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a little smoke in the smaller towns
Posted: 2007-03-16, 12:24 am

br1965Supporting Member
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Hello,

In Amersfoort there is a coffee shop that I'm pretty sure is called Trenchtown ... I'm looking at google earth and it's not showing me the name of the street. But it's the one closer to the middle of the oldest part of the city versus the one closer to the second fortified wall.

Having made many visits to Trenchtown during my various visits... I've talked to one of the owners quite a bit. Generally he is a bit surprised to have an american in the shop who speaks bad dutch... But the guy is very friendly and has spent some time explaining the working of the 'business'.

Something he was telling me is that in MANY of the coffee shops you are getting the exact same stuff...no matter what that particular shop calls it. Especially if you are going to the chain places that cater to tourists (which I've only visited once).

His recommendation was to always take the time to explain what kind of experience you are looking for and letting the staff pick it out for you. They've sampled it enough !!

So, from those of you who have been spending a lot of time over there ... how true is this and/or how much smoke is he blowing at me?

Something else he recommended for me as I'm travelling around was to find the smaller (non-chain) shop and if I'm not being particular about what I want (other than "the best") just ask for the "white weed" and don't name any particular strain.

So far from what I've read of the more experienced bloggers is that if you take the time to get to know the people working the better off you will be. But what about when you are just traipsing around and stop in for a little something to get you through the afternoon?

Thoughts??

Thanks!

eric

p.s. If I were to review Trenchtown given my "not newbie but not worldly experienced" sampling of the place. Two thumbs up. Not many amenities, but the people are nice and the staff seemed knowledgable of their product. Although they have a sign saying they charge for internet access... they never charged me for it. Music was on but not obnoxiously loud like a few places i've been. Definitely small and you will definitely get to experience the 'true dutch.'

Even though people think that everyone in The Netherlands speaks english...it's not true. Get away from the bigger cities/tourist places and you will find more and more people that will really struggle with it. Trenchtown is an example... it's not very often that they get a foreigner in the place, they would prefer to speak english (their bad english is still better than my bad dutch), and from what I've seen the prices are generally 50-60% of what's charged in Amsterdam.

Normally my second stop in Amersfoort is Trenchtown. Talk to the owner, find out what's new/good, buy 5 gr. and roll up a bunch of small j's. With it being so dirt cheap (compared to equivalent US/Indians prices), I don't even care that I occasionally have to pitch a 1/2 smoked one ... I know blasphemy ... but not everyone everywhere in The Netherlands is as tolerant!!

e.
Re: a little smoke in the smaller towns
Posted: 2007-03-16, 3:19 pm

paniked Power Kat
Posts: 1376
Location: Amsterdam
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interesting observations! and quite accurate I think too in terms of how things operate outside of Amsterdam (or the other cities with high tourist traffic: Venlo, Maastricht, Roosendaal)

Quote:
Something he was telling me is that in MANY of the coffee shops you are getting the exact same stuff...no matter what that particular shop calls it. Especially if you are going to the chain places that cater to tourists (which I've only visited once).


yes, lots of places are selling stuff from the same source(s) -- names may be changed, and it does make a difference: Soma #9 (or whatever number it was) doesn't sound as good as Buddha's Sister. strangely, it started selling much better with a "catchy" name.

Quote:
His recommendation was to always take the time to explain what kind of experience you are looking for and letting the staff pick it out for you. They've sampled it enough !!


not necessarily a bad idea, but I would say do not leave them to select for you if you can help it. you notice that if you do this at Barney's they always start recommending the highest priced items on the menu. sometimes they may want to push some slow-moving product on you. so definitely ask for advice, ask what effects a particular menu item has. eventually you start to know what strains have what effects (or shall I say: what effects they should have!). one thing that I find a lot in the commercial environment is the rushed-to-market weed: looks great, smells great, doesn't do what it should. so I tend to ask dealers different types of questions -- though to be fair, some of them know their craft, some will say whatever they feel like -- like "which strain is most showing it's true traits?" a knowledgable dealer would know a) what traits a strain should have and b) whether or not it's living up to it, or if the crop wasn't quite up to snuff.

and if you can, always ask to have a look at the buds (preferably under good lighting).

Quote:
Something else he recommended for me as I'm travelling around was to find the smaller (non-chain) shop and if I'm not being particular about what I want (other than "the best") just ask for the "white weed" and don't name any particular strain.


hmmm...again, I would say: ask to see the buds if you can, ask them about the strains if they are unfamiliar. if the strain names are familiar and you know about them, ask about the qualities.

cheers,
-paniked

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