Chocolope

A second-place choice at the past two Cannabis Cups, this strain has garnered so much buzz around it that we were delighted to finally get our hands on a sample. Chocolope is the red-haired (as in lots and lots of red hairs) stepchild of the powerful Cantaloupe and Chocolate Thai varieties, the result being a hybrid so sativa-dominant hybrid that you might as well call it a pure sativa. As such, it delivers a highly potent, psychedelic stone reminiscent of old-school Thai Stick.

Aside from its impressive buzz, Chocolope has a flavor and perfume that just screams high quality: Yes, it has undertones of dark chocolate, but also of rich coffee and lush saffron. We loved the crisp, non-expansive smoke and clean aftertaste so much that, on a scale of 1 to 10, we give it a 9-plus. Soothing and mellow (the people at OCMS Healing Leaves in Fountain Valley, where we found our sample, call it the “Great Equalizer”), it’s a solid medicine for anxiety and insomnia sufferers.

Super Lemon Haze

We just showed you Chocolope, the second-place pick at the 2008 and 2009 Cannabis Cups. Now, from CannaCare Wellness Center in Santa Ana, here’s Super Lemon Haze, the winner of both those competitions. The scion of Lemon Skunk and Super Silver Haze, this sativa-dominant strain is both amazingly powerful (with a THC content of about 23 percent) and genuinely fruity in aroma and taste — think Lemonheads candy with notes of cherry Lifesavers.

Super Lemon Haze is the kind of variety that dedicated growers spend decades trying to achieve: a phenotype that’s as beautiful as it is strong, with huge purple-green nuggets frosted over with amber crystals and bursting with milky white trichomes. This is an excellent medicine for relieving pain associated with PMS and endometriosis and the nausea associated with chemotherapy.

House OG

Sometimes the finer things in life come in humble packages. House OG, for example, has the simplest of names and hails — not from the great coffee houses of Amsterdam or the green hills of the Emerald Triangle — but from Inland Empire Caregivers in unassuming Riverside. Yet it’s one of the choicest indicas we’ve tried in quite a while.

Heavily redolent of cedar and methol, with clusters of purplish-green and amber nugs each perfectly sized for a glass pipe, House OG yields a harsh smoke with a bold, tobacco-like finish. The intense stone hits quickly all over and lasts long, with none of the jitteriness one sometimes gets from sativas or lesser indicas. Despite the harshness, House OG is so potent just two or three hits is enough to soothe nagging muscle soreness, nerve pain and anxiety.

Martian Candy

You have to give it up to the wizards behind this remarkable cultivar – not only did they produce a strain that looks, smells and tastes positively glorious, but they gave it such a cool name! A house specialty of IEHCC in Fontana, Martian Candy is classic indica with its fat and dense buds and shockingly herbal aroma. It also has the outstanding characteristic of being both sticky and crumbly at once, making it equally good for rolling and pipe-loading.

The slightly fruity taste gives way to a mellow, full-body buzz that’s calms the nerves without putting you to sleep. Martian Candy is a great “maintenance” herb for PTSD and migraine sufferers; it’s especially good for active patients who need to medicate without hindering their ability to work.

Brownie Cake

The label on this devilishly decadent slice of chocolate heaven from South Coast Herbal Healing Center warns, “1 very potent dose or 2 strong doses.” Here’s what we’d have written: “If you plan to consume this monster in one sitting, cancel your after-dinner plans.” Rich, chewy and moist with grade-A ganja butter, the brownie cake tastes so delicious it doesn’t immediately come across as the kind of medicine that will lay you out on the floor. That realization comes after about 30 minutes, around the time when you find yourself laid out on the floor.

For all its punch, the brownie cake’s list of all-natural ingredients is impressive: Not a single artificial substance goes into the product — just chocolate, cocoa powder, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt — and, of course, plenty of THC. Its strength and tastiness makes it outstanding for patients with suppressed appetites or suffering from severe pain.

Super Brownie

Last issue, we proudly reviewed an 8-inch-diameter medicated cookie and thought we were pretty special for doing it. That prompted the folks at Patients Alternative Medical Assn. (PAMA) in Anaheim to reach out and say, “Well, that’s nice, but…have you seen our very large edible from Dirty Pig Edibles?” Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Super Brownie, an 11-inch slab of fudgy deliciousness that’s the dosage equivalent of TWELVE regular-sized medicated brownies.

After sampling a 4-square-inch piece, we found the Super Brownie to be both super-scrumptious and super-effective. The stone set in within 60 minutes and lasted for about 2 Â½ painless, paranoia-free hours. You can do the math yourself on just how many hours euphoric hours an entire Super Brownie represents (and by that we mean over a period of days — this edible is not meant to be consumed by one person in a single sitting).

The following review can also be found at freeculturemag.com: