Sitka’s Lebanese-style hashish lets smokers enjoy a taste of classic hash, crafted using a blend of modern and traditional techniques. Sitka co-founder Nick Saad feels that the more people learn about the ways of smoking hashish, the more they’ll begin to embrace and enjoy this taste of the old world. True to this point, you can find a variety of hot knives, glass domes, pins and instructional videos on their site, all aimed at educating the modern consumer on this classic product.
The name Sitka comes from the spruce trees that made up the original skyscrapers of Seattle, where the brand started and still operates today. Saad and fellow co-founder Shawn Richards created the brand in 2012 after the gaming company they both worked for suddenly dissolved. It’s not often you find a Washington brand making the jump into California, but as Saad told us, “I don’t think it takes much to inspire you to join one of the largest Cannabis industries in the world.”
In 2020, Sitka started carrying its traditions down the coast – sourcing from sungrown or greenhouse farms near Santa Rosa to make their hash-infused pre-rolls – as well as their three distinctive varieties: Red (indica), Gold (sativa) and Cream (hybrid). Sitka’s method of hash-making has been practiced and refined over the years and starts with cured dry-sift chosen for texture and terpene profile.
Their Coastal Cream (or Cascade Cream, as it’s known in Washington) is a hybrid, hand-blended mixture comprised of 80% Lebanese Gold hash and 20% live resin. This mixture allows the team to highlight some of the incredible extractions in each state and gives this hash a terpene and potency spike. The result is a dark, hard ball that feels like dry silly putty and shines with a terpy glaze.
Sitka describes the consistency of Coastal Cream as “typical of European hashish.” At first, smokers might find this slightly stiff, as it requires some extra handling to warm up … but once you pinch into it, you’ll pick up an earthy, rich cocoa smell that’s less baker’s chocolate and more semi-sweet.
Dark and oily, it reminded me of the hash I got in France in the early 2000s – easily rolling into a snake with any extra absorbed back into that rich, brown ball. Coastal Cream performed best for topping bowls and rolling hash snakes, with a denser consistency that burns slightly slower than Sitka‘s Gold or Red.
By itself, it has a very focused and buzzy high that perfectly complements a busy day (there was a lot of that dog-with-a-bone kind of focus in the high). With the addition of some flower, Coastal Cream provides the right kick to turn a single bong rip into two lung-busting hits and has a much more mellow, stationary-style high.
While unsure what to expect from this live resin/hash combo, I really enjoyed getting back to smoking from my old hash pipe and that the live resin never overpowered the distinctive hash taste. All part of Sitka’s master plan, which Saad described as “for the hash smoker to experience the deep earthy flavor of hashishene.”
This article was originally published in the October 2022 issue of California Leaf.
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