This was the thread that I was doomed to forget about, over and over again, for whatever reason. That might be a sign that I start too many threads around here. LOL. Anyway, here are some LONG overdue pics of the finished Silver LA buds, and the harvest:
My first set of observations right after the harvest:
The high is very complex. It feels much like an indica, but it gets my mind moving at hyperspeed. It can still be used for nighttime medicine right before bed, but before falling asleep it feels like a mushroom trip a little bit, with all these emotions and buried memories coming forth... I sometimes just have to watch TV after smoking this one, in order to distract my inner self. It's weird. Not a bad thing, just, not necessarily the insomnia medicine I was hoping it would be. It's not bad as a daytime smoke because of this. It does relax me though so it's not what I would smoke before doing yard work. Great for rainy days.
First of all, the appearance... it is one of the most colorful strains I've grown in a very long time. I had forgotten about how much I enjoy the "superficial" characteristic of color! Pretty much all of the buds have gone a purple color. There is varying degree of green chlorophyll color to some of these buds, meaning some are a light green mixed with purple hues, and some are entirely purple with red/orange hues. All of them are covered in crystals giving the overall appearance of all the buds a decidedly silver color. Very beautiful! I wish I was a better photographer so I could have shown the whole plant better in this thread. Maybe next time I'll get my wife out there with her camera.
Secondly, the bud structure is not very indica-like, other than how dense they are. They are rather very much like haze bud structure, that sort of "spiky" look that the flower leaves and calyxes provide. There is also a slightly lower calyx to leaf ratio than purer hazes. Just from the look of the buds, one gets the immediate impression that, surprisingly, this plant is not so indica-heavy after all. Yes, the flowering time is a bit longer than typical indica, so that might be a giveaway, but I honestly was not expecting any sativa characteristics like this. Pleasant surprise!
On to the smell... The smell has been pungent and spicy, all along. Even before harvest, there was more of a culinary spice type of aroma in the grow room, as opposed to that skunky stink. I could never particularly put my finger on it, but it's like a cooking spice, like maybe nutmeg or cinnamon, but not exactly either of those. It was elusive to me. Pleasant though! Then finally after the first buds were dried and smokable, I was able to give it a try. The aroma stayed the same, even in dried form, but now there was a recognizable haze scent accompanying it. DAMN those haze genetics always seem to find a way to come through, even when there is only a trace of it in the family tree, don't they?!
Then after lighting it up, the smell instantly becomes something else... CATHOLIC MASS!! Which brings me to the flavor. It tastes the way it smells while burning, which is like that incense they use in Catholic church on christmas. What is that, frankincense and myrrh? Although, I want to say it also reminds me of a sandalwood type of smell. Nonetheless, overall, it tastes like the smell of Catholic incense. There is also a hazy flavor underneath it, too. (So, that haze is all over the place, right? I had no clue there was going to be so much of it coming through in this one!)
The high, though, is not particularly a haze one. It's what I was expecting, and had already experienced the last time I grew this plant out, when I was testing to see if it was worth keeping around as a mother. Except last time I harvested early, at 8 weeks, so I knew it wasn't an accurate representation of what it would be. But this time around I harvested at 64 days, which is in the window that the breeders recommend, and yes, that extra week made a lovely difference. But back to the high... yes, the high is an indica one. Nice, heavy, relaxing high. There is a giggly head high going on too, which is nice. It's got more of a head high than my Sadhu does, so that's a nice change. But it is definitely more of a night time medicine. It gets my eyes feeling pretty droopy and red, too. I'm guessing I would look pretty stoned if I was out in public after smoking this one.
I was not expecting so much haze presence from this one... I honestly was expecting more of an Afghani presence. I then had to admit to myself that I didn't know too much about the history of this strain, and what genetics went into it. I just remembered what the strain description had said, and based my expectations off of that. So I looked into this strain, and of course, it doesn't surprise me that the haze comes through. It's not that distant. According to DNA's website, this is a cross between Silver Bubble and LA Confidential. Silver Bubble is SSH x Bubblegum, and LA Confidential is OG LA Affie x Afghani. So, right away we can see that 50% of this plant's genetic makeup is Afghani genetics, and only 25% comes from SSH, which is not even a pure haze... yet, the haze comes through!
I have to say, I'm really impressed with this strain, and it makes me want to try some of RP/DNA's other work. I'm thinking I should try their LA Confidential, because a straight afghani like that would be an awesome addition to my stable, and I'm guessing the beautiful colors of this one come more from the LA Confidential than from the Silver Bubble.
