Oftentimes, homegrown marijuana can be much fresher and stickier than the stuff you get in a dispensary. This is why I enjoy acquiring cannabis the traditional way: from a friend.
The other day a friend gave me a sample of something they grew at home. Thank you! It was a half gram pre-rolled Zig-Zag joint of Gorilla Glue. The joint smelled pretty nice and gave off a light skunky aroma. It smelled like something I’d enjoy smoking.
There was a G written on the tip, I suppose to indicate that it was Gorilla Glue
According to Leafly, Gorilla Glue is a classic hybrid strain made from a cross between Sour Dubb and Chocolate Diesel. It is known for its ability to make you feel “glued” to the couch. It’s a strain I have come across several times throughout the years, and when grown properly is always a winner.
The joint was given to me loose, so I put it in a plastic container until I got home. The Zig-Zag paper was bleached and made from flax plant fibers. I appreciated how the pre-rolled tip had the Zig-Zag logo, which led me to believe that this was a cone as opposed to a hand-rolled joint.
The dry hit had a light skunky taste and I didn’t see any junk or stems through the paper. The joint was densely packed.
I sparked the Gorilla Glue joint and noticed it did not make my throat burn. The bud tasted like it smelled and ashed light, which made me happy. There were no airflow or canoeing issues and the smoking experience lasted about 3 or 4 minutes.
The bud did not ash dark
The medical effects were relaxing yet euphoric. This strain gave me a mood boost along with a nice chilled-out feeling that lasted about an hour or so. I would recommend Gorilla Glue for those looking to erase pain and ease a racing mind.
As far as ratings are concerned, I gave the Gorilla Glue joint a 7 out of 10 for strength, 5 out of 10 for smell strength, 7 out of 10 for taste, 3 out of 10 for harshness and 60 minutes for length of medical effects.
If I had to guess, I would say the top terpenes were caryophyllene, myrcene and pinene. This cut of Gorilla Glue might test somewhere around 20% THCA but there is no way for me to know for sure, that’s just what it seemed like.
Yesterday I set off on a whim for two locations I’ve been meaning to visit: Eagle Mound within the Great Circle at the Newark Earthworks and Alligator Mound. I brought along a few strains to review in the process!
The first major milestone I reached was passing the 7-story Longaberger building. It is the former headquarters of the Longaberger Company who were famous for producing wooden baskets. The now-defunct building is shaped like a gigantic basket.
That’s a damn big basket
My original intention was to visit Alligator Mound before I visited Eagle Mound within the Great Circle. However, when I stopped to get gas, I realized I was only 8 minutes away from Eagle Mound. So off to the Great Circle I went!
As soon as I parked I could see the gigantic, circular 1,200-foot structure of earth. It rendered me awestruck.
The Great Circle is one of the largest circular earthworks in both North and South America. There is a giant moat-like pit contained inside of the walls, not in front of them. Near the middle of the circle lies a giant eagle effigy mound.
An effigy is an image or representation of a person, animal or object. Many pottery vessels were made to represent animals and human heads. Effigy mounds are earthworks deliberately shaped to represent animals, humans, and even in a few cases, specific symbolic artifacts. Mounds have been found that were formed into snakes, birds, panthers, water creatures, shaman and ceremonial axes.
I got out of the car to take in the scenery. There were crows flying above the Great Circle. It was a remarkably beautiful day with no rain and lots of sunshine.
I walked around to the right side of the structure. There was a stone bridge that lead to the Great Circle’s interior, where you were able to walk around. I made my way towards the Eagle Mound, which is located right at the center of the circle.
In front of Eagle Mound was a sign that explained what is known about the earthwork. I walked around Eagle Mound and could see the shape, but from the ground it was kind of hard to tell what it was. You could definitely see the wings and head, but to me it wasn’t exactly clear what the shape of the structure was from the ground. I might not have caught onto the fact it was shaped like an eagle had I not known already.
I noticed that there were lots of other really small mounds or hills in the landscape around the eagle. I walked back across the stone bridge to exit the Great Circle. I then ran a lap around the Great Circle! I became winded and had to stop a few times throughout the jaunt.
It was now time for the first of two strain reviews: the Frozen Bananas 16.4% THC one gram hybrid pre-roll from Pure Ohio Wellness. It was packed in an opaque white tube. I didn’t see any stems or junk in the joint, which was nice.
The flower was wrapped in unbleached hemp paper. The cone’s tip had a Pure Ohio logo on it. It had a light, slightly fruity scent to it, which did remind me of banana a bit. The dry hit tasted like it smelled.
I stood outside of the Great Circle and faced directly towards Eagle Mound. I sparked the Frozen Bananas joint with a Bic lighter while fighting a slight breeze.
There was a bit of a run right off the rip, which may have had to do with the wind. I re-lit as necessary and puffed the piff. The ash was very light colored and the smoke was far from harsh. I liked the clean taste, which did remind me a bit of banana. It wasn’t a sharp fruity taste like citrus or strawberry, it was more of a muted fruit flavor.
The airflow quality diminished about 3/4ths of the way through the joint. I had to roll the joint’s tip and remaining flower to loosen it up. This actually fixed the airflow and the rest of the joint burned slow and even.
There were a few relights throughout the burn to fix slight runs, but overall this was not a bad joint at all. It lasted about 10 minutes. The medical effects were relaxing, but not overwhelming, and lasted about 45 minutes. As I waited for the effects to wear off, I sat within the Great Circle and meditated.
I gave the Frozen Bananas 16.4% THC one gram hybrid pre-roll a 7/10 for taste, 4/10 for harshness, 6/10 for strength, 6/10 for smell strength and 45 minutes for length of medical effects.
Ingredients: cannabis plant material, rolling paper (wood fiber), filter (cardboard).
Total THC 16.4%, Delta-9 THC 0.20%, Delta-9 THCA 18.5%. Total CBD 0.04%.
Harvested by Pure Ohio Wellness on 07/01/2025, tested by North Coast on 08/26/2025, packaged 09/03/2025, consumed 09/29/2025, expires 08/19/2026.
As I was leaving the Great Circle to head to Alligator Mound, I noticed a sign that said “only a few miles to visit Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries!” On a whim, I went off on a tangent to visit the ancient flint quarries. When would I ever be back in this area any time soon? I might as well explore as much as I possibly can.
I quickly found out that “Only a few miles” was eight miles of long, winding, hilly country roads with fast speed limits. Sometimes, cars would fly up and over these hills at an incredible rate of speed. All you could do was pray that they didn’t stray left to center.
I asked myself, how could you possibly drive these roads in the winter, with ice and snow? I determined that the answer to that question is you cannot drive these roads in the winter. It would be impassible and impossible.
After parking and getting settled, I headed into the Flint Ridge Quarries museum. I talked to the attendant and got a small tour of the facility. I learned that flint is a quartz rock. I learned about some of the many uses of flint.
There is a piece of flint in every Bic lighter which helps produce sparks that ignite the butane gas.
I left the museum and began walking the .75 mile Quarry Trail, which is surrounded by flint quarries.
The trail entrance
The Quarry Trail was a hilly hike! I have hiked lots of Ohio trails and this one gave me a particular workout with its uneven terrain. It was fun to run up and down these steep, root-laced hills.
I had a joint of Mixtape, grown by a friend right here in Ohio. I will be making a point to review more homegrown Ohio strains now that it is legal to grow cannabis in this state.
MixtapeMixtapeThe mixtape is loaded up in the cassette deck
Here is what the grower had to say about their Mixtape strain: “With its varied lineage, this happy little accident I stumbled upon has quickly become a fan favorite.”
The Mixtape had a very fresh, myrcene-heavy smell. It was pungent and aromatic. It smelled enticing. The strong smell was on the earthier side but I could detect slight fruitiness, maybe from the myrcene. It smelled really good!
The buds had nice greens and oranges in them with minimal stemmage. The Mixtape bag given to me contained small buds, so the nugs weren’t giant, but they were plenty smokeable and still looked great.
The buds were not overly dry and they stuck to my fingers as I broke them down. Through a grinder they did not turn to dust, which was awesome. The Mixtape nugs ground down to a nice fluffy consistency that was easy to pack and roll.
After enjoying a few tasty dry hits, I sparked the Mixtape joint within a flint quarry pit.
The quarry from afarThe quarry up close – it’s hard to see with all the leaves
The joint burned pretty slow, lasting around 10 minutes total. It produced white ash and tasted just like it smelled: earthy, fruity and gassy. It tasted awesome! I looked forward to each smooth draw.
Bye-bye, buddy!Time to hit rewind on the mixtape! Here was the ash color when smoked in a bowl.
For me, the Mixtape’s medical effects were hybrid-leaning. My body felt relaxed yet my mind was motivated. The aches and pains produced by the the day’s driving and hiking melted from my mind. The effects lasted about an hour or so.
I gave the Ohio Mixtape an 8/10 for taste, 3/10 for harshness, 8/10 for strength, 8/10 for smell strength and over 60 minutes for length of medical effects. I am definitely looking forward to reviewing some more Ohio homegrown cannabis! You can’t beat the freshness and taste.
After walking around and waiting a while it was time to head to Alligator Mound, which is a 25 minute drive from the Flint Ridge Quarries. The effigy mound itself is built atop a gigantic hill. In modern times there is an upscale housing development built all the way up this hill. The only way to reach the effigy is to drive five minutes up a long, winding residential road.
Once I plodded up the hill I reached the day’s ultimate destination: Alligator Mound.
There is no good place to park at Alligator Mound. There is only one small, thin road that circles the effigy. I parked as far to the side of the road as I could near the right side of the effigy.
Unlike Serpent Mound and Eagle Mound, you are allowed to walk on Alligator Mound. There is even one of those “PUP” Pick Up Poop doggie bag stations at the foot of the mound. Somebody is clearly cutting the grass atop the effigy, probably one of the nearby residents. How cool would it be to live right next to Alligator Mound and see it every day out of your window?
I sparked the final Mixtape joint and stood in awe at the incredible view. Crows circled above.
View from the highest point of Alligator MoundI turned around 180 degrees from the last shot and took this photoIn this shot you can see just how high the hill standsIt was a perfect dayYou can kind of see the effigy structure in this shotView from street levelThe final picture before I left
If I didn’t know what I was looking for I might not have noticed the effigy animal’s form while standing atop the structure. I might have just thought it was a hilly area. Maybe long ago it was easier to see the shape in the earth. Who knows what kind of animal it might actually represent? Probably not an alligator.
The view atop Alligator Mound was jaw-dropping, serene and beautiful, despite the painful eyesore of all the huge houses everywhere. It was damn near silent up there. I imagined what the view must have looked like before all of the “progress” and residential development.
I felt a calming energy as the crows quietly circled above. I sat atop Alligator Mound and appreciated the fact I existed and was even able to travel here in the first place.
I felt so high up atop the earth that it seemed like I could touch the clouds. This effigy was definitely built in this spot for a reason. I stayed as long as I could before I had to get in the car and leave the breathtaking area.
After visiting Serpent Mound, Eagle Mound and Alligator Mound, I can say for certain that it is very difficult and near impossible to see the shape of these structures from the ground. You have to be elevated up somehow in order to view them in full.
This past weekend I attended the 10th annual Cleveland Pinball & Arcade Show in Independence, Ohio. With over 100 games all set to free play, this is an event I try to attend each year. This time I came equipped with a Certified FL Sunrise sativa pre-roll to get me in the zone.
When I popped open the opaque black plastic tube I was greeted with a light citrusy scent. The joint had no branding or logos on the tip. The unbleached paper was made from wood pulp.
The densely-packed bat weighed 1.28 grams with crutch included. The plant material looked good, with no visible stems or unwanted matter.
Certified FL Sunrise Sativa Pre-Roll 21.5% THC
Upon sparking the single serve unit, I was glad to see that the ash color was very light.
The ash wasn’t dark, which was nice.
The harshness was low and the flavor was large. Although Limonene was listed as the fourth terpene, I still detected a predominantly citrusy taste. There was 2.36 mg/g of Ocimene, which is also known to be a citrusy terpene, and 4.49 mg/g of Myrcene, which is the terpene that helps give mangoes their taste.
I did not have to re-light the joint at all during the ten-minute session. The unit burned evenly and produced a nice oil ring around the cherry.
Oil ring around the FL Sunrise pre-rollI used a torch lighter to spark the jib.All good things must come to an end.
The medical effects from the FL Sunrise pre-roll were undoubtedly strong. The combination of myrcene, caryophyllene, ocimene and limonene along with the respectable THC percentage put me where I needed to be when it came time to play pinball. I was able to focus on the fun while feeling pain-free and at ease.
Grippin’ the flippersFrank was on hand for photo ops
I would definitely buy another Certified pre-roll if given the opportunity. The FL Sunrise joint burned slow and even, had a nice taste and packed an effective medical punch. Hopefully I get to try one of their infused pre-rolls at some point.
I gave the Certified FL Sunrise sativa pre-roll an 8/10 for taste, 3/10 for harshness, 7/10 for strength, 6/10 for smell strength and 60 to 75 minutes for length of medical effects.
Ingredients: Ground cannabis flower, brown cone (unbleached wood pulp and organic arabic gum), paper filter/crutch.
Total THC 21.5%, Delta-9 THC 0.71%, Delta-9 THCa 23.7%. Total CBD 0.05%, CBDa 0.06%.
The Landing was one of the first Northeast Ohio dispensaries to sell pre-rolls.
I was informed that The Landing’s one-gram pre-rolls were $7.50 for non-infused and $16 for infused. I told the employee I’d call in a week or so to see if they were back in stock.
I contacted Amplify in Bedford to check their pre-roll situation. They had two types of pre-rolls in stock: Sour Larry Cross and Fastbreak Frost. They were $13.00 a piece for recreational customers and $9.75 for medical patients. I was told they only had raw, non-infused pre-rolls in stock. Infused joints were supposed to be hitting the shelves two days from then on Wednesday, 08/27/2025.
I I got to the dispensary, checked in and bought two raw, non-infused pre-rolls, one Sour Larry Cross and one Fastbreak Frost.
Buckeye’s dispensary product sticker called them pre-rolls. The Division of Cannabis Control insists on calling them Raw Single Serving Units and Infused Single Serving Units.
The Landing’s (Firelands Scientific’s) website referred to the joints as pre-rolls and so did Amplify’s (Buckeye’s). Amplify’s in-store menu and internal product stickers also called the products pre-rolls.
Buckeye’s actual packaging didn’t say the word joint or pre-roll anywhere. The word pre-roll only appeared on the sticker that the dispensary used to scan the product. The Division of Cannabis Control product ID stickers on the tubes themselves said the products were Raw Single Serving Units. I thought this was what the budtenders at the dispensary were supposed to call the joints, but thankfully they were using the word pre-roll.
In Ohio’s legal cannabis market, the DCC says “Raw” means a non-infused joint without any bubble hash, rosin, resin, THCA crystals or distillate. It is a joint with only cannabis flower inside of the rolling paper. “Infused” refers to a joint that contains not only flower but also bubble hash, rosin, resin, THCA crystals or distillate. Essentially, infused joints contain additional hash to make them burn slower and hit harder.
Ohio medical patients can buy raw, non-infused joints with their medical day supply. One pre-roll counts as one day supply, even though it is only one gram. If a medical patient walks into a dispensary with 45 days on their supply and buys 5 raw pre-rolls, they will leave the store with 40 days left until their next refill.
For now, Ohio medical patients cannot buy infused joints with their medical supply. If an Ohio medical patient wants to buy an infused pre-roll along with their medical order, they will have to complete their medical purchase, collect their change and start a second transactionfor the infused joint as arecreational customer. The first medical purchase would count towards their medical day supply and the second recreational purchase would count towards their adult use daily purchase limit.
Will infused pre-rolls count towards both a recreational customer’s flower and extract daily limits? For example, if an infused pre-roll had 1 gram of flower and a half gram of extract, would the state remove a gram from their flower daily limit and a half gram from their extract/edible/liquid/tincture/topical daily limit? I would imagine so, but when I get a definitive answer I will update this post. Edit: I got the answer. Even though they have hash in them, infused pre-rolls count only towards an adult-use daily flower limit, not the daily edibles and extracts limit. However, loose, non-rolled pre-ground infused flower, such as Riviera Creek Riv Sticks or Hundred Percent Labs Crumble Infused pre-ground bud, count towards the daily edibles and extracts limit, not the daily flower limit. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, because an infused pre-roll is essentially the same thing as a rolled-up Riv Stick, but that’s the way it is set up in this state.
Joints!
When I opened the Sour Larry Cross tube it smelled like cannabis, not hemp. There have been times I’ve opened those THCA hemp pre-roll tubes and was immediately hit with a whiff of boof. That didn’t happen when I opened this Buckeye pre-roll tube. The weed smelled fresh. It didn’t smell or taste artificial like a lot of those flavor-infused pre-rolls you see from Michigan.
The Sour Larry Cross raw pre-roll weighed 1.39 grams with the paper tip included. When looking at the weed through the paper I didn’t see any stems, sticks, weird-looking chunks or harsh-looking material. It looked like it was supposed to, like some ground up weed rolled within a paper.
I’m not sure what brand of rolling paper they used. The tube’s label says the paper is made from unbleached wood paper and wood pulp kraft paper, not hemp. It didn’t have the RAW checkered watermarks. The watermarks were straight lines. The paper tip had the Buckeye logo on one side and a THC! warning on the other.
Buckeye Sour Larry Cross 1 gram raw pre-rollBuckeye Sour Larry Cross 1 gram raw pre-roll
I sparked my first Ohio dispensary-bought pre-roll and took a few tokes. It was easy to light with a regular BIC lighter, but I did use hemp wick to avoid any butane hitting the flower.
Spark one for Ohio!
I had smoked a few of those artificially flavored joints from Michigan recently, in particular one called Banana Pancakes. It didn’t really taste like weed. It tasted very botanical, like it was infused with foreign flavorings. This Ohio-bought Sour Larry Cross pre-roll tasted completely different. There was no artificial taste whatsoever. It wasn’t harsh and didn’t make me cough.
I was very happy to see that the Sour Larry Cross pre-roll burned evenly, ashed white and tasted good until the end. Despite it being a somewhat windy day outside, the pre-roll did not run and only required one relight when I saw a slight canoe start to form. The airflow was exceptional until the very end when the joint got a bit resinated. The joint didn’t become impossible to hit, but at the very end, the airflow diminished a bit.
With that in mind, the day prior I sparked up a $26 rosin infused pre-roll from Michigan and the airflow was so tight and unhittable that I had to put it out, unroll it and pack it in a bowl. So compared to that, I was very happy with the airflow on this Buckeye Sour Larry Cross pre-roll.
Going…Going…Gone!This is what the bud inside of the joint looked like after it was finished. The weed was resinated but contained no sticks or unwanted bits.
I felt medicated from the Sour Larry Cross pre-roll for well over an hour. I was actually surprised with how long the high lasted from this joint. You could tell that they used only nugs to roll this jib, refraining from bulking it up with sticks and junk matter like a lot of the free and low-priced pre-rolls you see from Michigan.
Overall, I walked away from the experience impressed with my first Ohio store-bought pre-roll. It tasted great, burned slow and even and ashed very light. It got me medicated and creative for well over an hour, probably closer to two. It cost under $10 with the medical discount, which is more or less on par with Michigan prices to a certain extent.
I gave the Sour Larry Cross Hybrid Raw Single Serving Unit an 8/10 for taste, 3/10 for harshness, 8/10 for strength, 7/10 for smell strength and 120 minutes for length of medical effects.
Ingredients: cannabis plant material, cone (unbleached wood paper, wood pulp kraft paper, starch). Net weight 1.00 grams (it weighed 1.37 grams with the tip). Total THC 23.18% by 1 gram weight, Delta-9 THCA 25.34%, Delta-9 THC 0.96%, CBD 0%.
Terpenes: b-Caryophyllene 0.40%, Linalool 0.37%, Limonene 0.21%, a-Humulene 0.12%. Manufactured by Buckeye Relief on 08/14/2025, tested by CP Labs on 08/21/2025, packaged 08/21/2025, blazed on 08/25/2025, expires 08/14/2026.
I got creative after smoking this joint. I painted cat-shaped rocks and fed a stone bird some stone heads.
Cat rocksCat rocksStone bird feeding time
While outside smoking the Sour Larry Cross joint, I took these photos!
A baked butterfly! Or was I the baked one?Progress?
I recently acquired a 6-pack of Blazy Susan Grateful Dead pre-rolled cones.
The cones are 2 ¼” long excluding tip. With the tip included they are about 3 ¼”. The cones are vegan, GMO free, chlorine free and feature Grateful Dead-themed tips. Each empty pre-roll comes with its own little round smusher stick to aid in an even pack.
Empty cone with smusher stick
In order to fill one of these things properly, break your weed down to a fine mash. You can use your fingers or a grinder, but I usually use a grinder with these types of cones.
It takes about a gram of flower to fill one of these pre-rolls. You don’t have to fill it all of the way, especially if it’s intended for only one single smoker. I usually fill it all of the way regardless of how many smokers will be partaking in the piff.
To fill the cone with broken-up weed, you can fold a piece of paper, put your pot in the crease, and pour it into the cone bit by bit, using the smusher stick in between pours. Some brands of cones, such as RAW, even come with little custom pouring tools in addition to the smusher sticks.
If you don’t have or want to use a pouring pal, pinch some pot with your thumb and middle finger. Place the pinch into the cone. Use the smusher stick to evenly pack the plant product.
Pinch and repeat. Never pinch or pour more than once without using the smusher stick to pack the pot. This will ensure your joint is stuffed sufficiently in order to burn evenly and maintain its shape.
Near-full cone
When you’re finished the joint should look something like this. You can twist or pinch the remaining paper at the top if you plan on saving the jib for later. In this example I lit the thing as it was right then and there.
The joint burned slowly and evenly. I barely tasted the paper at all. I was smoking on some London Pound Cake 29% THC Hybrid from Kynd. It had sweet notes that reminded me of icing along with some earthier, nuttier flavors that gave me the impression of sponge cake.
Usually I prefer unbleached hemp papers, so I’m not sure I’d buy these again. Many readily-available brands such as RAW make unbleached, organic hemp pre-rolled cones. I recommend the 20 pack from RAW since it comes with both smusher sticks and pouring pals. Element makes organic rice cones, and you can get a 240 pack of Papa Jim’s unbleached cones for $20 on Amazon.
On a side note, rice paper for joints is a special style of thin translucent paper made from organic Earth-based materials. It is not made from the same type of rice that you eat.
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