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After reading about about Cornerstone Research Collective in Heart of Dankness, I knew I had to check out this invitation-only LA dispensary’s “rare and unique strains of connoisseur-quality cannabis.” Mark Haskell Smith was kind enough to vouch for me, and the strains I sampled did not disappoint in the slightest. Nevil’s Haze is an absolutely superb sativa-dominant hybrid with a powerful and immediate cerebral effect that is somehow hazy, clear, relaxing, profound, and uplifting, all at once. It’s mellow, mood-enhancing, and incredibly focused. I loved everything about this truly magnificent strain. Dos Genios is an indica-dominant hybrid of Blackberry Kush, Platinum Kush, and Pure Kush. Perfect for pain relief without sedation, the effect is physically soothing with some head heaviness that is pleasantly calming without being sleepy or foggy. Kilimanjaro is a pure sativa with a stimulating, euphoric effect. I was a bit wary of this strain because it tests high in limonene, and pure sativas that are high in THC and limonene tend to give me an uncomfortably speedy sensation. But I didn’t have that issue with Kilimanjaro. Instead, I felt energized and sociable with no anxiety or paranoia whatsoever. It’s alert, upbeat, and mentally distorting, but not particularly disorienting. All three strains were remarkably potent, functional, nuanced, and smooth. I’m definitely looking forward to revisiting Cornerstone the next time I’m in Los Angeles.

After reading about about Cornerstone Research Collective in Heart of Dankness, I knew I had to check out this invitation-only LA dispensary’s “rare and unique strains of connoisseur-quality cannabis.” Mark Haskell Smith was kind enough to vouch for me, and the strains I sampled did not disappoint in the slightest.

Nevil’s Haze is an absolutely superb sativa-dominant hybrid with a powerful and immediate cerebral effect that is somehow hazy, clear, relaxing, profound, and uplifting, all at once. It’s mellow, mood-enhancing, and incredibly focused. I loved everything about this truly magnificent strain.

Dos Genios is an indica-dominant hybrid of Blackberry Kush, Platinum Kush, and Pure Kush. Perfect for pain relief without sedation, the effect is physically soothing with some head heaviness that is pleasantly calming without being sleepy or foggy.

Kilimanjaro is a pure sativa with a stimulating, euphoric effect. I was a bit wary of this strain because it tests high in limonene, and pure sativas that are high in THC and limonene tend to give me an uncomfortably speedy sensation. But I didn’t have that issue with Kilimanjaro. Instead, I felt energized and sociable with no anxiety or paranoia whatsoever. It’s alert, upbeat, and mentally distorting, but not particularly disorienting.

All three strains were remarkably potent, functional, nuanced, and smooth. I’m definitely looking forward to revisiting Cornerstone the next time I’m in Los Angeles.

Fun fact: I was valedictorian of the basic weekend seminar I took at Oaksterdam. They gave me a certificate and a sweatshirt, which often elicits interesting reactions when I wear it—like the waiter in Big Sur who complimented the sweatshirt and then pointedly complained about how difficult it is to find quality cannabis in Monterey County while making intense and significant eye contact.

Anyway, I would like to go see this movie on 4/20, but who knows if I’ll be adequately motivated to BART to Oakland. It’s ridiculous that it isn’t playing in San Francisco. Someone should really do something about that.

Discussing dankness with Mark Haskell Smith.

Caitlin Podiak: Your quest for the “heart of dankness” centers on the annual High Times Cannabis Cup event in Amsterdam. But how relevant do you think those awards are to cannabis users in California? I know many of the strains we have here come from Dutch seeds, but beyond that, I wonder how much the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup results should matter to us in the United States.

Mark Haskell Smith: Oh, I think they’re very relevant to what goes on in California. The strains that win the Cannabis Cup ultimately become the popular strains you find in medical dispensaries or being sold by dealers. AK-47, Super Silver Haze, Willie Nelson, Lavender, LA Confidential…these are all fairly common strains nowadays, but they were first introduced at the Cannabis Cup. I imagine Kosher Kush, which is originally a SoCal strain, will become huge in the next year or two because it just won the Indica Cup in Amsterdam. It’s sort of like Coachella for cannabis. It’s where the unknowns get their shot at the big-time. And that resonates in California. We want those seeds.

Keep in mind that there is an established infrastructure for the development and distribution of cannabis seeds in Amsterdam; it’s a multimillion dollar a year business, and the competition between seed companies keeps the Cup relevant.

CP: I’m just not sure how seriously to take any competition in which so many strains are sampled in such a short time frame. I don’t feel comfortable writing a strain review or even a brief menu description for a strain until I have sampled it more than once, and had time to evaluate the effects completely on their own, without the lingering effects of any other strains in my system.

MHS: Yeah, if you were going to judge all the entries in all the categories you’d be smoking something like seventeen samples of imported hash, Dutch hash, and cannabis a day. I know I couldn’t do it and be able to put a sentence together, much less judge a winner. But then, that’s how they do wine tastings.  Judges taste literally thousands of wines in a week.

I talked to a few celebrity judges who took part in the blind tastings for the seed company categories and it was pretty well organized. For sure they’re smoking a lot, but they do it one category at a time. So like, Tuesday is for sativas, Thursday is for indicas, etc. Also, I think they’re able to look at the entries and know which buds are going to be worth smoking and which aren’t.

That said, I think that’s why strains with strong flavors, like Super Lemon Haze, win these prizes. They’ve got a distinct taste and a pretty strong rush, so they can cut through the pack. Personally, I prefer more equatorial strains, like John Sinclair or some of the Jamaican sativas. These strains don’t give you that uplifting head rush—they creep up on you, but they’re more psychedelic.

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Heart of Dankness

Being a highly discerning and intellectually curious cannabis connoisseur is rewarding, but often frustrating and lonely.

Since moving to California, I have spent enough time wine tasting to become something of an oenophile. I enjoy expanding and developing my palate, exploring new varietals and regions, visiting vineyards, playing with pairings, and sharing these experiences with family and friends. I have also had the pleasure of indulging a burgeoning enthusiasm for coffee—specifically, slow drip coffee and espresso drinks from Four Barrel, Sightglass, Blue Bottle, and Ritual Roasters. I have similar penchants for fancy/local/artisan cheese, chocolate, jam, caramels, honey, soap, cashmere…

But above all, I prefer cannabis, and I am passionately eager to deepen my understanding of the plant and its effects, ideally by reading interesting, informative writing by someone who is willing to be stringent about grammar and has an appreciation for production value. Unfortunately for me and any other would-be cannabis connoisseurs, that sort of content is incredibly difficult to come by, despite the accumulated quantity of research and commentary on the subject.

So I was thrilled to get my hands on a pre-publication galley of Mark Haskell Smith’s Heart of Dankness, a nonfiction account of the author’s exploration of the world’s “dankest” cannabis, from the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, to dispensaries in Los Angeles and Berkeley, to the Sierra Nevada mountains, and back to Amsterdam. He seeks out the best growers and breeders, visits coffeeshops and seed companies, asking everyone he meets what dankness means to them.

(I attempted to define dankness myself, for the now-defunct Pot Couture: “Potency, quality, bag appeal, freshness, and aroma. By potency, I mean that the cannabis has a high THC and possibly CBD content. Quality means a good strain, cultivated with care. Buds with bag appeal are pretty and sparkly and sticky with trichomes, or resin glands. Dank buds ought to be fresh and moist, rather than old and dry. And I would expect a strain described as dank to have an intense, permeating aroma.”)

Smith is a sharp and engaging storyteller, weaving a compelling narrative packed with intriguing new facts and discoveries to ponder. I don’t think I have ever read a nonfiction book from cover to cover without putting it down before, but I was utterly fascinated by each and every page of Heart of Dankness. I hardly dared hope that any book could satisfy my desire for something skillfully composed that would delve beyond what I already knew about cannabis, but Heart of Dankness absolutely did.

If you’re considering buying this book, I emphatically suggest that you go for it. And if you pre-order before the April 3rd release date and send a copy of your receipt to heartofdankness@gmail.com, Broadway Books will throw in some free rolling papers and a signed bookplate, plus you’ll be entered to win a Cannabible boxed set. (Details here.)

There’s a picture of me and a few of my Shambhala coworkers in this month’s issue of Culture, so that’s fun. In other, much more horrible news, the feds have demanded that Shambhala down in about a month, or else. So that really sucks. It sounds like threatening letters were probably sent to most or all of the 12 dispensaries mentioned in this Examiner article from last month, as well as a number of dispensaries elsewhere in California. I’m pretty sure they’re using legal threats against landlords to shut down as many dispensaries as possible in order to pave the way for pharmaceutical companies to release cannabis-derived drugs without competition from the existing medical cannabis industry. They are doing it quietly and gradually to avoid triggering a backlash, but I fucking hope there’s a backlash because this is seriously bullshit.

There’s a picture of me and a few of my Shambhala coworkers in this month’s issue of Culture, so that’s fun. In other, much more horrible news, the feds have demanded that Shambhala down in about a month, or else. So that really sucks.

It sounds like threatening letters were probably sent to most or all of the 12 dispensaries mentioned in this Examiner article from last month, as well as a number of dispensaries elsewhere in California.

I’m pretty sure they’re using legal threats against landlords to shut down as many dispensaries as possible in order to pave the way for pharmaceutical companies to release cannabis-derived drugs without competition from the existing medical cannabis industry. They are doing it quietly and gradually to avoid triggering a backlash, but I fucking hope there’s a backlash because this is seriously bullshit.

Double Dream is a sativa-dominant hybrid of Blue Dream and Dream Star. Blue Dream is one of my favorite strains because it has such a nice blend of effects: soothing, mood-enhancing, physically relaxing, and functional. The influence of Dream Star (itself a hybrid of Blue Dream and Star Dawg, which is a descendent of Chemdawg) adds another layer of potency and complexity, tempering Blue Dream’s floaty clarity with some mellow stoniness. Double Dream has the familiar sweet, floral, berry flavor with a hint of soap that I always get from Blue Dream, but there is some spice and mango in there as well. I didn’t think Blue Dream needed improving, but Double Dream has easily surpassed it as a new favorite.

Double Dream is a sativa-dominant hybrid of Blue Dream and Dream Star. Blue Dream is one of my favorite strains because it has such a nice blend of effects: soothing, mood-enhancing, physically relaxing, and functional. The influence of Dream Star (itself a hybrid of Blue Dream and Star Dawg, which is a descendent of Chemdawg) adds another layer of potency and complexity, tempering Blue Dream’s floaty clarity with some mellow stoniness. Double Dream has the familiar sweet, floral, berry flavor with a hint of soap that I always get from Blue Dream, but there is some spice and mango in there as well. I didn’t think Blue Dream needed improving, but Double Dream has easily surpassed it as a new favorite.

"Scientists have demonstrated that the plant holds the potential to fight or prevent cancers of the breast, prostate, skin, lung, uterus, cervix, pancreas, mouth and biliary track, as well as leukemia, neuroblastoma, thyroid epithelioma, and gastric adenocarcinoma. All by selectively targeting cancerous cells and leaving healthy cells alone."»

I have always found it easy to believe that cannabis is the key to curing cancer. It strikes me as so typically human that we would arbitrarily demonize and criminalize what is possibly the most beneficial and benign plant on earth. To me, society’s hysterically irrational treatment of cannabis serves as proof that it is the solution to many of our most unsolvable problems. Because of course society would reject the thing it needs most. Fucking society.