Origins and Backstory: I made this cross several years ago. Remedy is a 33:1 CBD:THC cannabis plant. I grew it next to the R4, Wu5, and some other CBD dominant plants, but Remedy was clearly superior in every way. It had excellent bag appeal and resin production, zero stretch in flower, and the aroma was intensely fruity, and noticably unique from THC dominant varietals. At the time, I was using a Chocolate Rain F2 male. A friend, @wiscy420 made the original F2 seeds from Eskobar Seed selection. I selected from these F2, and found a male who mostly smelled like bitter dark chocolate, with hints of cantaloupe and melon. He had good structure and was quick to produce buds when flipped to 11/13, so I gave him a chance to breed. The result is this well-balanced CBD/THC hybrid.
Appearance: The weak point of this plant, the flowers are a dark green, with a structure between a spearhead and elongated fingers. After drying/curing, the pistils die back significantly, receding into barely noticeable wisps of dark red/orange. You really have to look close to even find them! The individual calyxes are huge and swollen, giving a bulging and spiky look to the buds, making each calyx appear as if it were about to burst. Flowers are also a bit leafy, but I tend to attribute this to an early frost that forced me to chop this plant down early—I imagine it could have used another 2 weeks or more. Leaves are mostly dark green with some purple accents.
Aroma: The aroma is one of the high points of this flower. There are heavy upfront notes of fruit and dark chocolate, not unlike a chocolate bar with dried fruit in it. It strongly reminds me of Gatorade Frost Riptide Rush—I used to drink one after every Lacrosse practice in high school, but haven’t had one in years. Sniffing this jar after a cure immediately brought back memories of the beverage that I had long forgotten about. It is also very reminiscent of grape-flavored Fun-Dip, which I also used to eat as a child. For the uninitiated, it smells like artificial grape mixed with sugar. Overall, the aroma is a grapey, bitter chocolate, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, sugar-sweet, candied smell with some of the tell-tale scents from the Remedy as well—indicating CBD content. Other notes that are more mild but noticable are tea tree, eucalyptus, aloe vera, wet wipes, salt water taffy, almond paste, and maraschino cherries. This is definitely not a “dank” smelling variety with,typical notes of skunk, dirty socks, bad breath, etc., but smells amazing nonetheless. Very unique with the sugar-sweet grape, chocolate, and CBD aromas.
Flavor: Extremely robust, the flavor begins as sweet grape candy—similar to fun dip. Velvet floral/perfume aromas are in the background, and on the exhale the flavor becomes more like cantaloupe, honeydew, and whatever flavoring is used in Gatorade Frost. It is really like smoking a candy that is some strange combination of Gatorade, Grape Fun-Dip, and an assortment of melon varieties. It makes the mere smoking of this herb a real pleasure, with a fruity aftertaste eventually fading to a classical dank flavor, one that is not at all evident in the aroma. I love the flavor on this one, it is refreshingly unique, adequately nuanced, and incredibly powerful and complex. I think the intricacies of the flavor would be enough to impress any connoisseur, and is really impressive.
Effects: The come-up is slow and steady, no immediate rushing feeling at all. It begins as a vague sense of calm, relaxation and increased well-being, and is felt in the shoulders and eyes. Many CBD/THC varieties make me release tension in my shoulders I otherwise would not have known was there, and this is no different. This is one of the few smokes that actually eases social anxiety for me as well. I tend to smoke too much of THC dominant varieties, making me quiet and shy in social situations. This cross is the opposite though, letting me relax into the moment and enjoy social interactions—a welcome change from super potent THC varietals. It is a fairly functional buzz. While relaxing, I am still able to get around the house, and I don’t get much sense of a loss of motivation, which I often get from super potent THC-dominant varieties. The effect is surprisingly long-lasting as well, going on for at least a couple hours. This is really happy, relaxed bud.
Overall Experience: I actually don’t know why strains like this are not more popular. I haven’t had it lab tested, and so I don’t know what the THC:CBD ratio might be. However, this is one of my favorite smokes, and many of my casual smoking friends commented that they would appreciate more of it on the market. They noted that they could take a couple hits or more without feeling overwhelmingly stoned, the way they would smoking potent and famous clone-only plants. The effect is all the best parts of cannabis, without getting overwhelmingly stoned or paranoid. It is relaxed, very mildly euphoric, feel-good social smoke. The flavor is nothing short of excellent, with an equally enjoyable aroma. The smell is really unique, the tell-tale Remedy aroma being extremely uncommon in cannabis. Remedy x Chocolate Rain F2 is a real pleasure to grow, smell, taste, smoke, and chill on. I will be growing more of this in the future, and hope to incorporate Remedy and other CBD varietals back into my breeding. I would consider having this as a staple on my shelf all the time.