“The Cucumber Lime offered up a taste closer to a mojito, a sweet and tart combo with a light tropical kick.”

I chalked that up to my tolerance being too high for a single dose, so the second time I took three doses for a total of 13.5mg THC and 1.5mg CBD. The effect was subtle, but I still felt more restless than relaxed. The vibe was more Netflix than Naps. A couple hours later, I felt a slight high-like tingle behind my eyes, but it also could’ve been my stuffy sinuses. Eventually, I was lulled into a restful slumber, but that only lasted six hours before the sound of people through the thin walls jarred me awake. When I woke up, I was groggy and fuzzy-headed and wanted to go back to sleep. It was as annoying as squeezing into a rush-hour train, or that one day you don’t bring an umbrella and it starts to downpour, because of course. This is how the city says, “Welcome back! Did you miss me? Because I sure didn’t give a shit about you being gone.”

The grape flavor in these tasted like the children’s cold medicine Dimetapp, grape and sweet but bitter with a chemical medicine flavor and all the enjoyable goodness of being sick. The Cucumber Lime offered up a taste closer to a mojito, a sweet and tart combo with a light tropical kick and a slight sour finish that could hint of rum—more like a taste of “mama’s medicine.”

There’s a perpetual debate for human beings of what’s better: new or old. Tradition vs innovation. New things are exciting but can also be scary since they’re unknown. Nostalgia provides comfort and recollections of “home” or childhood that can breed feelings of warmth inside the dark depths of our hearts. But familiarity doesn’t mean something is actually better. I know I sound like your therapist describing your last relationship that was a little too much like your emotionally abusive father right now, but really I’m talking about weed gummies. Flavors that play upon childhood favorites can bring up bad tastes as much as good memories, and “adult” medicine that tastes like kid’s medicine isn’t my kind of memory candy. In the great flavor debate of the old standard, Concord Grape, and the fresh twist on a classic, Cucumber Lime, I’m going with the modern take.

“It had me fascinated by the oscillating fan, much like a super microdose of mushrooms.”

The Cucumber Lime gummies are also 5mg each, but the cannabinoid breakdown is slightly different with a mix of 3.5mg of THC and 1.5mg of CBD in each weed gummy. I tried one during the daytime for my first session, since the single dose was so light. There was a slight relaxation and uplift that was almost imperceptibly subtle, and it wore off around six hours later.

The second time around, I decided to see if these gummies could help me sleep, too. I had just kissed a new crush out on the sidewalk and needed to fight the excited giddiness to calm down for bed. Many cannabis-based sleep aids boast a high CBD content to relax the body as well as the mind, so I felt like these might be a good fit. I took three gummies to match what I had done with the grape-flavored ones, arriving at a total dose of 10.5mg THC and 4.5mg CBD. They brought on a fun, relaxed high that made me want to stay up and watch TV and have a mini magical mystery tour in my cold little room.

There was a psychedelic hint that made spacial awareness interesting and time warp around me. It had me fascinated by the oscillating fan, much like a super microdose of mushrooms. I would zone out and couldn’t tell if one second or two years had passed, but in a fun, low-anxiety way. Once I finally convinced myself to lay down, much like getting a slumber party to finally stop playing truth or dare and go to bed, sleep came swiftly. When I woke up from street noise, I drifted back to slumber just as quickly. Though I had a bit of a groggy weed hangover in the morning, I felt great about the mini-trip, maxi-sleep, and first kiss I had the night before.

Being back in NYC was like getting back together with an ex. At first you remember why you fell in love, how much fun you had, and how cute they were in the glow of the moonlight. But after awhile, you start to remember all of the ways they were cold and mean and so totally wrong for you. I’m happy with my new lover, Los Angeles, who is warm and chill and where I can buy things like fancy cannabis gummies in a store without having to listen to a dude’s half-finished song first. While the Concord Grape Unwind Gummies from Plus offer a traditional medicinal flavor and light THC high, I much prefer the modern, more CBD-heavy Cucumber Lime Unwind Gummies, and I’m thankful that I live in a city that offers me access to both.