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Incredible read! So much detail. Loved every sentence! Made me feel like I was right there with you all! Amazing

Monday April 17th – continued


Arriving at Utopia darling Ingi greeted us with big hugs and we immediately set up camp for a good sesh. I order a couple of lattes, grab two strawberry Loozas and bottled water and whip out some cash to pay, but Ingi insists that the first round is always on here and refuses to let me pay, as per ush she is the sweetest and nicest budtender of the city and just a great and loveable person in general.

We hang in Utopia, having some nice chats with Ingi and keeping up the nice level of crispyness we have successfully achieved during our pre-noon antics. I cannot remember if we topped off the KK Ice with another gram, but we just might have done that, as it was very tasty and had a nice contrast to many of the flavor profiles of our hash stash.

Alas! time flies in such great company and it is soon nearing the hour set forth for the first big ACD meet up at Betty 2. We hug it out with Ingi, jump the bikes and head for Betty, with a quick stop at Vleminckx Sausmeesters Vlaams Friteshuis for a couple of cones of golden munchie killers.

Walking in to Betty we see the whole downstairs filled with a rather large group of sympathetic looking stoners, and lo! and behold, it is the ACD massive talking over the shop. We are quickly introduced to Spidergawd, Miss Muffet, Macky, Mrs. Macky, BIL Joe, Smirks, Drugsbunny and madmaxxx plus wifey (we think that maybe some arrived just after us, but busy saying hello to everyone and buying some gear, so can’t really remember). What a great bunch of people, all very bidding us welcome to the group and seemingly having a good time hanging out and smoking a bit at Betty’s.

We get the Betty Special at the recommendation of the BT (highest price hash), sit down and proceed to skin up while chatting a bit to smirks and a few others sitting nearby. The Betty special isn’t really that special and we are left with a bit of a forgettable and mediocre experience of a okey-ish classic Moroccan. It was darker in hue, looked to have good oil content, but was reasonably crumbly and easy to handle.

Taste was ok, a bit spicy and some earthy and chocolaty notes, just didn’t do much for us wrt neither taste nor effect, and at the price (12 € IIRC) you can do a lot better. Smoking our joint and chatting to the peeps I notice that Smirks on top of his calm and polite demeanor, is very well dressed. In my funny brain, which is constantly going off on some random tangent, I start to wonder a bit if our normal Mokum wardrobe choice of casual stoner street wear might be a bit off from the group, before quickly realizing that Mr. Smirks and some of the rest of the gang may have dressed up for the upcoming Dylan gig, and shrug off this missed opportunity at non-conformism on our part.

The sit down at Betty is over all too soon, as the Dylan crowd starts making moves for the door and soon after two groups consisting of Mrs. Macky + BIL Joe and madmaxx and wifey splinter off.

The two of us head with DB and Macky to Dampkring for another small sesh. We only just said hi to DB and chatted very briefly with Macky at Betty, so getting the opportunity to have a closer sit down with these two is very welcome as they are two (of the many) forum members we have been looking very much forward to meeting.

At Dampkring we get Mushina and OGRoccan. We got these on the recommendation of another hash lover, and IMHO one of the top hash reviewers on the forum, Marok21, who among others had sung the praises of both. Neither disappointed, but the Mushina stood out as one of the top hashes of the trip, top, top quality Moroccan probably only beaten by the Shoe and DGH. If it wasn’t 6 euros more per gram than the Laila it would have been a go to buy much more than it was (still got it 2 times more IIRC). We also got a small pocket microscope at the very reasonable price of 10 €, it’s a great little gadget for inspecting your products on the go and with a little practice you can quickly learn to get some very nice and mouthwatering views of your bud and hash.


With DB, macky and off course Bowie @ Dampkring

DB got A5 White IIRC and I think Macky also got something, before we sat down to skin up and chat for a bit. DB skinned up the A5 (and maybe some hash, possibly something we gave him, possibly something he had already) and passed it around. DB rolls a good joint, and coming from my picky ass that is a big compliment, as I tend to scuff a bit at more or less every joint that wasn’t rolled by either myself, the missus (we’ll get back to her magnificent skills later) and a few choice others. The content was also very nice. Although I cannot recall the particulars of the A5 wrt to taste (except maybe some citrusy notes and a bit of a fresh “bite” if that makes sense) it was smooth and tasty, seemed well looked after and had a nice effect to it.

We skinned up a Mushina, which was perfectly complemented by a very well executed latte. The Mushina was one of the tastiest hashes of the trip and the classic Moroccan profile with spicy and earthy overtones and woody notes with coffee, chocolate and caramel in the finish. Just beautiful, but as with the Shoe hash it had such much power in the taste that joints with large quantities of this almost, but not quite, got too spicy and loud. It isn’t as smooth as e.g. the Laila or DGH, but is by no means harsh, just very powerful on the palate and stings just a bit in the throat, quite possibly due to the obvious potency (which is very high, as it should be at 16 €/g).
After a nice chat with these two great guys we parted ways, with “Batavia tonight” as the plans for our next meeting.

A few drops of rain had fallen earlier, but now the sun was out and it was a lovely day, so we decided to take a scenic route down south a bit and then out west hunting for a bit of classic Moroccan to top off our stash.

We had a great ride down through Vondel, stopped for a few photos (more or less the only ones we took on the whole trip) and the headed out west via Boer West (b&f for “new virgin WCB” and Green Magic block, excellent service as always) to El Marssa.
El Marssa has been a shop we tried (and failed) to find back in august, looking for the Special that Pengaldinho had written about more than once, and other members had also rated quite high. We would probably rate Peng as the forums #1 hash reviewer over the last few years, and his “Quest for…” travelogues and awesome pictures have been some of our favorite content, so wanted to check out this place.


Vondel park in the sunshine - wonderful!

All other recommendations by Peng have been super solid, but we weren’t that impressed with El Marssa. The shop was very, very masculine in feel and not that welcoming, service a bit aloof and the Special was, sadly, quite dry and rather uninteresting. Notes of cedar, a little henna, minty and quite earthy was most of what we got from it, mediocre effects also.

Back at Massawa (another Peng and Nugs recommendation) it was a different story and we were treated to some beautiful classic Moroccan hashes in the form of the Massawa Royal and Premiere (at least that’s what I think the second from the top was called, got a g of that and 20 €’s worth of Royal which is priced at 12 / g). The Royal was as on previous visits in November and August, a prime example of smooth and rich Moroccan gold! The Premiere was much like the Royal, but not as smooth and not as rich on the chocolate and caramel, more heavy on the earthy / piney terps IIRC. Good buy at 10 € / g, close but not entirely up to the level of the Laila which is priced equally.

After a few smokes at Massawa, which is quite stuffed with all local Moroccan fellas having a chilled time, we set off in the sunshine. We are initially heading for foodhallen to get some grub, but as it is getting a bit late in the day we opt for something more solid and make plans for Burger Bar by Katsu (giving the after dinner smoke sesh a natural location).

We are lazily driving along, going along Baarsjestraat and swooping down below Vondel, when things go a little south, literally. Somehow, we forget to keep left and end down south of Baarsstraat, down in Schingelbuurt. This part of town is decidedly less interesting and we quickly make a course correction and end up at BB some while later.

After a nice Kobe burger and some killer onion rings (best dang onion rings in the city, again they were a sweet, savory and crispy treat, perfectly cooked), we go next door to Katsu for a after dinner smoke sesh and a little planning for the rest of the evening.


Kobe burger and those awesome Onion RIngs @ BB

Katsu is as it more or less always is this time of day; a little crowded, quite busy at the bar, yet welcoming and with that classic somewhat bohemian Katsu clientele that gives this place a unique feel that very few other shops have. The products are sadly, again, a letdown. While the fresh mint tea the missus had and my (Danish, hell yeah!) organic Naturfrisk Orangeade was just perfect, the Tri Sulu hash the otherwise very friendly female bt recommended was less than spectacular. Taste was reminiscent of a rather dull mix of mid-grade NTB and charras, with no stand effect either. Can’t remember the price, but I am sure it was too high for this mediocre offering, buh Katsu, buh! To make up for the sub-par “desert” we skin up a fatty from our stash (think it was a DGH with some ice sprinkled in, can’t remember which one), smoke this and say our goodbyes for now to the friendly staff at Katsu, heading for Batavia and what promises to be a night of many meetings.

At Batavia we get a couple of lattes (yes, yes, we are caffeine junkies for life, especially Mr. CC who downs litters of the stuff on a daily basis), and head downstairs to our lair, the unparalleled Bat Cave!

We are lucky that the whole far right hand side of the cave is almost empty, with the corner table by the window only occupied by a lone smoker, quietly enjoying his beer and spliff. We are expecting quite a few of the ACD massive to turn up at some time later, so take seats at the same table as the lone smoker as we throw our jackets and other random items over a few chairs at the adjacent table, to signal other hopeful stoners that we are expecting a “members only” party and these seats are not for them. The lone stoner eyes us briefly with mild suspicion, but evidently decides that we look sympathetic enough, and sort of welcomes us to the table, telling us, IIRC with a bit of a charming scotch dialect, that he is expecting a few friends to join him at the table later.

We roll up a nice big Laila joint to accompany the lattes and of course also offered a taste or two to our new table-buddy, who I think gladly accepted the offering. As the joint burns we make a little idle stoner convo and I get a very typical Ams feeling of familiarity with our new friend, a small voice somewhere from the deep reaches of my stoney memory tells me that I have at least seen this guy before, but as this happens very often in Mokum I dismiss the thought and turn my attention to our bag looking for more of our stash.

I have a hankering for some green and there is a few bags we found on the canal side tucked in our stash with my name on it. During my excavation of our seemingly unending collection of assorted stoner supplies the ACD 420 2017 badges the wonderful Mr. Macky gave us earlier in the day come out.

Our new friend spots the badges, raises an eyebrow and asks us if we are part of the forum (“the forum!”). We immediately confess and he reveals that we are in fact sitting here, idly chatting to Mr. Epic himself, long time member and 420 vet, Cisco.
We inform him that much more of the ACD massive is expected shortly, and that we think that many of them and especially Lemming would be glad to say hi(gh) again. Shortly after Cisco joins his friends at another table, but rejoins the fray later to catch up a bit with some of the crew.

As we start digging deeper into our stash the ACD gang starts piling in, IIRC the first peeps on site included DB and macky+wife and BIL and a little later madmaxxx. Smirks, Spidergawd and miss muffet also join after the gig, which they said was very nice and “classical Dylanesque”. We have a great time and the joints are flying around the room, while a few also enjoy their weed in pipes, can’t remember if smirks got a hold of a bong somewhere, but he often seems to have a nose for finding those puppies around.

Not long into the party we are joined by the two Yorkies and we finally get to meet OHMF and brother Rickydude. We have had the pleasure of reading (and in more than one case re-reading) Mr. OHMF’s stellar reviews and great travelogues since rejoining the forum and as we share a good friend in Nugs, who speaks very highly of OHMF, we had the feeling that here was another kindred spirit, with whom we could share some good times. We were not mistaken in this assessment as we had a grand time with both OHMF and Rickydude over that next week and found both to be very sympathetic, charming and entertaining, as well as very hardcore cannaseurs with tolerances to match, our kind of people!

OHMF and Ricky take seats by us in the corner and the party kicks up another (big) gear as OHMF makes our day and breaks out the dab rig and an e-nail (*celebratory gymnastics going on in head*). IMO an e-nail is unparalleled with respect to preservation of taste, smoothness of hit and flexibility with respect to dab size, consistency of your product and so on. Its only downfall is its lack of convenience for obvious reasons.

The night flew on as we dabbed, vaped and smoked ourselves very crispy indeed with all these fine people. We were obviously in the company of veterans here as everyone to my recollection was going pretty strong, except maybe for Ricky who wasn’t feeling at his best and complained that he might be coming down with something. He did consume quite a lot, up there with a lot of the other ACD’ers, just not at the level of latter days and nights, and at times he was more horizontal than vertical, slouched over sideways with his hoodie drawn almost all the way around his rather pale (and slightly greenish) looking face.

Now I might be biased in what follows, but I am very picky with how a joint is rolled and frankly prefer my joints to joints rolled by more or less anyone else by a long shot. In fact, I am pretty game for a little competitive roll-up any time of the day or night with anyone. That is anyone but Mrs. CC who I consider the best joint roller I have ever met, easily. It wouldn’t even a competition if she is in it, she is just that good. People soon caught on to her abilities and from this point on there were very few times in the company of other ACD’ers when Mrs. CC wasn’t rolling a joint for the rest of the trip. She rolls more or less exclusively with the Smoker’s Choice (Danish) filter tips we brought from home, and judging by how many of these we used during the week she must have rolled a good deal more than 120 joints during those five days!!!

The night was filled with great convo with many of the ACD massive, all great people, and we shared a lot of joints with especially DB, Macky and obviously the Minty Brothers. Lemming soon joined the shenanigans and it was great finally meeting the legendary dancing goffer, an extremely pleasant and very funny dude with a surprising stamina, outlasting most of the crew on all nights.

We sampled and discussed so many fine products it was amazing, especially as it was the first night being so many together. OHMF and I had the chance to compare the GP Silver Bubble directly to the one we both had found at a canal side. The GP version was very good and exactly as OHMF described it in his review, but we both agreed that the canal side version came out on top. IIRC it had a deeper and more complex flavor and a better finish.


ACD action @ Batavia: Mrs. CC working her magic (left) and OHMF just visible in the top of the frame with dab rig and other goodies

There were so many great things from that night that I would love to share, and my memory is surprisingly clear, but I will spare you the many pages of hazy ramblings and just conclude that it was a great time with company to match. The star of the night was the 24k Gold shatter from Deep Concentration that we had only sampled on a joint the previous night. The e-nail really did it justice and it was the star concentrate of the week. Mr. Nugs gave it a perfect review and description, so I will refer you to his stellar TR for the details.

As the night got old we had signs of life from our long missed partner in crime and as we tracked him, coming in via Uber from Schipol we said our goodbyes for the night to the crew and made for the Bulldog with the crispy brothers.

Arriving at the Bulldog Ricky called it quits and OHMF led us to the lounge where we camped in some large leather furniture, awaiting the arrival of our friend.

As described in both Nugs’ and OHMF’s TRs we had a great little reunion, but soon called it a night, worn a bit down from two days of heavy consumption, travelling and biking all over the city (quite literally from east to west, north to south although the latter bit no so intentionally ).

After a late night sesh at the piggy that lasted a short hour for the missus and about two for me, it was complete lights out and a deep cannatonic sleep.

CC

Nice read,remember Batavia that night the four of us sat and smoked so many joints before everyone else showed up
I was in heaven had three of the best joint rollers..par none
Still remember onhimofo telling me to stop calling him Viking ,he,s from
They have Viking there ,seen the Viking ship museum there myself
Beside I asked him if it bothered him first ,Big dude I will call him Mr Viking from now on

Excellent report guys! Hope to see this one get finished!

@macky: Thnx Capt’n, that was a great start to the night indeed! Can’t remember all the great weed and hash you shared specifically, but there was some really great stuff in there (and plenty to boot, thnx again my man, you are most generous!). With all the good stuff the bunny was also passing and our stash taking its own hit in the process, I was actually amazed in how good of a condition we were in, when the rest of the crew got there, especially since I seem to remember breaking my “no alcohol early in the evening” rule more than once with a few Beertjes.

@Nugs: Thnx brother, it’ll get done (as will the others), just might take a while… A good while… The fun was just getting started and the hardcore crew with our local hero finally assembled, so there is much more to come!

Next to come: The (first) Big Day!

Good lord this is great stuff. Not least as it sings my praises
Thank you kind sir, for many things!

@OHMF: Thank you brother, it was an undivided pleasure meeting both you and Ricky! Consider this as part of our attempt at persuasion for you joining us this summer!

Tuesday April 18th – VIP treatment and a birthday bash for a VIP

I awake about seven-ish, feeling completely rested, but still feeling it a bit from last night. Grabbing my morning stash/kit, I again head downstairs by way of a bathroom and a quick wash.

There are a few more cats around this morning and I have a little more company as I go through my morning ritual of a few good hash joints with a chocomel and, as soon as they’ll let met get at it, a few cups of (rather sad) instant coffee.

My phone is almost out of juice so I am hesitant to fire up the wifi and check the forum and “get into the great day ahead”. Instead I chat a bit with the other early risers (or sad souls up early because they have to leave) and otherwise sit around contemplating what a great start to the trip the two first “bonus days” (as we originally intended to arrive two days later) have been.

Yesterday was supposed to be a chilled arrival day for most, an easy warm up to the madness that was surely to ensue today. This was the day where even more ACD’ers would show up, we had the visits at Ballonnetje and Stud, as well as the birthday bash to look forward to, so people would understandably have been expected to go a little slow last night, but that wasn’t the case at all.

We had, frankly, a bit of a hellish build up to the trip, both of us been stressed at work and Mrs. CC on her classic pre-trip throat fuckeroo / slight fever. Arriving was great and the first somewhat chilled, but also quite active, day did set us a lot straighter, but it was still a couple of quite spent Danes that went into that first day with many ACD’ers in company, especially Mrs. CC who wasn’t quite over her slight fever and was still feeling a bit under the weather. Surprisingly our stamina kept up with an intense day, and especially night, where everyone seemed to be pulling no punches. Such a start to the gathering boded very well for the day to come, especially now that the AFF was in full force.

After a few joints I can’t take the lack-of-battery-induced forum isolation, flip on the wifi and say good morning to the gang, happy b-day to Macky and wish KMC a safe journey here (another member we have been looking forward to meeting in person).

Quickly Nugs appears on the forum asking our whereabouts. I inform him that the missus is still out and that it’ll be a (hopefully short) couple of hours before we can really make a move as we are changing rooms today.

My battery is soon completely dying and as it is about nine, I reason that it might just possibly, but only just, be safe to approach the sleeping missus without getting clawed all too fiercely but the somewhat feisty, but still pretty and cute (at least to me), wolverine she tends to be if you disturb her by accident too early in the day.

As my post on the live chat shows, I got out alive and with my charger, but the piggy cleaning staff was maybe another deal:

CopenhagenCouple • Tue Apr 18, 2017 9:16 am
Lol,cso mrs CC is gonna need 30 mins more on the other side, deffo not ready to get up and change rooms, piggy cleaning staff better not hurry too much or they is gonna get eaten...

All was well however and after she joined me in the lounge for a bit of breccy, some coffee and a few joints, we made a smooth transition to another room. The room was ok, but sadly was even further up the deathly stairs and had a bit less of a view as it had no French balcony, still some large nice windows facing Vondel. The in-room view was a bit less interesting as well. Mrs. CC later commented that she preferred waking up to the nice view of one of the attractive female occupants of our former room in her underwear framed by Vondel and the nice sunshine. The view of a rather scruffy and totally bombed male occupant of the latter room, this one also in his underwear, but less poetically framed by his likewise messy looking travel companions passed the fuck out on the bed behind him, was less appealing, but still fun.

We stuffed our luggage in the new room and I went downstairs again as the missus headed for a long shower. I sat for a while smoking and chatting to other guest, as well as keeping up a bit with the forum, before I got a bit of a provocative text from the missus asking if I wasn’t in the mood for a shower also. I think we’ll skip the next bit and rejoin the action around eleven, when we were in the smokers lounge, having another coffee and a joint, whilst seeing what was up with nugs and planning a lazy route towards the impending meet up at Ballonnetje.

There is a bit of confusion as we thought nugs had changed his number (turns out just the phone so he didn’t have ours, his was still good) and we settle on meeting and the balloon as they have a few errands to run en route.

We are both pretty sure we went somewhere en route also to the balloon, but can’t figure out what we did and the next clear memory is us arriving at there after a nice little bike ride around the neighborhood. We visited here on the first day, so knew how to get here and how the place looked on the inside on a “normal day” (already had a good impression of a welcoming and chilled shop with fair hash offerings), but we weren’t really prepared for what a great experience we were about to have…

(TBC)

Tuesday April 18th – continued

“The first annual (hopefully) Het Ballonnetje ACD Invitational”

We arrive quite early at the Het Ballonnetje, decide to have a small one-on-one sesh before the crew starts pilling in and head inside. We are keen on sampling some of the greenery we missed out on when we visited Sunday (since we had to leave in a bit of a hurry we didn’t go back to the dealers counter as we had otherwise planned), so go straight to the menu and immediately spot two offerings that tickles our fancy; G13 Mr Nice and Tangie.

G-13 is one of our all-time favorite strains, so a good version or cross of this is very welcome, we had an extremely nice G13 Amnesia from canal side in November and this G-13 Mr. Nice sounds very intriguing. The dealer whips out a tub of frosty, relatively light green and very pretty buds, with a smell and finish that immediately settles it: We’ll take a gram of that please!

The other strain that caught our eye was the Tangie, probably our favorite strain over the last year if you also count some of the very Tangie heavy 24K wares we have also enjoyed. With a bit of an apologetic shrug he pulls out a tub with only a few popcorn nugs and some scraps left. He quickly assures us that they expect a reload any minute and that he will call us right back as soon as it gets here, so we can have a proper selection. I have to mention that at this point he had no clue we were part of the ACD crew, so he was just giving great service to a random dude he had never seen before (he wasn’t there Sunday). What was in the tub was enough for us to take him up on that though, the smell was just insanely good and we were both drooling at the prospect of tugging into that soon.

We are buzzed inside and as we move towards the back of the room and the stairs to the “fish bowl” upstairs, we notice that it is closed and has a sign saying “Reserved – ACD Forum”. At the same time one of the staff comes over and informs us very politely that we can’t go upstairs as they are expecting a special group of visitors soon.

At this point we are all smiles and readily confess to being accomplices to that particular group of mischiefs. All the staff in earshot light up, a few quick words are exchanged and someone asks me if I am Lemming. I quickly set them straight, there are some shoes that even my grotesquely large clown feet cannot fill, but tell them that I am almost 67 % sure that he and many others will be along shortly. They ask if we want to go upstairs, but we suggest that we stick around downstairs and chat to them until the rest of the crew starts arriving.

As the missus takes a seat at the far end of the large center table I go to the bar and ask for a couple of (surprise, surprise) Lattes and a couple of strawberry Loozas. They refuse to take any money for it, insisting that beverages a free today for forum members. As my orders are prepared the male bt sticks his head around to the “inside part”, gives me a wink and shuffs a freshly loaded tub of Tangie under my nose. A quick dash out to the dealer side to get a gram of that later and I’m back with my better half and we are quickly joined by two younger dudes wearing Het Ballonnetje apparel.

We are introduced to straff member Freddy, who has been the one corresponding with Lemming and setting up the visit, and a friend of shop, let’s call him T. Here it is again, this odd feeling that we met these cats before, just a fuck of a lot stronger this time…
Mrs. CC is already working her magic skinning up a G-13 fatty. As we talk about how beautiful the finish is on that and that we are glad to see a good version of one of our favorite strains, Freddy whips out three massive bags of weed, opens the one that is labeled G-13, selects a joint sized nug and throws it at us, leaving the bags sitting on the table. I am a bit stunned by the amount of top weed that just landed on the table and I dismiss the thought that this could be for the upcoming sesh as we light up the G-13 fatty, it looks the size of a small reload.

The G-13 is one of the best versions we have had of this strain, rivalling and maybe just inching ahead of the G-13 Amnesia from canal side for our favorite G-13 cross over the last many years. As OHMF reported it is complex and rich in flavor and the finish on this (as well as the Tangie and SFV we’ll get to in a bit) was as good as it gets. This baby burned the whitest ash and was as smooth as silk, spot on flush and more or less a perfect cure. It had a very decent effect also with a nice energetic kick and uplifting high. At the price (which I remember to be 13 or maybe even lower) it is very potent and a steal compared to what is on offer on the CS scene in general, top pick of the week regardless of price for more than one ACD’er IIRC. On the official “Yorkie scale” I would rate this at 8 or higher, a stand out smoke of the trip.

Normally it would be hard to draw my attention away from such a beautiful smoke, but the absolutely gigantic bud of Tangie in the bag on the table is calling to me ever so fiercely. Every time I have seen a bud of this size weighed it was above 5 grams and this one I would put closer to 7 given the apparent density. As if triggered by my stares Freddy grabs the bag, pulls out the bud and we all start drooling over it. Freddy starts giving the bud an extra trim, grumbling a bit that such a good product needs a better trim, and the smell coming of the bud as he handles it is just hypnotic.

Meanwhile T has rolled up a joint of his own stash (if I remember the “sequence of sublime smoke” correctly) and passes it around, cautioning us that it is a bit of a “coughy sneaker”. The taste is very interesting and it is evidently a powerful kush of some sorts, although not too gassy and more in the fruitier / flowery end. Very, very high quality and just from the first few hits obviously seriously potent. It also “grabs you by the booboos” as Chong would have it and after a bit we are all sputtering with small coughs. I am pretty sure this was the Karmarado OG Nugs’ and the rest of the Fiets gang praised so much, the times I smoked or vaped some from their stash later in the week it seemed very similar, although we did have a few joints going at once every time I had it from one of them, so it’s hard to say.

We quickly got busy skinning up a rather sizeable Tangie joint and digging into this spectacular looking specimen.

WOW! The taste transfer on this is extreme, by far the loudest flavors of any weed the whole week and rivaling the best tasting weeds we have smoked in many years. The onslaught of a myriad of different oranges, jammy-sweet, tart and sour all at once, is intense, and along with a fresh and powerful overtone of something like the mix of a limonene based cleaning agent and a fresh spring breeze, it just takes you on a floating ride of tasty bliss. What a product, by lightyears our favorite weed of the trip and one of the most well grown and processed weeds we have seen in a coffeeshop, period. The effect from this stellar product was also top level. It gave a powerful, floaty and very happy high, euphoric without the slightest hint of it being “too trippy”, strangely energetic / uplifting and calming at the same time, wonderful! This is a 8,5 or higher in my book...

I think it was Freddy who skinned up a SFV OG joint, which was lit midway through the Tangie joint. The SVF OG was another top of the week CS weed for several ACD’ers, among these the reputable OHMF who ranked it as one of his favs. Also a very potent puppy, sneaking up on you with sputters of coughs like the previous Karmarado OG joint, with a powerful flavor profile to match. The strongest impression I retain from it was the intense, dusty exhale which OHMF described (very precisely as always) as desert floor and the minty inhale. The minty part is, in retrospect, a little surprising given that OHMF rated it so high, but the reason for that will have to wait a bit…

As we are puffing away it dawns on me from whence we know these fine young gents, they are friends of Nugs and we have actually spent time with them in August and November, both times in HSB IIRC. We share a few laughs at stoner memory and reintroduce ourselves right as I spot DB at the dealers counter.

Shortly after DB is buzzed in more ACD’ers join the party and IIRC Danny, madmaxx+significant other, Smirks and Matty are all in the house before Lemming and KMC arrive a short while after. We only get a brief chance at a “hi(gh)” from a distance to great the newcomer KMC and also say quickly hi(gh) to Danny and Matty, both of which we haven’t met before or had the chance to chat to properly yet.

The whole scene quickly is a big mess of ACD’ers tugging into the big bags of weed I at this point have realized were indeed brought out for our benefit and all the many other interesting things they have brought or just acquired at Het Ballonnetje. It is a part and everyone seems to be going full swing when Nugs and the lanky brothers join us after running a few errands.
At a point during all the fun I notice that there is absolutely no room left downstairs due to the massive ACD showing and the way upstairs (which BTW still has the sign on it) is blocked by heaps of merry stoners. We shut that place down and turned it into a B&F only for a good couple of hours. ACD is taking over: make room newbies and veterans alike, the pros are here!

Arriving shortly after the remaining part of the Fiets gang is another familiar face as C, another one of Nugs’ friends, join us at the far end of the table. At some point some GSC hash also magically appears at the table in front of me and we are instantly compelled to sample this nice looking bit of hash.

The GSC hash certainly deserves to be at the top of the list at Het Ballonnetje, very nice indeed. The flavor of the source strain comes through very nicely and it is quite potent for the money, overall a very good version of a GSC hash and quite reasonably priced.
Joints and Vapes are flying around the room and Smirks is happily hitting the glass, all are having a great time! I am passed a joint by a grinning maxxx that frankly looks like it’s been slightly raped by a gang of highly inebriated monkeys, but as I give him a bit of a hard time for the poor craftsmanship he just waves me off and says something like “just hit it!” and gives me an even bigger, suggestive grin and a big wink. I do and am instantly greeted by a symphony of lemons and Tangie goodness, it may not look the part but that is a tasty joint alright!

IIRC maxx had skinned up some of the fantastic tangie with a rather generous helping of some very nice Ambrosia Extracts BHO (Lemon drizzle??) and the two top selections complemented each other beautifully. It was also quite the kicker and maybe a little deceptive in appearances, but I failed to warn Freddy about the potency of the joint before passing it. I forgot to mention it, but at this point the poor dude was really feeling it and he had obviously either pre-gamed a bit (although he seemed much more level headed when we met him) or was having a bit of a hard time with the frantic pace set by the ACD massive. Slouched down in the seat he kept repeating, “I am so fucking high right now” and the hard hitting joints that kept coming his way curtesy of the ACD gang in full swing was not helping one bit. At the end of the session he seemed to be just surfing the edge of a mild whitey and to have lost the ability to make plans for the rest of the day as he kept going back and forth between alternatives while getting punked a bit by T and C, who had a good laugh at their buddy’s struggles. He did seem to recover a bit before we said our goodbyes and it was great seeing him and the two other local fellas again for another great session.

Time really flew at the Balloon and we all too soon realize that it is high time we make moves for the Stud, as it is drawing quite close to our scheduled arrival and some of the gang have decided for the shoelace express all the way out to the location in Indische Buurt.
Most of the gang takes off in two teams, one by tram and the other heroically by foot, after saying many thanks to the whole staff for their royal treatment. The AFF hang back, doing our best to finish off the rest of the massive offering of top weeds Het Ballonnetje so graciously provided.

Unfortunately time does not allow for us to get the job done and after I (and possibly a few others ) pocket a few bits “for later on”, Smirks grab the left overs with the intent of giving it to forum mascot Gapie for a little taste of the wonderful Balloon gear, dunno if he entered it into his little cup.

After a quick hash fatty in the fish bowl we do a bit of cat herding and round up the hardcore crew for the trip out east to the Stud. We all do our best to thank the whole staff, and especially Freddy and owner Roger for the exceptional treatment they gave us and make for the door, a few of us with an extra finger sandwich or two in hand for the road and most carrying a joint or a vape “for the road”.
I have to take a brief pause to give another shout out to Het Ballonnetje for setting up such an awesome visit and for having, IMO, the best weed on offer in the city. Thanks guys, that was spectacular!

As we get on our way, the Fiets gang finally properly united on their steely steads, we instantly notice the very unique and, erhmm, interesting style of biking our compadre Rickydude has. To call it wobbly and unstable would be an understatement and his attention to the road ahead of him isn’t lagging far behind, but he simultaneously seems quite relaxed on the bike. In fact most of the time he seems a bit too relaxed and in an attempt to stay warm often tucks one hand in his sleeve or an open pocket, leaving him with only one to control the bike. This often results in quite abrupt steering corrections when things are going a little awry, which adds to his already unpredictable course.

Biking besides Ricky is terrifying, as you are constantly driven towards some impending doom while trying to avoid one of his random jolts left or right, and otherwise generally completely chaotic behavior, going along on his bike in his own peculiar way. Riding behind him is quite funny, actually hilarious, once you get over the constant wincing as he again and again barely avoids disaster. I think the kid is blessed with some kind of protection, because he never got hurt or into serious trouble, just danced along the edge of it for miles on end…

Next up a fantastic visit to The Stud and the birthday bash of all bashes!

Great read! Chrinicling the adventure makes this site so great! As for wobbly bike riders, I've always been amazed that paths and obstacles clear at just the proper moment when riding a bike in AMS. Your description of Ricky riding did a great job of capturing that bike voyage magic.

Fan-bloody-tastic! It's always fun to hear how a scene looked from another angle. Best of all though is all of these descriptions and ratings of strains. I don't know how you cannasseurs do it, but I'm glad you do Great stuff.

Seriously enjoying this one.
More please!

Tuesday April 16th continued - VIP treatment at the Stud

After the confusion upon our arrival at The Stud, where Nugs got mistaken for Lems, some of the bike crew followed some of the staff into the back of the shop and we lined up for the dealers counter. We had been pretty excited about the menu shots at FBN’s awesome site since Nugs gave the shop a good review all the way back in August IIRC, but never got around to making the trip out there. Especially the quite sizeable selection of hash at seeming reasonable prices had caught our eye and at the recommendation of the dealer we got a 10 € bag of the Champagne (1 g).

About the same time as we make our purchase the two groups, who went on foot and by tram respectively, arrive. There is a bit of a hustle, and some further stoner confusion, as some make purchases and we are eventually all ushered into the back of the shop where owner Silvio and what I presume was one of his “main guys” at the shop, were busy clearing out the place for us.

ETA: The "main guy" was Patrick, who I think manages the shop for Silvio!

The turnout is massive and the ACD take over the back half of the shop and as Lemming reported live on the forum the group consisted of Lafe, smirks, maxxx, nugs, spider, rickydude,ohmfo, KMC, db and danny, besides off course Lems himself and the two of us.
The staff is busy as bees making sure everyone is comfortable and fixing beverages for everyone within earshot. As we settle in, the AFF together in one corner with KMC sitting with the CC’s and Nugs jumping about from table to table a bit (he does get a little ADHD at times, but so do a lot of us ), owner Silvio brings out a bunch of treats for us.

At first he puts down fiver large bags of good looking weed, they are Silver (10 € will get you 1,2), Popeye (1,1 g / 10 €), Lemon Haze (0,9 g / 10 €), Super Haze (1 g / 10 €) and G13 (0,9 € / 10 g). He also presents us with a bag with about a gram of a special bubblehash they had made from a variety of sativa strains.

I don’t recall tasting the Silver (although I am sure I did, there were just so many things flying around as soon as the ACD crew was gathered), but it looked quite good in the bag. The Lemon I only remember taking a few puffs on a spliff that was passed me and, IIRC, a few hits from a vape with it. The only thing that sticks was that it was a very smooth and lemony hit.

The G-13 wasn’t taste-wise a match for the stellar one from Het Ballonetje, but was still quite tasty and a super smooth and soft hit. As DLN commented it burned snow white and was very well looked after, in fact all of the weeds from The Stud had a good finish, well cured and not suffering from the dryness a lot of weeds from Ams shops seem to be cursed with. The G-13 from The Stud had a very decent kick, especially considering the price and is definitely recommended, as is all their weed I sampled, again especially considering the very nice price policy.

The Popeye was, as DLN16 reported, a very interesting funky and dank number with a very nice finish, a bargain at 10 € for 1,2 g compared to much of the stuff at sale for 15 or more in center shops.

I don’t know what triggered it, but Silvio apparently caught on to some of the cannageekyness going on in the AFF corner and got wise to the fact that there were some pheno-phreaks in the house, whereupon he quickly fetched a very nice 2-3 gram nug of one of their “specialties”, a Shoreline / Kosher Cross.

The Shoreline / Kosher (or “El Toro”) cross was very interesting. Even though the flavor profile isn’t our favorite just now (think we had too much Kosher and Kosher heavy in August) the match was very good and both strains came through nicely. Although I remember the Kosher as a bit more pronounced than DLN does that might have been down to my mild “distaste” for that profile just now. Finish and quality-wise this was the best of the lot and easily compared to top offerings in the center, even from the top shops. Maybe it doesn’t quite beat out the very best from the elite shops, say, Voyagers, but definitely a high quality product that many shops would do well to put at the top of their list.

Positively surprised by yet another fantastic reception and some very fine products I make a remark about the nice appearance of the hash we bought when we arrived to Silvio and his “main man”, Patrick, who is standing nearby.

Silvio immediately reacts in an almost apologetic way, as if he had forgotten some important detail, and exclaims “Oh, you also like hash, do you like to get high or stoned?” “Erhm, both actually, we enjoy all the blessings of the bud”, I reply along the lines of my usual reply to the classic question. Silvio disappears but quickly returns with two more bags, these with freshly sliced slabs of very nice looking hash. I would say 3+ grams each of the Champagne that we just bought and the Tblisa / First Choice.

I was rolling up some of the Champagne already and grab the newly arrived bag with the intent of making it a big fatty. After a quick skin-up we are treated to a smooth and creamy classic Moroccan that is very much like a mix of the Atlas from Voyagers and the Royal from Massawa. It sits at the same price as the Atlas and at 2 € /g less than the Royal but I would actually put it closer to the latter in quality. It is maybe not entirely up there with Massawas top of the line, but a very good alternative at 2 € less per gram. Coffee and caramel, with some woody tones were the most dominant flavors IIRC, with some nice spices in the background. Not as full of a mouthful of flavors as the Royal and not just as silky smooth, but a high quality classic Moroccan for sure, and at a better price.

The Tblisa / First Choice is very similar to the Tblisa from Dampkring, with the same spicy, piney, woody and herbal flavors mixed with the chocolate, coffee and caramel. Very nice power for a hash where you are getting 1,1 g for 10 €, compares well to the power of the Dampkring version that is significantly more expensive. If you are going for bang for your buck in a high quality classic Moroccan this would be one of our top picks.

New arrival KMC, who only just joined the part the same day, has grabbed a seat by us in the corner and we finally get to share a few good hash joints with a fellow hash head we have been looking forward to meeting. KMC is a really nice and calm dude, but is explaining that he may not be the best of company as he is completely wrecked, the crazy onslaught of cannabinoids almost immediately after his arrival has hit hard and he admits that joining the hike all the way to The Stud wasn’t entirely intentional. As I understood the poor guy he wasn’t quite sure of the way back from the Balloon and didn’t realize how far of a walk it was out to The Stud. He also had no clue how to get back so was a little lost as how to improve his current predicament, being completely smashed in an unfamiliar part of town far away from the comforts of your hotel and the familiar surroundings of the center. He was a real trooper though and held out quite a while, even puffing away on some of the joints we so un-empathically passed him.

We had a grand time smoking and vaping away at The Stud and the staff treated us like reefer royalty, among other things serving up some very good coffee lattes, something that always wins my heart. Alas, it was all too soon over and the crew started to break up, heading by different means back towards the center and the final preparations for the impending celebrations and madness of the birthday bash.

The hardcore crew hung back, again making an effort to finish off the graciously offered treats. It was a fool’s quest though, so we packed up the left over grams of weed with the intent of pressing that into rosin for the upcoming bash, I pocketed the remaining hash and we floated out into the wonderful sunshine. We made sure to thank Silvio, Patrick and the very kind staff many times for their generous hospitality and I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that: Thank you very much guys, that was a fantastic visit to a great shop!

With our trusty guide in the lead we set off in a westerly direction, making for Oester park and some dabs in the sunshine.
We have a great time floating along, dodging Ricky’s concerted attempts at ending our time on earth in a grim and untimely fashion, having a few laughs and generally just enjoying life as I notice what I am pretty sure is Oester Park coming up on our left hand side. We pull up, OHMF and Nugs exchange a few words and we continue along.

Very crispy indeed from the Stud and Ballonetje visits I am convinced we are now heading for some much better entrance to the park than the one we just passed and happily go along. After a little while I see a very pretty windmill along a quaint building with a nice terrace in front, full of people enjoying beer. Finally recognizing this as ‘t Ij brewery I am starting to doubt the merits of this alternative entrance to the park, or my initial impression of just how large this park is.

I catch up to Nugs and enquire as to where his otherwise so good navigational skills have gone, whereupon he informs me that the plan to go to the park was nixed as we had no water for the dab rig. Sigh, we off course had two bottles of water among our many other stoner supplies, but don’t blame the lads for not asking if we did, we wouldn’t even have considered if we had a rig with us at that point, barely being able to concentrate enough to be less hazards on the bike than Ricky.

We make for the college, but that plan is also nixed as we come to close to the Batcave to avoid its magnetic pull.

Arriving at Batavia we immediately head to the Batcave, OHMF sets up the Rosin sweat shop in the corner and we start pre-gaming and contemplating how we are to satisfy our munchies before the big night ahead.

What a day it has been already, the two visits were completely off the hook and the company was excellent. We couldn’t have asked for a better warm up to what promises to be a great night and everyone’s stashes are more than packed, it is going to be wild!

Next up: The bash of bashes!

CC

great read as always.



Db

cracking reportage, CC.
your description of Katsu's vibe is pretty spot on,
and one of the reasons why i always hit it up- for
that old school amsterdam cannna-scene vibe...
even tho' the selection/quality can be hit or miss.

glad acd rolled het ballonnetje into the crawl, as
it also is another old school place i like to visit.
but that re-model caught me off guard when i was there
3 or 4 years ago. it's always my first-place-in-the-morning
when staying with schipper willem, just across the
nieuwe prinsengracht...
http://amsterdam.citymundo.com/accommod ... ht-l01008/

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