420 All Month: Strawberry Guava

I started the Strawberry Syrup review last week with “I’ve said it before, but some strains are named perfectly,” and I’m saying it yet again: Strawberry Guava may not be the most creatively named strain, but it doesn’t really need to be. This strain is so straight forward as to flirt with being overlooked. Until you’ve smoked it. There have been a few strains over the last two and a half years that I’ve consistently recommended to customers who were looking for something different, something mild, or balanced, or they were looking for flavor more than effects. Many of those who tried Strawberry Guava in these cases would come back, excited to get more, or at least tell me how much they enjoyed it, even if they were planning to get something different. But the funniest part is how often these customers would also do something like lean in over the counter, or whisper, or look around like they were going to get cough doing something untoward, and tell me as if in confidence how much they liked it, how delicious it was, and so on. Strawberry Guava is like this beautiful secret that people want to share, but not too much, else it lose some of its charm.

Strawberry Guava – at least most of the cultivations I’ve enjoyed – has decently-sized, dense, and boldly-colored nugs. It’s a rich green, somewhere between pine and kelly green, with thick, dark, and fuzzy brown pistils snaking in and out of the sugar leaves and shallow valleys of the… (I might be making up a word usage here) …nuglets? The individual smaller nugs within a larger nug. The smaller parts we break off when we’re taking a nug apart. I hope this makes sense and I’m not rambling like a madman. Hold up, I’m looking this up in real time as I write, and Urban Dictionary already has this as a definition. So, yes, nuglets.

The aroma is where the “named perfectly” comes back in full force. This is a cultivar that hardly smells like cannabis, it’s so fruity, smelling strongly of strawberries, bananas, and lightly sour tropical fruits generally, with just the hint of a herbal undertone. The smoke is smooth and easy, medium-bodied and velvety, tasting so very much like it smells, though softening the sweetness of the fruit with a balanced but lightly sour-funky aftertaste which is quite enjoyable.

As for the high, it’s nothing mind-blowing, but it’s just a perfectly even, well-balanced “hybrid” high. My mind becomes uplifted, lightened, and calm, and my body relaxes just the right amount. It’s a great daytime high if you’re not looking to be too active, unless you’re someone for whom being active is your resting state, in which case it’s possibly a perfect daytime strain. It’s also a nice start to an evening of winding down if you plan to follow it with something more sedative or heavy. A very few strains get my “perfect hybrid” stamp, and Strawberry Guava is perhaps my favorite of them.