I am beyond stoked to present to you, the Cannahiba cannagar line found at Elevated Lounge DC! For those of you who aren’t hip, a cannagar is essentially a cigar style preroll that is truly one of the cannabis connoisseur's preferred flower products. In general they range from 2g to 12g monsters and are anywhere from $100 to $800 depending on the quality and market you find them in. They smoke for hours and offer a truly elevated smoking experience that is not for low tolerance individuals or the faint of heart. But, for the classy toker and experienced connoisseur, there are few things better.
There are several styles of cannagar that you will see out there but Cannahiba has elected to take the artisanal path for his product creation and I am ecstatic about the choices he made that put him in the artisan category. First he chose to add wood tips to the end, an extra expense on his part but one that lends itself to a cooler, smoother smoke as well as an easier time smoking it with less waste at the end. Cannagars without tips sometimes mess with the flavor or include a good old fashioned scooby snack with your inhale but with Cannahiba you get nothing but rich, full bodied smoke.
Second, he chose to make his product with top shelf flower as well as actually infusing the product to maximize potency. A general rule with cannabis product creation is “fire in, fire out” meaning that you cannot take poor quality flower and turn it into top shelf product; top shelf products come from top shelf flower. Cannahiba is very conscious of this fact as evidenced by the range of premium exotic genetics he used to roll his gars. On top of the excellent flower choices, he also rolled in some sifted hash and oil which really creates a lot of bang for your buck! Like I said, these Cannahibas are not for the low tolerance individual.
The last thing I want to note is probably the most important when it comes to judging artisan quality and that is the fact that he wrapped his gars with cannabis fan leaves. This might seem like an obvious thing for someone new to cannagars and just now imagining them for the first time but I assure you, there is a whole range of cigar style products that use all kinds of wraps. But for me, for my money, a cannagar needs to be 100% cannabis derived and utilizing fan leaves as wraps, anything else is just a fat pre roll. Just like the finest cuban cigars use the finest tobacco wrapped in fine tobacco leaf, so too should the cannagar be rolled with the finest cannabis flower wrapped in fine cannabis leaf!
All of these factors come together to make Cannahiba one of the only artisanal cannagar producers, not just in DC, but the whole east coast! The taste test confirmed everything I observed in the shop and I’m happy to report that the quality of the experience is as crafty as the production behind it. The cannagar I chose was a Gary Payton flower blended with strain specific sift and complemented with a Gelato shatter that all melds together in a symphonic movement of cannabis excellence.
The nose on this gar is unreal and also nuanced in ways you don’t typically get to experience in products that don’t include a cured fan leaf. The use of cannabis fan leaves adds a deeper component to the medley of gassy, floral, and earth notes that makes the aroma and the smoke silkier and smoother on the palate. Every toke is more flavorful than the one before and sitting and toking for 45 mins barely got us halfway through the entire cannagar! I mean the longevity of the experience and the flavor alone are worth the price point but then the high that comes on is such an elevated experience that it is hard to capture in words.
The best frame of reference I can give you is if you have ever had high quality hash. High quality hash comes with an extra special....something…. In the high itself. There is something notably different and elevated that comes from a well made hash that you don’t get from just the flower itself. Similarly, a well made artisan cannagar comes with a heady space that one can only really touch by using a cannagar since there is an evolution from just the flower to the cured final product. Somewhere in the process, just like an artisan hash, Cannahiba creates a magic that is unique only to his product.
I am so blessed to have been able to try some of his products and I cannot recommend them enough. Artisan cannabis products are extremely rare to find and even rarer to find done well. Cannahiba has earned his artisan moniker by living up to the highest standards DC has to offer and those of you lucky enough to get your hands on one will know exactly how special these products are. If you have the time and curiosity, or if you’re already an avid cannagar enthusiast, make sure to head out to Elevated Lounge in DC which is the exclusive drop spot for Cannahiba Cannagars and let me know what you think of these niche, luxury products!