If you’re lucky enough to be in a relationship where your partner smokes just as much weed as you (or more!), you’re probably well aware of that special moment that is shared when you first crack open a fresh flower jar. The act of passing it between one another, breathing in the aromatic terpenes, breaking up the sticky buds, and putting them in your smoking device of choice — it’s downright ritualistic and few things make you feel more intimate and connected.
As we head into Valentine’s Day weekend, we want to help ensure that your February 14th smoke sesh is just a bit more special than your average ritual. The easiest way to do that is with really really good weed. Good weed melts your stress and anxiety away, it focuses you, on your feelings, on your partner, on touch, smells, sight and sounds. It heightens every sense and makes each second feel vivid and explosive, we all want that, so our weed writers shouted out some of their favorite strains on the market right now that will get you there.
Let’s smoke!
Cannabiotix — Wedding Cake (Dane Rivera)
Price: $60
The Strain: Hybrid
Tasting Notes:
This beautiful cross between Animal Mints and Triangle Kush features frosty crystals caked across deep green buds with wiry orange hairs that taste just as good as it looks. With dominant terpenes like limonene, myrcene, and linalool, Wedding Cake gives off a light tropical sweetness that is accented by bright citrusy notes. It’s almost meringue-esque!
It’s an absolute pleasure to smoke, and with a THC of 28% it packs a powerful punch — so take it slow with this one. Inhale those sweet tropical notes, let the calming euphoric effects take over, and just feel it out, the last thing you want to do before that Valentine’s day action is fall asleep before it starts.
Bottom Line:
As beautiful to look as it is to smoke, CBX’s Wedding Cake delivers on all fronts and truly feels like a special occasion weed.
22Red — Strangelove (Dane Rivera)
Price: $50
The Strain: Hybrid
Tasting Notes
For just $50 for an eighth of flower this good-looking and sticky, 22Red feels like a steal. This hybrid strain has love in the name, but that didn’t really impact our decision, we’re including this because of its sweet combination of sweet orange creamsicle-like notes, and soothing minty floral finish. The smoke produced by this bud is thick, milky, and super smooth, thanks to its combination of Gelato 33 and Kush Mints genetics.
With a THC potency of 30% this stuff is going to send you to the moon, but never in a way that makes you feel weighed down like a super strong indica.
Bottom Line:
Smooth and flavorful, 22Red smokes like a premium top-shelf strain with a budget-friendly price.
A Golden State — Night Sky (Dane Rivera)
Price: $60
Strain: Indica
Tasting Notes:
A Golden State’s flagship indica strain, Night Sky, is heavily sedating, so be careful with this one. The THC potency hovers around 26% percent from strain to strain and features deep green leaves with flecks of purple throughout. The flavors here are rich, deep piney flavors dominate with the occasional floral lift and almost chocolate-like finish on the exhale. A single hit will get your body buzzing, so we’re going to suggest you keep it at one, no matter your tolerance.
While the heavy is high and a bit sedating, it also makes sensations feel tremendous, like you’re in a waking dream.
The Bottom Line:
The perfect nightcap, smoke this at the end of the day when you’re ready to get in bed with your partner and never leave.
Insane — Honey Moon (Dane Rivera)
Price: $50
Strain: Hybrid
Tasting Notes:
Insane’s Honey Moon is a strain in a similar style to CBX’s Wedding Cake but at a more affordable price point. It has that same mix of tropical citrus flavors, but it’s a bit more earthy and spicy and less sweet. While that doesn’t interact with the palate as nicely, the high this strain will offer you is highly euphoric.
After a few hits of this stuff, I started to feel a vibration behind my eyes and even the lightest sensations brought a smile to my face.
The Bottom Line:
Highly euphoric, this strain will have your body buzzing with good vibes and heighten your sensitivity.
Wonderbrett — Orange Sunset (Dane Rivera)
Price: $60
Strain: Hybrid
Tasting Notes:
Until recently, I hadn’t had any experience with the insanely popular weed brand Wonderbrett, and then I smoked Orange Sunset. I’ve been meaning to branch out and try the brand’s other strains, but I just haven’t gotten around to it because this one is so good. Featuring a cross between Orange Banana and OG Kush, this strain is dominated by limonene, pinene, and linalool, producing a flavor that is citrusy, herbal, and a bit flowery.
It’s a soothing smoke that brings on feelings of tranquility and instantly elevates your mood. It has a way of unlocking this creative side of your brain that keeps you open to experimentation, which on Valentine’s Day, is never a bad thing.
The Bottom Line:
Flavorful, relaxing, mood-boosting, everything good weed should be.
Fumé (Jackie Bryant)
Price: $55
The Strain: Double Chem OG
Tasting Notes:
There are multiple ways to do Valentine’s Day. Some prefer a night on the town, while others a night on the couch. If the latter speaks to you, this is the weed for that. Fumé is a Northern California weed brand HQ’ed in Napa Valley, which is typically more famous for wine. Don’t let that sway you — this is high-quality indoor and their “Indica” strain, which is a Double Chem OG, which is a cross between OG Kush and Chemdog. Gas is the name of the game with this cultivar, and it also has other savory notes, like skunk and wood chips.
The high is deeply calm and soothing and very much centered in the body, rather than the head.
Bottom Line: This is snuggle weed.
Ridgeline Farms (Jackie Bryant)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWEN05mvJWX/
Price: $45
The Strain: Green Lantern
Tasting Notes: Fresh from the hills of southern Humboldt County is Ridgeline Farms, which grows award-winning outdoor weed on a second-generation legacy farm. Green Lantern is one of the cult famous strains from grower Jason Gellman, who still grows on his family’s homestead. It was picked up by rapper Berner’s brand Cookies earlier this year. A high-THC cultivar clocking in at around 35% THC, it’s gassy bud with a true Kush lineage that will get you so lit you will honestly have little else you can do but focus on what’s right in front of you.
Expect a bright head high on this one, too — ideal for stimulating conversation.
Bottom Line: This terpy, outdoor-grown cultivar won the 2019 Emerald Cup.
Emerald Spirit Botanicals (Jackie Bryant)
Price: $45
The Strain: Harmony Rose
Tasting Notes:
As the name implies, this sungrown bud from Mendocino County’s Emerald Spirit Botanicals smells and tastes of roses, yes, but other flowers like violets and green elements like moss. This bud is lovingly grown on a small family farm that stretches back a couple of generations and comes from a host of other lower-THC cultivars that were specifically selected for its high CBD content. The high from Harmony Rose, in particular, is surprising. It’s a 1:1 CBD:THC ratio, which could indicate that the smoker won’t get very high, but the wide variety of major and minor terpenes combined with other flavonoids presents a multi-faceted high that is surprisingly stoney and delightfully heady.
It’s honestly perfect weed, and this being the holiday of roses, it’s perfect for the occasion.
Bottom Line: For the toker who appreciates all aspects of the weed smoking experience, not just getting high.
No Till Kings (Jackie Bryant)
Price: $45
The Strain: Cookies & Cream #2
Tasting Notes:
Long Beach’s No-Till Kings grow indoor buds in living soil, which is a healthy, regenerative, and sustainable cultivation tactic that utilizes only natural and organic materials, like worm castings, to enrich soil and grow plants in. Their Cookies & Cream #2 is a hybrid that is sure to leave smokers in a nice headspace, while smelling and tasting like a true classic cookies strain we all know and love. Think heavy vanilla and sweet notes on the nose and in its taste. This strain was bred with an unknown Cookies & Cream mother crossed with Starfighter F2. Seeds were bred by Exotic Genetix, the pheno was selected in-house by No Till Kings.
Bottom Line: This is for the Valentine’s Day smoker who is looking for something sweet.
