And welcome, take your shoes off and kick your feet up, grab your indulgence of choice, my name is Moose and this is my new site. I'm far from new to the internet and blogging..but we won't talk much about my former incarnation, instead let this be my new place, and your place too if you'd like.
Here I will get a little more personal Than I'm exactly comfortable with. I'll do that only because it adds context and hopefully will add to what you take away from coming here..let's start with me telling you a bit about myself. I'm 34 years old, half native American and half Norwegian. I was born with Autism Spectrum Disorder to a mother who severely neglected and abused myself and my siblings, I joined a cult at the age of 14, and wound up a hostage to them out of fear until a few years ago, spent a large portion of my life in placement where I was also severely abused, did a 6 year prison stint for being present during a Robbery, have spent the entirety of my life repeatedly being hired for jobs, worked to the point of injury and then fired because I was different and they knew they could get away with it and suffering increased severe and constant pain for years that they have just now identified as a herniated discs in my spine and a possible degenerative bone disease. And That's just the tip of the iceberg. Since I could remember my Safe place, my Solace, my comfort, has always been film and exploring my own consciousness with various practices and substances.
In particular I've found Cannabis and it's derivatives to be very helpful in creating a more manageable and enjoyable life experience.
In this first article I want to take the time to take a look at some of the Cannabis products available on the market and my experience. As with quite a few of the pieces you will find here, I want to thank my good friend (who has asked not to be named) for sharing these products with me. He had some issues with his Youtube Channel and due to some argument about what can be showcased on something labeled as "educational" He wound up with quite a few products he had requested to review being considered unsuitable. Since I (as of yet) Do not have such limitations, I was asked to pick up the slack and give these products a whirl and share my thoughts. I hope I do some justice here.
STONE ROAD Is a Family owned Biodynamic farm in Nevada City CA Who utilize a unique "living soil" made up of living organisms and water from an artisan well to create one of a kind, all natural crops that never see any synthetic products at any point of production. Even the very little plastic used in their products' packaging comes from 99% recycled post consumer goods and EVEN THAT isn't good enough for this Mother Earth Loving company as they are currently developing a biodegradable sugarcane based plastic to replace that... So we know these guys are very serious about the Earth..but what about the Green? Is it any good?
I was lucky enough to receive a few products to test out, let's start with their famous Garlic Cookie Prerolls
these badboys came in an absolutely beautiful slide out pack similar to a small cigarette pack but much sturdier. The joints themselves are .07 g each and come in packs of 5 or 10.
Unlike most brands who simply use a cheapo raw tube for their prerolls, Stone Road uses its own custom tubes with "Stone" printed right on them. This little detail may not mean much to most people but in an industry plagued with bootleggers this little detail makes me as a customer all the more comfortable that I am smoking the real deal, it also shows a dedication to a unique product all the way down to the smallest detail which I truly appreciate.
They were a bit on the tight side so I needed to loosen them a bit but thats all a matter of preference and with a few twists the issue was solved and I was off to the races.
WOW are these little guys smooth. Honestly with how light and sweet they were I didn't expect much of a high. halfway through the joint I ended up saving the rest for later. It creeped up and hit me out of nowhere but not in a bad or overpowering way. The high provided more body relaxation then headspace in my experience, and helped with my degenerative disc disorder and arthritis immensely while also not being too overpowering to be productive. I would highly recommend this one as a day starter especially if you suffer from any pain or wake up anxious like I do. I'd easily give them an 8 out of 10
"But Moose, what if I can't afford a whole pack?" Well Stone Road has you covered there too with 2 types of single prerolls to choose from, regular cannabis, and hash infused joints, I had the pleasure of trying out there 1 gram artisanal hashish joint.
Made with 100% naturally grown cannabis that is then infused with solventless hashish, these joints are for the connoisseur who must get the best bang for their buck. They come double packaged with the first layer being a plastic sleeve and the second being a glass beaker with a cork to keep the smell in if you need to put it out for later use.
Once again I had to loosen it a little bit and it did canoe a tiny bit at first (I recommend using a wooden match to light it instead of a lighter to avoid this problem) but this was BY FAR HANDS DOWN the smoothest, easiest on the lungs infused joint I have ever smoked in my life!
Earthy, funky and with a nice throat feel without tearing you up, these prerolls are another winner. I went the distance and smoked the whole thing and I have to point out two great features. Number one, this badboy smoked for a good 10 minutes easily, and the high hit immediately from the hash but then settled into a calmer more consistent high as a continued to smoke, with the overall high lasting a good 3 hours which is absolutely unheard of for me. I suffer pretty extreme PTSD from a lifetime of abuse and it takes alot to relax me, the fact that I was chill for hours from one joint is downright amazing. If I could I would smoke one of these every day before bed. such a great product, easily a 9 out of ten.
I was a bit skeptical about this last product I want to discuss. In the past most pregrind I have purchased has been too dry, weak and comes across as being just ground up trimmings from someone's harvest that was swept off the floor. NOT SO WITH STONE ROAD 14G ROLL YOUR OWN POUCH!
a combination of both outdoor and greenhouse flower, this pregrind comes in a double sealed resealable foil pouch (WITH FREE PAPERS ATTACHED!) that keeps it as fresh and moist as the day it was ground. The scent opening it was nice and slightly skunky, it rolled easily, burned evenly and best of all despite me sifting it extensively I did not find a single piece of a stem, stick or seed. This is 100% pure high quality flower and it shows.
The green itself gave me a nice easy even high that had me in a really nice headspace for about an hour and led to a wonderful night sleep like I very seldom get otherwise. I was very surprised by this product, going in I expected to have no love for it but honestly it wound up being my favorite out of everything I tried. I give this product a 10 out of 10 and STONE ROAD as whole a 9 out of 10, I absolutly adore these guys, from their vision to their product they are genuinely great at what they do and I would love to continue to work with them in the future. CHECK THEM OUT!
Another unique preroll company we absolutely need to talk about is SAINTS joints:
founded in the Georgetown/Seattle area (and sadly only currently available to buy in Washington as I write this) by members of the Seattle Medical Cannabis community, saints takes alot of pride in what they do, only bringing the best, naturally grown cannabis to the table.
Packaged in a gorgeous faux-book that opens up to smaller but equally beautiful "volumes" sorted by strain, and topped off with little explanatory notes for each of the types of joints included, it's clear from the start that Saints takes their joints very seriously.
Unlike some preroll joints that stupidly utilize actual cigarette filters, saints keep things simple with a small piece of cardboard in the tip that's just enough to keep the good stuff out of your mouth while you enjoy. Also unlike competitors who use ugly prefabed tubes, each saints joint is emblazoned with the Saints logo to ensure you do not get fooled by bootleggers utilizing their beautiful packaging.
The sativa hybrid joints were nice and light in flavor and smoke quality, pulling nicely and evenly and very easy on the lungs. I'm an avid smoker and even for me half of one of these guys was enough to have me totally relaxed and by the time I finished it I had a nice mind and body buzz that left me satisfied but still functioning. I felt this one was great for my anxiety and depression, both of which melted away with my worries and left me ready to socialize about just about anything with ease. I'd highly recommend this one to my fellow PTSD patients as a great joint for right before a potentially difficult counciling session.
The Indica hybrid joints were more heavy in smoke and flavor, with sweet hints followed by a nice Herby taste. I didn't feel much until I put this one out and then boy did it put my dick in the dirt for a few hours. A nap was required after some heavy snacking. If you have appetite or sleeping issues this is the PERFECT joint for you. I just wouldn't recommend it if you have any heavy work you need to do. You WILL be putting it off if you do.
The multi-strain was pretty gentle, again light on the smoke, very piney/minty flavor wise. These burned a little quicker as well and I was able to smoke the whole thing and still function albeit with a sillier disposition towards life. I would recommend this one as a social smoke to enjoy with a friend.
The last box of joints included in this "book" was
The Hashish Joints. These I had some trouble with, first with getting it fired up (as they canoe alot) and then with halfing and getting relit later when the smoke turned out to be a little to strong for a midday smoke.
The taste was harsh as well with quite a bit of resin-like tones. Out of the bunch this was the strongest high, (kicking my ass for a good 4 hours without putting me to sleep followed by a good nights sleep when I did put it out) but I have to say I think rolling these into cigarillos would have made for a better burning more efficient smoking experience.
Overall I highly recommend Saints Joints. They're classy, pretty affordable and overall very user friendly. Their reputation as one of the best pre-rolled joints companies out there is well deserved and I strongly hope that I can bring you more of their products in the near future.
But these are all sit down and toke kinda joints, what about those of you who need a quick pick me up on a busy weekend?
Well that's where the aptly named WEEKENDERS come in handy!
Sungrown in California's most substainable farm, Redwood Valley Farm, and formulated to get users the exact amount of high they want to be, WEEKENDERS brings together science and smokers beautifully and effectively.
WEEKENDERS are smaller than typical joints (Perfect for small smoke sessions,)
And come in 3 varieties (each available in singles and 1/8th 7 joint packs)
CHILL has a low THC level and higher CBD and is designed to help you think clearly and..well..chill out. I didn't honestly expect much from this one as an avid smoker but was pleasantly surprised with how much it helped with my spinal and knee pain and while it didn't rock my socks off, the light very inviting smoke DID carry with it a likewise light (but certainly noticable) high very similar to competitors D8 bud but without the nasty aftertaste or headache alot of those come with. I'd give this one a 6 out of 10
DRIFT is higher on both THC and CBD and is meant to make smokers feel warm, relax and help restore them. I knew wedding cake bud from my past smoking experience and wasn't disappointed by the surprisingly earthy, hearty smoke of these little guys. Once again this one delivered, making me much more relaxed (well high to be more accurate) than the Chill ones did. I ended up smoking 2 of these back to back and got a nice healthy high on for a respectable 2 hours during which I was more than with it enough to cook dinner and engage with my life partner. Comedown was also nice and easy and I didn't need a nap afterwards. This one was definitely more suited for a good during the day smoke. It didn't help as much with pain as Chill did but it helped ALOT with anxiety and racing thoughts. Another winner
PLAY is much higher in THC and is said to promote play, dance, make the user feel free and stay up.
Right off the bat I REALLY liked this one, the bud seemed fresher than the others and had a light cooling effect along with an immediate head high followed by maximum chilling and pain relief for my body. While it didn't exactly make me dance it did get me into a 4 hour jam fest where I cut out the world, kicked back and listened to tunes for the longest straight time I've done in awhile. This checked all the boxes for me..one thing it did NOT Do for me was keep me up. Quite the contrary during my jam session I zonked out quite a few times and even though I wanted to smoke another after the first I couldn't find the sobriety to justify..I eventually did anyway justification be damned!!! Hahahahah
Overall I highly recommend the awesome folks at WEEKENDERS. Not only were their products steller,, they were also professional and personable, just all around nice folks. I believe more than just these joints were sent to Jason, unfortunately if that's the case I did not get to check the other stuff out but
The last company I was to touch on technically belongs with the Delta 8 article I'll be working on next but I just couldn't wait to talk about them and considering how much better their Delta 8 products are than others I've tried, they deserve a spot here. That company is the downright inspiring HOMETOWN HERO HEMP
started in 2015 by two friends, Lukas Gilkey and Lewis Hamer in Austin, TX. With their last few dollars and a dream, they had a humble begining selling to local shops. First handling hemp and CBD products, they expanded into other legal cannabinoids as law allowed them to do so with their Delta 8 products seeming to be their most popular. But what really makes this company stand out is how much it does to fund and aid Veterans.
Since Lukas himself is a USCG veteran, he truly understands and sympathies with the trauma and other oftentimes painful after effects a lot of heroes come home with, he knows that charity is oftentimes the only way a lot of these heros get any help and it is with that in mind that this wonderful company proudly donates a sizeable portion of their profits to numerous Veterans associations and it also carefully formulates it's products with ailing those same heroes with some of their problems.
I myself was denied the privilege of serving this beautiful country due to some of my physical and neurological ailments nonetheless I suffer from some pretty severe physical pain as well as severe PTSD, anxiety and a seemingly incurable clinical depression and let me tell you, quite a few of these products helped me tremendously.
First let's take a look at the gummies.
The 3 flavors I tried were Blueberry, watermelon and apple. And all of them were delicious.
Each gummy is infused with a respectable 25 mgs of Delta 8 THC
The watermelon tasted alot like the chewy watermelon jolly ranchers only less tart and with a nicer, less rubbery gummy feel. I have no teeth so the fact that I was able to chew these very easily says alot and was very nice. You would be surprised how many professionally made gummies are rubber and like and unpleasant.
The apple reminded me of apple bubble tape when it comes to flavor, tart and a little sour but with a nice fruity finish, once again very easy to chew and without any of the nasty resin aftertaste most edibles have.
The Blueberry was easily my favorite, alot like if blue sour patch kids skipped the sour and went straight to the sweet. These were even juicer and easier to chew than the other 2 we're.
But what about the effects? Well I'll answer that in the form of a warning. These bad boys will take at least an hour to show their true potential. I recommend you stick with 2 pieces your first go around and do so with some food in your belly. I ate 2 of each the first go and about an hour and a half later I was higher than I have ever been from even a standard delta 9 gummy and it lasted a good 4 or 5 hours. It was far from unpleasant though and definitely took care of my spinal pain VERY Nicely.
EASILY a 9 out of 10 product
Next we will talk about the HIGH TIMES Hempcup 2001, 2nd place winner Berry Delta 8 THC tinicture
I have a love hate relationship with most tinicture. They tend to work very well but go down very hard due to that seemingly inescapable resin taste most of them have so I went into this one not expecting much.
The tinicture I wound up with was a 30ml bottle with
1,200mg of Delta 8 THC per bottle
Firstly it smelled heavenly, very sweet and berry-like, I took the recommended dose into my mouth and braced for the nastiness..it never came! Instead what I got was this delicious, almost Berry gusher flavored liquid that went down so smooth I swore it wouldn't have any effects. It was good enough I went in for a second dose to be sure.
It took around 20 minutes to hit me and when it did the effects were powerful but mild, very relaxing. I found my typically racing thoughts slow down and become more manageable, it also seemed to slow and ease my normally pounding heart and a quick check with a blood pressure cup confirmed it lowered my blood pressure a little bit as well. Not alot of pain relief but then again I typically don't get that kind of relief from this type of product. The effects lasted a few hours and then went away abruptly but without any negative effects. I found this product surprisingly enjoyable and would recommend it for it's fast acting effects, ease of use and Delicious flavor.
Now let's get into the smokeables. The 3 things I was given by my unnamed YouTube pal were 2 types of bud (raygun and Zero G) and 1 type of preroll (raygun again) let's start with the joints
The raygun preroll comes in a vape juice-like container that (like all their containers so far) is child proofed (huge points from me as a Dad of some wonderful but curious kids) you would surprised how many companies overlook this kind of thing but check the nightly news.
The packaging is also cool as hell with it's literal raygun (this can be seen even better on the jar of raygun bud)
With 188mg of D8 per joint and 2 in the package, these little guys pack a bit of a punch in a great way. I wasn't a big fan of the clutch filters not being customized but with them trying to keep the price down and the product quality I really couldn't complain.
The flavor was very homegrown-esque and had alot of soil taste and peppery flavors to it that as an old school cannabis lover I really enjoyed. The smoke was surprisingly smooth and I found myself pleasantly buzzed from just one of these joints. Was I flying off the earth? No but I was very relaxed and pretty close to pain free which is no small feat especially considering this is hemp and not typical cannabis. The high stayed steady for about an hour and came right back when I lit up the second joint in the pack and both burned nice and evenly. A very decent joint and for two for 14 bucks you sure as hell can't go wrong
When it comes to the Ray Gun bud, again we have a child safe container (this time a plastic jar) which contained 3.5 grams of flower. The buds were a bit discolored and dry due to DELTA 8 being a distillate that needs to be applied to plant material. The buds broke up nice and easy though with little mess and lended to a nice, even burning blunt. The flavor.and effect were understandably similar to the joints but a little fresher and a little more robust. I prefer the bud over the joint only because I was able to roll something larger. I smoked the entire 3.5 grams this time and honestly I saw little to no difference in effects from this and regular mid grade cannabis. I got pretty well lit and stayed that way for a whooping 3 hours so I would say that Raygun is a strain that gets better with increased quantity. I do think it's handy to have both prerolls and buds though as you may want to pack a nice bowl or bong and it would be wasteful to tear open a preroll for that.
The last (but certainly not least) thing we will look at is the Zero G 3.5 gram jar of buds
Zero G is another great design with a floating spaceman instead of a raygun this time. And the bud lives up to its name with 250mg of Delta 8 added to each gram of flower
The buds themselves were a little crunchier than the Ray gun ones were but again broke up pretty well and rolled and burned easily. The smoke was harsher here as well. The taste was closer to what you'd expect for a newer strain, mildly skunky with a piney aftertaste. Half a blunt was enough of this strain to put me on my ass for the evening. I was still able to function as far as watching TV and being alive but beyond that I was a bit useless but sometimes we need to feel a little useless to avoid being a fucking tool and I right? hahahaha this was overall my favorite thing I was able to sample for these guys. I hope to someday soon revisit this awesome company and share my thoughts on more of their products (they even have a D8 vape juice I am DYING to try!)
I highly recommend you head over to their site and get high for a good cause!
God Bless our troops!
That's it for now potheads, keep smoking and reading obscure blogs on the internet and stay tuned for more!
Like this review and want to see more like it? Be sure to spread the word to others and help us keep going and growing!! Have something you'd like to see reviewed here?
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Drew Mead
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