Cannabis Product Review: Collins Ave by Cookies

by Carrie Dabshaw
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Cookies' Collins Ave At-A-Glance

Highlights

Rick Ro$$ x Cookies encapsulates the excitement and confidence of premiere bacchanalia. 

Effects

Confidence, virility and excitement make for the perfect backroom high stakes poker game smoke.

Price

When it comes to quality you gotta pay to play-Cookies' top-tier is well worth the $60 price tag.

Find it On Emjay

C is for Cookie is Good Enough for Me try Collins Ave immediately, in-store or with Emjay's free delivery.

About Cookies

The seemingly endless sea of cannabis brands in California can feel really overwhelming. The way cannabis hits our system is so intrinsically personal it can be hard to discern who to trust when making a purchase. It can be easy to buy whatever’s on sale or always the cheapest but that can close you off to expanding and evolving your knowledge and palate. “Know Thyself” advised the Temple of Apollo and that the foundational creedo is just as relevant in our modern era as it was in antiquity.

Everything that the human does can be done mindfully or unconsciously and this includes the use of cannabis. Our endocannabinoid system is precious and the fact that we have one imparts a responsibility to come to know and love it more fully. Clever aesthetics and marketing can trick us into valuing things that don’t matter. Don’t let this happen to you with cannabis. 

You may have landed on this page because you’ve heard so much about Cookies and you want to know if the flower actually lives up to the hype. Having fallen madly in love with Cookies’ Gary Payton and Cheetah Piss, I am here to tell you you can trust the word on the street on this one. 

In California’s crowded cannabis marketplace, Cookies has established themselves as the brand to beat.  Anyone who seeks to sit upon the throne must first prove themselves vis-à-vis the standard that Cookies has set. With a bright, colorful design, and merchandising that extends well beyond the reach of its flower, Cookies is a lifestyle brand with an army of fervent fanatics.

With humble grassroots beginnings, Berner (Gilbert Milam Jr.) built the Cookies brand from the cash register up to the C-Suite. Berner got his start in the Bay Area scanning IDs at medical dispensaries as a side hustle to support his work as a Rapper.  With his full heart in both Hip Hop and flower Berner worked his way up to founding Cookies in collaboration with legendary grower Jai (“Jigga”) and on track with some of the most fun emcees to ever do (B-Real and E-40 to name a few).

Brilliantly marrying the two, Cookies has produced flower collaborations with Hip Hop duo Run The Jewels and Snoop Dogg, and the Collins Ave featured here is one of three in the collaboration between Berner x Rick Ro$. Alongside Pink Rozay and Lemon Pepper (brilliantly paired with the logo for the Miami Heat) Cookies x Ricky Ro$ brings 305 pride to Cali flower.

Highlights

Cookies’ gorgeous branding and graphic design pop off dispensary shelves. I first learned of Cookies when I saw someone wearing their t-shirt walking down the street. The bright blue coloring and simply delicious-looking logo stayed with me so clearly that I recognized it at my next stop in the dispensary (until that moment, convinced the person I saw on the street was just obsessed with the chocolate chip treat). Each bag of Cookies does a fantastic job of expressing a full aesthetic for each individual strain. From the thirst-quenching Sweet Tea to the applause garnering Gary Payton, Cookies has got their shit down. And Collins Ave is no exception.

With a radiant neon sign flickering the strain name in the shape of a forever-mood flamingo, Cookies instantly caught my attention. I want to be where Collins Avenue is and I want to hit whatever this designer is smoking. Cookies manages to deftly nail a mood that we all want to be a part of. And is only thru this trusted clout and graphic brilliance that Cookies can get away without revealing the strain’s lineage. Cultivation and drying practices vary so widely that it can be really hard to reproduce another label’s exact lineage but it’s become clear that once that info hits the streets everyone is going to knock you off. 

I appreciate Cookies’ efforts to keep their cross proprietary and I think it can do a great service to the consumer. In the absence of the same strains repeated ad infinitum to the point they lose their meaning, it is valuable to get into more direct touch with the cannabis experience you are seeking. So welcome the blindfold gratefully and really dig into what you like and don’t like about the experience of each strain you sample. Once you have this information you can modulate your purchases much more accurately and enjoyably.

Effects

Pulling up on Collins Ave the illuminated neon Flamingo sign promises late-night pleasures. On my C-is-for-Cookies-is-good enough for me tip I didn’t even realize this was a collab until I flipped over the bag and saw Cookies x Rick Ro$ which immediately put everything into context. 

If you are unfamiliar with Ricky Ross the Teflon Don and his Maybach Music look no further than “Hustlin'” (and Kat Williams’ hysterical bit about it) to catch the rhythm of his vibe.  Proudly reppin’ Miami and oft writing about his business ventures at the Port of Miami the flamingo proudly stands on the label as the mascot for South Bay’s notorious nightlife scene and stunning, bright-colored aesthetic. 

Alongside Pink Rozay and Lemon Pepper Collins Ave stands at the ingenious intersection of Hip Hop and cannabis with the rappers coming together on track and in roots. If you are a Rick Ro$ fan there is no reason not to try it for the bag alone.  Once you tear off the top a wonderful aroma unfurls before you even open the bag.

Collins Ave is bustling with a gorgeous array of divergent and surprising notes. A robust and luxurious woodsiness grounds the orchestra of a tennis ball,  gas, and a constantly moving final note of bright citrus. In all honesty, I don’t know if I’ve ever smelled anything like it. Something about it reminds me of a childhood classroom, there’s some type of rubber in there and tons of excitement. 

The flower itself reminds me of some of Cookies’ other herbal delights, there’s a thick cheesy trichoming like Gary Payton and a mysterious geometry like Cheetah Piss. The buds are really dense and feel inert. Cannabis often makes me feel like I’ve landed on a distant planet in a Sci-Fi picture and this plant life is the first sign that we’re no longer in Kansas anymore. Collins Ave is strange and it’s almost bizarre that these flowers are the source of all that aroma. Ground-up Collins seems more of this planet with some of the cobwebbing broken into manageable light greens.

Collins Ave is one to invest in some hemp wick for. Holding the flame farther away than you think you should and just allowing the tip of the flame to gently ignite the greens adds so so much more flavor to the experience.  The Collins Ave high sets in quickly (26.44 %THC) with a lively braggadocio mind and confident aphrodisiac quality in the body. I’ve never thought “this is the perfect weed for going to a nightclub” until now. 

If you’re ever in the mood to fight a bear I’d hand you this and say “put THAT in your pipe and smoke it”. And shit you might just pull it off. This is the smoke for puffin’ up your chest, tryin’ hook-up, and really not givin’ a fuck. This is the tequila of weed. Bottoms up and see where the night takes ya.

Price

$60 buy-in to play with the Big Boys.

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