Trip 3 - 17 Strains. 1 Whitey. 1 Rash. 3 Cuts & An Epic Time

[madmaxxx]

having toured the netherlands,for the past 5 years,i can say amsterdam only 1e,2e more expensive than the rest of the country,but in the towns outside the dam,i feel it better cured and flushed,amsterdam got all the fruity strains,new names ect but at a price and sometimes rushed into the coffee shop

[kingbee]

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[Jesscass]

The fact that it's tolerated under the law in the Dam should mean lower prices in general, as criminality is what usually drives prices, and the price of bud (in developed countries) is usually directly related to how illegal it is.

The prices in the UK have been rocketing up over the last few years, and it's got really stupid, mainly because weed is fashionable in Hollywood, and in rap/pop music, and all the young teens and people in their 20s want to seem to be cool.

They are the ones driving the stupid prices, not older, more experienced tokers like us, hence the reason why we pay lower prices (e.g. £160 an ounce).

It's all about supply and demand: if you ask older heads to pay £240+ for an oz, they will laugh at you and tell you to f-off, but the youngsters will lap it up, along with the fake names like Lemon ("Super lemon haze").

The youngsters often can't afford to go on holiday in the Dam blowing money, and the older ones pay the higher prices in the Dam, because they A) have more money in general, B) are only paying on the gram and not on the ounce (16E a gram equates to £330 an ounce!!), and C) they are on holiday and trying to relax/not worry about money.

Another major driving factor with Dam prices is the French and Italian tourists: laws are stricter in those countries, quality is usually not good and availability is more difficult than the UK, where every man and his dog is growing a bit of bud, or knows someone that does (or a mate of a mate). In Italy and France it's difficult unless you really know people, and even then it's limited. These Italians and French are a constant fixture in the Dam and will happily spend stupid money on cannabis products, thus further 'justifying' the high prices for the coffeeshops.

So the UK street prices shouldn't be what they are (i.e. silly money for average smoke, mostly for clueless wannabes), and there are SO many Italians and French in the Dam blindly paying whatever the budtender asks for, that the coffeeshop owners are lapping it up and will happily take "free money" (i.e. the extra, easily available profit possible), and human greed takes over (like the younger UK dealers: greed rules the day).

When I first started going to the Dam back in around '99, there was none of this ridiculously-high pricing; it was around £3 a gram for good bud, based on 25 Guilders for a bag, which was the standard price at the time. In contrast, it was about £100 an ounce in the UK.

Prices stayed relatively low in both countries until around 2007/8, which is when prices started going up exponentially, compared to inflation.

At first, it wasn't too bad, but then around 2010/11, it started getting silly, and the prices kept going up and up, at a shocking rate, and now we've arrived at 16E a gram in the Dam being "acceptable" for good bud....F*ck Off!! What a load of old b0llocks! - it's only that price due to greed!

The grower gets around 7000 Euros per kilo, 8000 if you were really lucky and had the most amazing bud, so that leaves a HELLUVA margin! Especially for shops moving half a key to a full key a DAY on busy days, which is easily done for the bigger well-known shops in full tourist season, meaning they constantly have their suppliers bringing more gear from the stash house throughout the day, as coffeeshops can only carry half a kilo at a time.

That added to expensive coffees and 'inventive' book-keeping, mean that the owners of the shops are netting hundreds of thousands of Euros every year. I'd hesitate to say a million Euros a year net profit, but at least half a million would be very possible I'd have thought.

It's surprising you say about Katsu's prices being affordable, because I found it to be one of the most rip-off shops in the Dam, and after going in there and seeing the prices, I chose NOT to buy anything, because I WON'T fund or solicite such high prices, as doing so would add to encouraging them to keep it like that. So I made a point to the (older) female budtender that her prices were too high, to which she answered that they have bags of non-descript shake for something like 10 Euros a gram! Don't make me laugh!! The best bud was about 17 or 18 Euros a gram, for Dr. Grinspoon, a strain I was getting in Spain recently for 6.50 a gram!!

You can go to a Spanish club today if you want, as there are still clubs that will just let you in without residency, but those clubs are getting less in number, however it's still possible, and if you get residency there, you can join any club.

I think a fair price for top buds in the Dam is 11 or 12 Euros a gram, and that's pushing it, with the majority of strains priced 9-10 Euros, and the older strains 6-9 Euros a gram. THOSE would be FAIR prices for the Dam, and if all customers were like me, then THAT is what the prices would be, as we would refuse to be ripped off, but since SO MANY people are happy with being ripped off by greedy coffeeshop owners, then the prices will stay as they are, and CONTINUE to increase!

When in the Netherlands, I get most of my decent stuff that I smoke there from people I know, and get excellent quality at good prices, and so it doesn't affect me that much, but when I want to sample a few buds from the shops, I am always shocked by the prices and also the general lack of quality...having grown better bud than is available in most of the Dam, in relatively large quantities, and having smoked that all day "for free", I find it ridiculous paying 16-18 Euros a GRAM for something similar!

I think I really got you wrong to some point then. I agree with most of your fine analysis here except for italians and french people being the majority of tourists responsible for those increasing prices as there are reports - also from years back - that Uk people also import dutch weed for expensive prices(still not too expensive to them though)to sell it there. This is what I meant with different wage levels and stuff what one thinks is affordable is expenisve to someone else.
This is just a sideshow though!
Main problem is - as you mentioned too - that weed became mainstream at least ten years ago(if tradittional hashish would be as omnipresent in media and music the prices/demand would have similar gone up while they're not so affected in the last years.) . So the market is facing a huge demand. Lots of youngsters coming up with less experience and willing to pay almost everything.
You're right I wouldn't pay such insane prices, especially in bulk.

This just is so sick as the quality dropped big time at least in 2010.Back in the nineties dutch weed really was a synonym for quality but these days are gone as well. Especially since homegrown operations went through the roof in the last decade. So 'coffeeshop weed' is far from being a standard to me since the decrease, at best it's a poor standard(doesn't matter much if outside of Amsterdam or not. I'm saying this because Rotterdam and other places were mentioned here. I'm a kinda passionate traveller of the coffeeshop scene of the rest of the Netherlands and I can assure there isn't so much better quality to be found weedwise. A bit better I'd say when it comes to mentioned standard strains.).
When I see what us-dispensaries and spanish social clubs(my personal fave as it's not about profit, consumer protection) have on offer coffeeshops really have to take care as competition is coming on strong. I won't really shed a tear when they gone I'm exclusive mostly going for tradtional hash anyway. Plus better grown(hygiene, real cure etc.) Dutch coffeeshop weed really is a joke compared to that or the average homegrown as said(so the ounze of Northern Lights discussed here is so much more worth than their coffeeshop pendant!).
Impudence wins! So this will go on.
As said elsewhere it has also to do with the majority of the customers don't care too much about the stuff they buy as they're often don't know better due to the black market situation in their home countries or it's - as others pointed out - all about the feel of dutch coffeeshops allowing them to consume in public.
In my humble opnion either the dutch will legalize one day or coffeeshops will become social clubs for only dutch people like in Spain. The latter is more likely as I don't think the Netherlands resign from the international contracts they signed saying they have to fight drugs in general(their backdoor policy is only a grey area due to dutch law).
Something has to happen though.
Just my two cents(and by far not enough).

[kingbee]

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[Babbalonian]

I agree with you both. Lots of very good points chaps. Especially with regards to younger smokers. All the Seth Rogen films & (I use this term lightly as I call Liquid Swords or Illmatic hip hop albums) Wiz Khalifa hip hop seems to make weed more 'cool' than alcohol now... An acquaintance of mine has no trouble selling an ounce of damp generic kush for £300 an ounce. When he gave me a sample bag I had to let it properly dry/cure for another 3 weeks!!

So if you translate that to Amsterdam where young guys get their first real taste of freedom it's no surprise that they barely care whether they pay 8 or 15 Euros a gram. Sad but true.

Not to pidgeonhole the under 25's either as a girl I know grows her own & just raised her eyebrows skywards when I told her I spunked 300 Euros in 5 days on this trip on green!! Lol. And I'm an ancient 33!

A lot to think about before my next trip for sure!


Kingbee: So when you're in Amstedam (and presumably not buying/staying long in coffeeshops) do you have a very different experience than the rest of us? Apart from being a few Euros richer!

I'm not fond of the whole smoke a spliff walking down the street thing as well. It should be a personal choice. It's not like there aren't enough parks etc in the Dam. No need to ruin the amosphere or other peoples experience.
Just makes me think of the first time I was in the RLD district and all I could hear (Saturday night obviously) was pissed up chavvy English chanting football songs and shouting "Get em out luv!"

madmaxxx: True... Another big draw for going to Dam is the popular US strains. I'd be a bit bummed if all they had on the menu was what you can easily get at home.


Here's a pic of that Northern Lights....

[kingbee]

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[Jesscass]

@Babbalonian

Thanks for your point of view and the picture of your stash. More or less redundant but I have to say it again and again: this picture isn't the best and there isn't such a strong bag appeal(to some point has to do with big commercial operations and the amount of lamps/watt used producing bigger buds etc.) but especially when it comes to taste, smell and effect if grown properly(cure!)there is a huge difference to (dutch)commercial weed.
Keyword here is love/dedication !

Enjoy your next trip to Dam!

[Babbalonian]

kingbee: Sounds like you have it all sorted when you're over there

I've never used a Volcano but I have a cold at the mo so tried a bud in my Wispr and its the best tasting weed I've had in that vape so far. Slept like a baby!!


Jesscass: Too right... Curing is sooooo important & Trip 4... All booked now for June 22-26 It's gonna get weird!!

[Babbalonian]

Just for 'kingbee'... Here is the 'Orange Bud' mentioned earlier homegrown by a friend. Perfectly dry, flushed & cured. Only downside - cottonmouth!

[kingbee]

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[Babbalonian]

Smells of oranges (no surprises there!) in the jar and ground up.

Its the first hybrid strain my friend has grown and has turned out really good. A very 'chatty' social smoke when in company but still has enough of an indica kick to put me to zzzzzzzz's

Worth growing if you can & definitely worth toking!! White ash, resin almost dripping off the joint

[kingbee]

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[Babbalonian]

Oh yes... £160 for an ounce. Same as the NL. Potency wise it hits as hard as the NL at first but the effect wears off after 20 mins. Nowhere near as long lasting.

The Orange Bud is a good 'session' smoke. Not going to get you too fucked up but strong enough to lay you down for a while & good to chat on socially.

I'd compare it to the LA Kush I think. Both are a happy, relaxing kind of hybrid that give a pleasant body stone. The kush stone lasts a lot longer and they couldn't taste & smell any different. Like you've said before though.... the kush was 15e a gram in Hunters. Good smoke but expensive.

You have me worried on the spiders!! Lol. Saw another thread here about mites in CS's in Amsterdam. All I can say is I've not noticed any audible 'crackling' on seen anything I shouldn't have.

Funny you should mention clones. My bud said he wasn't getting a clone of NL again for his next grow because his friend has new clones from the States with THC levels in the 30's. I think there must be a mistake as 26% was about as high (no pun intended!) as strains get to my knowledge.... He wouldn't tell me the name till I pop round but I'm intrigued!!

[kingbee]

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