#420OHIO
Ohio Strain Review:
Garlic Cookies
Riviera Creek is cooking up some wild cookies!
Review & Photos by: Randy Shaffer
Packaging: First Impressions
Riviera Creek cannabis is grown out of Youngstown, Ohio. This cannabis is housed in a sealed package that helps maintain a perfect environment to keep cannabis perfectly dry and flavorful. Packaging is stylish with a sleek reflective bag that changes color as light moves around the surface of the bag. The design itself is classy and simplistic, with a focus on advertising Riviera Creek‘s novel approach to cannabis cultivation using only air, light, water, and nutrients.
Patients with pain in their hands may struggle to open this packaging and should ask a caretaker to open it for them. Unfortunately, patients won’t be able to see the cannabis they are buying as this packaging does not have a window of any kind. But outside of those minor quibbles, this is an excellent package for keeping your cannabis fresh.
Also worth noting, it took a bit to notice that the brand of this cannabis is technically Stambaugh and not Riviera Creek (the name “Garlic Cookies” feels almost hidden). The cultivator’s holding company logo is far more prominent, perhaps indicative of a brand coarse correction, and it’s a correction for the good. The RC logo is pretty slick.
Cannabis Look: Out of the Bottle
This is a stunner of a strain. Colas are not particularly large (about the size of a nickel), but contain a rich palette of stark colors and dazzling complexity. Trichomes on this cannabis almost look like chilly frost in the morning, binding to the leaves in perfect symbiosis.
The landscape sparkles as the trichomes glisten when light touches them. The strain’s orange pistols are rich and sticky, like hardened honey, but take a backseat in favor of deep, rich pine greens. There are more subtle green leaves throughout the cola but they are not as visible as the trichomes envelope these leaves. I couldn’t help but stare at this strain for several minutes, soaking in the glistening trichomes and the strain’s unique language of color.
How Does It Grind?
Many Ohioans already know that some cannabis strains can grind a little stickier than others when grinding. This strain leaned a little on the difficult side. It took me a few extra turns to get this cannabis completely ground up.
Patients with neuropathy in their fingers, or pain in their hands, may want to talk to a caretaker about grinding their cannabis for them. This cannabis grinds to about as much as you would expect based on the bud size — so not a giving tree-type strain. Six colas gave me about two or two-and-a-half bowls.
Smell Before Vaping
Naturally, as the strain is called Garlic Cookies … I wasn’t really sure what to expect in terms of aroma. Would this strain smell like garlic? Would it smell like cookies? Would it smell like both? Really, Garlic Cookies doesn’t smell like either of those two descriptions. This strain is both strong and sugary, giving off powerful waves of diesel-like aroma complemented by a sweet, citrus finish. This powerful scent simply begs to be enjoyed over and over again.
This strain opens up even more as it is ground. When I opened my grinder I was treated not only to the powerful diesel aroma and the sweet smell of this strain, but also a dazzling floral complexity that simply stunned me. Each sniff was like smelling a fresh sunflower. If they could bottle the sweet floral aromas as a perfume, it would be a top seller!
The Taste Test
I vaped this medical cannabis with an Arizer ExtremeQ vaporizer. I like to start my first bag at a lower temperature to open the terpenes, and work up to a higher temp to vaporize the cannabinoids.
Once again, the name “Garlic Cookies” had me worried about what this one would taste like. Thankfully, it doesn’t really taste like garlic or cookies. That might disappoint a few people. And maybe there’s some who might read garlic and cookies when they vape this one. But like most strains with a faint or prominent diesel aroma, you will get a slight diesel taste, as is the case with this strain. But the strongest flavor comes from the limonene, providing a sweet thread throughout each bag I vaped.
The sweet flavor from limonene is complemented by a floral aftertaste that matched the sunflower scent of the colas. This strain would be excellent with a white wine or even a White Claw. But would also pair really well with a fruity tea or flavored seltzer water.
Medicinal Benefits and Side Effects I Noted
The medicinal benefits noted below are for educational purposes only, and are not a substitute for the advice of a medical practitioner or licensed budtender.
This indica Tier II cannabis strain from Riviera Creek contains 34.55% THC and 0.18% CBD. I just love a good indica in the morning. For me, it fuels creativity and productivity while relaxing the muscles and easing nervousness.
Indica’s don’t always work that way for every patient. For some, these strains can cause nervousness or couch-lock. Thankfully, they do wonders for my mind, body and spirit. I find that I can squeeze so much more into one hour while remaining both focused and relaxed.
Garlic Cookies was something of a creeper strain. I had finished my first bag for more than five or ten minutes before I began feeling the soothing effects of this particular strain. Within minutes I was relaxed and motivated, tackling the day’s tasks. Depression and anxieties were tempered, though some pain in my feet and back remained. This strain did help ease some of the symptoms of chronic pain, but didn’t work quite as well as the Whip It strain.
Final Thoughts on Garlic Cookies
Garlic Cookies is a relaxing indica that can take you on a smooth ride while also providing a beautiful aroma and stunning colas. Indica lovers should definitely try this one and see how it works for you. Those sensitive to indicas may find themselves couch-locked. Regardless, if you try this strain, be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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[…] really wish I had some of Riviera Creek’s Garlic Cookies on-hand for a proper comparison, but these strains appear to be very similar, though I recall […]
Garlic Cookies is my favorite strain of all I have tried, with Orange 43 being a close 2nd.