I can’t speak for all dispensaries because I’ve only been to a few, but after a while I realized all of the products they have are disgusting trash. None of it smelled, tasted, or felt like good weed. It’s all very noticeable in the vape. It all felt very chemical and disgusting to me. I feel like it’s not even real weed what they sell. So yes homegrown is the way to go. I only buy from real growers and am in the process of growing my own.
I get hammered every time I say shit like this, 'cause people think it's nostalgic, hippie/boomer bullshit. But I strongly believe, nah make that _know_ that cannabis that has been cared for and taken care of, will give you a "better" high than industrialized/commercialized large scale grown cannabis that's been topped, pinched, forced into early flowering, or otherwise abused in a desperate attempt to create more buds.
Just like Chateau Latour wine tastes better than Boone's Farm (do they still make that nasty shit?), I'm sure Boone's Farm produces more grapes than Latour but if the wine tastes like shit and gives you a hangover, which is the "better" wine?
The best taste/quality evaluation, imnsho, is to take a total tolerance break for a month, or as long as you can hold out, and take 3 hits of each sample a couple of hours apart. Last time I was able to do that was in 99 and is the reason I became infatuated with Northern Lights. It was better than the skunk even though the Skunk smelled _so_ much better. A cut 'n paste from the site:
"...In 1999, my wife (met the love of my life after the divorce) and I decide to take a cruise to Alaska. I had heard about a place called the Blunt Brothers from the BCGA forum, so I made plans to visit. I walked into the store, lurked around for a while then went up to the counter and asked if he'd seen Vic High around. He gave me a wft look but someone else asked how I knew Vic. I told them via the BCGA site and I was hoping he could hook me up with some BC bud I'd heard so much about. The guy gave me a skeptical look, so I said, "Look, I didn't want to be the first dumbass American to get caught smuggling buds _into_ BC, so I didn't bring any of my own." He started laughing and told me where to go.
A couple of streets down, I go into a basement area of a store, ask "What do you have for sale?" and the guy uncovers a display area with different kinds of buds and hash. Holy fucking moly! I'll take some Skunk, a couple of grams of hash and what was my second choice from Jock, Northern Lights. After we get onboard, my wife and I completely agree, the Skunk smells better but the Northern Lights _is_ better. Both of them are better than the hash, what a supreme disappointment. Tasted like it did in high school but didn't have the same effect. Buds better than hash, imagine that."...
