THE CANNOISSEUR AWARDS 2017

Can nois seur ( kan' us sur') n. one competent to render critical judgement on the qualities and merits of cannabis

"The most amazing property of cannabis is its ability to fog the minds of those who don't use it."

The 1st Annual Cannoisseur Awards 2017 

As legalization looms, some of San Francisco's 28 odd dispensaries seem to have dispensed with their medical mission in favor of commercial success. It's not easy to resist temptation. There's an army of entrepreneurs at the gates, salivating at the idea of making big bucks in the weed biz. And at the moment licensed dispensaries are pulling in the lion's share. Think elephant-sized lion. 
No one is denying their right to make a profit. It's a noble undertaking. So rather than rail against the inevitable we would like to honor those establishments that provide high-quality product, compassionate service  and reasonable prices on their high CBD medicines. These are rapidly growing in popularity due to their effectiveness--even being ingested by people who used to call a cop if you offered them a joint.  Slowly cannabis is crossing social lines.
This year we have two first-place winners in the category of Best San Francisco Dispensary.

1. The Bloom Room
     Located on Jessie Street between 6th and 5th streets a few doors from the Hampton Hotel this              compact, well-run dispensary offers high-level cannabis as well as a variety of Alt-Herb products  
     including edibles, concentrates and oils. All prices are reasonable with discounts available. An          outstanding feature are their $25 eights (on weekends there are a number of fine strains to choose from). The staff is friendly, knowledgeable and sensitive to patient needs.

1. Purple Star MD
     Located at 2520 Mission Street and operating under the banner "Healing Is Our Mission" Purple Star MD is partnered with four non-profits: the Shanti Project, AGUILAS, The LGBT Community Center, and The Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, who all share in the proceeds. Their menu includes a wide variety of quality herb and a vast array of healing tinctures, oils, topicals and sprays-all  affordably priced and highly effective. The staff makes you feel right at home in their parlor-like atmosphere. It's well worth a visit if only for their new patient goody bag.

Best Delivery Service in San Francisco
  
   JAHnetics.com
  A San Francisco grow with a mission, JAHnetics is dedicated to producing the finest weed at the most reasonable prices. They feature discounts and sales on many of their top shelf strains, and they're mostly all top shelf.  Their menu is lovely to behold and their phone reps are both helpful and well schooled in the nuances of cannabis. A major resource for bud that heals body and spirit.


1974: The Secret Of The Great Pyramid

Since childhood i had dreamed of visiting The Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt. In the Sixties I had trekked to the Temple of Solomon in Baalbek Lebanon in search of illumination and hash, and came away with a bit of both. Back then I made the trip by bus now i could affor plane tickets and a decent hotel. The Great Pyramid was the focal point of my new novel. Through the summer in Morocco I took the plot to the point where it moves to Egypt. And i was ready to move with it.
Suddenly The Israeli/Arab War broke out and all flights to Egypt were grounded.
Undaunted we visited with my mom it Italy while waiting out the war. A month or so later the Cairo airport opened. The next day we booked a plane and that night we landed in Cairo.
It was night, and the road to the city was lined with sandbags. i had decided to stay at Shepheard's Hotel, long renowned at the domicile of the early British and Italian explorers who had made so many major discoveries that revealed the art, astronomy, architecture, mathematics, medicine--and magic-- of the great civilization of Ancient Egypt. More advanced 5,000 years ago than Europe in the middle ages.
Of course the original Shepheard's had burned down in 1962 but that didn't mar the romance. When we arrived the windows were blacked out and the building was lined with sandbags. I mentioned this to the desk clerk while checking in to which he replied, "You're in a war zone sir."
'Sir' meaning dummy. The fact that the airport was open didn't mean the fighting had stopped. For me however, it was all grist for my research mill.
The main perc of being in a war zone is that there are few other tourists crazy enough to visit, which meant we were the only two people going into the Pyramid that morning. The outside of the massive structure is imposing as is the magnificent Sphinx, but inside is a whole other dimension.
One ducks through a small entrance and goes down, not up, at first. Then a right turn, you climb a few feet and emerge. My first sight of the Grand Gallery stopped my heart.  There in the center of the Great Pyramid is a perfectly engineered, artistically spectacular, stairway leading to the King's chamber above. i immediately recognized the source of Art Deco. Going slowly up the stairs I noticed the notches cut into the stairs on either side to the telescoping walls. These notches, our guide explained, were for rods placed as rollers, presumably to bring the Pharaoh's  sarcophagus to it's resting place. However no mummy was found in the Great Pyramid. In fact in all the 90 odd lesser pyramids in Egypt no mummy has ever been found. A big crack in the theory that they are giant tombstones. Our guides holding flashlights we headed into the darkness above.
At the first landing to the left, is the Queen's chamber. A fifteen by fifteen room in the center of the great granite structure. Empty and perfect. Going up further you come to the King's Chamber, slightly larger than the the lower, and dominated by a granite sarcophagus carved from the same stone as the pyramid. One edge of the sarcophagus has been chipped away by tourists seeking a souvenir. Otherwise the chamber is another impressive facet of the pyramid's incredible interior. We lingered (no photos allowed) and slowly descended  the magical, stairway, finally blinking as we exited into sunlight, as if waking from a dream.
Little did i know of the adventures yet to come.

Next: Life, Death, and Imhotep