Tag Archives: sleep

Mary’s Medicinals Transdermal Patch Review

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Mary’s Medicinals is my favorite brand of transdermal patch. They come in Indica, Sativa, THCa, CBD and CBN. The CBN one is a standout for its help with getting to sleep and staying asleep.

MARYS PATCHesTransdermal patches like these are placed on a clean patch of skin and deliver the medication through the skin. With patches, the amount of medicine released is consistent and can keep the effects going for a full 12 hours. I like to use rubbing alcohol to clean the area of skin both before I put the patch on and after I take it off. Recommended locations for applying patches are the inside of wrists and the tops of feet.

Dosing & Effects

Mary's CBN patch

CBN – I have experimented with half of a patch and one quarter of a CBN patch (both are shown in the picture with pre-2018 packaging). With half of a patch I started to feel the effects within 20 minutes and I was ready to go to bed not long after 30 minutes. With one quarter of a patch the effects took a little longer but still provided a strong relaxed feeling that is perfect to help get to sleep and avoid insomnia.

The quarter patch dose has become one of my preferred tools for those nights when I need some extra help getting into sleep mode or I want to interrupt insomnia.

With the CBD, THCa, Sativa and Indica patches, those also provide a strong dose that is long lasting. A friend with nerve pain in his feet prefers THCa to his prescribed pills. I have used the CBD patches on areas where I have aches in my muscles or in joints and I often find relief, it depends on the source of the pain. I like being able to put a patch near my hip or on my shoulder to focus the effects in that area. While it is a transdermal and not a topical, it does seem to help, specifically with the CBD, to reduce inflammation in the area.

Patches are the longest lasting way to have a consistent stream of medicine. Most edibles at a standard dose last a maximum of six hours, smoking/vaping usually less, so for folks with chronic conditions – especially pain – transdermal patches are a great choice. Much better than popping pills every four hours.

Highly recommend Mary’s Medicinals transdermal patches!

Strength: 9

Flavor: n/a

Website: http://www.marysmedicinals.com/

Kikoko Cannabis Infused Organic Teas Review

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Kikiko has a line of four tasty teas that deliver various combinations of THC, CBD and CBN. Each one is formulated to deliver specific effects, as their names indicate: Tranquili-Tea, Positivi-Tea, Sympa-Tea and Sensuali-Tea.

Kikoko TeaTranquili-Tea is for relaxing and to help  you sleep, with 5mg of CBN and 3mg of THC. Positivi-Tea is for mood lifting and pain relieving effects with 10mg THC and 5 mg CBD. Sympa-Tea is for pain management and anxiety relief with 3mg of THC and 20mg of CBD. Sensuali-Tea is described as being “for passion and play” on the website, with 7mg of THC.

Kikoko uses organic ingredients and high quality cannabis in their products, so they are a premium product. This creates a price point per dose that is higher than the average edible or beverage. I am frugal so I usually re-use the teabag once. The label clearly says that there is no increase in potency after one minute and that these are single use teabags, but they have enough good flavors that they make a nice second cup of tea even if it doesn’t deliver any cannabis effects.

Tranquili-Tea

Tranquili Tea Kikoko

The Tranquili-Tea works very well. About 45 minutes after a cup in the evening I start to feel very relaxed, after an hour I usually feel like heading to bed. I am able to fall asleep easily and stay asleep. If I do get up it is not hard to get back to sleep. I sometimes feel a little something different in the morning, but too slight to call it a hangover, let’s call it a fuzziness that dissipates quickly. I especially love the tastes of peppermint, camomile, lemon myrtle and licorice root that come across without a medicinal taste. I had a friend who has gone through cans and cans of these as he has trouble sleeping and they work like a charm for him.

I’m a tea drinker and really like the taste of Tranquli-Tea. It’s THC dose is low, but you definitely feel the calming effects of the Indica cannabis. I would surely recommend their use as part of an evening wind down or anti-anxiety routine.

Positivi-Tea

Positivi-Tea Kikoko

Positivi-Tea has the most THC of any of the Kikoko teas at 10mg. Due to that dosage, this tea has the strongest THC flavor of any of the teas we have tried. It is still barely noticeable and does not make the tea taste bad or medicinal. You have to like mint flavors if you want to like this tea as it has both peppermint and spearmint in it. Some folks are not a fan of peppermint, so this is not a taste they might like. I have fond memories of having tried teas in Amsterdam, so I was excited to try this.

While I usually take some caffeine with our edibles, the green tea in this product provides a good amount of caffeine to help boost the effect. Instead of having an edible with breakfast, I had this tea along with a medium sized breakfast. I started to feel the effects in a mild way in about an hour, which is longer than usual. Everyone is different and reacts differently to different products. Be aware that these may take longer to have the effects felt than other edibles or “drinkables”, so be patient when waiting for the effects.

After two hours I was only feeling a mild effect, what I usually expect from a 10mg THC dose when it is paired with CBD, because for me CBD reduces the impact of THC. The effect was noticeable, just weak. So many things effect how we respond on different days like the type and amount of food in our system. Whatever the reason, after two hours I felt I wanted a stronger effect so I augmented the tea with Mary’s Medicinals THC Transdermal Pen for a boost. The boost helped temporarily but soon I was back to only a mild effect. My experience is that this product is good for people who want a mild effect from a 10mg dose. It isn’t strong enough for me to use without boosting it with something else, or making a tronger batch.

Have not tried the Sensuali-tea, but the Sympa-tea has the pain relief you expect from a CBD dose.

These are one of the more expensive cannabis edibles per 10g dose that are available. For our chart of comparing your cost per 10mg THC dose, see our COst Per Dose post.

Kikoko’s teas are an excellent, high quality and unique way to elevate. Great flavor profiles and good strength make this a solid choice, especially when you want to treat yourself or those you love.

Taste: 8

Strength: 6

Website: www.kikoko.com

1906 High Love Cannabis Infused Aphrodisiac Chocolates Review

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1906 brand chocolates come in four different effect-specific “experiences” – Go for energy (Sativa), Pause for relaxing (Indica), High Love as an aphrodisiac (Hybrid) and Midnight for sleep (Indica)

1906 High Love Inside

I selected these chocolates for review because they are strain specific and that is my preferred product choice when it comes to cannabis edibles. The High Love product I tried was infused with Blue Dream as indicated on the end of the package.

1906 High Love End Strain Info

Pricing & Dosing

You get three pieces per box, each of around 5mg each of both THC and CBD. If 5mg is your dose, then you get three doses, but if your usual dose is 10 or 15, you only get one full dose per package. The price point (I paid almost $20 before tax in Colorado) includes that fact that this is artisan chocolate formulated with other herbs and spices that are said to produce “all-natural aphrodisiac effects”. I appreciate artisan quality if the taste and the effects are there and I’m willing to pay for it. It is a stretch for me when other edibles are priced at 100mg for around $20 to pay almost $20 for 15mg each of THC/CBD in this edible.

1906 High Love Side

Taste

Sima Sciences, describes High Love as “a blend of damiana, catuaba, muira puama, ashwagandha, vanilla and other natural botanicals”. It was chocolatey and tasted of spices.  These products contain dairy and so they are not vegetarian/vegan.

I don’t know what damiana, catuaba, muira puama, or ashwagandha tastes like, so I’m not sure if they added anything in the flavor area. I was neither repulsed nor wow-ed by the flavor. I am always hoping to find amazingly delicious flavors in edibles, but to me these were “M’eh”.

Effects

The bud tender who helped me said that like me he was sensitive to the effects of Indica and that he liked to use this Sativa infused edible before a night out. He agreed that while he didn’t find that it put you “in the mood”, you were ready if the opportunity and consent was there.

I initially tried just half a piece, as he had said they were strong. I didn’t feel anything even when I tried the other half of the piece two hours later. When a product like this is high in CBD (almost 1:1), it keeps a lid on the THC effect in my experience, so I’m not surprised that one piece didn’t result in any noticeable effects. If you are sensitive to edibles or just starting to try them, something mild like this High Love edible that has CBD to blunt the effects of the THC could be a good fit.

The website says “1906 is specially formulated using advanced pharmaceutical techniques so that you typically feel the effects within 15-20 minutes”. They don’t say what those techniques are or how it works faster.

1906 High Love Front1906 High Love Back

I then tried a full dose, which for me is 10mg THC. Again, a 1:1 mix of CBD and THC like this product has limits how strong the effects are for me.

I usually like the effects of Blue Dream, but since CBD impacts the effects of THC for me, I didn’t get a full effect I wanted. It was like 3/4 of the effect I would expect and want. Regrettably the opportunity to test the aphrodisiac properties didn’t present itself, so I can’t comment on the effectiveness of those properties. It felt like a mild edible,  not strong enough to put me in a “let’s party!” mood yet with noticeable effects.

If CBD doesn’t’ harsh your buzz when it’s 1:1 with THC, as it does for me, you may find this edible gives you the desired effect. I prefer a stronger effect from 10mg of THC. I also prefer something that tastes great so it’s worth the calories, and something that has a more reasonable price point. While I will try the coffee beans and the other 1906 products, I won’t add this High Love edible to my list of favorites.

Strength: 5

Flavor: 4

Website: 1906newhighs.com

Dutch Girl Cannabis Stroopwafels Review

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My friend asked her favorite budtender, with the day-glo yellow hair, to recommend her favorite edibles and Dutch Girl Stroopwafels were on the top of her list. They come in a resealable container of ten 25mg cookies, equaling a total of 250 mg. The price she paid was $25.00 a container. That comes down to $1.00 per 10 mg, a very nice price!

Dutch Girl Cannabis Caramel Waffles 250 mg package
Image courtesy Gary Uncle G Brown

The waffle is cinnamon and caramel. Crunchy on the outside and pleasingly chewy on the inside. It was a little weedy tasting, but not too bad.

She highly recommend when trying  Dutch Girl Stroopwafels that I wait one and a half hours before eating more. They are slow to create a full buzz, but are VERY powerful. She was stoned for more than 3 ½ hours.

The waffles gave her a heady high. A nice, strong buzz. Once feeling the high, she began to de-stress and chill out. It was a creative, happy, stoned feeling. Dutch Girl Stroopwafels didn’t give her the munchies.

It was so nice she decided, rather quickly, to double check this product. It really is delicious and very strong. Just like her favorite budtender, she said she absolutely would suggest this to my friends, so I decided to try them.

Cannabis Caramel Waffles 250 mg Nutrition Facts
Image Cannabis.net

I tried them one weekend afternoon at 5pm. I had a late lunch so my stomach was half full. I didn’t have caffeine with it or anything else to boost the potency. The waffles are already made with a good amount of fat from the butter, so I didn’t feel the need to follow my usual practice and eat it with something with some fat in it like an avocado or some mac & cheese.

Heeding the warning about this being a very strong product, I decided I would try half of a single waffle first. My usual dose is 10mg so trying half would bring me close, with about 12.5 mg in half a waffle. One issue for me is that they don’t easily break in half. If they are cold, they are solid enough you could cut them with a sharp knife. My attempt to break one in half gave me more like 60% and 40%, so I started with the 40%.

Absolute best way to enjoy a stroopwafel - on top of a warm mug filled with a favorite drink
Image courtesy ILoveStroopwafel.com

The taste is good, the sweet caramel mixes with the crunchy sweet ice cream cone-like waffle cookie. There is definite cannabis taste at the end and it lingers with the caramel as the aftertaste. If you are familiar with Stroopwafels you know they are meant to be enjoyed with a hot drink like coffee or cocoa. As seen in the image above, you can let them warm on top of your hot beverage and then they can melt in your mouth as you eat them.

It took a while for me to feel the effects – be prepared to wait a while for this edible to hit you. Don’t take more if you don’t feel anything in the first hour, it takes a little longer for this to wind up its punch before it hits you! I was sitting for the first 60 minutes after I took it and when I stood up and walked around, I got a distinct head rush.

I ate some dinner after 90 minutes and expected that to retard or reduce the effects. After about an hour, I felt a tiny bit of body relaxation but the primary response was one of a stoned, heavy head. I am very sensitive to any sedating effects that Indica strains have, so I usually feel that more than many people. This was a “don’t drive or operate heavy machinery” kind of a very relaxed feeling with sluggish thinking and slowed reaction time. I didn’t have strong munchies.

So if you are looking for a strong, relaxing effect this is a good edible for that. Perfect for late afternoon or early evening if you want to just relax and stay in. It is not an edible I would have with my morning coffee unless I planned to do almost nothing all day :).

Flavor: 7

Strength: 9

Website: CannaPunch

Kanha 1:1 THC:CBD Tranquility Berry Flavor Gummies Review

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Kanha cannabis infused Tranquility CBD gummies contain a 1:1 ration of CBD to THC. Each piece has 5mg CBD and 5mg THC, plus Melatonin to support relaxation and sleep. There are 10 pieces making the package total 50mg THC and 50mg CBD.

These gummies are made with gelatin, so they are not vegetarian or vegan friendly. They are gluten-free. They contain no food allergens like dairy, nuts or soy. Each piece has 23 calories so the whole bag only sets you back 230 calories.

Kanha CBD THC Tranquility Cannabis Infused Gummies

Taste & Effects

The smell from the package is a sweet blue raspberry-like berry smell. Each gummy is covered in a fine sugar coating that provides an initial sweet taste. Once that disappears, there is a semi artificial non-specific berry taste I can’t put my finger on mixed in with a slight cannabis oil taste. That taste lasts for quite a while, transitioning to something of a fake cherry aftertaste. Like other Kanha gummies I’ve tried, they are not the most pleasant tasting cbd gummies I have had, since I don’t like artificial flavors, but they are perfectly fine tasting.

Kanha gummies are robust, taking a good five minutes to dissolve in the mouth. I am willing to overlook a less-than-wonderful taste when the edible delivers the effects I like and this is a good example. As with all new edibles, I took half of my usual dose the first time to judge how strong they are. My usual dose is 10mg of THC and up to 20mg of CBD. Since these CBD gummies come in 5mg THC/CBD pieces, I started with one. I took it first one evening about an hour before I was going to bed. Within an hour I could feel the melatonin and other ingredients start to have an effect. Yawning told me I was experiencing the relaxing and sleep inducing qualities. I was able to finish what I was reading, brush my teeth and settle in for a good sleep. I slept through the night and felt no “hangover” the next morning.

With 5mg of THC, I did not experience any of the psychoactive effects from taking higher dose THC edibles. When I take an edible with 5mg of THC, I usually get some mild psychoactive THC effects. I found the Kanha gummies to have little of those effects, although I wasn’t awake for too long to experience them. In my experience, CBD lessens the impact of THC, so that I get a stronger effect from 10mg of just THC than I do when there is 10mg of THC and 10mg of CBD in a gummy.

THC does work together with CBD, so I like the equal ratio of CBD to THC in this gummy because it helps activate the CBD. I find these work better than products that only contain CBD. If you are looking for a CBD gummy edible with an equal dose of CBD and THC, this edible is a good choice. Many products contain only CBD and no THC, which I find much less effective.

The package suggests taking between 1 and 3 doses. Since even 3 doses would have 15mg of THC, you would have to be careful about psychoactive effects. I usually find 15mg of THC to be too much, but with the CBD reducing the impact of the THC effects, I can sometimes take a higher than usual amount without undesirable side effects. Always start low and go slow with edibles and judge the impact for yourself, as we all react a little differently.

Wrap Up

For relaxation and solid sleep support plus a healthy dose of pain relief, Kanha Tranquilty CBD:THC gummies are a good choice. While I don’t love the flavor, it is not enough to prevent me from enjoying the powerful effects. Overall a good choice if you are looking for support with getting asleep and staying asleep plus the anti-inflammatory and other effects of a 1:1 CBD:THC gummy edible.

Taste: 3

Strength: 8

Website: http://sunderstorm.com/kanhatreats/

Medicine Box Cannabis Infused Goo Drops Chocolate Truffles Review

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medicine box truffles boxes

Medicine Box makes one of my favorite edibles, the nutty and potent medicine bar. They also make these wonderful chocolate truffles in various flavors and strains.

All of the Medicine Box truffles are made with the Indica-dominant Goo strain of cannabis. This strain is primarily meant to help with relaxing, easing anxiety and helping with sleep. Leafly describes Goo as “an 80% indica strain that mixes a sweet-tasting Blueberry with the hashy, resinous Hindu Kush. Deep physical relaxation is coupled with slight cerebral energy”.

Medicine Box truffles peanut butter circle

Flavor & Dosing

We tried the Peanut Butter Banana Goo truffle. It has a good chocolate flavor and some crunchy nut pieces for a nice texture. The cannabis taste is not overwhelming, it mixes nicely with the peanut buttery flavor. I wish the banana flavor was stronger, but that is a hard flavor to make strong without going artificial.

Each box contains 2 pieces of chocolate, each wrapped in foil. Each piece is 20mg and my usual dose is 10mg. With new edibles we always start out with half our usual dose, so I started with 5mg. I definitely noticed some relaxation and a body effect like I would expect from an Indica strain like Goo. After I was satisfied that 5mg wasn’t too strong, the next time I used 10mg.

Effects

When I first took a full 10mg dose I was already a little tired and within an hour I fell asleep on the couch, which is unusual for me. I woke an hour later a little groggy but was able to give the dog a spin in the yard and get ready for bed. I was glad when I got in bed and went to sleep in short order. I found these great for help with getting asleep and staying asleep. In the morning I feel refreshed and not groggy.

I am sensitive to Indica effects naturally, so these Goo truffles may be effecting me in a stronger way than someone with higher tolerance. They are also nicely strong, so do approach using them with caution and start slow. Try a quarter of one piece and wait 2 hours to see what the effects are for you.

I love the Medicine Bar products because they are strain specific and that lets me know exactly what to expect from my edibles – something you don’t get with generic “hybrid” edibles. These are in regular rotation for me.

Read more about the cannabis strain Goo here on Leafly

Flavor: 8

Strength: 8

Website: medicinebox.green