I have wanted to try Certified’s Banana Skunkberry flower for a while. A friend of mine once had an incredible half ounce of the strain. It’s just been one of those situations where there are hundreds of Ohio strains to sample and only so many funds to work with. Unfortunately, there are other things I need to spend my money on besides marijuana!

While at Curaleaf this weekend I saw they had tenths of Banana Skunkberry on sale for 40% off. The expiration date was 07/28/2025, about two months away from date of purchase. If you weren’t aware, in Ohio, marijuana products expire one year after flower harvest or oil production. After this date they can no longer be sold legally.

I am usually hesitant to shop 40% or 50% off deals because the stuff is often, but not always, near the end of its shelf life. Sometimes the flower can be dry when it’s been sitting around for a long time. Technically, it should still be fresh since it is within its shelf life, but we all know this isn’t always the case.

However, there have been times where I got expired stuff that was still fresh. One time I bought a half ounce of Butterfly Effect’s 91 Royale a day before expiration and it wasn’t dry. The terps were still intact, at least mostly so. I’ve always had good luck with Butterfly Effect’s bud freshness, terp quality and ash color.

I love banana terpenes in general. Usually banana strains are hybrid or indica leaning, relaxing and pain-relieving. In the past I had tried Certified’s Banana Skunkberry 510 distillate cart and really enjoyed the taste and effect. With all of this in mind, I went ahead with the purchase of Banana Skunkberry flower for 40% off.

Certified’s Banana Skunkberry is a hybrid cross between Skunkberry and Banana OG Kx1. It came packaged in a glass jar with a black label and black plastic lid. Upon opening the jar I was hit with a skunky, smooth aroma. There was mild fruitiness to the scent and some distinct sour notes.

My tenth weighed 2.78 grams. The flower had an excellent look, with fuzzy and shiny trichomes along with large orange pistils. The overall color of the nugs were light green and almost yellow, but there were specs of dark green and purple strewn throughout. There was absolutely minimal stemmage and a very nice trim, with no sugar leaves or unsmokable matter.

The buds were pretty dry. When squeezed, they emitted a crispy crunch and lost their shape. When I snapped the buds apart, kief flew everywhere. A large percent of the nuggets turned to dusty marijuana mist when run through both the Santa Cruz Shredder and Flower Mill.

(Edit: After writing this review, I put a RAW Natural Humidity Control Packet powered by Integra Boost in the Banana Skunkberry jar. I left it there for 24 hours. This helped to bring some moisture to the flower. After this, there was no more dust when the Banana Skunkberry was run through a grinder.)

Thankfully the bud didn’t burn super fast. It burned at about a medium speed and produced light ash. While there was a bit of dryness to the flavor, I could still taste the terpenes with no problem. However, I would have loved to been able to taste this tenth when it originally hit the shelf!

While it didn’t taste bad, it did have a bit of a dry tinge to the flavor. I got a light fruity banana flavor, some floral notes and some skunky weediness. I noticed that the official Banana Skunkberry website says the top terps are myrcene, limonene and caryophyllene, but my jar said the top terps were myrcene, limonene, linalool and pinene.

The dryness to the flavor wasn’t particularly harsh. It didn’t make me cough or phlegmy. The medical effects were as expected, relaxing and pain-relieving. The Banana Skunkberry didn’t make me sleepy, which was nice. I was able to write this article and get a bunch of chores done around the house after consumption.

I don’t regret buying this tenth at 40% off. I wish it would have been 2.83 grams instead of 2.78. It would have been nice if it was fresher, but I knew going into the deal that this would be a gamble. If nothing else, let this be a lesson to check harvest and expiration dates. If you have any Boveda packets sitting around, these are the types of situations where they can really come in handy.

I gave my tenth of Banana Skunkberry from Certified Cultivators a 6 for taste, 4 for harshness, 7 for strength, 7 for smell strength, and 60 minutes for length of medical effects.

Total THC 23%, Delta-9 THC 0.36%, THCA 25.80%, CBD 0%.

Terpenes (mg/g): Myrcene 7.31, Limonene 2.50, Linalool 0.80, Pinene 0.75.

Harvested 07/29/2024, tested 08/20/2024 by North Coast Testing Labs, packaged 08/21/2024, first consumed 05/25/2025, expires 07/28/2025.