Strain of the Month: Surprising effects await in Guerilla Kush

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems harder to find a place with a good selection of single grams. The nature of my task of trying a new strain each month keeps me away from buying larger amounts. After a sample, it’s time to move onto the next specimen!

There have definitely been a few that I would go back and stock up on, but for the most part it’s puff and pass onto the next variety.

Stopping by Cannabis and Glass out on East Francis Ave., I was lucky enough to get help from Jake in answering questions and offering thoughtful options on harvest dates. Cosmetically it was like picking out your favorite $20 bill, so looking for the most recent harvest became the only criteria in making a choice.

Funky Monkey sounded, well, kind of cool but is actually a brand within four levels of flower put out by Northwest Cannabis Solutions. Under the NWCS banner, you can find just about any type of cannabis product: edibles, concentrates, flower and pre-rolls plus topicals, tinctures and capsules.

You have to hand it to this company for utilizing a great percentage of the cannabis plant, although I’m a little sore they didn’t respond to my requests for more information.

Appearance: Eight small, ragged, dry buds were in the package that stated “handpicked for looks, flavor and potency” and “nitrogen sealed for freshness.” I really must conclude that the flowers should have gone in the “Mini Budz” bag, the next level down in their line of flower. The crispy critters were a dull, light green with a nice dense coat of crystal trichomes, but nonetheless looked a bit damaged.

I’m not complaining, just saying that with not much to choose from and at least, getting to pick out something from the latest harvest this is what it looked like. Still, you can make a couple of decent half-gram joints out of it.

Aroma: Dry cedar wood with a peppery spice. The hit before ignition tastes unmistakably of clean, exotic spices. Smoke is smooth and mild, hanging in still air with lingering aromas of wood, incense and earth. Too dry for any sticky oiliness to the touch, but it does coat the mouth with a buttery richness like there is still some essence of Kush. I would guess that caryophyllene and myrcene were the most prevalent terpenes.

Effects: Kush is a word that has entered the popular culture that has come to define an array of extended family members: O.G. Master, Bubba, Kosher, Guerilla. What all of these siblings have in common is their ancestry going back in time to the interglacial refuges of the western stretch of the Himalayas. This mountainous region between the wilds of Afghanistan and the Indian plains is referred to as the Hindu Kush. While the exact origin and meaning of name are uncertain, some translators believe “kush” means “killer” because many died when trying to cross the treacherous mountain passes.

I wouldn’t say Funky Monkey Guerilla Kush was absolutely ‘killer’ but it did redeem itself. The effects brought a quick realization that there was some potency. The high took off into a peak and held steady for a few hours of a carefree feeling of relaxation. There wasn’t much nuance to the high – sort of one dimensional – but a bright clarity and upbeat form of forgetfulness carried one throughout the experience. I like to get a good bite to eat before smoking, that way I don’t have to move immediately after lighting up. Definitely expect a stimulated appetite and enhanced appreciation of whatever you choose to eat.

My experience with the less-than-ideal condition of this sample, but still decent effects increases my interest in trying some of the lower-priced eights or quarters. If cosmetics aren’t important, there is little doubt that anything and everything in the store is going to do the trick.