:best buds

First things first: thanks to those of you who read and enjoyed the first installment of the Best Buds column last month! The response I got was exciting to see, and I’m hoping my future adventures in exploring our governmentapproved weed repertoire will go down just as well.

In a week that has been a pretty busy and overwhelming one for me personally, the opportunity to toke up and write this column again was greatly appreciated.

After taking requests for strains to be reviewed (and I’m still taking requests for future issues, by the way!), I ultimately decided on these three: two dried flowers, one pre-roll; a hybrid grown within Quebec, a sativa from the GTA and an indica from Beautiful British Columbia by way of Alberta. Here’s how each one went.

SATIVA: San Rafael ’71 Tangerine Dream

This month’s sativa was one with a tangy taste to it — entirely appropriate given its name. It’s a comfortable, enjoyable high with a strong citrus scent and a mild boost of energy. Your mood can definitely get a lift from this one, and it also pairs up well with listening to many types of music (My choice was local rockers Gulfer, and their excellent self-titled album). The buds are also a shade of purple, and noticeably not as bone-dry as other SQDC strains tend to be. Although not quite as potent as it could be (mine only had 12.2% THC), it’s nonetheless a solid choice for a Friday night pick-me-up strain. 8.5/10

INDICA: Daily Special Indica

Now, a strain grown in Alberta and supplied by B.C.’s Aurora Cannabis: Daily Special. It’s a remarkably stronger one, to boot, at 19% THC. While I felt more energized and inclined to be productive on the Tangerine Dream, I didn’t really feel like doing a whole lot of anything with this one. If anything, I spent more time doom-scrolling Instagram than something I should have actually been doing, like vacuuming my floor or washing my dishes. What it did do, for better or (more likely) worse, is make me hungry for greasy food. While not extraordinary, it’s a reliable indica that burns smoothly and will do a decent enough job of chilling you out — like any good indica should do. 8/10

HYBRID: Dubon Blend 14

The lone pre-rolls smoked in this installment of Best Buds come from Dubon, a Quebec-based company sold exclusively via the SQDC. Even if it’s only 17% THC, I still feel like I burned through the joints fairly quickly. Regardless, I smoked it right before a pleasant Sunday afternoon walk, and then again later in the evening while watching a Tommy Chong stand-up special on Prime. As much as Calgary’s most famous stoner is full of wisdom and good pot jokes, the special itself would often cut to a poorly mic’ed roundtable of Chong and some other dudes telling boring weed stories to each other. In a way, this felt like I was method acting, watching stoner shows while smoking weed like a 420-friendly Daniel Day-Lewis transforming into a full-on pot enthusiast. (Actually, I don’t know what his stance is on weed. But you get what I’m trying to say.) 8/10