Nearly two years into this grand experiment, a spirit of pride stirs among many Initiative 71 brands that we must cease our reliance on imports, that we can grow, extract, and bake our own medicine right here in the Nation's Capital. Some of the biggest and earliest brands on the scene have spoken to me recently of their determination to make a name all its own for the first city on the East Coast to legalize marijuana growing, possession, & gifting. I've seen the quality of locally grown cannabis greatly improved and today I'm pleased to put my screaming, psionic centipedes on to a new delivery brand that grows its fire right here in DC. Meet Trending Leafs! Their website succinctly states Trending Leafs' mission- to promote healthy, plant-based lifestyles while providing a discreet and timely delivery service. The Gentleman got several sample jars to review- the ever-popular Bubba Kush, the elusive Trinity, and the seductive Forbidden Fruit. Trending Leaf's flowers are fresh, covered in pretty, little trichomes, and well cured, with the proper moisture level that makes the bud yield and pop back when you press it. What really got my attention, however, was the wonderfully pleasant scent profile exhibited by each. [caption id="attachment_2990" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Bubba Kush[/caption] Bubba is a familiar face around DC, a strains you'll encounter frequently behind the cultivars commonly known as Girl Scout Cookies and Gorilla Glue #4 (changed to GSC and GG#4 due to recent lawsuits). Trending Leafs' Bubba Kush, with a deeply earthy nose punctuated with sharp spices, brought on exactly the effects expected. The first bowl in the morning shot me with an incredible mood boost that set me happily to my tasks and provide the laser-focus to quickly complete them. An hour later, as I was just starting to wind down from the first, a second bowl invoked the body sedation Bubba's most known for, so I crashed on the couch for a while, then went back to sleep. Some indicas, like Blueberry, leave me with a nasty afterbuzz after a nap, but a liedown with Bubba always leaves my head clear. [caption id="attachment_2991" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Trinity[/caption] Trinity is a sativa per Leafly and Seedfinder, but a king-sized prerolled cone of this sweet-smelling strain from Trending Leafs siphoned all the gas outta my tank. This was another morning- I generally test everything out first thing in the AM to see if it makes me tired after I've slept and had breakfast- I felt calm, able to think clearly, but lost all motivation for my walk and laid back down instead. Unable to sleep, I started reading. No, just kidding, I got caught up on Agents of SHIELD. I mean, I have books, but...Ghost Rider was on! How does he not have his own show already? Oh, right, the Nic Cage movies. Okay, but let's ignore those (easy) and take a look: the Spirt of Vengeance has two sets of bad guys (criminals and demons), can go interdimensional, can go into the past via previous incarnations, and is The Spirt of Vengeance dude, seriously. The stories write themselves, and if they don't, perhaps the project could use a Gentleman's touch? Maybe? [caption id="attachment_2992" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Forbidden Fruit[/caption] Certainly not least of the Trending Leafs samples, we come to the profoundly purple Forbidden Fruit, with its exotic nose of passion fruit that overwhelmed every other sample in the jar. As opposed to the Bubba Kush, the sedative effects of Forbidden Fruit are a result of overwhelming your frontal lobe with lovely, fuzzy psychoactivity. I don't mean literally, it's not like Johns Hopkins lets me borrow their CAT scanner whenever I blaze a jay, but I feel like there's simply no room in my brain left for anxious or depressing thoughts after toking on some Forbidden Fruit. Just a warm cloud of bliss that allows me to click through the day's headlines with calm detachment in the morning or easily forget them in the evening when it's time to sleep. The Gentleman was very pleased with all of the flowers Trending Leafs generously gifted me for review. Knowing they were grown right here in Washington makes it all the sweeter. And you can get it delivered! Catch me, Clarence, I may faint! I highly recommend you check out Trending Leafs' website for some of the finest marijuana gifts DC has to offer. Ooh, and don't forget to Subscribe to my Ghost Rider fan-fiction I mean, newsletter. Right. Definitely a newsletter.