When it comes to weed, I have to admit I'm a little bit green. I don't know how to roll a blunt, I have no idea how much a zip is, and I just learned how to French inhale a few months ago.
During the pandemic, I started to use cannabis to deal with anxiety, migraines, and menstrual cramps. While I don't indulge every day or often enough to consider myself a stoner, I look at its use as no different than having a drink at happy hour.
So when Tee Grizzley's Grizzley Gas cannabis line debuted earlier this month at Levels Cannabis in Centerline, I decided to review all four strains.
Each strain contained about 25% THC and was labeled as "exotic" cannabis. Noticeably missing from the label was each flower's classification: sativa, indica, or hybrid.
All flowers were ground using an herb grinder and smoked in RAW Organic Hemp Cones (I was serious about not knowing how to roll). I judged each flower on four things: smell, color, smoke, and high.
I decided to start with the Grizzley Gas strain and figured a Saturday morning wake-and-bake fit the occasion. Since it was the brand's namesake, I thought it would be great to use as a control. When I opened the pack, I was honestly underwhelmed. It smelled pretty basic, like what I could get anywhere on the street, and wasn't too dark in color. Seeing and smelling this let me know I made the right choice on where to start. When it finally came time to puff it, it was probably the cleanest smoke I've ever pulled — very light on the inhale. My initial thoughts were "this is it?" It felt like I had dipped into my mom's stash.
I honestly thought it was a complete bust until I found myself scarfing cold slices of a leftover Little Caesars Hot-N-Ready a few minutes later. Of all the strains, the high of this one smacked me the hardest.
After I came down and gathered myself, I decided to roll up East Side OG. To be very real, I was most excited about this because the packaging was reminiscent of an old-school airbrushed background at a Detroit cabaret. The smell of this flower was a lot stronger than the Grizzley Gas. Slightly darker in color, this was more of what I was expecting when I read "exotic" on the package. The texture after breakdown was more wet than the first — it had a little more bounce. While Grizzley Gas was easy on the lungs, the smoke of East Side OG was more rough — like, I'm-coughing-and-might-not-ever-stop type of rough. Despite this one being more intense, the high was much softer. It didn't feel as abrupt as the Grizzley Gas.
I decided to take a break and allow my body to reset before resuming the next day with another wake-and-bake. I was least interested in Marshmallow OG, despite knowing nothing about it — the packaging just wasn't appealing to me. Much to my surprise, it ended up being my favorite of all of the strains. It sits somewhere between Grizzley Gas and East Side OG. There's a slight sweetness to the flavor of it, which makes the name quite fitting. The high was a much slower crawl than the two previous flowers. This is the one I would roll and go chill on Belle Isle and listen to Slum Village. I will probably smoke this one again.
Going into the last strain, my expectations were nonexistent. I saved the strain I was least interested in for last. Jet Fuel Gelato just sounded like I was being fast-talked into a mediocre strain.
I was right.
It's about the same sweetness as Marshmallow OG, but with a name like Jet Fuel Gelato, I wanted the strength of East Side OG with the hard-hitting high of Grizzley Gas. It wasn't spectacular, but it wasn't bad. I ended up with a soft and smooth high similar to that of Marshmallow OG.
The highs on all the Grizzley strains were immediate as described and, overall, the quality wasn't low-grade. Do I think they all fall under exotic flowers? Yes and no. The Grizzley Gas strain felt pretty basic, but the Marshmallow OG and East Side OG certainly lived up to the name and expectation of exotic buds.
If you hit the dispensary and see them on the shelf, they're definitely worth a second look.
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