Smokin' Oldies: Colombian Weed Returns To Puget Sound
by Steve Elliot, Seattle Weekly (blog)
The ascendancy of medical-marijuana culture has made available an intoxicating array of cannabis strains from across the planet. Squat, potent indicas from the steppes of Afghanistan, towering sativas from the Thai highlands, and a million hybrids in between add up to a dizzying array of choices for the discerning patient.
Strain collectors have sought to preserve the genetic legacy of dozens of landrace cannabis plants from around the globe. Which means weed-culture phenoms whose names sound like a recitation of the '70s Greatest Ganja Hits -- including legendary strains like Panama Red and Colombian -- are making a comeback.
Of course, talk is cheap and names are expensive. In the absence of DNA matching, objective verification of a strain's genetic authenticity is all but impossible.
Some of us old-timers, though, were around the last time Colombian hit the scene, and that gives us a baseline from which to work. (The last time I saw it was around 1980 or 1981.) That's the reason I wanted to try the Colombian sativa at Puget Sound Health Alternatives, which opened September 1 at the edge of Queen Anne and Interbay.
I'd taken a wait-and-see attitude after seeing the 'Lombo listed on PSHA's online menu at WeedMaps.com. I later found out that the evocative description had been penned by none other than co-owner Tim, who was budtending on the recent Sunday I visited. "All you old-time smokers will travel down the slippery slope of memory when you smoke this one-of-a-kind gem," it read. "Musky and sweet. The high is long and strong."
When Tim actually showed me the Colombian sativa buds, they weren't the big donkey-dong flowers you see in High Times centerfolds--though PSHA did have plenty of those, in other strains. But what they lacked in size they made up for in trichomes and the promised sweet, musky smell.
But the truth is in the toking, so I happily made a 50-buck donation to try an eighth. My skepticism was soon shaken, because this weed does have the cerebral solidity of old-time Colombian, along with the ineffable sativa headrush that inspired a million late-night album marathons.
Nausea? Poof. Anxiety? Poof. Even pain was set back on its heels by this strain--and that doesn't always happen with sativas. (Now if I can just fight off this unhealthy yearning for Blue Öyster Cult . . . )
PSHA also had some powerful indicas, including Pineapple and Shiska Berry, for a donation of $15 per gram and $50 per eighth. (Very good $10 strains of both sativa and indica varieties are available--in fact, PSHA had some of the more spectacular $10 flowers I've ever seen.) Pineapple had a deliciously sweet taste and a satisfying wallop of pain relief and body stone. My stunned thought processes slowed to a leisurely, pleasurable crawl whilst I took an indica-inspired mental vacation.
Puget Sound Health Alternatives has plenty of parking and is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday at the crossroads of 15th and Dravus at 3202 15th Ave. W., 402-5082, e-mail info@pugetsoundhealthalternatives.com, website pugetsoundhealthalternatives.com.
Strain collectors have sought to preserve the genetic legacy of dozens of landrace cannabis plants from around the globe. Which means weed-culture phenoms whose names sound like a recitation of the '70s Greatest Ganja Hits -- including legendary strains like Panama Red and Colombian -- are making a comeback.
Of course, talk is cheap and names are expensive. In the absence of DNA matching, objective verification of a strain's genetic authenticity is all but impossible.
Some of us old-timers, though, were around the last time Colombian hit the scene, and that gives us a baseline from which to work. (The last time I saw it was around 1980 or 1981.) That's the reason I wanted to try the Colombian sativa at Puget Sound Health Alternatives, which opened September 1 at the edge of Queen Anne and Interbay.
I'd taken a wait-and-see attitude after seeing the 'Lombo listed on PSHA's online menu at WeedMaps.com. I later found out that the evocative description had been penned by none other than co-owner Tim, who was budtending on the recent Sunday I visited. "All you old-time smokers will travel down the slippery slope of memory when you smoke this one-of-a-kind gem," it read. "Musky and sweet. The high is long and strong."
When Tim actually showed me the Colombian sativa buds, they weren't the big donkey-dong flowers you see in High Times centerfolds--though PSHA did have plenty of those, in other strains. But what they lacked in size they made up for in trichomes and the promised sweet, musky smell.
But the truth is in the toking, so I happily made a 50-buck donation to try an eighth. My skepticism was soon shaken, because this weed does have the cerebral solidity of old-time Colombian, along with the ineffable sativa headrush that inspired a million late-night album marathons.
Nausea? Poof. Anxiety? Poof. Even pain was set back on its heels by this strain--and that doesn't always happen with sativas. (Now if I can just fight off this unhealthy yearning for Blue Öyster Cult . . . )
PSHA also had some powerful indicas, including Pineapple and Shiska Berry, for a donation of $15 per gram and $50 per eighth. (Very good $10 strains of both sativa and indica varieties are available--in fact, PSHA had some of the more spectacular $10 flowers I've ever seen.) Pineapple had a deliciously sweet taste and a satisfying wallop of pain relief and body stone. My stunned thought processes slowed to a leisurely, pleasurable crawl whilst I took an indica-inspired mental vacation.
Puget Sound Health Alternatives has plenty of parking and is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday at the crossroads of 15th and Dravus at 3202 15th Ave. W., 402-5082, e-mail info@pugetsoundhealthalternatives.com, website pugetsoundhealthalternatives.com.
Could it really be Colombian after all these years? The Toke test says yes.
Article: http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/daily...ian_weed_r.php
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