Shatter Review: Banana OG

While I was perusing the selection at Phytologie Oakland, my go to shatter source and the Cheers to my Norm, I was presented with an array of First Class shatter. My eyes were magnetically drawn to the Banana OG. The clarity was practically luminescent, refracting the light off its glassy surface into a hypnotizing aura of glimmering gold, beckoning with its siren song and me following like so many crazed 49ers before me.

I knew immediately that I had to buy some. The price tag could have said “firstborn child” and the only reason I wouldn’t have paid is because I don’t have any kids.

I know the old adage is not to judge a book by its cover. But when it comes to shatter, the aesthetics are more like the opening line. So when a concentrate introduces itself as Ishmael and starts waxing nostalgic about the best and worst of times, who am I to argue?

Clutching a gram of what I anticipated would be a truly classic shatter, I rushed from the counter as quickly as possible and jumped in my car. A few minutes and several moving violations later, I skidded into the parking lot of my apartment complex, finding a serviceable happy medium between actually parking the car and leaping from it while it was still rolling.

As eager as I was to try it, I was still so enthralled with its appearance that I had to admire it in the sunlight a bit before digging in. The semi-rigid, pull and snap stability allowed me to stretch out thin blades, which revealed a perfectly clear transparency flecked with metallic gold coloring – think ghost dab meets Goldschläger.

The terps in the wrapper were subtle but definite – sweet fruit that only hints at bananas and classic OG Kush. Those same big, simple flavors exploded on the nail, creating a flavor profile that made up in robustness what it lacks in complexity. That simplicity means that the vapor tasted more or less the same regardless of the size of your dab.

And its potency is at the level where all but the most cannabinoid-encrusted connoisseur should reach cruising altitude with one modest dose. It only took me two.

Because its stability allows for easy handling without veering over into brittleness, the Banana OG also makes an excellent dressing for joints or blunts. With little effort, you can string a ribbon around either or, if you prefer, roll out little coils and wrap those onto your smoke. While, some people consider that a waste of shatter, I’ve found it’s an excellent way to share the flavor profile of an especially terpy extract if you don’t have access to dab tech. It’s certainly not as efficient as dabbing, it definitely delivers a powerful boost to your sesh and when you use something with the sparkling clarity of the Banana OG by First Class Concentrates, you’re basically tying a gold rope chain around your blunt’s neck.

And I pity the fool who’s got a problem with that.

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