Liberty, freedom – in the western world at least, we’re living in a time full of personal liberties: freedom of opinion and speech, of political, occupational and partner choice, of movement and travel (provided that there’s no virus pandemic going on…), and as for private consumption, free unlimited choice of goods worldwide available via the internet.

On the one hand. On the other, there’s a lot in this world that is unfree or the freedom of which is heavily endangered: societies that are (as much as possible) free of racism, right-wing extremism, populism as well as autocratic and anti-democratic ambitions by their state leaders.

Not your usual Haze: A herbal homage to liberty

Against this background, right now a lot of thoughts are crossing one’s mind in view of a strain called “Liberty Haze”, both positive and, unfortunately, dismal ones. But the latter shall be optimistically blown away at the latest when inhaling the smoke or vapour of Liberty Haze as this euphoriant Barney’s Farm variety is a herbal homage to liberty – hope is green, freedom is green! Genetically, this strain is not your usual Haze, with a pedigree at its core that is completely different from the schoolbook of strains: Liberty Haze is a 60% sativa dominant amalgamation of G13 and ChemDawg 91, two legends in the word of cannabis strains.

Plants are growing medium tall (indoors generally not more than well a metre) and with about 8-9 weeks fairly fast flowering. Barney’s rates its high indoor yields at up to 600g/m2. Given a finishing date of between week 1 and 2 of October under natural light, Liberty Haze is advertised as a very suitable outdoor plant, too. Its elongated densely packed buds gain a lot of weight and often pronounce their attractive red to purple colour potential. With up to 25% THC under its belt, Liberty Haze falls into the category of above-average, highly potent varieties. And of course much as it’s rich in THC, its tingly invigorating effect is intense and long lasting, bringing an initial surge of euphoria. The plant’s intriguing aroma is centred around a fresh lemon flavour. Smell-wise, earthy musky and skunky notes are mixed in, the taste has piney and herbal aspects brought into play then.

Powerful vegetative growth and much budding vigour in the early stage of flowering

The Doc, an ardent afficionado of classic cannabis genetics, didn’t have to think twice about testing Liberty Haze and set out to pop two feminised seeds. Just as all the Barney’s farm beans he had previously tested, they germinated perfectly well and brought forth two healthy fast growing seedlings. They were repotted into 11 litre containers after 14 veg days. One week later, The Doc reported, “So far it’s a beautiful, vigorously growing strain with well-built lateral branches. Now that I’ve put them into flower, they’ve arrived at heights of 34 and 39 cm.”

28 days into flowering, he continued, “I’m already calling myself a fan of this strain! It has proven to be very stable up to now – the two plants are still looking pretty uniform and both blooming like hell after four weeks, with a multitude of burgeoning blossoms having bursted open now and released countless white pistils to form most promising young buds. Also, an early dense coating of tiny resin drops is shimmering on the young calyxes and sugar leaves, they’re are pretty sticky already!”

Granite-like solid tops with a sugary look and sweet lemony scent

Flower formation continued to prosper as impressively as The Doc had expected. After timely 62 days of blooming and a strong height gain eventually leaving them at 95 and 110 cm, the two plants were fully ripe. That red/purple colour potential had manifested itself only on the stalks and leaf undersurfaces, but nevertheless made for quite a flashy presentation. Endowed with an enormously high calyx-to-leaf ratio, the buds had become fat, juicy and dense, with a granite-like solidness. The large-sized head buds were prominently protruding from the centre, with a circular plateau of very stately side tops below, marking the lower half of the plants. All of the buds were with richly covered in crystalline trichomes, it looked as if someone had generously dredged them with fine sugar grains. Said an enthusing Dockie, “this gorgeous appearance is gloriously complemented by a scent that is very lemony, indeed, and given its sugary look, it is only fitting that it’s glazed with a big scoop of sweetness. In the background, a pinch of musky spiciness adds subtle complexity to the mix.”

A formidable dry harvest and olfactory sophistication

Weighing the dried yield revealed that with a combined 195 grams, Liberty Haze had only narrowly scraped past the 100g per plant mark – “a formidable achievement, either way”, said The Doc, laudingly. “And the look of the dried flowers undoubtfully falls into the “picture book” category, these true showpieces I’d unhesitatingly enter into any contest.” That sweetish lemon scent now aired a bit of earthiness and brought a tinge of black pepper to the Doc’s nose – some serious olfactory sophistication!

The smoke test: Liberty Haze initiates a mental rocket launch

When he test-smoked the buds for the first time, with about 0.75 grams and a bit of tobacco wrapped into an elegant spliff, Liberty Haze just as described ignited a kick-start effect, after two hits, a burst of prickling sativa energy washed over The Doc and gave him an euphoric lift, “one, two, three, whee! This effect knew only one direction: steeply upwards! My neck was the launching base and my head the rocket, and it took off with a big bang, emitting a huge column of smoke – through my mouth! I couldn’t sit still a second longer and driven by a strong zest for action started to finally fold a big pile of washed clothes and put it into the wardrobe.

This even with a cheerful whistle on my lips, that sort of actually most disliked housework suddenly was fun all the way! After that I spontaneously decided to type a long-postponed important private email and had a great writing flow in doing so, with ease I breezed through some difficult wordings that normally keep me busy for longer. Some more tokes off that Liberty Haze spliff made sure this buoyant zing didn’t abate, and so I continued to finish other undone housework off.

After about an hour I eventually got tired of that though and began to unwind, also because that freshness kick had melted down and given way to a clear-headed calmness, so I lay down on the couch and put my feet up, with a cozy indica trail to follow which went along with a feeling of deep satisfaction with all the things previously accomplished.” Also, Liberty Haze turned out to be as much tasty as it was pleasantly potent, with a sourly lemon zest refreshing The Doc’s taste buds, an initial sweetness pampering his palate and a prolonged earthy piney aftertaste lingering in his mouth.

“Another champion strain from Barney’s Farm that impressively delivered across the board”, The Doc summed up his experience. “And a strain that, for a change, isn’t based on so-called trend genetics but legendary old-school building blocks – which is something I’m always happily up for”, the grow veteran said with a smile.

Cultivation data:

Written and Published by Barney's Farm, G.B.I. In Weed World Magazine Issue 150