Loading Up in the Mother Lode

As foothill communities along the I-50 corridor become increasingly savvy to the needs of medical cannabis patients, there are a few stores and new products making it worth a short drive to the Mother Lode, even for us flatlanders.

Two likable off-gridders from Somerset, Will and Ralph have a clever take on cannabis drying racks. Their Omoco multi-tiered racks can be stacked several tiers high and are capable of repeated use. Available in 22-inch and 36-inch diameters, they cost $45 and $75 for a two-tier setup. More tiers can be snapped on in just a few seconds.

“This metal rack will outlast the fabric ones,” says Ralph, “and they won’t sag in the middle.” Each tier can dry over one pound of trimmed cannabis, or anything else from your garden. Omoco also makes inexpensive gopher-proof cages for 5 gallon containers. “If you grow outdoors in the foothills, these cages are a must,” said the clerk at Appleseed Horticulture in Placerville, which carries both Omoco products.

Highlands Wellness in Shingle Springs offers a unique, mud-colored GDP resin hash, made locally from American River Extracts. Resin hash comes from extracted pipe resins, filtered and refined down to a more easily handled concentrate. This brown goo looks more like a specialty product from the Nordstrom makeup counter. But smear a little onto a bud and watch out, because it’s powerful.

For those who want a better technique for handling concentrates, Highlands also carries the Dab Face extracts in a new 500 mg “dap app” mini-syringe. Its micro-dose tip easily screws on and will squeeze out tiny, accurate doses of 80 percent THC. Or try “leaving the tip off,” as the budtender advised. “The applicator works almost as well without it,” he says, “and you won’t lose any of the product inside.”

Finally, Cannadips are cannabis snuff-pouches, designed and packaged to emulate traditional tobacco snuff brands. Each of the 15 pouches contains 10 mg of cannabis. Available soon in mint, citrus and original flavors at dispensaries throughout the Central Valley, Cannadips also work as an effective strategy for quitting tobacco.