Tag: Strain Review

OMG by Rythm

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

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...

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

~ 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...

White 99 by C4

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

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...

Gelonade by Rythm

~ johnbrandall ~ 1 Comment

The Gelonade is a tasty one. It's a funky orange-rubber taste. Similar to other strains with similar lineage like Lemon Bean or Biskante. And quite similar in taste to Rythm's L'Orange, although the genetics aren't as much a match. I say it's like if a pencil had an orange-flavored eraser, that's what this smoke tastes like. It's not a sharp citrus tange. It's a rounder, softer orange flavor, with that funky rubber element mixed in. And there's some menthol or numbing effect on the tongue.

I'm high now. It's a pretty fast-acting high. Maybe that's what we mean when we are talking about sativa effects. The come on is quick, in your face, up in your mind. The bite. It could be from the Gelato branch of the genetic tree, which draws on both Durban Poison, the South African landrace sativa, and the Burmese landrace sativa. I guess that's why I was always surprised Gelato would be listed as an indica-leaning hybrid.

Anyway, Gelonade is a cross of Gelato and Lemon Tree. Lemon Tree is a cross of Sour Diesel and Lemon Skunk, both considered sativas in their own right. But, for me, Sour Diesel never has had an energizing effect and Lemon Skunk has been an uplifting but never a racy sativa smoke.

I wonder, though, where the orange rubber flavor comes from. Not Sour Diesel. Not Gelato. Maybe from the Lemon Skunk part of the lineage. Or maybe the flavor is sui generis, arising only when Gelato and Lemon Tree are crossed.

Prepare for the head rush with Gelonade, is the long and short of it. Outside, it's snowing like hell. I have been shoveling on and off for hours but it keeps falling. I'll go back out again later. I am stunned and knocked back a bit by all of this snow. I'm sore from shoveling and while the weed never makes me feel worse it does do a heck of a good job of pointing out to me the strains I have lurking in my musculature. And I mind those yellow flags because pushing through a strain is never a good idea. Even stretching through a small strain I discover while high has gotten me in trouble. It feels good at the time to stretch, especially because I'm under the influence. But it always seems to make me feel worse the next day...


Read the full strain review here...

‘Scotch Bacio by Abundant Organics

~ johnbrandall ~ 2 Comments

This time earlier in the day after not so much alcohol. As a one-ee, as opposed to a joint. Effects are strong and clear, clear and potent. It's a smooth smoke. I picked up this "super eighth" grown by Abundant Organics earlier this year in Tucson, Arizona. I'd been sitting on it for a few months. Fear not, the jar was competently sealed. The bud was cured. And they didn't short me. 4.72 grams in the jar. Seriously, the Abundant Organics BOGO at Trulieve has to be one of the best deals for legal weed anywhere in the country. Y'all in Arizona have got yourselves a good weed scene.

I had AO's 'Scotch Bacio (short for Butterscotch Bacio) for the first time late in 2022, as a gram I bought at Prime Leaf. I wasn't into the dessert strains or Gelato crosses back then but I was trying just about anything Prime Leaf had on its menu (which was still a great menu back in 2022, but that's a discussion for another day).

Then I picked up an eighth of Butterscotch Bacio early in 2024 from a dispensary in New Mexico. That was the High Noon Cult Butterscotch Bacio, and it was fantastic. I have a strain review of that jar that you can find here.

I cracked the AO 'Scotch Bacio about a week ago. The first time I smoked it was while I was drinking, later in the day, as a joint (.35 grams), after some friends stopped over somewhat unexpectedly (but they were welcome), and it all might have been too much. I got stoned and retreated into myself for twenty minutes or so. Then I was able to unwrap myself and be present in the festivities.

Today I smoked some of the 'Scotch Bacio through a one-hitter and it is giving me a lift. It does have a bite. The experience begins as a drilling down. This is how it begins but not how it ends. You gotta get through the bite. Embrace the bite. The smoke comes in and it takes a look around. It turns over stones. It pulls your skeletons out of the closet. It has me questioning myself, feeling not good enough. Which can be unpleasant. And would be really unpleasant if it were not temporary. I try to accept the introspection, I try to learn something from it...

Find the full strain review of 'Scotch Bacio here...

Top Ten Strains of the Year 2024

~ johnbrandall ~ 2 Comments

I have drawn this list of the Top Ten Strains of the year for 2024 from my own personal experience with these and other strains of cannabis flower. I am limited by residence, geography, time, space, and reason from trying all of the great strains in action from coast to coast of this U.S.A. let alone the rest of the world, all those other continents and their ancient living landraces. Without further ado, the Top Ten Strains of 2024.

Number One: Chem Reserve by Vibe (Missouri)

I never even wrote up a strain review of Chem Reserve because if I was smoking it I was always too busy enjoying the buzz, doing kooky things, saying kooky things, thinking up crazy Halloween costumes (sheet people), or running my mouth about whatever crossed my mind. Vibe classifies Chem Reserve as a sativa. It's a cross of a couple of Chemdawg strains. I was sitting on the eighth for at least half of the year before I even cracked it. It had kept well. The eighth was gone before I knew it, always a sign a strain is getting it done. This Chem Reserve woke me up to the Vibe brand, and has encouraged me to revisit Chemdawg crosses. I can't say it had a memorable taste but it had me trying to convince my wife that we should, at the last minute, dress up as "sheet people" so that we could attend a Halloween party. The idea was that we just wrap ourselves in sheets, kind of like nomads of the desert. It sounded like a good idea at the time.

Number Two: Butterscotch Bacio by High Noon Cult (New Mexico)

I did write a review of this one, so I will first refer you there. This Scotch Bacio was a win for the flower of New Mexico. I've had good grams here and there from dispensaries in the Land of Enchantment, buying flower everywhere from Clovis to Albuquerque to Ruidoso. And by now I've bought eighths from a variety of growers offering cannabis for adult use in New Mexico. This jar of Scotch Bacio from High Noon Cult has been the best of New Mexico so far for me. This strain, along with another Bacio mentioned later, has me thinking I'm into Bacio strains, meaning I am on the lookout for strains built from Sunset Sherb and/or Gelato. These types of strains might often be marked as indica or indica-leaning but it's the Burma via Pink Panties that shines through these types of crosses, dealing me first (admittedly) with a head rush that is probably best handled by an experienced smoker before settling into a euphoric, lifted, clear, inquisitive yet chill high that makes for an excellent sidekick as the late morning or early afternoon transitions to evening and night...


The full list is here. Thanks for reading. Many happy puffs to you in 2025!

Novarine by Grassroots

~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

I'm stoned. The Novarine is not at all tasty but this is a for-real high.

Let me back up. Grassroots is one of the first growers offering recreational marijuana in Illinois. I remember getting little one-gram containers from them. Northern Lights Haze?

It doesn't matter. I believe Grassroots is also the company that makes the Wana brand of gummies, which have been consistently good over the years, and across the country. I've seen Wanas on the menu in Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Grassroots as a grower selling flower seemed to fade in Illinois in 2022, 2023. They just never had many offerings on the menus I was looking at (Sauget, Fairview Heights). But when I was looking for a sativa-leaning eighth to give as a gift to a friend in early 2024, I was drawn to Novarine from Grassroots. I wanted to make sure I was giving a decent gift so I bought two eighths of Novarine. I'm not sure the logic ever added up. If I cracked an eighth and it was bad, then what? I have two lousy eighths? If I cracked one and it was good, I guess I would also have an eighth for myself. That was my thinking.

I bought the two Novarine eighths from Ascend in Fairview Heights, IL in December of 2023. The eighths were plastic jars, and they weren't especially fresh. The purchase was immediately on shaky ground. I opened one jar, which had a moisture pack in it. The bud was pretty dry. It didn't have any bag appeal. I was not going to be giving Novarine as a gift but I would still try it out for myself...


Read the full strain review here...