Origins and Backstory: I received these seeds as testers, before Bodhi had named them. They are a cross of the famous clone-only Master Kush (one of my personal favorite indicas of all time) and Bodhi’s Purple Unicon F3 male. Purple Unicorn is a cross of Chemdog D and Blackberry Widow. I grew out 5 different females after germinating 11 seeds indoors in organic soil rasied beds irrigated by blumats. The plants were given pure RO water throughout the entirety of their life, and were grown under 315W CMH lights until their final 4 weeks of flowering, when they were finished under a mixed spectrum 3000K/1750K Timber LED.
Appearance: All phenotypes had varying degrees of purple or magenta hues, with some bordering on dark pink. The bag appeal of Pillow Book is extremely high; the flowers are chunky, full, almost entirely purple (some phenotypes exhibited half green half purple), and covered in resin. The pistils are are a bright and striking orange, which really contrasts with the darker anthocynanin pigments underneath. The flowers are dense without being overly-so, and just look like classic high-quality purple bud. The only difference is in the structure; Pillow Book yields significantly more than any of the classic purple clones that I know of, and her flowers form much longer clusters, as opposed to the golf ball-like structuring of Purple Urkel and similar strains. Pillow Book is a beautiful strain whether she is alive in the ground, or ready to smoke in a jar.
Aroma: The theme among all the phenotypes is a musty-sweet-floral perfume. “Purple” isn’t an aroma unless you smoke weed—Pillow Book smells plenty “purple” for those in the know. Pillow Book is sweet, perfumey and feminine, with heavy notes of varying berries and skunk. The more subtle notes ranged from every berry on the planet, to captain crunchberry cereal (it’s uncanny how similar the aromas are), to gnarly skunk funk, hints of onion/garlic, fresh plastic, hash, grape kool-aid mix, and extremely light notes of nail polish remover. There is a lot of hunting to be done in this one. Since there’s so much variation, the grower can really take their pick. Most of the plants are pretty loud, but one was more muted. My personal favorites were the most diverse and multi-layered phenotyes that had a bit of evertyhing. These plants definitely emphasized the floral perfuminess and sweet grape notes, but had some funk to keep things interesting.
Flavor: Pillow Book’s aroma translates pretty well to flavor—it is musty, sweet, floral, perfume-heavy, and expresses berry flavors of all kinds. The phenotype that smelled like crunchberry cereal tasted like it as well! The flavor is pretty satisfying, and I would liken it to a decent craft beer after work. It is not the $20 Belgian tripel flavor that you bring out on special occasions, but is a satisfying and classic “dank” flavor that any cannabis enthusiast can appreciate. Most of the more exciting notes like candy, kool-aid, onion, and nail polish from the aroma are unfortunately lost in flavor. The taste of Pillow Book’s smoke is more generic than most of what I smoke, but is certainly still enjoyable.
Effects: This is classic “good-night” bud, and is my go-to when sleep is the goal. The buzz is reminiscent of Master Kush; it is a sleepy, relaxed, chill feeling that is hard to overdo. Paranoia is almost nonexistent with Pillow Book. You’ll never get the feeling that you’re an alien amongst humans (or is that just me?) you might get with OG and comparable varieties. If you oversmoke on Pillow Book, you’ll just get really sleepy and tired behind the eyes. This herb comes on quickly, but its full effects take some time to creep up. This makes it a satisfying after-work smoke when you just want something to hit, but it will also build on itself. Pillow Book is a reliable “everyday driver,” a great indica smoke to have around for casual smoking. It is great for social situations since it is so mellow, but is also ideal right before bed for a good night’s sleep.
Overall: Pillow Book is a great strain to have on the shelf for any indica enthusiast. I struggle to describe it without disparaging it—it is the most exotic generic strain that I know of. None of Pillow Book’s traits, on their own, would qualify this as exotic herb. However, the combination of some of the traits are indeed very unusual. To have such a beautiful and consistently purple strain with great yields is great, but has been done before—but to have all of the above in combination with skunky dank aromas, and a potent kush stone, indeed makes this a bit of a unicorn of purples. The aroma is completely different from the more classic purple cultivars like Urkel and GDP, but is excellent in its own rite. This is a great choice for commercial producers, or an indica home-grower who appreciates a good yield, and wants something new to play with. Pillow Book is a fun strain to grow, and a great one to have on hand.