INTRO

Squid Pants here looking at some hashish. I like hashish, and I like the idea of the genetics that are represented here so let’s see if this is yet another disappointing purchase.

BLUE DREAM X PINK KUSH

This is a cross of popular staples Blue Dream and Pink Kush. I don’t know why they are calling this Lebanese. The genetics are not Lebanese, it wasn’t made in Lebanon for sure and it’s clearly dry sift which is the modern way they make hash in Lebanon, not the traditional method. The traditional method used in that region of the Middle East was putting some burlap on a wall, hitting flower clusters against the burlap then scraping off the resin. Dry sift is thought to have spread to Lebanon from Afghanistan and was only adopted in Lebanon relatively recently. This is in fact dry sift and pressed hashish made from a cross of Blue Dream and Pink Kush, both of which are associated with the Pacific coast of the US and Canada.

So, we can all agree that calling this Lebanese hashish is completely inexplicable. Great, moving on.

1964

This is a brand under Rubicon Holdings. Pancakenap reviewed a hash offering from another one of the Rubicon Holdings’ brands, Simply Bare Organics, and it wasn’t the greatest so the bar is really low here. The brand name is a reference to the year that THC was first chemically isolated and its structure elucidated (if biochemistry is your thing, then see the famous paper Gaoni, Y., & Mechoulam, R. (1964). Isolation, structure, and partial synthesis of an active constituent of hashish. Journal of the American chemical society, 86(8), 1646-1647 for all the details). They emphasise that they grow in soil under natural sunlight using organic practices. The growing region is BC’s Fraser Valley.

PACKAGING

Comes in a glass jar with a child proof lid, which is inside an outer mylar bag. Labelling covers any info you might want to help with a buying decision, though it does look a bit sloppy with stickers just slapped on sloppily. Inside the jar itself the hash is displayed quite nicely, including the brand logo stamped on top. It’s a shame this hash sticks to glass like mad, had to freeze it to get it out at all.

THC is listed at 44.887%. THC is also just below that listed as 36.621% so no idea which number is correct. Good job there. At least those values are sane so maybe one of them is correct. Continuing on, total terpenes are listed as 1.94% with Farnesene, Trans-Caryophyllene and Limonene listed as the top three they tested for. They clearly didn’t test for Hashishene, a terpene that is made during the process of producing hashish, since I can tell you by scent and taste it’s very likely to be the actual dominant terpene by far. Weight is listed as 2 grams but as can be seen in the photos I got a quarter of a gram overcount. For those who attach value to it, this is labelled as FVOPA Organic Certified and non-irradiated.

This was packaged on October 27th, 2023 and I opened it 54 days later

LOOKS

Black and glossy on the outside, rich dark brown on the inside. Very consistent, no visible fibres seen. This looks very good. Points for a nice initial presentation including the “1964” stamp on the upper section of the hash ball.

FEEL

This is very gooey, squishy and incredibly sticky. Very consistent throughout, this is what I personally like to see in hash.

SCENT

First and foremost Hashishene dominates, nothing else smells like hash. Supporting that is a floral champagne and some mintiness, with a bit of blueberry shyly peeking out. There are no surprises here, you get hashish made from a plant that’s a cross of Pink Kush and Blue Dream. It’s a comfortable, fun and familiar tune.

TASTE

I smoked this using a small pipe I use exclusively for hashish. When the flame hit the hash it melted and heavily bubbled before eventually settling into a glowing ember. That’s good. Tastes are strongly hashish while flavours from the Pink Kush play support with hints of floral champagne. Blueberry tastes from the Blue Dream are there, but you have to go looking for them. On the negative side there was a subtle green taste, implying that the source flower was over-sifted and some pulverised leaf material made it through the screens. Still, you are definitely getting what it says on the label, hash featuring the tastes of Pink Kush and Blue Dream. I will mention here the ashes were quite clean with obvious shrinkage from the original size of the piece of hash I put in, showing strong evidence of thorough combustion having taken place.

PRICE AND VALUE

This package was $45 dollars before tax for two grams from Edition X on Dupont in Toronto. Ignoring the overcount, that’s $22.50 per gram and assuming the higher number for the THC percentage is correct then this is $5.01 per 100 mg of THC, which is on the expensive end on that metric alone. If we believe the lower total THC percentage then this is $6.14 per 100 mg of THC which is, again on that metric alone, very expensive. Using the product I don’t have trouble believing the higher percentage is correct so this is likely merely expensive.

What you get out of this is some nice and strong hash with mostly great taste. That said the taste does have that hint of green taste that I said was due to overworking the original material while separating the trichome heads and ending up with pulverised leaf matter in the hash. At this price, that’s a huge flaw.

This hash checks a lot of boxes, but that one flaw, I just can’t let it go. It’s just overpriced, but it’s quite likeable. I’d give this a conditional recommendation if you find this at a discount only.

CONCLUSIONS

This will definitely have different value to different people. Some people feel organic methods add value, whereas I personally do not. Some people feel sun grown means higher quality and is worth more, I’ve had incredible quality from both natural and artificial lighting but think sun grown means lower production costs and therefore should mean a lower price. Irradiation is a far more interesting variable but regardless there are those who believe non-irradiated has a higher value, my position is still evolving on this one. If the sum of those features are what you look for then this might be worth the premium to you, but if you see this for less, then it’s worth jumping on.