Why Colorado Tokers Love Sueño

When you’re an adult, there’s really no upside to being sick. You either don’t get paid when you miss work, or you get paid but still have to do all the work you missed when you return. But at least being sick is a rare excuse to use nighttime cough syrup, which knocks me out as hard as cannabis ever has without completely zapping my dreams.

Research has shown a link between regular cannabis use and decreased REM sleep, or the stage of sleep when your body relaxes enough to let your mind dream. Still wanting to keep up my REM activity without totally ending the cannabis use, I hoped a strain by the name of Sueño (the Spanish word for “dream”) would bring me some good juju.

Sueño has been unavoidable at Denver dispensaries for the past several months now. A cross of Blue Dream and Sour Diesel, two of the most popular commercial strains in Colorado, it’s known as a daytime strain with mostly cerebral effects, touted by budtenders as offering the best of both parents. Personal experiences with the hybrid have proved relatively reliable, creating a productive daytime buzz with a manageable comedown and no appetite induction for my high tolerance. While hardly enough to ensure vivid dreams at night, the strain is at least the foundation of a good daydream.

Despite Blue Dream genetics, which are known for high and quick yields, Sueño is usually on the expensive end at dispensaries. There’s little information about the strain’s growing tendencies, but Sueño’s flavor profile matches up with the claims, pumping out funky, sweet notes of berries and cheese, with grainy, doughy elements of soil and sour along with chemical overtones. The energy uplift remains fun without robbing focus, but the later effects could be too relaxing, providing more of a 50/50 high for low tolerances.

Sueño isn’t big nationally, but it’s a big fish in Colorado. You can catch it at the Clinic, Denver Clone Store, the Farmers Market, Euflora, Frosted Leaf, Herban Underground, the Joint, LaConte’s, Levels, Lightshade, LivWell, Magnolia Road, RiNo Supply Co. and Smokin Gun Apothecary, among others, with wholesale cultivators Bonsai and Veritas Fine Cannabis supplying dispensaries around town. Veritas’s version carries Moonshine Ghost Train Haze genetics rather than Sour Diesel, but it’s known to have similar effects and flavor.

Looks: Most cuts of Sueño I’ve come across carry Sour Diesel’s bright-green color, but with a more compact and foxtailing bud structure. A dusty coat of trichomes tends to lean amber, giving buds a radioactive glow.

Smell: Bitter, funky and sweet, Sueño carries sour notes of citrus with a dank, grainy back end. Those waves of grainy soil can get doughy, and are often likened to blueberry pancakes when combined with Sueño’s notes of berries, citrus and cheese.

Flavor: Imagine a more fruity, piney Sour Diesel or a hoppy version of Blue Dream. Heavy, sour notes of dirty lemon zest and Diesel funk are tempered by lighter flavors of berries and pine.

Effects: Sueño’s sharp, fruity scents remind me of a fruit and cheese salad accompanied by a double IPA. Both go well with a daytime buzz, and that’s exactly what the strain gives me. Although the later effects can be somewhat lulling and draining, they’re very uplifting for the first hour or two, and don’t induce the munchies as much as other strains. Great for that 6 to 9 p.m. stretch before bed.

Home grower’s take: “I’m not saying you can find this everywhere, but you can damn sure find nugs and clones of something claiming Diesel and Blue Dream genetics. But dialing that into something consistent isn’t the same. If they’re able to pull that bud structure and a shorter harvest time from Blue Dream and still keep those Diesel notes, then that’s pretty big. But if it’s always expensive, then it’s probably taking a while to yield, or not yielding that much.”

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