Tuesday April 18th continued – The Bash of Bashes!
We rejoin the action in the Batcave, where OHMF is busy squeezing out some rosin from the Stud leftovers and some other bits and pieces of weed. I dig out the two hashes from the stud and break off more than a gram of each for him to squeeze also. We more or less only make hash rosin at home, so we probably won’t be getting too much into that, but figure there are plenty of ACD’ers joining us tonight that might be interested in a wee hash rosin dibdabberoo.
Nugs is working his magic and as we are no slouches in the art of Teutonic towel trickery neither we quickly manage to secure a good foothold near the serving window, but are still keeping our eyes out for more options to gain territory from the ICmag gang who still hold the upper hand.
Confident that we can hold our own for a bit, Nugs flies off on a stealth mission along a canal side and we dig into our stash for a bit. I seem to remember Ricky also going off on some adventure for a while, and that a few more ACD’ers joined the gang while he was gone, but can’t say for sure who it was and in what order things happened. Before long we saw our chance to move to some of the tables in the other half of the room and the lanky rosin master soon joined the rest of us and set up the e-nail, while the rest of us were busy smoking and skinning up a few.
A few dabs and joints later we were really feeling the hunger and went off for a quick bite, IIRC we hit up BB on Warmoesstraat, but we might have had something at Batavia.
Back from our munching we are quickly rejoined by Nugs who have brought goodies he found on his little expedition, besides a rather large helping of different canal side wares for the boys, he picked up five grams of the legendary Shoe hash for us from another local hookup.
On a quick trip to the bar, I spot the star of the night in good company, birthday boy macky is having a nice birthday dinner with wife and BIL Joe and seems more than ready for the bash. After again wishing macky a happy birthday and reassuring him that we have the best seats in the house for the upcoming party.
Downstairs the pre-gaming is in full swing and the fiets gang is happily digging into their newly stuffed stashes, with the rest of the ACD gang present also sharing some smokes and having a good time.
We finally get a chance to sample the Shoe hash, which along with DGH from canal side and the Laila from TK became our favorite hashes of the trip. Let me just tell you up front, we weren’t disappointed. The Shoe hash is a prime example of classic Moroccan luxury, hard as a rock when left undisturbed but quickly becomes more malleable when heated by the touch of your hand. It is almost black on the outside, fading to a dark redish brown on the inside, gleaming with crystally goodness and oozing with fragrant oils.
Rolling up the Shoe Hash… Excuse the crappy quality.
The taste on this baby was one of the most powerful we have had in a classic Moroccan in quite a while. It is a full on assault of rosemary, pine and dark spices, with dark espresso roast coffee and dark chocolate filling in the gaps, a big fat mouthful of flavors and so powerful that large doses in a spliff will have you gasping for air. It was also quite potent and easily cut through the many other cannabinoids floating around or system from a full day and early evening of smoking. A deep, relaxing body stone with a nice floaty head high was what I remembered mostly from it that night.
We follow up the Shoe hash with some of the Amnesia Kush from canal side. To us this was a bit of an unfamiliar puppy, as we don’t seem to remember seeing it elsewhere or hearing about it on the forum. Maybe the knowledgeable OHMF can educate us a bit and will probably let us know that we have been smoking just such a cross under some name we didn’t know came from a Amnesia x somekindakush parentage.
While not as stellar a sample as the Amnesia X G13 cross we had from canal side in November, this was still a very interesting and tasty smoke. It had a very decent effect that had the classic amnesia high mixed with a heavier body stone that complemented the relaxing stone from the Shoe hash nicely. The flavor saw the amnesia come through with some more old school skunky, dank flavors in the background. Not a very distinct “kush” flavor, but still an interesting smoke.
As we are enjoying our Amnesia Kush fatty Ricky catches my eye as he enthusiastically (in his own way) picks through some of his stash, looking for the next choice weed to be rolled up. Last night poor Ricky was not feeling well at all and he was clearly suffering in more ways than one. That has all gone away overnight though, and Ricky has been going full steam all day with no sign of letting up. Over the next days he even seems to gather momentum as the week progresses and he quickly outpaces all but a few of the ACD massive at all the meet ups.
Pre-gaming at Batavia. Most of our stash before the bash (some bits missing).
About this time macky, wife and Joe join the party and everyone joins in wishing him (another) happy birthday. They take seats in the spot we have reserved for them near the window, which becomes their little corner of the world for the remainder of the evening.
Macky quickly whips out a bunch of baggies, graps one seemingly at random and throws it at Mrs. CC and asks her to roll up one of her fattys from the content. This would repeat very frequently during the night as macky very generously kept supplying the missus with baggie after baggie of choice greens and hashes, sharing the result with the whole party. I don’t know how many bags got done in this way, but it was a truckload and what macky brought for us on his birthday bash could have kept most of the gang quite crispy that night without the need for the rest of us bringing anything to the table.
But this is the ACD crew after all, and “quite crispy” just isn’t gonna cut it. Everyone seemed to have brought a little extra treat or two for the special occasion. The rest of the gang gradually joined the party and we were soon a big bunch of happy tokers having a grand party. Check Lemmings great travelogue for a full list of everyone who were there that night, he forgot to name himself “Master of Attendance” as he apparently has an almost perfect memory for who joined what meetup.
Before we got too deep into the fray OHMF, macky and I went on a quick mission to score a bit of extra green from Voyagers. At this point we were all rather mashed and I remember us shooting the shit and giggling away as we pot-stumbled the short way to Voyagers. At the counter we had a peak a several nice looking samples of green and I came away with a nice bag of 24K Gold that we had planned to roll up with the 24K Full Melt Ice from Utopia as a special birthday fatty for macky.
IIRC both my companions bought something at Voyagers and as we were walking back towards Batavia I tried to convince them (and myself as well) that there was absolutely no need to stop by Central on the way, considering the absolutely massive stash the three of us already had lying in wait in the Batcave. Seconds later the three of us are standing at the counter in Central, laughing and shaking our heads at the folly of my attempt and asking the tender to see his best offerings.
We look at a few things and a “fruity diesel” (raspberry? Strawberry? who know?) catches our eye. Macky and maybe OHMF grab a gram and I make plans to come back later in the night for a sampling of the Amnesia Hash that several on the forum has spoken highly of and was reportedly restocked soon.
Back in the Batcave the party has turned up another notch and the ACD crew is really showing what they are made off. Joints beyond count are flying around the room, several pipes are also passed around and the e-nail is hot on the table. So many joints are passed my way that night that even my sometimes “weidetic memory” is put to shame and I have only been able to hang on to a few clear impressions of the many, many fine products I sampled that night.
I quite clearly remember the Trans Himalayan hash that DB brought (I think it is one of his favorites as he seems to be always carrying some
), which was a very fine example of classic Asian hash. IIRC OHMF also pressed a bit of this into rosin with a very nice yield. Very nice hash, somewhat minty though.
The stand out Asian hash of the night, and of the trip actually, was the Malana Cream that macky offered up (among the several hashes he had brought to complement his large selection of weed). I recently read a rather negative review on this particular hash from avfc-herbalist, who seems to know what he was talking about. I doubt it was the same batch as the one macky had, if even the same hash at all. This one was extremely tasty, completely overshadowing the pure weed it was mixed with. It was super smooth in spite of the massive flavors and was a real treat for Asian hash lovers.
The “24K all the way” birthday joint we rolled for macky was also a real treat. The 24K from Voyagers had a decent amount of Kosher in the profile and the musky funk and dank flavors blended perfectly with the more Tangie heavy (and extremely tasty) full melt ice from Utopia. I think everyone who had a sample of this fatty raised an eyebrow and commented something akin to OHMF’s “that is a taaasty number”.
The dab train was also going full steam and OHMF, Ricky and Nugs all insisted that the both of us had several dabs from their newly acquired concentrate stashes. I also had some of the sugar wax (GG#4 IIRC) that macky bought for the party, super terpy and powerful taste, with a kick to join it.
OHMF also offered up some of the hash rosin and even though I was much more keen on the fine BHOs it was nice with a few hash rosin nail hits. We both agreed that the best tasting and decidedly least minty of the lot was one of hashes from The Stud, but don’t think we ever managed to nail down which of the two it was, if you’ll excuse the pun.
After a few hours more fun and mad consumption all around Spidergawd made it clear that he and the lovely MissMuffet were just about ready to call it a night. I (as well as OHMF, macky and Nugs) had several times offered spidey a dab, which he had accepted but newer actually got around to taking as he was probably distracted by some of the other merrymaking. I asked him if he wanted one before he left and with a big smile he made his way to the dab rig. It was another hour and I think more than one dab later before they eventually made their moves for the door. A true veteran and a wonderful human being that spidey!
The crew was starting to thin out a bit also and I think it was about a half an hour or so later that the fiets gang were really feeling the hunger and made plans for some grub. Everyone was seriously melted at this point and all but the two of us from the bike gang also seemed to be close to calling it a night. OHMF asked if we wanted to get a last dab in before he turned off the nail and the both of us jumped at the opportunity. As it was the last dab of the night, I might have been a bit too brave with the size and as we stumbled out of Batavia a little later (half a fatty in my mouth and with no jacket on off course) I am feeling particularly mashed and quite silly.
As our little group of mischiefs zigzag through the steady stream of people in the night, we have a brief back and forth on the choice of munchies but predictably end up at “the chicken man”- Favorite Chicken again, the only choice really...
I order up a Fillet burger, a bunch of wings and a coke, pay the dude and stumble back out the shop to light up the joint that has been dangling between my lips since we left Batavia. I think Ricky and the missus joins me for a bit and as the joint is finished off the food is ready, perfect timing!
Now, it is at this point that my story will diverge a bit from the tales of Nugs and OHMF. As we remember it, and I am pretty sure the story that follows will support, the missus and I hung back a bit at Favorite Chicken, taking our time to finish the food and leisurely walking back towards Batavia, smoking another half J I had found tugged behind my ear on the way. The reason the crew went back to Batavia before going home btw, was that they still had some of their stuff there and had to gather this before calling it a night.
As we made it back to Batavia we meet Nugs and Ricky outside, both IIRC on their way to grab their bikes. They were both grinning quite broadly and as I asked Ricky were his brother was he laughingly shook his head as he explained that OHMF in typical fashion had had to run back downstairs for his wallet, which he apparently had dropped down there before they left. We meet the lanky dude in the door coming out of Batavia, give him a quick jab for his rather clumsy forgetfulness, we say our goodbyes for the night and OHMF joins Nugs and Ricky for their late night stroll.
Downstairs the party is reduced to a few stragglers, IIRC DB, Lemming and macky was there, maybe one more. We share another few fatties with the group and the birthday boy shares a few more goodies before he is off, at which point it is only Lemming and the two of us left.
We sit around chatting, having a beer or two and smoking a bit more until we can feel that the place is about to close up for the night. As we gather up some of the mess we have left and clear the tables the missus notices a Polo shirt in the corner that I am pretty sure I recognize as belonging to Nugs. We stick this in our bag and are just about to leave as I take a quick check around to see if there are anymore things lying around someone might have forgotten.
The place seems clean, but as I get up to go, I notice out of the corner of my eye, something lying on the floor in the corner. It is a small black pack, which I quickly identify as OHMF’s kit containing his dab rig cleaning and other dabbing utensils. I my stoned state I amuse myself by contemplating if the fine fella is going for some kind of medal for forgetfulness or just enjoy the taunts he inevitably will receive from the rest of the gang for dropping yet another of his belongings.
We say goodbye to Lems as we all leave Batavia, jump on our bikes and have a very dopey ride to the Piggy Uptown.
In the smoker’s lounge at the Piggy things are still busy and a sesh quickly develops with the English / Welsh couple, a few of the staff and some other guests. About half past two I come across OHMF’s kit among our belongings and decide to throw a few breadcrumbs in the forum chat for him to follow.
At or around the same time the missus calls it a night and not much more than a half hour later I make the long and arduous climb up the many stairs and crash into oblivion.
What a day and what a night it was! The two invites to Het Ballonnetje and The Stud were awesome and the visits above all expectations, big thanks to both shops for showing us such great times!
The Birthday Bash was among the very best smoker’s parties we have ever attended, what a great time it was with wonderful people. Massive thanks to macky for his generosity and for just being a great guy in general!
CC
