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There are milestones that feel good, and then there are milestones that mean something. Being named Best Cannabis Dispensary in Durham by Durham Magazine two years in a row falls firmly in the second category.

This isn’t a participation award. Durham Magazine’s Best of Durham recognition reflects real community engagement — real customers, real experiences, real opinions about where they choose to spend their time and money in one of North Carolina’s most discerning cities. Winning it once told us we were on the right track. Winning it back-to-back tells us the standard we’ve set is holding.

We don’t take that lightly.

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Where This Started

Sherlocks didn’t start as a dispensary. It started as a glass art gallery — a space founded by childhood friends Rob and Alex in Raleigh in 2015 with one guiding principle: only carry the best. At a time when every local shop stocked imported glass, we carried exclusively American-made pieces. Rob’s background as a masterful glassblower meant we understood craft from the inside out, not just as a marketing term.

That standard — curate carefully, never compromise on quality, treat the product as a reflection of the brand — transferred directly into cannabis when the THCa space opened up in North Carolina. The same instinct that told us imported glass wasn’t good enough told us mass-market, synthetic-nutrient flower wasn’t good enough either.

That’s why we built Sesh by Sherlocks the way we did. No Delta 8 or alt-cannabinoids. No shortcuts. Only THCa, Delta 9, and CBD products chosen because they clear a bar that most of the market doesn’t bother setting.

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Why Durham Keeps Choosing Us

Our Durham location on Broadway Street has always been more than a dispensary. It earned a place on Durham’s Third Friday Art Walk and hosts live glass blowing every Wednesday. It operates as a gallery, a community space, and a retail destination simultaneously — because that’s what Durham deserves and what Durham responds to.

Durham is a city that has strong opinions about authenticity. It can tell the difference between a business that’s here to extract value from a community and one that’s genuinely trying to contribute to it. We’ve always tried to be the latter, and two consecutive Best of Durham wins suggest that effort has been noticed.

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The Seeds of Kismet Drop: Why It Matters

Alongside this recognition, we’re marking the moment with something we’ve been working toward for a while: the launch of our exclusive living soil collaboration with North Carolina master cultivator James Farmer of Seeds of Kismet.

James has been growing cannabis for more than 20 years. He’s won multiple cannabis competitions in both North Carolina and Virginia. He grows no-till, indoor living soil, small-batch, with a focus on rare, high-expression genetics that most commercial operations never bother sourcing. His flower is available exclusively through Sesh at Sherlocks — you cannot buy it anywhere else.

The May 2026 drop features five cultivars, each with strain notes written by James himself:

90’s Slurricane (Slurricane x 90’s Dutch Afghani) — James’s personal favorite in the drop. Perfectly balanced, a great happy maker with a nice relaxing body high. Deep, funky, medicinal bouquet with a hashy kiss of Slurricane and gas.

Chernobyl x Vietnamese Black (Golden Ticket Cut x Vietnamese Black) — Powerfully uplifting with an almost ceilingless high. Strong chemical scent with notes of lime and noodles. Sister to the winner of the February Fire 2022 Sativa Cup.

E85 (Wedding Cake x Project 451) — A 50/50 hybrid creeper. Gassy and fuely with creamy vanilla and apricot underneath. Easy, all-day, uplifted calm.

Garlic Cocktail (GMO x Mimosa) — Deeply relaxing and creative. Garlicky gas accented by sour tangerines and rich anise with a syrup finish. James describes it as “a deeply weird funky sweet rotten combo that you can’t quite get used to.” A customer favorite immediately.

Sherb Cream Pie (Ice Cream Cake x Sherb BX1) — 70/30 indica. Long-lasting deep relaxation with a profound mind-numbing effect. Sweet, greasy cake with a creamy wood note that bursts into a long fuel finish.

All five are in stock now at all three locations and available for nationwide shipping at sherlocksglass.com.

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Wake Forest: One Year In

This month also marks the one-year anniversary of our Wake Forest location at 508 S White Street. Rob and Alex grew up in Wake Forest, so opening there was personal in a way the other locations weren’t. The community has welcomed us in a way that reflects that — and the full Sesh lineup, including the Seeds of Kismet drop, is available there alongside everything else we carry.

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What’s Next

We’ve been featured this year by Honeysuckle Magazine, INDY Week, Leafly, Respect My Region, and Durham Magazine. Our Google rating sits at 4.9 stars across more than 860 reviews. The Seeds of Kismet collaboration is live. Wake Forest is thriving.

None of that is an endpoint. It’s a baseline.

We’re going to keep sourcing the best living soil flower we can find — and growing those relationships with cultivators like James who are doing the work the right way. We’re going to keep building the Sesh by Sherlocks program around products that actually earn their place on the shelf. And we’re going to keep showing up for Durham, Raleigh, Wake Forest, and the customers nationwide who trust us to send them something worth smoking.

Thank you for two years of Best of Durham. We’ll see you for year three.

Read the full ACCESS newswire press release here → Best Cannabis in Durham