Rainbow belts, hash cookies and sex chocolate

Much like Valentine’s Day for the flower shops, the 420 holiday on April 20 is serious business for the cannabis industry. New products and giveaways abound. There’s something special out there for just about every stoner in Lansing who needs to replenish their stash before Tuesday.

As the Capital City’s premier weed aficionado, I was able to get my hands on some (perhaps too many) product samples about a week in advance. 

Pure Options — Rainbow Belts

Price — TBD

THC content — 24.82%

Pure Options is dropping an exclusive new strain called Rainbow Belts next week. The first harvest is testing at nearly 25% THC. And it’s so new that the prices haven’t even been set. 

A bouquet of fruity scents — citrus, grape, papaya — burst from the jar, interwoven with spicier, lavender-like floral notes. Incredibly dense, popcorn-sized buds shimmered chartreuse with crystalline trichomes under the light.

Don’t let the candylike name and aromas fool you. The flavor is much more spice than fruit. The effects also come on very quickly. A brand new strain called for a brand new bowl, and just a few tokes led to an hour-long wave of relaxation under the sun in my backyard. I’d recommend this strain for those searching for an incredibly smooth-hitting way to relieve anxiety or pain. 

Northern Lights FX — 

Premium Chocolate

Price — $20*

THC content — 100 mg

Northern Lights FX, a relative newcomer to the recreational cannabis market in Michigan, is one of three pot companies operating out of the old Roma Bakery in Lansing. Pure Options and Edgewood Wellness just started stocking its line of cannabis-infused chocolate bars this month.

Each 2.5-ounce chocolate bar includes 100 mg of THC, as well as a blend of natural modifiers — like melatonin, l-theanine, muira puama, caffeine — to achieve some very specific effects. 

The classic bar is about as simple as it gets. The “highest quality milk chocolate imported from France” blended with a moderate dose of cannabis extract. Five pieces make for easy dosing. And aside from the mild hashy taste, I could’ve been tricked into thinking this was Ghirardelli. 

The snooze bar, as the name implies, is best suited for dosing up right before bedtime. The whole bar contains a whopping 40 mg of melatonin designed to boost your body’s natural sleep hormones. In addition to the usual relaxed sedation from the THC, this one knocked me out in about an hour.

The relax bar includes a 1:1 THC to CBD ratio, as well as a relaxing blend of green tea extract l-theanine — designed to decrease tension and lift you off into an increased state of bliss. This one might be my favorite of the lineup. An even CBD to THC mix helps to reduce some of that paranoia or head rush that some smokers feel.

The daytime bar is essentially just four cups of coffee (or 400 mg of caffeine) packed into one dank chocolate bar. This might be the best choice for wake and bakes. I only had half of the package and could hardly stay seated.

The focus bar is supposed to be Adderall disguised as cannabis. It includes an energizing blend of nootropics — specifically bacopa and rhodiola extracts — that are designed to boost concentration and improve mental cognition. Paired with 100 mg of THC, I didn’t notice much. Then again, maybe it was because I wasn’t trying to focus on much of anything this weekend. 

The love bar is more risque. Formulated with an herbal blend of muira puama and ashwagandha, this aphrodisiac concoction is designed to enhance arousal and heighten intimate sensations. I’d say it works. But even if it didn’t, at least you’ll go to bed baked. 

Noble Road — Brownies, Cookies and Gummies

Price — $20*

THC content — 100 mg

The owners of the old Roma Bakery have been keeping a fairly low-key operation over on S. Cedar Street since they bought the place last year. There isn’t a big Noble Road sign out front. Aside from the employee parking lot, one could be forgiven for thinking the building is vacant.

But inside, those old Italian ovens are being put to good use with an array of baked goods and gummies, all infused with premium hash rosin — a major rarity on the Michigan edible market. 

Most edibles are made with distillate, a sterile sort of THC concentrate that often comes from low-end dried flower and trim. It also lacks the full spectrum of cannabinoids from the plant. Hash rosin, on the other hand, is all about preserving the original terpene and flavor profiles of cannabis. After harvest, the flower is frozen, pressed and processed in its most primal form. From there, Noble Road mixes it with sweet cream butter into a variety of decadent desserts. 

The double fudge brownie bites contain about 5 mg of THC. The cookies contain about 10 mg and come in three standard flavors — chocolate chip, peanut butter and molasses. A special rainbow colored “Dazed” sugar cookie was also released for the 420 holiday this year, and it’s my personal favorite of the bunch. All of them had a mild hashy flavor, which staff told me was intentional to help differentiate the product from other non-intoxicating products on the shelves.

Most edibles leave me with a little bit of couchlock and, depending on the day, a bit of anxiety followed by a mild headache. These baked goods, however, were a different story. The entourage effect of the terpenes from the hash rosin made for a much more balanced high.

Nobel Road also just released a line of rosin-infused gummies made with real fruit juices. I tried two varieties — the cherry-lime and the apple-ginger. And both were absolutely delectable. 

In addition to being gluten-free and vegan, these little 10 mg candies included a very simple list of ingredients and a natural fruit taste. The ginger was a perfect pairing for the hashy aftertaste.

Kyle Kaminski is City Pulse’ managing editor and a cannabis enthusiast who has been smoking marijuana just about every day for the last decade. Almost weekly, Kaminski samples some of the best cannabis products available in Greater Lansing, gets real high and writes about them. 

*Prices may vary and are estimated based on availability at multiple retailers in Michigan. 

Next week: High Life Farms recently released a new line of bit-sized pretzel cores dipped in chocolate and peanut butter called “Nuggies.” Company officials said these 100 mg packages are currently the third best-selling THC-infused chocolate product in Michigan. Unfortunately, I simply didn’t have time (or the mental capacity) to eat them before our print deadline. Check back next week for a full product review — including High Life Farms’ decadent blueberry cheesecake chocolate bar.