WHITE WIDOW X KUSH -- A sample grown indoors organically from the Bay Area.

When I first received this weed I paid a premium price and I was expecting what the guy usually delivers, the best pot I can get (sans club weed) for 50 miles. It was always expensive, but always worth it. I started with high hopes as soon as he uttered the name, "White Widow crossed with Kush". Talk about a strain with big shoes to fill. When I acquired this weed I almost though I had been scammed -- it looked fairly dense, but nothing special resin wise. On top of that, the nugs weren't "popcorn nugs", but they were like popcorn, just about the same size shape, making for a very low bag appeal.

When I opened the bag, I was not greeted by a cacophony of exotic and familiar smells. Indeed, there was almost no smell at all.

All of this added up to a fair amount of bias against the strain so far as I crumbled a nug to pieces in my fingers whilst tapping the ash out of my bowl. My fingers told me it was as least as dense as it looked, and it was very sticky, sticky enough to make it difficult to operate Bic with the safety still on it.

I love a whopping taste and smell, I think it's what separates good pot from incredible marijuana. This example of White Widow x Kush had a very subtle smell, almost nonexistent. The smell that is there is the smell of classic good pot, sweet, with a minimum of "plant matter" smell.

So far okay, but how about the high? Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Pure euphoria without fatigue, or mental incapacitation, or extreme drowsiness. I was skeptical about this herb until I got to experience marijuana enlightenment. I continue use this weed as my casual get-high. Bom Shiva.

LAVENDER - A sample grown indoors organically in Oakland, California.

As I pop the metal latch on the jar, the scent hits me straight away. I peel the lid's rubber seal away from the body of the jar, and there is an explosion of smell in from of me -- skunky sweet transforming into grape skins in the nose.

The nugs are small, and the bulk of it is fluffy. This sample, obtained from the same source as the Durga mata, was clearly grown in the same fashion, perhaps the same room. This sample contrasted to the Lavender I had a few weeks ago, in which the trimmers were instructed to let the water leaves remain: besides being almost as resinous as the flowers, the leaves showed off the purple marvelously (and added a bit of weight no doubt). This new Lavender was pure flower, only very very faintly showing any purple. The soft, crispy flowers felt sticky as I rubbed them apart in my fingers in preparation to back a bowl.

A deep slow milk was deceptively soothing on the inhale. The smoke expanded in my lungs perhaps enough for a rough time on my alveoli, but the exhale was smooth and grapey sweet. I feel if the grower had truly gotten the most out of the strain, the sour-grape nuance would have permeated all aspects of the plant, as in other samples of Lavender I have had from different growers.

The high was stoney and lethargic, perhaps even narcotic or trippy if you got a little carried away. The high was nothing to write home about if you have smoked a good amount of good weed, but more than sufficient for a great time.

NORTHERN LIGHTS X BIG BUD - A sample grown organically outdoors in Mendocino County

He tossed the bag on my lap and I could already see something I liked -- giant fucking nugs, or gangster nugs, as we used to call em back home. The buds looked exceedingly pampered for an outdoor crop, most of the outdoor I encounter is a good deal more scraggly.

I cracked a 4 gram nug in half to glean more information. A decently pungent smell subtly tickled my nose, and I was instantly transported back home, to dirt, to forest, to rotting plant material. The smell was earthy, even a little grassy. Not grassy like not-cured-well grassy, grassy like grassy hops in an amazing India Pale Ale. I was reminded of Hot Rod Rye and Stone IPA.

I spotted a white spot inside the bud, and prepared myself for the disappointment of mold. However, upon closer inspection I noticed a small spider web inside the nug; a testament to the true organic nature of outdoor growing. The inside of the nug revealed what the wind and water that pummeled the plant outdoors had hidden, decent amounts of resin. This was commercial weed, but done well. All of the nugs in the bag were between 2-5 grams, and beautifully shaped.

The fairly dense herb took a couple of hard twists of the grinder before it gave in. The smoking experience was much like a 2 or 3 dollar cigar, very earthy, and not much more. With a strain like Northern Lights x Big Bud, the taste and smell take a backseat to the large and fast production of the humongous nugs, so I wasn't expecting to much in terms of complexity.

A couple of bowls later, I realized that I was decently stoned. The high had lots in terms of body, but not as much in terms of head. It was like being immersed in a hot tub. I looked at the rain outside, threw in a Wonder Showzen DVD, and prepared for a long night in...

DURGA MATA -- An exotic strain grown indoors organically in Oakland, California.

I procured some Durga Mata recently from an indoor Oakland grower. I suspect it was grown in fairly small amounts, along with several other strains. I intuited that this was more of someone's "science fair project" and not a commercial grow.

Upon close inspection the bag appeal was mixed. The majesty of a forest of clear and creamy trichromes was marred by the fact the most of it was small popcorn nugs. The originally biggest nugs on the plants appeared to have been trimmed into pieces indiscriminately. All of these factors, and perhaps genetic influence, resulted in a bag of extremely resinous, fluffly weed.

Opening a jar of the stuff led to an interesting olfactory experience. I detected musky, spicy, stale, and Nam Champa, like on old headshop. Several friends of mind insisted on saying it smelled like dryer sheets. Cannabis celebrity Ed Rosenthal thinks it smells like turkish desserts in his book, BUDS. I can see how a musky smell could be interpreted as like a clothing or laundry smell, hence the dryer sheets. However, I can also see how the spice sensation might bring exotic tastes like Turkish Coffee to mind.

The taste was good. I feel like it could have been stronger, I would have liked to explores the exotic taste of this weed a little more, but the taste simply was not strong enough to pin down very specific details.

The high was good but generic. A strong body high was a significant component, probably due to the strain's indica genetics. Judging by the ratio of clear to amber trichromes, the cannabis was harvested only slightly early, reducing the sleepy component of the indica genetics.

Of course, when evaluated a specific example of marijuana, you are evaluating the grower as well. Since no to grow setup are exactly alike, it is difficult to hold pot against an objective standard to compare genetics. I can tell you that this pot would probably go for 50-55 dollars an eight in Oakland clubs, this has been anecdotally confirmed by two other people very familiar with the Oaksterdam club scene.

ROMSKUNK -- Grown indoors organically in Oakland.

Because appearance can be misleading, I try not too make too many speculations just based on appearance.

Clearly this sample was grown indoors. An apparent level of high resin production indicates that it was grown well by an experienced grower. At the microscopic level, the majority of the trichromes were intact, indicating care was taken in handling the products. The trichromes were either clear of slightly milky, suggesting that the grower harvested a day or two early. However, at this level of cultivation, it's quite possible that harvest was intentionally early to keep the sleepy CBN levels down.

The smell proved delightfully complex. An intense sweet attack with notes of citrus and melon mellows out into a mixture of bleach/earthy skunk. Quite pungent.

A glass hit on a clean bong revealed that the citrus/melon fruit takes on a much bigger in the taste. Upon exhalation, a satisfying earthy skunk combination lingers on the tongue.

The high had excellent balance of sativa/indica genetics. A psychedelic/trippy head high was accompanied by a submerged-in-a-hottub body feeling. The high did not feel debilitating. I would recommend it as an evening-in herb; it won't won't put you to sleep, but a busy environment might diminish its outstanding trippy qualities.

On the whole an excellent smoke. One of the more interesting hybrids I've had recently, well grown Romskunk is certainly worth your time.

BLUEBERRY -- Grown outdoors in the Grass Valley Area.

This is an example of DJ Short's Blueberry from the Grass Valley area in California.

The blueberry had dense, rotund negs with short, stiff brown hairs. The resin production was decent, but not what it could have been.

The smell was fruity, but not perfectly cured yet. I feel that a stronger fruiter smell could have been drawn from the weed had it be cured a little longer. It was an interesting contrast to other examples of blueberry I've had where the spicy smell is more prominent than the berry smell.

The taste was predictably very fruity. That classic blueberry-only unique spice was much more mellow on this example

The high was that of a decent indica hybrid, it isn't likely to put you to sleep, but you certainly feel stony.

On the whole a decent example of blueberry. A more experienced of meticulous grower could have gotten more out of the same plant. The differences between the fruity phenotype and spicy phenotype. I'll have to try more blueberry by different growers.

Raison d'Existence

The other day I was at Borders, looking through their magazines for something to peruse. In between the Art and hobby sections, I noticed several magazines devoted to cannabis, including the infamous High Times.

I had been smoking marijuana for a while up to this point. Marijuana was my hobby, at the time I was very much interested in genetic and different strains and sophisticated glass. I had heard of High Times before, and even one afternoon I went to their website to check it out. I was instantly repulsed by the terrible chaotic layout, ridiculous amounts of ads, and dumb comments left by users on the news stories. I didn't think about High Times again till I began flipping through the issues I spotted in Borders that day...

Girls in bikinis holding bongs, or covered in pounds of weed. Ugly ads on every page. Terribly written articles.

Is this really what people who smoke pot are interested in?

I don't think so. I see indicators like New York City's Cartoon Network. They catered to mostly to white collar workers on wall street that liked the idea of a discreet delivery service. If the show Weeds is to believed, thousands of middle-aged, white collar workers with homes and cars smoke weed, in addition to the thousand of intelligent college students who partake every day.

This site is my response to this discrepancy between mostly immature cannabis literature out there and a large segment of marijuana users today. I will make an effort to focus on the connoisseurism of cannabis, and things that might be supplanted with cannabis.

Besides the legal difference, there is no reason cannabis should not be taken less seriously than wine or cigars or cheese.