Viola Grandma's Pie
Intro
Squid Pants here checking out a balanced cart from Viola. This is from the medical market and I’m as unenthusiastic to write about it as the Canadian producer is! Because I tried to contact them with questions but they just couldn’t be bothered responding at all. Let’s get this soon-to-be trainwreck rolling.
Grandma’s Pie
This offering is called Grandma’s Pie. Attempts to figure out the lineage of the source plant got nowhere. There was a little bit of evidence this is the same as Grandma’s Batch, but I would say the evidence is too scant to realistically consider that. So, the source plant and its ancestry is unknown. At a guess I would say it’s not even based on an actual plant and is instead just a simple terpene blend formulated by a committee to be as banal as possible which is then added to distillate. If it’s actually a single plant extract then it’s a house bred variety named in tribute to the founder’s grandmother and not the subtitle of a double digit sequel to a regrettable series of GILF pornographic films. You can see I used the word films there, and that’s because this is clearly a sophisticated website where if we discuss GILF porn, it’s arty enough to have earned the designation of “film”.
I wrote to the company to enquire about the lineage along with a few other questions several weeks ago but the company never wrote me back, not even an auto-reply. Here I again note this was bought on the medical market, so draw what conclusions you think are fair. I know I’m unimpressed.
Viola
The company was started by some guy named Al Harrington who played basketball professionally or whatever. I know some of you are yelling at your screens about how this is an important athlete but you know what? I just finished listening to a His Hero Is Gone album which means I am excited about things that you don’t care about as well, so we’re even. Mr. Harrington loved his grandmother, Viola. There’s some story about glaucoma issues in there and there you go, backstory complete.
On a less sarcastic note the company has a large portfolio of social initiatives they run and support so I honestly respect the work they are doing for communities most heavily affected by the War On Drugs. Of note that refers to the parent company in the US, and it’s the Canadian licensee that ignored a patient’s request for information so might be best to put a little distinction between the two.
Taste and Details
The taste is subtle over ripe sweet berries and a cloying floralness, the combo of which manages to be sickly sweet yet also faint and underwhelming. There are two notes, no subtlety and it’s honestly gross.
The numbers are 40.1% THC and 41.5% CBD. Price was $47.99 from Medical Cannabis by Shoppers for a full gram cart. Simple calculation here shows the price per 0.1g is about $4.80 rounded up.
Build on the cart is good, the viscosity and colour of the oil is quite nice and the cart has been clog free.
Conclusions
I can’t recommend this. I’ve had a few honestly good balanced carts but this is just gross tasting. Maybe huffing a bunch of overripe berries and flowers is your thing but this cart is pretty well the definition of sickly sweet to me. Price is ok and the effects are exactly what is desired for a 1:1 so nothing wrong with it, just, I got a little nauseated every time I tasted it. I am also quite disappointed as to the lack of response to my questions, that’s unacceptable for a medical offering and runs contrary to my experiences with every other company I have ever written to with questions about their cannabis products.
At least I can honestly hope a little of my money went to some causes that seem worthy, as I hope that also applies to products sold here in Canada. Impossible to know for sure because they certainly won’t tell you if you ask.
