Today’s docket is an exceptionally fragrant version of Black Widow from Trichome Farms. I picked up at Kaleafa the other week after asking for a notable but fresh sativa-leaning flower.
If you’ve tried White Widow, then you’re familiar with Black Widow because they are the same strain, just with different variations (phenotypes).
You see multiple phenotypes of many popular strains like Gelato and GSC. Essentially, anytime you see a “#+ [number]”, such as a “F2” or “F3” demarcation, that’s a specific pheno.
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The story of Black and White Widows originated in the Netherlands and was created by Scott “Shantibaba” Blakey. He took Black Widow with him when he split with Arjan Roskam and Greenhouse Seeds to create what is now called Mr. Nice Seed Bank.
There’s a lot of online contention over who discovered the Widow strains, and it’s another unfortunate story of a pair of friends splitting and things going sour. All we can do as smokers is try both and decide which we like for ourselves.
The only Kaleafa where I picked this classic strain is their Beaverton location. They always have a massive selection, and I feel pretty consistently helpful budtenders. It feels like a dispensary where the staff keeps themselves abreast of current inventories via frequent personal sampling.
This Black Widow was grown by Trichome Farms out of Dundee, Oregon. They grow organic indoors and hand-trim these beauties, including local favorites such as Zkittlez Magoo, Obama Kush, and Glazed Apricot Gelato, not to mention their crown jewel, Black Widow.
Trichome Farms has won three “People’s Choice” awards, including first place in “Best Sativa,” first place in “Best Greenhouse,” and second place in “Best Indoor” at state events, including the Oregon Growers Cup and Ganja Con.
As such, Black Widow is easily Trichome’s “signature flower” and apparently one of the best instances of the strain in the country.
- Strain: Black Widow
- Grower: Trichome Farms
- THC: 26.04%
Suppose you haven’t heard Knife Party’s cut of Nero’s remake of The Jets’ classic Crush On You. In that case, you need to check it out, at least the first 45 seconds, if you’re not into phat dubstep drops, which are definitely a specific mood for me, which aligns well with Black Widow’s character.
Anyways, like that song, Black Widow is fucking classic that slaps unapologetically. It knows how to have fun, but it’s also serious about doing so. Black Widow is the main course, baby; this is no appetizer.
Like a dive bar cougar with too many bedpost notches to count, Black Widow is effective in its mission 100% of the time. The name doesn’t try to be cute; it came before we were naming everything after candy, like a bunch of children.
For the record, I fucking looooove sweet fruity strains, so that’s also a self-slam, yes. Black Widow isn’t trying to be your friend, but if you’re down to ride, it’ll show you a good time.
Black Widow is the result of breeding a mystery Brazilian sativa with a South Indian Indica. The still sativa-heavy bud won the High Times Cannabis Cup in 1995.
So, not only are we going back in time to the 1990s in this review, but we’re also smoking on a prodigal child of two landraces that seems to be coming back “in vogue.”
So, let’s jump in the time machine and see what happens when we play with the spider…
Appearance: Classic Phaaaat Budz
Exceptionally light green phat little buds that look dense and, upon breaking them into my grinder, confirmed themselves to be solid through and through. We’ve got some lighter-colored, thick light rust hairs filling in the cracks between the clumps of green.
Overall, there was great uniformity, with each fat little flower shouting, “Smoke me first!” as I cracked open the seal on my Re:Stash mason jar and tumbled them out into my Smokus Focus magnification jar.
On the whole, I’d say these are very “classic”-looking buds. They don’t have insane colors or bud structures to make them stand out on the shelf, but there’s also nothing wrong with them. Their roundness and fullness are enough to tease a potential customer into asking for a cheeky sniff.
Smell: Friendly Fresh Bubblemint Gas Abounds
The most noticeable scents are the soft gas and mild lingering skunk emanating from these dense little turds. It’s not a wince-inducing “huffing fuel direct from the pump” kind of aroma but a softer, muted “hey, you probably shouldn’t smoke around here” odor.
Likewise, the skunk isn’t at the “pest control sprayed in the face” level of boldness; it’s just hanging around afterward, adding a nice long olfactory tail to the scent evaluation experience.
Black Widow isn’t a super-gas like a Durban Poison or Sour Dieeeeeeesel, but it’s still there. Think a good fresh hopped lager to heavy IPA in terms of heft.
What helps soften it is also this almost bubblegum-esque note that reminds me of Orbit’s Bubblemint flavor, albeit a little less on the bubble and replacing the mint with the gas/skunk here.
The overall effect is similar, with the bubblegum softening the mint in the Orbit and the saint bubblegum sweetness rounding the hard edges of the gas.
This is most noticeable with a dry draw; the flavor of bubblemint is undeniable, and as it’s one of the preferred gum flavors, that excited me to light this stuff up!
Sensation: Smooth & Steady Does It, Friend
Despite its powerful aroma, Black Widow’s mental activation process is very cautious and linear.
What I mean by that is sometimes some strains tend to creep up on you unwittingly over time in a sneaky way to the point where you suddenly have the epiphany that you’re quite blitzed.
Conversely, some players like to get right down to it and hit you after the first couple of deep draws.
Black Widow takes a moment to slowly envelop you in a warmly lit elevator lined with dark wood and just one mirror on the back.
Some mono electronic music plays faintly from behind the overhead lighting system before slowly, at first, but gaining momentum, she brings you rapidly up to the top of the building, where the doors open to a mid-stage electronic dance party.
So the high takes a moment and holds your hand as it accelerates you towards your final destination of high AF in a short but very manageable time. This buildup of speed is nice as it reduces the risk of early-onset paranoia IMO, especially if you don’t have a bulletproof tolerance built up.
Once high, my mind seemed to run at 1.25x normal speed, not in a manic fashion but in a dialed-in zone that I usually only achieve on a cup and a half of coffee and some tunes blasting in full-blown productivity mode.
I brought some of this bud rolled up to a Halloween party where I arrived unable to see shit through my one-piece spandex alien costume in an entirely black-lit house.
Minus my own self-inflicted poor vision that night, Black Widow proved functionally effective at socializing within a small group of costumed strangers.
Black Widow has also helped me be quite productive in the few endeavors I managed to accompany her, such as cooking a few dinners and busting out some extra 9-5 responsibilities.
So yeah, the sensation is pleasant and motivating without getting too racy like some more fuel-soaked sativa-dominants.
I would not recommend Black Widow if you’re looking to lock yourself into your couch and endlessly shove peanut butter pretzel bites into your mouth as you attempt to break your previous ’90s Star Trek binge record.
Conclusion: Delightfully Energetic Venom
Black Widow (and I can only presume White Widow, too, but I will have to do another review on that) is the dancer who can actually dance and makes it intimidating when he/she does so.
The crisp freshness of the moves, the power and grace, the instant impression and lingering memory, that’s Black Widow.
This strain would be an excellent companion to a house party and could double as a mid-party pick-me-up. The linear, predictable, energizing high would make it great for even more intense activities like shredding some mountain powder or going to an electronic concert.
With such a scary name, being synonymous with a deadly arachnid, some may shy away from this gorgeous strain, but in all, the effect is much more pleasant and energetic in an uplifting way than the name implies, and, as such, should not deter anyone from trying Black (or White) Widow.
Black Widow hits, yes, but it’s not overwhelming, paralyzing, or socially crippling like many other premium-grade heavy sativa-leaning cannabis varieties.
As such, I’d even recommend this weed to someone earlier in their cannabis journey as it’s a Dutch classic and follows an equally classic high arc from first inhale to last.
