Culta has been one of the Gentleman's favorite medical marijuana brands in Maryland for more than a year now. Today we're finally getting around to the review. No further procrastination is allowed! I will take no wives, father no heirs, claim no lands until a review for Culta is on the books!
Who is CULTA?
Culta is 100% vertically integrated. They grow their own flower, do all their processing in-house, and sell out of their own storefront in Baltimore. It's on Key Highway, which makes it easy accessible from downtown, Inner Harbor, or coming up 95 North.
Why, you hardly have to venture into Baltimore at all! It's not that scary, guys. I've been here since January and I haven't been murdered even once! With a bit of luck, I'll die here half-mad from syphilis, just like Poe.
The Culta line of medical marijuana products is broad. They've got about a dozen house strains on hand at any time, plus vapes, concentrates, and GIO Pods. But that's not all! They've also got licenses for Apothecanna topicals and Willie's Reserve here in Maryland, which they use specifically for flowers & vapes that contain CBD.
Culta produces Sexy Time Personal Intimacy Oil under the Apothecanna brand. I, uhh...don't know how to test that out. I mean, I can think of a way, but I'm not into it. Are there any volunt no, nevermind. I didn't say anything.
Culta Concentrates
Culta's concentrate selection is similarly expansive. They've got live resin, they've got sauce, they've got diamonds, they've got sauce in diamonds, they've even got a little rosin. It's like these guys really like concentrate! I appreciate that.
Of course, Culta makes shatter, too, and that's what I want to talk about. Not that the fancier stuff isn't great- it is. But Culta's shatter has been incredibly consistent in quality over the past year and presents one of the best values in Maryland's medical marijuana program.
When everybody else was selling wax for $80-100/gram, Culta came to the rescue with good shatter for $40 all day, everyday. Not just at their own storefront- you could find $40-$50 Culta shatter at loads of other dispensaries. They singlehandedly started driving prices down for concentrate in Maryland. I respect the hell out of that.
We're gonna look at Culta's Double D Purps shatter today, cuz I like Purps. We judge concentrate based on its Terpenes, Potency, and the three Cs- Color, Clarity, & Consistency.
Double D Purps Quality
This Double D Purps shatter exhibits the golden color coveted in shatter and is typical of Culta's extraction. All their shatters look like this all of the time. Swoon!
Clarity in Culta's shatter has more variation. Sometimes it's completely transparent and sometimes it's opaque. The Double D Purps shatter has excellent clarity. I can see the fibers in the paper behind it without the assistance of direct lighting.
Every once in a while you'll find an older Culta shatter that's turned to sugar wax, but typically the consistency is perfect. It's not so glass-like that it splinters and goes flying off when you pull at it with a dab tool.
Heck, if you really wanna get down, you can usually pick it up and pull a little piece off with your fingers. Purists will blanche at the idea, but the Gentleman is not above such classless, boorish behavior.
Shatter typically has a muted aroma & terpene profile. We're not comparing it to live resin, where we expect a bouquet of terps. We do want to have a little flavor, and to that standard, Culta's Double D Purps delivers. Its a bit woodsy and spicy, as you'd expect from a Purp strain. Culta's staff informed me that Double D Purps is short for Diesel Dough x (Mendocino) Purps.
This shatter is a really smooth, clean dab, and that matches my experience with most of their concentrates. After all I've tried over the past 1.5 years, I'd hazard a rate of 25% of their concentrates (and the flowers that they were extracted from) exhibit the ammonia smell defect.
For example, this Lemon Skunk I got at the same time as Double D Purps at True Wellness in Laurel the other day smells like ammonia and has also sugared up.
I have to point out that this one has a sticker that says the flower was grown by SunMed. Culta only performed the extraction, so that's not totally on them. Most of the time, I'm very pleased with how clean and easy on the lungs Culta's shatter is.
Culta's shatter never disappoints in potency, but the Double D Purps shatter is exceptional. I don't really measure my dabs, I just shove a bit on the tool until it looks right. I took two off the rig Sunday at noon before going to see family and the effects were still going strong after five hours.
Double D Purps Effects
Double D Purps provided excellent anxiety control and didn't induce drowsiness. My head felt solid, fortified even, and relatively quiet. My thoughts didn't wander far and my attention didn't drift much during conversations.
Nor was I prone to fits of laughter. It didn't do much for my mood, in fact, but my head was so heavy and quiet that it didn't need to. It's probably too reserved to smoke before socializing with strangers, but it was fine choice for catching up with the fam.
Gentleman Approved
Culta's shatter is one of my very favorite things in Maryland's medical marijuana program! $40 a gram for good concentrate is one of the best deals around. There's room for improvement in Quality Control, but I say that recognizing that Culta is already streets ahead of many of their competitors.
I think highly of Culta's Baltimore dispensary, too, and recommend you make a visit. Parking is available right in front of the shop but make sure you feed the meter! Enforcement lurks nearby with tickets for the unwary.