After years of keeping us in full expectation, the time has finally come: the Dutch experiment for legal cannabis has started! The experiment closed coffeeshop chain, as the weed trial is officially called, is admittedly still in the preliminary phase because the weed is currently only available in Tilburg and Breda. But the start has been made and the regulated weed is here, so we are going to taste!
Legal weed and hash
We traveled to Tilburg especially to witness this happy moment ourselves. From the station we crossed the road to go to The Grasscompany at the Spoorlaan to see what’s on the menu. Very special to see on the menu the separation between “weed” and “legal weed”. There are a number of weed varieties from producer Fyta and two types of hash from producer Canadelaar on the menu.
After a quick look, we decide to go for Fyta’s Fritter Licker and Ice Cream Cake. However, we are also very curious about the hash, so we also buy the Traditional Hash and Royal Medic Hash from Canadelaar. The coffee shop very neatly also had some samples in a transparent container with an opening, so you could inspect the weed a bit. This is because all weed from the weed test is pre-packaged.
Ice Cream Cake (Gelato #33 x Wedding Cake)
The Ice Cream Cake is well wrapped in a red colored airtight bag with some additional information such as THC percentage and harvest date. This weed contains 16% THC. Good to know but of course that is by no means saying everything.
The QR code takes you to a page that lists all the strains with the dominant terpenes per strain. Unfortunately there are no percentages, and only a few terpenes per strain are indicated. Here we would like to see more info in the future. Still, a big step in the right direction!
Upon opening, we are immediately met with a strong smell. The buds are somewhat small, but nice and colorful. The trichomes are intact, this has been handled nicely. Of course, this should be the standard for legal cannabis.
The bud was a little too moist to burn well, and a little more time could have been taken for curing as well. Creamy and gassy smells predominate in this strain, with a sweet scent in the background. This palette fits well with the strain name.
While smoking, we noticed that the Ice Cream Cake feels very soft in the throat.
Fritter Licker (Face Off OG x Apple Fritter)
In the same type of package is the Fritter Licker with 15% THC. Also with this strain, after scanning the QR code, we see some basic information such as the strain’s cross, dominant terpenes and flavor.
The bag contains a lot of small buds; quite logical since each package must contain exactly 1 gram. You won’t find the 1.1 gram bud in these packages. We do see many intact trichomes, and even on the outside of the bud, just like the Ice Cream Cake. We hope to see this in all legal weed from the experiment.
According to the report, we should expect an earthy taste and smell. There is, but in our opinion this is really not the smell that stands out but is more in the background. fruity sweet and sour smells are more dominant in this strain. We also smell a hard to describe, kind of woozy, garlic-like scent.
In our opinion, the Fritter Licker was a bit better dried and cured than the Ice Cream Cake.
This strain was also very soft on the throat when smoked. We hope this is because we now have clean cannabis grown in a controlled environment, without contaminants found in the illegal circuit. Let’s hope this is the standard for all cannabis from the experiment!
Room for improvement
Both strains were certainly not bad but there is definitely room for improvement. After all, we’re very happy to finally have cannabis on the market that is controlled and where you know what you’re getting. But of course we expect the quality to improve in the future. We would also like to see more information.
At Fyta we see which terpenes the cannabis should contain but no percentages. Also, the information does not say much when you, as an average consumer, do not know much about terpenes. The flavors listed are not correct or complete, and of course very personal.
Despite these points of improvement, this is a big step in the right direction for the Dutch cannabis market as far as we are concerned.
Both strains are very tasty, only to be honest we expected more from Fyta. This is due to the fact that they have been producing cannabis for years now and have by far the biggest advantage over everyone else. We expected a real wow effect with this weed but it was… ‘just fine’.
Hash from Canadelaar
When looking at Canadelaar’s hash, we were immediately pleasantly surprised to see that the Traditional hash is very similar to the old-fashioned Maroc/Afghan hash. We were afraid that the growers would not take into account the group of people who have been smoking this type of hash for years, and would only focus on strong and newer types of hash.
Traditional Hashish
In terms of color and texture this one goes towards the oldschool Maroc. The smell is still not quite what we are used to from Middle Eastern hashish. We have to think of the terpene Hashinene, which is quite special since in traditional hash it is only created during the process of hash making.
During this process, the terpene Myrcene is converted to Hashinene. This is mainly due to the heat in the huts where the hash is stored for a long time before it is processed/transported. The terpene Hashinene is unique in hash and not found in cannabis buds because of this process. We do not think that the process used in this hash produces the same amount of Hashinene as the traditional way.
Royal Medic
The Royal Medic hash is the nicest of these two hashes. It is a nice light colored dry sift hash with a nice fresh and fruity smell. Reasonably soft texture and easy to crumble for a nice upgrade to our vape or joint. Excellent hash and nice to see that it is also offered directly from a grower.
We are also very curious about the genetics used in making this hash, and so we take a moment to scan the QR code. Unfortunately there is no info behind this, no lab result that could account for the 31% THC listed on the packaging, and nothing about the genetics or terpenes either unfortunately.
Prices
We are pleased with the prices at the start of the legal cannabis experiment. An Ice Cream Cake will quickly exceed €15 per gram at most shops, while it is on the menu for €12 at The Grasscompany. We purchased the hash for €11 and €12 euros. Let’s hope the growers will compete with each other on quality as well as price!
We are looking forward to the start of the real experiment with 10 growers and a lot more cannabis varieties to choose from.