Today I am looking at a world-renowned Sativa strain from Heirbloom, called Durban Poison.
Recently I was lucky to get the chance to look at Heirbloom’s lineup of Sativa strains, including Super Silver Haze, Orange Crush and Green Crack in addition to Durban Poison.
Heirloom acts as a kind of vault of the greatest hits of weed history, and gives cannabis enthusiasts like myself an interesting opportunity to explore some of the most interesting and important strains of the past several decades for ourselves, one on one, which is a pretty cool idea. Sort of like being able to visit an interactive cannabis museum where you can try everything in the exhibits.
So onto Durban poison then, which is, as far as I can tell a very Jack-forward Sativa strain. By that I mean it’s almost entirely cerebral and buzzy in its nature, with not much body high, and is very apple and lime tasting, with hints of cinnamon.
As far as I can tell with Heirbloom flowers, these are slightly more base versions of the kind of things their parent brand Cannabiotix normally offers – mutant powerhouses which smack you to the dark side of the moon – these are the more stable kind of flowers which show us what flower has been throughout the ages.
It’s a bit like listening to Africa by Toto.
Durban Poison shows off its impressive terpene profile as you crack open the jar, as heavy notes of Myrcene, Pinene and Terpinene waft out at you, drawing you in with a pleasing and inviting sense of nostalgia and a wonderfully comforting vibe that just makes you want to breathe in the contents of the jar over and over again.
This is a very interesting strain as it is known as “landrace”, meaning it is rumoured to originate in South Africa, crafted in mountains outside port city, Durban. Allegedly, the seeds eventually landed in the hands of legendary cannabis growerSkunkman Sam who stabilized the cultivar here in California during the mid 80s, before bringing it back to Amsterdam for distribution through various seed banks.
The strain also gained international recognition as a pure Sativa with incredibly uplifting effects, vibrant green with light orange hairs, with buds which are perfect examples of Christmas-tree shapes, and are pine forward with slight sweetness underpinning the overall taste experience.
It’s described as a classic daytime smoke, which I’d go along with, although I think there are possibly more exciting examples of the Sativa range CBX offers.
The high is fairly long-lasting, and contains those same soothing and calming qualities I would expect from a flower like this. One thing I am not hugely fond of when it comes to Jack strains is the slight aftertaste of the faint hint of urinal cake I get from them, it’s just one of those undeniably odd things I can’t seem to move past.
Someone who was talking to me about wine recently explained to me that after getting more interested in the hobby of tasting better and better wines, they could now identify a tannin which tasted like “garden hose” or something of that ilk. Ok, I suppose. This is the same as that.
I would recommend Durban Poison as a good flower to start on for beginners as it runs at the mid-part of the scale of the spectrum of strength at 28%, although to my tolerances it feels a lot lower, more like 22% at the most.
It’s very clean burning as always, suitably sticky to the touch, and a pleasure to break down by hand and lacerate into shreds with my trusty nail scissors.
For anyone who’s curious, I find it is best not to absolutely decimate the weed into a dust or powder like consistency when chopping it up – moderately sized breadcrumbs are the perfect way to think of it from my experience, as they burn best in the pipe or whatever you’re using.
This is a satisfying, medicating and relaxing flower which is not trying to think outside of the box it comes in, it just wants to help you wake up in the morning, get some writing done, and unwind after a hard day’s work. After that its effects are a little Cinderella-like, and wear off a little quickly for my needs.
I wasn’t able to replace my normal Indica hit with this strain, which isn’t saying anything negative about it, just that the terpenes did not seem to hit at the places I needed them to later in the evening, which of course it is not intended for – I am just curious for my own personal interests as I have been bereft of my beloved Indica strains lately.
Hopefully soon I will get the chance to review the new strain Blubert from CBX, a cross between their very trustworthy and solid Blue Flame, and Sherbert, which comes from the Heirbloom lineup.
Dr. StrainLove is a longtime lover of fine weed and is always hunting for the latest and greatest strains. His search has taken him from the Coffeeshops of Amsterdam to the boutique dispensaries of California, and lots of other places in between. He loves making music, playing video games, and using marijuana to ponder the mysteries of the universe. When he’s not doing those things, he enjoys spending time with his cat.
