The other day, I was walking in Central Park West near my shop on 66th Street (Flower Power), and I noticed something interesting: On nearly every other bench, I saw someone rolling up some cannabis.
It was beautiful to see everyone so happy on such a nice day. But it was also a little shocking. Back when I was younger, you couldn’t just roll up or smoke anywhere. You needed to have a spot, aka a smoke spot.
Everyone had a different spot. It was risky to just smoke in public, you might get arrested. That’s why we needed spots. For some people, it was the stairwell of their building. For others, the basement. Some people went to storage facilities. Others would only light up in parked cars or deep in a park where you could spot cops before they could spot you.
Every high school had a spot for the stoners. Sometimes, it was a wall, an alcove, or a big rock by a park. But we had to be shady and smart. It also made getting elevated feel special. You had to put work into it.
Sometimes people were super protective of their smoke spots. Like they’d bring you there with them, but they made it clear it was their spot, not anyone else’s. So you always had to respect that.
The world we live in today is great. Adults can walk into a store and buy a pre-roll whenever they want. They can just light up on the street. You can sit on a bench on one of the world’s most famous streets and enjoy cannabis. I wouldn’t wanna go back to the 1990s, back when you had to be paranoid to be a safe stoner, but some days I wonder if having to find and keep safe smoke spots made us smarter and more resourceful.
Without further ado, here are Angelo’s Picks, July 2025 edition:
1slice, Cap’s Cut Mac1 (Pre-Roll)
1slice is a microlicensee based out of upstate New York, not too far from Cooperstown, and this is an absolute hall-of-fame pre-roll. It’s 1 gram so buckle up.
Smells super fresh out of the tube, sweet and pungent, you just need to smoke it. As soon as you light it you taste the sweet and sour vibes, skip the Chinese food and get this instead.
Two hits in and you’re already elevated, it’s pretty strong and potent, definitely for the canna-seur, not the canna-curious. This is grown indoors, a popular strain of sativa. New York City LOVES sativas, always has and always will. We’re a town with energy, and the sativas match that energy.
Florist Farms, Black Runtz (Pre-roll):
Florist Farms was one of the first farms on the market in New York when it opened, and they’ve been delivering high-quality outdoor flower for years now.
This pre-roll is only half a gram, a dog walker, since it’s the perfect size to smoke while taking a dog for a walk.
This both smells and smokes super sweet, like cherry licorice. Very chill and mellow, the exact indica you want to unwind after a long and stressful day right before bed. This would be a perfect strain for the canna-curious, someone who wants to smoke cannabis for the first time and ease into this lifestyle.
NYDanskter, Sherb Cake (Flower)
NY Dankster, aka Dr. Dankenstein is a legend in upstate New York. Phenomenal grower who was legacy for years, a microlicensee now on sale in my store. He knows cannabis, he knows what he’s talking about.
This flower looks incredible. Fresh and fluffy, full of crystals, looks like a Christmas Tree covered in tinsel, and smokes so good it feels like Christmas in July.
From crushing to rolling, the whole process is enjoyable, you just want to smoke it immediately and taste what you’ve been smelling.
It tastes like cake, like a good vanilla sponge cake, this flower is phenomenal. Elevation to the fullest, takes you exactly where you want to go, to the ceiling, flying high. If you love flower you need to try this.
