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Strain: Blueberry Kush
Parentage: Blueberry x OG Kush
Grower: Marley Natural
Cannabinoid Content: 14.7% THC, 0.34% CBD
For a dead guy, Bob Marley makes a lot of money. Like, a whole lot. So much that the royalties from just one song—"No Woman, No Cry"—were used by credited songwriter Vincent Ford to fund a Trenchtown soup kitchen for decades, up until 2008, when Ford passed away.
Marley's estate is worth an estimated $130 million, bringing in $21 million last year alone, thus solidifying the reggae musician's place as the sixth highest-earning dead celebrity of 2016.
While Marley's posthumous earnings account for royalties from physical and digital music sales, his estate generates a significant portion of its income by way of apparel, lifestyle goods, and consumables: t-shirts and hoodies and onesies for baby, hats and shoes and key chains, energy drinks and Beats-styled headphones and just about anything else that can be made to bear the singer's likeness or name.
So it's no wonder that Bob Marley, who famously preached marijuana's virtues throughout his life and career, has gotten into the weed game, if only as a function of his enduring fortune.
Marley Natural, "the official Bob Marley cannabis brand," vends its products via dispensaries in Oregon, Washington, and California—manufacturing flower and extracts, as well as cannabis-infused body products, smoking accessories, and even little glass filters for joints.
While on a recent mission to test out Bridge City Collective's newly-launched delivery service, I decided to pick up some of Marley Natural's Blueberry Kush, curious as to how the celebrity-branded weed holds up to the competition.
Harvested by Marley Natural in October of last year, Blueberry Kush is the the indica-dominant offspring of Blueberry and OG Kush, testing at 14.7% THC and 0.34% CBD—a relatively low cannabinoid content that positions the product as something like weed's session-beer equivalent.
Smelling of the weathered, earthy palette common to Pacific Northwest outdoor, Marley Natural's Blueberry Kush can be enjoyed more or less continuously without getting a person too high to function or socialize. It imparts a mellow, happy head haze that leans to the sleepy side of stoned, but in no way wrecks the day—easily evened out with a cup of coffee.
Think of this cultivar as Sunday barbecue weed for the quarterly consumer.
But what's great for the occasional smoker might not fly with the connoisseur crowd: seasoned palates will miss the hallmark qualities of Blueberry Kush's parents, neither of which come through particularly well in this cross. The famed berry smell of the Blueberry is present only in faint notes after breaking up a bud, and the psychoactive strength of the OG Kush is significantly muted.
These shortcomings could very well be due to the months that've passed since last October's harvest, which is understandable—but because Marley Natural sells its flower prepackaged in 3.5-gram containers that retail at $40 before taxes, consumers who are curious to try the brand's wares face a higher than average price point for last year's aging outdoor.
To put things in perspective, Sweden Farms, a cannabis manufacturer that shares real estate with Marley Natural on Bridge City Collective's menu, produces outdoor flower that's similar in quality, but available for half the price.
Given the competition, Marley Natural's Blueberry Kush is of questionable consumer value, offering an easygoing experience, but for a price more common to higher-end flower—a markup that's no doubt due in part to the company's advertising, packaging, and bureaucratic overhead.
Rather than harness the good-natured rasta vibes, Marley Natural appears to be draping a tie-dye over the money machine for which Bob Marley's estate has become know—merely cashing in on the reggae icon's legacy in new and diverse ways.