Strain Integrity

According to Leafly, ” Among the most famous strains worldwide is White Widow, a balanced hybrid first bred in the Netherlands by Green House Seeds. A cross between a Brazilian sativa landrace and a resin-heavy South Indian indica, White Widow has blessed every Dutch coffee shop menu since its birth in the 1990s. Its buds are white with crystal resin, warning you of the potent effects to come. A powerful burst of euphoria and energy breaks through immediately, stimulating both conversation and creativity. White Widow’s genetics have given rise to many other legends like White Russian, White Rhino, and Blue Widow. ”

And from the OCS’s website, ” White Widow is a frosty hand-trimmed hybrid from Spinach in Stayner, Ont. It has very strong THC potency potential and is known for its woodsy and floral aromas, which come from a terpene profile that includes myrcene (found in mango, lemon grass, hops and thyme), caryophyllene (also in black pepper, cloves and balsam) and linalool (in lavender and many flowers, mint and cinnamon). ”

A classic staple

We chose Spinach White Widow because of the general good chatter in the Reddit community around Spinach’s Dancehall strain.  We are not fans of high CBD strain so we chose a classic, White Widow, to review Spinach’s growing skills.  The unnatural looking round popcorn buds have a pleasant pepper scent with floral overtones.   Test amount was 0.26 grams with THC of 17.4%.  At $34.45 for 3.5 grams, the pricing is on the high end of the mid tier market.  Packaged on Nov 11, 2019, and sealed, the buds were fresh two months later.

The high starts with a euphoric lift in the head.  There’s almost a tingling sensation around your brain as euphoria expands.  Happiness is another trait becoming more prominent as the high progress.  The mind slows down and there’s a calmness that comes with it.  There is some creativity but this is not the main effect.  Creativity for us was the third expression after euphoria and happiness.  The intensity of Spinach’s White Widow is strongest immediately after inhalation and continues for about half an hour.  Intensity is enjoyable and not debilitating.    There is energy enough to feel lightness of mind and body.

Before you know it while captivated by many interesting moments, an hour have passed.  The first hour flew by quickly as time distortion creates a slow down of the moment and an express train over the period.  Relaxation and calmness of mind enters the second hour as we slowly glide down from White Widow’s blissful state.  This is a good rendition of White Widow.  For us, there is a little weariness at the end.

Activity pairing would be best for relaxing moments.  White Widow is a favourite for those who want to chill and forget about all the stress from the day.

Spinach’s rendition of White Widow is very well done.  This is an old classic strain.  Today, we have Kosher Kush or Wappa with even more powerful euphoria bliss along the same track as White Widow.  There are more choices.   Against this backdrop of alternatives, White Widow struggles to remain relevant.  If you want to reminisce the feel of the old days, this is your vehicle.

Conclusion

White Widow by Spinach

Our last review of FIGR defining the state of Canadian buzz landscape is tough for Spinach’s White Widow.  We are glad to report Spinach held it’s ground.  Spinach’s White Widow is a classic.  It delivers copious amount of euphoria, uplift and creativity to create a blissful state.  Totally unfair to Spinach, we are still recovering from our TGOD and FIGR reviews.

THC: 17.4%

Quality: 7.8

Intensity: 7.8

Duration: 8.0

Total: 7.9

Cost: $34.45 for 3.5 grams

We would recommend Spinach’s White Widow for those who enjoy this strain.  Unfortunately with legalization, we have found a world of strains and there are so many amazing strains.   Our FIGR’s review of Wappa fits the same category of effects (euphoria) and is much more prolific in other expressions.   White Widow is competing with newer and more refined strains.  Award winners like Rockstar and Kosher Kush are newer and more prolific strains in the same Indica genre.  We are White Widow fans but we have also broaden our horizon.

On an investment note, it is interesting to see how old classic strains struggle against new strains.  In addition to growing well, strain selection is another key variable to an LP success.  Spinach is Cronos’s recreational brand.  Cronos is a $3+billion valued public company with an $835 million gain in derivative liabilities and $12.7 million in cannabis revenues in their last quarter.    Their derivative gain resulted in a profit of $0.53 a share.  Are you confused?  We are.

Cronos has delivered some decent brands in the mid tier market at high tier product pricing.  With a $35 million trailing 12 month revenue and a valuation over $3 billion, there seem to be a disconnect somewhere.  While we applaud doing what ever is necessary to survive, is this a derivative hedge fund or a Cannabis LP?  With new entrants like FIGR, the competitive landscape in “Quality” has become more intense.  On pricing, Hexo is putting the pressure on all the high price vendors.  Cronos will have to adjust if it wants to survive.