, or while playing a video game, or while reading a good (preferably epic fantasy) book... It's the PERFECT daytime/weekend strain! This isn't to mention too that it knocked out my back pain due to chronic muscle spasms pretty fast; part of the reason I actually smoked two bowls this sesh instead of my usual one is my back has been quite sore this week, especially so after a rough work week. I'm happy, inspired, and pain-free: what's better than that?

So I just entered the wonderful world of medicinal cannabis and this was the very first strain I've ever smoked. I hadn't even intended on buying it originally: I went to the dispensary knowing I wanted to try some Bubble Gum, and figured I would probably pick up another similar, sweet hybrid. But I wanted something to act as a counterpart to that Sativa-dominant hybrid; something that would help me relax, help with pain, and still help with my crippling depression and (sometimes severe) mood swings. Enter God's Gift. The budtender let me smell it and this strain actually smells surprisingly very sweet; it's pungent, but has a predominantly sweet earthy scent to it. Makes it very nice to smoke because even though it still stinks up the room (what weed doesn't, honestly), it's not as overpoweringly skunky as other strains can be. In terms of flavor, the strain tastes exactly like it smells. I personally only got a little of the grape flavor and got a LOT more of the sweet earthy flavor; the only thing I can liken it to would be like inhaling the scent of wet earth following a spring rain. (If you live in Arizona or a similar desert climate, think of the smell outside following the first monsoon rain of the season.) At first I wasn't feeling anything. I thought, "Huh, maybe I really do just have a naturally high tolerance for literally every single medicine on the market." I was SO wrong. After about 5 minutes I started to feel it; my head got light and airy, and it kind of felt like I was floating. A slight dizzy sensation followed, but along with that came a warm, full-body floating sensation. I totally relaxed; I was prescribed medical marijuana for muscle spasms and chronic pain, and I don't think I truly realized just how terribly my back hurts me all the time until I tried smoking weed. EVERYTHING loosened up, and I just laid on my bed feeling... utterly at ease. My stress from the day was gone, my pain was gone, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I could breathe. Naturally, this being my first time smoking, I had to tap out after a few good hits; I don't even know if I finished my bowl. After about 30 minutes following tapping out, I decided to turn in for the night. As someone who usually suffers insomnia, I slept WONDERFULLY; the only reason I'm up right now is my mouth was dry (not cottonmouth, I sleep with my mouth open sometimes due to a stuffy nose) and needed some water and decided to write this review while hydrating. My back is hurting a little again, but I'm still feeling the relaxed effects of the strain, and will probably head back upstairs here momentarily and sleep again like a baby. I have a feeling that after I've been using this new medicine for a while and using it in conjunction with other cannabis products (like CBD tinctures and creams), I won't only have pain relief, but maybe I'll be able to get off some of my psychiatric medication entirely. As this is incomparably more potent, fast-acting, and has far fewer side effects than the Xanax I was taking before, that is definitely one medication I will not be taking again in favor of this strain. In short: a sweet, earthy Indica that knocked a brand new cannabis user like me on their ass. Maybe a bit powerful for a first time, but oh my god did it do the trick. Instant relaxation, instant pain relief. God's Gift really is a gift. I will be smoking this again; it is a wonderful night-time smoke and a single hit or two after getting home from work would probably do wonders.