Squid Pants here looking at a Runtz offering from Strains Limited. The hype on this variety hit its peak in 2020 when Leafly called it “Strain Of The Year ”. The site published an article about it which really was an ad for the various companies in the US involved with breeding and producing that variety. The hype was really off putting to me so I skipped it at the time. Well the genetics are still pretty popular and I’ve gotten over the annoying hype and crass commercialization enough to try it so let’s see how this specific offering measures up.

RNTZ

RNTZ is Runtz, a cross of Zkittlez with Gelato. The theme here is sweet dessert flavours with notable genetic contributors including Grape Ape, Sunset Sherbert and Girl Scout Cookies. As I said above this was hyped to an obnoxious degree a few years back but that’s not the weed’s fault. In fact the genetics are appealing to me and there is definitely promise here.

PACKAGING

Pretty standard mylar bag here. THC is claimed to be at 24.6%, basically no CBD and a total Cannabinoid percentage claimed at 28.5% with minor cannabinoids not listed. I would say I am hesitant to believe these numbers but I would never accuse any producer or lab of THC percentage manipulation.

Further claims on the package are that there are 4.7% terpenes with Limonene, Myrcene and Linalool being the most common of what they tested for, but that accounts for only about half of the terpene content so there’s more to the story (plus no other scent compounds tested for so this information won’t really give you a good idea of what this in fact does smell and taste like).

This was packaged on November 2nd, 2022, and I evaluated it on January 30th, 2023, which was 89 days later.

LOOKS

The buds are in general towards the plumper end of small, but all buds are small. It’s claimed this is because the plant only grows smaller sized buds, so no surprise. Buds are somewhat flat but I suspect that’s due to the packaging and storage before purchase. A respectable percentage of the buds have a nice dark purple colouration and trichome coverage is respectable. Trim is tight and clean giving a good presentation of the surface.

FEEL

Feel is quite acceptable, not too fluffy and not too dense with some rebound from compression, however the largest of the buds were quite delicate and somewhat fell apart under compression. Humidity is acceptable as it comes with a humidicant pack.

Grinding offers no resistance, in exactly the same way that to my experience Gelato offers no resistance to a grinder. Cohesion is ok and grounds are uneven. Rolling a joint is miserable as the grounds have no compressibility and want to just fall out of the ends of the paper through the entire process.

SCENT

Opening the bag you are hit with a wall of Play-Doh. Well, not a wall, more a fence which is much nicer to be hit with but you’d still rather not be hit at all. Grinding really brings out the Play-Doh further, which almost drowns out a sickly sweet smell reminiscent of Rockets Candy. Almost.

There’s no aspect of the smell that I personally enjoy for whatever that’s worth.

TASTE

Volcano: The Play-Doh scent does not translate to taste, thankfully. Instead the primary taste is just slightly unripe banana followed up with a Rockets Candy like berry taste that I can only describe as sickly sweat. Taste starts stronger than scent intensity would imply and lasts several runs, but is never truly strongly flavoured.

Joint: Again luckily no Play-Doh taste. Or maybe unluckily; if you picked up a taste for Play-Doh when you were a kid then this could be a huge let down on that front. The unripe banana taste takes centre stage again, with secondary tastes composed of faint berry and lime juice, though a weird artificially flavoured candy version of those tastes, with slightly creamy caramel on the finish. The novelty quickly wears off despite magnitude lacking all around. I will also mention the ash was grey with lots of black flecks and went out almost instantly when not being drawn upon.

PRICE AND VALUE

I paid $41.30 for 3.5 grams from Scarlet Fire Cannabis in Toronto, which works out to $11.80 a gram. If we indulge the fantasy that this offering is in fact about 26% THC then that works out to $4.80 per 100 mg of THC. For the price I don’t think this is recommendable, the smell is strange and taste should be stronger for the price, plus if you combust you’re in for a headache if you prefer joints. I really don’t feel I got anything out of visiting this variety personally but perhaps it would be better to check a review from someone who liked the profile before making your decision.

CONCLUSIONS

I found it cloying, the burn was terrible and I couldn’t even finish off the bag. You will likely perceive it differently compared to me, you may even find the taste agreeable but the various flaws make it just not worth it. There’s plenty in that price range that are better choices.