The Modalities of a Habitual Smoker

Puffin', blazin', chiefin' tokin', smokin'; the intricacies of smoking is ever changing within every individual who chooses this controversial activity. This enchanting pleasure has served us for centuries as we advance ourselves while immersed in an age of information and technology. Let's ascend into the multidimensional aspects of this chronic act.

How can we apply some of the infinite facets and extensive history of smoking into our modern day to ameliorate this activity? Fortunately, Cannabis' effects can be naturally introspective; questioning everything inside and outside of us. Cannabis holds the potential to increase our capacity for awareness when used with intentionality. Each strain can open another door within a psychotropic, holographic landscape. Creating psymaps for each strain can provide us a powerful tool for a wide spectrum of things from creativity to physical activity.

Although politics has inhibited Cannabis research, we do know we have the capability to build Cannabis receptor sites(http://t.co/incZlrN ). Therefore halting use for some time and returning can be more rewarding than the first time. Even after a few days of halted Cannabis use, the magic is renewed, stronger.

Smoke em' if you got em'; from professional, artistic glass to a hole carved in a wooden bench, there are many ways to fire up our favorite strain. With MAPS' vaporizer study revealing vaporizers reduce a considerable amount of tars, many of us switched from smoke to vapor. The volcano bag vaporizer is fabulous, preserving the taste of your herb. Although the modern iolite provides portability with convenience. With more advanced devices on the market, vaporizers could gain major popularity with less impact on our precious lungs. The ideal vaporizer could have a built-in grinder, digital timer and temperature settings, rechargeable battery, and maybe even a chemical analysis (companies take note). Vaporizing brings the more subtle effects of Cannabis forward with its gentle heat. Will the sensational burning, tingling effect of smoking be dismissed favoring the more subtle, health conscious vapor?

The key maybe in just being aware of how we smoke. Clearing a half-gram bong hit of Humboldt isn't exactly lung friendly. Pacing, breathing before and after hits provided a noticeable difference in my normal breathing. “You don't get off if you don't cough” is valid to a some degree although coughing is clearly a defense mechanism, variables are less subtle in the long term.

The advent of technology with morality, scientific research, culture, and awareness is placing much of humanity into another stage of one of our most predominate rituals. A certain balance could unlock ineffable dimensions of our psyche while catalyzing spiritual experiences and dissolving limits. Shall we Ascend?

Ruderalis: The Future of Cannabis Designer Strains?

With the amount new cannabis strains being created every day, where are we heading in terms of hybridization of this psychedelic plant? Professional seed companies, amateur commercial growers, pro-hobbyists, the natural elements, and much more all contribute towards the co-evolution between us and cannabis. With the advent of legalization and cannabis re-entering mainstream culture, what will our precious plant be like in the near future?

The subtle and major differences between Indica and Sativa seem to be common knowledge to the relatively sophisticated cannabis consumer; Indica dominant strains (most Kushes, Hash Plant, etc.) being more body-related, commonly associated with the “couch lock” effect and sedating. Sativa dominate strains (Sour Diesel, Hazes, Durban Poison, Trainwreck, etc.) can be associated with psychedelic, energizing (at first) effects. Of course with such a rich hybridization within the cannabis community the spectrum of effects is expanding with every new strain making the effects vague until each strain is tested by the individual.

But enough platitude, what about Ruderalis? Even in Humboldt County, California it's a rarity to hear the species Ruderalis with Cannabis. Ruderalis' origins can be traced back to Siberia, Russia (and Mexico) where there is a short growing season making Cannabis complete its growing cycle regardless short days and cold nights. Thus Ruderalis is more commonly known as the “Auto-Flowering” strain because its development does not rely on the the photo-period. Under 24 hour light a Ruderalis will flower and complete its life cycle. One could theoretically flip the light switch on and off like a rave and its life cycle would not be interrupted; unlike conventional Cannabis where the horticulturist has to force flowering by “black boxing” indoors or “light deprivation” in green houses. Light leaks indoors can cause the plant to be “confused” and cause hermaphrodites and lower yields. Using the Sun's cycle means only one harvest per year and with less than 12 hours of light during the end of the summer gives light deprivation greenhouses and indoor cannabis the edge. Although with Ruderalis one could grow outdoors (on the coast and in temperate climates) all year long or indoors under 24 hour light it's entire life cycle!

Why isn't Ruderalis more popular? After all it could make the perfect house plant since it is an autoflowerer, plus it seems to be a more “hearty” plant overall; resistant to cold weather, pests and diseases. In addition to the capability of harvesting weekly year long without 'black boxing' makes it seems like an obvious yes. There are a few reasons Ruderalis is not as predominate as Cannabis' photo-period-dependent sisters. Pure Ruderalis is known to be weak in terms of potency although this stigma was somewhat debunked with the rise of the Low Ryder #1(a Mexican Ruderalis cross). Yields are generally smaller; A quarter-pound plant is usually Ruderalis' max. Taking clones would be nearly futile as the clone would take on the age of the mother without staying in a vegetative state.

So is Ruderalis still worth it? Still, Yes! Seed companies and hobbyists alike are dialing-in potent strains with the autoflower trait. The longer strains generally yield more with higher potency. With an infinitesimal array of autoflower hybrids, today these small plants can pack a punch. Although an AK-48 autoflowerer from Sigamartha's seed bank easily reaches 4-5 feet tall in a 5 gallon pot yielding over 3 ounces. Larger 'regular' plants are more prone to mold, aren't discrete, and generally don't carry the “dankness” of even small, normal photo-dependent plants. Producing feminized seeds on individual plants has become traditional with silver-thiosulfate; making nearly every seed female.

As we witness the cultural Ascent of Cannabis, Ruderalis may become a powerful strain for all growers and soon-to-become growers. With its compelling growing traits hybridized with our current exotic designer strains, it makes a strong candidate for the future of Cannabis genetics.

-Cannabis Ascension

Cannabis Pie: A Delightful Winter Treat

Bundling up next to the wood-stove has never felt

so ecstatic; thanks to our intimate relationship with Cannabis. Baking homemade pie can be a very rewarding experience to share with friends and family. While the blissful moments of a medicated feeling of well-being is priceless, there certainly is a mystical sense of magic while preparing the edibles. Lets get started!

What we will need for one pie (8 ½ inch pan):

For the crust-

1 + ½ cups of sifted flour

½ Cup of Butter (slightly more or less to your desire)

2 tbsp of sugar

1 egg yolk

Dash of Salt

For the pie filling-

Any canned pie filling will do although for the sake of being homemade we will make pumpkin-

1 small culinary pumpkin

1 cup of rum-whiskey egg nog (or evaporated milk)

1 tbsp pie spice (grounded ginger, cinnamon & cloves)

2 large eggs beaten

¾ Cups of Maple Syrup

First the cannabis butter is made overnight. I like to make more butter than required for cannabis toast or baking later so 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of water, and ½ ounce of grinded cannabis flowers are added. Add more or less to your tolerance/liking. This mixture is put under low heat over night. Drain the liquid from the herb the next day and refrigerate. After the butter solidifies, pour and dispose of the water. Now you have high grade cannabis butter ready!

We can start preparing the pumpkin by preheating the oven to 400 degrees F. Since we are making pumpkin pie, cut the pumpkin in half, scoop the seeds and fibers out. Put the remaining halves skin-side up in a dish with a few tablespoons of water and roast for a half hour. Cool, add pulp into a blender until smooth and drain for an hour.

Turn down the oven to 350f as we prepare the crust. Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt and grate the butter into the bowl. Mix and rub using your fingers and stir in the sugar. Add the egg yolk and slowly stir in 2 tbsps of ice water until it becomes a paste, adding more water if necessary. Roll the dough on a floured surface, line up your pan with the dough and refrigerate for a half hour.

For the filling mix the pumpkin puree (without the liquid) with the maple syrup, and spices. Now is a good time to test the sweetness to your desire. Stir in the beaten eggs and slowly add the liquored egg nog until you have a creamy consistency and pour it into the crust!

Bake for 45 minutes at 350f and chill the pie for an hour before enjoying!

And Yes, The Cannabis Ascension is back in Full Force!

TranceBrownz - A thorough Ganja Food recipe from Cannabis Ascension - A White-Coffee, Double Ganja Fudge Creation

The classic synergy between THC and caffeine can invoke a warm feeling of ecstacy; an ineffable greatness that stirred coffee shops in Amsterdam and buzzed the successful shops in Humboldt. The extravagant interaction of Cannabis and Coffee led me to create a potentized twist on our cliché ganja brownies- I call them TranceBrownz because they have been catalyst for me to enter an ectstatic trance. White coffee preserves the potency and flavor of coffee. Here I will share a thorough walk through on the recipe; Cannabis Cooks old and new, dig this and all feedback is welcome.

TranceBrownz can be broken down into 3 major preperations.

1) The Butter infused with Cannabis Hash/Oil

2)The Fudge Layer (will be in between 2 layers of brownies)

3)The Fudge Brownies. (any recipe requiring butter/oil will work. PreMade Mixes are fine)

I usually make the butter the first priority for the majority of my ganja cooking. While THC is fat soluble, butter will be the edible solvent of choice for this recipe. (Using other fats such as coconut oil and animal fats vs. plant fats coming soon) In this recipe I used alcohol-extracted hash oil and lower grade bubble hash. Since these products are already in a form of concentrate, there is no need to filter the butter. (although when using the trimmings/leaf of the buds or any veggie-like material it must be extracted from the butter after the veg. has been cooked into the oil. Adding water can help dissolve some 'unwanted' compounds' from the vegetative material and can be removed after cooling.) Bubble bags have been the mainstream of hash for a while in California. Readily available throughout the medical dispensaries in Northern California, this ice-water extraction is perfect for creating ganja-goodie-greatness. After full melt hash has been extracted, I tend to consider the majority of runs proceeding it 'food grade.' Hash-Oil was extracted by quickly washing cannabis flowers and leaf through a tea strainer, then coffee filter to ensure the vegetative material has been removed for a profound THC expierence. The vegetative material was only in contact with the isopropyl 99% alchohol for a matter of seconds. The liquid was then spread out over a pyrex dish for a thorough evaporation of the alcohol. This took about a week just to ensure all the alchohol was gone. Curing took a few more weeks. (More on this process later on within the blog)

Now that our cannabis-concentrate is ready, lets start the process!

The butter:

Ingredients: Hash, Butter (real butter)

In medium sauce pan mix unsalted butter with hash over lowest heat setting on stove top. Measuring dosage can be a difficult task if considering the factors of tolerance of user, strain of cannabis used, the environment after ingestion, etc. I prefer to use about 7 grams of hash per box (4 medium sticks of Humboldt creamery butter). More or less depending on intentions. Stir for 2-3 hours or until hash is nearly completely dissolved. I prefer to keep the butter in liquid form right before cooking with it. Ganja buttercomplete.

The Fudge:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

3 tablespoons of Ganja butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups miniature marshmallows

1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips & andes mints

This is can be very easy. Just prepare all the ingredients beforehand and have a timer handy. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the sugar, salt, evaporated milk, hash butter, and stir until the sugar melts. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil, stirring constantly, for FIVE minutes.

After FIVE minutes, remove from the heat and stir in the marshmallows & chocolate. Pour it into an 8x8 pan that has been lined with aluminum foil or smeared with psychedelic hash butter. Place in the refrigerator to set the fudge for at least one hour.

The brownies:

Any premade mix or recipe will suffice as long as the oil is replaced by using the hash butter. Add 1 and half cups of white coffee available at Has Beans and bake 2 sheets of brownies. Let brownies cool. Layer one sheet with of brownies with the Ganja Fudge and place other sheet on top. You now have TranceBrownz! Don't go to sleep on these brownies and enjoy!

Please excuse the lack of pictures while I save for a camera. More updates soon!

Links:

www.bubblebag.com

www.hasbeans.com

Terence Mckenna: On 'Cannabis and The Ballad of the DreamWeavers'

Terence Mckenna's work in psychedelic culture is of a magnitude of great alchemical wealth; his knowledge moved many with a linguistic sense of art. His philosophy was neo-archaic, a revival of our past traditions to revitalize our relationship with plants, especially those of psychoactive nature. Today we resurrect a few things learned about Cannabis from one of the most influential men in psychedelics of our era.

"No plant has been a continuous part of the human family longer than the hemp plant."

In Terence's Food of the Gods he provides an ethnobotanical history of Cannabis use throughout human history. While even Terence notions the ambuiguity within the history of cannabis use, he still provides strong evidence of spiritual and medincinal use hundreds and thousousands of years ago throughout human history. I truly believe one the most important theme's Terence struck was on Cannabis as a Cultural style. He points out how a Cannabis use is preserving the feminine. Most Cannabis users know the male plant produces almost no psychotropic effects and diminishes the amount of energy the females put into resin production when pollinated. When we ingest cannabis, it's effects certainly have feminine attributes. She is lunar, artistic, & non-linear; provoking intuitive thought patterns.

It's harmony is sequestered from the generic social habits that I've seen here in the majority of United States. Terence suggests legalization "may ameliorate or modify ego-dominant values." As our current political standing closes in on legalization, our societies' values may evolve through the subtle, gentle psychedelic effects of THC. Here in California we are entering a decade of re-acceptance of medical cannabis within the mainstream. He goes on predicting a more lazy and a less industrial society. Humboldt exemplifies a cannabis-saturated society in America with more grow shops than hardware stores. Humboldt moves at a slow pace at it's surface. As the recoginition of the benign aspects of the plant ascends, we should see more Humboldts.

Terence shows a High appreciation for the oral method of ingestion. In the Hash Eater tells the 19th century story of an intense hash trip. By orrally ingesting cannabis, the effects can easily transcend towards a psychedelic journey.

Terence Mckenna's knowledge will forever be remembered. He reminds us Cannabis can be used as a catalyst of consciousness. His grandiose poetic capabilites reminds us how weaving a story was(is) in congruence with the hemp plant. Not only as a fiber. "reality is an endless golden braid." Thank You Terence.

Hear Terrance talk about Cannabis at the MatrixMaster's podcast.

Blazing New Joints - Music Loves Cannabis

Blazing New Joints

Mac Miller - The High Life

Mac Miller's entrance into the game with "The High Life" brings a fresh bang to hip hop. This album is full of enjoyable suprises with cannabis saturated, intelligent lyrics. The production value of this album brings Hip Hop to another level. Uplifting songs like "Live Free" and the lyrical dexterity of the song "Pen Game" make Mac Miller a versatile and flamboyant artist. Don't miss this one.

Jovi Rockwell - Psycho Therapy

A new artist coming out of Jamaica, Jovi Rockwell, is bringing a new flavor to game that also shouldn't be missed. A stunning voice, positive lyrics and great beats behind her make 'Psycho Therapy' one of the hits for this season

Jovi Rockwell's "Rizzla" matches moving beats, with lovely vibes with this track dedicated to ganja. She is certainly rising high with a strong buzz in the game. This amazing track always 'gets me' since rizzlas have been my long-time personal favorite rolling paper for a while.

Links: Jovi Rockwell - http://www.myspace.com/jovirockwell

http://twitter.com/Jovi_RocKwell

Mac Miller - http://twitter.com/macmiller

http://www.myspace.com/macmiller1

Waking Up in A Dream - The Blue Dream Report

Waking Up in A Dream - A Blue Dream Report

With the completion of 2009's outdoor crop, waves of indoor harvests will always continue to come up. A re-occurring yet still highly-valued sativa by DJ Short uplifts my being holistically within an intense psychedelic euphoria. It's very easy to spot this strain throughout the medical dispensaries in Northern California right now. As with any other smoke reports, an infinitesimal amount of factors may effect the report. I was fortunate enough to have enough to only ingest Blue Dream for a period of time. First impressions are nearly always of high stature;claw-like, dense bud growth patterns and longer calyxes make this superb strain a classy sativa. Outdoors the tall, bushy, resinous sativa will surely stand out in the crowd. She will be tall indoors too, even with a shorter vegetation time. A great yield, relatively easy to trim, and easy-to-grow strain make Blue Dream truly a Cannabis connoisseur's beautiful dream.

A taste with seemingly galactic origins, the hypnotic subtleties are light and ext ordinarily smooth. With very little hints of sweetness, Blue Dream's unique flavor of pungy, lightly sweet pepper enticed me with my first hit as the psychotropic effects grew in intensity. She is not a lazy dreamer; very much quite the contrary. Talkative, energized, a warm feeling of uplifted happiness, all fall into place when blue dream is at its best. Although it is always a pragmatic choice to be weary of my environment because this herb can pack a punch. In the wrong place at the wrong time she has caused anxiety and hyperbolic paranoia to my biochemistry. Although this is a trait common amongst many sativas. Clear intentions matched with meditation cancel those effects out, this herb has much psychedelic attributes within chemistry!

After ingestion, an epic take off to inner space occurs; and as the trip Ascends, the psychedelic effects are awakened. An ecstatic slip into a colorful trance of meditation may effortlessly take place with the intense "head high" provided by Blue Dream. Because of this I believe it could have a new spectrum of therapeutic applications pertaining to its psychological effects. (maps.org is attempting government-approved research on this right now) Making butter from this strain to cook with is a psychedelic effort due to the nature of oral ingestion. The effects last longer than most when just vaporized. Expect an average-to-above-average yield with hash and above average quality. Updates to come.

Blue Dream - Haze x Blueberry

maps.org