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Fake West Coast Cure: New Ones Spotted, Change Coming

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Another day, another counterfeit cartridge brand on the black market. This time it’s fake West Coast Cure cartridges hitting the market.

UPDATE 7/5/2020: The easiest way to tell if a WCC cart is fake is if it’s not a pod. The only real WCC vape products currently out are vape pods.

See our video below on fake WCC cartridges, then keep reading on for more information.

West Coast Cure is a brand we mentioned having top of the line wax in our San Jose dispensary coverage. We also included an image of West Coast Cure packaging in our post on a Sacramento dispensary, which can now serve as a handy comparison for general style (WCC has changed their packaging a couple times since that 2017 post).

Example Of A West Coast Cure Cartridge Sold At The Northstar Holistic Collective.

Fake West Coast Cure packaging has hit DHGate and Alibaba

They’re quite plentiful at DHGate:

Several more are floating around Alibaba:

One video clip at Alibaba was even nice enough to tip us off to the fact that the cartridge tip copies the logo as well.

The background noise in that video (link maybe still up?) sounded like a factory, with machinery in the background. Maybe even filmed at the plant that makes these?

We even managed to track down a rare eBay sighting:

This image provides us with a handy reference for “strains” that we may see on the street…

  • Banjo
  • Grape Gas
  • Tits
  • Trainwreck
  • Lucky Charms
  • Grape Ape
  • GG#4
  • Strawberry Banana
  • Legend OG
  • Foreign Glue

Here’s one telling detail we’ve spotted to help identify counterfeit West Coast Cure carts:

UPDATE: Another counterfeit tell!

A reader points out that one difference between real and fake West Coast Cure is the lack of finger holes on the white plastic insert:

Additional clues: Some counterfeits appear to have a longer mouth piece. The “TM” at the end of the logo rides higher on counterfeits than on the real carts, and if the word “pen” is as bold as the word “cure,” that’s a dead giveaway of a fake as well. Thanks to sharp-eyed reader That Guy for the observations!

A reader had a bad experience with a WCC knock-off

At another site, a reader reported

that they got what was purported to be a WCC trueOG sauce pen off of WeedMaps, even with a verified seller. But the cart was bunk, and maybe speculated to be synthetic cannabis. The user reported getting profoundly sick.

If you think that’s bad, we found this Reddit post which, as we read it, has a user obtaining a WCC cart which was filled with BLUE liquid. He reports that the liquid turned out to be Dawn dish soap. Remember the old days when punks would bag up oregano and sell it to kids as weed? We’re almost back to those days.

WCC has indicated that they are changing packaging once again, so when updated packaging comes out we will add it to this post. That will make identifying fakes even easier.

Quality on fake cartridges is a mystery

As always, we should point out that consumer safety suffers when counterfeit cartridges hit the market. Yes, it is possible that home brewers can extract their own cannabis concentrate, even that they get clean product from a reputable source. Or, from the above two horror stories, you can see what else can happen. At the least, you’re likely not getting the high you’re paying for. At worst, you’re in danger of inhaling pesticides, herbicides, various glycol additives, lead, or… Dawn dish soap?

Have you encountered a fake West Coast Cure cartridge or other knock-off product? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below or in our forum!

Pete

Freelance author and researcher for twenty years, a career spanning two-thirds the age of the World Wide Web itself. Passionate about finding the truth and informing the public. Investigative research for the purpose of consumer awareness. Avid cannabis enthusiast and geek of many talents and interests.

View Comments

  • 2022 update: WCC is making carts again, with a new ceramic cartridge design. Check their website. I have several and am 99% sure they are real. Purchased from a reputable Cali
    dispensary.

  • Olá Sou do Brasil e estou chocada com o tanto de tipo de fake da WCC, ontem compramos uma e vim buscar aqui no google o site oficial e vim parar aqui. Alguém podia ne ajudar dizendo qual é o site oficial da WCC? Obrigada

  • The ones Ive seen in KC seem legit. They taste good, and work good, but they look like some of the fake pics on this article. So how do I really know? Am I supposed to just keep throwing my carts away cause someone says they're fake?

    • I found ones that looked super legit (just like the ones above that say real) and wrote the manufacture... their response was all carts are fake. Even if you check their site there are only pods & greens, no carts.

      Not sure what all this "real vs. fake" is about when they are all FAKE.

      • Yes, it is true now that West Coast Cure only produces pods and green now. Back when we published this blog post in 2019, West Coast Cure did produce oilpen cartridges and in fact were among the earliest brands of these. It seems the counterfeiters drove them out of the cart business.

    • Well, if you're not in a legal state, then in all likelihood you're only going to get fakes. Here's an unaffiliated expert on YouTube who explains the fake cart business very well:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KgSEecv5_0

      Just because a cart is not produced by an official source does not make it automatically deadly. If you trust your source and have no problems, you're lucky. However, West Coast Cure is actually a real brand. Counterfeits of a real brand are suspicious. Why are they trying to pose as legit? That's a lie already, so what else are they lying about?

      Contrast the kind of product you'd find at an underground sesh:

      https://dabconnection.com/culture/should-you-buy-from-an-underground-sesh/

      Even though there's cart brands there that are also unlicensed, they are up-front about being a "street brand" made in somebody's garage. They sell at an event, people know them, they're there every week. Even though you're still trusting your lungs to somebody's good word and reputation, you have a little bit more to go on, don't you?

      That's just life for illegal states right now. We appreciate there's people high and dry without access, and forced to turn to plugs. We are slowly voting our way out of prohibition, but until then, you just have to use your own best judgment.

  • I live in California. I've been a dispensary member for decades. Have bought every cartridges out. When I first started with cartridges my shop was illegal, they were $40 each, and got medicine affect 1. When a shops went legal I was buying them for 55 $60 each and got the same medicine effect 1. Then I found a buddy and he had a hookup with some of these cure pen Packaging listed here and I'm getting a better effect call it number 2. Point being, these hippies are all over the place making all kind of different products, some cheap that are good some expensive better bad. My advice, find one you like and stick with it regardless of the packaging. And the lighter the oil the more Pure.

  • I don't see how y'all can tell... I'm all the way in texas and getting real deal from cali... So if your not paying attention better open them 👀😜

  • I just got one from a shop in California SMH I told them about it they straight up said “all carts are pretty much fake “ Like um ! No not plug n play and Muha meds or stiiizy ect they have Bach numbers I can’t even believe this I could literally sue they had grape ape and tits strains and they tasted like straight up olive oil or something

  • Yeah but it's not rocket science. If you didnt go to cali and get it. Then you got duped. Because cali will not ship real shit out of state. Its against federal law. So people in alabama saying they bought west coast in alabama and Illinois you all got duped. They dont ship weed. I've asked every dispensary in cali. They dont ship. So unless you actually was in cali and bought it. You was robbed real shit

  • Just bought two in home town in Illinois. Appears to be fake due to the articles I’ve read after buying them.. 😬😥

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Pete

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