Tracing down the genealogy of weed strains can be time-consuming and, ultimately, not particularly fruitful. The names proliferate like kudzu fever dreams. Based on its name, Black Jack could be the result of breeding Jack Herrer either with Blackberry Kush or with Black Domina. All of these have their own dubious lineages to complicate things further.
It turns out this is Black Domina—itself a combo of four heavy-hitting indicas—which, when mixed with Jack Herrer, one of the best sativa-dominant strains around, you have a hard-charging, soft-drug speedball. I’m not advocating for illegal drugs like coke and smack, more like coffee and whiskey for me, but there is something about the simultaneous ingestion of stimulants and depressants (to the extent that sativa and indica fit that bill) that is unbeatable. Black Jack gives you a gliding pep in your step that slides as much as it bounces, like an R. Crumb cartoon without all the weird sexism and excess body-hair.
When I offered some to a friend, he took the small, long, and dense bud. “It doesn’t really smell,” he said.
“Break it open,” I said.
“Holy shit,” he said as the sticky bud pulled apart between his thumbs and forefingers, releasing a damp floral smell. “It smells so fruity now.”
He had just been in the library and he told me a story about how he opened his bag up and the entire section of the library he was in started to smell like his weed—Blue Dream. We’ve all been there, smelling some super loud shit, wondering who is holding, and realizing that the smell is coming from your pocket. But if the buds aren’t broken, Black Jack is pretty discreet and chill, without being weak.
That fruity smell hits the back of the palate hard, especially from a vaporizer, making this one of the tastiest buds I’ve tried in a while. That along with the body relaxation plus the mental invigoration makes this a great bud for everyday burning—it isn’t too speedy with the sativa, causing your mind to run wild, and it isn’t too sleepy with the indica, sucking you into the couch.
Black Jack does well for the appetite, though, and it made my Thanksgiving food taste far better than it might have otherwise, as I stepped on the porch to take a few hits before loading up my plate.
- Strength: 8
- Nose: Banana and muddled mint in mud
- Euphoria: 7
- Existential dread: 3
- Freaking out when a crazy person approaches you: 4
- Drink pairing: Rye-rish Coffee (rye whiskey in coffee)
- Music pairing: The Who, “A Quick One”
- Rating: 7