Subtitle: The Wonky Week Continues…

[Major update: This just in from the grower – I got the name wrong – darn Mercury Retrograde strikes again – what a week?! This strain review is NOT about MAC1, but instead that beautiful nug is Chile Verde, a Sativa leaning hybrid. Chile Verde is a cross of Key Lime Pie and Lavender, bred by HBK Genetics. The look, smell, taste and effects info are still accurate, because that is what I experienced. Only the name has been changed.

We put a strike through the original review, where the information is incorrect and have provided updates in italics in the appropriate places.]

Welcome back to the Red Bench – it’s that time of year that makes us lovers of herb especially happy… it’s Harvest Time!

Cannabis is big business here in California. Last year growers produced 13.5 million pounds of cannabis according to Leafly – 60 percent of that was grown outdoors, getting full-spectrum sunlight! Prices for last year’s harvest averaged around $1,550 a pound.

But the wildfires have impacted the industry heavily this year, causing prices to shoot up. Expect to pay an extra $10-$15 an eighth this year for top-shelf herb.

That’s just the downside. The upside is that cannabis growers out there are really stretching their legs, so to speak – creating new strains and taking existing strains to their limits. We are several years into a legal situation and the growers can finally concentrate on doing amazing work rather than running from the law all the time.

Someone Has To Trim That Herb

13.5 million pounds of buds is a lot of trimming work! Work that is taken on by an army of seasonal workers. I had a friend travel from here in the hi-desert up to Northern California recently to go help on her brother’s farm. I know other people who have made the same trek from the hi-desert to Northern California or Oregon to earn some extra cash and get some really inexpensive herb to help get through the winter…

So, 13.5 million pounds of cannabis breaks down to over 1,700 million eights – that’s a lot of jars and baggies! Considering we only have 40 million Californians – we’re using a lot of herb! Of course, not all that herb is going to be bought in little eighth jars. Much of the herb will be processed into vape cartridges, edibles, concentrates, tinctures and more.

Meanwhile – back to my friend who headed up north to trim – she came back with a beautiful nug for me 🙂 after her week of trimming was over. Turns out you can now fly on airlines with a full ounce of herb when traveling in legal states! How great is that?!

The nug she brought back was exquisite! Wonderful shades of purple, heavily frosted with trichomes, a great example of indoor-grown herb.

Indoor/Outdoor?

Note: I mostly smoke outdoor grown herb, I just lean that way these days. I like knowing the herb I’m smoking has had good sunshine pouring down on it, enriching it, feeding it in a way that only the sun can.

I didn’t always feel that way about outdoor grown herb. Ten… twelve years ago, when I was taking photos for collectives I really loved the indoor grown herb – it photographed like a movie star – glistening with trichomes, looking all sexy, with that “come on and smoke me” look. It made photographing easy.

Outdoor grown herb is hardier looking, a little more weathered, more of a mountain woman compared to a movie star. Outdoor grown tends to have more smile creases around the eyes, if you get my metaphor… like talking to a natural, wise woman of the hills.

Since we moved to the hi-desert seven years ago my tastes shifted to prefer the outdoor grown, or the greenhouse grown herb. Some of my favorite brands grow outdoor herb.

About The Chili Verde MAC1

That being said – I love the herb in all it’s forms, and I was thrilled by the indoor grown nug my friend brought back for me. What a superior example of Chile Verde! MAC1! This strain is a cross of Alien Cookies F2 and Miracle 15. The growers of this strain, Capulator’s Cut, have decided not to let just anyone grow their cannabis. They want to protect the high quality of this herb.

Well, Mandala Farms, where this nug came from, obviously made the cut and did a great job with this one, all the way through to the trim and cure. By the way, I would like to mention that Mandala Farms is a small-scale, non-commercial farm, which made this an extra-special nug!

I don’t know if my photograph captured the exquisite beauty – the purples, oranges and light greens, and the frosting of trichomes were amazing. The nug was perfectly well-cured, well-trimmed, and cut up very sticky.

The smell of this 1.62 gram nug was mind-blowing. Gassy, deep, rich, pungent in forest smells and grape tones – lots of various spice smells dancing around as well. A very complex smell. The purple smell – the grape-like tones – translated into a nice purple flavor, more on the sugary side, like punch. The taste of spices became more prominent as the bowl burned down to a white ash.

The high started in with the first hit. A nice rush to the head as those beautiful trichomes went up in flames. By the second hit, my eyes were lidded and the high was just getting started. I got a couple more hits in and the head high really started to do its thing… off to the land of contemplation!

Ahhh… and the sweet body comfort. Sometimes I don’t realize how uncomfortable my body is until a good herb brings a wave of comfort… that just hit me a few minutes ago. My mind, as I just mentioned, has gone into a very contemplative, thoughtful space. Being a naturally thoughtful person this herb works just fine for me.

My old nemesis, depression has been hitting me very hard this week, and this is one of the first strains that’s been able to cut through the mental noise and aches of the illness over the last few days. This one has been like an ice breaker plowing through a lake covered in ice. Now that the mental ice is broken up maybe some of the other strains I have will start being more effective… we’ll see.

Unfortunately, the nug of Chile Verde MAC1 went way too quickly. I stretched the herb out the best I could, but like all jars, this one was eventually empty. So I’ll be keeping my eyes out for this strain at the collectives. If I can get Chile Verde MAC1 that’s even close to the fine work Mandala Farms did, I’ll be snapping up jars!

Chili Verde MAC1 by Mandala Farms – two thumbs up! Chile Verde MAC1, the strain – a winner!

Until tomorrow, best of health.

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