doctor G
04-30-2005, 04:23 PM
Selling the Gold
I came into possession of a few pounds of the most amazing Colombian
pot in late 1971. The stuff had a chocolate like aftertaste and was as gold as the
bricks of Fort Knox. And powerful. Most weed in those days was schwag and
when effective it was not that pretty. Or the buds werenâ??t that well formed or it
was all pressed into bricks. Not this stuff. The pounds broke up evenly with
virtually no shake left in the bottom, it wasnâ??t heavily seeded and the weights
were always good. I mean a kilo weighed a kilo. The only problem I encountered
was the price, that damn stuff was about three times the cost of all the other stuff
out there. So to sell it you had to really work at it. In those days if you had pot it
would sell. There wasnâ??t much choice or knowledge in the marketplace.
Beginners today knew much more than we did after a few years. On the streets a
â??lidâ? was roughly an ounce and sold for about twenty dollars. Pounds were one
hundred fifty to two hundred and most people were pretty terrified to be holding
any more than a couple of joints. Times were tough. John Sinclair had just gone
to jail in Texas for ten years for his third offense: giving two joints to an
undercover narcotics officer. No money changed hands, just a couple of free
joints. John made so much trouble in the pen they put him in segregation. For you
who are unfamiliar with the prison system, thatâ??s solitary. Thatâ??s right ten years
solitary confinement for giving two joints to a narc. We were all a little nervous.
And here I was with this great gold Colombian.
I had paid eighteen hundred dollars for three pounds of this stuff, like I said
about three times the going rate for averege pot. Only this stuff was not average.
Aside from the great flavor, it was very low on seeds, very colorful, and just
deadly stony. Where everything else on the street was harsh and stale, at least it
got you high after a couple of joints. Not this stuff. You knew you were stoned
after two hits and by the end of a joint three or four people might not think about
lighting another one for a while. Powerful weed for itâ??s time. But how to sell it?
When you told people you had pot for sale the first question always asked
is â??how much?â? When I told them sixty dollars an ounce they stuttered and said
they would love to smoke some, but no one in their right mind was going to pay
sixty dollars for something they could get down the street for twenty or twenty
five. We would smoke a joint and they agreed it was the best they had tasted in a
long time but still they were still not willing to pay the price. I went home more
often than not with the same number of bags I had left home with. It was
discouraging. I had to make a profit, after all I was smoking quite a bit of the stuff
on the free tastes.
Eventually I had an idea. I rummaged through my desk and found my
sealing wax and a sealing wax stamp I had, the letter C. Then I had a rubber
stamp made up that read:
Bag_______G Contents__________ G
Weight Guaranteed if seal undisturbed.
Then I put a piece of paper in each bag and weighed them on my triple
beam. Some baggies were 1.5 grams some were 1.6. I marked the papers and
then put exactly 28.4 grams in the ounce bags and 14.2 grams in the half ounce
bags. If you take the 1000 grams in a kilo and divide it down those are the correct
actual weights. So I marked the slips and put the appropriate amount of weed in
each bag and then rolled them up so the slip of paper lay under the flap. Then I
took some gold sealing wax and sealed the bag to the slip of paper, and pressed
in the letter C. I put the whole business in a larger zip lock baggie and added: a
package of Bambu rolling papers, an alligator clip from Radio Shack and a
package of matches. Everything you needed to get high in one place, all at once.
Now when I told people it was sixty bucks and I pulled out a bag it did not
look like the stuff down the street. Aside from the color and aroma of the weed
the packaging was unique and everything you needed was right there. Papers,
matches, weed, a roach clip and a ziplock to keep it fresh with. And I stopped
trying to peddle to the kids in my school, I headed for their parents. Even then
there were more than a few that were smokers. I hung out in parks and smoked
joints, and when someone noticed and came over to talk I showed them what
was available and started making some sales. Finally I was getting my cash flow
back and I could go and buy a couple more pounds of the stuff when I got rid of a
few more. Properly packaged I sold that stuff like hotcakes. The secret, I decided,
was in the presentation . A lesson I applied for the next twenty years
I came into possession of a few pounds of the most amazing Colombian
pot in late 1971. The stuff had a chocolate like aftertaste and was as gold as the
bricks of Fort Knox. And powerful. Most weed in those days was schwag and
when effective it was not that pretty. Or the buds werenâ??t that well formed or it
was all pressed into bricks. Not this stuff. The pounds broke up evenly with
virtually no shake left in the bottom, it wasnâ??t heavily seeded and the weights
were always good. I mean a kilo weighed a kilo. The only problem I encountered
was the price, that damn stuff was about three times the cost of all the other stuff
out there. So to sell it you had to really work at it. In those days if you had pot it
would sell. There wasnâ??t much choice or knowledge in the marketplace.
Beginners today knew much more than we did after a few years. On the streets a
â??lidâ? was roughly an ounce and sold for about twenty dollars. Pounds were one
hundred fifty to two hundred and most people were pretty terrified to be holding
any more than a couple of joints. Times were tough. John Sinclair had just gone
to jail in Texas for ten years for his third offense: giving two joints to an
undercover narcotics officer. No money changed hands, just a couple of free
joints. John made so much trouble in the pen they put him in segregation. For you
who are unfamiliar with the prison system, thatâ??s solitary. Thatâ??s right ten years
solitary confinement for giving two joints to a narc. We were all a little nervous.
And here I was with this great gold Colombian.
I had paid eighteen hundred dollars for three pounds of this stuff, like I said
about three times the going rate for averege pot. Only this stuff was not average.
Aside from the great flavor, it was very low on seeds, very colorful, and just
deadly stony. Where everything else on the street was harsh and stale, at least it
got you high after a couple of joints. Not this stuff. You knew you were stoned
after two hits and by the end of a joint three or four people might not think about
lighting another one for a while. Powerful weed for itâ??s time. But how to sell it?
When you told people you had pot for sale the first question always asked
is â??how much?â? When I told them sixty dollars an ounce they stuttered and said
they would love to smoke some, but no one in their right mind was going to pay
sixty dollars for something they could get down the street for twenty or twenty
five. We would smoke a joint and they agreed it was the best they had tasted in a
long time but still they were still not willing to pay the price. I went home more
often than not with the same number of bags I had left home with. It was
discouraging. I had to make a profit, after all I was smoking quite a bit of the stuff
on the free tastes.
Eventually I had an idea. I rummaged through my desk and found my
sealing wax and a sealing wax stamp I had, the letter C. Then I had a rubber
stamp made up that read:
Bag_______G Contents__________ G
Weight Guaranteed if seal undisturbed.
Then I put a piece of paper in each bag and weighed them on my triple
beam. Some baggies were 1.5 grams some were 1.6. I marked the papers and
then put exactly 28.4 grams in the ounce bags and 14.2 grams in the half ounce
bags. If you take the 1000 grams in a kilo and divide it down those are the correct
actual weights. So I marked the slips and put the appropriate amount of weed in
each bag and then rolled them up so the slip of paper lay under the flap. Then I
took some gold sealing wax and sealed the bag to the slip of paper, and pressed
in the letter C. I put the whole business in a larger zip lock baggie and added: a
package of Bambu rolling papers, an alligator clip from Radio Shack and a
package of matches. Everything you needed to get high in one place, all at once.
Now when I told people it was sixty bucks and I pulled out a bag it did not
look like the stuff down the street. Aside from the color and aroma of the weed
the packaging was unique and everything you needed was right there. Papers,
matches, weed, a roach clip and a ziplock to keep it fresh with. And I stopped
trying to peddle to the kids in my school, I headed for their parents. Even then
there were more than a few that were smokers. I hung out in parks and smoked
joints, and when someone noticed and came over to talk I showed them what
was available and started making some sales. Finally I was getting my cash flow
back and I could go and buy a couple more pounds of the stuff when I got rid of a
few more. Properly packaged I sold that stuff like hotcakes. The secret, I decided,
was in the presentation . A lesson I applied for the next twenty years