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Thursday, April 26, 2007

"I get grassy notes..."

An arresting headline over at JoinTogether.org (I like to keep tabs on the anti-alcohol crowd):

"Medical Marijuana Breeds Pot Snobs"

The San Francisco Chronicle reported April 22 that some pot smokers sound more like wine lovers in describing various strains of weed. "I would describe this as grapey, candy-like, sweet, with a slight undertone of spice," said Oakland medical-marijuana dispensary CEO Stephen DeAngelo of a recent sample. "It is grapey, but I get flowers," added Rick Pfrommer, purchasing agent for the Harborside Health Center. "I would use the word pungent. It has a pungent funk undertone."

Harborside alone offers medical users 40 types of marijuana to choose from, crossbred from strains originating in Burma, India, Mexico and California. Websites like weedtracker.com offer product reviews and other information. Jorge Cervantes serves as the unofficial guru of marijuana "cannasseurs"; he judges different strains of the drug for High Times, which sponsors the annual Cannabis Cup.

"Some of the fragrances you should look for are sweet, spicy and musty," said Cervantes. "If it's sweet, what's it like? Is it like bubblegum? Is it like honey? ... Is it minty? What does that mean? Is it like a rose? Or a cherry?"

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? And here I thought weed was weed. Should have known better.

16 comments:

Steven said...

LOL!!

Bryan Kolesar said...

It's often referred to as "the cousin" isn't it?! ;-)

Steven said...

Cousin to an ingredient, maybe. Or to cancer sticks, with even more tars and nicotene!. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Extreme weed! I can't wait to try 120 Minute THC toked through a Randall.

John said...

Funny, to me it all smells the same...

Lew Bryson said...

Hey, you know, jp, that's what mainstream drinkers say about beer.

John said...

(That was kind of the joke I was going for. :p )

Anonymous said...

I used to think of weed the same way a mainsteam "premium" lager drinker would think about beer. Hey, its weed, it gets me high. Until a beer geek buddy turned me onto different strains, I had no idea what was out there and didn't have an appreciation for it since the prices were way too high (ha!) to justify buying it. But just like beer, after I was exposed to a better quality product, the price didn't matter that much - and I would smoke less due to its high (ha again!) thc content.

But watch out Lew, all these hi grade weed lovers just want stronger weed that has more flavor and aroma, and the producers are delivering it. Who's going to advocate for session weed?

Lew Bryson said...

"staff",

That's almost exactly how I came to drink better coffee. Because I'm still basically drinking it to get the jolt, but I'm enjoying the drinking experience more.

But advocates for session weed? They're out there: rope makers, textile manufacturers, and Woody Harrelson.

Steven said...

I hope we all realize that this can only lead to the harder stuff.

Anonymous said...

Steven said...
I hope we all realize that this can only lead to the harder stuff.

Like beer?

In all seriousness, that is a falicy (search for LaGuardia commission if you don't believe me) spread by anti-drug advocates. If you read about the history of marijuana in this country you will find that it has been wrongly accused of many evils by an over-zealous branch of government that demonized it in order to keep their budgets going and to make it look like the govt was doing something about crime. The govt's views at the time were also rooted in racism.

Just like MADD spreads questionable statistics about drinking to make their point, and to continue their fund raising, so do anti-drug advocates. I've been smoking for over 20 years and have never once wanted to try coke, herion, meth, speed, x, etc. 99% of weed smokers I know are of the same mind. And if you think about it, alcohol and caffiene are how most people start getting their buzz, yet somehow these are never considered "gateway drugs" (if you believe in the term).

Marijuana and alcohol have similar histories in the US, just that the "evils" of marijuana based on lies and deciet are more firmly held onto. IMO, the effects on the mind and body are similar to alcohol (with alcohol being more addictive), so I find it disheartening that people think it is bad because it is illegal, and that because the gov't said it is illegal and bad, people will never open their minds and find out the facts.

Harry Spade said...

"I hope we all realize that this can only lead to the harder stuff."

Good point. Killian's Irish Red and Honey Brown were gateway beers for me. Oh what a sordid past...

jakester said...

What, no horseblankets or bandaids or cardboard...?

Lew Bryson said...

staff,

Well-said. As a libertarian, I think our drug laws need a total overhaul.

But I'm pretty sure Steven was just making a joke. Let's not get into it here, guys.

Anonymous said...

I had to laugh as I checked the web site for Weedtracker. It brought back memories of many years ago. Now it's legal for medical use...uh-huh. There is brownish "Lebanese Hash" on one of the menus.

Anonymous said...

"The Cannibus Cup"...on Lew's blog?! Hahahaha I just now saw this blog post.