Cannabis Consumption at Coral Cove, Jamaica

Originally featured in Fat Nugs Magazine Vol. 17. Enjoy the great articles and community at fatnugsmag.com.

I landed in Jamaica early in the morning; the airport was still opening up. A few folks were walking with me through long hallways leading to customs past Jamaican advertisements and Bob Marley quotes to the arrivals lobby where resort drivers were waiting for tourists and taxi drivers gathered en masse. It may have been the morning in Jamaica, but I had been up for a long time traveling from Las Vegas. I stopped right outside the door for my first Jamaican purchase, a Red Stripe beer. The cold drink was unbelievably refreshing in the hot and humid weather. With that settled, I watched the crowds and handled some work calls outside waiting for the rest of the Fat Nugs crew to arrive.

The first shuttle was gearing up to leave early. I decided to wait for the second one to get some last-minute work in for the week using the wifi at the arrival lounge. Before they left, he gave me two pre-rolls and said “Welcome to Jamaica” before suggesting I wander away from the doors to light up. I can’t think of a better welcome to the country than that. I hung out around the airport for a bit talking to taxi drivers and declining offers to buy cannabis now and again. Although, I did make one regrettable purchase. When the rest of the team arrived for shuttle number two, we embarked south and smoked out the van with pre-rolls from Coral Cove’s on-site dispensary.

With Regaee music blaring, we rolled our way down to the coast with several pre-rolls making the rounds. For most of the team, this was the first time we met. I’ll always remember rolling through the hills passing joints and getting to know one another on that drive. Each pre-roll came packaged with dispensary and strain info including the packaging date. When we got to the resort, the options for consumption expanded including pens, infused pre-rolls, regular pre-rolls and flower.

I did not try one of the pens, but they had distillate available to vape if you preferred that. The selection included Durban Poison, Jamaican Fem, Blueberry Muffin and Wild Thailand. I vape concentrates at home regularly. But while traveling, I always prefer to smoke the old-fashioned way, combustion, especially when others are there to smoke and enjoy with me.

The pre-roll selection included 1g pre-rolls of 5 different cultivars. You could choose between Venom OG, Wild Thailand, Maltezers, Blue Wizard and Luke Skywalker. These pre-rolls were packed just right to allow an even and easy burn. The flower was a little on the dry side which impacted some of the flavor to be found. Venom OG was a stand-out here with a nice pine note on the palette. For folks who didn’t have papers or didn’t want to roll up, these were a go-to throughout the week.

The infused pre-roll list included Wild Thailand, Maltezers, Banna Kush and Strawberry Malawi. From what we could discern here, the flower was mixed with kief before being rolled up. These burned a little hotter as expected with more than flower packed into the papers. Banna Kush got the gold medal in this category from my perspective. The flower had a strong limonene profile, and the smoke reminded me of other haze cultivars showing its Skunk Haze lineage.

Now for the raison d’etre, my favorite category to rate, review and enjoy - flower. Nothing like breaking down some fat nugs with good people, food and music alongside the beach. With 14 strains to try, the Coral Cove team prepared a sample bag for all of the Certified Ganjiers on the trip including Purple Punch, Wild Thailand, Venom OG, Maltezers, Mazar x White, Jamaican Fem, Banana Kush, Icy Mint, Blue Wizard, Luke Skywalker and the tried and true, Gelato. We were all excited for the lineup and enjoyed trying them out throughout the week.

When it comes to quality, the flower was very dry and lower on the terpene percentage at least as far as the aroma revealed. If they had more of a nose on them at flower, the terps had since evaporated. This was in some ways a good thing because they had the product stored in a place being kept dry while on the humid and hot Jamaican beachside, a challenge that can’t be easy to overcome. Although, it did take away from the unique profiles that each cultivar had. We worked through the product, breaking buds open and looking for standouts before making sure to try every one of them (multiple times). A majority were indistinguishable from each other, while some others were borderline too dry to consume. The Venom OG and Icy Mint were the best along with runners-up Purple Punch and the Mazar x White. These were the four that brought the most flavor and potency to the table. 

With all of that flower in the group, there was almost always one joint lit and another on the way rolled by Matt Jerome or myself. The potency of the flower we had at the resort was not known, but if I had to guess from the experience and sheer quantity of joints we consumed as a group it was well under 20% THC by this point in its lifecycle. I found myself having to consume much more than expected to reach the level I was after. The high was mellow, social and short-lived, not too heavy or potent. It would have been nice to know the harvest date and grow methods to rate and review it with more specificity. All of the cannabis was sourced from Jamaican Red Moon Ltd. with packaged dates ranging from April to June 2023. Most of the flower had been packaged for over 6 months, and it was starting to show. The dispensary was located on the resort property a short distance from the main building and kept behind lock, key and security fence for employees only. Jamaican regulations required it to stay this way, so we didn’t get a walk-through this time. 

Cannabis was a constant at Coral Cove. As we roamed the beaches and resort property, it was excellent to have the dispensary on-site. Orders could be put in at the front desk, and they would be brought out to you or ready at the desk for pick-up within the hour. Watching the sunset with a joint or two and the Fat Nugs crew was top-notch. Visiting consumers can be sure that the dispensary has them covered and prepare to try a wide variety of cultivars to supplement the experience.