It's as simple as this...
LP rep in a cool lab coat, safety glasses and carrying a clip board says "it's safe, they dont give these lab coats to just anyone" and people can't get the hook down their throats fast enough, and pay twice the price for an inferior product.
I have a buddy that considers himself the connoisseur of connoisseurs and brags up the NSLC weed all the time. How it tastes so good, burns clean, gets him high af. I dont understand it, I smoke it and it's B grade at best, and mine is torso, head and shoulders above that and so is any grower's I know. You know what I think it is? I think it's an ego boost for him to walk into a store where he gets to act all know it all and school the morons at the store about how much of a connoisseur he is. He's always wrong about things he claims to be an expert on regarding cannabis, the process, and the "cleanliness" of the product. The store chumps won't correct him, but I do constantly. It makes him feel small in the presence of someone who knows more, and I've tried to be polite and teach him. He likes to quote "budtenders" opinions and misinformation like it's gospel. Makes me chuckle, like "the clean white ash is a sign that there are no pesticides". Lol. Hope he enjoys his $50 8ths of pink kush.
**facepalm**