Las Vegas’ first cannabis lounge opens new space with better views

Las Vegas’ first cannabis lounge has reopened in a new space and under a new name.

The only active cannabis lounge in Las Vegas, previously called NuWu Vegas Tasting Room, opened under it’s new name, the Sky High Lounge as a part of larger update for the NuWu Dispensary, at 1235 Paiute Circle just north of downtown Las Vegas. This lounge is located in the new 40,000-square-foot dispensary building.

The dispensary is on land owned by the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe — a sovereign nation — which doesn’t follow the same regulations for cannabis lounges put forth by the Cannabis Compliance Board.

The Sky High Lounge is about 16,000 square feet and features two bars specializing in serving cannabis dabs — or highly concentrated cannabis oils — as well as food options, a bar for drinks and a rooftop terrace with views of Fremont Street. There are indoor and outdoor spaces and the lounge overlooks a courtyard with space for live music and entertainment.

Tom Nieves, the marketing manager for the NuWu Dispensary, said updating the property and creating the new lounge was done to elevate the experience for customers and show what cannabis lounges could look like in Nevada.

“Our goal wasn’t to reinvent the wheel but to raise the bar even higher,” Nieves said.

The NuWu Dispensary has been operating a cannabis lounge in Las Vegas since 2019.

Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy, who attended the opening with several other government officials, said the NuWu Dispensary being able to operate a cannabis lounge for the past four years has helped Nevada craft legislation on opening cannabis lounges throughout the state.

“NuWu has been a test case for the broader conversation on consumption lounges in the years before legislation was passed,” he said. “We learned a lot from them.”

While NuWu Dispensary was the first cannabis lounge in Las Vegas, soon it won’t be the only one as the Cannabis Compliance Board issued conditional licenses for two cannabis consumption lounges in Clark County. The two others will be operated by Thrive Cannabis Marketplace and Planet 13 and are still being developed.

Thrive Cannabis Marketplace hopes to open its 3,000-square-foot lounge named Smoke and Mirrors — which should also have food and beverage options — before the MJBizCon cannabis convention comes to Las Vegas in late November, according to a spokesperson for the dispensary.

Planet 13’s cannabis lounge plans to be open sometime in the first quarter of 2024, according to a Planet 13 spokesperson.

Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com or on Twitter@seanhemmers34.