Modified Reunion #9 (sample) from Indoor Organic Gardens received on 7/18/19. The nugs have a surface coloring that rapidly ungulates between light and dark green almost dipping into hues of purple at times, with dark orange hairs popping up along the crests of the calyx, all coated with large salt like triches. The buds are dense but have a nice give to the squeeze. It’ll also leave an impressive amount of sticky resin on your fingers that lets you know you’re in for a good time.

The scent has an interesting bouquet and is definitely difficult to pin down. Out of the jar the nose has elements of that GMO funk mixed with hints of sweetness and gas. On the finger grind that sweetness intensifies and really makes its presence known. I pick up on notes of berry and maybe even a little citrus. It’s reminiscent of the smell you catch when opening a pack of warm Starbursts that you left in the car on a hot day. The inhale is smooth as expected, and on the exhale you catch a sweet taste at first, that then finishes into a pleasant earthy flavor. The headchange has a very nice cerebral smack up front and near immediately leaves you in a daze. It honestly feels like it hits you so hard behind the eyes you can feel it in your sinuses. I found myself sitting back on my couch and staring up at the ceiling as I felt the feeling of being “taken up”, kind of similar to when you’re climbing up to the first big drop on a roller coaster. I was totally lost in my thoughts and only found myself staying present for moments at a time, looking at the tv or my phone for a few seconds before my brain would use whatever input was in front of me as a springboard to a galaxy of new thoughts. Every once in a while I would come back to reality and find myself slack-jawed and absolutely cemented to the couch. I must have thought about getting a glass of water for a good 30 minutes or so before I actually mustered the physical force needed to move my body. This herb is a fantastic way to end the day if you just want to veg out and leave the drama of planet earth behind you. It has a great thump up front that gets you to space immediately with a follow up from its GMO booster rockets that will keep you in orbit with some staying power. Another awesome banger from IOG’s GMO cross line up! Great work once again by the team at IOG.

(Triangle Kush x Animal Mints)

Purchased for 50 out the door (33 with my discount) at Garden of Eden in Hayward. I’d gladly pay the non discounted price for this strain so with the discount it’s a steal.

Wedding Cake is one of the few strains that I’ve never had a batch of, every time I get this strain it kicks my ass. I’m sure shitty versions of this strain exist but I haven’t seen it yet. This batch in particular is some of the best Wedding Cake I’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot. It has big chunky nugs that are still super sticky even though this batch is from January. The smell is sweeter than usual for this strain, and the taste is a bit stronger than usual as well. It has a very strong indica high that’s super heavy but also has the full body relaxation that you’d expect out of something like GDP. Most indicas I’ve tried are either heavy or relaxing, it’s pretty hard to find one that does both. It’s basically the perfect strain as far as I’m concerned as long as you don’t mind not being able to function. Tested at 24.65% THC.

GMO from Kings Garden via Cana Farms on 7/17/19. THC tested out to a whopping 31.03% with 38.58% total cannabinoids. Purchased for $95 plus tax minus 20% for the early bird special. I was excited to finally get my hands on a Kings Garden baller jar of GMO. As popular as GMO is, I’d never had the privilege of trying it out, so I figured this would be a quality introduction to the strain. The nugs in this jar look awesome. Under the heavy coating of triches you see a light green surface with sporadic purple flaps and the occasional orange hairs lining the cracks of the bud. It has the density of popcorn, it crunches in your fingers the exact same way, and will leave your fingers feeling salted up.

Speaking of, the nose is definitely savory, but I’m hesitant to say it smells like garlic although I can understand the garlic vibes. It does have this very savory and salty smell to it, something along the lines of vinegar and sea salt kettle chips, it especially comes out on the finger grind. It’s smooth on the inhale and has an earthy savory taste on the exhale. The headchange comes on fairly even keel at first, you feel it behind the eyes but it doesn’t impair your cognitive function, nor will you feel too couchlocked. As it settles in though, you really start to feel it in the body. While your brain will still be working fine, your body gets heavy, and you’ll start to feel like the girl melted into the couch from those 90’s anti-pot ads that’s now making the rounds a meme. You’ll most likely find yourself weed napping or being put to bed entirely depending on what time of day it is unless you have some coffee or red bull handy. I can see why GMO is getting popular amongst cultivators and this batch from Kings Garden was top notch. While I’d like to see the price somewhere around $80-85, I wouldn’t turn away from it over the $10 extra. Excellent work Kings Garden!

(Lemon Fuel OG x Gelato #41)

Purchased for $60 tax included from Indika, a delivery service in the East Bay. No discounts, no coupons, just 60 bucks. I have no fucking clue why dispensaries mark the price up so much on Alien Labs bud, I’ve seen it at a dispensary in the same city for 75 plus tax ($100+ out the door). Just goes to show that a lot of the bullshit pricing you see nowadays is on the clubs, not the growers.

I’ve been meaning to try this strain out since it dropped but I never got around to it til now and damn, I’ve been missing out. This is probably my favorite Alien Labs strain and that’s saying a lot. I love pretty much everything about this strain: the look, the taste, and the high are all on point. It smells tastes like a super gassy cut of gelato and has a very strong taste. It has an incredibly strong slightly indica dominant high that hits very hard very quickly. It won’t totally knock you out unless you smoke too much but it works pretty well for sleep and it’ll definitely glue you to the couch. It’s pretty rare to find a strain this heavy that you can still kinda function on so this is definitely one to watch out for. Tested at 24.38% THC.

60 out the door is the most I’ll ever pay for flower so it has to be fuckin amazing to justify the price, thankfully this strain definitely is. I don’t think I’d pay that price for every AL strain but there’s a select few (Area 41, Melonade, Lemon Fuel OG) that are definitely worth the ticket.

(Wedding Cake bx1)

Purchased for 60 out the door (40 with my discount) at Garden of Eden in Hayward.

This is easily the best strain I’ve had in the the past few months, I could smoke this shit for years and still not get tired of it. It has huge super dense nugs (the nug in the pic is an entire eighth) that are totally covered in trichomes. It has the signature gassy vanilla smell of a Wedding Cake cross, a bit gassier than the original. The high takes a while to kick in but is insanely strong, I literally felt like I was sinking into my couch the first time I had it. It’s an extremely heavy indica so I wouldn’t recommend it if you plan on doing anything other than sitting on your ass (or sleeping) but if you know what you’re getting into then this is some top notch bud. Tested at 27.52% THC.

(Chemdawg x Girl Scout Cookies)

Purchased for 60 out the door (40 with my discount) at Garden of Eden in Hayward.

This is consistently one of the strongest strains I’ve ever had, I’ve never had a batch that failed to get me incredibly high. Just goes to show you don’t need weird ass genetics to make an awesome strain. It has an extremely pungent smell that’s pretty hard to describe, it’s kinda like super skunky garlic if that makes any sense. It has an incredibly strong indica dominant high that kicks in pretty fast and seems to last a super long time. The high is pretty damn intense so I really wouldn’t recommend this strain for lightweights but if you can handle really high levels of THC then this is the strain for you. I know some people might be skeptical of the test results but all I can say is it gets me high as fuck. Tested at 37.08% THC.

(Grape Pie x Animal Cookies)

Purchased at Garden of Eden in Hayward for 60 out the door (40 with my employee discount). 60 bucks is my ceiling for how much I’ll spend on bud, although it’s not a bad price considering that the standard price for top shelf in the Bay Area is 60 plus tax.

I’ve been a huge fan of Cannarado’s Grape Pie crosses lately so I was super stoked to give this one a shot and it definitely doesn’t disappoint. If it’s not obvious from the picture this strain is totally coated in trichomes, you could easily mistake it for Purple Punch if it wasn’t for the denser nug structure. The smell is also similar to PP, it has the same super sweet grape syrup smell with a bit of mustiness from the Animal Cookies. The high is what really sets this strain apart though, it has an extremely heavy relaxing indica high. The effects hit pretty fast and very hard, this strain will have you spacing out like 5 min after your first hit. It can be pretty intense if you’re not ready for it but this strain is perfect for you if you like getting totally blasted. Tested at 31.93% THC.

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Alien OG from Stoney (which is now Puffy) via The Joint in Santa Ana on 6/27/19. THC tested out to 29.14%. Purchased for $40 plus tax. This experience was disappointing at nearly every turn. I spotted some Mendo Breath by @Korovainsider on the menu at The Joint here in Santa Ana for $35 which is a killer ticket compared to other shops in the area. I put my order in on weedmaps and headed out to the ATM. 30 minutes later I arrived at The Joint and my order still wasn’t confirmed but I figured I’d just let them know I made the order online like I had at other shops in the past and I’d be golden. Talked to the budtender and she seemed stunted someone could even order online. She went in the back to investigate and it turned out they were out of the Mendo Breath. I checked out what they had and saw this “Stoney” brand Alien OG which looked decent and tested out fairly high. It was at a slightly higher ticket than the Mendo Breath but I was compromising at that point and had high hopes for the Alien OG. Opened the bag when I got home and was greeted by essentially popcorn nugs. I am not opposed to popcorn nugs, in fact, usually I love them because it means you get awesome herb at a discount. I don’t love paying a full ticket for them though. The pics don’t lie, these are the biggest nugs from the bag.

They are really nice looking popcorn nugs, they have a good structure and are definitely coated in triches, but they are popcorn none the less. The scent is not too loud, but it’s def got that OG smell with a bit of a mint quality from what I can tell. The headchange is pretty decent, you’ll need a couple bowls to get where you’re going but when it does hit it will put you to bed. At this point I can’t say I’ll be buying any #Stoney products until they either use clear bags or reduce their ticket by about 40%. Honestly this should not be sold for more than $25 an 8th and that’s being really generous. My disappointment here is compounded by the fact that I went out to spend less on #korova who consistently has awesome herb and ended up spending more on something that was sub par. Not a good first look for Stoney or The Joint.

Dosickeys from North Country Pharms via Evergreen Santa Ana on 6/18/19. THC tested out to 22.51%. Purchased for $60 before tax. Truth be told, I went down to Evergreen that day to get not only a sativa but I was hoping to grab some @Lumpysflowers Lemon Trill to review, but it was out of stock. Hearing awesome things about the Grape Jelly Donut from North Country Pharms, I decided to look over what they had on offer and the Dosickeys won me over on sight alone. I really dig the packaging here and appreciate the little sticker included in the box. The buds have an extremely appealing look that denote the highest levels of cultivation craftsmanship. Dark purples compose the surface as bouquets of sunset colored hairs erupt from deep within the nug as troves of finely sized triches fill in every possible space they can find.

In my first impressions video I said the scent I picked up on was pickle-like out of the jar and I stand by that, but on closer inspection, it has rich tones of spice accompanied hints of floral and pine. When you finger grind it the pine really comes out to an extreme, there’s a freshness that comes with it, almost hits the nose like mint. The buds look tough but aren’t too dense, they break down to soft pebbles and feel like small wads of tissue with the way they run through the fingers. The headchange is a lot less heavy than I imagined it would be. On first look, I thought this would be a real couchlocker/brain basher, but I was pleasantly surprised by the energy this strain brings. It’s really a great feel-good any time kind of smoke, and while it’s not exactly a one hitter quitter, you don’t need to smoke through a fat j to get where you want to be. This herb would be great for a majority of activities, whether you’re watching a movie, playing a game, or even just catching up with some friends it’ll allow you to stay focused and have fun with what you’re doing. This was a great entry experience into the world of North Country Pharms. It’s apparent they put out a quality product and I look forward to reviewing their other offerings in the future.

Riddler from L.A Made via Peace of Green on 2/24/19. Unsure of THC% as it’s not on the packaging. Picked up for an amazing deal at $25 plus tax. As the name suggests, the genetics for this strain are unknown, but they are awesome nonetheless. As soon as you open the jar you’re hit with this intense citrus pine scent that smashes your nostrils. There’s a bit of a sweetness to it with hints of must/spice as well. A friend of mine said “this smells like something I’d clean my floors with” and he’s not wrong. Pinesol vibes in the best way possible. The nug structure is light and fluffy and gives way easily to a hand grind but leaves a coating. It gives you that beginning stages of finger hash feeling. The smoke is smooth and leaves a light citrus aftertaste on exhale. The effects are awesome for a sativa, exactly what I look for.

One bowl will have you feeling up, get your heart pounding and wonder if maybe this was a bad idea before work (it’s not though). It leaves you focused and fully capable however there is a slight shadow of paranoia induced doubt that will take center stage if you let it. The effect it self is fairly long lasting as well. Unlike Trainwreck, it won’t leave you reaching for the pipe in 30 minutes for another bowl. Riddler is a fantastic way to kick off a weekend morning where you have a lot to do. The racy paranoia will keep you on task and the stamina of the headchange will allow you to work without interruption for long periods of time. In addition, the ticket is unbeatable in the rec market. I didn’t even have enough money to pay for what I picked up that day, but the budtender did some fancy tax math and fronted me nearly a dollar just I could walk away with more herb. That’s crazy awesome customer service and while it’s only a “couple” bucks, it speaks even more to the compassionate nature of the PoG folks in general. Props to @capulator and his crew. Top notch work all around.