Thanksgiving can be a stressful time of year.
Whether prepping a BIG Friendsgiving meal for the crew or plan to attend a family gathering, it’s a holiday that can easily become overwhelming.
While some may drown the holiday-given stress with a glass of Pinot Noir, with recreational marijuana becoming easier to acquire, cannabis too may make an appearance this Thanksgiving and other holidays that are often overwhelming (i.e. Christmas).
Since recreational marijuana is now legal in over thirty states, Thanksgiving has become the highest of holidays for stoners. After all, there are big meals to eat, hours of time to kill, and family tensions that need defusing. Cannabis to the Thanksgiving rescue!
A Cannabis-Inspired Thanksgiving – PRO Tips
So, how is marijuana best paired with Thanksgiving? That’s a great question.
To answer that, we spoke with Sheena Shiravi, owner of Eaze; a cannabis-delivery service.
Coupling cannabis and Thanksgiving is best achieved by micro-dosing CBD into edibles, vaporizers, or tinctures.
Tinctures and CBD drops have become an ever-growing category,” stated Shiravi.
She also shared that adding low-dose CBD droplets to alcoholic beverages will ultimately mean consuming less alcohol throughout the day. This helps Thanksgiving event participants to have a more pleasant Thanksgiving without the hangover effect that often lingers to Black Friday.
With a 420-friendly Thanksgiving group at your feast, individual dishes can be paired with cannabis products. It’s easiest done by thinking of a wine that you believe would pair well with a certain dish, then, choose a strain you believe would match-up well with the wine.
For example, turkey is often paired with Pinot Noir. This means your turkey and Pinot Noir entree would pair well with strains such as Himalayan Gold, White Widow, or OG Kush.
Here’s an Eaze-made chart showing which stains and wines are best combined:
Which strain pairs best with a given food is typically determined by the strain’s terpenes. Consider the terpenes to be the weeds essential oil that gives it its distinctive taste.
“When considering a food-and-wine pairing, cannabis follows the same outline,” said Shiravi. Essentially, you’re assessing the strains terpene profile when determining how well it pairs with a given dish; the same concept when pairing wines.
Should I Vape or Smoke on Thanksgiving?
The best method of delivery is determined by the Thanksgiving audience.
When it comes to convenience, vaporizers are the go-to solution, especially when wanting to try a few different food/wine and cannabis pairings.
Vape pens are easy to pass around the table, are more tolerable to those that don’t normally smoke (as it’s not as harsh as smoking), and the dining room won’t be left with a lingering cloud of smoke.
Passing around a vaporizer isn’t nearly as intrusive as passing around a joint.
Alternatively, having some pre-rolls ready to blaze-up is another option as in a group setting it’ll be finished rather quickly. Aside from that, a joint is a traditional way to kick off any meal and compared to a vaporizer will enhance everyone’s appetite even more for the big feast to come.
Legalized cannabis has joined alcohol and family discussion for what use to be a taboo activity, and now in many places, grown children and their parents can now enjoy marijuana together at Thanksgiving, comfortably.
With Thanksgiving and New Year’s being event-filled times of the year, holidays provide ample opportunities for intergenerational cannabis indulgence. Taking in to account the feast alone; Thanksgiving may be the best holiday of the year to enjoy cannabis.
Best Thanksgiving Marijuana Strains
We all eat too much come Thanksgiving Day, it’s not a surprise.
With vast amounts of delicious foods, stopping yourself from indulging is a near-impossible task.
But even if you were able to, we’re confident you wouldn’t want to anyway.
Thanksgiving, for cannabis consumers, presents a vexing issue for those that prefer marijuana over alcohol. It’s common knowledge that eating turkey makes you tired, and indeed, it can.
Integrating marijuana may seem to be the perfect concoction for becoming couch ridden, and if that happens, you may miss out on dessert (no one wants that to happen).
This is why Sativa-dominant strains are ideal for Thanksgiving; the uplifting effects promote wakefulness and will keep you from missing out on the after-feast pie you’ve been waiting all year to devour.
Below we’ll review the top-three strains for appetite and wakefulness enhancement:
Himalayan Gold
Himalayan gold is one of my all-time favorite strains, especially during Thanksgiving.
This strain will take your mind on a creative and energizing journey with a euphoria that will leave you feeling relaxed, grounded, and you guessed it, hungry.
THC levels on this strain hover around 25%. It packs a powerful punch, has an incredible earthy taste/aroma, and will surely impress you and your Thanksgiving guests. Roll up a Himalayan Gold turkey joint for an exquisite Danksgiving experience your audience won’t soon forget.
White Widow
White Widow has the propensity to instantly coat the throat with a sugary-sweet taste. Its effects settle in lightly and tend to heighten over time.
This Sativa-dominant Hybrid has a complex, indescribable high, but is very enjoyable, especially before and after the big Thanksgiving meal.
Initially cultivated by Green House Seeds in the Netherlands; White Widow delivers a powerful euphoria, in addition to raising energy levels.
This makes it a great Thanksgiving companion as it will stimulate your creativity and conversation; the perfect Thanksgiving-gathering strain, especially during social-based events. You may also want to try White Rhino, Blue Widow, or White Russian as these strains as well deliver similar effects you turkey day guests will enjoy.
OG Kush
OG Kush is a Sativa-dominant hybrid that typically tests at 45% indica and 55% Sativa.
Consuming OG Kush will cause a powerful cerebral high that can sometimes lead to the couch-lock effect (so don’t smoke too much of it on turkey day).
This strain was first cultivated in the early 1990s in Florida when Hindu Kush (an Amsterdam strain) was bred with a Northern California strain.
This resulted in what became a modern-day cultivation marvel; a hybrid with a very unique terpene profile that omits an aroma similar to spice, skunk, and fuel (unique, indeed).
As a Sativa-dominant strain, it delivers an uplifting high, increases energy levels, and will keep you going throughout the day as you eat plate after plate.