Greetings, Loungers! Your 'ol pal EG here, coming out of semi-retirement to bring you some inside skinny.
With all the hype over the CBD flowers, I figured I'd jump into the middle of it all and give it a shot, to get my take on the latest craze. Forget the hula hoops and bobby socks, I'm talkin' about HEMP. Looks like per the big farm bill, anything with under 0.3% THC is technically in bounds. Much as I was hesitant to order bud through the mail, this does indeed appear to be 'a thing'.
After blowing off the local shops and doing some online opinion checking, I decided to go with Apical greens. They seem to be well regarded, and being in WV, I'm a little more inclined to support my fellow Appalachians.
Order was filled quickly, shipped next day. Arrived without issue. Packaging is good. I would have preferred a box, but the standard bubble mailer did fine. Contents are in plastic jars, with tamper seals, vacuum packed in a 'foodsaver' type plastic. No smell, which was one worry. If the foodsaver bag gets ripped you might get some stanky outflow, but what they're using is pretty tough.
About as expected. Our OG blend vendors always made me feel a lil' more special whenever a package arrived, but then again they always had that personal touch of awesomeness that made ya feel special. Mad love, never forget those who have shown you kindness!
Jars are clearly labeled with batch number, and tests are available online. Included a bumper sticker - cool, but I don't think I'm quite ready to go broadcasting this hobby to random roadies just yet.
For my first foray into the world of CBD naturals, I chose Sour Space Candy buds, and some Secret Sauce Keef. SSC is reportedly indica-based, and I do love me some couchlock (RIIIGHT?), so thought that might be a worthy choice. Weighs in at 15% CBD. Keef is the best of the best of the bud in normal MJ, so I reasoned the keef should pack more punch in the CBD world as well. This is 20% CBD, per the label. I'm not certain if that math makes a great deal of sense, but whatever. I'm not here to argue.
My primary reason for smoking is anxiety relief. When I don't smoke I tend to get a bit on the irritable side (or so the Evil Wife tells me). In a state which hasn't legalized just yet, that can be a real drag, especially when you don't want the only time you see your friends being to say "hey maaaan, can you score me something?"
1/2 O of SSC amounts to an Oil-of-Olay size jar of some fairly chunky buds. Manicure is decent, if a bit leafy IMO. Weight was on point, with 0.5g gratuity. There are some big honkin' stems, as well as a few seedos lurking about. Folks spoiled by years of sinse may be taken aback at having to pick out these little firecrackers. Makes me think back to the days of endlessly picking thru Mexican brick pot. (*Shudders*) Don't you dare just throw this shit in a grinder and hope for the best, or you're going to be in for a rather nasty surprise. Not a big deal, mind you - this is a plant after all, but it does require a bit more handling than we're used to these days. Speaking of, it is schticky! Definitely the requisite resins involved. The nose knows too, and so will everyone nearby when you whip this out. I would describe it as a more or less typical outDO' scent, with obvious MJ pungency. I have paid full price willingly for things that looked and smelled worse, for sure. Aesthetics are not bad.
Keef is...uh, well it's keef. It's tan! It's powdery! Did I say it's keef? It's keef. It's fluffy unless you compress it, then it's chunky. Seems to be a fairly run of the mill product. Didn't seem to have any particular advantage to me over the flower, FX wise, so maybe not worth the premium.
I will say that the effects are interesting. Much has been made of the 'entourage effect', that despite low THC there is still a lot going on. Is there a relaxing, chill out effect? Yes. Is there a body buzz, with some pain relief? Yes. Is this going to 100% satisfy your motivation for elevation? O hell no. You'll probably find yourself overburning a good bit at first before you realize "that's it".
This seems to be the same no matter which product is used. I expected the keef to pack more of a punch, but this was not the case in my experience. Bud is more 'pottish', keef is more 'keefish'. Taste is OK, if a little vegetative. Keef is a little harsher...but as noted, "it's keef".
Boys and girls, there are no big surprises to be had here. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this is the O'Doul's of the MJ world. It looks, tastes, and smells just like the real deal, but it's simply not going to do the heavy lifting required. Don't take that statement the wrong way - there is a place for this. FX are certainly no worse than low grade brick or 'ditch weed' from back in the day. I'm actually going to say better in some ways, as it at least smells and tastes better than either of those OG options. If you are out of MJ, you will be happy to have some of this on hand.
All in all, I'm happy with Apical. They delivered what they promised. Their carts are supposed to be pure CO2 extract, so I'm thinking one may get a bit more mileage from those.
Ultimately not a bad thing to keep on hand. There is some minor pain relief and chill to be had here, but hardened CB systems such as those of your typical TGL psychonaut might not register this as much more than a blip on the radar.
There, I said it. NOW GET OFF MY LAWN!
