This week I took a look at some CBD Hash I got from The Hemp Barn. This is old-school style hash made in the dry-shift style. The herb was sifted through tight mesh screens to collect all the kief, then the kief was pressed into slabs of hash. This method of making hash comes from Morocco and is a centuries old technique.

Here in Southern California we don’t get much of the old-school hash. There are a ton of concentrates, but they’re mostly aimed at consumers who like to dab. I haven’t gotten into dabbing – yet. Still, I always keep my eyes open for old-fashion styles of hash because it’s like an exotic animal you hope to catch a glimpse of, but rarely see.

Hash has a long history, and humans have been making it for ages. There are many styles of hash, usually named after the region that produces it – Afghani, Nepalese, Moroccan, Charas, Kashmiri, Lebanese and more… theses diverse styles of hash runs from dry, brittle bricks of pressed kief to thick, gooey, dark balls of temple hash. Each style presents a whole new experience with unique highs, aromas, and textures.

Here’s a link to a web page with all kinds of interesting info about different styles of hash: https://druglibrary.org/MedicalMj/hash/guide_to_the_different_types_of_.htm

My first experience with hash was back in 1985. There was an extended dry period during the summer where it was impossible to find cannabis flowers. My dealer scrambled and got a bunch of black Afghani hash, which I smoked all summer long. I loved it – I missed smoking the flowers, but I really got into the hash. Ever since that year hash has had a special place in my heart.

Over the years I’ve had way too few opportunities to sample the variety of great hashes from around the world. Southern California has some of the best herb, but old-school hash making never has taken off here, nor has this been a big market for hash. I dream of that changing, because when my depression gets very bad nothing works like a chunk of good Afghani hash. Plus, I love the taste of hash – which is a unique flavor unto itself – earthy, spicy, and almost medicinal. The smoke from hash is especially oily and heady. A sesh with a half gram of good THC hash will, absolutely, alter your head space.

With all this hash history in my background, I was very curious when I was shopping at The Hemp Barn’s website and I saw they had Moroccan style dry-sift hash! CBD Hash?! What would that be like? The webite said the hash tested at 33.09% CBD, higher that anything I’ve ever smoked. I ordered a gram, which was just over $10 and waited expectantly!

The Look and Smell

The hash came in a small, white plastic container about as big as a quarter and about ¾ of an inch thick, and sealed with a clear plastic seal.

Opening the container revealed several pieces of the pressed hash, it looked like a nice gram (actual weight – 1.03 grams). The aroma was that distinct hash smell with hints of some tropical fruit flavors. This hash came from the kief of a strain called Pineapple. The dry-sift style keeps more of the aromas of the original plant better than many other styles.

The hash was pliable but solid and I cut it up with my scissors into small little chunks.

Usually when I smoke hash I put down a small bed of flower in the bowl and load some hash on top of the flower, but for this review I went with straight hash in the bong. This may not be the best method for smoking hash, but this is how I went about it for the review. (Serious hash smoking is a science unto itself…)

The Taste and Effects

This hash is a smoker’s delight! The taste is hashy, but the first flavors I noticed were sweet and fruity. The smoke was smooth, both on the inhale and the exhale. I took a second hit and already I could feel the effects starting.

The high came on with a very Indica feel – lidded eyes, thick body comfort and a kind of centering. Mentally, it was if I had just entered a smoky room with dim lights. There was a sedative effect of things slowing down, and after a few minutes I was thinking that this hash really blurs the line between what is psychoactive and what is not. I know CBD isn’t suppose to be psychoactive… but in high enough doses… hmmm.

That smoky room feel lasted for about five to ten minutes and then faded into straight up body comfort. Each time I took a hit I felt the smoky room feeling come back, hovering around me for a bit then dissipating. The short, brief, intense periods after taking a hit were really great, and reminded me of THC hash, but the effects didn’t last very long. After about twenty minutes after smoking I could feel lots of body comfort, but practically no head high.

The Wrap Up

All in all, the initial high is very reminisce to smoking a good Indica, but it is not overwhelming. A smoking novice could easily get into smoking some of this hash and have a good time.

I smoked about half the gram on my first test of this hash, and in retrospect I found that I spent most of the high looking for that THC hash kind of experience. But this is different than THC hash in that it left me very clear headed when I was looking for the fuzzy thinking a hash buzz usually gives me. When I smoked again the next day I knew what I was getting into, and the high seemed much better and to last longer…. it also seemed extra fuzzy. I don’t know if this was because I smoked from my pipe instead of my bong – I think more research is needed here!

That gram went way too fast! I’m going to buy some more of this right away because the body comfort levels are just the medicine I need at certain times. At $11 a gram, I’m stocking up!

Until later, best of health.

I’ve got to admit that the name Galactic Funk is what first caught my eye when I was herb shopping online last week. I was at Arete’s website on a suggestion from one of our viewers, and I was liking what I saw. I do judge an herb product – and whether I’ll buy it – from the quality of the website, and Arete’s was very classy with high quality photos of the different varieties of herb – that made me want to order about a half a dozen strains!

Galactic Funk is a phenotype of Sour Space Candy, which is a cross of Sour Tsunami and Early Resin Berry (ERB). Both of these strains are used in hemp breeding extensively, and Sour Space Candy is a strain you can find at many hemp sites online.

My order from Arete arrived in just a few days at our PO Box in a nice discrete brown cardboard box. Opening the box I found a well-packaged situation – the jar was in a smell-proof, heat-sealed bag that had an extra Mylar baggie inside. Much to my surprise the Mylar baggie contained a gram of a strain called G-1. Bonus herb – this company knows how to get on my good side!

The jar was packaged in bubble wrap for protection and nestled in black packing material that gave the box an elegant feel. Included with the jar was a nice handwritten note thanking me for the order… all nice touches. I hadn’t even smoked and I already had a good feeling!

Look and Smell

Arete’s jars have nice, spare labeling with all the info you need, which also show off the nugs inside the jar rather nicely.

Galactic Funk is labeled as a hybrid with 12.4% CBD. I could see that there was a Boost 62% humidity pack in the bottom of the jar. That always make me happy when I see that, because then I know the herb inside is going to be moist and fresh.

Opening the jar I was expecting a loud gassy aroma, but what I got was a spicy, medicinal, astringent smell that immediately made me think of a Jack Herer or Trainwreck strain – very surprising! These were aromas that I associate with a strong Sativa, so at this point I was suspecting that this hybrid was leaning towards the Sativa side – just a guess, but I was curious to see if my hunch was correct.

The dark green and purple nugs were mostly medium-smalls… thick, and just a touch fluffy, but still with good density.

There were about a handful of little buds in the jar, and no shake. The eighth of herb weighed in at 3.68 grams and looked generous when I poured it out on my tray.

The first nug I cut up was very well-cured, a bit sticky and released this strong tangerine aroma. I try and be very careful when I handle the herb – you have to respect the herb I often say – and even being careful, my fingers smelled like I had just peeled a tangerine after cutting up just one of the small nugs. I loaded the sticky herb up in my bong, and got ready to take that first hit.

The Taste and Effects

Sour tangerine was my first taste impression from the very smooth hit. That was followed by an earthy, spicy flavor, and then more of the tangerine. Nearly right away I felt my eyes get this feeling like they were opening up further than normal. I call that the “bright-eyes effect”… and it was very noticeable.

The effects that slowly rolled in after the immediate bright-eyes were like a mild Sativa buzz. My mind felt sharpened and focused, but not extremely… almost casually. As I sat thinking about the “casual high” I was enjoying I noticed that my body was getting more and more comfortable. I took a handful of hits during the first sesh and the body comfort kept growing for ten to fifteen minutes.

Because of the light, casual feel of the high I took a few more hits than normal. I never got much of a head high, but after about the seventh hit my eyes started to feel lidded, and my wife remarked that I definitely looked stoned. I went and looked it the mirror and it was true – the guy looking back at me sure looked stoned!

The Wrap Up

There is definitely a lot of people who would enjoy the light quality of this high. This herb seems perfect for a mid-afternoon smoke break when I need a little creative boost that won’t send my mind into the stratosphere. This one would be great for those that like a mild high that lean in a Sativa direction, but don’t want something that will overwhelm them.

I also think this is a good sesh herb… you can smoke this one for awhile and each hit gives a great burst of tangerine flavor, an energetic kick, a shot of body comfort and leaves me looking forward to the next hit. That adds up to a pretty good herb!

Until later, best of health.

Purple Gelato from No Cap Hemp Co. is a Indica dominate strain with 20% CBD. Everything about the herb says Indica, from the small, dense nugs to the buzz that hit me after just a few hits. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, let’s unbox the herb and take a look at this jar…

The Look and Smell

The label says this is “premium indoor flower” and that the jar contained 4 grams of herb. The jar itself is glass, and the lid is made of wood with a rubber liner to keep the jar air-tight – very classy. When I weighed out the herb I was happily surprised to see that it weighed in at 6.15 grams!!! Over 2 extra grams of herb!

No Cap Hemp has put a slight spin on the usual herb jar, and turned it upside-down. The upside-down jar puts the herb on a wooden pedestal and really does a great job of showing off the nugs.

The nugs were, as I mentioned, on the small side, but very dense. They were dark green with purple tones. The aroma from the jar was much different than the smell of the herb after they sat on my tray for a few minutes. The jar smell was underwhelming and gentle, with an earthy, fruity aroma. Something about the jar smell made me think of sea foam with this salty quality it had.

Outside the jar the aroma kept getting bigger, as it started to fill our cabin. The fruity aroma had a hint of citrus and over-ripe berries… very earthy and dank. Once I started to cut up the well-cured nugs the aroma just increased. The jar had a Boveda humidity pack in it, so the herb was at a perfect level of humidity – 62%.

The Taste and Effects

I took my first hit and my immediate impression was how smooth the smoke was… it didn’t super-expand and overwhelm my lungs, instead it was a very satisfying hit. The flavor was flowery with the taste of lavender and strong earthy undertones. I immediately jumped into hit number two…

The second hit was much more earthy than the first one, without so much of the perfume-like lavender taste. While I was trying to sort out the flavor of the second hit the effects started to roll in… strong and building with a very noticeable mellow vibe.

After the third hit everything was getting so mellow – the buzz hit me everywhere (head, body, eyes, limbs) and gave me that feeling like time was slowing down. It was about this point that I needed to reassure myself this was hemp I just smoked and not cannabis, because the effects were coming on in a very pronounced way, a very cannabis way…

By the fourth hit my eyes were getting heavy with the lidded feel. I could feel the level of body comfort increasing as the all-over stoniness of the effects kept building. I was getting fully saturated.

Mentally the high was very clean feeling, a very clear-headed buzz. It didn’t make my thinking fuzzy but it sure gave my body the comforting marijuana fuzzies. Lidded and relaxed with high body comfort and the fuzzies – just what I would expect from an Indica and the kind of thing that makes an Indica lover like me very happy.

The Wrap Up

The effects from my first time with this herb were quite noticeable, but not so much when I smoked it again later. During the later seshes the herb still had all the same effects, but they didn’t hit me quite as hard. I don’t know if that has to do with my high tolerance for herb, or because my body gets used to high levels of CBD very fast, but it seemed worth mentioning.

This has been one of the best feeling Indica hemp flowers I’ve tried and I gave the effects a 4.75 because they were so pronounced and classically Indica. I’ll be shopping here again! No Cap Hemp Co. has a nice menu online with a number of strains that look enticing, so you can expect another review of this companies herb in the future… mark me impressed!

Until later, best of health.

Pink Panther is a hemp strain that caught my eye with a photo of an amazing looking bud when I visited WNC CBD’s website to check out their menu. One of our viewers recommended this company and the photos of the herb were very impressive looking. But I’m used to online photos looking great and having the product look nothing like the photos when it shows up, so I had a healthy skepticism. But the Pink Panther sure looked and sounded tasty so I placed my order, hoping for the best.

WNC CBD (WNC stands for Western North Carolina) shipped out my order right away… and with Priority Mail I had my herb in just a few days. The herb arrived in a rather smallish Mylar bag.

There’s an eight in there? was my first thought… the Mylar bag had no window to view the herb so I had to wait, somewhat impatiently, for the time to review the herb so I could get into the bag.

Pink Panther is a cross of Alpen Gleaux (pronounced “glow”) and Cat’s Meow. Alpen Gleaux is one of the purplest strains I’ve ever seen. We’ll have a review of that strain later this year – the Alpen Gleaux that we’re going to try is still growing on a farm down in Louisiana (shout out to Southern Heat Botanicals).

The Look and Smell

As you might guess, I was was dying to get into this bag and see what was inside. Tearing the bag open during the video review I was greeted with a very familiar aroma that reminded me immediately of Jack Herer or Trainwreck. There is a certain astringent smell that those strains have that instantly make me think I’m dealing with a Sativa. This one was listed at 85% Sativa to 15% Indica, so that wasn’t too big a surprise.

I poured the nugs out on the tray and a smile came to my face.

There was one big nug that weighed in at 2.89 grams and a couple smalls to brought the weight of the eighth to 3.58 grams. The big nug looked nearly identical to the photos I had seen online!

Purples, pinks, shades of green and an abundance of orange hairs made the nug a photogenic beauty. As I was taking the photo of the big nug the light box was filled with a sweet, almost candy-like aroma. I was anticipating a very sweet tasting herb…

I cut into the big nug and the cure was near perfect. The nug was thick and chunky, very dense and packed with frosty trichomes that released a cloud of sweet, earthy and astringent aromas. As I packed the bowl with the sticky and sweet herb I couldn’t wait to light it up, it was so inviting.

The Taste and Effects

Well, I thought after the first taste, that wasn’t what I was expecting… the taste was only subtly sweet and had a chalky texture. It reminded me right off the bat of eating Bottle Caps candies, but with a very subdued sweetness. The chalky texture of the smoke surprised me, I mean… when does smoke feel chalky? I jumped in a second hit to see if the experience repeated itself.

Yeah, slightly sweet, chalky and then on the exhale the herb had a savory/sweet flavor that reminded me of roasted red peppers. I took several more hits to make sure I was getting this right. Sometimes a strain won’t have a strongly definable taste, and it leaves me searching my mind for a way to describe it on the spot. This was one of those strains. Part of me was expecting a purple flavor because of the beautiful coloring, part of me was expecting a spicier flavor because of my experiences with Trainwreck and Jack Herer strains. All of me was surprised by the Pink Panther flavor.

As a note – I smoked Pink Panther again, to get started the next morning, and was greeted by that same hard to define flavor… sweet and savory, chalky and smooth, faintly earthy – unique, and delicious in a subtle way. The smoke quality was smooth, thick and satisfying. And the high – Sativa-dominant…

The first couple hits gave me a clear-eyed feeling, like I could see better. Along with that feeling came a focusing of the mind and an energetic boost. Though I wasn’t getting technically “high” I was feeling a solid lift to my whole being. I’ve smoked pounds of Sativas over the years and my only problem with a strong Sativa is the level of anxiety they can cause. I tent to expect that with a high THC Sativa, but this one went the opposite direction. (This strain had 0% THC and 13.798% CBD)

My anxieties melted away nearly immediately after the first few hits. There came a smoothing-out to my thinking, like all the rough burrs and edges were smoothed out, worries and anxieties lost their hold, and I was feeling elevated. Along with the smoothing of the mind came a soothing of the body. Nearly all CBD flowers provide some body comfort, but this one had a very high level of comfort. After about six hits the Indica-like effects started in and the body comfort thoroughly saturated my being. My mind was just humming along pleasantly and my body was feeling very good!

The Wrap Up

Simply put – clear-eyed, focused, energetic with anti-anxiety effects and high body comfort – and beautiful nugs that are a delight to behold. Sure, I wish the flavor had been a little sweeter and had a “purple” taste, but the smoke quality was amazing – very smooth and satisfying. There’s a lot to love about this Pink Panther… a strain I’d be happy to smoke just about anytime, anywhere. And I will definitely be ordering from WNC CBD again, and I’ll trust that their menu photos are accurate.

Until later, best of health.

Sometimes you get a winner, and sometimes you don’t – and this week’s hemp flower falls under the “don’t” category. This is not going to be a review of the Sour Magna strain as much as it’s going to be an expression of disappointment about the herb I received from Colorado Breeders Depot. In my opinion, no one should ever receive such low quality hemp.

The reason I ordered this herb was because the website said, “To all of our Bubba Kush lovers. This Sour Magna grown in Southern Oregon will bring back memories of the first Bubba Kush you tasted.” Well – they had me there because I am a Bubba Kush lover, for sure. But this, my friends, isn’t even in the same league as the Bubba I’m familiar with…

The aroma was like fresh-cut lawn clippings, and lawn clippings is not the smell I want when I’m expecting kushy/gas, as the website suggested.

The herb was extraordinarily dry, and indeed, it didn’t seem like it had been cured at all. The nugs just crumbled to dust when I cut them up… and there was virtually no taste other than the taste of leaf.

I didn’t notice any effects from the herb, but by the time I got to that part of the review I was so turned off by the contents of this bag I couldn’t take the necessary amount of hits to get “there”… disappointment from start to finish. I can’t see myself buying more herb from this company – and I’ll look for some Sour Magna elsewhere so we can really get a feel for this strain.

Cherry Wine is a hemp strain that was created in 2015 to be a balanced hybrid – evenly mixing both Sativa and Indica effects into a high CBD hemp strain with little to no THC. To do this they mixed a high CBD strain called Charlotte’s Cherries with a very resinous strain called The Wife.

The jar we looked at this week came to us from Cheef Botanicals, an online hemp company that I keep ordering herb from because I have been impressed with the quality – and they ship very quickly. I must mention that Cheef includes over 4 grams of herb in their opaque eighth jars, and this one weighed in at 4.15 grams. Another thing I like is that Cheef includes a Boveda humidity pack in each jar. That keeps the herb perfectly fresh from packaging time to when the consumer opens the jar.

Cherry Wine stands out in the field of available hemp strains because it’s not trying to emulate a known cannabis strain. I admire it for that fact. I’ve been a bit disappointed in most hemp strains that companies name using a cannabis strain name that has “brand” recognition. With very few exceptions it seems like the hemp version is very different from the known cannabis strain – I find this to be confusing.

The Look and Smell

Opening the jar I was hit with a strong berry smell that was sweet, deep, rich and earthy. I gave the jar several whiffs, and each time I noted new aromas. There were strong spicy notes that danced above the deep, dank undercurrent of fermented fruit, and just a hint of something skunky lurking around.

I poured the nugs out on my tray and was surprised that most of the assembled nugs had long stems. My friend Josh, who runs a herb company, calls the long stems that should have been trimmed off “unicorns”, and dislikes them passionately. I agree. Who needs that extra wood? I trimmed off the unicorns and the weight didn’t drop below 4 grams, but those long stems sure made a bad first impression.

The small nugs (minus the stems) were very chunky and dense, well-trimmed other than the unicorns – no sugar leaves left behind, just nice chunks of well-cured herb.

As I cut up the first nug it sliced up into smaller and smaller nugs until I had little balls of hemp nugglets on my tray. My fingers were sticky from cutting up the herb and the aromas were causing a nice atmosphere of aromas to surround me.

The Taste and Feel

The first hit from my bong surprised me with a sweet and spicy taste. The spicy smells I had noticed in the aroma had transformed into a strong flavor on the exhale. Following the spicy taste was a strong taste of fermented fruit, or fermented berries. While I was mulling over the fermented flavor my wife pointed out that cherry wine is made from fermented berries, cherries to be precise. All of a sudden the name made perfect sense, and was an excellent description of the taste.

I was about three hits into enjoying the flavor… just a couple minutes into my sesh, when I notice the “marijuana fuzzies” creeping up on me. As I’ve mentioned in the past, marijuana fuzzies is that feeling like all my nerves have been insulated and I’m wrapped in a fuzzy blanket. It’s one of my favorite physical effects from smoking marijuana.

After the fuzzies came the lidded eyes… all the physical effects that let you know that the marijuana is taking effect. As the fuzzies spread around my body the herb started to bring in a lot of physical comfort. That was when my head felt like it opened up at the top and my mind expanded. Not expanded in the psychedelic sense, but like the borders of my mind were thrown open.

Mind expansion? Is that getting high? I know they say this herb doesn’t get you high but I was getting CBD stoned. I was thrust into a deeply thoughtful and contemplative mode. Ideas took on new shapes and dimensions. And while my mind was expanding I noticed that this herb wasn’t necessarily affecting my mood. Many times smoking the herb can be mood altering, but not this one. After smoking I felt like I was on the same mood path I was on before, but now with new, added stoned features.

The effects lasted a good couple of hours and then the munchies hit me. Not a deep sense of hunger, but the munchies – the desire to keep nibbling on little salty things, like stovetop popcorn. And it was a munchie compulsion that could not be ignored… and yes, the popcorn was delicious!

The Wrap Up

They say that the CBD and THC levels in a herb is just the engine that drives the effects, while the terpenes help steer the high. The terpenes for this one were strong in Myrcene (the earthy hops smell), Geranyl Acetate (fruity), Farsenene (that taste of green apples), Limonene (a citrus-like, acidic kick), Linalool (spicy) and a handful of others. Well, the engine on this one was just 14.72% CBD and 0% THC, so it was definitely the terpenes that were causing the high in this herb. And it’s a great one, in my opinion!

I’ll be using this herb for some deep philosophical thinking. I loved the contemplative mode this one put me in… the mind expansiveness was remarkable, and the way my head just felt opened up – it felt like I was ready to receive cosmic messages! And I like that feeling.

Cherry Wine is now going to move onto my CBD Top Ten list. If the nugs had more jar appeal the rating would have been higher. I love unicorns, but not in my jar of herb. 😉

Until later, best of health.

Wake & Bake

I love the concept of waking and baking – getting up and heading straight to the herb. This is a strong stoner tradition, and you’re not considered a true stoner until you’ve spent mornings puffing on your pipe while drinking your coffee.

I find that cannabis is great for starting off your day on a good course. As I’ve mentioned before, I have depression and I use cannabis medically as well as to just relax, socialize, and chill. Some days my depression is so bad that waking and baking is actually the best medical course of action, unless I want to spend the day walloped by the depression, and in bed.

There is a strategy involved in waking and baking (W&B). First off, chose an appropriate herb! I rarely reach for an Indica to start my day, unless that’s all I have on hand. My goal when I W&B is to put my day on track for productivity, creativity and physical well-being.

I recommend starting with the best herb you have, because I’ve found over the years that starting with crappy herb seems to make the rest of the day’s highs also crappy. Smoking the best right off the bat seems to make my CB1 and CB2 receptors in my body very happy – and all my highs for the rest of the day seem better. And if you can start with a CBD flower, even better…

Lifter

Today I did a W&B with a CBD flower called Lifter from Cannaflower. Lifter is a cross of Suver Haze and E.R.B. – Early Resin Berry, or some times called Early Resin Bud. This version of Lifter has 19.5% CBD, which is pretty high for a hemp flower. Lifter is a very popular strain and I see it on many websites that sell hemp. It’s been on my mental list of herbs to review, and I was very excited to try this version from Cannaflower because they have a reputation for delivering high quality herb, and I had never ordered from them before…

Flashback to when the box arrived – the herb arrived quickly by mail in a discrete white box. Opening it up I was aghast that the herb was just packaged in a plain, silver Mylar balloon.

No markings, label or anything. We had a brief WTF moment until we realized the joke was on us – the Mylar balloon was just the smell proof bag that held the real package. And the bag inside was stylishly designed.

Reading the package from Cannaflower it said that this herb was “slow cured and hand trimmed”. On the back of the package was a small “peek-a-boo” window where I could see that the herb inside of this eighth bag looked like one big nug.

The Look and Smell

When I first opened the bag while doing the video review I was hit with a berry aroma, like a mixture of raspberries and blackberries. Exploring the aromas further I detected an earthy aroma mixed with a bit of diesel. The mix of smells was very delicious and got me excited to load this up in my bong.

As I tried to gently extract the big nug from the bag it came apart in my hands… I pulled off several dense nugglets of herb before I got the bud out of the bag. When I finally removed the big nug I could see that it had been hand-trimmed, very nicely.

The cure seemed very good as I carefully gave the nugglets a little squeeze. The nugs themselves were medium to dark green with an abundance of red hairs and a dense structure.

I cut into the first nug and the cure was perfect. The folks at Cannaflower did a nice job of delivering a fresh, and well-cured flower, though I wish the bag had been just a bit bigger so I wouldn’t of pulled the nug apart trying to remove it. The nug was just too big for the bag… I guess that’s a good problem to have. 🙂 I took the fresh pile of herb and loaded it up in my bong, ready to get to the heart of the issue…

The Taste and Effects

Sour lemon. Straight up. The taste surprised me as I was expecting something sweet and berry, considering the smell I’d been experiencing. The smoke was smooth and delicious, the kind you want to hold in while you savor the flavor. The exhale tasted of lemons too with an earthy quality. Later, after a long sesh with the herb I detected other subtle flavors, like sweet clove, a hint of berries, and then one hit was like a drink of sugar water – a very complex and shifting flavor palate.

When it comes to the effects, this is an appropriately named herb. The effects are uplifting and energizing – a great compliment to a cup of coffee in the morning, just to reference the W&B theme again. After the first few hits it seemed to cause my eyes to open up further, and I felt focused and attentive.

I called the high a “smooth sailing high” because it felt like I now had the wind in my sails, moving me forward, while all the rough edges of life had been smoothed out. For me it inspired a creative vibe. I am a creative person – so good, energetic herb often does this, and Lifter was no exception.

Nearly all hemp flowers bring on a sense of body comfort, and so did this one. Because depression is such a physical illness, I’m very attune to how my body feels and when an herb brings on strong comfort I notice. Lifter was at least an 8 or 9 on that scale.

The Wrap Up

Waking and baking is, ultimately, about taking control of your day and putting it on the course you want, and this is a herb that will definitely help with that! I had a short sesh of just four hits from the bong along with my regular two cups of coffee this morning and jumped straight into writing this review. I went from a foggy, sleepyhead – to alert and focused in less than no time as the hits saturated my body. It was almost as easy as flipping a switch, and I was into the writing vibe.

I imagine this herb would be perfect for all levels of herb smokers, from novice beginners to well-seasoned veterans – there were no surprises from this one – just straight up positive energy. I’m definitely adding this to my growing list of herbs that I like to have on hand, and I’m adding this to my list of favorite Sativas. Both Lifter and Cannaflower get the thumbs up on this one!

Until later, best of health.

I love Gorilla Glue – the cannabis strain. These days it’s often just called GG4 because the company that makes the super-strong adhesive called Gorilla Glue® doesn’t like their name associated with marijuana. This strain was originally called Gorilla Glue because of it’s very sticky quality, both the buds themselves, and the high’s ability to stick a person to the sofa.

We got this week’s jar from Cheef Botanicals when they had a sale a few weeks back – 30% off! We snapped up several jars of herb to review in the month ahead… and then this week, while I was taking a peek at the jar, trying to guess how many nugs were inside, I received a comment on YouTube – in that very same moment. A viewer named Will was requesting that I review Gorilla Glue by Cheef Botanicals. I love coincidences like that, so I immediately decided we’d review this strain this week. And here we are…

Gorilla Glue – the THC version – is a cross of Chem’s Sister, Sour Dubb and Chocolate Diesel, and this hemp version has a hemp cross to bring down the THC to legal limits while increasing the CBD to 18.277%! That a nice size CBD engine on a hemp flower!

The Look and Smell

Cheef Botanicals makes a nice presentation with their earthy colors, good graphic design and opaque jars.

As I opened the freshness seal on top the aroma of earthy diesel jumped out at me. Did I smell that correctly, I wondered happily? I love diesel smelling herbs!

I took a second smell of the jar and this time I smelled citrus, strongly. Hmmm… I was confused, but both aromas were pleasant. I took another smell and came away with the citrus again, and I noticed the heavy earthy smell lingering beneath the fruity notes I was now detecting. The diesel aromas kept showing up and disappearing on me, so I called it an elusive diesel smell. A very interesting aroma, all-in-all.

I poured the nugs out on the tray and was happy to see about four medium size buds and several smalls. The herb weighed in at 4.32 grams… very generous on top of Cheef’s already generous four gram eighths! The nugs were a medium sage green, with orange hues and had deep, dark streaks of color from inside.

The fragrant nugs were covered with trichomes and once I cut up the biggest nug I got hit with that elusive diesel aroma again.

The cure was just perfect. The nug cut up into a very sticky pile that caused my fingers to get covered with the gummy, aromatic oils. On the sticky scale this one was definitely leaning towards heavily “gluey” – the Gorilla Glue level. The herb was living up to it’s name…

The Taste and Feel

The flavor of the first hit was strong on the citrus taste. There was an earthy quality and a fruity quality, but the overall experience was like a light orange drink mixed with fruit juice. It was one of the sweetest and most delicious hemp flowers I’ve tried yet. I, of course, immediately took a second rip, and a third, and a fourth, and a… well, I lost track just savoring the delicious flavor. Then the effects crept in – oh my!

The effects were like an elevator going down to the mellow level. This one has heavy mellowing agents, and before I realized it I found myself operating at a whole different speed. It took a few minutes to become cognizant of the fact that I was now moving at the speed of time, as I like to call it.

Physically the herb gave me a heightened sense of all my nerves, it was like every part of my body became aware of it’s existence. That quickly gave way to a nice, medium level of body comfort. By this time my eyes were lidded and I was visibly stoned. And I felt as CBD stoned as I looked.

As I wrapped up the video review I took a last hit… was that number six or seven (?), I don’t know, but the level of stoned went up a whole notch and it rocked me back in my seat for a moment. The ceiling on this herb is high and the stone can get very deep.

The Wrap Up

I did end up on the sofa from this herb, deep in contemplation, or zoned out, whichever you prefer. I took a few hits of a great uplifting THC herb a couple hours after this Gorilla Glue adventure began and it just made me feel heavily stoned again, like I had taken more hits of this Gorilla Glue, and before I knew it I was in bed for a nap.

While this strain is a balanced hybrid, it has strong Indica effects on the back end. The initial effects were more Sativa leaning and I was happily dancing around our cabin before the couch-lock effects took over. So this is definitely a hemp strain that will take you to stoned land. Go slow and dose low if you want a mild experience because the effects don’t hit until you’ve had a chance to take too many hits – I mean, it tastes that good I wanted to keep hitting it! But then it’s too late to go back.

This is one I’ll be definitely buying again. I’ll be saving this for the end of the evening when I want to blissfully slip into the sleep zone, easily and quickly. Just one of the many benefits quality herb can provide – a tasty ride to blissed-out sleep land!

Until later, best of health.

Due to time constraints, the written review will be posted later…

At this point, I consider myself fairly new to the hemp flower world. Up until last year I was completely unaware that you could buy hemp flowers with less than 0.3% THC online – heck, I didn’t even know hemp flowers were a thing!

Since discovering hemp I’ve been very busy sampling strains – there’s so much good herb out there to try it’s going to take awhile to experience (and review) them all! Compared with my nearly four decades of cannabis smoking, I’m practically a rookie when it comes to hemp flowers.

This, of course, means that I’m like most people these days when it comes to CBD flowers – very curious, full of questions and more than pleasantly surprised by the effects – the relaxing feel, the lack of anxiety – and I’ve found more than a few strains have been straight up stony – so stony I’ve been calling the feel “CBD stoned”!

I’ve been enjoying the effects so much, that lately I’ve been wondering if the Holy Grail of herb I’m looking for might be a CBD bud!? All the options are on the table. My smoking has shifted to about 60% hemp flowers and 40% cannabis flowers since the beginning of 2021, and I’ve found my THC tolerance has dropped a bit.

Since we started these reviews I’ve had an ongoing list of hemp flowers that I want to review, and this week’s strain – Sour Space Candy – ranks high on that list. I decided to give Dr. Ganja’s version of Sour Space Candy a try. This is the first time I’ve ordered from this company and this eighth was very reasonably priced at $18.00. The order arrived very quickly because I paid a bit extra for Priority Mail shipping.

Sour Space Candy

This herb comes with a reputation, and that reputation of being upbeat and Sativa-like was one of the things that drew me to this strain. The fact that this strain also has a reputation for delicious sweet and sour candy flavors just got me more excited to try it out.

Even though I gravitate to Indica-dominant strains, I like to switch off to a Sativa strain every once in awhile… it helps keep things fresh! I’m always looking for a Sativa strain that hits me just right, and not all of them do – some feel too jittery and give me an over-caffeinated feel. I was hoping this might be one of those winner Sativa-dominant strains.

Sour Space Candy is a cross of Sour Tsunami and Early Resin Berry (ERB). Sour Tsunami has become a classic in the hemp world, and ERB is a strain that’s been used in a number of breeding projects. It was just a matter of time before someone put these two together, and the result, Sour Space Candy, has become very popular over the last year. It seems like nearly every hemp company has a version of this strain.

The Look, Smell and Taste

The herb from Dr. Ganja came packaged in a resealable, plastic flavor-seal bag.

The information panel on the back of the package noted that this herb had 12.20% CBD and 0.115% THC – well under the legal limit. Through the clear front of the package I could see that there were a few nice looking nugs inside.

Pouring the handful of dark green nugs out on the tray I could see that they were well-trimmed. There were no sugar leaves to be found on the dense nugs.

The aroma of the nugs was on the mellow side… I had to give them a little squeeze to get them to give up some smell, and their aroma surprised me… very spicy. It was almost medicinal smelling – leaning towards ammonia and the smell of a doctor’s office when I was a kid. If you’ve ever smoked Trainwreck… this one smelled a lot like that.

I was surprised! I was expecting sweet and sour candy, not a spicy, astringent aroma. Well, as I’ve mentioned before – strains can vary wildly depending on so many different factors. Undaunted by my surprise, I loaded up the bong with the well-cured herb. It got my fingers very sticky just packing the bowl – always a good sign… so I had big expectations for the sesh ahead.

The flavor was very much like the aroma but with more sweetness, like an underlying layer of sweetness. My first impressions were all over the place – so much flavor packed into that smoke it was difficult to sort out what was going on. The second hit helped me define it a bit better, and it was the spicy, medicinal flavor that stood out ahead of everything else. The more hits I took, the more I noticed a citrus undertone standing out from the other flavors.

The Effects

It seemed that there was a slight clearing of my thoughts after the first few hits… but as I sat at the Red Bench for about ten minutes, working my way through a couple bowls – that’s over a half gram of herb – it occurred to me that nothing was happening. Nada, zilch, zero. There was no lift, no CBD stone, none of the relaxation that comes from smoking hemp. I felt flat.

I was starting to get the feeling at this point that I wasn’t having the standard Sour Space Candy experience, that Dr. Ganja’s version might not be hitting this one on the target…

The more hits I took the less I was enjoying the experience. I felt deflated and rather underwhelmed. I am disappointed by herb so infrequently that when I have an experience like this it really surprises me.

The Wrap Up

I must say, I did enjoy the taste of the herb even though it wasn’t what I was expecting. The smoke quality was thick and smooth… a real good smoker – but if the effects fall flat, then the herb doesn’t work for me. And the effects of this version of Sour Space Candy were a disappointment.

Now that I’ve had this small disappointment, I’ve added the mission of finding the quintessential Sour Space Candy to my list of things to accomplish here at the Red Bench – so expect more reviews of different versions of this strain in the future.

Until later, best of health.

The Low Down

The cannabis version of Skywalker OG, which my wife affectionately calls “Luke”, is a very popular strain so I usually have no problem finding it, and I like to keep a little on hand at all times. Well, I was down to my last nug when I saw that Cheef Botanicals, a premium online hemp store, had Skywalker OG – the hemp version – on their menu for just $24.95 for a four gram jar. I ordered right away.

There are certain strains that I count on, medically speaking. Skywalker OG is one of those strains – the cannabis version. It works so well for the various physical symptoms I experience from depression and mentally, it just takes me away to a happy, mellow place.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have chronic depression that hits me with serious bouts which last from a few days to several weeks. These periods of depression can be crippling both mentally and physically. I just went through a horrible bout this last week that kept me in bed for several days, trying to sleep away the illness.

The point of saying this – is to tell you where I was at mentally and physically going into the video review… I was still rather nauseous from the depression, and doing my best not to look like it. But I had hope – we were reviewing Skywalker OG!

The Look, Smell and Taste

In my opinion Cheef does a professional job on their packaging, with quality graphics on the outside of their opaque jars and humidity packs included on the inside. When I see a Cheef jar sitting on my counter it always looks enticing… like something good is going to be inside.

When I first opened the jar I had to pause to inhale the delightful aroma… sweet, pungent, earthy, kushy – a very deep smell… heavy. It smelled like a dank jar of some Skywalker OG! I’ve smelled many different versions of Skywalker OG over the years – from sweet to sour versions – but I always look for the kush smell and the earthy OG aroma and this one did not disappoint.

Skywalker OG is a cross of Skywalker and OG Kush. This jar smell definitely had some OG in it, and something more! Skywalker is a cross of Blueberry and Mazar-I-Sharif – two great strains on their own. I could really smell the Blueberry in there, a danky, overripe blueberry sweetness.

I weighed out the herb in the jar and it came to a generous 4.24 grams. The nugs were very dark green and nicely trimmed. There were a few sugar leaves still intact, but nothing to complain about. These were not boutique nugs, they weren’t beauty contest winners – these were blue collar nugs – ready to get to work and do the job!

The nugs cut up beautifully – definitely well-cured, and the humidity pack had done a great job of keeping the herb fresh. The earthy, kushy aroma grew in intensity as I sliced through the bud. As the aroma increased so did my excitement to get this loaded in my GRAV bong and take a rip.

Thick, smooth smoke – a delightful smoker. The aromas carried over to the flavor, but also brought out a strong sour taste with a hint of gassiness.

By the time I was into the second hit I could feel the fuzzy, lidded effects creeping along my eyelids. The high came in like a surging tide, not with a rush, but with intention. It quickly and persistently inundated my body with the fuzzy marijuana feel and within ten minutes I was in another mind space, a very relaxed space – I called the Mellowlands.

The Effects

If you’ve been running and running, pushed along all day, stressed out and need a shift, this herb says, “put your feet up and relax”. Need an instant de-stresser, something to change the speed of the day and shift things down to a lower gear? This Skywalker OG will definitely reorient the day! And this is just what I expect of this strain when I smoke the cannabis version. I was happily surprised to find that this hemp version nailed it for me.

I was stoned, without a doubt. I call it “CBD stoned”, but really, it was just a straight up stoned high!

Remember that nausea I mentioned earlier? After the herb inundated my body the nausea faded completely away. As a matter of fact, the relaxing and de-stressing qualities of this herb put my body in such a good place that the lingering aches and pains of the depression melted away too.

The effects of the Skywalker OG lasted for several hours before the nausea started to return. Those few hours were such a relief, especially after the week I’ve had. I took a few more hits to re-up and again the illness faded and I stayed contently in the Mellowlands.

The Wrap Up

As I mentioned in the video review, I’ll be keeping a constant supply of this one in the medicine cabinet, so to speak. This hemp version of Skywalker OG had everything I love about the cannabis version of the strain – the smell, the flavor, the effects, the relief…

More and more I’m finding great satisfaction as a smoker in these classic strains grown as hemp flowers. These flowers are a wonder of breeding… they’re grown so well, cured to top shelf perfection – and they get you CBD stoned! I have no complaints… I mean, what if the Holy Grail of herb I’m searching for is a hemp flower?

BTW – Cheef Botanicals offers free standard shipping, but I paid a little extra and had it shipped Priority Mail. It arrived in just a few days, secure and well-packaged. I will point out here for those that don’t know already, that hemp – CBD flowers – are legal in the United States, thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill! This is herb with less than 0.3% THC but full of CBD goodness.

Until next week, best of health.

The Low Down

Very few strains have had the impact on the cannabis world like Northern Lights. This is a strong Indica strain that goes back to the early eighties, and has been the backbone of many breeding projects over the years. This powerful strain has the reputation of “two hit and quit”, owing to it’s legendary status as a kick-ass herb.

Back in the early eighties, legend has it, a grower named “The Indian” lived on an island near Seattle and planted eleven Indica seeds that all came up female. The genetics of these plants, which he called Northern Lights #1 – #11, were a bit of a mystery, but the story told is that they were seeds from an Afghani and Thai cross. Of the eleven plants, #5 was the winner. It was a deliriously wonderful Indica plant that flowered quickly, was very resilient, and produced large, beautiful, resinous, trichome-covered colas.

In 1985 seeds of #5 were taken to Amsterdam, and the strain took the breeding world by storm. Growers crossed Northern Lights with just about everything and created some well-known strains like Super Silver Haze, Skunk #1, Jack Herer and many more. Nowadays, there’s a bit of Northern Lights in nearly every hybrid strain if you go far enough back in the genetics.

The breeding magic hasn’t stopped – and now there is a hemp flower version of Northern Lights, and that’s what I took a look at this week. This high CBD, low THC version of Northern Lights was created by crossing the classic strain with a hemp flower, retaining the renowned Northern Lights look, smell, taste and feel while creating a flower with 20.73% CBD.

Shopping online you’ll find that just about all the hemp shops carry a version of Northern Lights, a nod to how popular this strain is, even after all these years. I choose to try the version from Cheef Botanicals. I’d read some good reviews of their herb so I thought we should give them a test run, and I’m glad we did!

Look, Smell and Taste

The jar presentation from Cheef was top-notch – appealing graphics, an opaque jar, a Boveda humidity pack included, beautiful nugs, and flavor-sealed to keep in the freshness. Cheef does four gram eighths and the herb in this jar weighed in at 4.33 grams – nice and generous!

The dark green and purple buds had a sweet aroma in the jar – sweet with earthy undertones. There was a spiciness to the sweet aroma that blended pleasantly. When I poured the buds out on the tray I could see they were well-trimmed, solid, dense nugs.

The cure was premium, just what I would hope for, as I cut through the first small nug and prepared to load up the bong…

The flavor of the first hit was earthy and sweet. The second hit brought in a spicy flavor. The smoke was smooth, thick and satisfying – very delicious! The smoke’s thickness was a fine precursor to the high that moved in very quickly… taking me to a contemplative place.

As I savored the second hit, thinking about the aftertaste in my mouth, my mind flew back about ten years to when I used to volunteer at collectives in Long Beach, taking photos and building websites. Northern Lights was a strain I photographed a number of times – it was an herb I saw regularly, and smoked more times than I can count.

The flavor of the second hit stirred my memories of those days, and took me back to an afternoon in 2010 when I was processing the photos I had taken that day and was smoking on some Northern Lights – the smell, the taste and the feel were sooo classically Northern Lights – unmistakable. The memory was vivid and palpable, thanks to the herb I was smoking…

The Effects

Northern Lights hits like a powerful Indica – thick, stony, eyes lidded, the body full of marijuana fuzzies, the mind active and following the rush of stream-of-conscious thoughts in a contemplative way. As expected, the herb made me quiet and withdrawn, but not in a bad way – in a thoughtful way.

I found this hemp version of Northern Lights to be very much like it’s cannabis twin, because it got me STONED just like this strain should. The high was a no-surprise stony experience. You simply take a couple hits and drift off into a pleasant smoky cloud of comfort and contemplation – easy-peasy, as they say. The reputation of “two hits and quit” is well-deserved. The high came on fairly quickly, lasted a good, long time and was a great ride all along the way.

The Wrap Up

For all the times I’ve smoked Northern Lights over the years – it has been nearly a decade since I last enjoyed this strain – this sure was a refresher course on what I was missing. I’ll be adding Northern Lights to my regular rotation of strains now, for sure. This jar of top-shelf herb cost just $29.95 and was easily ordered online from Cheef’s website. The well-packaged order arrived very quickly via the U.S. Mail. I love getting herb in the mail, it still feels a bit decadent, like I’m getting away with something.

For the budget conscious consumer (like me) Cheef sells ounce baggies of “smalls” of Northern Lights for around ninety dollars. Plus – if you sign up for their newsletter you’ll get awesome money saving deals in your inbox on a regular basis… and that ounce sure gets a lot more affordable, just saying.

Thank you for joining me here at the Red Bench – I can’t say enough how much I appreciate you for reading and watching our reviews, reading my posts and being a part of the Red Bench Review Crew! Keep those emails and comments coming – I love hearing from you!

Until later, best of health.

The Low Down

I’ve been a big fan of Bubba Kush – the cannabis version – for years. It’s one of those strains that I’d pick up anytime I’d see it… it used to be more common, but now it’s been awhile since I’ve had a good Bubba. When I saw that my local CBD shop had some jars of Bubba Kush from Hemp Living USA, I had to give it a try, and picked up a five gram jar for just thirty dollars.

Next Level Vape and CBD in Yucca Valley is a great shop that has recently started looking into carrying hemp flowers… something I’ve heartily encouraged. I love the idea of hemp and cannabis availability spreading and becoming more normalized – picking up hemp flowers in a local shop that isn’t a dispensary is a step in the right direction, in my thinking. Heck, in the future I want to see hemp and cannabis available at my local supermarket, right next to the beer, wine and liquor. Of course, I may need to wait a while before that happens…

The Look and Smell

The small glass jar from Hemp Living USA was packed full with 5.16 grams. When I poured the nugs out on the tray there was one large nug that weighed over two grams, a couple mediums and a few smalls. The well-trimmed nugs were medium to dark green, lightly sticky and emitted a fantastic aroma.

The first smell from the herb that hit my nose was a deep, earthy aroma mixed with a pine scent that created a combination that reminded me of being in the redwood forests of Northern California. Then I noticed the sweet overtones. Once I noticed the sweetness it became the most predominate smell I could detect. Under all those good smells were some hints of spiciness, leaning towards sage and rosemary. I even think I noticed a bit of gassy, diesel notes… all-in-all, a very complex aroma that got me excited to load up a bowl.

When I cut up the nug to load the bong the aroma filled the room. The nugs were very well-cured, and because Hemp Living USA included a Boveda humidity pack in the jar, the herb was in a perfect state of freshness even though it had been packaged several months earlier. This is the third time I’ve tried hemp flowers from this brand and every time the herb has been very fresh!

The Taste and Effects

Yup, that’s Bubba, I thought immediately when I took the hit. I’ve smoked dozens of different versions of Bubba Kush over the years and there is a certain earthy, piney, slightly savory flavor to Bubba that is so tasty – so smokable! It’s not like Bubba has an immediately unmistakable taste like Trainwreck does – but instead it’s a certain taste, along with a certain smoke feel and some mysterious quality X that makes Bubba as comfortable and relaxed as hanging out with an old friend.

Comfortable is definitely the word for Bubba Kush. Relaxed, chill, peaceful, like a comfortable pair of sweats… slipping into some Bubba just feels like home.

Each smooth and thick hit had a deep, full-bodied feel. The initial taste was kind of spicy and creamy with a bunch of sweetness, followed by an earthiness that had a thick dankness! I let the rich flavor of the aftertaste rest on my tongue and savored it…

The effects first hit my eyes with a fuzzy, lidded feel that quickly made my whole head seem delightfully inflated with a happy sense of comfort – and then, here come the fuzzies! The comfortable fuzzies spread down my body and fully engulfed me within ten minutes of taking the first hit… and I knew I was in the Bubba zone!

The Fuzzies

There are many great effects that marijuana produces, from high exhilaration, to cosmic thinking, to time/space distortions, to being an appetite stimulant, to causing body comfort and so on… thousands of different effects. One of my favorites is the “fuzzies”.

My simplest description of the fuzzies is that feeling like all my nerves have been wrapped in a comforting insulation. It’s like having a cozy sweater on that covers me from head to toe, inside and out. It’s like soaking in a bath that is the perfect temperature. The fuzzies is the best medicine I know for the physical symptoms I deal with from the depression – it makes my body feel “normal” for a while and comfortable to live in.

There are, of course, many different fuzzies. I’ve experience prickly fuzzies that were like wearing a wool sweater. I’ve experienced very heavy fuzzies that made me just want to slip into oblivion. There are light fuzzies that I barely notice unless I pay attention. Some herb has no fuzzies at all.

Bubba has the fuzzies, big time, but not in a heavy fashion – I like to call it being in the Bubba zone! The Bubba zone fuzzies are probably the best fuzzies of all! What does that feel like? Imagine coming home after a busy and stress-filled day, slipping into some comfortable clothes and settling down on the sofa by a crackling fire in the fireplace… wrapped in a soft blanket, with herb in hand, and nothing that needs to be done for hours – being in the Bubba zone feels like all that, and more!

Smoking from my bong causes the biggest fuzzies and smoking from my pipe causes the least, but still very substantial… I smoked a big joint of Bubba one evening, and it completely couch-locked me in a delightfully fuzzy way. Soon I was drifting in and out of sleep, my eyes barely able to stay open, until I slipped off to dreamland. Be warned, this one can, and will, get you CBD stoned!

I will also point out that, when I wasn’t smoking big fatties, and used some moderation, this was a very clear-headed kind of herb… very useful for working on my various projects. A solid get-stuff-done herb, good for day or night.

The Wrap Up

I was very pleased with this herb, and enjoyed smoking it down to the last crumb… the smell and taste were both delightful, and the nugs well-cured – with definite bonus points for the Boveda humidity pack! The buzz from this one, as I mentioned, felt like hanging with an old friend, and I like that…

By the way, if you’re not here in the hi-desert of Southern California you can order online, straight from Hemp Living USA. They sell Bubba Kush in a 10 gram jar, and considering how good this strain was – that sounds like the right amount to have on hand!

This herb is the kind I would recommend for both beginners and seasoned veterans alike! There are no surprises here, no curve balls, just a great favor with a heavenly buzz that’s full of fuzzy, body comfort, with a pleasant sense of being stoned – in a very relaxed and chill kind of way. Two thumbs up!

Until later, best of health.

The Low Down

The Review

CBD Sunday – 2021 | Episode #3 | J&K Distribution | Suzy Q

This week I looked at a strain called Suzy Q from J&K Distribution, a hybrid (50% Indica / 50% Sativa) herb that really surprised me.

Expectations

Like I do with all herb, I read up on Suzy Q, to get an idea of what’s ahead. What I read led me to believe I shouldn’t expect much from this strain in terms of effects…

“Suzy Q is a high-CBD, low-THC strain with a piney taste that helps treat symptoms with little to no euphoric high…” – Leafly

Even though I wasn’t expecting a buzz, I’d picked out this strain to review for the rich, orange, rusty color of the nugs I saw online. Much different than the bright to medium green that are standard for herb product shots. Also, for some reason – and it wasn’t the product description – but I was expecting an orange, citrus smell or flavor.

The Look, Smell and Taste

The jar that I received from J&K Distribution was filled with a quarter (7.41 grams to be exact) of dark green and orange, rust colored nugs, just like the photos I’d seen on their website. The large jar contained a Boost humidity pack that kept the herb perfectly fresh, even though it had been packaged nearly a year earlier. I was surprised how fresh the herb seemed. If I did a blind test I would have guessed the herb had been sitting in a jar, curing, for about eight weeks, not eleven months.

The jar smell was strong with the sweetness of overripe fruit and I mean that in the best way. There was a dank, piney smell that surrounded the sweetness and the overall aroma was very earthy and pungent. The herb cut up perfectly, just like well-cured herb should. The overripe berry, almost cherry-like aromas became more evident once I started to cut-up the herb. The smell had such a dankness that I couldn’t wait to load up a bowl in my bong.

Surprisingly the taste was nothing like the smell.

My first impression was buttered popcorn. Not microwave popcorn or movie popcorn, but the kind my mother used to make at home. Pan-popped, heavily buttered and salted.

The second impression from the hit was a dank, earthy flavor. A very marijuana taste! And then a third flavor – a sweet purple flavor like a lollipop. That was unexpected!

I immediately took a second hit to see if any of those flavors would stand out stronger and I got the same progression – popcorn, earthy, sweet.

But that wasn’t the most stand-out aspect of the herb, instead that honor went to the clean, Wintergreen Lifesaver-like feel that came in with the hit. It didn’t taste like a Wintergreen Lifesaver, instead it had that fresh winter-air feel when I inhaled – like a deep breath on a fresh, cool, wintry blue-sky day.

And then the effects hit me…

The Effects

Having read that this herb will not get you buzzed – I was prepared to talk about its taste and smell, but that was not to be the case…

After the first couple of hits I started to feel a lifted effect. The Sativa side of the plant came through first. Everything came into focus and the foggy mental state I was in cleared up quickly. This effect was followed in about 7-8 minutes with a nice, soothing Indica feel that started in the back of my eyes. Then it traveled around my brain, settled on my shoulders and then just enveloped my body with good comfort and plenty of marijuana fuzzies.

Because I had some other herb I was into at the moment, I set the jar aside for a couple of days. Several days ago, when the latest bout of depression started to move in big time, I decided to give Suzy Q another try…

OMG – such relief! I was so impressed I spent the next few days smoking just Suzy Q. CBD is so excellent for dealing with the symptoms of depression and Suzy Q was no exception! Several times I mixed it with some THC bud, but I found that I liked the feel of Suzy Q just on it’s own.

Good effects, a quality smoke, an interesting flavor profile, a customer-friendly price, legal and available online! I’m giving Suzy Q the thumbs up and this is definitely a strain I would smoke again!

Until later, best of health.

The Low Down

The Review

CBD Sunday – 2021 | Episode #2 | Southern Heat Botanicals | Alive! (O’Cherry)

I ordered this eighth of Alive! (O’Cherry) hemp flowers from the Southern Heat Botanicals website, and the first thing that struck me when I opened the box I’d just received in the mail was the dark, opaque jars. Quality, was the thought in my head. Opaque jars protect the herb from UV light, a nice touch that reminded me that I was going to be enjoying some premium, craft hemp flowers.

I was a bit surprised when I noted that the side of the jar stated this had only 8% CBD… 8%?! My expectations of a strong CBD buzz dropped a few notches. Little did I realize that numbers like CBD levels can be a misleading sign of what’s ahead…

As I opened the jar I was impressed to see that it was filled to the brim with nugs. I pulled them gently out and laid them on the tray. Alive! is a cross of Sour Tsunami and Cannatonic, and the eighth was a mix of medium to dark green, dense nugs and some airy nugs.

When I weighed out the contents of the jar I was very happy to see that they had packed 3.86 grams of herb inside – an eighth and then some!

Smell And Taste

The jar smell was full of sweetness, with strong hints of cherry surrounded by dense, dank, earthy aromas… there was definitely a bit of a honey smell mixed in there. The aromas just increased as I started to cut up a nug… which wasn’t too surprising because from the photos I had taken I could see these nugs were just covered with trichomes.

The cut-up pile of herb was very appealing – nice and sticky, very aromatic… I couldn’t wait to load this up in the bong and give it a rip!

I was immediately hit with a delightful taste – very much like the smell – deep, earthy, hints of cherry! The honey came through faintly on the first hit, but the more I smoked this one the more the honey flavor stood out. As I mentioned in the video review, once you tasted that honey flavor, you couldn’t untaste it. Delicious!

The aftertaste had a nice woody flavor, a very marijuana taste… I walked out of the cabin for a minute and walked back in and thought, oh my, someone has been smoking the herb in here! I think that’s one of the best smells in the world – freshly smoked herb hovering in the air…

The Effects

Because these flowers had only 8% CBD I figured I could take a bunch of hits before I felt any effects… I made it to the fifth hit before I had to stop for a bit because I was feeling a mighty CBD stone coming on. I’d been enjoying the flavor so much, and the smoke quality was just right – smooth with a medium thickness, that I didn’t notice the effects until I was engulfed by them.

The high from this herb – and it definitely had a strong buzz – was on the Sativa side. It gave me a mental “snap” and a jump to my step while providing a nice amount of body comfort. This was an herb that truly lived up to it’s name – Alive! A good one to start the day with, for sure!

Now, here’s the interesting thing about the effects of this one… very strong after a handful of hits – much stronger than I would ever expect from just 8% CBD. I was so surprised I had to send off a message the Southern Heat Botanicals asking them how this herb could possibly be so strong. They responded nearly immediately. Terpenes, they told me, were mostly responsible for the cerebral effects. The CBD provided the relaxing feel while the terpenes caused the extra effects. Of course, I thought, it’s the terps.

Terpenes are organic compounds found in hemp and cannabis, and they cause the smell and flavor. They are found throughout nature, but are often associated with marijuana because the herb has such high concentrations of terpenes. There are over a hundred different terpenes, but only about a dozen are most common, showing up in different strains in varying degrees and strengths.

While there is much research still to be done on these compounds and their participation in the high that comes from marijuana, we already know that they have a substantial effect – each terpene adding different effects, from body relaxation to anti-inflammatory properties, and a whole number of interesting properties in between.

According to Southern Heat Botanicals, this strain was strong in the terpenes pinene, farnesene, myrcene, and ocimene. Considering how wonderfully strong the flavor was, it doesn’t surprise me that the terpenes were very active in this one!

The Wrap Up

Before I go, I just want to mention that this herb has a great vibe to it – a very positive feeling! I think that reflects on the grower – I believe that plants pick up on the vibes of the humans that attend to them. Southern Heat Botanicals obviously grows their plants with a lot of tender, loving care – their farm in Louisiana is organic, and practices regenerative growing techniques!

Just a reminder – hemp is legal in the USA, and you can buy it online. Southern Heat Botanicals has a very nice website you can order their farm-direct herb from, and as I mentioned earlier, their customer service is excellent!

I’ve been slowly working my way through my eighth in that “make it last” kind-of-way. I’m savoring it, but when the last bud is finished, I’ll be definitely ordering some more of Alive!

Until later, best of health.

The Low Down