After smoking a handful of hits of BaOx my mind went pleasantly drifting, and I imagined Winnie-the-Pooh walking with Piglet through the Hundred Acre Wood – and Piglet would ask Pooh why he was so happy. “Because I just smoked some BaOx,” Pooh would reply.

This is straight-out a jolly herb, I’m going to say that right up front! It made me feel a bit like Pooh bear – just happy to be alive and in the moment.

I fell in love with this strain from Southern Heat Botanicals very quickly. They call this herb Calm (Baox) on their website, but the proper strain name is BaOx and is pronounced Bay-Ox. This herb is a cross of the classic cannabis strain Hindu Kush and a hemp flower called Otto II. Hindu Kush is one of my favorite strains so I was very curious to see what this hemp-crossed version would be like.

Look and Smell

The jar was dark and opaque – high class… opaque jars help keep harmful UV rays for degrading the herb, so I sure appreciated their packaging choice.

Inside the jar was a humidity pack from Boost. Humidity packs are essential for keeping the herb in pristine, well-cured condition between the time it’s packaged and when the consumer first opens the jar. I am always impressed when an herb brand goes that extra mile!

The eighth in the jar weighed over a gram extra at 4.61 grams! Thank you Southern Heat Botanicals! The nugs were very nice – dense, dark green and lightly sticky. The largest of the three nugs in the jar weighed in at 2.78 grams… they were all very well-trimmed and cured.

The jar smell of the herb was rather subtle, a dank, piney, earthy aroma with a hint of berries, maybe an over-ripe blueberry-esque scent. Once I started to cut up the herb the true smell came out and it was very honey-like. The more I got into this herb the more noticeable the honey smell became. There was also a kind of peppery, spicy quality to the aroma and I could detect some rosemary in the mix.

The Flavor And the Feel

The smell carried over to the taste with a honey sweetness and a dank – slightly peppery – earthy flavor. The smoke was thick and smooth – very satisfying! I quickly took a handful of hits from the bong, just enjoying the unique flavor. The herb burnt cleanly down to a nice white ash, and I packed a fresh bowl.

I don’t know what it is about the first hit from a second bowl, but that hit always gets me, and this time was no exception. It was about this time that I started to think about Winnie-the-Pooh. The herb had put a smile on my face, a happy spark to my thinking, and a relaxed, yet uplifted feeling throughout my body. About ten to fifteen minutes after smoking I was in a different head-space than I had been only moments earlier, and I was enjoying the buzz!

I noticed this happy shift in my thinking each time I smoked BaOx. Within a few times of smoking this herb – I was in love. Add this one to my list of herb that I would like to have on hand ALL THE TIME!

I shared a bowl of this one with Tania after we finished filming the review. She only needed to take one hit from the pipe, and she was feeling the same groovy vibe I got from the herb. She was enjoying the feel of the herb so much she happily described the effects she was feeling for at least a half hour, going into great detail about the high…

“…it’s like I can BREATHE, and the core of my body feels uplifted like a redwood in a forest – and it feels like I’d been looking out of smeary windows that have just been Windexed clean! Totally unexpected goodness on every level…”

Needless to say, this is currently her favorite herb!

The Wrap Up

Happy, lifted, relaxed… a thick, satisfying smoke… delicious, complex aromas and flavor – that’s the kind of herb I give two thumbs up, and plan on buying again – ASAP!

Southern Heat Botanicals grows their hemp flowers on the southern coastal plains of the USA, and they are obviously nurtured with a lot of love. They have a nice website, ship quickly and have good customer service. Recommended! I would like to point out that this is the second strain we’ve reviewed from this company this month, so you can check out the Alive! (O’Cherry) review here!

Until later, best of health.

The Lowdown