Strain Review: Fire OG Shatter & Kushalope House Shatter

Fire OG Shatter (nug run) – Calvin & Globz

The Stoney Steve Smokeout is a dab hit parade of the finest extractors in the business, making it an ideal opportunity to stock up on quality concentrates without lining the pockets of a middleman.

My latest visit to Steve’s fiery fiefdom found me trying a lot of sugar waxes and terp saps. Without exception, they were tasty and intoxicating, but all left me longing to peel back the paper on a transparent lens of shatter, snap off a dab and (ceramic, titanium or quartz) nail it to the ceiling.

Enter the Fire OG shatter by Calvin& Globz, a stunningly clear (if not exceptionally stable) offering that captures the flavor of its source material perfectly.

The taffy-like consistency is a bit on the sticky side, and while snappable, tends more towards pulling and stretching. It’s nice and tidy, leaving no residue on the wax paper. This batch wasn’t particularly terpy when I opened it, offering only a vague hint of the classic strain it originated from.

On the nail, however, it opened up substantially, delivering an amplified version of the classic OG flavor profile. But one with the “EQ” cranked up on the high end, sharpening and accentuating the brighter, more assertive elements of the mix and all but muting the earthier flavors.

The potency is there. Nothing to write home about if you dab with any frequency, but a respectable showing to be sure.

Kushalope House Shatter (trim run) – Phytologie Oakland

I’m passionate about affordable, quality concentrates, and not just because I’m a freelance writer living on the margins of a floundering economy. It boils my blood when I see some of the “medicine” being offered to low-income cannabis patients.

That’s why I get earnestly excited when I find something like the Kushalope house shatter by Phytologie Oakland – an attractive, stupendously stable trim run that just might make you reconsider trim runs in general.

The Kushalope is a true shatter, with a brittle consistency reminiscent of the scorched top of a crème brulee. The resulting shards have a shockingly transparent, amber clarity that calls to mind a broken, brown beer bottle.

The kush terps inside of the paper are pronounced, if a bit generic, and they deliver a satisfyingly flavorful hit on the nail.

Because of its exceptional stability, tools are not required to dab this shatter. A piece can simply be broken off and dropped where needed.

If you hold some between your thumb and forefinger to warm it a bit, you’ll increase the malleability enough to stretch and bend it slightly. But it won’t stick to your hands, making it an especially tidy shatter that doesn’t actually require wax paper. I kept mine in a small glass jar.

The potency isn’t through the roof, but it certainly packs a punch, especially when compared to many other budget concentrates. But the Kushalope goes well beyond “good enough,” and I’d recommend it to anybody who enjoys a good shatter and wants to try something unique, not just somebody on a budget.

What are your favorite concentrates? Tell us in the comments.