Herb CEO recently took a trip to Denver Colorado as a side-stop on a family related trip to Wyoming. Being in love with the craft cannabis scene and the top-notch flower Oregon growers produce the temptation to dabble in some local Colorado flower and edibles was a temptation we couldn’t refuse.
Visiting one of the Star Buds franchises, because it had 5-stars on Google Maps with over 900 reviews at the time (which in retrospect seems moderately suspect), a big fat elegantly packed Kaviar was sitting up on a shelf.
Designer label inspired branding can be a bit, uh, tacky, if not perfectly executed or if the product it’s promoting isn’t premium enough of a caliber to warrant the Channel-themed color ways and fonts.
Kaviar’s slim minimalist black and white branding, and well, the association with one of stereotypical Russian oligarch’s favorite foods, was giving off some potentially tacky vibes. This isn’t an indictment on them, the more I looked at the label the more it grew on me.
Ultimately being in an entirely different city in a different state you’re not too sure what to expect in terms of “average” cannabis quality.. from the dispensary experience to the quality of the flower itself, it’s a big question mark.
That said, it’s Denver after all and given that cannabis has been legal there for so long like a model in a designer cologne advertisement I threw caution to the wind and dropped a solid $20 on that Kaviar pre-roll that the budtender was selling in a genuinely convincing manner.
Below I’ll try to break down my experience in a few short paragraphs as well as provide additional context that might help you, the reader, decide whether or not you should throw down your hard earned money on a Kaviar, or any other top-shelf infused pre-roll for that matter, or if you should stick with the OGs.
Tube Appeal
I’m using this as a placeholder for what would normally be “bag appeal” it’s an interesting one. The Kaviar name and logo could easily be slapped onto a real canister (I’m assuming that’s how fish caviar is stored, big ole middle class assumption) or a designer lipstick tube and I’d believe it to be a real brand.
On a pre-roll in a humble, yet modest franchise dispensary and a very working class part of town? It admittedly gave my Hypnotiq kind of vibes, and no hate on Hypnotiq, great mixer, but definitely “over-prestiged” a product that was most favored by arguably not the classiest folks.
But, this author was looking to get blazed because his Airbnb had a rooftop lounge area that the owner specified was acceptable for smoking on (yay for not worrying about getting paranoid smoking somewhere you shouldn’t) so the money was exchanged and the Kaviar joint was mine.
What is a Kaviar pre-roll comprised of?
Infused pre-rolls all come in different formulations, using different types of extracts to achieve subtly different ends. Kaviar is probably MOST famous for their Moonrocks, a blend of premium cannabis flower, oil, and kief, rolled into gooey little green-dusted booger-like balls for dabbing, or breaking up into your bowl for a truly sticky mess.
But if you don’t have your dab rig, say if you’re traveling for example, or can’t afford the portable electric rigs, then you’re going to want to look at the Kaviar Cones.
Each Kaviar Cone comes filled with premium cannabis flower, oil, and kief, to the tune of 1.5 grams of strain specific terpene profiles and THC potency. The Kaviar Cones come in between 30% and 50%. The reviewed cone was the indica and unfortunately, this author got too high and forget the strain name, as one does with infused pre-rolls.
It was definitely cake something and gelato something. Usually upon purchase of a new strain you can find out the lineage with a quick search online and if something has cookie, tropicana, or garlic in the name or parent lineage I’ma default to getting that 9/10 times.
How High Did You Get?
Honestly, having smoked Highland Provision’s kief rolled pre-rolls and remembering them hitting HARD I was definitely bracing for impact when lighting up the Kaviar 1.5g.
First, second, and third puffs tell me pretty much how the smoke is going to go. Sure, there are subtle things you learn as you smoke, like how evenly does it burn, how is the flavor, what is the sensation like, but from the first few puffs your lungs will also tell you whether this is going to be a smooth smoke or a rough one.
Rough smokes instantly make you cough and give you a scratchy throat, they’re the opposite of smooth. Smooth cannabis doesn’t trigger immediate coughing and doesn’t have any real immediate impact on your throat.
The Kaviar Cones are smooth as can be and no it’s not just because I smoke joints all the time. Two weeks after returning to Oregon I smoked a Disco Dabs Crumble pre-roll on a trip up near Mt. Hood and it both scratched my throat and hit harder (everything has its price) than the Kaviar.
Am I saying the Kaviar Cone was weak? Hell no.. I got plenty lit. Sure, halfway in there was some of that typical “aww shit I’m getting high af” coughing but it didn’t require an emergency trip to the jug of milk or anything like that.
So, yeah, they’re intense and will get you higher than a regular plane flower pre-roll but they won’t completely obliterate you which is awesome because it opens up more possibilities of instances where these are well suited.
Circling back on the branding, yeah, from the outside it looks bordering on tacky but once you open it and see the beautiful glass tip any bit of contention you had over the branding or price quickly evaporates because smoking out of a glass tip is just a very pleasant experience, like consuming a martini in a chilled martini glass vs that chipped Goodwill special you’ve been using for the last 10 years.
When and why should I smoke a Kaviar Cone?
$20 isn’t cheap for a single cone BUT factoring in that it’s infused and is 1.5 grams things become slightly less alarming.
This definitely isn’t a daily smoke. Buy these for an occasion, say a birthday or anniversary if you’re just visiting a legal state and you see it on the shelf. There are so many different cannabis brands and it varies so much state to state and city to city seeing a very recognizable brand like that of Kaviar is comforting because you know it’s going to be reliable.
You might be able to draw comparisons to Johnny Walker Black Label. Perhaps their most recognizable blend but not the cheapest nor is it the most expensive. It IS still a premium scotch with a long track record of reliability, which is why most decent bars around the world will have it stocked..for those special occasions.
Herb CEO Summary
Kaviar makes a great cone. It looks a little intimidating, from the branding to the nature of the infused pre-roll but honestly she’s a friendly beast, like Free Willie.
