I’ve always loved fruity-flavored cannabis. Not the citrus-heavy strains like Lemon Skunk or Grapefruit, which are great in their own way — but sweet and decadent strains like Cannalope Kush, Cherry Pie and Strawberry Cough. They’re a welcome break from OG-heavy kushes and pungent Diesels and Skunks. Everyone enjoys a visit to the candy shop sometimes, and when you get there, you’re going to want to pick up some Blueberry.

Blueberry is one of the few varieties of flower that you’ll find in a dispensary that might be older than you, other than landrace strains — and that’s because it was bred from them. Blueberry is part of an old genetics line developed by famed breeder DJ Short that includes other hits like Blue Moonshine and Flo. In the 1970s, Short introduced Blueberry to Europe after mixing together a pure Afghani indica with pure Thai and possibly Mexican sativas. The result was a heavy, indica-dominant hybrid with a smell and taste unknown to cannabis but familiar in kitchens: sweet, sweet blueberry pie. The strain’s rich flavor is much closer to frozen-juice concentrate than it is to diluted juice. Like Strawberry Cough, Blueberry has a syrupy aspect, but with earthy notes of hash at the end for balance rather than zest and spice.

I’ve always preferred smoking flower to concentrates, but I’m starting to miss the dumbfounded highs of my rookie year, when one bowl of chronic had me laughing at Good Burger and eating 24 Bagel Bites in minutes.
Now, even after a full joint, I’m usually still worrying if I was the person my boss was referring to in an irate e-mail about picking up the slack this quarter. That’s why I was pleased to find a new friend who gives me the carefree, Taco Bell-inspiring high of my youth. His name is Lee Roy, and he’s an indica.

A must-try for anyone who likes OGs, Rare Dankness’s Lee Roy is a cross of Triangle Kush, a heavy indica with Chemdawg origins, and Rare Dankness #2, a phenotype of the popular Rare Dankness #1, which carries Ghost OG, Chemdawg and Triangle Kush genetics. I won’t bore you with all the back-crossing inbreeding details, but the innovative process resulted in one of the Colorado breeder’s most potent hybrids.

Dear Stoner: I’ve noticed something called “distillate” next to the wax and shatter in dispensaries. Employees try to explain it to me, but it’s hard to follow. WTF is it?
Rip

Dear Rip: The future, man. Also called “the clear” by some dispensaries and extraction companies, distilled THC is one of the most potent forms of cannabis out there, but it’s created by a process unknown to most.

Dear Stoner: My roommate and I were thinking about getting into growing. I own the house and am learning about equipment, but what are some good strains to start with? Are some better for beginners than others?
New Jack

Dear Jack: Treat growing cannabis like cooking: Some dishes are easier than others. There are so many factors that can make one strain more difficult than another, including vegetation and flowering time, reaction to trimming, resilience against pests, temperature and light changes, and much more. Only experience will help you control these variables with different strains, but some are definitely more low-maintenance than others.

Did you know that we’ve learned more about space than we have about cannabis? I totally just made that up, but the point remains: There are too many uncharted strains out there. We come across a new species of pot much more often than an astronomer discovers some black hole, and the origins of some of these strains are just as dark. So it’s always nice to come across something new whose origins are relatively easy to trace, especially when the strain is as bomb as Grapefruit Durban.

I stumbled on Grapefruit Durban almost two years ago. It’s been around town since at least late 2014 and seems to be a Colorado-only strain on the commercial side, as there is little information about it online other than its infrequent appearances on a few Denver menus. With such a straightforward name, though, the strain’s genetics are easy to determine.

For the uninitiated, Grapefruit Durban is bred from Grapefruit and Durban Poison strains — two of my favorite sativas, thanks to the instant energy they bring. Grapefruit, bred from Cinderella 99 and an unknown auto-flowering sativa, is beloved for its heavy citrus, tropical aromas and relatively easy growing process. Durban Poison, a landrace sativa I write about often, is one of Colorado’s most popular, with a sweet, skunky flavor and intense head high.

Dear Stoner: I’ve seen some dispensaries that have rooms for only medical customers, some for only recreational customers and some that sell to both. It seems inefficient, so why all the separation?
Joey

Dear Joey: Yes, it does seem inefficient when you see the exact same products on both sides. But when recreational marijuana became legal in this state, the law called for separating medical patients from retail customers.

As a result, any pot shop that sells to both medical and recreational crowds needs to have licenses for each, and to keep those licenses, it needs to have separate medical and retail marijuana inventory, tracking and customers. If a bud room only has one point-of-sale system, then only one of the consumer demographics can be served. While some dispensaries prefer individual rooms for each side in order to ensure privacy, others will install two POS systems in a bud room and simply split it in half with an imaginary line or rope.

My eighty-something-year-old grandmother caught me smoking a joint in my parents’ garage while I was home for Christmas. Instead of getting mad, she chastised me for my “foul, skunky-smelling” pot. “Can’t you get something that smells nice? Like lavender?” she asked. You bet your ass I can, Grandma — even though you’re missing the point on the skunk. Let me introduce you to my silky friend, Lavender Jones.

Lavender Jones is quickly becoming the most popular “Lavender” strain in Colorado, lining shelves at chain dispensaries and independent shops alike. But how could it miss with a name like that? Lavender Jones sounds like a smooth-talkin’ player swaggering down Colfax with a bulge in his pants and a smile that makes the ladies swoon — and that’s exactly how I feel after blazing it.