Review: Verano Reserve Hybrid: Wedding Cake (Flower)

 Welcome to my review of Verano's Wedding Cake flower. This took me a few days to do, because I wanted to see just how this flower worked using a couple of different methods. First up was getting a look at this stuff and seeing what it smells like. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised to see this packaged as nicely as it was. Nice glass jar with a decent lid and it was sealed on the inside with an additional cover and had a Boveda 62% 4 gram humidity pack in it. This is something that other producers should pay attention to. One thing I had hoped for with this beautiful packaging was that it would be airtight. I left it out overnight, (instead of returning it to my usual airtight storage) and the area around where I had it was redolent with the aroma of this Wedding Cake. If someone other than yourself or family in the know, smelling your stash is a potential problem, you will definitely want to transfer the contents of these jars to an actual airtight container.

 

Unlike some flower I have purchased in the past from other companies, this was not dry. The buds were nicely cured and still perfectly hydrated. Not quite sticky, (until heated) and no crumbling. My main complaint, (and it isn't much of one) is that the buds were more popcorn-like than I expected and not larger. But the weight was about as advertised and that's OK by me!

 

 I really must say, when I got up close with these nuggets and could see the trichomes glistening and covering everything, inside and out, I was very impressed! It has been a while since I have seen a flower that was this nice looking and moist! And it had an impressive aroma that was kind of grassy, hoppy and reminded me of freshly baled hay (that's a nice smell, to me) with a hint of some diesel notes after breaking it up. 

 

After picking out a suitable candidate and breaking it up I got to see the insides and I was not disappointed! It was still moist on the inside, had lots of trichomes was still fragrant.

 

Time to hit the grinder and see what came out of it! All that broken up bud above went in and the results were decent. A nice and fluffy product! Pretty much all of this went into my vaporizer and it was time to get a session going. I managed to get 3 sessions out of this, at various temperatures (hitting higher temps in each sesh).

 

I started out at 380 degrees (F) with this and let me tell you, it was very tasty. There was not a lot of vapor at this temperature but I got to taste every aspect for the first few draws. There was a bit of a diesely note, along with some woody notes on the exhale. And, about 2 minutes into my 3 minute session (that's what the Hit sets at its lower setting), the vapor started to get a bit harsh. Still, it was good. The lift from this didn't really kick in till my 2nd session at about 390 degrees. Still a bit harsh and not producing much more vapor than before. The effects were, as I find usual with herbal vaping, slow to manifest and a bit mellow. It definitely started helping with pain and relaxing, though. At 405 degrees, I was getting more vapor, it was becoming a harsher vape, but the effects were getting a bit better. After I finished up and some time had passed, I was pleasantly medicated for about 2 1/2 hours. And didn't have to top up with my usual night time hit until it was actually bedtime. All in all this strain impressed me as a vape. The only thing I would do differently, I think, is to take the bud out much earlier and let it dry out more. I think the results would be better and my Hit would not be as hard to clean as it was. It got pretty resinous and required some good cleaning. Wedding Cake in a vape is a solid choice!

But, is vaping the best choice? I'm not so sure. Read on.

Now, as I mentioned up above, I decided to have another go at it the next day (420) using a different method to see if the effects would be different. The answer? Oh, yes! This herb acts radically different depending on the method you use to ingest it. My 2nd test of this went pretty much the same as the first, till I set it alight. Then it was Katy Bar The Door!

 Now, I'm not new to cannabis or strong strains and I have a decent tolerance for most cannabis forms. I took this outside while I was working at dinner and hit it while waiting, as I often do. Now, smoking this from a bowl is a great way to use it, maybe the best (can't speak to bong rips, yet). I was taking a hit every 3 minutes or so. The taste was stronger than vaping but with a more pronounced piney taste with a bit of that diesel on the exhale and a touch of mint aftertaste. All in all, very nice. After about 2 average tokes the lift set in and I was feeling great. My pain had subsided and I was relaxed and happy. It started in the eyes and face and then became a serious body high. Then I hit it 2, maybe 3 more times. I wasn't sorry about it later, but I will warn you, this is not a smoke for newcomers. At all. It hits hard and fairly fast. This is definitely a nighttime medication. If you have things that need doing, (like making dinner), get it done first, because you're going to be forgetting stuff, left and right. This is a serious strain. Wedding Cake is a top shelf smoke, no doubt about it. I didn't even finish the entire bowl and I was set for the evening. The effects lasted a good 3 hours and tapered off nicely at the end. It has a sedative effect at the end, so if sleep is an issue, this will solve it! Pain, anxiety and depression would all benefit from a dose of this. Wedding Cake is a winner and worth the inflated prices you pay in some states. 

For more information on the Wedding Cake strain, head over to WikiLeaf!   - *M*