Tag: Strain Review

The Blue Face Strain by Fig Farms

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

Jar Opening, 8.14.2025, 9:48

I am opening a jar of the Blue Face strain of cannabis grown by Fig Farms. I bought this eighth from Beyond Hello in Sauget, IL, back in October of last year. I have smoked one or two jars of Rythm's Animal Face along the way so I felt like I was "covered" when it comes to Animal Face, which is what Blue Face is: it's the blue phenotype of the Animal Face strain. Source: Fig Farms site.

This strain was bred by Seed Junky Genetics. The lineage is Face Off OG x Animal Mints. Fig Farms says that of all the strains they grow, Blue Face is the most difficult one to grow. They call it an indica.

The package date is 8.30.2024. The nugs look good. There are five of them. The inner wafer seal on the glass jar was intact when I twisted off the cap. A stanky aroma rose up out of the jar smelling like skunky piney funk. The flower weighed out to 3.43 grams. Shorted by Aeriz again.

The nugs are fluffy, lighter than they look. There's some stickiness. It was a good cure. The grind is pleasant to look at. It's a very even grind. There is a blue tint, if you squint.

Flower of the Blue Face strain, from Fig Farms. An "eighth" weighing in at 3.43 grams.

F-ed up on Blue Face: the effects

This flower did F me up, made me emotional, gave me the high-deas. The smoke was strong, potent. It dropped me down rabbit holes. I wrote, "Rabbit holes but yes, that's why we smoke this shit."

I kept looking over my shoulder wondering when I was going to get found out, have someone discover how high I was.

The strength of the effects begged the comparison: of three Animal Face strains I've smoked, which one would I rank as being the best? There's Rythm's Animal Face (link here to my short review), Fig Farm's Animal Face, and then this blue pheno of Animal Face from Fig Farms aka Blue Face.

I'd say Rythm's Animal Face is at least tied for first. The Blue Face might be as good. I never wrote much about the jar of Fig Farms Animal Face I smoked. There wasn't anything wrong with it but if I saw all three on a menu and I could only get two, I'd get Rythm's Animal Face and the Fig Farms Blue Face. There is currently some Blue Face on the menu in Sauget and I have added it to my cart. Next time I am over in Illinois, I will pick up a jar and perhaps I will take better notes allowing me to add more details, effects, experience to this review.

Walking stick hanging out on an August day in St. Louis County, MO.

(**Note: cover photo is of a juvenile five-lined skink, link here for more info)

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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Root Beer MAC by Legacy

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As night fell I was lounged out with the MAC on our chaise lounge under a skylight, blissin'. That's a pleasing outcome during a stressful time—no power, canceled plans, thrown-out food. The Root Beer MAC tastes pretty good, too. Menthol and spice with a hint of root beer or sarsaparilla.

This flower didn't sell well, as far as I could tell just by watching the menu of the Beyond Hello in Sauget, IL. It sat on the menu for a long time after I bought my bag. I've got no regrets and I'll be back for more, should it appear. But I'll be treating this smoke like an indica, an end-of-day lounger. It doesn't make me sleepy but it does make me day-dreamy. After I smoked it, all I wanted to do was lounge there in that chair and look up through the sky light as the sky lost its light and color.

Likewise, the Root Beer MAC should be an excellent choice for a smoke before settling in to watch a movie or sit out on the deck for a while. For year-old bud, it still has plenty of flavor. I rarely see Root Beer strains on menus, whether that be in Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, or Arizona. I have enjoyed Modified Root Beer both in Arizona and in Missouri.

The genetics of Root Beer draw from Headband, Hollywood Pure Kush, and Black Affie. Source: Seedfinder. In this case, the Root Beer is crossed with Miracle Alien Cookies (MAC #11). There is an article about this collaboration on the North Atlantic Seed Company site, link here...

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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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Açaí Gelato x Sherb by Cannect

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Another supposedly “extreme” rainfall event here in St. Louis County in the wet spring of 2025. When we keep getting heavy rains when do the extreme events begin to become the norm? I am becoming resigned to them.

The Açaí x Sherb is a representative Sherb/Gelato. There is some bite but I am catching a strong, heady high, and I’m enjoying myself despite the storms, despite water finding its way into the basement ductwork again. Alas, alackaday, amor.

(some unknown amount of time, perhaps an hour, elapses…)

It’s strong stuff. I’m still going. Can’t find my phone. That Açaí x Sherb from Cannect Wellness. It’s the best-ever high I’ve gotten from bud that dark, purple. I’ve smoked bud that looked like this but it’s always disappointed. I had begun to think it was a gimmick.

I have been planning for what must be the last hour to smoke again but I have not made any progress thus far. I’m ping-ponging. We’re going to hit three inches of rainfall today...

Read the full post about this strain of the year candidate here…

Cap Junky by Sinse

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Nothing wrong with this Cap Junky. The smoke is thick, with a chemmy exhaust flavor. There is a slight note of mint. It’s been a little while now since I sparked a .37-gram of it. There is carry and the effects are pleasant, representative.

The high is surprisingly solid. I wasn’t sure what to think of the Sinse brand. It’s the Swade house brand but you see Sinse in just about every dispensary in the St. Louis area. I’m so pleased with the Cap Junky that I am increasingly interested in other Sinse flower.

It’s been raining again. Lots of rain yesterday, three inches in the rain gauge. A lot of it fell in ninety minutes. Deluge.

The French drain I installed on the northwest side of the house is still running with yesterday’s water. There is water in that same spot of the basement ductwork again but the level is going down quicker than it would have earlier this spring.

I’m not exactly sure when I sparked this joint. 17:00?

It’s 19:50 and I still feel the effects. Serious carry…


Read the full post here…

Georgia Pie by Tales & Travels

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

6.3.25, 15:46: Last J

I will smoke my last Georgia Pie. I have flown through this eighth, written nothing about the effects thus far.

I smoked a roll of it last night, roughly .37 grams in the roll. The flower tasted of peaches last night and gave me a great run. I was looking at something from a different vantage. The effects were revelatory but I felt sensible, and “there.”

The lineage of Georgia Pie is Gelatti x Kush Mints. Source: Seedfinder, click here. Gelatti is Gelato x Biscotti. Kush Mints is Bubba Kush x Animal Mints. The strain is aka Sticky Buns. You’ve got Gelato and Kush on one side with Animal Mints and Kush on the other side.

The taste is like a peachy Gelato. I don’t want to oversell the peach flavor. I didn’t taste it with every roll. It’s not strong but it’s there. Sometimes while inhaling the smoke, sometimes on a spit.

I get the Gelato/Burma head rush blunted by the Kush. The bite is not too strong considering the amount of caffeine-like lift I get (without the caffeine sweats).

It’s a buzzy, high-deas kind of high. But I must have been so enamored with those high-deas that I did not bother to write any of them down…


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TK-91 by Cresco

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Fourth Impression, 3 hr effect

May 30, 2025, 15:43.

TK-91 to start the Friday afternoon. The Cubs trying to come back versus the Reds in the ninth at Wrigley, 2 out, 6-2 Cincy.

The TK-91 is not tasty, not to me. Toasted flavor. Earthy, acrid. But it's got me buzzing around, gonna do some outside (deck) work. Gonna clean the toilet. I want to do something worth doing.

...some time passes, maybe an hour...

Did a lot more cleaning out deck boards than I imagined. Found a couple spots where the wood is rotting. I'm gonna sling a little Bondo. Then I'll have my first drink of the day. 17:46

18:42. It's been a functional effect. Still haven't finished my first drink. I also Bondoed a metal chair and put out a new suet cake...


Read the full strain review here...

Night Owl Haze by Rythm

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

Returning to the Night Owl Haze after a couple weeks away in the desert. I took a couple Night Owl rolls with me. Smoked the first in Ruidoso, New Mexico. My wife and I were staying in the Best Western Pine Springs in Ruidoso Downs. It's a cool, old hotel. I stepped out into the picturesque grounds there and burned one. I was zooted. We watched the finale of Cory Booker's record-breaking Senate filibuster speech on CSPAN2. The Haze offered some aphrodisiacal properties. It was a good night.

The bud is old by this point but once I added a moisture pack to it, and let it sit for 24-48 hours, I was greeted with a surprising aroma from the jar. It was a turpentine aroma, with some inky or even magic marker scent as well. And it started to have a flavor as well. Berry-like. Maybe that's how Haze is supposed to taste. Light and fruity.

I haven't usually felt terribly "high" on the Night Owl Haze but it has served as fuel to keep me productive and active. It's an even-keeled effect, a background lift. We came home to water in our basement, in the HVAC ductwork. I puffed on the Night Owl Haze and just pondered, didn't get too down.

After being a little disappointed when I initially opened this eighth, I have come around on the Night Owl. I would get it again. The lineage is Screamin' Bubblegum Haze x Gorilla Glue #4 (source: link here). An unusual cross...


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Acapulco Gold from Interstate 420

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

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...

Read the full post here...