Emerald Castle Medicinal March 2018 (Red Congo/GSC Extreme)
MOM Name: Emerald Castle Medicinal
Overall rating out of 10: 9
Sign Up: Simple process on website. To be honest, I can't remember right now if I had to upload ID or not.
Ordering & Pricing: Ordering is as easy as any other site. Pricing seems about average, maybe a little better. Most ounces seem to go for around $160 - $200.
Communication: No communication necessary for my order, but I will give them points for emailing customers every time they have a deal. I always feel like I'm the first to know about their deals.
Packaging:I've deleted the pictures I took of the packaging unfortunately, but the actual bubble mailer was completely torn open across the top, almost as you'd open it yourself to get the product out. It was wrapped in a CP plastic bag with the 'Sorry your mail ended up like this' sort of message. I was originally a little paranoid about this, but after calming down I'm sure it was just caught in a machine during shipping or something. The contents inside were untouched. Vac-seal surrounding the white box with the ECM logo. No smell or indication of contents.
Products / Photos:
Red Congo
https://i.imgur.com/ahZe2eE.jpg
This is one large 8+g bud to give an example of how nice this stuff can be. There were two very large buds in my oz, the rest were generally medium with very few small.
https://i.imgur.com/sbZZvDP.jpg
This gives a better example of the average look of the buds. At first I thought this RC was a little too leafy, and overall that does take away from the bag appeal. However, they're also quite sticky and have that nice RC smell which seems to get a little stronger over time. Definitely has that classic RC high, just as, if not more potent than most I've had. Red Congo is my favorite strain, and I was quite happy with this.
Girl Scout Cookies Extreme:
https://i.imgur.com/D5WOsRy.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0SB4uVO.jpg
These buds were mostly what I'd consider average-sized, fairly fluffly as opposed to dense. Really nice colors. Basically no nose on this, and the taste isn't too noticeable either. However, it is a nice smooth smoke with a really nice hybrid high. Personally, I divide my hybrid highs into two categories - sometimes you'll get the sativa, then the indica later, and sometimes you get an overall mix of the two. This to me is the latter. It's a nice relaxed mellow buzz without being too mellow or tiring. Despite the lack of terps, I do find myself going back to this over and over again. Really happy overall (again despite the lack of nose) and all my friends seem to be fans of this one.
Incentive for Customers: I originally stocked my cart because they were having a 25% off sale to mark the beginning of spring (or lack thereof - code was westillcold). I did a quick search before checking out and immediately found a leafly coupon code for 35% off. I won't lie, I almost felt bad using it - like I was cheating, but in the end I'm so happy with the deal I got. I got both of these for $231 shipped (RC is normally $195, GSCE $160).
Incentive for Review: None
Notes: I had been watching ECM for a while and had never really seen any reason to avoid them. This deal was my excuse to give them a try, and I'm glad I did. Both strains I tried lose points for superficial reasons (RC was a little leafy, GSCE lacks terps), but make up for it in actual smoke and high. Again, overall I'm very happy, and if these guys continue to have great deals like this, I'll be coming back 100% for sure.
P.S. The sun was a little bright when I took these pics, so they're a little whitewashed, but I think you should still be able to get a good idea of what these buds look like.
