Smoke Report: Sorbet à l'Orange by Aficionado French Connection

In this article, we'd like to invite you to join us as we smoke a joint of Sorbet à l'Orange by Aficionado French Connection, a highly aromatic and resinous variety with a truly astounding smell and flavour of oranges and tropical fruit, as well as an enjoyable, active and potent high.

This plant brings together three of the finest varieties from the Aficionado catalogue in one explosion of terpenes: Sangria (Vintner's Moonshine x Querkle); Cherry Noir (Cherry Lime x Chemdawg Special Reserve); and Sorbetto (Zkittlez x Sunset Sherbert x Magnum Opus) to create a vigorous hybrid in regular seed form, in which we can find green phenotypes as well as plants with spectacularly deep purple tones, contrasting beautifully with the abundant orange hairs and the coating of sticky white trichomes.

Cultivation information

The plants were grown organically outdoors in a fairly wet climate, where they performed very well and finished flowering quite early for a Sativa-leaning hybrid, showing good vigour and excellent resistance to bad weather conditions. Sorbet à l'Orange is a poly-hybrid with a very complex family tree (many of its ancestors are also poly-hybrids), so you'd be forgiven for thinking that there'd be a lot of variation between the plants. But this wasn't the case at all, and while both purple and green examples were found, all of the plants had the same intense orange aromas and flavours and very similar size and structure, with only the intensity of the secondary pineapple and mango aromas varying slightly between them. For this taste test, we chose a green phenotype, selected for its very intense citric aroma in flower, just like an orange ice lolly.

• Lighting system: Full sun outdoors
• Substrate: Organic living soil
• Nutrients: Worm Compost, organic animal manure
• Harvested: First week of October
• Photoperiod: Natural outdoor photoperiod
• Material sampled: Dried flowers cured in a glass jar for 3-4 months

Organoleptic test

Pre-tasting evaluation

The flowers have a slightly elongated, conical appearance, with relatively large calyxes and small leaves. The small clusters of buds are quite compact for a Sativa-dominant hybrid grown outdoors, firm and meaty, but yielding slightly to the touch. The colours on the buds range from light to dark green, and almost black in some parts, the result of lower temperatures in the weeks leading up to harvest. The great quantities of orange hairs lend the buds a slightly golden appearance, offset by the silvery sheen of the resin glands, which are slightly sticky to the touch.

Before grinding, the orange aroma is already intense, mixed with a sweet, sickly background smell, almost like baby vomit, as well as subtle hints of mango and pineapple and delicate notes of cherry. These tropical fruit aromas become even more noticeable and intense after the flowers are shredded up in the grinder, as does the orange smell, now less sickly and more reminiscent of the "Orange Maid" brand of ice lollies that some British readers might remember from their childhoods. Once the joint is rolled, we give it a "dry hit" (taking a puff without lighting the joint) to fully appreciate the nuances of the ground-up buds, which in this case filled the mouth with a flavour, not unlike a swig of tropical fruit juice, sweet, citric, refreshing and incredibly appetising!

Lighting up!

In the traditional manner of cannabis tasting, the manner of consumption is selected to maximise the appreciation of the various nuances. In this case, a small, pure-weed joint (no tobacco) was rolled with Greengo Natural Unbleached Papers and a cardboard filter tip.

Once lit, the smoke from the joint has a notable orange and pineapple aroma fully at the forefront, just like the dry flowers, but also very present in the smell are notes of Kush and fuel, most likely coming from the genetic influence of its Royal Kush and Chemdawg family ancestors. The flavour on the palate is similarly fruit-heavy, with a slightly more sharp, acid side to the citrus flavour but with a delicious earthy background, with only faint touches of fuel. The fruit flavour is much lighter on the exhale, and less tropical, more like a breath of fresh orange juice, alongside a touch of cherry and aniseed, leaving a faint tingling sensation on the lips and tongue and coating the whole mouth with a delicious aftertaste of fresh orange peel.

To resume the organoleptic experience in a few words: it's a little bit like smoking a really good natural orange juice with a pineapple slice and a cherry in it, whilst standing downwind of a gas station!

Psychoactive test

Maybe because the main focus of attention was initially centred on enjoying the intense fruit flavours, it wasn't until more than halfway through the joint that the psychoactive effects began to be noticed. The initial high was entirely cerebral, beginning with some giddiness and a slightly inebriated sensation, quickly followed by a sharpening of the senses, a sudden increase in perception, with colours and sounds taking on a new intensity. This mildly trippy audiovisual experience was complemented by an electric, energetic, "up" buzz that came on in strong waves, slightly tense, like after a very strong coffee, but completely free of any anxiety or paranoia that is sometimes associated with Sativas.

In fact, the effect was quite the opposite, raising the mood, promoting good humour and a big smile! After a few hours, a touch of mental tiredness set in, with a slightly heavier feeling behind the eyes, but aside from that, there was no notable physical effect, no tiredness or bodily relaxation, making it ideal for smoking before outdoor activities or sports. Just make sure you pack some food if you're going out because about an hour after I'd smoked, the "munchies" hit really hard and I absolutely had to get myself some food!

While some examples of this variety have been found to contain CBD in ratios of up to 1:4 CBD to THC, this particular selection has an effect that suggests it has relatively high THC levels and not much in the way of CBD, although this selection has yet to be analysed in a laboratory to confirm this.

Medicinal properties of Sorbet à l'Orange

This variety is ideal for those seeking to:

• Stimulate the appetite
• Exercise or perform sports
• Improve mood
• Regulate sleep
• Relieve stress
• Focus thought

Introduction to cannabis tasting

In this article we will introduce you in the exciting world of marijuana tasting, both organoleptic as psychoactive. From the moment we open the container with the sample until the last exhalation during the tasting, a torrent of sensations perceived by the five senses invade our body. What we will try here is to classify and to note down these sensations evaluating them according to the taste of each one. What better way to pay tribute to the buds of that we have been taking care for months?

If this article has inspired you to carry out your own cannabis tasting, reviews and smoke reports, but you're not sure about the right procedure, then check out our article: "Introduction to cannabis tasting", where we give a step-by-step explanation of how to correctly carry out the entire process. You'll find the link above. It's astonishing to see just how much you can learn about a variety when you pay close attention. Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments with us below!

Happy smoking!