Granddaddy Purple is a legend! GDP! Granddaddy Purps! This strain was first introduced to the world by Ken Estes at medical marijuana collectives in the San Francisco bay area in 2003, and this strain has gone on to become a heavily sought after strain around the world. I love this strain. It’s been in my top ten list for years even though I haven’t had a chance to smoke it in nearly a decade…

I used to photograph herb when I volunteered at medical marijuana collectives in Long Beach from 2008-2012. I took nearly 2000 photos of herb that the collectives would use for their online menus. Some strains I photographed numerous times and GDP was one of my favorites to photograph – I got free samples when I took photos! If you asked me during those years what my favorite strain was out of the 350 or so strains I photographed, hands down it was GDP.

The other night I was checking out online menus at several dispensaries down in the low desert. We don’t have any dispensaries, for some strange reason, where I live in Joshua Tree, in the hi-desert. On the menu at West Coast Cannabis Club in Cathedral City (that’s right next to Palm Springs) there was Granddaddy Purple! I’ve been looking for this strain for years, wanting to experience the GDP feel I miss so much.

Yesterday I made the eighty mile round trip journey to Cathedral City to check out this dispensary for the first time. And I was impressed. The manager took care of my shopping list while explaining the different flowers I was buying to me. The whole experience was pleasant and I left the place with a smile on my face. I am now recommending West Coast Cannabis Club as my new go-to dispensary…

Granddaddy Purple is a cross of Purple Urkle and Big Bud. Both strains are Indicas and GDP combined the best attributes of these remarkable parents into one outstanding 80% Indica and 20% Sativa strain. That bit of Sativa in there makes this a very social herb, but the rest of the GDP experience is all Indica.

The Look and Smell

WCCC sells their herb in nice glass jars, and the jar I bought was packaged just the week before.

I paid $40, including the taxes, for an eighth. The purple label on the jar informed me that this herb contained 22.3% THC, which is on the high end for GDP.

Opening the jar greeted my nose with that familiar “purple” smell that GDP is famous for, but it wasn’t as loud as I was expecting. Pouring the dense, compact nugs out on the tray really released the aroma and when I stood up my head was in a cloud of purple, delicious, sweet grape. It seemed the more I moved away from the nugs the more noticeable the aroma was…

The nugs were drier than I like. I prefer my buds kept at 62% humidity, and these were around 50-55% I was guessing. The nugs were well cured and the smell just super-charged the air with purpleness when I cut the first one up. I cut up a small pile of herb, getting it ready to pack in my bong, and the smell… it was so enticing!

The Taste and Effects

Here’s how I described the taste during the video review – imagine being deep in the forest and having just finished a grape candy. There was an earthiness, that familiar marijuana flavor, topped with a sour grape flavor and notes of sweetness. The aftertaste in my mouth was heaven! The smoke for this one was thick and rich.

The effects were a bit of a body slam. It hit right away and kept on coming. Very powerful! The first hit made my face flush with warmth, my eyes got immediately heavy and within minutes I was moving into slow motion. The first strong effects was like feeling the full effects of gravity. Heavy! But in a good way, like I sunk into my own body.

Each hit really packed a punch, so, of course, I took a handful of bong rips just to really try it out. I underestimated this herb and the high just kept on building for twenty minutes or more… I don’t know because time slowed down, I slowed down, and I lost track of the time.

As I mentioned, the bit of Sativa makes this a great herb for socializing – if you just take a few hits. Get to that second bowl and you’re deep into a solid Indica buzz. I felt it in my body – so comfortable! I was stoned from the crown of my head to the toes on my feet. I should say that I was Stoned with a capital S.

The Wrap Up

Granddaddy Purple has again moved up my personal list of favorites, with this being my favorite Indica, right up there with Fatso and GMO. The Legend lives on. It’ll be a few weeks before I can drive down to WCCC and get some more of this one, but I will definitely be planning on doing just that – if they still have any left.

A last note: GDP was originally grown as a medical strain because it does wonders for chronic pain, stress, anxiety and depression. I’m not a doctor so I won’t recommend it for these conditions but that is the word on the street. But I’ll tell you, I just smoked a bowl and I’m feeling no pain, as they say.

Until later, best of health.

Let me tell you about a special flower I’ve been smoking for about a week now. This is a 50/50 hybrid called Sundae Driver. The genetics of this plant are great! It is a cross of Grape Pie and Fruity Pebbles OG, both superior strains in their own right, but when these two were crossed the result was an amazing offspring that comes as close to my Holy Grail of herb as any I’ve tried. This herb has an amazing family tree – Granddaddy Purple, Purple Urkle, Chemdawg, Tahoe OG, Tahoe Alien, Durban Poison… you could say this strain comes from a very good family!

Let me take you back to a week ago where this review really started. I suffer from severe depression, and I was in the midst of a monster storm of badness. For the last three days I had been in an endless negative feedback loop of body illness and mental suffering. It was awful, about as bad as it gets. I was incapacitated and nothing that usually helps me out were even touching this bout – not smoking, edibles or vape – I tried all my regular tricks I’ve gathered in my decades of battling this illness. Nothing was working and I was starting to lose hope in the herb.

That’s when a great deal on an ounce of Sundae Driver dropped into my lap, so to speak.

I had smoked a couple joints of this Sundae Driver a week earlier and really loved the taste and effects. This deal came from my local delivery service and I jumped at it, and snapped up an ounce.

The driver who delivered the herb and I got to talking. Turned out he was the actual grower of this herb and gave me good background info. This was locally, organically grown, sun-grown herb that flourished under the brutal summer heat of the hi-desert where we live. As he talked I could sense his deep love of the plant and I appreciated that because I believe the vibe of the grower affects the cannabis.

The Look and Smell

This ounce I got was very typical of outdoor-grown Sundae Driver, but typical of Sundae Driver is miles ahead of many lesser strains. The nugs were mostly large – 4-5 grams – beautifully trimmed trees.

The bright to dark green buds were riddled with orange hairs that ran like veins of gold through the well-cured flowers. There were hints of purples and oranges, and the overall effect was a bag full of photogenic buds.

The smell was loud as I extracted a typically large nug from the bag to cut some up to pack a bowl. The flower was somewhat sticky to the touch, but very sticky once I cut into it with my scissors. The cure, I must repeat, was perfect – thickly pungent flowers with perfect moisture, and when I made that first cut the aroma slapped me upside the head. Sweet berries – ripe blueberries and strawberries − that are both rich and earthy while smelling something like the candy Starburst… and with lots of purple swirled in. It smelled like an exquisite confection from a fine restaurant.

The Taste and Effects

Creamy vanilla with earthy undertones – I was sitting and savoring the aftertaste from the first hit from my bong. The smoke was thick, and had a flavor that followed the aroma. Now I was waiting for the first effects to kick in, and the aftertaste was checking off all the right boxes when I asked myself what I’m looking for in an herb.

I didn’t have to wait long for the effects to start hitting me… maybe 40 to 50 seconds. I must point out again that I was in a prolonged depression when I took that first hit – and the first thing I felt was a sense of relief, an unloosening of tightness that gripped my body. After the second hit there was actually a smile on my face – the first smile in days. This strain was providing a genuine uplift that was pulling me out of the muddy pit of depression. By the third hit, and ten minutes down the road with this Sundae Driver, and depression was starting to fade into the rear view mirror.

I texted my wife who was working and told her the good news: “This herb has given me a nice sense of peace and centering.”

The effects were mostly a head high with lots of body comfort… minor aches and pains just slipped away. The clear-headed high was creatively inspiring and was more like the effects of a good cup of coffee. With a strong “just let it go” vibe, this herb was perfect for leaving cares and anxieties behind and getting a fresh start on the day.

This high had a long flight with a comedown that was barely noticeable. It’s like the herb didn’t just mask over the symptoms of the depression but removed them for the rest of the day. This was a great strain for smoking repeatedly through the day as it kept providing a great high over and over again.

My wife came home from work stressed out that day, and I suggested she take a hit of this tasty Sundae Driver. Surprisingly, she took me up on it, and from just one hit I watched Sundae Driver do its magic, and in a half hour the stressed out day was far behind her and we had moved on to better things.

The Wrap Up

While I was writing this I’ve had a mason jar full of Sundae Driver sitting next to me, and it gives me a great sense of pleasure knowing I have a supply this near-Holy Grail herb to smoke for weeks ahead. The highs from this herb have had such a consistency – repeatedly providing a delicious, inspiring buzz.

I’d like to point out that the best music I’ve found to listen to while smoking Sundae Driver is Bob Marley. I hadn’t listened to Bob in a long time until I got this herb, and suddenly I started listening to Bob Marley’s “Survial” every time I smoked. The vibe of this strain meshes perfectly with Bob Marley’s vibe, I must say…

“Those that feel it – know it!”

Until later, best of health,

I was amazed when I checked out the online menu at Desert’s Finest in Desert Hot Springs about a month ago… they had True Ryder by Arcanna Cannabis Flowers for only $18 an eighth! That was exactly the strain I wanted to try and I was expecting to pay $35-$40. Eighteen dollars!!! At that price I planned on picking up a few jars.

Not only did they have True Ryder at that price – but Pineapple Cheesecake too! Pineapple Cheesecake was one of my favorite strain of 2020. I couldn’t believe the online menu so I called the dispensary and sure enough, the prices were correct. Apparently Desert’s Finest had overstocked the strains and needed to move the jars. I was happy to move a handful of jars to my home.

At the beginning of 2021 I decided to try every strain from Arcanna Cannabis Flowers in my pursuit of the Holy Grail of herb. They had about eight strains, so it didn’t seem like too big a challenge. Well, here I am trying my last strain from them! At the end of this article I list my favorite strains from Arcanna.

The Look and Smell

The jar I checked out was packaged in April of 2021 – not surprisingly the herb was a touch dry, but Arcanna cures their herb very well. When I cracked open one of the several medium-sized nugs it released a deep, dank, earthy aroma that was a delight to my nose. The smell reminded me of an OG Kush – very rich and heavy like a good bass line in a song.

The eighth weighed in at 3.51 grams – the bright green nugs were thick but a bit loose.

The herb tested at 19.79% THC, which is just perfect for those who want to be able to start slow and dose low.

The Taste and Feel

The taste was wonderful in my opinion because I love classic marijuana flavors on the deep, earthy side. There was definitely some OG in there… which is not too surprising because this strain is also called True Ryder OG by Arcanna (unfortunately I don’t know the actual genetics). This one is listed as an Indica and from both the taste and the effects I could tell that was true.

It took several minutes before the effects showed up. This is a creeper and will easily fool you into taking an extra hit or two. If you’re taking the slow and low approach here’s a word of advice – wait for it!

When the high came in I had already taken about three or four hits, and it smacked me like an ocean wave. The high was an all-over high that lidded my eyes and gave me a dry mouth – classic marijuana effects. I could feel the strong sense of relaxation entering my whole body, from the tips of my dreads to the ends of my toes. Because I’ve been smoking and loving the herb for nearly 39 years, this herb fit me like a comfortable suit I’ve worn many times. There were no surprises to the high, just a great, relaxed buzz. As I mentioned in the video review – I was pleasantly stoned :).

The Wrap Up

I will continue to smoke the herb that comes from Arcanna because they grow some of the best. While this isn’t the Holy Grail of herb, it is a solid strain – classic marijuana! Add this to the list of fine strains that Arcanna Cannabis Flowers has grown to perfection under the brilliant California sunshine.

Here is my list of favorite Arcanna Strains:

1. Pineapple Cheesecake
2. Lion Claw
3. True Ryder
4. True Berrymore
5. Jedi Nights OG

All of the Arcanna products have impressed me this last year. I can tell that a lot of love has gone into the cultivating, harvesting, curing and packaging of the herb. And if you can find their jars of herb for $18 – you are having a blessed day… by all means snap up a few jars!

Until later, best of health.