Our team went on a bud crawl within a 4.20 mile radius of New York City’s first legal weed stores, visiting licensed stores, legacy Zaza providers, and boof-selling bodegas. Despite the growing number of legal weed stores in the city, there are still thousands of unlicensed stores posing as legal retailers, which threatens the legal market by misleading customers and offering unregulated, sometimes contaminated products. To sort through the sea of strains and brands, we reviewed and rated the products by price, presentation, and quality. In licensed stores such as Housing Works, Smacked Village, and Union Square Travel Agency, we found incredible products from local licensed brands. We also smoked 12 legacy strains from gift shops and private clubs, to see what the tried and true pioneers of New York cannabis have to offer. Overall, we found classic strains like Haze making a comeback and local brands dominating the legal market with impressive products.
