Welcome to The Nug Report, which awakens from the ghost of L.A. TACO’s vaults to bring you a detailed look at the latest and greatest in the world of cannabis and other mind-altering substances.
Come fly with me, let’s take a hit of a strain of weed that smells like the bud people smoked in the 90s; a strain that will leave your grinder gummed up with resin and your fingers smeared with sticky green residue.
If you’re an old stoner like me who fantasizes about the days before cannabis became recreationally legal and everything got watered down, this is the strain for you.
Now turn on some tunes and pass the joint!
Name: Crescendo is a gassy and pungent strain from THC Design, a respected O.G. in the ever-expanding recreational cannabis game. This award-winning strain gets its flavor profile partly from its Chemdog genetics. First popularized in the early 1990s, Chemdog (or Chem Dawg) created the foundation for legendary strains such as Sour Diesel and Gorilla Glue #4. And while the exact genetics of OG Kush are unknown, many believe that Chem Dawg is responsible for the legendary West Coast strain’s unmistakable diesel-like aroma.
Genetics: Chem Dawg x I-95 x Mandarin Cookies
Effects: The effects of Crescendo will build slowly, sending your mind up into the clouds while easing your body into a serene and pleasant high that is pronounced but not too intense.
An ideal setting to blaze it: If you’re an avid smoker and you have a high tolerance, Crescendo might make for a great any-time-of-day-or-night smoke for you.
If you’re not a big toker though, we suggest saving this strain for a special occasion.
For us, Crescendo produces a mellow cerebral high, which makes it a particularly good choice for an event like an outdoor movie screening, jazz concert, or an adults-only trip to a haunted mansion if you’re down.
“The cerebral effect is pronounced, with a hazy and uplifting trip into the clouds that is mentally active, but not overly intoxicating,” THC Design says.
But it’s also a strain that makes for a nice, chill night-in.
To each their own.
Type: Sativas produce an energetic or uplifting high, and indicas relax the body and put you to sleep, right? Wrong! Grouping weed into three categories—sativas, indicas, and hybrids—is quickly becoming an outdated way to think about cannabis.
The difference between sativas and indicas actually has more to do with how the plant grows, rather than how it will make you feel. Sativas, like Crescendo, generally grow long and skinny while indicas are usually short and stocky.
Truth is, everyone reacts to cannabis slightly differently.
That means, there are sativas that will put some people on their ass and indicas that will have others staring at the ceiling in bed in the middle of the night.
Crescendo falls somewhere in the middle of the two spectrums for us.
Because most strains today have been crossed with both sativa and indica strains, nearly all of the weed on the recreational market today is technically a hybrid. THC Design labels Crescendo a Sativa though, because it leans towards a Sativa lineage.
Unlike some brands, THC Design is transparent about their thoughts on all of this on their website:
“Today, the vast majority of commercially grown cannabis should technically be classified as hybrid Strains,” the company admits. “At THC Design, we reserve this classification for cultivars that are evenly balanced between Indica and Sativa lineages.”
“Experienced cannabis users would likely agree that we need even more nuance than the existing categories and scientific knowledge currently allow,” the company says.
“We recommend making notes of which cultivars or strains work best for you, since everyone’s endocannabinoid system is different, and different cultivars will affect each individual uniquely.”
Cannabinoids: Crescendo’s THC content generally ranges from 30-35%. But don’t focus too much on that number. A high THC percentage does not always equal a high time.
As California’s recreational cannabis market has grown, THC percentage has increasingly become the main metric that consumers use to gauge a strain’s value or potency.
Some research, however, suggests that it’s not the THC percentage that matters so much as the combination of terpenes and other characteristics of the particular strain that make up the experience. This is also known as the ‘entourage effect.’
“People think, ‘Oh shit, well, if I'm spending $50 and this one has this much THC and this one [has less], I'm getting more bang for my buck,’” Ryan Jennemann, the CEO of THC Design at the time said in a 2022 Forbes interview. “I always think that's funny because people never buy a bottle of wine based off alcohol percentage.”
THC Design believes that terpenes and flavor dictate the quality of cannabis and the experience, not THC content, for the most part.
“For us, the effect and the quality is more about terpenes… terpenes are what makes good weed taste and feel great,” ,” Jennemann said. “They’re contributing massively to the effect.
Crescendo is the best of both worlds. It consistently tests over 30% for THC, and it also has the highest terpene percentage that THC Design offers.
Terps: Speaking of terpenes, Crescendo is high in myrcene, limonene, and caryophyllene terpenes, giving it an earthy, pine-like flavor. It’s got a funky taste and will leave your living room smelling like a diesel truck just ran through it. And we mean that in a good way! Crescendo has a similar flavor profile to an O.G. Kush.
