The day this chill, versatile flower bloomed into my existence was a quarantine day much like any other. At this point in the pandemic, my schedule is as follows: wake up excruciatingly early for no reason and stare into the Instagram abyss. Start smoking weed. Alternate half-hour intervals of writing articles and sun bathing until 2PM. Then go on a hike or some kind of nature excursion until I’m tired enough to go to bed super early and start it all over the next day.

“A note on my phone during the rating read, “party in mouth.””

While quarantine has shown me a lot of things about myself, making me an overall more productive person, free of FOMO, dinner plans, and any other kind of plans, it’s also upped my weed game considerably. Instead of smoking sativas in the morning, indicas at night, and hybrids throughout the day, I was looking for a strain of weed I could smoke all day and night, and feel content. When it came time to review an anonymous strain for Proper, one that I would later find to be Charlie Girl, I knew I had found her.

Coming in at 29.1% THC, “Charlie Girl” is a cross between Girl Scout Cookies and SFV OG from the Emerald Triangle distribution brand Sonoma Pacific. A rising trend in the cannabis industry, distribution brands don’t grow their own flower. Instead, brands like Sonoma Pacific will partner with smaller farms that have product to unload, buy their inventory, then sell it under their own canopy brand. While I don’t find these kinds of cannabis brands as exciting as a farm that grows its own product, there’s a huge market for this kind of flower, and it can be beneficial to smaller farms who don’t have the capital to distribute their product on a larger level.

While the flower itself didn’t look like much at first, as soon as I saw it sparkle in the sunlight I felt a connection with her. The smell, an evergreen pine citrus blend, had an almost menthol-like quality, a pepper that uplifted my spirit, and a flavor to match. A note on my phone during the rating read, “party in mouth.”

“Frolicking on the beach with my tiny dog, I found Charlie Girl to make the whole world sparkle as brightly as her potent crystals in the sun. ”

Sitting in front of a blank Google Doc that had to be filled around noon if I was to make my strict afternoon adventure appointment, I exhaled the first bong hit. Two waves hit me at the same time. One was warm and euphoric, washing over me, melting down my spine. The other was ice cold, an uplifting shock of focus beaming me into productive mode. The perfect balance transported me to a place where time moved very fast, and writing was really easy. A couple of hours later, I was done with my work for the day, and ready to take another bong hit to see how Charlie fared in the great outdoors.

Just as I suspected, she did great. Frolicking on the beach with my tiny dog, I found Charlie Girl to make the whole world sparkle as brightly as her potent crystals in the sun. No matter what you’re doing, this weed will make it better.

As the world of cannabis branding continues to evolve into a beast with a mind of its own, it’s often that a flower’s branding can eclipse the effects of the flower itself. While some of them do nudge your high in the direction they advertise, I’ve found most of this kind of branding to be pretty silly, as cannabis tends to affect everyone differently. Of the probably close to a hundred weed products I’ve tried that claim to promote “FOCUS,” only maybe two have actually been able to do so.

Charlie Girl is great because she bypasses that whole questionable school of marketing, offering an unpretentious, versatile high that can accompany you through life however you see fit. She’s a great companion for this late stage of quarantine, where one is still balancing an inside existence with navigating the strange new world around us. Get high with her to work in the morning, or take a couple poofs to wind down at night. With Charlie Girl, it’s up to you.