The Aficionado Box by Aventura Organics

There’s a difference between buying a bottle of two buck chuck and a 2012 Caymus Special Selection from Napa Valley— and the same goes for cannabis. That’s the mantra of Orange County’s luxury cannabis club, Aventura Organics (AO). What you put into your body effects everything from mood, to appearance, to health, to mental agility; which should make the quality of what ever you’re ingesting of utmost importance. You are what you ingest. Literally.

Right now one of the biggest—if not the biggest— problem in California’s cannabis industry is pesticide use. Although pesticides have been used in the process of growing marijuana for decades, it’s a problem and it’s not okay. Smoking nugs saturated in pesticides is perhaps the worst form of toxin exposure because the chemicals are heated, then inhaled into our lungs and spread throughout our bodies. HELP!

(If you don’t think pesticides on your weed is a problem, check out this article. The world of weed is pretty small, so it’s safe to assume that toxic weed is rampant, even here in Orange County.)

The only way to avoid this is to either grow your own weed (which isn’t easy) or know your cultivator’s growing methods. That’s what makes Aventura Organics so special: their master grower is old school and takes growing organic, medical marijuana extremely seriously. They don’t use pesticides in their intimate grows (because that would obviously defeat the purpose of creating medicine for those who are sick and/or have ailments), and their cannabis is grown in locally— like, within Orange County locally. So if you’re into supporting local organic (cannabis) farming, Aventura Organics are definitely your people.

If you were to make the comparison, Aventura Organics is the cannabis version of a monthly wine subscription—exclusively available to Orange County residents. Except, instead of coming from a distributor, like most wine subscription services (think Club W), AO is the cannabis equivalent of receiving wine straight from the winery. There are three different subscription levels you can choose from: the Enthusiast Box, which includes seven grams of one strain; the Connoisseur Box that comes with 14 grams of cannabis—seven grams of two different strains; and the Aficionado Box, loaded with a total of 21 grams of herb split into seven grams of three different strains.

Some of AO’s herb is cultivated outdoors, like the biodynamically grown Neville’s Haze. Grown under an orange grove here in OC, what makes biodynamic cannabis farming lucrative is that it offers a trusted certification process making it a solid alternative to the USDA Organic credential, which isn’t available to cannabis growers because of current federal laws. Neville’s Hazes thinner, darker green nugs look like they came from the Earth (rather than an incubator). The leaves that breach from the stem are longer and wrapped in a light crystalline sheath that set of a cosmic twinkle when held under a light. To top it off, it smokes like a dream. A no-anxiety, euphoric sativa high? Um, yes please!

But don’t freak out, indoor-grown cannabis fiends. Aventura Organics isn’t all outdoor. Wedding Cake, the 70/30 sativa hybrid, is grown hydroponically in Orange County by AO’s master grower and life-long homie. The nugs are a lot denser, bigger and lighter in color with hints of purple along the edges of the tricome covered leaves. The Wedding Cake feels a bit more zippy than the Neville’s Haze, making it ideal for a day time toke. The Platinum OG indica is also an indoor beauty. Best paired with a night cap, this sleepy, pain management indica will lead you into a lucid-state as soon as your head hits the pillow.

My striped pine Aficionado Box came with a hand written letter informing me of the strains I received, garnished with a baby fan-leaf— and you can expect this kind of personable experience, too. Aventura Organics boutique monthly cannabis subscription is for those who’re looking for quality in all aspects of the term: pesticide-free, truthful genetics that make you feel good. It’s for those who understand the tasteful nuances between a bag of Franzia versus wine from Larkmead Vineyards. It’s for those who understand the different experiences that come from smoking shwag weed versus clean, top-shelf medicinal herb. You get what you pay for.

What’s interesting is after smoking Aventura Organics’ clean weed, I now can tell the difference between pesticide treated and organic cannabis.