White Widow is one of the world's best-known cannabis strains. This hybrid, created in the Netherlands by seed company Green House Seeds, is a cross between a sativa endemic to Brazil and a resin-rich indica from southern India.
White Widow has been served in all Dutch coffee shops since its birth in the 1990s. Its buds are full of white crystals, heralding the plant's potential effects. White Widow is reputed to stimulate conversation and creativity, with a high pleasant and well-balanced.
At the time, the underground cannabis market consisted mainly of early hybrids such as Northern Lights and the Haze, But White Widow has since joined the ranks of these legendary cannabis strains, winning its first High Times Cannabis Cup in 1995 and several awards since.
Specifically selected for its high number of trichomes, White Widow is particularly appreciated for hash production.
White Widow can reach THC levels of 25%, although it usually settles for 18-19%. Recreational users appreciate the sociability of this strain, as well as the expansive mood it cultivates. It also relaxes the body nicely, and calms the brain.
It's a mold-resistant variety, making outdoor cultivation an option, although an almost Mediterranean climate with constant temperatures between 20 and 25°C works best. Despite a predominantly sativa high, White Widow looks much more like indica during the vegetative phase: plants are bushy and wide, rarely exceeding 1.80 m in height.
Bud structure is more sativa than indica, with a loose, fluffy texture that can be broken fairly easily despite its sticky nature. Leaves are spring-green with few visible pistils. When grown successfully, the flowers are entirely covered with long-stemmed trichomes, giving the whitish-gray appearance that gives the variety its memorable name. White Widow is known for its pungent, ammonia-like fragrance, with hints of pine.
Opening the flowers gives off a more hashy, incense-like scent. Cannabis consumers accustomed to fruity or savory crosses may be disappointed by White Widow's relative lack of flavor.
That said, White Widow is particularly pungent when burned, so discretion-minded consumers should plan accordingly.
Effects of White Wido
As if the Netherlands' reputation for quality cannabis breeding hadn't already been established with highly successful strains like Big Bud, White Widow shows the excellent results of studied and deliberate cultivation in the Netherlands. This super-sticky variety provides a cerebral high which, although sometimes discouraging in high doses, above all enables consumers to remain functional and aware of their surroundings. An excellent choice for chatty social use.
Users can become more attentive to their surroundings, to sounds and patterns that might previously have gone unnoticed. Enthusiasts also describe an almost immediate improvement in mood, and an energy and focus that can be applied to mundane tasks like cleaning or more complex problem-solving processes.
White Widow can also be useful creatively, inducing a kind of rapid thought association that can open up previously unexplored territory. Psychedelic effects such as visual distortion and heightened perception can amplify the impact of music or art, while a very slight body buzz softens users. Because of its deeply cerebral effects, this variety is generally more useful psychologically than physically. It can help people with attention deficit disorders to stay focused on a single subject.
Medical consumers have many reasons to love this variety. Patients have found it useful for relieving menstrual pain or symptoms of Crohn's disease.
It can also boost energy in cases of fatigue or depression. Some users have even described White Widow as effective in relieving migraines. Because of its potency, the introspective mind rush associated with White Widow can sometimes veer into paranoia, and smokers may want to plan dosage accordingly.
The plant's genetic capacities have been used to give birth to several crosses such as White Russian, the White Rhino or the Blue Widow.
