MN Smoke
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How we check

Checked against the state license file (OCM),

Current check dates

OCM license filedated Sep 21, 2026
Google listings (hours, phone, website)fetched Sep 28, 2026
Menu linkschecked Sep 27, 2026
Local sales tax ratesDOR rates from Jul 1, 2026, looked up Sep 27, 2026
Law quoteslast checked Sep 27, 2026 to Sep 28, 2026

Licenses: the OCM file, weekly

Every store on MN Smoke comes from the Office of Cannabis Management's licensed-business spreadsheet, published on OCM's application data page. The file in use is MN_OCM_licensed_businesses_092126_tcm1202-714418.xlsx, dated Sep 21, 2026. From it we keep the 230 rows that are retail sites and set aside 212 rows for cultivators, manufacturers and other non-retail licenses.

We download the file every week. OCM posts it by hand, so the date on the file, not the day we downloaded it, is the "verified" date shown under each page title. Each new file is compared with the last one; added, removed and changed sites appear on new stores.

The file includes contact names and email addresses. We delete them when we read the file, and a test fails the update if one ever reaches our data. Addresses are located with the U.S. Census Bureau geocoder; where OCM's county column disagrees with the census location, we use the census county.

If a license's expiration date has passed but the site is still on the file, the store page says its renewal is pending per OCM. If a site drops off the file, its page stays up, marked "no longer on the state license file" with the date, and it leaves every list, map and count. We don't call it closed, because the file doesn't say why.

Hours, phone and website: Google listings, weekly

For each licensed site we fetch Google Business listings near the address (through DataForSEO's business data API) and compare each one with the license on name, street number, ZIP and distance. A match is accepted automatically only when a classifier scores it 0.8 or higher and none of those checks contradicts it; anything else goes to a person, who checks the store's own website, city records or local news and records the source. Today 191 stores are matched with hours and 19 are waiting for a person to confirm. Unconfirmed stores show license facts only: no hours, phone, website or open/closed.

Listings are re-fetched every week, and each store page shows the fetch date next to its hours. Open or closed is worked out in your browser from those hours, in Minnesota time. We don't show Google ratings.

A menu link comes from the store's Google listing when it has one, otherwise from the store's own homepage (a Dutchie, Jane, Leafly, Weedmaps or Sweede menu, or a menu or shop page on the store's site). 106 stores have one. Links are re-checked with the weekly listing update, and each store page shows the date its link was checked.

Tax rates: Department of Revenue, quarterly

The 15% cannabis tax and 6.875% state sales tax come from the statutes, quoted on the cost page. Local sales tax rates come from the Minnesota Department of Revenue, which changes them each quarter: we look up each store's location on DOR's sales tax rate map and check it against DOR's ZIP code rate file (current file). A store within 60 meters of a tax boundary, or where the two sources disagree, gets no preset rate (9 stores today); the calculator asks you for it instead. Rates are re-read with every weekly update.

Law: quoted, re-checked monthly

Every legal statement on the law pages, the medical card page and the cost calculator comes from a ledger of 45 facts. Each has its citation, a verbatim quote from the source and the date it was last checked. Sources: Minnesota Statutes and session laws on revisor.mn.gov, the Department of Revenue's cannabis tax guidance, OCM's medical cannabis program pages (7 facts), and federal law on govinfo.gov.

A script re-reads every source page and blocks publishing if any quote no longer appears there, or appears in a different subdivision from the one cited. It runs before every publish and at least monthly. OCM's site blocks automated requests, so its pages are read in a real browser; if that fails, the quote is checked against a stored copy of the page and flagged for a person to re-read.

Tribal and hemp stores

Tribal dispensaries are not in OCM's file. We list them from each store's own site and public reporting, and say for each one whether state tax applies, based on the land it sits on. Hemp-derived THC retailers come from the same OCM file (3,009 sites) and are listed separately on the THC drinks pages, never mixed into the dispensary list.

Tribal store sources

Each Tribal store's address, hours, phone and links come from the operator's own site first. News and directory sources are used for opening dates and status, and for a field only when the operator doesn't publish it. Tax status (charged, not charged, not confirmed) follows the land each store sits on; "not confirmed" means we have not verified whether the parcel is Tribally regulated land.

Spot something wrong? Tell us. Store owners can correct a listing.