Category: Highdeas

Blue Cheese x OG Skunk by Vibe

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

11.18.25, 10:21

Smoked half a .4g joint of Blue Cheese x OG Skunk, the flower grown by Vibe, the joint rolled by me.

It provided an immediate lift and it hasn’t been bitey, so far. It’s billed as a sativa, which feels appropriate. I have been in the midst of leaf cleanup. It’s humid and warm. So humid that I had to stop to change from pants to shorts. And while I was stopped to change I figured, Why not burn one?

I have Covid so I can’t do much else with the day. I’m grounded.

There are a lot of trees around our house; they are mostly through dropping their leaves. I’m putting the leaves on a tarp or in a bag and removing them to a spot down the hill, outside the backyard fence. I don’t want to clean up the same leaves twice.

For entertainment, I’m listening to this week’s Discover Weekly. It’s fine. The Cheese x Skunk is also fine. It does provide the opportunity to clamber down some rabbit holes…


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Pineapple Express by Cresco

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The Plow Plows On

10.14.2025, 17:01

That burnt chocolate flavor. It’s distinct. There was some in Cresco’s Pineapple Punch as well, which makes sense considering Pineapple Express is one of the parent strains of Pineapple Punch (the other is Durban).

There is a chocolate exhaust chewiness. Tootsie Roll? Not quite. The only way I can explain it is not quite to explain it—it escapes me. It’s not generic.

I’ve had Cresco’s Pineapple Express three times now. This is the third eighth, I mean. Chocolate-dipped fresh tennis ball. That smell you get right when you crack a fresh tube of tennis balls.

The Pineapple Express Open, a tennis tournament where everyone plays high. Tagline: Let’s Just See What Happens.

The lineage of Pineapple Express is Hawaiian x Trainwreck. Hence the name. I am happy to try any strain derived either from Hawaiian or Trainwreck...


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Garlic Fusion by High Noon Cult

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…17:03. It was a nice smoke. From the glass, that creaminess that I don’t get when smoking joints. But I didn’t taste any garlic. R Greenleaf, the dispensary in Clovis where I got the Garlic Fusion (along with grams of five other strains) is deli-style. The bud isn’t old but those jars get opened however many times a day and the air in New Mexico is almost always so dry. If you are expecting a huge rush of flavor from NM deli-style, you’re going to be disappointed.

What’s the answer? Sorry, I’m not sure, can’t deliver, can only complain and stare at my phone some more. The phone, lifeblood, life-sucker, such a strong drug these devices. First the internet then “the phone” then social media.

We are in a whirlwind of technological evolution! For better or for worse, I’ll not say. But things—time—will slow down, at some point. This is an unusual chapter in human history. What is being thrown at us right now is of an exponential magnitude. It’s too much for me.

Not that I’m checking out. Nothing is that easy. If I had to offer proof of an afterlife—what a wonderful phrase, an oxymoron. There is no afterlife, can’t be. It’s all just “life,” always has been. We see bodies leave but we don’t know what happens to their inhabitants after. How could we? This one place exists—just this one?—and that’s all, there’re no others? That doesn’t make sense.

How did I get there? Forget: who am I. Who cares?! I don’t need to be anyone. I’m more concerned about

Garlic Fusion!!!


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Duct Tape by Farmer G

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Next Recorded Duct Tape Smoke Session, 6.21.2025, 18:38

First smoke of the day. I'm baked on the Duct Tape. A chill, workable effect. I revised a poem—took a few words out, changed one bird (Chuck-will's-widow instead of Whip-poor-will). I never hear Whip-poor-wills in June but I did hear Chuck-will's-widow this week at the place I call Farm in Miller County, MO.

The parents of the Duct Tape strain (lineage link) are GG #4 (aka Glue or Gorilla Glue) and Dosidos. I have smoked Glue before but I have never smoked straight up Dosidos (sometimes Do-Si-Dos) (lineage link). I'm not going to try to assign whatever effect I'm feeling to whichever parent. I'm not sure I believe in that sort of attribution anyway. It could be pseudoscience, some sort of genetics fallacy.

I haven't had much to drink. This Duct tape and several drinks would probably KO me after a good hour. Anyway. There's a raccoon around so I'm gonna go check that out.


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Honey Bun by Twenty Twenty

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The Honey Bun is good. Solid base high leading at times to crazy zany but legitimate writing ideas/scenes/sketches.

The smoke had a spicy menthol flavor; was a bit sweet maybe.

Jays. Carry. Zingy even now smoked...two hours ago? Maybe 90 minutes.

Is it the Nigerian in here? A la Velvet Glove, an Illinois "indica" by Columbia Care / Seed & Strain that buzzed me this way. Or Cresco's Rollins, which also draws its lineage from the Nigerian landrace. I have purchased two eighths of Rollins. One held some of the raciest sativa flower I've ever smoked, the other didn't get me all that high. You pays your money, and you takes your chances.

The only other strain I've smoked that I know has Nigerian landrace in its lineage is the BK Satellite from Alien/Connected in Arizona. When I first wrote this entry in the notebook, I had only tried the Satellite once or twice but I'm recently back from a trip to Tucson where I thought I had some BK Satellite in my stash. Only I couldn't find it; it wasn't there. That's what I call a disappearing eighth...


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Florida Jack by Grow Sciences

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There’s some carry on that Florida Jack. Early on, it was a weeper. Let it flow. I welcome and appreciate any time cannabis makes me emotional. It’s part of the process. It’s part of the high. You have to be ready for it, especially if there are things on your mind worth crying about, worth getting out. Weed can be a very direct, effective, expeditious form of therapy.

I was emotional, but in a happy, satisfied, head-on kind of way. After that, I thought the effect of smoking Florida Jack was fading.

Then the effects unfurled their second act. This is an example of why I need to give each joint enough time to do it’s thing. And why I shouldn’t drink so damned much, ever—but especially when I’m trying to size up a new strain.

I suddenly found myself with nowhere I had to be. No company coming over. Nothing on the to-do list. Time was passing but I had a notebook and a pen and I was sitting on the edge of a hand-me-down twin bed in the back bedroom of this house my in-laws bought ten years ago in the desert. I was writing lyrics to a song no one was ever going to hear, not until now.

Eventually the Florida Jack yields a latent buzz, a pleasant buzz.

Talent neat nettle.

Mettle a molten lantern, this rental’s eternal...


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Acapulco Gold from Interstate 420

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Acapulco Gold is a classic strain. It was, I am told, a popular strain in the seventies. My wife's cousin had a little Acapulco Gold he shared with me a few years back. He said, "Led Zeppelin used to sing about this stuff."

It's a lyric in the song "Over the Hills and Far Away." The song goes,

Many times I've lied and many times I've listened
Many times I've gazed along the open road
Many times I've lied and many times I've listened
Many times I've wondered how much there is to know
Many dreams come true, and some have silver linings
I live for my dream and a pocketful of gold
Some Acapulco gold, every time

The last line, that mentions the strain specifically, is only included in the live version of the song from the album The Song Remains the Same, which was recorded at Madison Square Garden in 1973. You can hear Robert Plant putting a wry emphasis on "Acapulco Gold" when he adds the lyric before the guitar solo. Otherwise, I prefer the version of the song from Houses of the Holy.

When I bought the bag the budtender was quick to offer the caveat that what I was buying wasn't going to be like the Acapulco Gold from back in the day, his day. He said he used to get it and there were golden-orange hairs all over the bud.

The strain hails from Mexico. I'm not sure if it's considered a landrace. It's a sativa. Any time I see one of these classic strains offered on a menu, I'm going to give it a try. Maybe it's not the same thing Led Zeppelin was smoking in the seventies but it's as close as I'll get fifty years later...

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91 Bacio, Fig Farms

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This 91 Bacio stank up the basement (twice) when I ground up around a gram to roll joints. It was a minty, piney, herbal smell. Pleasant! It wasn't even a fresh jar. Package date was 8.30.2024. But it had an inner seal, that was in place, effective. If the seal is there, and if it's true, and if the flower is cured well, the jar can last. That's a few ifs, and you never know until you open the jar. That's the Schrödinger's cat of it all. Another Catch 22.

Why 91?

There is a Chem 91, one of the apocryphal Chem Dawg phenotypes. And there are two Chem Dawg phenos listed as ancestors of LD-95, one of this 91 Bacio's parent strains. But neither of those phenos (D and No 4) are Chem 91. So, I don't know. I go to their website but there isn't any additional info. In fact, they list the strain on their page of "Retired" strains. Hmmm. Their site: link here.

It hits. Dependable. For $25? Maybe the best value in the country. Hopefully not truly retired! I lit a sparker. A half joint from last night. It's early for me to smoke, 8:30.

The sun's energy, the fog lifting. Took a solar shower powered by a topper of tea kettle boiling water. Not 100% solar. Pour the tea kettle water into the solar shower bag to raise the temp of the water in the bag, which was left over for yesterday because I never showered.

Felt great this morning, though. My head was itching. I needed conditioner, maybe. Birds, sun, humidity on the run—


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OMG by Rythm

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As I smoke, my mind wanders. I stay (somewhat) anchored by putting pen to paper. These strain reviews are not always (just) about the weed but about where my mind goes when the smoke fills the room.

I was gonna say. Life itself is an addiction. If I feel better after or while drinking and smoking, then why should I not try to feel better? Yes, drinking and smoking also are addictions. So is getting up everyday. So are money, fame, career, reputation, social status. Which are all (also) damaging but people go in search of fame and career and money and social media buzz and society just nods its head and understands those endeavors. It's expected and respected to go out and try to make lots of money and tout one's accomplishments in life. I don't care about fame or reputation so I have some drinks and smoke a joint and blog about weed. Weeds of grass!


Read the full review of OMG here...

Tropical Z by Connected

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Citrus dank aroma upon opening the jar for the first time in a couple of days. Unusual texture on this bud, not sure what to make of it. The grind is plush, fluffy. The lineage is Xeno x (GDP x THH). The Xeno derives from Kush Mints x Zkittlez (source: Allbud). GDP stands for Granddaddy Purple, THH stands for Tom Hill's Haze.

Need for Tucson: rolling supplies. Single-wide paper, tips, gummed tips.

Fairly high on Topical Z. Nothing wrong with this stuff. Carefree high, a "peaceful easy feeling." I am out in the casita (a small, detached office) typing and texting. The weather is perfect. I have music going. Blissy.

The Trop Z has a citrus and mint flavor with a menthol finish. It's a spitter, but most j's are. It's tasty and unusual, a happy ride. Songs. Bob Dylan, "Mississippi." A day too long. How was that song kept off of Time Out of Mind? What other uncollected gems lie thereabout? These Tom Petty songs that are coming out, uncollected wildflowers. I will roll my joints and then I will go away. Into the hills, among the saguaro, stray cactus, top of the mountain. Trop Z!

An hour later.... Stoned now. This is the Z, the Zkittlez, the Grapefruit in it? Makes me a little too chill. Ready to re-up, ready for anything.

The Trop Z has carry. Legit. I feel like I must've smoked again but, no, I haven't. I sat down and re-read some writing I did earlier today. I've still got some pep despite several drinks. Binary star, eventually it doesn't work anymore. I'm out there somewhere and spinning. The essence of me here on this planet, thanks to me or whoever got me here, on this weird and strange tangible planet...

Read the full review here...