Farmer and the Felon’s UNLOCKED sun-grown flower

It shouldn’t need to be said, and yet it does: there’s more to weed than just THC. Much more, although you wouldn’t know because it can be difficult to get a good eighth, half ounce, or full ounce of bud with THC levels below 25%.

As an enthusiast of smokable flower and a frequent visitor to Orange and LA County dispensaries, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve walked into a store and been given a flashback at the counter because I asked for bud in the 14 – 17% range .

Like so many other good things in life, cannabis just feels better when it’s analog. When cannabis is grown under the sun, you often get a more complex and varied expression of cannabinoids. For this reason, I tend towards sun-grown buds, which are around 15-17% on a daily basis. THC is still the lead player, but his solo register is both softened and bolstered by a kick-ass backing band – feel me?

I wasn’t always an evangelist for suntanned midriffs. All of that came into focus for me when my local dispensary started selling Farmer and the Felon’s UNLOCKED flower – “sungrown weed that gets the job done, at a great price” – available in eighths, quarters and ounces.

First impressions

Farmer and the Felon is a brand of the CannaCraft family, named after founders Ned Fussel (“The Farmer”), a prolific cannabis grower, and Dennis Hunter (“The Felon”), an industry veteran convicted of growing cannabis in prison sat. In my opinion, the brand’s UNLOCKED flower line best encapsulates their mission to provide premium, sustainably grown cannabis for the everyday smoker.

I’ve been picking up Unlocked Ounces from my local pharmacy on a semi-regular basis since noticing it on the menu last year. The simplicity of the packaging – a white, sealed pouch with an UNLOCKED “stamp” on the front accompanied by an orange sticker with strain information – is consistent with the “no frills, just good weed” vibe that Farmer and the Felon exudes Per. Whether tested at 12%, 18%, or 26% THC, each bag exudes a fresh, rich, and complex aroma immediately upon opening. The buds have always been vibrant and well structured with minimal wear. Exactly what you want from an ounce that will last a while in your stash.

That said, here’s a recap of my experience with three different UNLOCKED strains: Sour Star, Sour OG, and Kush Cake.

sour star

With 14.75% THC – and 16.61% total cannabinoids – Farmer and the Felon’s Sour Star is a sticky bud with a pungent, gassy, ​​skunky-sour taste and sweet, earthy undertones. I smoked a joint of it and hit the Long Beach boardwalk on a weekday afternoon, certainly encountered a milder high, but deep and pervasive. I felt more attuned to all my senses, which brought with it its own brand of metaphysical revitalization and mild physical relaxation. It also hit deep behind the eyes and it felt good to close them for a moment as I walked along the beach and open them again as my gaze met the sparkling sea, one of the great visual lubes available for a good cannabis high.

As the saxophone flourishes of David Bowie’s “Win” pumped through my earbuds, I caught one of those little pseudo-psychedelic visions of a silverfish fluttering through the mini silver waves in front of me. In the distance, the Long Beach skyline looked like a blurry, matte painting from a cyberpunk beach movie. Just one of those moments where you hit the right green frequency and feel aligned with the reality of it all all at once as it flows in nice and easy.

Find farmer and the felon’s acid star

Sour OG

Over the weekend I smoked a joint of UNLOCKED Sour OG, which took it up a notch with 23% THC and 26% total cannabinoids. Still a fairly consistent if not a bit more uplifting high than Sour Star, it offered deep body relaxation and a brain-bending effect that turned my racing thoughts into something succinct and tangible. Its sour citrus-diesel flavor came through strongly in the smoke, pungent and extraordinarily tasty with every exhale.

An evening stroll around the block – the clear orange haze sky glowing faintly over the streets, all driven by the murmur of a calm river. That stony thickness comes in around the temples and behind the eyelids, my thoughts begin to feel less like crashing waves and more like calm ocean waves. A high so good you want to look away from your phone and take it all in.

Find Farmer and the Felon’s Sour OG

kush cake

For those who still want a solid dose of THC with the added benefits of a sun-grown cannabinoid and terpene profile, Farmer and the Felon’s Kush Cake is sure to please. With 25% THC and 29% total cannabinoids, my quarter ounce of Kush Cake consisted of super-tight, dense buds covered in semi-frozen trichomes. The doughy berry skunk aroma was less pungent than the other two UNLOCKED strains straight out of the bag, but really came through strongly after going through the grinder.

I started out with a few hits from my dried flower vaporizer in the afternoon and immediately felt like my head was filling up with green helium from a cartoon, then quickly fell off, rolling on a syrupy, rocky breeze. A few hours later, I rolled a Joint Kush Cake and took a slow walk, smoking methodically to get the full power of the flavor. It was a heavier smoke than the other two UNLOCKED strains – it definitely gave me a mild case of dry mouth, but no less enjoyable overall. The scene outside behind my brown sunglasses was blurry yet alive, like a 4K remaster of a grainy 70’s cult film.

When I got home, I slipped into a delightful couch lock. For the next two hours, my mind rush felt like swimming through a sticky sea of ​​thoughts and firing synapses, finally drifting back to mental homeostasis with a faint, but no less beautiful, tingling afterglow.

Find Farmer and the Felon’s Cake varieties

bottom line

Look, if THC is your thing, far be it from me to ruin your party, man. I’m rarely above the occasional (or not so occasional, depending on the month) 29-33% strain or a high potency infused pre-roll, especially if it’s from a cannabis brand I trust. The thing is, cannabis is a plant that contains a multitude, with each strain bringing with it a whole universe of unique psychoactive experiences. THC is a big part of that, but not without the myriad effect profiles of other cannabinoids and terpenes that characterize each bud.

Ever since spending my nights in the company of Kush Cake and Sour Star rolled in joints with a bit of CBD flower to ease the flow and keep things cool as hell, I’ve become more sungrown to the lo-fi rhythm bliss flooded. Finding Farmer and the Felon’s UNLOCKED feels like I’ve found a gap in the whole system: the full power of the analog cannabis high in bulk at a great price.

Featured image courtesy of Farmer and the Felon