Category: Strain Review

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...

Giesel by Proper

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My buddy had some pre-rolls from Proper so we smoked one of them. He selected a strain called Giesel, which neither of us knew. He had "day time" written on the pre-roll container so someone must have suggested to him that it was a sativa or sativa-leaning. I didn't find that to be the case but I did enjoy the thrumming, energy behind-my-eyelids effects.

Judging just by the name, I would have thought Giesel had something to do with Sour Diesel. This is not the case! The lineage of Giesel is quite succinct, as compact a lineage degustation as you will find. According to seedfinder.eu (link here), Giesel is a Chem D cross done by the apocryphal Chemdog himself...

Read the full post here...

Rainbow Chip by CAMP

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Creamy, doughy taste. Is that the Sherb? This is my third or fourth bowl of it. Not today. Over the last week or two.

The first bowl gave me a splendid head rush that could've derailed me into a ditch, it had that sort of power, force, flash flood effect. Strong, sudden, unpredictable.

Bred by Exotic Genetix, Rainbow Chip is a classic strain. The parents are Sunset Sherb and Mint Chocolate Chip, source: click here. Through the Mint Chocolate Chip, you get some Trainwreck in the lineage, which is part of what drew me to the strain. I've been curious about Trainwreck for a couple years, ever since I started digging into lineages. You rarely evensee Trainwreck as a stand-alone strain so I seek it out as a parent or grandparent. It's a mythical, apocryphal ancestor.

I've also been warming up to the Sherb family of strains. One of my favorite strains of last year was Bacio 91 from Fig Farms in Illinois. Then there was the Butterscotch Bacio I had first in New Mexico and then in Arizona. Both were excellent, and eye opening. I have strain reviews on this blog for both (click here, and here)...

Click here for the full strain review...

Macnanna’s Last Act: a strain review of Macnanna by PTS

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It had some flavor. If I say tasty, I'm misleading. Sage, a little fruit. Burned well. I had rolled some joints of would-be discard flower, this Macnanna by PTS and a few others. Jars I opened, smoked on some, but wasn't wowed by and set to the side. I always try to circle back and give them a second chance. Sometimes it's like the old break-up bit, "It's not you, it's me." When I open a new jar, expectations are high. When I've set something to the side, expectations are at their lowest, and sometimes the discards come back around to surprise me.

The Macnanna has had a solid effect so far. It's not racy. Macnanna is a cross between MAC (Miracle Alien Cookies) and Strawberry Banana (Crocket's Cut). Source: link here. MAC can be racy so I wasn't sure if that would trace its way through and into the Macnanna. I'd say not...

Read the full strain review of Macnanna by PTS here...

The Fizz by Psycho Somatic

~ johnbrandall ~ 1 Comment

It's getting a bit late for first smoke of the day but there it is. About to take a dip in the pool. Hesitant to puff first but yolo.

What's it gonna be, though? Mason jar with joints upon opening stanks real good. Gonna burn a The Fizz. Sativa. Could make me cold in the pool but should give me ride.

The Fizz. Whew. Head rush. Menthol, fruity taste. Sharp. A spitter. It's early on. There is a bite, I'm phishing my own brain. Acceptable only in small doses. Notice how Buddhist meditation is not about self-searching, or soul-searching. It's the opposite. There is no self, there is no soul. We will return to the nothingness from whence we came. Somehow that still doesn't do it for me. Buddhism offers never-ending life as long as you are willing not to be you. The Fizz!

Soul spelunking, trippy high, face in the mirror, wide-arc. Or maybe it's just the circumstances. Reset-ing...


The full post awaits through here...

Banana Macaroon by High Noon Cult

~ johnbrandall ~ 1 Comment

We are somewhere near the border of New Mexico and Arizona, headed to Tucson. I'm about to smoke some Banana Macaroon, grown by High Noon Cult. I bought a gram of it in Ruidoso, New Mexico, at the R Greenleaf dispensary there. Did that shop go all deli-style? I used to prefer deli-style, a.k.a. bulk. But deli means no package dates, no provenance. Maybe it's better that way, no fussing over dates. What you get is what you get.

I bought single grams of seven different kinds of cannabis in Ruidoso. Made my own sampler pack. Of the seven strains I purchased, this Banana Macaroon was the most visually distinctive. Lots of red hairs. Crystals on mint-green trichomes. Thin, tall, even skinny buds. This gram weighed out to 1.06 grams. It has a pleasant, fruity scent. It's spongy. Soft. Unusual-looking bud.

I am breaking off a little morsel from the skinny totem-shaped bud. We are now in Arizona.

The Banana Macaroon hit well. I used the $6 glass one-ee I (also) bought in Arizona. I have my own glass back home but I don't mess around driving through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas to get from the St. Louis area to Tucson. I didn't find the Banana Mac to be especially flavorful but I did taste some cream and some fuel.

It's been a while since I have smoked in a car. I should say, I am riding shotgun. I am not driving. I don't drive and smoke. Not since 2011 when I made a bone-headed nearly disastrous driving decision after just having puffed a one-ee from a dugout. It was about four years ago that I fired up a Grape Kush pre-roll from the Pecos Valley Productions in Roswell right along this stretch of road, Arizona along I-10 headed west just over the New Mexico border. My wife has the wheel the rest of the way to Tucson, so I'm blazing. We'll be in Tucson in two and a half hours.

I'm feeling the fuel. There's an energy in my legs. The rush, the bite. San Simon River, dry. Mountains all around. Ranchland, scrub land, desert, speed limit 75. There are snow-capped peaks on some of these mountains, which is not usually the case. The sky is clear but the air is hazy. Two hours to Tucson, 13 miles out of Bowie. Telephone poles, electric lines. Remorse, regret, second thoughts. This is that bite. The weed goes in and starts pulling skeletons out of your closet, if you have them. But it's part of the process, it's part of the high. It can be therapeutic. This is the hard part, you just gotta get through it...


Click here for the full review of Banana Macaroon by High Noon Cult...

Mandarin Cookies by &Shine

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Where was I. This is a strain review of Mandarin Cookies V2, a cannabis flower eighth marketed by &Shine, which is one of several labels used in Illinois and other states by Green Thumb Industries, aka GTI. Since I bought this eighth in the spring of 2024, the shine seems to have worn off the &Shine label because I don't see it on the menu much anymore. The "budget" label of choice for GTI now appears to be "Good Green."

This eighth was sold in a plastic jar with a tamper-proof seal but without any additional seal on the jar under the cap. It had a package date of 02.01.2024. I opened it on February 16th of this year, 2025. So it was pretty old. And yet, and yet.

I varied between smoking these Mandarin Cookies out of a glass bowl or in the form of a joint/marijuana cigarette. I wrote many short snippets about my experience across various sessions as I burned through this eighth with relative speed. These Cookies were a great smoke. They provided a gentle up-lift. They were steady fuel. No doubt I would get them again. Especially considering this eighth retails at $25 per, and although I don't specifically recall I am fairly certain I used one of several discounts Beyond/Hello in Sauget, IL offers their customers. Buy two eighths, get 15% off each. Buy on a Friday or a Saturday, get 20% or even 30% of everything you buy...


For the full strain review of Mandarin Cookies, follow this link...

Donny Burger by Crops: a strain review

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GMO lemon sponge cake flavor, how I've missed you.

There was a tamper-proof seal on the container but no inner seal. The package date is 2.6.2024. Which means it has been in this jar for almost a year. And yet. And yet. This is the tastiest smoke of recent memory. The tastiest since Proper's Black Maple. But let me back up.

This is a strain review of Donny Burger as grown and sold by Crops in Illinois. I bought this eighth of Donny Burger last March from the Beyond/Hello in Sauget, IL. Goose Lake. I had enjoyed GMO previously but didn't have any in inventory.

Donny Burger's lineage is GMO x Han Solo Burger. GMO is Chem D crossed with Girl Scout Cookies. Source: Seedfinder (click here). Han Solo Burger is GMO crossed with Larry OG. Larry OG is a cut of OG Kush crossed with SFV OG. So there is a lot of GMO, a lot of OG Kush in Donny Burger.

I had heard of the Donny Burger strain, I'd seen it around. I was curious about the name. Donny Burger, it's one of those strains that any time I see it written I have to say it out loud, in a New England or New York accent. Donny Burg-uhh! Drop the "r" sound at the end, and shout it a little.

What's up with the name, Donny Burger? And Han Solo Burger, what's that about? Turns out the breeder, Skunk House Genetics, was making a reference to an Adam Sandler film that I have not seen, probably will never see. It's called "That's My Boy," co-starring Adam Sandberg. Apparently, the lead characters are Sandler (Donny Berger) and his estranged son named Todd Berger, who must have a nickname along the lines of Han Solo Berger? It doesn't really matter but I was curious. Now, onto the review of this Donny Burger by Crops...


The full Donny Burger review is here...

White 99 by C4

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Effects (written as the session unfolded)

I run a weed hedge fund. Not really, but that's how high I am right now on the White 99. Will $10,000 buy a trial run of actually sealing these containers? Try a kickstarter, or similar, if I can give anonymously. Or maybe I am just really high on that White 99. Interesting.

I loved the White 99 from Cloud Cover. I'd buy it again. I didn't think I'd buy any more C4 with their lousy packaging but damn this bud is working on me.

I bought some Cindy 99 in New Mexico. It was dry as a bone. I've never had "straight up" The White. I don't think it exists anymore. But I look for it as an ancestor in strains. Note that The White is not in nor does it have anything do with White Widow. You'll find The White in WiFi OG, however. And it's in the lineage, albeit further up, in any strain that has Blue Power as an ancestor, e.g. Apples and Bananas.

This high takes me back to the last part of the 20th century. Those days when I first started smoking marijuana. This is the type of high I got in 1999, 2000, 2001. Before the towers fell.

But that was a long time ago. I'm high and it's cold and it's winter. The sun went away but the birds are still around. Cardinals sparrows chickadees doves one bluebird one hairy woodpecker downs one flicker nuthatches blue jays cardinals and juncos. The sparrows are white-throated and many. I heard one singing but they are not too vocal this time of year. Wait until spring...


Click here for my full strain review of C4's White 99...

Mexican Flan by Cookies: Strain Review

~ johnbrandall ~ 1 Comment

Weigh-In

They shorted me on the bag. It weighed in at 3.35 grams. No bueno. The bag had a package date of 1.17.2024. I opened it about eleven months later. I had it stashed away and kind of forgot how old it was. Even so. Even if some moisture evaporated out of the bag (it's a sealed bag), a weigh in of 3.35 when it should be 3.5 or 3.54 grams is a big disappointment. The flower wasn't even dry. The bag was effectively sealed. They just shorted me. Cookies/Revolution, please put 3.5 grams in the bag. I paid for 3.5 grams. Moving on...

Effects Take 1

The grind was really nice. The third-of-a-gram joint I rolled smoked really nice. Flavor? Eh. Maybe there was a sweetness, relative to how marijuana smoke would typically taste. Maybe my perception is being influence by the name of the strain, Mexican Flan, a dessert strain...


Read the full strain review of Mexican Flan here...