THC Design - Crescendo - BUDS Smalls - 14g

THC Design - Crescendo - BUDS Smalls - 14g

THC Design Crescendo BUDS Smalls is 14 grams of indoor sativa from Los Angeles, sold as small buds in a resealable half-ounce pouch. The strain is THC Design's own pheno from a batch of Ethos Genetics seed, a cross of Chem Dawg, I-95 and Mandarin Cookies. Take the name as a heads-up: this high climbs slowly, so give it time.

Quick Specs

Genetics & Lineage

Ethos Genetics, a Colorado seed company based just outside Denver, bred the line. THC Design's account is short: it grew out a batch of Ethos' Crescendo seed and kept the winning plant as its own pheno. The brand has not published how many seeds it ran or when. Its listing names three parents.

Chemdawg is the 1990s fuel strain Leafly traces to bag seed from a Grateful Dead show in Colorado. Money Mike of Top Dawg Genetics bred I-95 from Triangle Kush and a Legend OG x Stardawg hybrid, per Leafly. Mandarin Cookies is Ethos' own Forum Cut Cookies x Mandarin Sunset.

The family keeps growing. Ethos now sells Crescendo RBX1, which crosses the original recipe with a Headband and I-95 line, and describes it as sour and gassy with a citrus edge, heavy and sedating in effect. Ethos' Peach Crescendo adds Peach Rings. Neither is the plant in this pouch.

Flavor & Aroma

THC Design's notes put gas, cracked pepper and lemon-lime on the nose, then diesel, earth, citrus peel and a little spicy pine on the palate. Its terpenes are limonene, myrcene and caryophyllene, the same three on Leafly's Crescendo page, where caryophyllene, the peppery one, leads. L.A. Taco's January 2024 review said it "smells like the bud people smoked in the 90s," likened the flavor to OG Kush, and reported it as the most terpene-rich strain THC Design offers.

Leafly reviewers add skunk and chemical notes, and a few pick up grapefruit or fermented fruit under the diesel. THC Design calls the smoke mellow and smooth. Be ready for resin: L.A. Taco warned it gums up a grinder and leaves fingertips sticky and green. Gas leads, pepper fills the middle, and the lemon-lime comes through on the exhale.

Effects

In music, a crescendo is a gradual swell, and THC Design describes the high the same way: a slow rise into a hazy, mentally busy headspace, euphoric and creative, with a relaxed body that stops short of sedation. L.A. Taco's reviewer reported a mellow cerebral high that built over time without getting overwhelming.

Leafly's crowd is split: tingly and happy top its list, some reviewers describe a light, clear high and others a mellow one, and one warns low-tolerance smokers about couch-lock. That page is titled for Ethos' RBX1 line, which Ethos itself calls sedating, so not every report there describes this cut. Dry mouth and dry eyes lead the negatives, with anxious on the list too. The usual mistake with a slow builder is a second hit at minute five.

Best For

• Late mornings with a plan: errands, a long walk, a bookstore or gallery afternoon
• Chem and OG loyalists: gas, pepper and a citrus finish in place of candy and cream
• Creative work: writing, practicing an instrument, rearranging the apartment
• Getting outside: L.A. Taco suggested an outdoor movie or a jazz show, and North Beach has the jazz

Not for: bedtime, first-timers who tend to rush, or anyone who gets anxious on gassy, head-forward strains.

Pairings

Food: something bright to cut the fuel, like a cappuccino and a pastry at Caffe Trieste or a slice from Golden Boy Pizza. Music: Art Blakey's Moanin', Cannonball Adderley, or a live set on Columbus. Activity: climb the Filbert Steps to Coit Tower, browse the poetry room at City Lights Bookstore, or walk the Embarcadero.

Cultivation

Crescendo comes out of THC Design's indoor grow in Los Angeles. When High Times went inside the garden in 2018, it described a big indoor operation in the heart of the city, run to Oregon Tilth organic standards, with no synthetic plant growth regulators, water reclaimed from dehumidifiers and air conditioning, and an experimental carp tank whose waste fed the mother plants.

THC Design flower travels, too: Presidential's moon rock listings credit THC Design as the grower. The pouch is BUDS, the brand's small-nug format; THC Design says the flower matches its full-size jars and only the bud size changes. A half ounce is the middle option, between 5 and 28 grams.

Dosing

New to it: two small pulls, then a full fifteen minutes. This one keeps climbing after you think it has landed.

Regular smoker: start with a third of a joint or a light bowl, then decide once the build tops out.

Heavy tolerance: a whole joint is fine, but a gassy sativa smoked fast can turn racy, so stretch it across a walk.

Storage

Seal the pouch after every session. Sticky flower like this goes dry and flat once air gets in, and the gas and lemon-lime are the point. Keep it out of sunlight and away from the stove. Weekend smokers can split the half ounce: a small airtight jar for now, the rest sealed.

Similar Strains

• THC Design Crescendo Pre-Roll 1g: the same strain as a single pre-roll, a test run before the half ounce
• Lolo Chemdawg Pre-Roll 1g: Chemdawg, the parent THC Design credits for Crescendo's diesel, on its own
• Alien Labs BK Satellite Pre-Roll 1g: another daytime pick, creamy lemon and mint per Alien Labs instead of gas
• Presidential XJ-13 Moon Rock Pre-Roll 1g: THC Design's signature XJ-13 flower, infused and coated in kief by Presidential, for heavy tolerance only

FAQ

Is THC Design Crescendo a sativa? THC Design and Weedmaps say sativa. Leafly lists it as a hybrid.

What is Crescendo's lineage? Chem Dawg, I-95 and Mandarin Cookies, bred by Ethos Genetics. THC Design's cut is its own pheno, the winning seed from one Ethos batch.

Is it the same as Crescendo RBX1 or Peach Crescendo? No. Both are related Ethos lines: RBX1 crosses the original with a Headband and I-95 line, and Peach Crescendo adds Peach Rings.

What does Crescendo taste like? Gas and cracked pepper on the nose, diesel and spicy pine on the palate, lemon-lime on the finish, per THC Design.

Is Crescendo good for daytime? That is THC Design's pitch: mentally active, not sedating. Start small; it keeps building.

Is this the same Crescendo as the THC Design pre-roll? Same strain, same grower. The pre-roll comes ground and rolled; the pouch gives you whole small buds to grind fresh.

Where can I buy THC Design Crescendo in San Francisco? At Gemme Verdi, 899 Columbus Ave in North Beach. Check gemmeverdi.com for today's stock.

Available at Gemme Verdi 899 Columbus Ave, North Beach, San Francisco gemmeverdi.com See today's deals at Gemme Verdi