That orange rubber taste, orange-flavored pencil eraser. It’s an eighth of Lemon Bean from Cresco Labs, purchased in the area known as the Metro East, aka Illinois on the other side of the Mississippi River from St. Louis.
Frankly, I can’t remember whether I bought this eighth at Ascend in Fairview Heights or from Beyond Hello in either of their lovely Sauget locations. The jar had some age on it when I opened it. I have been stockpiling, in part out of wariness and in part out of compulsion. More on that later. Let’s talk about this flower.
Cresco’s own site lists the lineage simply as Lemon Tree x OG Eddy. Seedfinder, my go-to site for lineage information, has one entry for Lemon Bean, from a grower called Dying Breed Seeds. Dying Breed lists a very similar lineage, except the Lemon Tree side of the lineage is identified as 365 Lemon Tree. I’m not sure what the “365” refers to.
More interesting is that Dying Breeds refers to Lemon Bean as being an indica. Cresco sells Lemon Bean in its red jars, which basically indicates the flower is sativa. On its own site, Cresco identifies Lemon Bean as a sativa but does note that after a sativa onset, the effects transition toward “tingly relaxation.” The line is so blurry between indica and sativa. Does anyone know anymore? Are these classifications really that useful? I digress.
I believe it is the Lemon Tree side of the lineage that imparts the orange-y rubber flavor to Lemon Bean. I have tasted a similar flavor in Alien Labs’ Biskanté, a strain available in Arizona among other places. Melonade is in that lineage, which hails from both Lemon Tree and OG Eddy. Rythm’s L’Orange also has this flavor, although the most similar parentage I see there is via Lemon Diesel. I’m interested in trying Gelonade for this reason (Lemon Tree x Gelato).
This particular jar of Lemon Bean contained flower weighing in at 3.62 grams. A generous pour, if you will. Hat tip to the grower for that. I weigh most of the eighths I open. I’d say half are right around 3.5g, a third are under or “short”, and the rest are over 3.54g. Cresco has had some generous jar-stuffings among my more recent opens.
This was a relatively old jar of Lemon Bean. Opened September 18, 2024. Package date October 20, 2023. Harvest back on August 1 2023. I know, I know.
I have a backlog and I am trying to open my older jars before popping more recent buys. I realize this is anathema to the Reddit brigade that wants everything to be as fresh as possible. I think the freshness obsession goes too far. If the jar is well-sealed, and if I further stash my eighths in mason jars and then further stash those mason jars in a large, gasket-sealed gear box (which I open maybe once a week for re-supply), then I believe these jars can be kept around awhile without the flower going dry and/or losing smell and taste.
This jar is a good example. The seal was intact. And, yes, because I am running a backlog I am trying to buy only from purveyors who seal their jars effectively. Zip bags are fine, and are probably more reliably sealed and also easier to get into mason jars. Unsealed glass or plastic jars are not acceptable.
Anyway, I digress, Lemon Bean. When I screwed the cap off of the jar, it was clear the jar seal was still intact. The bud was fresh. It had that spongy feel. It was well-cured in the first place, or else it would not still feel, smell, and smoke fresh. Once I had the jar open for awhile, sure, I added a Boveda pack, but that’s only after a week or ten days.
This Lemon Bean does come on with sativa effects. I sat down and wrote this entry after firing up a bowl of it. I put pen to paper. For a writer, there’s not a more important test for a strain to pass. It still carries that orange rubber taste, and it still gets me high. If there is a knock against this Lemon Bean, I would say that it lacks the carry that I have experienced recently from strains like Pineapple Express or Animal Face. But that’s a high bar to clear, indeed. I like how the Alien/Connected Biskanté takes the Lemon Tree lineage (in that case Melonade) and crosses it with something containing Burma. Then you get a little more carry. I imagine Gelonade works the same way.
The Lemon Bean is an aperitif smoke for me. Could be a mid-day pickup sort of strain. It is not going to edge into that quasi-pyschedelic territory that heavier hitters will deliver. That said, it doesn’t have the bite that racier sativas impart. Durban Poison comes to mind. Or really anything with a heavy influence of Burma/Sherb. I can sit down and do some work and not get too sidetracked or guttered by Lemon Bean. There’s a trade-off.
That’s all for now. Phillies-Mets, Game 2 of the NLDS has begun so I will now turn my attention to that affair.
Weeds of Grass 