9:30? Up-and-at-em. Really?
A full 24 hours smoking and I’m awake at 9:30? OK whatever - no point grumbling. Sunlight is streaming in though the window I left gaping and toasting my toes. That’s as good an inspiration to drag my arse out of bed as any - so a quick skin-up, a nice shower and we’re off by 10ish.
It’s a Strawberry Banana doob plus a complimentary vape for the wake and bake sat in the Vondel Park considering my moves.
Mike is flying home today so I plan to get uptown, eat and meet him asap. I wants me some houmous!
I get all the way over to nieuw markt - head down towards the Bluebird only to find the Houmous House is closed on Tuesdays. Random. Bugger.
Being the creature of habit that I am - La Grotte beckons. They do a decent eggs on toast (yes I know it’s difficult to get wrong) but the Dutch seem to have the ‘dish’ down to a fine art. On the way over I glance at Green place’s menu - nothing catches my eye, the Alien Tech isn’t on anymore so I take a pass.
Over to Haarlemmerstraat then - three minutes later I’m sat down loading a vape bowl (Did I mention how good this cycling thing is yet?) With an OJ served from a hipster jar. Sigh - this place is heading downhill. Consoling myself with a fat LA fire number and slamming some through the mighty is the ticket.
It's dark and fruity. The kush base all savoury sage and incense is rounded out by the fruity black berry finish. Velvet smooth and packing quite a punch the same character is evident through the vape. I had hoped to squish her in order to add to the quiver of flavour arrows but there’s not enough left to get more than a couple dabs. Think I’ll stick with vaping her and extracting maximum value. .
I think.
Time passes.
Boy I'm high.
Mike arrives before too long - we’re in no rush. We roll some more and have a few vapes. Mikes already cruising on the edibles and in fine form this morning. The sun is still shining - it’s another glorious day so we scheme a ride out to Baba’s new location in the north-west.
I don’t want to keep repeating myself and boring you stupid. So at this point - until I say otherwise, you can assume that riding around town is abso-fucking-lutely-lovely. This trip could have quite easily been 100% satisfying just cycling around town in the sunshine.
Baba is only 10 minutes via the scenic route (that’s the route I always take when failing to read maps correctly) the shop is clean, a little dark but comfy. Low seating with good cushions around two large tables complete with Verdampers for use (no deposit required). In the back there’s another largish room for chilling that looks even comfier. *edit* For those that care - the bathroom facilities are top notch too - perhaps even Boreongens level good!
The menu has a good spread of prices and I can already see that the tubs are nicely stocked with decent - well looked after nugs of product. The Budtender is knowledgable, friendly, patient and happy to show me absolutely everything. I end up with:
1g Amnesia €13
1g Big Buddha cheese €13
1g Mean green Martian €13/14
The 24k looked great and smelled fantastic but I didn't buy it.
We got some drinks and grabbed a spot by the verdampers which I immediately threw a .4 from the Amnesia bag into.
To be honest I’m not a great fan of Hollands most over-engineered vaping device. There’s far too much water and therefore far too much flavour loss. Plus - there’s no point dicking about loading a 0.2. It goes no-where in this device (unlike the mighty/crafty/firefly etc).
Its saving grace is a massive milky bong hit of vapour. Boom - headshot.
The Amnesia is on point. Godammn I love this lady. Super strong with a phenomenal taste. Nice texture too - I’d only ever bought one bag (Kosher) from Baba’s old location and nearly threw it away it was that bad. This is better - much better. Perhaps a bit too citric for my tastes - but there’s loads of herbal incense and spice, the metallic sugary finish is almost indescribable.
7.9 - Excellent.
As we sit and chat in front of old Ganesh there - perhaps craziest of all gods. I’m conscious of the last of the summer sun scorching the square outside. But I’m faded from the Verdamper and the pure fatty of LA Fire that I’m smoking. Plus - Mike is telling me fascinating stuff about his work which keeps me rooted to the spot for a good hour. Eventually though it’s a natural time to move on - we’re both thinking about sunshine so decide to have a picnic down by the water where we smoked on the first day.
So - we headed back to Centraal station; to the Albert hein on the waters edge and staked a spot on the boardwalk, watched the boats, watched the craszy swing at the top of the craszy building. Smoked some, eat some falafel, quinoa and feta salads, knitted some yoghurt, smoked some more. It’s a lovely couple of hours just whiling away the day - gently bobbing about on the pier.
The LA kush and LA fire from Coffeeshop canalside are interesting ladies, there is lots of complexity in the palate of both I am struggling to put my finger the difference between the two examples. Lovely smooth smokes though both of them. Perhaps one is leaning towards the LA Confidential. There’s a rounder, deeper note. Gorgeous - both of them. We vape through a good gram of them sat here in the sunshine.
Unfortunately - my business partner at home has been forwarding work requests from one of our clients to my phone and he’s missed called me again since I spoke to him back at Baba. I can’t put it off any longer and some unfortunate stomach troubles means the tranquility, ambience and my time with Mike are cut short. It’s been fantastic to have some decent time to hang out with him and get to know each other better. Needs must though - I say my goodbyes as Mike is flying home in a few hours and cycle back to the hotel, crack my laptop open and get my head down for a few hours. Cheeky dabs and vapes get me through and of course I have a timer running - which facilitates return trips - so al is gut.
As the sun sets I’m just wrapping up a doob for the journey north and checking in with Abe. We rendezvous at Dampkring in the Spui. I buy nothing as the stash is still in good supply and DLN hasn’t even sampled the G13 Rosin I made yet. There’s smoking to be done. We head off immediately via El Guapo.
I’ve never been before - well, I walked out once because the queue was too long but I’ve never bought anything. So I grab a bag of Diesel from possibly the most uncommunicative bud tender I’ve ever been muted by. Not a single word did he utter - not one. This is Green Place level sullen. Impressive.
The bag smells great though - just like the O’Diesel shatter I’m dabbing on at home. I don’t try it till the day after though. Where I’ll be pleasantly surprised by the taste. Heavy on the tangerine and fuel terpene profile she has a lovely light finish through the vape. I only get three bowls out of the bag - which is something of a surprise. Probably down to the slightly damp nature of the product. Think I paid €14 for those three vape bowls. Pricey.
7.5 - Great flavour, not great finishing, didn’t go very far. Marked back accordingly.
We don’t stay - Utopia is open. Gapie is there so we say a quick hello and get a heads up on what he’s smoking from their menu - it’s a buy and fly for us as we’re heading for food. I grab a gram of the Cherry Bomb and the 24k.
Soon enough another Batavia sesh ensues. We get through a few of the days purchases I’ve been saving for DLN to taste.
The Cheese from baba is banging. She’s a light and sugary cheese, yes there’s a dank background but she’s predominantly sweet on the palate with a lovely cheesy exhale. Texturally she’s nice and dry, still sticky (but needs grinding rather than finger crunch).
In the bag are dark pine trees with light orange almost pinky hairs. Something of a looker.
7.9 - Impressive; a new cheese flavour for me.
The Cherry bomb from utopia tastes like cough sweets. A non-kushy ‘Indica’ - notably. As indeed described by the helpful bud-tender.
We vape it and the specimen is tasty all the way to the end of the bowl. Raw cookie dough and cinnamon notes come through the middle. with the cherry cough syrup vibe all on the exhale. Definitely the most impressive bag of cherry flavoured weed I've ever bought.
Very enjoyable from the vape.
Good texture too - good sticky bugs that easily crunch between the fingers. A slightly elongated structure to the flowers. High in CBD is my guess. The bag lasted a couple days as I picked at her with the vape.
7.9 - fantastic
24k
Boom oranges and diesel mixed with rotten pond funk. Kosher and tangie - what a team. Two of the strongest terpene profiles on the block duking it put for first place. Loudest flavour so far. Full marks on this from the vape. So moreish - if this weren’t €16 I’d be smoking her all day long.
8.0 - Oh yeah. That’s some baaaaaad weed
I have high hopes for Baba’s Mean green Martian - she’s a constituent part of Sleestack along with G13 so I’m looking forward to trying her. Unfortunately she doesn't fare so well on through the vape. I'll burn her tomorrow. Tastebuds can get confused sometimes. I often think that getting the best from a strain is sometimes either about the consumption methods; or it’s consumptive neighbours.
We have dabs, lots of dabs. About 10pm DLN stops talking (for once
). Probably creating Kingbee alters on ACD or some other level-five social media fuckery. He heads off around 11ish. I’m hungry. I eat everything.Once my belly is sated. I grab the steed and head south with a plan in mind.
A solo doobie of Martian mean green in De Graal my favourite smoke-hole. Technically it’s ‘tomorrow’ now. She fares better burnt.
She's predominantly lime and gassy with a hint of hash plant in the top notes. There's some citrus but it's sour apples rather than lemon sharp. My second time with this strain and I like her a lot. Much better burnt this time - odd, the bag I bought at Old Church in June was better vaped. There's complexity behind those familiar flavours.
It’s a lovely hour, I vape through some more bits and pieces sit quietly and think about how good Amsterdam life is.
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Bed time
Deffo try the Amniesia for hash filler soon ,nice read as ever.
