Fresh and dank buds from some of the best Oregon growers. Quick to tell me harvest dates when I inquired. Knowledgeable budtender, friendly, quick service. Easy i5 access.
When you have Deep Creek, Urban Canna, Eugreen, and Deschutes flower on the menu, plus light dep from Benson Arbor at good prices I'm going to be checking out your shop, even if it's a 40 mile round-trip. Wish I had a shop like this nearby.
Keep up the quality and I'll be a loyal customer. Nicely done. Probably tops in Salem for top shelf. Can't speak about concentrates.
I'm sort of confounded by this place. They've definitely upbranded successfully, it's got a modern clean look to it and the budtenders are generally much more professional and sophisticated than your average weed store. They know their stuff, certainly. It's a place you'd take a friend or relative curious about herb but not wanting to enter a patchouli soaked den of wookies.
My complaint isn't even the fact that it's crazy expensive - which it is, certainly, you're paying a premium for the Apple Store ambiance. That would be totally OK if they brought the heat consistently but unfortunately they just don't. The growers they feature are OK for the most part, like I get the appeal of Resin Ranchers' flower even if it smokes horribly. Northwest Artisan is one I've been pretty impressed with, and Deep Creek and High Noon are pretty well regarded in the generally weak OLCC grower portfolio. But if you're still charging $60 an eighth in this day and age, which seems insane to me, at least make sure the flower is fresh. I recently bought some weed there at top shelf prices that was harvested in February. Almost a year old at this point. That's nuts. I suspect the flower just isn't moving much at these prices, though there's been a few interesting things I've wanted that disappeared quickly.
Perhaps it's just flower that's overpriced and everything else is reasonable. I hesitate to criticize too much because it's a nice shopping experience and I like the crew, but dang, bring in some better flower and price it more reasonably so it stays fresh. I guess at the end of the day it's the sizzle, not the steak.
Also the "fresh drops" program is a good way to build interest and keep people coming through for the new new but often times even those are months old. I know that's part of the OLCC bureaucracy but most shops put up new flower frequently with no fanfare that's been tested a week or two before. I'd definitely go out of my way for amazing flower even at the inflated prices but nothing recently has been attractive enough for me to do so.
It's always busy though so what do I know!
The best spot in Salem and the surrounding area for sure.
Great growers, nice house flower, and awesome employees.
A place you'd being a high-class friend just getting into weed, and a hardened stoner as well. Something for everyone.
This is the place you dreamed of before weed became legal. Classy, well-intentioned, clean.
They'll get my weed buying dollar from here on out for a number of reasons and they should get yours too. I could see this place being a top 5 in the state, easily.
The $50 oz here are better than most of the $10/gram stuff here in Albany. Great employees. In and out quickly even when busy.
I do prefer high-end weed and this place used to be the go-to for that in the region but obviously the oversupply has put a dent on the demand for it such that you don't see fresh drops all that often of big-name growers. They still stock real good smoke but even high-end dweebs like me gotta admit $50 vs $400 for an ounce is an easy choice to make.
Very good customer service and good spread of some of the better growers in Oregon.
All flower is pre-weighed and pre-packaged though, why on earth would you do this? Like I get it for $3/gram boof but putting herb in plastic for long-term storage is just insane. Even spots that get hellaciously busy know this is not wise.
Also the prices are nuts, $20 a gram for the house "top shelf" triangle kush which looked nothing like the the tester nug and was TESTED in January (it's july). No harvest dates on it. Christ.
Like, I get it, this whole system is fucked when there's endless seas of $500/lbs and the custies only want the cheap trash, and then the top-shelf flower rots because A) it's not really all that top-shelf anyway and B) we bought better weed for cheaper in the pre-legal days. But this model reinforces the "why even bother with high quality" mode we all seem to be drifting toward. Nobody wants to buy whole eights unless it's some slamming-ass weed, why stock it and let it get old and terpless?
Props where props is due: their clone room is impressive, with at least one elite cut I saw, which is rare because most everywhere isn't letting loose of good genetics.
Stop pre-packaging and I'll come back. Shoulda walked out the minute I saw that, I'd suggest the same to you.
I have wanted to write this review for quite some time but I always get tripped up by wanting to say too much about it. I love the place and feel almost biased because I like it so much, particularly when you compare it to other dispensary visits/experiences I’ve had. There’s lots of different types of dispensaries around Portland particularly, but when you get down to it, you go to them for one reason and that’s the herb. The branding is decidedly up-market and a cynic might say that they’re really not doing anything much different than your average grower-turned dispensary owner, but with a shinier exterior and an upscale price to match. Of course, with Calyxes the product does actually show substance over style. One of the funnier aspects of the shop to me is that generally speaking weed nerds in the PDX area love and crave Green Bodhi herb (just watch how fast certain strains last at Farma, Oregon’s Finest, etc) but if you ask ‘em if they’ve been to Calyxes they give you a blank stare. Dudes, its in Multnomah Village. That’s still Portland. It takes like 15 minutes to get from SE to there even in traffic. Talking to people you’d think it was in the next county over or something.
Customer service is a funny thing when it comes to dispensaries. I’ve seen a bunch of different attitudes and styles, from the “we just need a body taking the money” to budtenders who essentially size you up and test your cannabis-merit before giving you the time of day. I’ve worked in the service industry for years, specifically in restaurants, and one of the major keys to being a good server is figuring out quickly what kind of interaction a diner is desiring, while keeping in mind what the place does best and what the general expectation is in a place of its caliber. Some people want a jovial, human-to-human experience. Some want their food and to be left alone. You don’t judge a person to figure out which they are, you use intuition and precedent your gentle guidance to get there. When someone comes into a shop looking solely for the biggest THC percentage, you’re going to interact with them much differently than say my mother-in-law looking for something mild to ease her everyday aches and pains. Calyxes kills at this in my experience, I love chatting with these guys about what they like, how different batches vary, which things I like based on my general preferences. I also really, really appreciate that their staff doesn’t fit the cliché stoner-bro vibe that is endemic to many PDX dispensaries. Diversity makes people feel comfortable and included. I also like that they sincerely want to hear your feedback, both about what strains you have enjoyed in the past or what you might want to see going forward. The comment from an old review about them being snooty or something is sorta odd to me, I mean, talk to Kay or Chris there and tell me you weren’t treated well.
The further along you get in your Oregon Dispensary experience the more you know that there are a handful of seemingly bulk/commodity strains that tend to be usual suspects and are everywhere. Having dealt with one of the distributors in Oregon, there’s a reason for this. There is a ton of absolutely mediocre weed that gets pumped out in big volume, and if you’re starting up a dispensary, you’re probably going to be buying some of it in bulk so you have the appearance of choice. Look at Calyxes’ menu at any given time and its noteworthy to see the absolutely crazy, unique boutique strains that pop up from time to time (and usually go quick). Alien Orange Cookies? See that everywhere? How about Sour OG? Catch some Sour Banana Sherbet at your neighborhood dispensary? They even have strains that are completely out of the box like Big Sur Holy Mountain that they essentially had to stop carrying because of customer’s complaints (to me that one was a spiritual psychedelic experience than a common buzz). This isn’t even considering their house strain, Hazy Kush, developed by the owner as a lifestyle enhancement for outdoor activity, which has then been backcrossed into another stellar brain-hack called Mystery Kush. The pollen from these often hit other big name strains like Girl Scout Cookies, Durban Poison, or Stardawg, so if you like Hazy, you’ll also get to see it expressed in different ways. I hope I’m lucky enough to keep trying these great hybrids for as long as possible.
Now, to the nitty-gritty, and to address some of the things I’ve seen reading their reviews that I feel qualified to comment on since I’m a regular at this point. The price issue is certainly one: the prices are somewhat on the high-side, and there’s never a $20 eighth special or anything. Everything really is top-shelf. I basically could just go in there and throw a dart at the board or have the staff pick something out. It’s standardized quality, you know that you’re going to get something good basically no matter what. You will notice that things that have stuck around for awhile for whatever reason will eventually get priced lower to move, but no blow-outs or anything. I think that’s a good idea, this is a high-end place. No need to wreck the prestige feeling. That being said, while everyone has their preferences I think extremely rarely a stinker slips through. When I brought a jar back that I smoked a nug or two out of and strongly disliked they couldn’t/didn’t let me swap it out for something else, but honestly that’s probably good policy. You can’t certify for sure that what’s coming back to you is necessarily the same stuff. I think the employee mentioned that if I hadn’t of smoked out of it they would have happily exchanged it though. A reasonable policy also considering that if they did do that, you’d have people mildly disliking something and coming back immediately wanting something else.
You hear people bitching about the price, and wondering how these guys can even exist in a flooded market, but the prices you see on the menu are what you pay, unlike many places where you get excited about something, then find its $10 more than the listed price PLUS the rather ludicrous 25% sales tax. Also, you bring the jars back to them and get a discount, so more often than not you can walk out with a quarter for less than a hundred depending on what you’re picking. I don’t shop at other places much if at all, but the last time I did I got shitty herb in a plastic container for like $125 a quarter. I had instant buyer’s remorse. That’s not going to happen again now they’re open seven days a week. Again, its sort of unfair to compare anywhere to Calyxes’ standard: its Green Clean Certified herb, which has accountability, versus calling your herb “organic” and hoping you’re honest.
A few other points I see in older reviews is that the herb is too speedy/jittery/picked too early. There’s something to this – it’s a preference of the grower to pick the herb on the early side of the ripeness window. You’re not going to get narcotic pot from this place, and I think that’s a good thing. Sure, there’s stuff that hits harder or is more traditionally couch-locking, but even strains you think are going to be big bruisers are usually more on the up side. It’s certainly worth thinking about though if you have a preponderance for anxiety or need medicine for insomnia. For me, I use cannabis for a number of reasons but the most obvious is ADHD – many of the strains are pure medicine for this purpose, and not necessarily “recreational” to me in the conventional sense. A great example of this is the Jesus OG – that thing is wildly stimulative and focusing but I wouldn’t want to necessarily smoke it before going to a show or something. While everyone is different the budtenders will be able to let you know before you dive too deeply in which way the different strains affect them so you’ll be able to choose wisely. What I would suggest is to perhaps let the more crazy-sativa jars sit just a week or so more before putting them out to sell. I often find that stuff I get there that’s too jittery immediately is absolutely perfect with a week on it (and by that time its almost gone). Who knows how long they’re actually curing the herb and burping the jars, but seeing other growers pushing their product out the door the minute the stems snap I’ll tell you they’re not rushing things. I’m biased though, my sweet spot for herb curing is 6 months. I got into an interesting discussion with a newly minter toker who said that he preferred fresher herb since it “emphasized the sativa characteristics.” Uh, wow, OK. I know a grower in Trinidad/Tobago who won’t touch his land-race sativas until they’ve cured for a FULL YEAR. Smoke some freshly dried Neville’s and get back to me.
Towards the “The weed isn’t 30% THC so therefore it sucks and doesn’t get me high” point mentioned in another review…come on. Testing is the Wild Wild West at this point, frequently I hear that if you send a sample into some places they’ll give you a wildly differing test result each time and its not exactly controversial to suggest there’s some pay-to-get-good-results going on. The cannabis high is much more than THC percentage. Take the Ripped Bubba they had a few months ago for example: it tested at like 16% and just got me absolutely blasted, versus a 30% (!) tested Golden Goat I tried from a local place. There’s no comparison, and no question in my mind the latter had been fudged. It looked commercial and lacked any visible trichs, versus the Ripped Bubba, which was a little spindlier (my preference) and was drenched in crystals.
“The weed was dry” is another complaint I read in the previous reviews, and weirdly I’ve met a lot of Oregon stoners that want their weed so wet it sticks to the wall. I know we all have preferences and whatnot, but that’s not properly cured weed. Stems should be snapping, and any “stickiness” should be just that. Not wetness. Sorry that you’ve been misled. I suspect if you raised that issue with anyone at the shop, they’d tell you the same (politely). Also, Oregon is usually moist in months that aren’t July, August or September, so if this bugs you, just leave the jar open overnight.
I think I said my peace. Honestly I want to see this store throughout Oregon, and later, the country. It seems plausible to me. They know what’s up. Don’t be the person that won’t drive 15 minutes to get what I think is the most primo herb available commercially in Oregon, and stands head and shoulders above the weed I’ve smoked in most of the United States, Canada, and Europe. I eagerly anticipate their moves into seed sales, and other formats of their product like extracts and outdoor. I wish I could just get a monthly subscription to the place so I could get guaranteed access to all of the amazing stuff that often comes and goes before I can get up there.
Starting to think this might be the best shop in Oregon. The store is friendly and welcoming as are the Budtenders. Friendly and connoisseur based interactions. And real importantly, bangin' weed. I love that Goji OG so much, but everything I've brought back has. Been. Bomb.
It's just the vibe - great weed, happy people and no pretense or putting on heirs. Can't wait to get back in.
A rare location so good you tell everyone you know about it, despite part of you wanting to keep the awesome to yourself, a secret weedy meeting place of the knowledgeable.
I love the TJ's grown weed with a caveat that sometimes it smokes a bit more harshly than I'd like. That said, it'd be hard to sit around waiting for the stuff to cure a long time when demand is so high. If you see a TJ'S grown steain on the menu, don't hesitate. It'll be gone in no time. Their Durban is one of my favorite things, but white label, chocolate kush, and Kenny's Cut of Cookies are not slouches.
I love the way they'll tell you all about their stuff, be it grow techniques, nomenclature and lingo, historical origins of strains, you name it. The guy that helped me today was like my weed Doppelganger, we spoke each other's language bigtime.
Honestly I love the downshelf product both for value and diversity, from the gardens of those they vet. It's like a pot farmers market in that sense. I'd smoke through all of it if I lived nearby; just cause something looks a little less than idyllic doesnt man its not good. I love this model. One of those growers of note is Sons of Agronomy, less than perfect looks, consistently chronic.
Top 5 in the state easily. I highly look forward to returning.
It's kind of unfair to review a place after one visit and it only having been open a week, but I think this spot deserves a mention for how they are one of the ones doing it right.
First off, it's service oriented. Nothing's pushed on you in bags or non-representative examples, you are welcome to examine and make informed decisions. They'll be able to direct you toward what you want. I also love the transparency - the growers are listed next to the strains, and one of their main providers is one of only a handful adhering to the clean green program (essentially a more rigorous USDA Organic standard).
It should be mentioned that prices are definitely on the high side. This speaks to the potential clientele and central downtown location, not to mention inherent startup costs and wholesale availability issues. Moreover, by pure appearance, the Sofresh herb leaves a bit to be desired for its top-shelf pricing. But looks of herb and it's quality are only somewhat related, and my judgement on this is reserved until I try it. Further, herb shouldn't really be grown indoors anyway, and I think weed consumers are too hung up on glamor with regard to appearance vs. pleasure of smoking. If it tastes good and smokes and burns cleanly, I could care less what it looks like. Clean Green is a better model.
Clearly these guys know what they're doing, but time will tell how this will work out on a number of levels. I'm rooting for them, and hopefully they and their customers can foster a "rising tide lifts all boats" with the sheer number of nearby competitors and newly legal customers. I was very impressed with the employees and as a weed geek who has been knee-deep in this stuff for a long-time, I can't wait to test their patience with repeat visits and scrutinization. ;)