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Thc hoots at the top of forbidden plateau 💨💨💨💨

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Some tasty rockstar kush out in the woods

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Smoke and Strut Top 10 hikes for Cannabis Smokers on Vancouver Island

There's nothing like smoking in nature, being surrounded by trees and plants, maybe sit near a waterfall or a different body of water. Here in B.C. you can smoke in any park besides in campground common areas and within 6 meters on a playground. This is awesome since we have so much to see and do here on Vancouver Island.

There are somethings you will need to be aware of on your hikes and out in the woods.

1. Pack In What You Pack Out! Meaning please don't leave your snack wrappers or drink containers. Be sure to bring them back to your car with you or dispose of them correctly.

2. Be Fire Safe! The past few years we’ve has a lot drier conditions making it easier for forest fires to start. So I always bring a container I can fill with a bit of water and ash my joints in or my pipe bowl. 

3. Don’t Get Lost! Now that everyone has a cell phone we can pre download maps and follow the map to keep on track. There is a mountain bike trail app called trailforks, it has all the trails I'm going to talk about. Trailforks allows you to follow yourself on the map and see all the trails near you as you pass them.

4. Bring Snacks! A lot of these trails take a few hours, I don’t know about you but i tend to get hungry when I smoke. 

How should I consume when out and about ?

Doobie - Always a good choice besides the smell, joints get you real high and they are perfect for sharing.

Vape pen - Vape pens are perfect for these kind of trips. Just be sure to charge it up before you go out. (don’t know how many times this has happened to me get way out in the bush and have no way to get high)

Pipe - Like a joint, pipes are very good for sharing and are super portable. Pipes can give huge hoots as well it can be fun to blow smoke into the woods.

Edibles - A smaller dose can most definitely enhance your outdoor experience but a bigger does can also be fun. 

Unbreakable piece - personally I have two silicone bongs one specifically for hiking and camping there's nothing quite like smoke by the river using the water from the river in the bong.

My Go To Hikes:

Seal Bay Nature Park

Seal Bay Nature Park is located northeast of Courtenay on Bates road. The road divides the park into two parts. On the east side of the road is an amazing rocky beach along the ocean. The trail down to the water is carved out of a huge lush second growth forest. There are benches on the way down to stop and take in the scenery. Seals can be heard barking in the distance. Once down on the beach you can light one up and start to explore the ocean side. There is lots of structures built from driftwood and big logs to sit and watch for whales. The west side of the road is a loop around the melda marsh the trail is called the swamp loop, don’t let that deter you though. This hike has lots of fallen trees to walk across and bridges over streams filled with frogs and otters. There are huge stumps to climb inside and look out points that overlooks the marsh.

Rosewall Creek Provincial Park 

This hike is a bit south of Courtenay, only accessible by the ocean highway. After parking start walking toward the highway, be sure to cross the bridge of the highway (the trail is on the north side of the river). I usually spark up a doob at this point, there is minimal wind since you are pretty deep in the woods. The trail is partly washed away near the beginning from a flood a few years back but there is a relatively well used trail there now. There is a beautiful waterfall at the end of the trail with a rather deep swimming hole beneath the waterfall. 

Willowbrae Trail / Halfmoon Bay

The Willowbrae Trail is the beginning part of the trail to Half Moon Bay. The trail is located in Ucluelet on the westside of Van Island. At the beginning of the willowbrae trail you get your first taste of the humongous trees and vegetation the island has to offer. After about a km you will come to a point where you have to either go down straight down to a beach or go left, GO LEFT. This will take you to Halfmoon Bay you will instantly be greeted with more trees, giant ferns and long stretches of boardwalks keeping you above the forest floor. There are some fallen giants along the boardwalk where you can see the network of roots that one tree has. Once you come to the stairs you are mostly there. At the bottom of the stairs you will find a seemingly deserted beach. When ever I have been here I've only seen a hand full of people. It’s the perfect beach to whip out the bong and snacks and get settled.

Hole In The Wall

This place is kind of different, park at the Coombs Country Candy store which is located to the right, as soon as you come into Port Alberni coming from the east side of the island. The trail head is across the highway, to the right of the concrete barriers. Start walking straight, soon there will be a clearing and the path goes right or left, GO RIGHT. The trail will have a few turnoff points but keep going straight. Walk for about 10 minutes and there will be a mountain bike disc brake that has been consumed by a tree turn right here. At the bottom of the hill there, you will see the hole in the wall. It’s a cool place to explore, Inuksuks have been built all around the river bed. You can also go through the hole the the river on the other side. If you turn left the trail take you down stream where you will find a waterfall that has a rope swing into the pool created by the waterfall. This is an awesome place to smoke and enjoy the water.

Englishman River Falls Provincial Park

This trail is located near Parksville closer to a town called Errington. It has a huge waterfall with a bridge that crosses over top of them. This allows you to get some awesome photos of the falls. On the other side of the falls you can turn left or right. The left turn takes you to the top of the falls there is also a picnic table beside the water it’s a nice place to have a snack. If you take a left it will take you down the river from the falls. This area is usually heavily populated, especially in the summer months so I usually use my vape and maybe and edible for this hike. There are big grand fir trees along this trail. Towards the bottom of the river there is another bridge to take you back to  the parking lot. At this bridge there is a part where the river gets calm and the water is deep. It’s always a perfect place to take a dip. 

Newcastle Island

Newcastle Island is located in the Nanaimo harbour. It’s a very short ferry ride that only costs $8 return. Depending on the route you take, expect to be on the island for most of the day. Be sure to bring snacks, water and weed. Cannabis is only permitted at the campsites but you can easily smoke without anyone knowing. The island is amazing with lots to see. There are many beaches, a lake and a viewpoint facing SugarLoaf Mountain, there is also a campground with fire pits. Albino Racoons can be spotted as well as seals and otters. 

Cable Bay Trail 

Cable Bay Trail is located south of Nanaimo near Cedar. The trail flows through the forest for 2 km, down to the ocean facing Gabriola island. This is a designated off leash area so it cool to bring your pooches while you smoke one by the water. If you keep following the trail it will take you to Dodds Narrows where Vancouver Island meets Mudge Island. Here the current flows towards Gabriola and towards Van Island. This creates a huge flow of water, if your lucky you might see seals here catching fish. This is quite a spectacle to see. 

Hollands Creek Trail

This awesome trail is right in the heart of Ladysmith. My favorite way to get to this trail is from dogwood road, there is a parking lot here. This is a loop trail that takes about 2 hours. If you take the side of the trail that the parking lot is on you can go through a more forested area and it will take you to the other side eventually. On the other side you can park on the corner of 6 Ave and Methuen St. This part is wheelchair accessible. This trail has a few waterfalls and is and awesome nature walk.

Gowlland Tod Provincial Park

This hike is way down island close to Victoria and easily accessible from willis point road. This park is huge and has over 20 km of trails and amazing nature views. The ocean near the bottom is usually calm and there are many spots to hang out by the water. There are lots of old concrete structures to explore and loads of wildlife. 

Mystic Beach

This magical hike is located an hour and a half north west of victoria. The trail from the parking lot to Mystic Beach is an hour hike, and is covered in big roots to climb over and huge trees to look at. The beach is down a creaky wooden stairway. Mystic Beach has such fine beautiful sand the ocean here seems clearer. It’s easy to spend the days laying on the beach here. There are often people the whole way to the beach and at the beach so discreet puffing is encouraged.

All of these hikes are awesome,  whenever I am in the area I try to go and walk the trails there. I’ve always had great times here and have always left with amazing photos. 

Written by Scotty Frey

References:

At the trails themselves and Google maps

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Some amazing amnesia 🤤 makin me all forgetful and shit! 🤯

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Cannabis Extracts

Cannabis extracts have been around for thousands of years. The first records date back to the year 900 on the arabian peninsula. These records indicate people made hashish but they did not smoke it like we do today, they ate it. Hash spread to the middle east in the 1800s, it was used in teas and tinctures. Around that time Napoleon's troops brought it to Europe from Egypt. This sparked up smoking clubs in Paris like the “club des hashischins” where famous writers like Hugo, Balzac and Baudelaire would smoke. Some of today’s extracts are very different compared to back then. This is because bud today can have over 30% THC and over 20% CBD. We can extract the resins on the cannabis flower. In the last few years we have found ways to extract the other parts of the plant that we want like cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids and leave the things we don't want like chlorophyll and waxes. There are two types of extraction solvent based and solventless.(with a few exceptions) 

In this post we will be talking about solventless and solvent based extractions. First solventless, we say solventless because there is no chemical substance to stripe trichomes from the flower, instead water and ice or heat and pressure are used. Some solventless extracts include hashish and rosin. 

A brief intro to hash making

This is the oldest form of cannabis extraction, there are many methods of achieving a hash like consistency. They are all very safe and easy methods, you can make bubble hash with some ice, water and some micron screen bags or bubble bags. You will also need a 5 gallon bucket and some cannabis. Mix it all up for a few hours then pull the bags out. Scrape the thc out of the micron screens and dry it out. The different screens make for finer and more concentrated hash,and the finer the screen the less plant matter. Dry ice hash, is another method that is used by a lot of new hash makers. For this method you will need a micron bag some bud and dry ice. Simply add the ice and bud in the bubble bag let sit for a few minutes then shake over a smooth easy scrapable surface. After you have shaken your flower scrape up the trichomes and press it in a pollen press. 

 Rosin how to press

Pressing Rosin is a rather new method for the cannabis community. Bud, hash and kief can be used to create rosin. Rosin keeps all aromatic terpenes and up to 70% thc. People are going crazy for it even though it has a low yield, it's very easy and most people can do it with what they have at home right now. While commercial rosin presses are sold, we can make our own with a hair straightener, cannabis and some parchment paper. Heat up your hair straightener on mid-low heat. While its heating place your bud in the parchment paper folded lengthwise. Once your straightener is hot place the bud between the hot plates and squish for 10 - 15 seconds or longer. There should be some rosin around your squished bud scoop it up and it's ready to smoke. It's rather expensive for the consumer to purchase since the yield is so small.  

These are the two main types of solventless extraction that we see today both of these forms are very potent and flavorful. In our next post we will get into Solvent based extraction, what it is and how the different methods work and how why they get different end results. 

Solvent Based Extraction

Finally, solvent based extracts, a variety of solvents can be used such as alcohol, isopropyl, butane, Co2 and ethanol. Some solvent based extraction methods include butane hash oil, supercritical Co2 and molecular separation. Most of these extraction methods are very high tech and costly.

Butane Hash Oil

Bho is a method that uses butane to break down the trichomes.In the early days you could buy something called a “honey bee extractor” it was made of pvc piping. You would stuff it with bud and blast a can of butane through it. Catching the THC rich butane out the bottom in a pyrex dish. This would later be known as open blasting. Since then we have created vacuum chambers called closed column pressurized extractors. These close extractors make it safe to “blast hydrocarbons.” This is how most shatter, wax, honey comb and live resin starts out.

Supercritical Fluid Co2 Extraction

Co2 is actually not considered to be a solvent since it is a gas until it is turned into a liquid. This happens between 1000 to 5000 psi then it’s considered a supercritical fluid. This method creates a high terpene extraction at 10%. Where as bho is between .5% to 3.5% terpene extraction. This is also how distillate is made, distillate is around 95 to 99% THC. It is very clean so clean that it is both edible and smokable. Most cartridges, gummies and lots of baked goods are made with distillate. It has changed they way we make edible, this is because of its little to no flavor. Now any food can be infused and it will not taste like cannabis. 

Both solventless and solvent based extractions can yield high terpene and high cannabinoid products. It’s mostly just a personal preference. For me I love me some tasty BHO and smoking with a quartz banger. I am also a huge fan of hash and make pressed hash on a daily basis from what i get outta my grinder. 

Thanks for reading, Scotty Frey

Resources:

https://meetharmony.com/2016/12/21/everything-know-cannabis-extracts/

https://www.thekindpen.com/14-different-kinds-of-weed-concentrates/

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Terpenes, what’s that ?

This is an intro to terpenes and how they affect modern cannabis we smoke today. 

Terpenes are what gives the cannabis plant its taste, flavour and smell. Terpenes or “terps are part of what produces THC and can also help the effect that the strain has. They can be found in all plants, foods, flowers and even a select few animals. There are over 200 terpenes 150 of which are found in the cannabis plant. There are 10 primary and 20 secondary. The ten primary ones are Alpha-humulene, Limonene, Alpha- Pinene, Myrcene, Linalool, Beta-Caryophyllene,Terpinolene, Ocimene, Eucalyptol and Geraniol. Many things can affect terpene development like type of soil,age of the plant, weather and climate. They also help protect the plant by acting as a sunblock, as well as help protect the plant from bacteria and pests. Terpenes, THC and CBD work together harmoniously this is known as the entourage effect. Some terpenes help cannabinoids move into our bloodstream faster. Let’s talk about some of these primary terpenes, what they do and how they can help us choose the strains that are right for us. 

Delta 3 Carene:

This terpene is found in a lot of other foods and plants like rosemary, basil, bell peppers and in most conifer trees. Delta 3 Carene has a smell like cedar and pepper but tastes slightly sour like lemons. Carene is found mostly in sativa strains. It is known for its medicinal uses such as helping to repair bones or boost bone healing. This has shown to be amazing for people who suffer from fibromyalgia and arthritis. Delta 3 Carene is also a very potent anti-inflammatory especially in acute cases. Studies show when Carene is combated with the cannabinoid CBD it can stop memory loss. Some strains that you can find Delta 3 Carene in are Skunk #1, Super Silver Haze and Super Lemon Haze.

Terpineol:

Terpineol has been found in over 150 plants. Some of these plants include lilacs, limes, Eucalyptus sap and pine trees. This could be way Terpineol is used in a wide variety of perfumes, foods and skin care products.This terpene is found when Linalool, pinene and humulene are found in high numbers. Known for its pain relief, anti-anxiety and seizure reduction. As well as help program the death of cancerous cells. Terpineol can be found in strains like Girl Scout Cookies, OG Kush, Fire Og, and White Widow.

Geraniol:

This lesser known terpene comes from the geranium plant. Geraniol has a sweet-fruity, floral smell and flavour.This terpene is found in other plants such as rose, lemon grass, blue and blackberrys even carrots and honey. Honey bees produce Geraniol as a territorial mechanism and to make honey. One medical use for it is it reduces tumor properties in cancer cells and also preventing the growth of colon cancer. Geraniol can be found in Harlequin, Lemon OG, Agent Orange nd Tahoe OG. 

Myrcene:

Myrcene is the most common terpene in cannabis today. It can also be found in hops, lemongrass and mango. We can noticed that most indica strains are over .5% myrcene. Sativa on the other hand usually has under .5% Myrcene. This suggests myrcene has very relaxing effects. Myrcene has been used medically in the past as a sleep aid and muscle relaxant. This terp can be found in strains like OG Kush, AK-47, Grand Daddy Purple and White Widow.

https://www.thegrowthop.com/cannabis-health/why-are-cannabis-terpenes-so-very-important

https://compassionconcentrates.com/what-is-delta-3-carene/

https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5ccb5555c563782c2884a3b9/know-your-cannabis-terpenes-terpineol

https://www.leafly.com/news/science-tech/what-is-geraniol-marijuana-terpene

https://www.leafly.com/news/science-tech/myrcene-terpene

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Romulan 

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Bc Bud

“BC Bud.” Ask any cannabis enthusiast world wide and I bet they have heard of it. There are so many legendary strains that have come out of the province of British Columbia. Growing up in Alberta, I would hear of this legendary Cannabis from B.C. Once in a while, we were lucky and some of that tasty bud came through our town and whenever a friend would go for a family holiday in B.C you know they would have some of that delicious green gold as a souvenir. So what makes BC Bud stand out, and where did this famous reputation come from?

The word BC Bud was a name that was trademarked by a company named Coast Breweries Limited. That’s right, BC Bud was first named after a beer in 1931. It was marketed as a healthy drink. Ads stated that “good lager is good for you,” like “liquid bread,” suggesting that people should “drink BC Bud for health.” Due to alcohol prohibition in the United States, smuggling routes were created between Canada and the US. In 1933, prohibition had ended and these routes grew silent until the late 1960’s when over 30,000 Americans ventured North to avoid the Vietnam war draft. The smuggling routes were used once again, but this time, for cannabis. 

These “draft dodgers” ended up in places like the Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island, the Fraser Valley and the Okanagan. Unlike the rest of Canada, these parts of B.C. are known to have hot summers, lots of rainfall, short and sometimes no winters with a cool autumn. This unique Canadian climate, along with very fertile soil and lots of thick dense forest make for optimal growing conditions. These dodgers planted the seeds that they had brought along with them and projected these strains to what they are today. So many strains such as God Bud, Rockstar Kush, Death Bubba, OG Kush, Texada Timewarp, Romulan and UBC Chemo began with this history. These strains are still some of the most potent on the market and many have won the Cannabis Cup and other Cannabis competitions worldwide.

There is a huge market for B.C weed. The RCMP estimate there were over 20,000 grows in the province during the 60’s. These grows would be worth 2 billion dollars annually before legalization, and 75% of that was exported to the U.S and surrounding Canadian provinces. Today, B.C Cannabis is said to be worth over 7 billion dollars by the year 2021. 

British Columbians are said to be “chill” or “relaxed” and many say that we live a “hippy lifestyle.” This public image could be why cannabis has become such a part of B.C culture. Now, thanks to legalization, B.C growers can finally get the recognition they deserve and soon they can bring their product across the country and possibly the globe. I feel very fortunate to be a part of the legacy of BC Bud and look forward to contributing to a rich history in the making. 

Resources:

1.https://www.straight.com/cannabis/1105196/untold-history-bc-cannabis

2.https://www.leafly.com/news/industry/bc-bud-world-renowned-cannabis

3.https://itsprimo.com/thc/bc-bud/