Strain Integrity

According to Leafly,  ” Descending from Northern California and Afghanistan genetics, Alien Dawg is a cross between Chemdawg and Alien Technology. With a sour and pungent odor, Alien Dawg has a light, bitter taste and presents brilliant mind and body effects.”

According to Wikileaf, ” The main positive effect users experience when smoking this strain is the instant uplift and feeling of euphoria. This helps the user to feel more happy and creative as well as more sociable and talkative. The negative side effect of this strain is dry mouth. ”

From the OCS website, ” An indica-dominant hybrid strain from Northern California and Afghani roots, Alien Dawg by Canaca is greenhouse grown in London, Ont. It has a sour aroma, but features a light, bitter taste with earthy, woodsy notes of sweetness. This strain has desirable colours of green, orange and purple bud, and medium THC potency.  ”

A Cannabis Bailey coffee?

This is our first time trying Alien Dawg.  What is in the name?  We heard a rumour this is good stuff and saw this as an opportunity to check out Tilray’s mid-tier market brand, Canaca.   Priced at $34.10 for 3.5 grams with THC at 16.1%, the buds were very dry but surprisingly there’s a faint citrus peppery scent.  This review is meaningful in a number of ways.  We have just finished reviewing all of FIGR flowers and we consider FIGR to be one the best LPs and they are an American company.  We need a good Canadian response.

Taste is nothing fancy.  Ten minutes after inhalation, we can feel the energy building.  The takeoff is on a longer run way.   And than it happens, a strong surge of mental uplift signals our lift off.  The delivery is a smooth relaxed increase of energy slowly enveloping our minds.  It is like drinking a cup of coffee spiked with Irish Bailey cream.  Unlike the usual coffee replacement wake and bake, Alien Dawg delivers a sedated coffee … energy with a relaxed overtones.

After half an hour, we reach a state of peak mental alertness, euphoria and some creativity.  The mental buzziness slows down and there is more calm and focus making this strain potentially productive for the about an hour after the initial session’s peak.  While we were mentally energized our body is relaxed in an idyllic lethargic-ism.

The entire experience is about two hours with perceptible decline after an hour and a half.   Activity pairing is good for socializing and any activity that is not too physically demanding.  While there is ample energy in the mind, the body is relaxed and may not take well to strenuous exertions.

Conclusion

Alien Dawg by Canaca (Tilray)

Alien Dawg is an interesting name.   After FIGR, any other flower review has a tough act to follow.   It is also not a fair comparison because FIGR’s Kali Mist is more expensive.  But, Alien Dawg held it’s ground and registered it effects in a “Pro Kali Mist” environment.  Compared to FIGR’s Kali Mist, this is good table wine and priced accordingly.  We all need good table wine, don’t we?

THC: 16.1%

Quality: 7.5

Intensity: 7.6

Duration: 7.7

Total: 7.6

Cost: $34.10 for 3.5 grams

For Canaca’s Alien Dawg, the main product competitors are Redecan, Hexo, WEEDMD and RIFF (Aphria) to name a few.  We believe these 4 are the strongest players in the mid segment selling below $10 a gram.  The low end of the market is represented by Trailblazer (Organigram), Pure Sunfarms, Good Supply (Aphria) and Original Stash (Hexo) selling below $8 a gram.

On an investment note, It appears Grail’s Rockstar is a Tilray’s premium recreational brand and not from a little private LP that we thought.  Opps.   Would we have said something different?   Yeah, we would have told Tilray the same things as their bankers and investors, “You are the best and the world is yours! And, we are going to help you take the over the World!”  Investment bankers sell “Dreams.”   Unfortunately, fantasy and reality seldom intersect and almost never in a prescribed time frame.  Of the hundred of strains we have tried over the last year, Tilray, your Grail’s Rockstar stood above them all as a very memorable strain.  There is hope, Tilray.