Cookies Gary Payton
Hey-o, pancakenap here doing Gary Payton by Cookies!
When this website is not under attack from a country in west Africa, about 50% of our traffic comes from the US, the other half is from Canada. Cookies is an American brand, we might get some new traffic from down south so thought I’d add a quick note of orientation, just in case you’re new here.
Cannabis Review Protocol
This website is written by two cannabis consumers up in Canada. We buy retail cannabis products from the store, and evaluate them based on a handful of qualitative measures. We also report and analyze on some of the product data we take; content, price, packaging lengths. That type of thing. We grade each offering with respect to the standard deviation from the average set by our qualitative evaluation, and we provide context for price using the same method. For each offering reviewed, we create a post like the one you’re reading now, and we include the data from the review for use in product comparisons later.
Breeder on the Package
This is out of scope but the branding here is how I would like to purchase cannabis. I’d rather have the breeder’s branding on the package rather than the producer’s brand. I think it’s more authentic to major motivator behind the purchase, which is the breeder’s cultivar. The value from grower or producer of the cannabis is to bring that to the consumer in a verifiable way. Which this product has done. The breeder’s logo is on the package and I can read in the fine print that the producer is Noya Grow. Again, this is all out of scope so although I’m feeling postive about their approach, it doesn’t help their review.
Summary
I found this to be C grade quality cannabis, nothing too offensive but far away from stellar. I purchased this cannabis at a price point where I feel stellar quality should be expected. And that’s about the long and the short of it. There’s good stuff going on here. The flavours are really nice and some aspects were quite prominent. But there were also some detractions to note, like trim and an immature seed. Age was the major factor, I found some dryness and some dusty tastes. Cool so thats the intro, let’s get into the details.
Purchase Stats
Bought this one in August, wrote the review within 2 weeks. Here we are in October when I’ve finally gotten around to posting it. Three and a half grams were purchased for a whopping $53.47, or $15.28 per gram (that’s about $11.38 USD at the time of writing). The cannabis was packaged 244 days previously, or more than double the normal packaging length we observe (103 days currently). Content was in plausible territory at 23% THC. Which is still above the averages I tracked in the medical market (~18%THC), before it was trendy (or necessary) to get these big content numbers. I vaporized the cannabis in an S&B Volcano that I’ve owned since 2007, as per usual.
Gary Payton
Cultivar offered here is Gary Payton. I looked up the breeder, it says Cookies and Powerzzz Genetics. During the formal review I listed only Powerzzz as the breeder because I wasn’t sure if Cookies did/does any actual work. But then I googled it, read this article and wrote this wish-wash, to avoid dying on a hill that wasn’t worthwhile.
Lineage
Lineage is The Y and Snowman. Snowman is a GSC phenotype or some GSC cross. Seedfinder says The Y is Cookies (GSC) and Cherry Pie.
Store
Store of purchase was the Beltline location of Canna Cabana in Calgary. This purchase was my first time using their delivery service. The main driver for this purchase was this store had BZam Cobra Lips in stock, which I was also looking to purchase, so I tacked this on as well.
One thing that happened after I purchased the cannabis is the store sent two automated emails prompting me for a review of the cannabis on their website. Which has been their only request of the 8 things I have purchased from Canna Cabana so far. I arbitrarily list it as a pain point in the formal review but its more a point of interest. Apart from price, I can’t tell why they’ll ask for Cookies to be reviewed, but won’t ask for Organnicraft or Carmel, which I also purchased there.
Visuals
At this price point I was pretty picky. Buds were on the smaller side. I noted the vibrant colouring and trichome coverage, which is expected at this price point. There were several forgivable detractions like cut bracts and impacted fascia (from the mylar bag that contained the cannabis). I called the visuals about average.
Feel
Leaned dry. The buds would compress slightly but would crunch apart with some force. Ground to a non-cohesive powder. I found a seed later on while using the cannabis after the review.
Scent
I found the scents to be gassy with creamy herb and tarry pine. I noted it had good dimension but lacked pronunciation. I rated it just below average in this category.
Taste
Age of the product came into play here, I’d say. When using fresh grinds int the Volcano there’d be a layer of musty taste I had to get by first. I ended up just running each chamber for a few seconds first to take off some of those musty notes. I haven’t discovered a correlation between packaging length and oxidized tastes, not all that are this age are like this but I can tell you this one tasted old.
Even with the dusty veneer, I thought the flavour profile was complex and attractive. I found it has a harmonic floral resin note that makes it memorable and unique. Apart from the dusty tastes, the flavour was good, almost a spectacle to see.
Final Thoughts
I think there should be an ultra-luxury market for cannabis flower available at top tier, $15+ per gram prices. This just wasn’t it, age was the nail in the coffin. Still, the potential was there. The flavours are pretty unique, but I’m not sure it outshines other brands also offering something unique, for less. By my eye, quality ended up slightly above standard with a few minor and one major points of contention, the latter of which I think the store is more responsible for. But hey? As far as $15 per gram breeder-branded Canadian-produced cannabis goes, to be the best you really only have to beat DNA Genetics by Canopy Growth. Which this did. Anyways, I’d see something by Cookies again, hopefully fresher and a bit cheaper.
