Plus Products Cannabis Infused Gummies Review

Plus Products makes several types of cannabis infused gummies. There are Sativa, Indica and Hybrid formula gummies that have 5mg of THC per gummy. They come in packages of twenty 5mg pieces.

plus-sativa-sour-watermelon-open.jpgI always prefer cannabis edibles that indicate Sativa, Indica, or a hybrid, so I like that Plus has products labeled Sativa and Indica. I like it even better when edibles provide the name of the strain used to make the THC oil, but unfortunately there is no indication of what strain is used for these gummies. The website does say “Each low-calorie gummy is made from scratch with natural, kosher ingredients and infused with carefully sourced top shelf flower.” but doesn’t give any indication which strain of flower.

Besides the Sativa Sour Watermelon flavor, the company uses a similar formula for their Blackberry & Lemon Indica gummies that have a 9:1 THC to CBD ratio, a Sour Blueberry Hybrid and their Pineapple & Coconut gummies with CBD and no THC.

In 2018, Plus did make three limited edition flavors – Rose & Vanilla with a 2:1 THC to CBD ratio, a Rainbow Sorbet, both labeled as Hybrid with no strain indication and a Cranberry Shortbread Sativa.

Packaging is a Big Fail

There is a lot not to like about how this product is packaged. Shame on their product packaging designer for thinking that white text on a pale pink background for the Sativa product is legible. In low light, for folks with impaired vision or for those that are color blind, this packaging is very difficult to read. Not only is it difficult to read, it has a complicated child safety mechanism. When you can’t figure out the packaging and the instructions are nearly impossible to read, this is a product that starts out being very frustrating before it is even open, which does not create a good start to the experience.

As you tear off the top of the package, you have to be careful of the ziploc-type slider mechanism hidden inside the part you tear off. It is very hard to see whether you are tearing off the whole zipper mechanism or just the top of the bag. Once the top is off and if you have managed not to destroy the “zipper”, it is very unclear what happens next. If it didn’t require a flood light to read the text on the package, than it might be easier to figure out, but it isn’t. You are supposed to align the slider with a tiny notch in the closure and then push down on the slider. Unfortunately they don’t give you any hint which part of the slider is supposed to be aligned with the notch, so you have to keep trying the slider in different positions to try to make it work. By this point even a reasonable person would be ready to take a knife and destroy the packaging in frustration or just dump the whole thing in the garbage.

Once you have found the magic coordinates to make the slider work, it creates an opening about 75% of the width of the tin inside, making it difficult to get the tin inside out of the packaging. If you try to make the opening wider, the slider pulls off of the mechanism, ruining the child proof packaging. Trying to force the slider back onto the mechanism is difficult and then once you do, the opening mechanism doesn’t work. Only by prying open the bag can you access the tin with the gummies inside.

This product officially wins my award for the worst packaging of any edible I have tried. The manufacturer who produces this packaging and Plus Products should both re-examine this terrible design. Why create a frustrating customer experience that makes a person never want to buy their product again – not a good recipe for profit and sustainability. My only crime was wanting to try your gummies, I didn’t expect a packaging  obstacle course.

Taste

The gummies are very soft tiny little squares, about one quarter inch square. No wonder they say they are low calorie, they are so tiny they can’t hold a lot of calories. They are not sticky and look to be covered in a sugar coating.

The flavor – in this case the Sour Watermelon – was very subtle. I barely tasted any sour watermelon taste, it was more like a generic citric acid fruit taste plus a THC taste. A look at the ingredients may have the answer why.

The first ingredient is Beef Gelatin, which makes me go “yuck”. I’m not a vegan but I do try to avoid animal products, especially those from boiled cow hoofs. The other ingredients are sugar, salt, citric acid, tartaric acid, natural flavors and colors. Not exactly an ingredient list to get my taste buds excited. There was a definite THC aftertaste once the taste of salty acid and beef hooves fades.

Strength

I usually prefer a Sativa edible to give me some uplift, energy and focus to get things done or enjoy creative pursuits. I first tried one of the 5mg pieces and felt nothing for hours. I then tried two pieces to bring me to my normal does of 10mg. I found them slow to start and while they are slightly uplifting, I got very little energy from them. That was about the extent of the effect.

It was not at all what I usually expect to get out of 10mg of THC from a Sativa strain. I felt slightly stoned but I did not feel uplifted or creative or energetic. After a couple of hours even the slight effects were gone.

This is closest I have come, when taking my usual 10mg dose of THC in edibles, to feeling like I took nothing at all. Except for a slight initial effect, the effects were otherwise non-existent. I have tried some mild edibles but this may be the most mild.

PLus gummies rainbow

I did find that they are a good strength to boost the effects when I’ve had 10mg of another edible and I want a stronger effect. About two hours after taking 10mg of another edible, if I want a stronger effecting I find that adding one of the 5mg Plus pieces gave a nice little boost.

Claims

The company website includes the claim “Our products act faster and taste better because our research and manufacturing teams have spent the time to develop industry leading patent pending processes.” They give no explanation as to what those processes are or how much faster they claim to work. Without any supporting information, these come off as marketing claims that sound false, even if they are true.

In what I think is a hilarious mistake, the “Press and Investor” website press page shows what looks like the manufacturing floor, with people in robes working on pans of product and boxes in a bleak warehouse. Unfortunately most of them are not wearing face masks and at least half of them have their hair nets on wrong, not covering all of their hair. A food inspector would likely shut the place down or give a warning at a minimum.

With the frustrating packaging, the lack of great taste and the very mild effects, this is a cannabis edible I cannot recommend without reservation. While it is okay as a booster edible, there are much better choices out there both for gummies and other edibles.

Gummies we do like include Valhalla & Highly Edible cannabis infused gummies.

Flavor: 3

Strength: 3

Website: https://www.plusproducts.com/

Kushy Punch Sativa & Indica Cannabis Gummies Review

Kushy Punch Cannabis Infused Gummies come in Sativa and Indica formulas. I greatly prefer THC edibles that indicate if they are Sativa or Indica, as I never know what effect I can expect with many generic “hybrid” edibles. These gummies provide specific effect with specific formulations, which helps you know what to expect. Kushy Punch also does make a Hybrid formula, a Recover formula (THC +CBD), a CBD formula and a Private Reserve hybrid gummy.

I love that the Kushy Punch website indicates the type of genetics for each of their formulas:

According to a recent Los Angeles Times article, Kushy Punch are one of the most popular edibles brands in the L.A. area and I was glad to find them in Northern California as well. Fortunately they are widely available in California

Ingredients and Packaging

These gummies are gluten free, dairy free, fat free, peanut free and kosher. They are not vegan or really vegetarian either, as the gelatin they contain is made from animal products. They are a tiny 3.3 calories per piece. As with many California edibles, they come in a package of ten doses totaling 100 mg of THC per package. The Sativa and Indica formulas have 0.1mg of CBD per 10mg of THC in each dose. At 3.3 calories per serving, they are a low calorie edible.

Kushy Punch cannabis infused gummies GIF

You have to push in the flaps at the sides of the box to open the inner container, then peel back a foil cover to reveal the 10 gummies. The gummies are in one large piece with sections you have to pull apart. Be careful separating them, as it’s easy to mistakenly rip off more than a single serving size piece.

I found it difficult to figure out what the flavor was. I had to check the box to see that the Sativa is a Strawberry flavor and Indica is Plum flavor. The ingredients are tapioca syrup, cane sugar, water, gelatin, citric acid, natural flavor extract, cannabis oil and coloring. A typical, if not mouth-watering ingredient list common to many gummies. The flavor was pretty generic and I could taste the cannabis oil, though mildly. They tasted fine, if really unremarkable. I did have a cannabis oil aftertaste with the Indica formula.

Effects

The front of the box has a graphic that says there is 60 minute activation. With individual metabolisms varying so greatly, I’m not sure how they can back up this claim as being scientifically proven. Even as an individual I have had the same edible hit me significantly sooner or later than usual depending on what else is my system.

The effects are primarily as you would expect, with the Indica formula to be a more body-focused effect with relaxation, anti-anxiety, heightened senses and a light, calm type of euphoria. Sativa is more focused on the head, with creativity, energy and a similar effect of heightened senses.

These THC gummies produce the effects you would expect from Indica or Sativa strains of cannabis. The strength is good, producing a noticeable effect similar to other type-specific edibles. The effects last the usual 4-5 hours for me.

Not the best tasting gummies I’ve had, but they have no offensive taste either. For a low calorie, reliable edible with effects on point to what you would expect, Kushy Punch gummies are a good bet for elevating.

Taste: 3

Strength: 8

Website: Passion Care LLC – https://kushypunch.com/

Craft Elixirs Pioneer Squares Cannabis Infused Gummies Review

Pioneer Square is the heart of Seattle, and these vegan, gluten free, and kosher edibles live up to their namesake.

Craft Elixirs Pioneer Square Cannabis Infused line of edibles come in ten different flavor and effect combinations. Pineapple Crush, Sour Cherry, Lemon-Mandarin, Pink Lemonade, Watermelon-Kiwi, and the award-winning CBD-THC Black & Blueberry. These are some of the best tasting gummies we’ve tried, with the lemon squares having actual pieces of candied fruit peel in them, a first in our edibles experience.,

Each artisan fruit chew has 10mg of THC per serving, for a total of 100mg THC per package.

The package is a ziplock bag with a child proof zip. Inside are the chews individually wrapped which makes for easy individual transport but adds to the packaging, Not too much pressure needed to open it, which is a blessing for folks with limited hand strength or arthritis.

Dosing & Flavor

The smell from the individually wrapped pieces is a strong real fruit smell. Craft Elixirs edibles are made with real fruit ingredients and natural flavors for authentic, true-to-fruit flavor. With so many gummies having candy-like unnatural or artificial flavors, these are are a nice change to taste like the actual fruit. Of the edibles we’ve tried, this is the closest one has come to tasting like you are biting a piece of actual fruit, especially with the bits of orange rind in the chew.

Unlike the Kiva Camino gummies which are smooth and see-through, these have a more of a fruit chew appearance and a very light sugar-covered texture. They are easy to bite through and melt in the mouth as easily as most gummies. They are chewy for sure but also soft and have a very pleasant mouth feel.

These gummies contain Light Corn Syrup, Sugar, Water, Fruit Pectin, Orange, Baking Soda, Cannabis Extract, Lemon Oil, Canola Oil, Citric Acid, and Agar Agar. Since they don’t contain gelatin, they are vegan friendly which is always a cruelty free plus.

They are gluten free, and dairy free, a square shape that is easy to cut in half for a 5mg dose or in quarters for a 2.5mg dose.

As we always recommend with new edibles, try half of your usual dose before trying a full dose as you never know how strong something will effect you. The gummies are easy to cut or bite in half to give a 5mg dose of THC, then to split again for a 2.5mg dose. As everyone is different, it’s important to try a partial dose first to see how you react to new edibles.

Since I am experienced with edibles and my usual dose is 10mg of THC, I began with half of a half of one piece, with 5mg THC. After having only light effects for that trial run, I then moved closer to my usual dose on another day, taking one whole gummy for a total dose of 10mg THC. I still found the effects on the mild side, so I found that for me a 12.5 mg dose gives me a solid strength effect. I sometimes use one and a one quarter pieces for a 12.5mg dose of THC when I want a stronger effect, or if I have recently eaten or if I’ve taken CBD, which can tamp down the effects.

Effects

The effects were along the lines of what you’d expect from a Sativa strain. Uplifting, energetic, creative and a little bit spacey. The impacts are perfect for being able to function well with a boost of expansion for the head. The effects I experienced were closely aligned with the effects I’ve enjoyed with similar Sativa edibles, with very little body focused effects.

Excellent real-fruit forward flavor profiles and specific effects are what good edibles are meant to provide when we want to elevate. Craft Elixirs cannabis edibles do a great job on both counts and set a high standard when it comes to natural flavors.

They also make potato chips and chocolate syrup, can’t wait to try those!

Available in Washington state.

Taste: 10

Strength: 7

Website: https://www.craftelixirs.com/products