Why Colorado Tokers Love Citradelic Sunset

Daily commuters deserve more sympathy. Not only will the stress and time-suck of rush hour shave years off your life, but the drive will also rob you of the simple things, like daytime television, regular happy hours and the sun. Remember the sun? Anyone who’s out the door before 7 a.m. and off work after 5 p.m. during the winter knows how draining life can be without sunlight, whether you believe in chakras and things that retrograde or not.

It might not be as sexy as scurvy, but Vitamin D deficiency is serious stuff, so in Colorado we make our own ultraviolet rays. Just look in a stoner’s basement, and you’ll find several hundred watts of them. We also make our own indoor sunsets, for about $35 an eighth.

Citradelic Sunset, a bright and tasty hybrid from Ethos Genetics, has been giving cold, tired Coloradans summer in the winter for a little over a year now. The relatively new strain has young parents — Ghost Train Haze and Mandarin Sunset — and hasn’t been on the dispensary market for very long. However, Citradelic Sunset’s lineage is more classic and quintessential than you might think. Ghost Train Haze carries strong OG Kush and Haze influences, while Mandarin Sunset (a child of Herijuana) is mostly a simple mix of Afghani and Skunk genetics. The cannabis concoction creates a potent, calming head high that diffuses stress and annoyances — but that high tends to snowball into something much larger if you’re not careful.

We’ve heard of Sunset sightings at Buddy Boy, Callie’s Cannabis Shoppe, Kind Love, Silver Stem Fine Cannabis and Terrapin Care Station, as well as other dispensaries carrying Wood’s Reserve cannabis or Green Dot Labs concentrates. It’s hard not to get attached to Green Dot’s terp-filled extraction of the strain, which enhances Citradelic Sunset’s spicy citrus flavors, but low tolerances should tread lightly.

Looks: Not quite a Tony Robbins index finger, but still long and slender, Citradelic Sunset’s sativa-leaning buds tend to foxtail during their long flowering periods, so don’t let leaves get in the way of much-needed light. Upon harvest, the nugs can look very intimidating, with heavy trichome coverage, bright-green calyxes that glow in the dark, and regular streaks of purple.

Smell: Citradelic Sunset punches the nostrils with a stiff blend of sugar, citrus, skunk and peppery spice. The pungent mixture of citrus and zest reminds me of the rim of a spicy margarita glass or box of Mexican tamarind candy, while subtle whiffs of pine and skunk add some cannabis-flavored balance to the mix.

Flavor: Although the strain’s pine and skunky notes shine more here than in the aroma, Citradelic Sunset’s flavor is more even-keeled than the zesty citrus smell suggests. Early tastes of lime and a smoky pepper sensation are accompanied by earthy Kush notes of pine and quiet hints of vanilla.

Effects: Citradelic Sunset can be more citradelic than sunset if you power-rip it without respect. One small bowl helped me get blissfully lost in a book. Back-to-back bong snappers had me worrying about high school reunions and hair loss. If used lightly, the strain is sunshine in a bag. But smoke slowly, or you’ll have a dry mouth and way too many worries.

Home grower’s take: “Citradelic Sunset likes to stretch, and don’t let that scare you from topping it often during the nine or ten weeks you have it flowering. We popped a few seeds we got in the mail, and then kept some cuttings around for future use. Screams sativa to me: Super-strong head high, and the buds are tall and lime-green. The high is sort of old-school, too, because it really grows in your head, and can give you that intense head buzz. Nice throwback to older, sweeter Hazes we used to see a lot of.”

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