Legal weed farmer’s market pops up near New York’s Times Square

Step aside, sketchy bodegas—NYC locals, as well as the city’s millions of visitors, can now buy legal, tested cannabis from the state’s recreational program right near the iconic intersection.

A new push to get 2023’s fresh outdoor crop into the hands of smokers before it goes stale has resulted in multiple “Cannabis Growers Showcases” popping up around the Empire State this winter. 

The offerings include the Hell’s Kitchen Cannabis Collective at 356 W 40th St., just blocks from Times Square, where we bought the Ithaca Organics Piff Haze—which was fully amazing.

The HKCC Showcase is open 11 am to 9 pm every day; it features 11 brands and about four to six strains per brand. HKCC staff won’t let you smell the jars— something they’ve got to work on—but they have heavy foot traffic with tourists and locals, and you’ll leave with something genuinely New York.

Launch was ‘a complete mess’

Legalization passed the legislature in New York more than two and half years ago, but New York state regulators fumbled the ball since then, locals told me. Regulators only allowed hemp farmers and non-cannabis farmers to grow cannabis first, and farmers couldn’t use indoor lights—which grow much of the best pot.

When all the mixed-quality weed became ready for retail, few stores had opened to sell it, due to a series of political delays and lawsuits. As of press time in early December, there was somewhere between 6 and 13 stores open in the New York metro area—which has 2 million monthly smokers. It’s hard to tell where the stores are or when they are opening. The government website is out of date.

Simultaneously, an unfettered and brazen illicit market has run circles around the legal one—with fresh, hype indoor flavors flying in from Los Angeles and selling at unlicensed lounges and bodegas. Illicit market profits far exceed the state’s fines, if fines are ever issued. There’s something like 300,000 pounds of unsold New York outdoor weed with a narrow path to retail shelves, according to reports.

“The rollout has been a complete mess,” a HKCC staffer said. “It’s making everyone look bad.”

HKCC is clean, classy, and effective

But New York has nearly run out of ways to fumble the bag. New stores open daily, and indoor-grown ganja is coming next. It’s a win that the state allowed the Growers Showcases—which require a bunch of red tape of their own to pop up a spot. “In Manhattan, it’s a miracle,” the operator said. 

A win is a win. HKCC is clean, classy, and effective. Here we were, blocks from where the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, looking at fresh legal trees from New York’s outdoor and greenhouse growers.

Patrick and Paul at HKCC recommend checking out brands like: Claudine, whose first batch sold out; or Ravensview,; or Slack Hollow, an outdoor biodynamic farm with great Jet Fuel Gelato. 

We saw some nice Lilac Diesel GMO, and some really nice Citral Glue. Original Glue really carries the torch for Sour Diesel lovers in NYC. 

We begged and cajoled staff to let us smell the weed, and got a chance to check out the Ithaca Organics Piff Haze—a classic, local cultivar. Grown in conjuction with Piff Coast Farms—the duo brings a staple of the legacy New York weed scene to rec consumers. 

Piff Haze had a sweet and spicey terpinolene and caryophyllene nose and this old-school structure with smaller, spear-shared, buds that are less dense than modern cultivars. The taste is similar and very light, with a strong sativa haze effect. You can see why New Yorkers gravitated to Piff. The energizing strain woke me up after a bleary redeye flight from San Diego, CA. I felt ready to benchpress a subway car after one joint.

The price at $55 seemed fair for Manhattan, where everything costs double its real price. (For example, I paid $12 for a can of Modelo Especial beer in my hotel lobby that night.) Multiple locals attested that we got the real Piff, so it was heartening to score a classic smoke on day one in the Big Apple.

New York State’s weed scene is like a fueled-up rocket, just sitting on the launchpad, waiting for ignition in 2024. We’re looking forward to serving up Leafly readers the best legal weed, stores, and experiences New York has to offer, so stay tuned.