Chocolate: Bar Fight

Crystal Kitchen’s Milk Chocolate Bar
VS
Firebar’s Toffee Chocolate Bar

I had some requests for these 2 to be reviewed on their own so I decided to put them head to head with each other. The 2 by word of mouth alone stood to be great products, when I got the chance to try both, I couldn’t hesitate.

Both truly were as good as their word.. The flavour of one chocolate had it’s own qualities that made it great even against non-medicated chocolates. The effects as well were hard to judge as both did so well at actually preserving the medicinal effects. All in all, this was such an evenly matched bar fight. After cleaning their wounds, they probably got each other a beer and called it a night. ‘Til the next fight!

On to today’s fight.

Look: Off the bar stool, the Firebar looks like it came to win. Although it’s very simple, on a what seems like a laser printed piece of paper, there is an elegant wrapper with nutritional values on the back and a beautiful design on the front. The crystal kitchen came in a clear sealed bag with their simple logo(which is nice) and again, nutritional values on the back. The crystal kitchen wrapper just seemed too plain against the Firebar. Maybe a colour version would make it pop a bit more.

Smell: There was a very faint herb smell to both of them that could just barely be noticed as soon as both were opened. The main smell of both was the sweet milk chocolate. The firebar had a bit of a nutty smell to it that was so faint it kind of got lost in the herb I first had smelled. Although there was slight differences in the smell, it’s also because of the slight differences in flavour (pure milk chocolate vs toffee).

Taste: The first bar I tried was the Crystal Kitchen, so from here on I will start with that. This has to be the best edible I have tasted as of yet. When I go for chocolate, I rarely enjoy tainting it with the flavour of anything else. Crystal Kitchens did not taint anything, the flavour of milk chocolate is the first and foremost thing I tasted. The slight herb smell translated in to an almost coffee-like taste that could only be compared to a mocha from Tim’s. This was one bar I had to finish QUICK. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the Firebar. This is another one of those edibles that are overpowered by the herb. Not much can be tasted in the ways of chocolate or Toffee, just weed.

Feel: The texture of Crystal Kitchen’s bar was no different than the best milk chocolate. I wouldn’t call it on the same level a “fine” milk chocolate but it is great. Comparable to a Hershey, it was soft and almost velvety as it melted when eating it. The only reason I scored the firebar so much lower than the Crystal Kitchen was because of the standard they set for “milkiness”. The Firebar had that chewy feeling I love Toffee to have but it wasn’t enough for the chocolate to be amazing. The chocolate itself of the firebar just didn’t seem to want to melt as easily and smoothly as Crystal’s so it just felt like a lower quality chocolate. Like ones you’d find at, say, Bulk-Barn.

Effects: It’s been a little while since I had an edible over 100mg and these both were a great increase in dosage. For a bit I’ve been struggling to find an edible with GREAT effects without the burnout or dosage under 200mg. These, both, we’re fantastic. In their own ways they both crept up and lasted for a few hours. The Crystal Kitchen took about 45 minutes to kick in and had very strong uplifting, sativa sided effects. For someone with social anxiety(I’d never normally reccomend a sativa to a person with anxiety) these could be great as I felt like every joke I made was the funniest thing in the world. I couldn’t wait to share them… to my dismay, they were not as funny as I had thought. The firebar had a very relaxing sensation that was obviously going to happen with the stated “80%indica 20%sativa” on the label. The effects started at about the same rate, 45-60 minutes and, lasted about the same as Crystal Kitchen’s (about 3 hours).

Overall stats for the 2:

Crystal Kitchens – 9.2/10
Firebars – 9.2/10

Crystal Kitchen:
Look – 7.5/10
Smell – 9/10
Taste – 10/10
Feel – 9.5/10
Effects – 10/10

Firebars:
Look – 10/10
Smell – 9/10
Taste – 9/10
Feel – 8/10
Effects – 10/10

BubbaXBanner BHO By Crystal Extractions

Sorry for the delay in reviews the last few weeks. It’s been a busy week with an injury to add to it. With the coming crackdowns, it’s probably only going to get slower. Now is the time that we all need to stand up and tell our mayor John Tory that we need to keep access to our medicine open. Email him at mayor_tory@toronto.ca and tell him why this is important to you. It’s important to me because these dispensaries were my first in to the medicinal community. I’m sure it won’t do much but here’s to hoping for a change for the better.

I’ve been self medicating for years with no real help finding a way to actually be legal. These people have been so welcoming and educational to me that I now actually have access to legal medicine. They actually help to get set up with government approved LP’s, even more so than the money hungry doctors writing the prescriptions…

These are PEOPLE providing a SAFE and easy way to access our medicine, stand up for them!

On to the review. This shatter was provided to us by GW Weed Emporium: Scarborough and made by Crystal Extractions. This is a dark, heavy hitting shatter. The look of it doesn’t do the quality justice. It has a heavy hit but not due to the fact that it’s a BHO, it is just a strong, quality shatter.

Look: Upon seeing the package, I was immediately excited about what could be inside. The anticipation killed me but I also didn’t want to ruin such nice packaging. It’s like opening a mint in box toy from the ’70s.. You just don’t do it. Nevertheless, I did it, I opened the package and to my eyes pleasure, I opened a dark amber shatter. Normally I see the darkness and expect nothing but bad quality but this had a yellow translucent tinge to it. It also had the slightest bit of plant matter in it but at $40/gram I kind of expected it to be even worse in quality. It’s not.

Smell: The smell reminded me exactly of my last batch of Bubba. It was mostly a sweet smell with a bit of earthiness to it. There’s also a bit of that sour, diesely smell to the shatter that most Kushes have. I’ve also read(having never tried) that the Bruce Banner strain has a sweet diesely smell to it, so that could be where this diesel smell comes from.

*NEW
Feel: I don’t know why this was skipped in the past but I think it should be added in to all of my coming reviews. The texture of the product plays a key role in any review be it an extract, an edible, right down to the flower. It can tell a lot about the product before you even try it.

This shatter has a very nice texture to it, it almost reminded me of a stale airhead candy. Airheads, if you haven’t tried already, are a chewy, hard to pull candy.. When they go stale they’re hard to chew but easy to “pull’n’snap”. Same goes for this shatter, it’s doesn’t quite break like a hard plastic or glass but it can be pulled a bit before snapping. *I do not reccomend eating the shatter like an airhead.

Taste: Like any good quality product, the smell matches the taste to a T. It’s a very sweet taste almost like those Kush Kitchen’s Grape Hard Candies from our last review. There’s also a bit of a sour, diesely after taste that creeps up on the exhale. I think it’s for that reason, the heaviness doesn’t hit you until then. When you inhale it, the taste and feel is very smooth, upon exhalation, you’re left with a very heavy feeling that intensifies with the lingering diesel taste.

Effects: This is about as heavy as an indica gets. I’ve found the first thing I feel right off the bat is a sense of relaxation and stress relief. That feeling only intensifies over time and leaves you in an almost dreamy state of mind. Not long after that wore off, I was left ready to sleep but not necessarily burnt out. It’s just enough to get rid of the insomnia at night but if I smoke it during the day, I can still function. An all around great shatter.

Overall stats for this one: 8.5/10

Look – 7.5/10
Smell – 8.5/10
Feel – 8/10
Taste – 9/10
Effects – 9.5/10

Cannabis Candies – Close Combat

Here we go with another cannabis edible showdown. Today we have Kush Kitchen vs MOTA. These 2 are becoming big, well known names within the community. This is just a teaser of what they have in stores for all the patients out there. My favourites.

Kush Kitchen’s Grape Hard Candies
Vs
MOTA’s Dweebs

These candies are probably the best medicinal edibles that we have come across as of yet. There is nearly no cannabis taste to speak of and the effects for such low dose edibles are amazing. Judging these 2 was a hard thing to do as they are both great products to try.

Overall this was a fairly even scored battle as they both shine in their own ways. Kush Kitchen’s just had something about it that made the score just a hair higher than MOTA’S. They may have to face off once again with new products.

Look: Looking at these 2 out of the package, you wouldn’t be able to tell that these are medicated whatsoever. The Dweebs resemble Nerds right down to the size and shape. The colours are exactly the same as Nerds and the only thing that would give it away is the bag it comes with labelled as 50mg. The hard candies have a homemade look and feel to them that reminds me of a broken jolly rancher stick. Unfortunately the hard candies do not have any indication of dose so we have assumed each piece is 10-25mg as they do pack a light punch.

Smell: Other than the fruity, sugary aroma that comes with candy, there is almost no smell to speak of. In most edibles we try there is a strong smell of cannabis and depending on the quality used it’s either more or less potent. These 2 do not have that overwhelming indication of cannabis use. If you stick your nose in the bags, you’ll be able to notice it barely, but that’s about it.

Taste: Here we start to have the separation in scores but really they play off each other very well in the effects category. The MOTA Dweebs have almost a sour taste to them, if you’ve ever had Nerds, you’ll know what I’m talking about. There is practically no difference in the medicated and non medicated versions. The only thing I could say is, when I had a mouthful of Dweebs, I noticed a herby aftertaste.

The Kush Kitchen hard candies has a completely different flavour than the Dweebs but not unpleasant at all. There is a strong grape flavour with a stronger cannabis aftertaste. I’ve noticed the more you let these sit, the more cannabis flavour comes out, so chewing them is the best for the flavour.

Effects: Like I said in the flavour category, the 2 scores play off each other very well.

The Dweebs have a light effect that is comparable to after effects of a good strain. When taking edibles, normally effects are felt well in to the night and sometimes in to the next morning, obviously depending on the dose. These almost feel like they skip that process and leave me with the next morning effects immediately after effects set in. It’s not terribly strong as it is only 50mg but I feel taking these too early in the night leave you couch locked or ready for bed way too early. On insomnia ridden nights where the strongest strains don’t work, this is definitely a friend, however.

The hard candies from Kush Kitchen are a lot stronger in my opinion. Just taking a small piece leave me with a refreshed feeling coupled with a confusion almost, wondering, “where is this coming from?. Oh yeah, that grape candy I had 30 minutes ago… I definitely want another!” Taking more only intensified this feeling until I was in bed questioning whether or not I was tired enough to actually be there. I was. I felt a great nights sleep, after a great night of relaxed, confused, euphoria.

Overall stats for these 2:
Kush Kitchen – 9.1/10
MOTA – 9/10

Kush Kitchen:
Look – 8.5/10
Smell – 9.5/10
Taste – 8.5/10
Effects – 10/10

MOTA:
Look – 9/10
Smell – 9.5/10
Taste – 9/10
Effects – 8.5/10

White Kush, as white as it sounds.

White Kush
From Maricare

Hey! After a short break(not by choice) I’m back with another review!

This strain comes from Maricare Dispensary and Delivery. With the changing weather these past few weeks, even with the strongest strains I’ve been having a lot of trouble sleeping… White Kush is the savior.

This is the perfect strain for insomnia and pain relief. Immediately after smoking the first hit, all the back pain and tension that came with tossing and turning for 4 nights straight was alleviated. Almost like taking an unusually strong, targeted pain reliever, back pain melted beyond compare to any pharmaceutical drug. After the second go at this, you’re left either couch locked or ready for bed, something I look forward to this evening.

Out of the jar, this is such a beautiful strain to look at and smell. This is definitely a strain we will be coming back to in the future.

Look: Like I said before, this is a beautiful strain to look at. The buds are extremely tight and are caked in crystals. The colour is a bright to almost lime green and has bright orange hairs running through all of the buds evenly. This is another strain that the leaves do not have to be trimmed entirely as they too are covered in crystals, making them have an almost white hue to them.

Smell: All kushes to me have a very similar smell to them with their own undertones that make them their unique. This one is no different, it has that punch in the face kush smell that every kush is known to have… It also has an underlying sweet, almost fruity smell to it. While yes, I have smelled this before, there was also an earth, almost dirt-like smell to it that makes this one unique. Sweet and dirty? Never have I smelt a better kush combination.

Taste: The taste is definitely not dirty at all, nor earthy. There is an intensely strong sweet taste, almost like a grape soda. It’s taste first huts you in the taste buds but it also follows down as you inhale, it’s a weird thing almost like an after-taste before hand. The after-taste is that classic kush taste that comes with most kush strains.

Effects: Even as we write this, I’m struggling to keep our eyes open at 4:30pm. Focus is becoming harder and harder as I struggle to gain the strength to even move my thumbs. Any pain that I was having before this strain is long forgotten and sleep is imminent. This is a night time only strain and is PERFECT for it.

Overall stats for this one: 9.6/10

Look – 9/10
Smell – 10/10
Taste – 9.5/10
Effects – 10/10

Purple Candy, a BHO and Bud Comparison

Purple Candy from
http://www.gwweedemporium.com
Purple Candy BHO from http://www.worldwidecannabistore.com

We did our review of the Purple Candy BHO from WWCS already so this post’s scores will be geared towards the bud from GW. The review in general will cover how the 2 compare with each other. The BHO was from the discount shelf while the buds were on the mid-top shelf price range. The 2 were actually close in scores in a lot of categories however the buds took the higher score due to not being a discount strain.

This is not to say a discount extract or strain can’t beat a top shelf one, but these 2 know their prices and have them reflect that in the strength and quality of everything they have.

Look: The look is obviously incomparable as they are 2 completely different products. The look of the bud however is a very dark strain. It’s almost a deep forest green that’s covered in crystals. The crystals make it seem a lot brighter than it actually is. There is also next to no orange hairs, as they are spaced very far apart and, what hairs are there are covered in crystals as well. The only problem we saw, there was a few too many long leaves left on the bud.

Smell: The smell of the 2 were almost identical. For a shatter you’d expect the smell to be a bit more potent than the bud but being a discount shatter they were almost exactly the same. There’s a strong diesel smell followed by a hint of lemon that took us right back to that G of Purple Candy BHO. Identical other than intensity.

Taste: Again, the taste of the 2 were almost identical. The only difference we found that was even with smaller hits, the buds packed more of a punch than the BHO. The taste is like the smell, a bit of diesel followed by a sour taste we can only match to lemon. Oddly enough, the buds packed a much stronger hit than the BHO. The BHO maintained a much cleaner taste in the end.

Effects: This bud was as good for social anxiety as the BHO. Clears thoughts and leaves you just good enough to be productive still. Obviously though, overindulgence will leave you lazy and ready to go to bed or just sit back and watch TV. A sense of calm and euphoria is also felt a little while after smoking. It’s a perfect day time indica if smoked responsibly, overindulge and you’ll find its perfect for bed time.

Overall stats for the 2:

Purple Candy BHO : 7.75/10

Look – 10/10
Smell – 7/10
Taste – 6/10
Effects – 8/10

Purple Candy Buds: 8.3/10

Look – 8/10
Smell – 8.5/10
Taste – 8/10
Effects – 9/10

Rice Crispy Squares, Square Off

SAB Rice Crispy Square
VS
GW In house Rice Crispy Square

After trying so many versions of the GW in house squares, we knew we had to snag this little guy. The SAB is labelled as 100mg while the GW has no clear indication of dosage. I don’t think this is a problem as with no lab tests on most edibles, there’s no real way to trust what it says.

Overall the GW blew the SAB out of the water. From the look to the effect of each, GW wins each category.

Look: The chocolate drizzle covers the GW square completely, while the SAB has just a light drizzle on one area of the square. The packaging is a bit nicer on the SAB but in product testing, package plays a very small role.

Smell: They both have a similar smell, GW’s is more pungent, at 100mg in such a tiny square you’d expect a stronger smell. You can tell in both quality buds are used but the SAB is just a little lackluster.

Taste: This is where the GW really starts to take the cake. The taste on the GW is so much sweeter. With the smell being more pungent in the GW, you’d expect that to show in the taste as well, that is not the case. The SAB had an overwhelming cannabis taste that had to be immediately chased by a sweet drink.

Effects: Again, GW wins this one by far. Upon using the GW you can almost feel the strength in it as your body processes it. After less than an hour you feel an intense wave of pain relief… everywhere. You’re also left feeling that euphoria that comes with the best edibles. That was with only half of the square. The SAB, after consuming the entire square, we waited 2 hours before smoking anything. No effects were felt until smoking a bowl of GW’s Kandy Land strain. Normally, this strain puts us to bed maybe an hour after smoking it, with the SAB ingested already, smoking it caused an immediate burn-out. The GW we have always smoked along side eating with no burn-out effects..

Overall stats for the 2:
GW – 9.25/10
SAB – 5.8/10

GW:
Look – 9/10
Smell – 8/10
Taste – 10/10
Effects 10/10

SAB:
Look – 8.5/10
Smell – 7/10
Taste – 5/10
Effects – 3/10

Animal Cookies

Animal Cookies – Hybrid
Olive Alternate Medicine

This hybrid strain was only something that we read about, the legends were just that, legends.. Until now. Olive Alt Meds supplied us with this beautiful strain and we are so happy we got our hands on it. It’s been known to be perfect for pain and insomnia and it is exactly that.

Look: We’re not sure what it is about Cookie strains but we feel they all have a certain similarity. The buds are always tight with short bright orange hairs, the leaves are small and minimal, and they are always covered in crystals. This strain was no different, just a little darker than the cookie strains we’ve tried before.

Smell: The smell is pungent, there’s a sour stench that creeps up the nasal cavity. It’s also a little sweet but the sour just takes over. The sour smell we think has a hint of pine in it as well, that makes it just a little more pungent than the earthiness in one of its parent strains, Girl Scout Cookies. Both creep up your nose steadily but the Animal leaves a stronger impression.

Taste: Like the smell, it’s a bit sour. There is a certain piney, lemony taste that you taste when inhaling the strain. Upon exhalation, you’re left with an earthy taste that reminds you of Girl Scout Cookies. It’s not the most appealing taste but we get past it for its effects.

Effects: As the legend says, this strain has a certain.. ability~ to destroy insomnia and pain symptoms. One hit in and we could instantly feel the insomnia melt away. It was a very surprising feeling considering normally we’d either have to take pharmaceuticals or a much higher dose of cannabis before feeling any insomnia relief. Call it overkill but we went in for a second, it has a ridiculous ability to kill pain as well. With insomnia comes a lot of headaches that are just.. painful. After the second hit, we were left with absolutely no feeling of pain whatsoever. This strain’s legends are all true.

This is an amazing strain. Amazing.

Overall stats for this one : 8.75/10

Look – 9.5/10
Smell – 8.5/10
Taste – 7/10
Effects – 10/10

Organic Hindu Kush

Organic Hindu Kush

From Maricare Dispensary

https://www.leafly.com/dispensary-info/maricare-mail—delivery

These guys consistently have quality buds at great prices. This week we grabbed a few strains from them, this was an instant favourite. From opening the package and smelling the sweet intense kush smell and seeing the tight, beautifully trimmed buds, we could only hope it was as good as it made itself seem. It was.

Look:Like we said, as soon as we opened the package, the buds stood right out. We could notice the grower took their time with this bud. It’s trimmed beyond perfection and it’s moisture level is just right. The colour is a dark green with hints of purple and even a bit of black. If we had a better camera, the colours would stand out a lot more. It’s also completely covered in crystals, making it sparkle under light.

Smell: The first thing we smelled was that classic kush smell. Being such an old strain, it’s kind of expected, this is one of the buds that made that smell known. The next thing that hits you is the unbelievable amount of sweetness, like a pack of skittles or starburst. There is also a great earthy smell that hits you more in your taste buds as well.

Taste: The earthy smell that is just barely there is extremely strong in the taste. Once you smoke it you taste something you knew was in the bud right when you started grinding it up. There’s nothing overpowering about it, its just a good clean smoke that hits you deep.

Effects: This is a pure indica strain and the effects are just that. If you’re having any stress, or the headaches that come with stress, this will work for you perfectly. It’s not so strong that you’re left tired or couch locked but there is a sense of relief that comes with every hit. It relaxes you without tiring you out and leaves your body numb to any pain that may be there.

Overall stats for this one : 8.75/10

Look – 10/10

Smell – 8.5/10

Taste – 8/10

Effects – 8.5/10

Bosstalgia Chemo Honeycomb

Bosstalgia Chemo Honeycomb

http://www.bostalgia.com

This product is like none we have ever tried. Consistency in every batch, new closed loop techniques, these guys know what they are doing.

If we had a bit better of a camera you’d be able to see, this packaging is amazing. The “cookie” comes in a little tin with an extremely detailed label on top. The THC content is at whopping 91.89% with 0.77% CBD and 0.5(?)% CBN.

Look: After getting past the packaging, we opened her up, and to our surprise, a wee baby cookie! In the Instagram posts they seem a lot bigger than they are, and at 1g a piece, we were  left wondering HOW ARE THEY SO BIG?! Good cameras and good angles make all the difference when taking close ups of these cookies. There is a light beige colour that you see in every single post they make of the product. It looks EXACTLY how it looks in their pictures, other than that size difference =P.

Smell: Upon opening the tin we were overwhelmingly hit with the smell of the cookie, it was intimidating. After getting our noses used to it, we knew what we were getting in to, something delicious.

Taste: The tin says it all, like those blue candy canes. With that on the tin, we went in specifically looking for that taste and it was found but just faintly upon exhaling. The main flavor we get would be that kiefy crystally taste with a blue candy cane after taste.

Effects: Like running in to a brick wall head first at top speed. Do NOT over medicate with these cookies. Our first dab was just a dusting, like the amount of salt you get in a BK package, we couldn’t take any more hits for a good 5 minutes to recover. After our recovery we went in for one more and were hit with that “sedative” and “heavy” effect. Couch lock sets in quick and you’re left in almost a dreamy state where everything is peachy.

Overall stats for this one: 10/10

Look – 10/10

Smell – 10/10

Taste – 10/10

Effects – 10/10

The Dank Squad 100mg Cereal Bar

The Dank Squad 100mg Cereal Bar

Made by @danksquad6ix

Purchased from GW Weed Emporium, follow @shecultivates

In the morning, this bar is the perfect thing to start your days. There isn’t too much to say about this bar, it’s like a bowl of medicated lucky charms. For nights where insomnia keeps us awake, these guys keep us awake in the morning.

Look: You can see the type of cereal used with a green tinge that makes it look a little ghoulish. Reminds us of something to eat during the Halloween time of year. Scaaaary doOOOooobie snaaaaacks. Looks great though, it’s obviously solvent less.

Smell: The herb smell isn’t too strong in these, at 100mg it’s clear why. There is definitely a distinct herb smell where you can tell quality products were used but there’s also overpowering sweet scent.

Taste: Like we said earlier, like a bowl of medicated lucky charms. The marshmallow that makes it a bar is like the sweet cereal milk and that green tinge makes you taste the herb just a little bit. The herb and sweet go very well together in this bar as when we were finished eating it we were left wanting more just to snack on.

Effects: This bar feels definitely more on the sativa side. We ate this on a day off and had one of the most productive days of the month. We personally would buy it again just for those insomnia ridden nights. With no burnout effects, it’s perfect for anytime of the day. At 100mg we don’t think you can go too overboard either.

Overall stats for this one: 8.75/10

Look – 10/10

Taste – 9/10

Smell – 9/10

Effects – 7/10