The familiar clang of glasses being washed behind the bar is audible above the chill mood music. Water droplets hang loosely on upside down glass bongs that are being air dried along the counter.  This isn’t your average bar and is certainly more reminiscent of an Amsterdam coffee house. Formally, Paradise Sports Bar and Billiards located at 940 Danforth Ave., has been claimed the new Toronto toke spot, Good Weeds Lounge.

Good Weeds has been open less than a month and already has crowds of curious cannabis enthusiasts flocking to the neighbourhood’s new joint.

A distant cousin to Vapor Central on Yonge Street, you will see the familiar face of Chris Goodwin, the previous manager of the downtown vapor lounge.

Now testing the legal limits of cannabis culture, Good Weeds Lounge offers a space where stoners can unite.

A daily membership of $5 is charged at the door which is good for the whole day – as they are open from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. with nightly entertainment like comedy, magic shows and live music.

You can take a seat at the bar and get served by one of the budtenders that offer smoke-to-stay purchases. You can order a vape bag, $3, with your option of kush – I chose The Valley Kush, an indica strain. The budtender brews it up in a Volcano Vaporizer and hands me the cloudy filled bag. She advises me that I have another two bags after this one.

After I finish the third bag, I’m ready to hit some of the “harder” stuff–A.K.A. dabs. Dabs are essentially the “crack” of pot but also one of the purest forms to ingest a high concentration of THC . Nicknamed shatter, it’s a sticky oil residue that is the result of extracting THC from cannabis using solvents like carbon dioxide–a tricky process that can blow sh*t up.

They offer several different strains in dabs– Blue Dreams, Death, OG Kush and AK-47 to name a few. You can buy a dab for $5 and split it into two hits–which I highly recommend, especially if you haven’t dabbed before. “It’s basically like smoking a whole joint in one hit,” the budtender advises me. She places a glass bong type thing, known as a dab rig, in front of me and gets the hit ready. I’m going for a Blue Dream.

I’m instructed to take it like a normal bong hit but to be very mindful of the hot coil where she inserts the dab with a metal stick. You aren’t supposed to hold the vapor in as long, she advises me too.

There it is, an instant high, Blue Dream, feeling like I’m up in the clouds for the next half-hour.

I watch as the guys next to me each do a dab of Death. The result? A huge cough attack, followed by their eyes rolling back in their heads and that instant high. They get up and go for some air. Looks tempting, maybe I’ll pluck up the courage to try it next time.

Photos by, Ruby Wray – THC Ginger Ale Skipped Bail Pop By Pixie, $5

Instant high, but did I mention you get instant pasties? I order a Ginger Ale, $5,  again no ordinary pop, as it’s full of THC. I think I drank half the can, needed to get some “air,” and then KO’d immediately after I got home. It’s strong stuff and you have to drink it there, you can’t take it to-go unless you have a medicinal license.

You can also buy individual bowls to toke out of their wide array of bong options. They supply complimentary rolling papers and each table is set up with a rolling tray and an ashtray.  You can bring your own weed and smoke joints as you please. Did I just go back in time to the 1950’s when people could actually smoke inside? No wait, this is Toronto in 2016 and this time it’s different.

Before long, almost every seat has been claimed and this place is packed. Service is a little on the slow-side, once they get busy you could be waiting at least 10 minutes for your next hit. I’d like to think of it as a way of slowing people down–as dabs have the most concentrated levels of BHO (Butane Hash Oil) and you can “overdose” on it, but it’s not lethal–basically you just pass out.

Even though it’s a full house, the atmosphere is chill and the level of sound is merely a dull murmur–a far cry from the drunken loud-talkers practically yelling on a Friday night at your local watering hole. I hope this place lasts because I think I’m their new best customer.

Specials:

Toonie Tuesdays – Vapor bags and bong bowls are $2 on Tuesdays

Shatterdays – Dabs are $4 every Saturday

*****Article Update*****

Police raided Good Weeds Lounge on Thursday January 21, 2016. They confiscated all of their vaporizers, dab rigs, weed, pops and dabs. They are now closed.

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