Sunset Sherbet by Good Green

March 20, 2026 ~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

Smoked a Sunset Sherb joint. .4 grams. This time I felt the bite. Which is to say the smoke gets all up in my head and starts my mind going like a hamster on a wheel.

There is less alcohol in my system than what is normal for me for this time of day. The emotions are flooding. I am letting what annoys me take over my entire mindset and well-being. This is the bite. I have noticed recently that Group Texts are staging a social media coup of my phone. I am not on Facebook. I used to use Instagram but I quit it early 2024. I am not on Twitter or X or whatever they're calling it these days. I've never used TikTok; never will.

I have this blog, and another blog (JBR.com) and I use Spotify, if that counts as social media. But now my Messages app seems like a backdoor means for sudden social media-like twisters to work their way into my awareness. Larger and larger groups of people. Reactions to this or that. Today, a poll. I'm not cut out for this kind of communication anymore. I'm just not interested. When it comes to texting I find myself ready to go back to the days of dumb phones.

Opting out of these conversations (even though I never opted in) seems harsh. But I also dislike feeling like I need to have a reason to "leave." Now I'm feeling this textbook Sherb bite and the bite is taking me right into this confused, ambivalent headspace. Into the Complaint Zone. Rant and rave. Wasting time, wasting thoughts! Any more to have my peace it feels like I have to throw up walls and then I feel guilty.

My wife is headed out of town but I don't want to go anywhere. I'm happy at home with Nora, who is otherwise partial to my wife, even shadows her. Now that I'll have a chance to bond a bit with the dog, in my wife's absence, I don't imagine I'll want to do anything else. Solitude, if and when I can get it, is a rarity. A scarcity. I won't give it up so easily.

The Sunset Sherb once again has me putting pen to paper. I have finished a beer but I don't have any vodka in me (yet). Perhaps this allows the bite to set harder, truer. So I try to write the bite away. Just putting this mini-diatribe on paper has me feeling better, calmer. I should try to move onto some other topic. And steer clear of the vodka for at least another hour. 17:01...

For the full post..

Catalina Wine Mixer by Illicit

December 12, 2025 ~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

After burning a .39-gram joint of the Catalina Wine Mixer, I stood outside watering for an hour. The effects were bite-y. Confrontational. True.

This is some strong bud. Psychedelic? That bite, it's another level. We put our dog Hugo down two weeks ago. It's hard not to think about him 24/7, especially when I'm high, especially if the strain bites, which the Wine Mixer certainly does. It's that Sunset Sherb in there. As a parent in a cross, its effects always seem to carry through. The high is almost immediate and it will reach into your closet, into the depths of your mind and grab anything it can to throw at you. This is probably what freaks out less-seasoned smokers. This is what gets called paranoia. Nay. This is part of the process. You cannot run from what is already in your mind, what has already happened. Go in knowing this. Face what you have to face. Get through to the other side.

I have serious second thoughts about putting Hugo down when we did. Why didn't I fight harder to keep him around? Why didn't I realize I would miss him this much? I'm having to look in the mirror. No dog to scapegoat any more. This hurts but it's my reality and I need to handle it. At least I can stand outside and water the plants during what has turned into something of a drought.

As my Dad said recently from his nursing home bed, "It's complicated, but it's not complicated. Crippled by a years-long dementia, he still dishes the odd bit of wisdom and I take in every drop...

Read the full post here...

Rainbow Chip by CAMP

April 11, 2025November 9, 2025 ~ johnbrandall ~ Leave a comment

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...