Gifted Curators Weed Storefront in DC

Customer Average: 5

Our experience with Gifted Curators weed gifting store was extremely positive. They had an immaculate store, professional staff, and high-quality flower. It was somewhat difficult to find the store though, and they aren’t cheap. We felt it was worth it.

Gifted Curators is an initiative 71 compliant business in DC, located above a Subway sandwich store on 18th st. It was somewhat challenging to find the entrance, despite being able to see the store above the Subway.

How We Got Our Gifted Weed

We were greeted by their security guard upon entering the vestibule. He was respectful and professional–checking our ID and allowing us to enter the store after explaining the shopping process.

Once inside the store, we noticed that everyone was going to the counter in the back, where two salesmen were assisting customers. When we got to the counter, one of them explained the shopping process again.

We were told that the donation amount required is shown next to each gift, and they pulled their website up on an iPad. The salesman explained the various types of gifts available: blunts, regular prerolls, dipped prerolls, edibles, flower.

What We Saw, Pot Wise

We asked to see samples and their salesperson pulled out 2 samples from 2 different glass jars. Both looked impressive, with tons of trichomes sparkling under the magnifying glass.

We asked to smell it and were allowed to; we were suggested the Black Runtz but the Sundae Driver had a more pungent smell, and we wanted some gas.

Was Gifted Curators Weed Good? Yes!

The strain we received was Sundae Driver, which is a well balanced hybrid that maybe only slightly leans Indica. Beautiful light green nuggets, with a purple hue, and many orange hairs. It had great bag appeal.

The bud came in a nice jar with art on the lid, designed by @ianpofficial.

The flavor profile was grapey and earthy, with some black pepper and diesel. The throat feel was somewhat harsh but it was easy on the chest.

It’s a potent strain. We’d recommend this strain for anxiety, pain management, and treating insomnia.

How The Checkout Process Went

A $70 art download made us eligible for 3.5 grams of Sundae Driver as a gift. We had cash on us, but in case you don’t–they have an ATM in the store and count ATM fees towards your purchase up to $200.

We handed over the cash, and they recorded the sale. They put the goods into a bag and tossed in a card with a code to email to them for the art we purchased. They included a free preroll for us, presumably for all newcomers.

The location created some challenges. There’s no available parking and it was hard to locate initially. You can order online and pick up in the store, which may save time as we did face a line when we arrived.

The line moved quickly, and when things got busy, another staff member came along to help. Overall, the level of customer service was quite high.

They Get Reviewed More Than Anyone Else

They have 2,262 Google reviews, most of which are 5 star reviews. At first glance, it seems they have received ~2 reviews a day for the last three years straight.

Interestingly, the Subway restaurant downstairs from them only has 38 total reviews–only getting 2 last year.

Gifted Curators appears to have incentivized google reviews by offering free prerolls in exchange for them.

But don’t take our word for it. Visit their website and find this:

Please use the below links to leave a review for Gifted Curators. Once done, screenshot your review and present it the next time you order and you’ll receive a FREE pre-roll.

You can get 1 FREE pre-roll for EACH review you leave!!

They then list the various links to their page on review websites, including Google reviews, Gentleman Toker, Urban Aroma, 420 DC, and LeafedOut.

Can Reviews Be Honest If They’re Paid For?

I believe that Gifted Curators is a high quality establishment and their weed of sound quality–but for them to close the gap and become a fine establishment, they need to receive criticism.

Since they offer prerolls in exchange for reviews, they are disincentivizing negative criticism and distorting the perceived amount of positive feedback.

To regular customers, this process is a calculated cost reducer. According to SuperSpeed Collectables’ review on Google:

…Write a review and get a free pre roll. Sometimes they throw in a free pre roll for no reason, so wait and see if they do before mentioning the review and you can get an extra one. So if you work it right you can get all their $80+ 8ths down to ~$50.

This is from a negative Gifted Curators review found on Google. The majority were 5 star reviews.

We Found Other Companies Also Did This

We found that another website, Peace In The Air, has the exact same deal–offering a free preroll in exchange for reviews. The same offer is found again on LegacyDC’s website.

LegacyDC appears to be a newer offshoot from Gifted Curators. Using inspect element on those pages, you can see ‘Gifted Curators’ is found 4 times in Legacy DC’s website code.

The meta title on their website still says “Gifted Curators – Weed DC – Cannabis Gift Shop” on several pages,  as well as the schema markup.

The twitter accounts for Gifted Curators and Legacy DC don’t try to hide the relationship, and both accounts were made around the same time.

Peace In The Air could feasibly be a part of the same company, just being the older of the 3 brands. Or one party copied the others review harvesting methodology exactly.

What Does This All Mean?

Conglomerates operating under multiple names is common in the DC weed gifting market.

We discovered, reviewing delivery service Lucky Chuckie, that they appear to be operating under 3 brand names. Days after posting our findings on social media, Lucky Chuckie announced on twitter that The Preroll Guys was a sister company.

The main motive is to secure more advertising real estate from the limited options available.

For example, on the Gentleman Toker website, the 3 top spots consist of Gifted Curators, Legacy DC, and Peace In The Air. These spots can cost tens of thousands per month each.

Gifted Curators are flooding their google profile with financially incentivized reviews–overshadowing legitimate criticism.

They respond to all criticism but they actively work to bury the negative criticism with fake positives.

I don’t blame them for gaming the system to have highly ranked google business profiles. All 3 apparent sister companies are highly ranked for key search terms (‘weed in dc’), in part because of their plentiful 5 star reviews.

They should stop this practice. It hurts their credibility and undermines consumer confidence. This type of dishonesty is far too common in the DC weed market. They should focus on credibility going forward.

Final Verdict: An Excellent Vender Overall

Overall, Gifted Curators runs a top form operation. They are undoubtedly one of the better storefronts and initiative 71 compliant businesses in DC. They have quality product and are very professional.

That said, they pay for reviews. (by offering free prerolls in exchange)

That’s not a great marketing practice. I think they do it for SEO purposes more than to bury criticism, but as a result they do both.

I would absolutely shop here again, despite that criticism. Professional customer experience, friendly staff and great flower make this a high quality weed storefront in DC.

If any vendors are a part of a conglomerate and want to tell your story of how your brands came to be–we’d love to publish your insights. If you want to clarify anything discussed in this review, get in touch.

Reach us at hello @ dcpotreview.com.