As we ride out the hectic, hedonistic holiday high into the new year, it’s essential that we begin focusing more on self-care. For me, there are few fragrances as calming to my mood as the smell of burning white sage. And though the Mountain Sage from Cannabiotix doesn’t actually smell like white sage, its smoke did have a similar effect on my mental state.
CBX’s Mountain Sage is a cross between their exclusive, award-winning Kush Mountains cultivar and an heirloom classic, Lemon Sage #50. CBX is a SoCal-based Cannabis brand that produces boutique flower and concentrates for the California and Nevada markets. All of their product is PGR-free and handled with the utmost respect for the terps throughout the process: hung to dry/cure in total darkness, vacuum sealed between stages, hand-trimmed (using the “revolve the stem” technique), then sorted and packaged to ensure maximum trichome preservation.
That attention to detail is evident here: With their diamond shape, dark green color and multitude of dark reddish pistils, these plump and frosty buds twinkle like tiny tinsel-covered Tannenbaums.
And the similarities don’t end there … upon popping the seal on the jar, the sweet, piney smell has me thinking I just walked onto a Christmas tree lot. Behind that pine, though, I’m also picking up notes of floral and citrus as I grind up a few buds to roll up. A dry toke from the joint tastes sweet and lemony, but once lit, the sweetness gives way to spicy – with powerful pine dominating my taste buds and sending a burning tingle up my nasal cavity. It’s only after I exhale, in the aftertaste, that the sweet and sour citrus reemerges once again. That hint of lemony citrus is due, naturally, to the presence of limonene.
Being so pine-forward, you might expect this cultivar to be pinene-dominant, but that isn’t actually the case. Instead, its woodsy, herbaceous aroma and flavor come from its two other dominant terpenes: terpinolene (found naturally in sage and pine trees) and ocimene. While this rare terpene profile places Mountain Sage more in the “Exotics” flavor category than the “Jacks and Hazes” group, make no mistake – Jack is still very much in the house.
Though it’s labeled a hybrid with a ratio of 80/20, it breaks decidedly on the sativa side – offering an uplifting and energizing high, offset nicely by the terpinolene’s subtle sedative effect. I found its high both stimulating and soothing, even evoking an emotional response: By the end of the joint, I’d broken out into a fit of giggles, followed by a healthy dose of nostalgia, as I found myself “pining” (excuse the pun) for the old days when I’d smoke those original Jack Herer and Super Lemon Haze joints over in Amsterdam every winter.
As refreshing and relaxing as a crisp breeze through an evergreen forest, Mountain Sage offers a soothing segue from the seasonal stresses of the holidays into the fresh start of your New Year’s wellness resolutions.
This article was originally published in the January 2023 issue of California Leaf.
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