Banana OG from Fresh Baked via The Circle in Long Beach on 12/10/2020 (big thanks to Fresh Baked and The Circle for making it happen!). THC tested out to 29.39%. This was gifted to me but at the time I picked it up was going for $55 on the menu. Last time I went to the Circle in Long Beach to pick up Fresh Baked’s limited edition batch of Ice Cream Cake, they were awesome enough to also include this bag of Banana OG which I’d heard nothing but good things about, so I was absolutely stoked to jump in. The surface of these semi-dense fat bottomed shrub shaped nugs are a mix of forest, fern and tea greens, with wisps of twine brown pistils timidly clinging to the canopy, all of which is flooded over with copious amounts of tall cream colored triches.

The nose out of the bag is a delicious smelling sweet candy fruit with a minty back end and a waxy quality that feels like something you might come across in a Bath and Bodyworks candle as you sniff your way through the shelves. Busting open a bud, that same sweet scent remains essentially the same, but gets louder. Breaking it down by hand, I get a subtle sweet musty fruit rind scent on the fingers, while the grinds themselves come with an even more intense sweet waxy fruit scent that makes my eyes widen and gives me some strong banana Hi-Chew vibes. The dry pull on the jay is also very fruity candy sweet, but has this pleasant vaporous undertone that all together, nearly makes my mouth water. The inhale is smooth on both the bong and the joint initially, and on the joint I get a general sweet floral, whereas the bong is essentially the same but leans just a tad more sugary. The exhale on the joint comes off like banana taffy at first, but as I got towards the middle, it got slightly harsh which sort of muted the flavor experience as a whole. The bong was consistently smooth, but much more floral in nature, with that banana aspect being highly tamped down in comparison to the joint. Cross checking the flavors on my Ghost Vapes MV1, at 170c I get a very light cooling sensation accompanied by an unexpectedly strong pine taste with just a touch of floral on the back end, whereas at 185c the pine still remains the dominant player but there’s a perfume like floral that also makes its presence known. The headchange comes on quick, and brings a very mellow yet feel good energy with it, while still managing to put some pressure behind the eyes and weight on the body to boot. Over time the sedation effect set in harder, and I quickly went from bright eyed, alert and active, to heavy legged, dough faced, and looking for a place to kick back on the couch for a possible weed nap. Mentally I felt fairly present, spacing out on only the rare occasion, yet was easily distracted which had a tendency to take me away from the task at hand if said distraction ended up with me unwittingly going down some kind of hazy rabbit hole. All of that said, if I had to pick between this strain and the Ice Cream Cake I got from Fresh Baked on the same day, I’d probably lean toward the ICC as that one in particular ticked all of the boxes for me personally. This Banana OG looked and smelled fantastic, but slightly stumbled in the flavor arena, yet recovered beautifully in the effects department as one big bowl had me ripped to the point I was wondering if I really needed to take on the second one I’d just finished packing. In the end this was a pretty solid showing, and I could definitely see myself picking this up again if I saw it on the menu at the right ticket and were in the market for some relaxing, clear headed, feel good smoke.