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.