A Shopping List For the Discerning Cannabis Consumer

Willamette Weed.

Matt Stangel

Welcome back to Willamette Weed, your monthly cannabis update that scours Portland to find the best flowers available on the city's dispensary circuit.

LA Qrippler  (Recon x Querkle)

Grown and bred by Eugreen No-Till.

Cannabinoid content: 33.2% THC, 0.1% CBD

Dominant terpenes: myrcene, pinene, trans-ocimene, linalool, caryophyllene.

About the farm: Eugene's Eugreen No-Till puts its nutrition where its name is. That is, it embraces "no-till" farming, an organic agricultural practice by which, over multiple harvests, horticulturists develop biologically active beds of soil that are home to diverse populations of bacteria and micro-critters—those that work in concert with deep fungal networks to supply the nutritional elements needed to support naturally healthy plants from seed to harvest. Think of it as next-level organic farming that results in top-tier chronic.

Aroma and flavor: Raw flowers are sweet and vaguely citrus—sharp and powdery by texture—while the smoke is cheesy and metallic with a distant fruit finish.

Effects: A dizzying 33 percent THC arrives in entourage with a metabolite profile of the fruit-forward set for a soaring cerebral experience that's matched by more moderate body notes. Expect a spacey mental energy and general calm that pairs well with mindfulness meditations and backyard birdwatching.

Buy it: Parlour Cannabis Shoppe, 4702 SW Scholls Ferry Road; Attis Trading Company, 2606 SE Gladstone St. and 7737 SW Barbur Blvd. $11-$15 a gram.

Kool-Aid  (Lavender x Skunk) x (Afghan x Blueberry)

Grown by Deschutes Growery and bred by Cannaventure Seeds

Cannabinoid content: 13.27% THC.

Dominant terpenes: terpinolene, beta-caryophyllene, myrcene.

About the farm: Bend's Deschutes Growery marries the Old World and the New with an environmentally conscious slant. LED grow lights, solar panels and vertical, quad-tiered cultivation chambers minimize the farm's carbon footprint—packing a potential 1,600 square feet of canopy into each 400-square-foot room. At the same time, Deschutes embraces the anachronism, raising their girls in living soil, mimicking nature for nutrition and preventive health.

Aroma and flavor: Strawberry lemonade, Peachie-O's, pink Starburst and the titular purple drink are apparent from jar to smoke.

Effects: Party weed for the canna-curious newcomer, Kool-Aid is uplifting and cheerful with a manageable, no-head-trips 13.27 percent THC. While regulars might not get excited about that number, the flavor here is a huge draw and will have you and friends guessing at which type of candy it most smells and tastes like.

Buy it: Bridge City Collective, 215 SE Grand Ave.; Nectar Barbur, 0931 SW 53rd Ave.; AmeriCannaRX, 8654 NE Sandy Blvd. $8-$15 a gram.

RudeBoi OG (Irene Kush x Face/Off OG)

Grown by Mindful Organics and bred by Archive Seed Bank.

Cannabinoid content: 29.57% THC.

Dominant terpenes: beta-caryophyllene, linalool, limonene, humulene, myrcene, bisabolol.

About the farm: Though the second-generation cannabis farmers behind Portland's Mindful Organics don't say it outright, they are a consistent, go-to source for connoisseur-quality night-time varietals. Mindful's lineup tends toward classic kush flavors. Its Lavender Trainwreck, GSC x OG, Sour Tip and Nepalese Kush are all stand-outs in this class. So many excellent sleepy strains. So many craveable flavors.

Aroma and flavor: Lavender and leather goods gain notes of green onion, musky blueberry and perfumed compost at the pipe.

Effects: Physical and cognitive changes are strong and evenly composed in Mindful's take on the Portland-staple, powerhouse kush RudeBoi OG. The high is functional to a point and creative in a directionless sort of way, while muscles are oxygenated, soothed and sedated throughout the head shift.

Buy it: Local Leaf, 7570 SW 74th Ave.; Progressive Collective, 9810 E Burnside St. $10-$15 a gram.

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