Smoke Report: Initial Thoughts on Killer A5 Haze
First a little history from the breeder (Ace Seeds). The mother is A5 Haze, which belongs to a family of Dutch clones of Haze hybrids that Nevil Schoenmakers developed at the end of the 1980s. It is a cross of Northern Lights #5 and Haze A. The father is Malawi Killer.
Description (also from the breeder): "Dutch old school dark incensed Haze aroma, meaty (liver), with a strong organic/rotten background, with final touches of decomposing flower petals, resin and cured wood." To me, during the flowering cycle (about 15 weeks) it smelled bad.
I didn't really pick up on the incense, but possibly the meaty, kinda sweet, kinda rotten smell. At times it smelled like "wet dog". As it has now been cured for about 6 weeks, fortunately I am getting more of the incense and decomposing flower petals aroma and much less of the wet dog and meat aromas.
I am terrible about picking out flavors during smoking, other than it is pretty smooth, but that's probably more a result of the cure process. Speaking of which, I cured these buds 3 different ways: Standard hang dry, turkey bag, mason jar cure; "Low & Slow" method; and "Malawi-style Cobb" cure.
This was my first attempt at both Low & Slow, and the cobb. I must say I'm pretty happy with both. The low and slow buds are definitely more fragrant and the smoke is very smooth. I did this on some of all three of my photoperiod plants, and will certainly be repeating this with future harvests.
The cobb took a very long time to dry out to 62% rh, but that was expected. After the 2 weeks for fermentation, the cobbs were about 95% rh. I let them air out a couple hours at a time over a 3 week period. The aroma is very different from the other two cure methods. More sweet, almost a cigar or pipe tobacco aroma. The smoke is very smooth and I pick up a bit of the sweet flavor. It's kinda like smoking a "blunt".
To me, the high is quite "sativa-like". Cerebral, social, energetic. The breeder describes it as extremely powerful, psychedelic, and warns that it is not for the beginner. I didn't really notice any of that, but it was nice and long lasting. I was hoping for some psychedelic effects, but haven't gotten it so far during my limited sessions with it. I must say the cobb certainly had a stronger effect and maybe more narcotic as well. I will probably be making more cobbs with future harvests as well.
All in all, I'm quite happy with Killer A5 Haze. Early reports from my sons and their friends are that they like it as well. Comparing it to my other smokes, I'd say it compares similarly to Sour Diesel. I'd give Killer A5 Haze a solid 4.5 out of 5 rating.