Why Colorado Tokers Love Pudding Pop

Naming cannabis after a sweet treat isn't just obvious; it's a smart way to tap into a sweet spot in the market. Anyone who's been buying weed for more than a few weeks has probably figured this out already. Still, every once in a while I'll come across a name that just makes me wonder: Why?

On the surface, Pudding Pop seems benign enough as a moniker. A little bygone, maybe, but for a generation of kids who don't know who Bill Cosby is, frozen chocolate or vanilla pudding mix is hardly offensive. For anyone who's old enough to legally smoke weed, though, Pudding Pop can't help but stoke creepy memories, and I doubt I'm the only one who feels that way when a strain named after the treat pops up at a dispensary.

Cannabis breeders, who've named strains after everything from nuclear disasters to post-ejaculate sex moves, usually don't care about that sort of thing. If anything, Pudding Pop's oddly provocative name draws the eyes at dispensaries, and a bounty of dark, rich nugs probably keep them there. The cross of Do-Si-Dos and the Girl Scout Cookies Forum cut is colorful and sticky, and produces a calming high that I'd be happy to puff right before dinner for the rest of my days. But in today's increasingly competitive fight for dispensary shelf space, that's not always enough.

If you stick to the strain's qualities and stop being a hyper-offended beta cuck like me, Pudding Pop is a pretty accurate name. Everything about the strain, from sight to smell to smoke, is a velvet-covered experience that feels almost sinful when it's done, and the high's appetite-inducing effects take me on a similar roller coaster of guilt. All feels great in the moment while I'm baked, but my stomach becomes a Sarlacc pit for the next six hours, only to be filled with shame for the following twelve.

Pudding Pop doesn't yield very much and is supposed to sit in the grow longer than most strains, but several popular dispensaries have been carrying the strain recently, largely thanks to two Denver-area cultivations.

Looks: Dark, vivid and frosty, Pudding Pop's buds are nothing if not rich. Moss-colored calyxes with deep spots of purple and similarly colored fan leaves give the strain a gooey appeal, and the dense bud structure plays into that stickiness when breaking them up.

Smell: Pudding Pop's aroma is hardly creamy or chocolate-like; instead, it reminds me of a post-dinner cocktail. Potent whiffs of wet soil, berries and (sometimes) grapes greet me up front, but a rubbery sweetness quickly takes over the nostrils before turning into quieter hints of oranges or tangerines.

Flavor: Those dank flavors are much stronger at the start than the aroma implies, with those berry and orange notes making a more subtle appearance afterward. The aftertaste has more rubber aspects, and bitter, earthy hints of juniper, as well.

Effects: Going to the grocery store before a Pudding Pop session is both a gift and a curse. You'll be well stocked and happily gorging yourself on the five important food groups: sweet, salty, spicy, fried and fatty. That munchies hangover will hit extra hard when you wake up feeling shameful and realize that all the food you just bought is now clashing inside of you.

Where to find it: Pudding Pop has been spotted at 1136 Yuma, Berkeley Dispensary, Bgood, Canna City, Cherry Peak, Colorado Harvest Company, Golden Meds, the Joint, Lightshade, Lowell Gardens, Medicine Man, Native Roots and Twin Peaks Dispensary. Nearly every jar of Pudding Pop I've come across in the Denver area has been grown by Lama Brand and Veritas Fine Cannabis, both of which do a great job of pulling out the strain's heavy nighttime qualities. I prefer the body, flavor and price of Lama Brand's take, but it's the harder to find of the two.

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