Deep End Farms | AV Chem Dawg

Welcome back to the Red Bench, it’s time for another Red Bench Review!

The Top-Five

Do you have a list of your top-five favorite strains? I do, and it looks something like this…

1. California Skunk Buds (circa 1984) – This strain no longer exists, but it’s my all-time favorite!
2. OG Kush – of course!
3. Chem Dawg, AKA Chemdawg, Chem 91
4. Sour Diesel
5. Girl Scout Cookies

As you can see, right there in the middle of the list at number three, is the wonderfully and deliciously diesel strain, Chem Dawg! I love the Dawg! Not only is it delicious, but it’s a great medical strain for my depression. It’s one of the strains I would, literally, pick up anytime I see it. It’s a strain I’ve reviewed before and I’ll review it again in the future, you can count on it.

I saw this week’s strain – AV Chem Dawg from Deep End Farm – at Joy of Life Wellness Center in Palm Springs a few weeks back and, like I just said, I had to pick it up! In the back of my head I was thinking, I wonder what the AV stands for?

Deep End Farms

Anderson Valley in Mendocino County is where Deep End Farms is located, so AV stands for Anderson Valley cut. What I take this to mean, is that Deep End Farms has taken a particular clone from the Chem Dawg family tree and brought it to market.

Deep End Farms is an organic farm, whose growing approach is “regenerative agriculture and land stewardship in southern Mendocino county where other plants and animals flourish in a balanced and thriving ecosystem…” I like sun-grown, organic herb from a farm in balance with nature and with a good growing ethos, so we’re off to a good start!

The Big Question

The one question I had when I went into this review was how does this brand stack up against other varieties of Chem Dawg I’ve had in the past? I’ve smoked a lot of Chem Dawg since the 1990s so the competition is tough…

As a side note – I love the graphics on the box the jar came in… I’m a graphic artist – it’s one of the many hats I wear – and good graphics really catch my eye. The whole package was well-done and they even included an insert in the box you could tear off and use as a crutch on your joint… how cool is that!

I liked the warm and comfortable feel the graphics conveyed and that was the first thing that drew me to this box… that, and the fact it contained an eighth of Chem Dawg.

Unfortunately, the jar only contained 3.30 grams of herb. That’s not cool to sell eighths that weigh under 3.50 grams! Not to complain too much, but 0.20 grams is nearly a whole bowl’s worth…

Getting Into The Jar

As you can see from the photo this was a photogenic nug – medium green, with hints of tans and reds, with plenty of orange hairs and, if you took a look with a magnifying glass you’d see it had a ton of trichomes. The well-cured nug was thick and dense, with just a slight give when I gave them a gentle squeeze. Cutting it up with the scissors confirmed how well-cured they were.

Just another side note – as I’ve mentioned in other reviews – when I say “gentle squeeze” I mean it. I believe in respecting the herb, and that includes handling the buds gently and cutting them with trimming scissors to minimize the destruction of trichomes. I want the trichomes in my bowl and not on my fingers. 😉

The smell while cutting up the nugs really got me excited… boy, this smelled EXACTLY like I expect Chem Dawg to smell – sour, gassy… a hint of black pepper and a little bit of overripe fruit – and I mean that in the best way! Riding on top of the various aromas was the strong diesel smell that hung like a cloud in the air above my rolling tray.

This diesel smell, which is associated with so many great seshes in the past, immediately put me in the right mindset to have another great Chem Dawg sesh! I loaded up the bong in anticipation – so far this one was checking off all the right boxes… what would the flavor and effects be like? This herb had 21.98% THC – I was expecting good things!

Thick clouds of smoke – sour and gassy – just like the smell… and what an aftertaste! Oh boy, I didn’t hesitate to take a second hit right away. I felt the herb’s effects creep under my eyes, and back into my brain almost immediately. The marijuana ‘fuzzies” filled my head. My body slipped into the comfortable cannabis cozies and I was on my way to the placed called “Stoned”. And not just any stone, but a familiar Chem Dawg kind of stone which feels about half Indica-like, and half Sativa, but leaning towards the Sativa side. So nice!

The high lasted for well over an hour, and was great for writing. It was also a great herb for hanging out and talking. The stone didn’t disorient me, it just provided an intensely uplifting, cerebral time – rather euphoric, and if I was prone to giggle… well, this one would have had me giggling. Positive vibrations, as they say…

Checking Off The Boxes

So, now to answer that question that I started with – how does this Chem Dawg rate against others I’ve smoked in the past?

Chem Dawg smell – check! Chem Dawg taste – check! Chem Dawg effects – check!!! I’d put this in the top-ten of the many different varieties of Chem Dawg I’ve smoked over the years. A winner cut, for sure!

I would definitely buy this strain again from Deep End Farms, but I would be curious to see if the under-weight was just a one-time occurrence, or is that just the way this brand rolls? I hope not.

Thank you for joining me this week – until next week, best of health.

Bonus –

Because we can’t just have a top-five list of herb, here’s my top-ten, which, of course, goes to eleven! 😉

Jon’s All Time Top-Ten Herb Strains

1. California Skunk Buds (circa 1984) – This strain no longer exists, but it’s my all-time favorite!
2. OG Kush – of course!
3. Chem Dawg, AKA Chemdawg, Chem 91
4. Sour Diesel
5. Girl Scout Cookies
6. Wedding Cake
7. Mendo Breath
8. Purple Punch
9. Banjo (from Coastal Sun Farm)
10. Hindu Kush
11. Larry OG

The Lowdown