{"id":34089,"date":"2019-03-29T11:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T19:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2019\/03\/29\/outgrowth-of-adaption-the-vapor-room-returns\/"},"modified":"2019-03-30T00:42:56","modified_gmt":"2019-03-30T08:42:56","slug":"outgrowth-of-adaption-the-vapor-room-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2019\/03\/29\/outgrowth-of-adaption-the-vapor-room-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"Outgrowth of Adaption: The Vapor Room Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

A lingering sheet of smoke and vapor looms lazily above
\neverything \u2014 I\u2019ve watched it for hours and it never dissipates. Neither do the
\nall-enfolding effects of the outsized hash bong rip I took at least three hours
\nago, but neither one bothers me, so I let it go.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s roughly 2006 and I\u2019m in San Francisco\u2019s \u201cLower Haight\u201d neighborhood \u2014 my first home in the Bay Area \u2014 where the razing talons of gentrification have only just begun to scrape the surface of the street. Even though it\u2019s only a few blocks separated from the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, the vibe is entirely different from the Summer of Love historical reenactment\/\u201cLord of the Flies\u201d sh*tshow going down in and near Golden Gate Park. Here it\u2019s a lot less \u201cMad Max\u201d meets \u201cWooden Ships\u201d and a lot more \u201cSucka\u2019 Free City\u201d meets \u201cWhite Punks on Dope,\u201d two worlds which more or less intersect precisely where I\u2019m sitting, in the first incarnation of the Vapor Room<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Vapor Room is one of San Francisco\u2019s original medical
\ndispensaries. In 2004, it created a unique community space for those looking to
\nlearn about and experience the benefits of medicinal cannabis; in 2012, that
\ncommunity was shattered by the federal crackdown on dispensaries, which closed
\nthe doors on the Vapor Room permanently \u2014 or so it seemed. As California
\ncannabis once again enters a new era, the Vapor Room has reemerged in a new
\nlocation, ready to educate and guide a new generation of cannabis consumers.<\/p>\n

The Vapor Room Under Prop 215<\/h4>\n

For those who didn\u2019t live through the uncertainty and excitement of the Prop 215 days in California, it\u2019s hard to grasp the electric current of freedom and fear that permeated everything \u2014 freedom to produce, distribute and consume cannabis products with little to no interference from local law enforcement, plus constant fear that the feds would come and kick down the door of the lounge you were smoking in.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t go down quite like that, not for the Vapor Room, but ultimately the result was the same. The Vapor Room was always a product of adaptation: When San Francisco\u2019s then-new zoning checkerboard was rolled out by former San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, the Vapor Room made a serendipitous jump, moving one door down into the space vacated by a local video store that had just closed for good.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen those first regulations came down from Mirkarimi, we
\nhad to literally move six feet,\u201d says Martin Olive, co- founder and president
\nof the Vapor Room Cooperative.<\/p>\n

But ultimately, when then-U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag went on a medical dispensary killing spree<\/a> in the summer of 2012, the Vapor Room was among the casualties. The feds said the second location was still too close to a local park and forced the city institution to close its doors permanently.<\/p>\n

\"Vapor
The Vapor Room\u2019s new location is on 9th Street in downtown San Francisco.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To say I have a personal connection to the Vapor flirts with
\nan understatement: I met my wife in the original location \u2014 she a nurse and
\ncaregiver picking up medicine for a patient, me a roughly hewn, self-styled writer
\nunknowingly teetering on the brink of a journalism career. It\u2019s far from the
\nonly relationship born in that place, a smoke-choked community center for bud-
\nloving \u201cLower Haters\u201d of all stripes and a mecca for anyone in San Francisco
\nseeking out the only shelf in the city that had no bottom; everything that made
\nit in the dispensary was top shelf.<\/p>\n

This was before all the branding came to cannabis, so I never knew that the Afgoo full melt hash that carried me through my early 20s like a magic carpet was grown and washed by the now famous \u201cMr. Sherbinski,\u201d who came to fame as the co-creator of Gelato<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI literally bought the first bags of grass from that guy,\u201d
\nOlive says. \u201cNow, he\u2019s massive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sherbinski confirms that the Vapor Room was the first
\ndispensary he ever sold weed to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had actually just harvested my first little two or three
\nlights from my house in SF and got the list from the Department of Health
\nlisting what the legal dispensaries were, and the Vapor Room was like my third
\nor fourth shop I visited,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I walked in it was like a \u2018That \u201870s Show\u2019
\nkind of vibe \u2014 all types of characters \u2014 and that\u2019s where I met [Olive]. He
\nloved the product I had and I liked the vibe and we started off all good.\u201d
\nSherbinski added that Olive and the ethos of the Vapor Room had a lasting
\nimpact on his ideas about cannabis. \u201cI learned the meaning of compassion from
\nwhat I saw in that shop,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In the old days, the medical compassion program<\/a> meant any Vapor Room cooperative member could walk in and get a free joint or the equivalent amount of cannabis free of charge \u2014 no questions asked, no judgment. It didn\u2019t matter if you were a starving artist, a broke student, someone on a fixed income or just a working person waiting on a paycheck, you could get some cannabis medicine if you needed it, something that\u2019s impossible to offer under the state\u2019s new adult-use regulations.<\/p>\n

The highs of the Prop 215 days were towering, but the lows could be crushing: When the Vapor Room managed to dodge annihilation by 6 feet, the entire city celebrated, our neighborhood most of all. When the curtain came down on that space in 2012, it was a bullet that tore through the heart of the community. We all knew we had just witnessed the final crash of a wave the likes of which we are unlikely to see again in our lifetime.<\/p>\n

Vapor Room 2.0<\/h4>\n

The new Vapor Room, which had its formal grand opening in February, isn\u2019t the old space, but it is undeniably still the Vapor Room \u2014 Olive calls it \u201cVapor Room 2.0.\u201d The OG location was part of the zeitgeist during a golden age of cannabis freedom, but what really held everything together and brought people from all corners of California was the dispensary\u2019s legendary selection, and that emphasis on quality is still very much intact.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re treating it more as one of those seasonal restaurants
\nthat change their menu frequently, as opposed to being the Walmart of weed,\u201d
\nOlive says. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of what we did at the old Vapor Room: Instead of
\nbombarding you with 50 strains, you can count on us to do the initial
\nbest-of-market picking for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of that \u201cbest-of-market\u201d strategy is motivated by a simple desire to deliver the best product possible, but the Vapor Room has always been rooted in patient education, and there\u2019s a new emphasis on promoting sungrown<\/a> outdoor cannabis as a sustainable alternative to indoor farms with electric lights.<\/p>\n

\"Martin
Martin Olive, co-founder and president of the Vapor Room, stands behind the checkout area of the dispensary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tina Gordon is Olive\u2019s business partner and the founder of Moon Made Farms<\/a>, a line of outdoor cannabis she personally cultivates in southern Humboldt County and distributes through Flow Kana<\/a> that now serves as the Vapor Room\u2019s house brand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing like the authentic, natural, native
\nexperience \u2014 as opposed to the simulated one. There is no light brighter than
\nthe sun, it\u2019s full-spectrum light and there\u2019s no way to replicate it,\u201d Gordon
\nsays. \u201cHaving direct access to full-season sungrown is something incredibly
\nunique [to California] and valuable, and I think the world is going to really
\nstart to understand this.\u201d<\/p>\n

That passion for sustainable cultivation is shared by Olive,
\nwho sees it as a new frontier for the same educational mission that always
\nmotivated the Vapor Room.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in the day, we were so focused on educating people
\nabout medical cannabis,\u201d he says. \u201cNow that it\u2019s switched to this
\nall-encompassing regulation, we\u2019re still talking in therapeutic terms, and with
\nthe mass consumption \u2014 everybody\u2019s using now \u2014 we really want to push the
\nenvironmentally friendly sourcing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A close relationship with Flow Kana allows the Vapor Room to
\ninclude numerous high-quality sungrown selections in their curated menu, which
\nGordon says will continue to turn the tide of public opinion towards more
\nsustainable cultivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe industry standard became indoor because of prohibition,\u201d Gordon says. \u201cThere\u2019s a consciousness shift happening around people just asking the question: \u2018Where was this plant grown?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Cannabis in a New Era<\/h4>\n

My last purchase from the Vapor Room was through its
\nrelatively short-lived incarnation as a delivery service in 2012 \u2014 a quarter
\nounce of Candy Jack, which I remember as excellent. So, on a recent winter
\nevening, I find myself heading to the new location to check out the selection
\nand enjoy the lounge which, thanks to a bureaucratic quirk, allows smoking.<\/p>\n

I bound up the stairs of the Civic Center BART Station two
\nat a time, eager to escape the stifling human heat of the underground station
\nduring rush hour. As an escalator carries me up from the commuter catacombs
\ntowards Market Street, I exhale the last of the stale subterranean funk
\nlingering in my lungs and breathe in the cool kiss of early evening in the
\ncity.<\/p>\n

I can smell weed before I even reach the surface \u2014 some
\nthings never change. It\u2019s a comforting thought, but the San Francisco I\u2019m
\nwalking through now is a different city than the one I knew before, so much of
\nits vibrancy and verve hacked and whittled away. The new euphemism for the
\nneighborhood that the new Vapor Room calls home is SoMa, but at this point, 9th
\nand Mission still looks like 9th and Mission, which is to say it still looks
\nhella grimy, a comforting sight in such an extensively sanitized version of the
\ncity I knew.<\/p>\n

The grand opening for the new Vapor Room is still a week or
\nso away, so business isn\u2019t exactly booming. When my wife and I arrive around 8
\np.m., there are no other customers, but a handful stop by during our visit.<\/p>\n

\"Northern
The Vapor Room carries the Northern Emeralds brand among many other product partners.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The new space is stylish but spartan, with clashing polished
\nand raw elements that conjure the eclectic vibe of a chic converted industrial
\nloft. Gone are the low ceilings of the previous two locations, replaced with
\nhigh, vaulted ones and slick, minimalist furnishings smoothing the brutal aura
\nof exposed concrete pillars and other utilitarian trappings. Tucked in among
\nthe merchandise, there are antique scales and other cannabis ephemera, giving a
\nhint of the old vibe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first one was your 1970s uncle\u2019s basement spot. Then when we moved, it was the French fancy caf\u00e9 art nouveau thing,\u201d Olive says. He explains that they decided to try a new aesthetic in the new location, given that the old Vapor Room was \u201ca moment of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you got to have it and experience it, you are blessed by
\nit,\u201d Olive says. \u201cIt\u2019s a new world and a new era of cannabis, and I thought it
\nwould be a disservice to try and recreate that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the hundreds of regular customers it funneled towards local businesses, the Vapor Room was the founding force behind the still-active Lower Haight Merchants and Neighbors Association<\/a>. It helped fund better street lighting for the neighborhood and it supported local food pantries, free clinics and other charities. But perhaps most importantly of all, it served as the civic center of a neighborhood that was often over- looked by the rest of the city and it fought tirelessly to further the cause of safe access to cannabis medicine.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to overstate the positive impact the OG Vapor Room
\nhad on the Lower Haight, the city, medical cannabis and my own life. It\u2019s
\nequally difficult overstate the pang of nostalgia I feel. The OG Vapor Room
\nfamily has moved on \u2014 it\u2019s an absence I try to fill up with words, regaling the
\nstaff with tales of the old days, as if maybe I can use verbal necromancy to
\nreanimate that magic.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Bathroom
The bathroom of the Vapor Room is beautifully decorated with cannabis wallpaper and pink tiles. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

One of the obvious perks of cannabis journalism is the
\nopportunity to enjoy a lot of excellent bud, so just between you, me and the
\nBCC (Bureau of Cannabis Control), it\u2019s been some time since I\u2019ve stepped inside
\na dispensary and purchased anything. The flower is all pre-packaged in jars,
\nwhich you can\u2019t open be- cause \u201cregulation,\u201d and it\u2019s a stark reminder of how
\nmuch regulations have changed things since the deli-style service of the Prop
\n215 days.<\/p>\n

Then, I spy a single, unbroken strand tying this new version
\nof the Vapor Room to its earliest incarnation in the Lower Haight: an eighth of
\nBacio Gelato, grown by Sherbinski. A dispensary is, at the end of the day,
\nabout cannabis, and it\u2019s heartening to see that in more ways than one, that
\nelement is unchanged.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019m rolling a joint of Gelato, a man with a black case walks in, opens the case and pulls out a tiny white dog with the look of a terrier that fell into a cotton candy machine. I light the joint and watch as the dog dances, shakes hands, give high fives and just generally delights everyone. The conversation flows freely across the small space, a whole cast of characters enjoying the improbable magic of cannabis. I look over at my wife and smile as it dawns on me that, for somebody else, this will be the Vapor Room.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Bathroom selfies are encouraged.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

About halfway through the Gelato joint, I tilt my head back
\nto exhale toward the ceiling, feeling the rush of heady flavors and effects
\noverwhelming my senses. Time collapses casually \u2014 a yawning cosmic cat
\nsprawling out across existence \u2014 and the distinction between 2019 and 2006 blurs,
\nthen vanishes, as I luxuriate in the blissful eternity inside a single moment,
\ncontemplating the lingering sheet of smoke looming lazily above everything.<\/p>\n

TELL US<\/strong>, where is your favorite place to buy cannabis?<\/p>\n

Originally published in Issue 36 of Cannabis Now. LEARN MORE<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The post Outgrowth of Adaption: The Vapor Room Returns<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n
\nRead More: Outgrowth of Adaption: The Vapor Room Returns<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lingering sheet of smoke and vapor looms lazily above everything \u2014 I\u2019ve watched it for hours and it never dissipates. Neither do the all-enfolding effects of the outsized hash bong rip I took at least three hours ago, but neither one bothers me, so I let it go. It\u2019sContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":34090,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[148,50,5042,99,1077,5755,4464,309,4869,85,9548,139,5044,151,5026,4466,9549],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34089"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34091,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34089\/revisions\/34091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}