As soon as I heard the line “I got my peaches out in Georgia/ I get my weed from California,” I knew Justin Bieber would be debuting a weed line. I even had a few guesses about the name. Of course, I didn’t know know. But I’ve been around the legal weed industry long enough to recognize a good marketing opportunity when I hear it.
So I was not surprised when I heard the Biebs dropped a line of pre-rolls and I was even less surprised to hear that it would be called “Peaches.” The least surprising of all? My editor hitting me up on Slack 12 seconds after the news broke to say, “We need to try these ASAP.”
So I did! Check my full review below.
PART I — THE WEED
Price:
The pre-rolls can be expected to retail from $50-$60 for a pack of seven, depending on where you live.
Availability:
In California, Peaches partnered with pre-roll brand Palms and can be found at MedMen stores. The joints are also available for delivery via Eaze. In Massachusetts and Florida, Peaches is partnered with Parallel and will be available exclusively at New England Treatment Access and Surterra Wellness, respectively. In Nevada, the line will be powered by Flower One and can be found at MedMen and Planet13.
Extra Context:
“I’m a fan of Palms and what they are doing by making cannabis approachable and helping to destigmatize it,” Bieber shared in a press release. “Especially for the many people who find it helpful for their mental health. I wanted to make sure that I was doing something with them that felt genuine, and PEACHES felt like a good place to start.”
Broadly speaking, this is a big deal for the cannabis world. There are plenty of celebrities with weed brands these days, including many hip-hop stars, like The Game, and actors like Seth Rogen, who were already vocally and proudly embedded in weed culture. Justin Bieber is arguably one of the most famous people on earth but isn’t associated with weed in any significant way.
Don’t forget, this is a guy who began his career as a child star and catapulted to stardom thanks to the affection of teenage girls. Every step he’s taken away from that image has proven to be sensational and controversial. It was only natural, as Bieber grew up and matured, that he would eventually shed his squeaky clean image. So while it wasn’t exactly a surprise to hear he gets down with the devil’s lettuce, it’s definitely a big step for reducing the stigma of the plant, however one chooses to use it.
The Philanthropy Angle:
A portion of proceeds from PEACHES Pre-Rolls will go to philanthropic partner organizations like Veterans Walk and Talk, a community of veterans who advocate for the outdoors and cannabis utilization as a form of medicine, and Last Prisoner Project, a leading nonprofit dedicated to cannabis criminal justice reform that supports individuals and their families impacted by cannabis convictions.
Additionally, the Palms team will be supporting Eaze’s Momentum Business Accelerator and Social Equity Partners Program that aims to create a more diverse and sustainable industry.
PART II — TASTE TEST
Joint Details:
The pre-roll packs consist of seven 0.5 gram joints bucketed into Indica, Sativa and Hybrid strains, as well as a Peaches-branded lighter. The Sativa pack strain is Golden Jack, which clocks in at 28.34% THC. The Indica pack is made with Skittles-n-Cream, which tested at 27.96% THC and the Hybrid pack’s strain is White Runtz, which I was pleased to learn contains 23.11% THC.
Structure-wise, they are longer and skinnier than most half-gram joints, which I like. They look chic. The pack was a little tight and, sometimes, I had to massage the joints to break up the weed to make sure it pulled evenly and consistently.
The High:
As for the weed, it’s… okay. Pre-rolls are a tough category for manufacturers because the very things that make good weed good weed are inherently hampered by the manufacturing process. Mechanical grinding causes trichomes to fall off, which are the little crystals that deliver THC and other cannabinoids. It also causes terpenes, which give smell and taste, to evaporate, and the actual weed to go dry. Some companies also use crappy weed in the joints, causing them to be repositories of trim and other less potent and desirable by-products of the cannabis manufacturing process. Pre-rolls are convenient, sure, and there are some top-shelf options out there that manage to retain taste, smell, and the appropriate amount of moisture, but for the most part, it’s a difficult category to get right.
I sampled joints from each pack and tried the Hybrid first, and I was surprised the smoke was so mellow, high-wise. Smoking the other two packs resulted in a noticeable difference in the high — I got more stoned from the Sativa and Indica joints. Learning the THC content of all packs confirmed my suspicion that some were more potent than others.
“Peaches Pre Rolls don’t have terpene infused papers or infused plant material, they’re full-flower, single strain indoor-grown from partner farms in California,” Noah Annes, the founder of Palms told me, also confirming that no shake or trim was used.
Apart from a few whiffs of taste here and there, they’re largely tasteless. Many pre-rolls are — it’s not necessarily an indicator of the resulting high, which is pleasant. In the Hybrid joints, there are faint fruity terpenes, which at times are redolent of actual peaches.
PART III — THE BOTTOM LINE
Ultimately, Peaches pre-rolls will definitely get you buzzed, though it’s not the most potent stuff out there. That’s actually okay with me because I like to smoke throughout the day, and, lately, I am getting a little bulldozed by extremely high THC weed that results in nothing other than couch lock.
Point being: Peaches are good social joints. They’re not going to get you the highest nor are they likely to impress OG weed heads, who more often focus on THC percentage and terpenes than anything supporting functional smoking. But they will be a hit at the party, which I think is really the point of why these exist at all. They are perfect road dogs, which will have you looking stylish and pleasantly buzzed for whatever adventures the day should bring.
This is weed you can chill on and socialize with. It’s weed you can take hiking or enjoy at the beach. It’s functional weed. That’s a sorely needed thing in this day and age of legal weed.
