Intro

Squid Pants here testing the wisdom of crowds and checking out an offering a large part of my social circle were gushing over.  This one is packaged by Carmel but grown by Magi Cannabis.  Let’s see if it lives up to the hype.

Hippie Headbanger

Hippie Headbanger is Sour Diesel X Biker Kush and is from the Dutch breeder Karma Genetics.  Despite the fact that Karma doesn’t have anything named Hippie Headbanger in their catalogue it’s safe to assume it’s the obvious choice; Karma’s Headbanger.

While I was digging into this one a little, I decided to check out the ancestors of this cultivar that Karma also has in their catalogue.  Starting with the details on what version of Sour Diesel Karma used, turns out Karma has a Sour Diesel backcross they have been working on for a long time.  They used an inbred line Sour Diesel crossed with their original Biker Kush as the second parent when they started that project.  So it seems this cross was attempted many years ago but was only used as a step on the route to stabilizing a version of Sour Diesel.  Going forward, Karma Genetics revisited this cross but this time with the cross itself being the goal.  Karma Genetics returned to their IBL Sour Diesel but now crossing it with their latest version of Biker Kush.

Looking at Karma’s Biker Kush, it’s parents are Hells Angel OG X Lucifer OG.  However Karma kept working that line and now have a Biker Kush 2.0, which is a multiple backcross to Hells Angel OG.  It’s this Biker Kush 2.0 that went into Karma’s Headbanger, which it is assumed is what Hippie Headbanger is.

Producer

Carmel is only the packager here.  Carmel has rotating offerings where another grower’s product they consider exceptional is packaged by them as either Drew’s Pheno or Billy’s Pheno.  This time around this is what’s in a bag of Drew’s Pheno, but who knows how long until a new cultivar and grower is chosen for the next incarnation of Drew’s Pheno, by design these offerings are ephemeral.

The producer in fact is a small craft producer, Magi Cannabis from Salt Spring Island, BC.  Keep an eye on them, with this quality we will definitely be hearing more from them in the future.

Packaging

It’s the oh so common mylar bag here so nothing to really talk about on that front.  That said the label is packed with info.  Going over the numbers this claims to have 32.27% THC.  Usually here I’ll point out that the number is unreliable and doesn’t match my consumption experience, but I have to admit this was a complete sledgehammer.  A tasty sledgehammer that at the same time claims to have 6.04% terpenes.  These numbers in isolation are suspect but together truly do raise an eyebrow.  The thing here is this is so potent and flavourful that I am willing to actually give those numbers the benefit of the doubt.

Dominant terpenes out of what was tested for are Myrcene, Limonene and Nerolidol, the last of which is somewhat rare to come across.

This was packaged on December 10th, 2022 and I opened it a mere 28 days later.

Looks

We have one bud that was over 3 grams and two small buds to fill out the rest of the weight.  Those two small buds were as dense and delicious as that big old top bud.

Surface has dense trichome coverage and is lime green with darker areas.  Trim is clearly by hand and is quite good, revealing a lumpy and non-symmetrical morphology.  I took a little off on looks but only because it’s not what is generally considered pretty, structure wise.  I think it does look great in its own way but had to find some feature to find fault with to keep them a teeny bit humble.

Feel

This is dense and solid.  Can take quite a bit of compression without even much distortion.  The feel is sticky and the humidity is perfect.

Feel in the grinder is substantial and satisfying but grounds come out chunky and uneven with moderate cohesion.  Rolling a joint the grounds would further glue together and compress down so a very gentle hand was needed.

Scent

Lime, lots of fresh squeezed lime, anise and a hint of cream cheese.  Didn’t get any fuel from it until it was heated so fuel did not present itself to me.  With contact from handling the buds, the burst trichome heads release a full spectrum of OG Kush scents along with sour notes.

Once ground it’s LOUD, and somehow even more fresh squeezed lime juice scent comes out.

Taste

Volcano: OG Kush with TONS of lime and sour elements.  Flavours remain through multiple runs without loss of enjoyment.

Joint: Here the distance between scent and taste is small but taste is far more intense.  Complexity is added by hints of fuels and some myrrh on the exhale.  It’s a chaotic composition that turns out fun and playful instead of disorienting and discordant.

Price and Value

I paid $44.95 before tax, which works out to $12.84 a gram, very much to the high end of what I would even consider.  Of note here is I got a discount, so you may find it for even more.  Going with what I paid, the price per 100 mg of THC is $3.98.

Value is a tough one.  I loved this, it’s the best I’ve had in quite a while and is worth a premium but wow, it’s really expensive even accounting for that.  I could never justify this price on a regular basis but I did pay it this time so clearly I can justify it to myself on rare occasions.  You know what your budget is but if you can find a way to fit this in, especially finding it on a good discount, you are very unlikely to regret it.

Conclusions

To sum up, this is objectively fantastic quality cannabis.  It is also on the high end of the normal range of prices (which is to say it’s actually less than one standard deviation from the mean price of Cannabis in the Canadian legal market, but it’s close to touching that milestone) so I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand, but I also couldn’t justify paying that regularly.  If you’re feeling like splurging a little and this review sounded appealing I will say I loved it.