Lot 420 Gelato 33
Intro
High quality but high prices on this Lot 420’s Gelato 33. Squid Pants here, let’s see if this manages to justify its price.
Gelato 33
Gelato 33 is definitely a cross of Sunset Sherbert and a Thin Mints GSC. That’s the only consistent information on this one. Past that I found that apparently it’s the 33rd plant in a grow and is clone only, but because of the 33 it’s also called Larry Bird, of course the 33 comes from it being called Larry Bird and that’s his player number which is why it’s still got the 33 number when in seed form, and so on in an ouroboros like set of mutually self contradicting myths and legends.
Lot 420
Lot 420 are based in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. This is their only cultivar as of the time of writing. That’s about all I know, the producer was an unknown quantity at purchase.
Packaging
This comes packed snugly in an opaque black glass jar. Appropriate size, appropriate material and recyclable in most places, not bad.
Jar does not include a humidicant pack which at this end of the market I would expect to be present. It also commits a very serious-to-me sin for a luxury product, and that is my package was underweight. Yes it’s by a tiny amount but at these prices if there’s an error in weight, it better be in the purchaser’s favour.
This package was opened 62 days after it was packaged on November 5th, 2021.
Looks
Came as a collection of nice medium buds with about 2 smalls probably just to fill out the weight. Trim is near perfect, and trichome coverage is incredible. Colouring is light green and dark purples. Buds taper to a sharp point and every detail is clearly presented.
This looks fantastic.
Feel
Dense buds that take a lot of pressure to compress with good return. It feels a little dry on the outside. This results in grinding feeling more like crumbling, but this doesn’t tell the true story. Despite my worries, Grinds have good cohesion and rolling a joint is an unexpected pleasure.
Scent
Opening the package the scent is strong, the astringency hits first, upon recovery from that berries fight with earths carried on the back of pine and eucalyptus. Not room filling but close up it’s impressive anyway.
Grinding brings the earths and pine to the forefront. Again not too loud, but not shy and quite nice.
Taste
Volcano: The astringency follows through past the scent here, as pine and eucalyptus fight with the earths on exhale. Overripe berries and mango have to wait for the aftertaste to be noticed, but linger on the tongue for a while after. The berries are short lived and with use tastes progress to rich vegetative earths while the mango remains. Overall great longevity and great tastes, only complaint is the magnitude is a little below what the price point promises.
Joint: Here we get spice with hints of cinnamon and warm earths hiding just behind under-ripe berries. Slightly under ripe mango and papaya work with a touch of pine all bringing a pleasantly sweet sourness for the brighter notes.
Burn is also quite clean, the bitterness of the combustion products was undetectable until near the end, a pleasure to smoke the entire time.
Price and Value
Price was a whopping $50.00 after tax for 3.5 grams, which is $14.29 a gram. I picked this up from a local cannabis store in Toronto, and the price is about average for Ontario on this exact product. Price per 100mg THC was $5.67 as there is a lot of THC in this one.
In my brain anything under about $7.00 a gram is budget priced, from $7.00 to under $12.00 a gram is mid market and $12.00 to $15.00 is luxury pricing. Anything above $15.00 a gram is outright insulting and personally, I’ll pass. This is close to my ceiling and I never like paying this much. I think it’s overpriced, but that’s because I think this specific price tier is too expensive. I will say in the legal market this level of quality is only available at this price tier, so this indeed is in the price range of its peers.
Clearly I am willing to buy at these prices, which I guess makes me part of the problem, but if you’re like me there is value at this price for this product, but there is also resentment for paying 1990s prices in a time of plentiful legal cannabis.
Conclusions
Sure, it’s cheaper per gram than palladium, but that doesn’t make it reasonably priced. I also know blaming the producer for the price isn’t too fair as they get very little if any say on the final retail price. My biggest complaint is a point the producer can do little about (short of pulling the punk rock move of having the package label also state a maximum retail price the producer thinks is reasonable), but some may be giggling at my cognitive dissonance over hating a price I voluntarily paid so there is also some entertainment value here. If you see this on special immediately jump on it, this is well worth a look.
