Mountain Select Brings Thumbprints from California to The Mile High City

The Real Cannabis Chris out of California pioneered the “thumbprint” – a center of jam surrounded by a ring of cold cure – so it looks like someone literally made an imprint in the hash with their thumb. Chris has been on an absolute rosin rampage lately, winning awards all over the place with his innovative jar tech and unique flavor combinations, from The Smoking Jacket and The Dabrite Invitational to Ego Clash, King of Z Hill, and more.

He reminiscences on how it all started, telling me, “I’ll never forget that moment when it came to me. I was sitting at my breakfast nook and enjoying a thumbprint cookie from my local food co-op, Briar Patch. A delicious cookie with lemon jam in the center. It hit me…make a jar with cold cure on the outside and jam in the center, and boom…the thumbprint was born!”

Now, hash connoisseurs across the country are taking notice — in fact, Mountain Select, a small-batch processor based out of Denver, recently paid homage to Chris by releasing its own take on the thumbprint tech. I was surprised to see someone dropping a thumbprint on shop shelves in my home state of Colorado, so I simply had to get my hands on one of these jars (pun intended).

Mountain Select’s first thumbprint drop of “Papaya Lemonade” features first and second wash only, first press only, 70u premium live rosin – pairing one gram of Papayalato (Papaya x Gelato #1) cold cure rosin with one gram of NaNa’s Lemonade (Lemon G x Strawnana) “slush.” This is their own version of a jam, with more of a wet sugar crystal consistency compared to the sticky and tacky jam jars you typically see. Almost like a Slurpee, I can certainly see where the slush name came from.

The Papayalato was bred by Rootseller Seeds, bringing a flavor profile that combines the current hype of heavy papaya terps with that classic gelato taste we’re all familiar with. Sweet and creamy papaya on the front end, finished with a somewhat sour citrus exhale. NaNa’s Lemonade has become a signature strain for Mountain Select over the years, bred by The Kaiser Chief and winning the High Times Cup in 2022 for live rosin vape carts in Denver. This one gives off a strong lemony aroma, but I personally get all Strawnana on the taste with fruity and refreshing bubblegum guava terps.

Combined together, this jar is super loud with a scent that can only be described as rancid lemon. It’s almost like a glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade was left sitting on the porch in the hot sun all afternoon. More of that funky papaya peel ends up coming through on the taste, balancing the initial smack of sour fruit with a little earthiness.

The coolest thing about the thumbprint is the ability to curate your own flavor experience: you can take a little more cold cure and a little less slush, a little more slush and a little less cold cure, or just a scoop of one flavor all on its own. The hit, taste, and effects of each dab will differ depending on the complexity of the combination you grabbed. I personally like to drag my dab tool from the outside of the jar into the middle to get a nice glob that’s about 50/50 of each flavor.

While this Papayalato x NaNa’s Lemonade was a “fruity on fruity” combination, the brand is currently at work in the lab playing with other combinations like fruity on gassy, sour on sour, and fruity on sour. The plan is to do small-batch thumbprint releases every month in select locations, featuring different flavor combinations and profiles each time. While Papaya Lemonade went to just four recreational stores around Denver – Fresh Baked, Police & Thieves, Roots RX, and Horizon Cannabis – the next drop will be available for Colorado medical patients as well and is planned for early September. You can stay tuned at www.mountainselect.co or on Instagram at @mountain_select!