While I have frequented MA several times; my trips have always taken me away from any recreational shops. The licensing process has been abysmal, with only two licensed recreational shops operating in Boston proper. With an upcoming trip to Boston planned, I will finally be near a licensed recreational shop, NETA Brookline.
The recent vape ban has had a negative impact on many shops in MA. With vapes no longer allowed on the shelf, customers are limited as to the types of products they can purchase. Due to this, their online order-ahead menu has been showing a decreasing amount of product available. At one point, only one type of flower was available and all purchases were limited to 3.5 grams per day.
I’m hoping the issue will remedy itself in the coming
week. I will be severely disappointed
if, by the time I can finally get to a legal shop in MA, there is no product
available to purchase.
Deschutes is grown in an LED dark room in a local Hemp farm near Buffalo, NY for Upstate Hemp Co. According to the website, Deschutes comes from a 2019 harvest and contains 16.5% CBD and 0.07% THC. As this was my first order, I was very excited to try it. Having experienced legal marijuana in 4 recreational states, experiencing Hemp flower would give me an opportunity to try the other side of this wonderful plant.
Many questions swirled in my mind:
How would it look?
How would it smell?
Would it be confiscated by the authorities
before being delivered?
Would I feel any affects?
It only took a couple days for the package to arrive via
USPS. To my joy and surprise, it arrived
intact and without mysterious unmarked cars sitting outside my house. I hurriedly took it upstairs to open it up
and start experiencing the flower.
The package arrived double wrapped. Not only was the shipping package wrapped extra with tape, inside the hemp flower was sealed within another plastic shipping package. Absolutely no smell was emanating from the package. The Hemp flower was individually packed in sealed ziplock packages to further contain the smell. Also within the package were the Hemp flower’s test results showing compliance with the 2018 Farm Bill.
Deschutes package
Opening the Deschutes flower gave a very pleasant smell. Fruity overtones mixed with the familiar smell of cannabis. It smells and looks just like the technically illegal cousin(which is no surprise, it is the exact same plant just bred to have a lower THC and higher CBD content). I was very excited to try some later in the evening.
Deschutes Flower
The flower is lighter green in color and is covered in trichomes. The bud itself is rather dense but not tightly packed. Even though it was cured for 5-8 weeks, this bud is rather suited for either a bowl or bong. Breaking it apart, the flower has a lot of resin as my fingers were a bit sticky afterwards.
Macro shot showing trichomes
I eventually purchased a Hemp-only glass pipe to enjoy the
smoke without contaminating the flower with higher THC resin. The first smoke of Deschutes was very
pleasing. The flower burned for quite
awhile which was expected due to how sticky the flower was. The smoke was not harsh and very
flavorful. I shared one packed pipe with
my wife and we went back upstairs to observe any affects.
Would I feel anything? Would what I feel be just a placebo affect from tasting cannabis? Recounting the experience, it felt most similar to the brief feeling before one experiences a full THC high. Sort of this in-between feeling. Another way to describe it is the feeling when the high begins to wear off.
Overall it was a very enjoyable experience. Deschutes is a good “wind down” Hemp flower
and provides a relaxing/calming sensation.
Deschutes has quickly become my favorite evening Hemp flower as a way to
settle in before bed. This strain
reminds me of an Indica dominant strain providing a more relaxed and body
feeling rather than a cerebral feeling as with a Sativa.
After seeing a few posts on Twitter, I decided to make a few
searches for Hemp flower. To my
surprise, Hemp flower was readily available from numerous vendors online. The vast majority of these vendors are
located on the West Coast, where growing Hemp has been allowed for some time.
Upon further searching I discovered Upstate Hemp Co, which primarily stocks Hemp grown locally near Buffalo, NY! Always wanting to support local shops, Upstate Hemp has an actual storefront in downtown Rochester, NY and also has online shopping.
Hemp, according to the Farm Bill Act of 2018, is defined as
the Cannabis Sativa L. plant which
contains less than 0.3% THC. THC is the
psychoactive chemical that provides the high normally associated with
marijuana. Since the Farm Bill passed,
the once dormant Hemp industry(see 1937 Tax Act which started prohibition) has
seen an insurgence. While mostly focused
on production of CBD products, Hemp has a variety of other applications
including textiles, food products, plastics, and Hemp flower.
Upstate Hemp Co has in stock a variety of local Hemp flower grown in a variety of conditions including greenhouse, outdoor, and dark room LED. With a healthy choice of local hemp, the upcoming reviews will focus on the Deschutes, Sunbeam Haze, and Umpqua varieties. Recent email updates from UHCO state they have new varieties coming that will be available soon.
