Let me tell you about a special flower I’ve been smoking for about a week now. This is a 50/50 hybrid called Sundae Driver. The genetics of this plant are great! It is a cross of Grape Pie and Fruity Pebbles OG, both superior strains in their own right, but when these two were crossed the result was an amazing offspring that comes as close to my Holy Grail of herb as any I’ve tried. This herb has an amazing family tree – Granddaddy Purple, Purple Urkle, Chemdawg, Tahoe OG, Tahoe Alien, Durban Poison… you could say this strain comes from a very good family!
Let me take you back to a week ago where this review really started. I suffer from severe depression, and I was in the midst of a monster storm of badness. For the last three days I had been in an endless negative feedback loop of body illness and mental suffering. It was awful, about as bad as it gets. I was incapacitated and nothing that usually helps me out were even touching this bout – not smoking, edibles or vape – I tried all my regular tricks I’ve gathered in my decades of battling this illness. Nothing was working and I was starting to lose hope in the herb.
That’s when a great deal on an ounce of Sundae Driver dropped into my lap, so to speak.
I had smoked a couple joints of this Sundae Driver a week earlier and really loved the taste and effects. This deal came from my local delivery service and I jumped at it, and snapped up an ounce.
The driver who delivered the herb and I got to talking. Turned out he was the actual grower of this herb and gave me good background info. This was locally, organically grown, sun-grown herb that flourished under the brutal summer heat of the hi-desert where we live. As he talked I could sense his deep love of the plant and I appreciated that because I believe the vibe of the grower affects the cannabis.
The Look and Smell
This ounce I got was very typical of outdoor-grown Sundae Driver, but typical of Sundae Driver is miles ahead of many lesser strains. The nugs were mostly large – 4-5 grams – beautifully trimmed trees.
The bright to dark green buds were riddled with orange hairs that ran like veins of gold through the well-cured flowers. There were hints of purples and oranges, and the overall effect was a bag full of photogenic buds.
The smell was loud as I extracted a typically large nug from the bag to cut some up to pack a bowl. The flower was somewhat sticky to the touch, but very sticky once I cut into it with my scissors. The cure, I must repeat, was perfect – thickly pungent flowers with perfect moisture, and when I made that first cut the aroma slapped me upside the head. Sweet berries – ripe blueberries and strawberries − that are both rich and earthy while smelling something like the candy Starburst… and with lots of purple swirled in. It smelled like an exquisite confection from a fine restaurant.
The Taste and Effects
Creamy vanilla with earthy undertones – I was sitting and savoring the aftertaste from the first hit from my bong. The smoke was thick, and had a flavor that followed the aroma. Now I was waiting for the first effects to kick in, and the aftertaste was checking off all the right boxes when I asked myself what I’m looking for in an herb.
I didn’t have to wait long for the effects to start hitting me… maybe 40 to 50 seconds. I must point out again that I was in a prolonged depression when I took that first hit – and the first thing I felt was a sense of relief, an unloosening of tightness that gripped my body. After the second hit there was actually a smile on my face – the first smile in days. This strain was providing a genuine uplift that was pulling me out of the muddy pit of depression. By the third hit, and ten minutes down the road with this Sundae Driver, and depression was starting to fade into the rear view mirror.
I texted my wife who was working and told her the good news: “This herb has given me a nice sense of peace and centering.”
The effects were mostly a head high with lots of body comfort… minor aches and pains just slipped away. The clear-headed high was creatively inspiring and was more like the effects of a good cup of coffee. With a strong “just let it go” vibe, this herb was perfect for leaving cares and anxieties behind and getting a fresh start on the day.
This high had a long flight with a comedown that was barely noticeable. It’s like the herb didn’t just mask over the symptoms of the depression but removed them for the rest of the day. This was a great strain for smoking repeatedly through the day as it kept providing a great high over and over again.
My wife came home from work stressed out that day, and I suggested she take a hit of this tasty Sundae Driver. Surprisingly, she took me up on it, and from just one hit I watched Sundae Driver do its magic, and in a half hour the stressed out day was far behind her and we had moved on to better things.