Hong Kong (Natural Remedies)
Hong Kong Medical Marijuana Strain Review
From: Natural Remedies
Grade: A-
Type: Sativa-dominant hybrid, Sour Diesel x Sensi Star
Price: $50/8th
Appearance: (8/10) We really wish this one had a tighter manicure, because it was beautiful underneath the guard leaves… the long, slender calyxes were just loaded with rows of tall trichomes. The color was a mix of fairly verdant greens, some yellow-tinted calyxes, a variety of purpling on both leaves and calyxes, and brick red pistils providing the final contrast. It was a little on the sticky/wet side, but the stem still snapped, so it appeared to be cured and dried adequately. The harvest appeared just a bit on the early side, with only a few ambers brewing.
Aroma: (8.5/10) This sample produced a rather pungent, almost acrid Diesel scent that was among the most pungent we’ve encountered pre-grind, hanging on the fingers if handled. One reviewer picked up notes of citrus peel, while another got some putrid sweetness that is often seen in Sensi Star. The skunky fuel smell seemed to calm down after a grind and those other aromas came out more.
Taste: (7/10) Skunky and spicy on the inhale, with a background of fuel, it turned a little woody and smoky (like hickory) as it went on. It sizzled a bit when burnt, leading us to believe that a longer flush was in order… the slightly murky ash left behind added to that hypothesis. The smoke was fairly smooth yet expansive, making us cough a bit.
Effects: Eyes buzzed, the ears rang, and there was some pressure in the face — very Sativa start. After the initial 15-30 minutes, a strong relaxation in the upper back and shoulders, and a positive and mentally calm state pervaded. It made us feel mentally motivated but not wanting to do much physically, preferring conversation to action. It felt functional and relaxing after the midway point especially, fading out cleanly back to normalcy.
Duration: Medium-Long, about 2.5 hours
Medicinal Traits: (We are NOT doctors – personal opinion ONLY) General relaxation, energy and creativity at first, muscle tension relief, appetite stimulation, and strong ocular attention.
Overall: This Hong Kong is an in-house creation for Natural Remedies, and this early batch showed a ton of potential. Once it really gets dialed in and perhaps gets a longer flush/cure, this one may be a competitor for our favorite examples of the strain. Super stinky Diesel-dominant smell, good taste, and a striking (yet unkempt) appearance made this appealing in multiple areas. We anticipate seeing this one again some time in the future to see how it’s improved after a few harvests…
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Tags: cannabis review, denver, downtown, hong kong, medical marijuana strain review, natural rememdies, Sativa, sensi star, smoke report, Sour Diesel, strain info, Strain Review
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Comments (8)
That is the exact same parental lineage as the “Death Star” or bio diesel
Hong kong should be an Indica dominant strain and is believed to be a special phenotype of Hindu Kush..
We’ve run into this plenty of times, funk… the Death Star and Bio-Diesel are both from different parental plants (and different localities geographically) and resulted in similar, though different final products. Same with the Hong Kong that we’ve been seeing… we’ve heard the “special Hindu Kush” comment a ton from reputable sources, but shops in Colorado are selling Sour Diesel x Sensi Star as “Hong Kong” and have been for a while now. This one in particular is an in-house cross, much like Native Choice of Colorado’s Hong Kong was. With so much debate about what the actual Hong Kong cut is, shops calling in-house SD x SS crosses “Hong Kong”, and other sources claiming that the original Hong Kong was actually that same cross (and not Hindu Kush), we’re just left with what the shop tells us and what they’re selling it as. It seems as if the waters have been thoroughly muddied on this strain and we just gotta go with it at this point. As far as Indica/Sativa-dominance, our experiences with Hong Kongs are definitely in the Sour Diesel “crushing Sativa” vein, and the smell/taste alone shows Diesel dominance… I’d say with confidence that the Hong Kong we’ve been getting (whether they’re the “real” one or not, I’m not sure anyone can say) are Sativa-dominant, though definitely a hybrid. Native’s Choice billed theirs as 50/50 for example…
I’m not so sure about your deathstar Bio diesel theory..If you look into it closer check out where the lead grower of d.releaf is from.. the Deathstar is def from ohio..interesting…As far as I’m concerned, Hong Kong has been in colorado a lot longer than the sour diesel has been available to the masses.
Nothing but respect for the review team as I find your guys results to be very on point. I just find it interesting that two very different strains have the same name while one of these “hong kongs” is the same lineage as both the deathstar and the biodiesel..
That has got to be confusing for people who have little to no knowledge of cannabis.. So my suggestion if this is in fact a in house creation, come up with a name for the strain that is not already used for a clone only ( of completely different lineage) that has been around for the better part of ten years here on the front range..
Big ups to all the KR team keep crushin!
Yeah, it’s a mess… without knowing when, where, and who the Death Star and Bio-Diesel came from all the way back to inception it’s impossible to really know if they’re the same cut or not. A plant-to-plant comparison is probably all we have to go on, and I haven’t had the chance to see either one in vegetative/budding plant form.
Allow me a moment of self-indulgent theorizing… my other thought I’ve had on the Hong Kong thing is that perhaps there was an original cut that was indeed clone-only (perhaps a special Hindu Kush)… then when the strain got well-known, someone else created a very close approximation using the Sour Diesel x Sensi Star combo and named it “Hong Kong”. Now we’ve got two distinct Hong Kong strains that are tough to tell apart. I dunno if that holds any water, but it seems reasonable to me, given how popular the strain is…
Sensi Star won the Cannabis Cup back in 1999 and Sour Diesel was around before then as well… was Hong Kong floating around prior to that? I heard from reliable sources that it was in Boulder in the 90′s, but I wasn’t sure if that was late or early 90′s. All the Hong Kong I’ve ever tried has the Diesel stank to it, both the ones that were sold as “original clone-only Boulder Hong Kong” and the ones that were under the SD x SS cross banner. Just muddies the water further… interesting times in the cannabis reviewing world!
I do agree that crossing a Sour Diesel and a Sensi Star you have and then just calling it Hong Kong is iffy at best, simply because it adds to the confusion. We aren’t in the business of telling shops what to call their meds, so we just kinda have to post it as-is and question aspects of it as appropriate… with so many shops referring to the Sour Diesel x Sensi Star cross as Hong Kong, there’s certainly evidence on that side and it’s more or less become the norm regardless of what the truth actually may be.
IME there has been hong kong in colorado since the mid 90′s.. The cannabis world is full of crazy mix-ups for this very reason.. I don’t think I saw ECSD out here until around 2000ish. Medical cannabis has done a lot of good providing high(er) grade cannabis in bulk, however I feel like it has had a serious negative effect on the cannabis family tree..Lot’s of renaming strains, as someone I have a great deal of respect for their skills, would say ” pick a name put og or kush on the end” is a really common practice unfortunately..
I hope that in the future colorado can lead the way in cannabis genetics,
and not fall into a marketing hype like the Cali and A- Dam herb scene fell into.. I also hope to see more pure sativas in the future. While not really commercially efficient with 100+ day flower times, but they create
cannabinoids that hybrids and indica dominate strains do not..
wont waste anymore bandwidth..
Appreciate the thoughts as always Funk… our comment section is often kinda dead, so I appreciate the dialog!
As far as the cannabis family tree and retaining diversity, I think that’s a huge effort that Colorado will be able to take a lead on. Everything from breeding high-CBD strains to retaining heirloom varieties that aren’t very viable commercially… hopefully the community will take on that challenge. I know that I’ve rarely seen real Hazes for example in dispensaries, but there are some shops out there still growing Neville’s and whatnot and letting them go 90+ days… it’s always nice to support those types of shops as a patient. Hopefully the (non-feminized!) genetics game will get going out here so we can restore some biodiversity to the cannabis world and see some new and exciting CO-based crosses become famous around the world.
Having testing facilities available is very valuable to that process IMO… often when selecting plants growers pick the one that makes their head spin, smells the best, etc… normally if they’re a good grower, that’s the “keeper” due to high THC and whatever else. However, without actually testing them all for content, they may be tossing a plant that has super-high CBD content because it didn’t catch their eye or seemed less potent than the other… that plant may be the best cancer med in the state, but it gets tossed. Testing everything and extensive selection is a huge part of creating and retaining diversity… hopefully shops are working on that sort of thing… specialization for patients and whatnot.
I know of a spot that is setting up a sativa specific room in their warehouse.. So I think that some folks are already on board..They also are big advocates of testing their strains.. I have a mixed opion on the G.C. testing..On one hand yes it does provide a slight indicator of the strains effects, however there are numerous other cannabinoids and terpenes that they cannot test for.. So still the best test results come from our most sensitive instrument..our bodies.. I feel that feed back such as the one provided on this very sight is invaluable.. It is the direct result of testing on multiple subjects and gauging the different reactions on each individual..
Soooo. I grow hong kong and death star and they look nothing alike… Special Hindu kush? I can buy that cuz of the leafstem nugs . Did you stop to think chemdog and thus sour d mom come from crested butte sooooo that Hindu could be related to the mom of the craze OG and SouR D… The dawg has been round the butte 20+ years from dead family kids… Now Phish kids changed the game… Just my .02