10 years in business logo 10year Anniversary Sale - 10% OFF Discount code: "HAPPYANNIVERSARY"

The Colorado Cannabis Tour Experience

Wednesday March 18, 2015
Denver Tour Group Image CCT

Homegrown

Until recently, Colorado’s tourism industry was built on a reputation for breathtaking landscapes and lively, varied culture. But there’s a new industry that’s attracting tourism in Colorado, that’s quite literally growing, after residents amended their constitution to allow adults legal, personal use of marijuana. Visitors of Colorado hoping to gain insight into this emerging industry will find it in an afternoon with Colorado Cannabis Tours.

The Features

Meet & Eat at Cheba Hut

cct-dank-goo-balls

The tour meets at a downtown Denver sub shop called Cheba Hut. Colorado Cannabis Tour staff check guests in and welcome you to make yourself comfortable. If you’re hungry, Cheba Hut gives tour participants 10% off their “toasted” subs and salads. My favorite menu item was the Goo Ball, made from honey, rice krispies, cocoa, and heaven.

This is your first chance to get to know your fellow tourists. The tour I went on had a friendly and talkative group. Contrary to common stereotypes, every single person in my group seemed like a perfectly pleasant, average American. Most people were from the midwest, some were parents, with ages ranging from early 20’s to mid 60’s.

Rollin

slow-ride

Once everyone checks in, it’s time to board the limo and head to the first stop on the tour. The limo is really its own attraction, because once aboard, you’re allowed to smoke. This is where the innate anxiety of being discovered or suspected as a pot smoker fades away. Participants can experience the delight of fearlessly enjoying a personal freedom, riding nonchalantly with a thick cloud of smoke billowing out the vent on the roof. This is probably the moment when out-of-state visitors will start to grasp what legally possessing up to an ounce a day of weed really means. The CCT policy on smoking is “BYOC,” but don’t worry if you didn’t have a chance to purchase any marijuana yet. Once the tour gets rolling, there’s no shortage of people happily willing to share with you.

Medicine Man

fresh-marijuana-plants

This is where the knowledge and sophistication of the tour is apparent, and the place where your curiosity about the infrastructure and system behind growing marijuana is encouraged. You will learn about the entire production cycle, the strategies of the growers, and get a chance to get an immediate and firsthand look at the process of growing and harvesting these plants on a massive scale.

My favorite part of this stop was the Green Mile. This is the room in Colorado where you want to stand and breathe all day. I had never experienced air so fresh and breathable. The fresh air actually permeates the entire Medicine Man facility, but the Green Mile and the Flowering Room had the densest concentration of this intoxicating air, and since experiencing it all I can think about is going back to breathe it all in again.

marijuana-cannabis-scienceOn our tour, we had the pleasure of being guided through the Medicine Man facilities by Mike Eymer, owner of Colorado Cannabis Tours. Mike was extremely knowledgeable and offered insights into nearly every aspect of dispensary operations. I was impressed by the base level of knowledge many tourists already had about growing and the detailed questions that they asked, as well as how deftly Mike could answer all of them. I had never been on a tour where the participants were so highly informed and so deeply interested in learning more. After the tour through the grow house, participants are allowed to shop in the dispensary.

Glasscraft and Illusions

After the yang of Medicine Man, CCT gives you a look at what could be characterized as the business yin of marijuana. The next two stops on the tour feature the art of glass. At Glasscraft, where they teach glass blowing classes, we were treated to a demonstration from Schutz. He skillfully manipulates the glass with deceptive ease, narrating the process and cracking jokes at the same time. If you’re lucky he’ll let you buy the piece that he makes during his demonstration, so be ready to speak up when he’s done.

cannabis-glass-blowing-tour

If you missed the chance to buy Schutz’s pipe, the last stop of the tour is where you can make up for it. At Illusions, an impeccably clean space furnished with well-lit cases, you can pick up a beautifully crafted piece that would seem more at home in an art gallery than a head shop. The store owner, Maria, shared with me the pleasure so many artists feel in finally having a venue to showcase their work with pride.

cct-tour-glass22

The Staff

If you’re full of questions, you’ve come to the right place. Between the three guides on our tour, every angle of the industry was thoroughly covered, from the nuances of legislation to great spots to grab a bite to eat after the tour. While the tour guides are clearly very knowledgeable, they’re fun and friendly too. What makes Colorado Cannabis Tours exceptional is the infectious enthusiasm of the guides, who are unreservedly passionate about the subject matter.

The Genuine Article

The benefits of this tour are the exposure to world-class growing production facilities, as well as access to professional and passionate experts in their field. For the price of admission, you’ll get an authentic look at some of the most intriguing industries to emerge from Colorado’s recreational legalization initiative. Perhaps most rewardingly, the cannabis tour destigmatizes the act of enjoying marijuana and rightfully positions it as a shared social experience among new and old friends. Colorado Cannabis Tours gives you the opportunity to soak up a genuine Colorado experience and embrace the real you while doing it.

CCT Staff

Leave a Comment