Tag: flower

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

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

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...

Chemmy Jones by In the Flow

~ johnbrandall ~ 1 Comment

Returning to the farm after an 18-day absence, the writer feels creatively stifled and disheartened by rejection letters. Amidst dealing with mundane aspects of his day such as mousetraps and weather observations, he engages with strains of cannabis such as Chemmy Jones, comparing their effects and tastes. Despite seeming disoriented, he finds purpose in the presence of the sun...


To read the strain review, click here or on the image above...

Strain Review: Trainwreck

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

The writer recounts their trip through parts of the U.S., noting the beautiful landscapes they have driven through and the cannabis strain, Trainwreck, they've tried from New Mexico. The strain, bought at $22 for two grams, provides a unique, enjoyable high suitable for chilling and writing, though the heritage of the strain remains uncertain...

Strain Review: Durban Poison

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

It's time to turn on. Do a strain review. I've already done Blue Dream. So it's Lemon Skunk or Durban Poison or Jack Herer. All sativas. The Jack and the Durban are probably the oldest. I'll flip a coin. Head Jack, tails Durban. Tails.

The bite. Paranoia. It doesn't taste like that first Durban I bought. I first bought an eighth of this UpNorth Durban Poison from the Mississippi Ave location of Beyond Hello. It was the tastiest weed I've ever smoked. I'd never tasted anything like it. Months later I bought another eighth from the same place.

The second eighth cost substantially less. The sticker price fell from $50 down to $25. I was a little suspicious. This second batch does not have the flavor profile of the first, not even close. But let's see where the high will take me...

The full review is here...

Peking Duck by Seed & Strain

~ johnbrandall ~ 1 Comment

A decent high, a fine high. I went and swept my garage, topped off the oil in my lawnmower. I had changed the oil in that mower last week and wasn't sure I had put enough fresh oil back in. Barely, just above that lower little hole on the dipstick. Room to add, so I added a couple small pours, perhaps an ounce.

Then I put out the new hummingbird food I had mixed up this morning. I stopped using boiled water when making hummingbird food. A source I believe valid said boiling the water isn't necessary. The recipe is four parts water to one part sugar. I have been using a funnel to pour 1/4 cup of sugar into an empty, re-usable club soda bottle. This is the same as the little tonic water bottles that come in a six-pack. Plastic bottles, holding about ten ounces. I fill this bottle to where it begins to taper up toward the mouth of the bottle. Then I shake the bottle and give the mix a few minutes to reach equilibrium, to solve. The sugar disappears. I take the garden hose to the hummingbird feeder, to rinse it off once I've dumped the old water. In this case, the water was about two days old. I've been changing the water more often now that I've nixed the boiled water part of the process. The hummingbirds seem to like this unboiled mix just fine. The feeder has not gotten mildewy or gunky/grimy. The hummingbirds won't be in town much longer.

Read the full review here.../\\...

OK Gush, OG Kush

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

In a short time, I've assembled a short history of OG Kush, as I understand the strain's story. It is perhaps the most common ancestor of all the other flower on offer in shops. OG Kush and Chemdog. Those two. One or the other, often both, will be found somewhere along the way in strain's lineage. I have to work to find a strain that doesn't have some OG Kush and/or some Chemdog in it. Is this a bad thing? That's what I'm trying to find out. I want to smoke the OG Kush, I want to smoke the Chemdog, then I want to smoke strains that aren't derived from them. And see which ones I like better. That's science!

At first I believed Chemdog was one of the parents of OG Kush. I have relied on two sources when doing cannabis lineage research. I started at leafly.com and then found seedfinder.eu. I still use both...

Read the full post here or by clicking the title above...

Dispo Review: Star Buds, University City, MO

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

I like Star Buds. The building it's in has never had a persistent tenant. It once was a bar but as far as I can remember, the building has been empty for most of the last fifteen years. I would point to Star Buds' tenancy in this previously disused building as one of the early positive impacts legalized cannabis has had on my neighborhood.

There is a small parking lot in front, which is the only place I've ever parked. There is additional parking in back but I've never had to use it. I go in, go up a few stairs, wait for a bud tender to come to the window, then slide my ID onto the metal tray under the thick window. Then in a moment or two they will call your name and buzz you through the door.

It's not a big place but I've never felt crowded inside. There are two main glass cases/counters in which dozens of glass jars of flower sit.

And this is one of the best things about Star Buds. You can buy by the gram. The flower is not pre-packed. You can see the bud, you can smell the bud. The jars have the names of the strain on them. Supply and variety has been pretty good.

Read the full review...