There is a tendency for many of us who work and live in the cannabis business to take our own opinions awfully seriously. That hint of linalool or a perfect burn means something inside our bubble, but is just gobbledygook to so many purchasers.

There is a big chunk of cannabis smokers that just smoke ‘cannabis’, regardless of cultivar or brand. In my illicit market experience, despite our data analysis being less robust than it would be now, it appeared to me that nearly half of all sales were made with one consideration in mind: price.

Today’s review is from a company being pumped up as the bestseller in the dysfunctional Ontario legal system, Pure Sunfarms, and this seems to be based on excellent penetration with this aforementioned group, the price-conscious shopper.

Pure Sunfarms cultivates in a greenhouse in the Fraser Valley, just outside Vancouver, B.C. They have made some specious claims that they are running historical B.C. cultivars, and that they represent “the tradition of good old-fashioned BC bud”. I completely disagree based on cultivars and quality, viewing this as just marketing bullshit, which is evidenced by their pay-to-play panel at the Lift & Co. conference in January.

That said, their million-square-foot greenhouse is a joint venture with Village Farms, a traditional vegetable producer, which is awesome. I can’t wait to see more food farmers take aim at cannabis. Also, Village Farms grows some pretty good tomatoes, and I love tomatoes.

It’s important to remember, I ignore price in my evaluations, and I write from inside my weed geek bubble. Pure Sunfarms is probably not targeting smokers like me.

Getting the weed

I got this flower from my local shop, as usual. It was available in a single gram, which cost about $8. This isn’t really what I would call a bargain price based on the illicit market, but it was among the cheapest options in the store.

Honestly, I would not usually buy this based on packaging, promotion, and pictures, but I will be buying all kinds of stuff to review.

I didn’t ask any questions of the budtenders, as I didn’t want to put them in a spot to find nice things to say about a budget buy.

Everything but smoke

It came in a cheap and shitty white pouch. I get it, this kind of packaging keeps price down, and is probably lower impact than many other options, but I still wish there was a way to buy grams with a bit less packaging. Still, it wasn’t in a 20-gram plastic container, so there is that.

It looked like shitty weed. Leafy, with a fluffy texture and a smell of sweet hay. This was the kind of weed that was sold for $5 or less in the illicit era, so I guess the $8 price point is as a result of supply chain costs, as greenhouse production at scale should be very cheap.

In all, first impressions were not very promising. Loose, airy buds without much aroma. Overall, it was pretty ugly.

When broken up, at least, it had a mild kushy smell.

Smoke

Yuck. Soapy hay is what it tasted like, with a kush and ashtray aftertaste. The ashtray thing stuck around for a while, too, which was particularly off-putting.

It burns with a white ash, but the smoke is quite harsh on inhale, and exhale just tastes like smoke. It provides an unpleasant smoking experience.

In contrast with the smoke, it has a pleasant enough high, slightly uplifting and euphoric. Not all that strong, which makes sense considering there isn’t a ton of trichome coverage, but it will get the job done for most smokers.

PURE SUNFARMS

Headband

6.3/17

This cannabis is not good. It might be passable for the budget-conscious, but $8 per gram is more than I would pay for this. It’s definitely near the bottom of what I have tried in the legal market. It’s a lower-than-mids offering that I would never try again.

Travis Lane

Executive Director, Inside the Jar

Gardener. Gambler. Skeptic. Talker. Toker.

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