A Home Grow Review on Behalf of Treehouse Labs and Nick Barten
Photo Courtesy of Arsen Sefi
I first met Nick Barten when I was giving a tour of our Shango Cannabis facility, located in Phoenix Arizona. Nick is the Vice President of Pro Financial Insurance. He runs an independent brokerage which works in the cannabis space offering insurance to a variety of businesses within the industry.
He accompanied our local testing lab, Treehouse Laboratories and their then CEO Glynn Townsend, as well as the California brand Revenant with NFL greats, Jim McMahon, Kyle Turley and Eben Britton for the facility tour. As time went on Nick and I became friends, we talked a lot about home growing, and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to help him with his home growing.
Nick’s flower was flowing with the same good vibes he always rolls with. He’s a kind and generous person, and someone I feel lucky to be able to call a friend. His passion and positivity are obviously reflected in what he’s doing, and it’s working.
Nick learned to grow, just as many of us have, from the Legacy Market by reading books like "Coco for Cannabis” by Dr. M. J. Coco, and by scouring the internet combined with trial and error.
Nick received a cut of the SOAP from a friend with the stipulation of keeping its source a secret. We will honor that request with a tip of the hat to the mystery genetic donor. This is the way of the legacy operator, always has been and might always be this way depending on how things continue to go with legalization.
In case you didn’t already know, the SOAP is a backcross of Animal Mints and Kush Mints bred by Seed Junky and made popular by Cookies.
Nick’s plants are grown under a series of Photon Tek X 600-watt LEDs in a special home coco and perlite mix with top drip feed. He uses recycling reservoirs to conserve water and like many home growers, Nick cares about the environment as well as the quality of his cannabis, and it shows.
A mix of General Hydroponics nutrients feed the grow, all purchased locally at the Sea of Green Hydroponics store located in Tempe. As for the flower, The SOAP did not disappoint! I rolled up a fat nug before heading out to work. I wanted to have a fresh pallet to really feel the medicine.
This one smacks!
Upon cracking open the first bud, I was hit with a wonderful bouquet with a unique black pepper and lavender terpene profile. Quickly, the neck pain I was experiencing melted away. It was a good thing I arrived at the office early, because I had just enough time to let the buzz mellow to a workable level before the rest of the staff arrived for the day.
With a lingering flavor of skunky-gas and a piney-earthy/soil, the flavor and terps hit the back of the pallet quicker than grandma with a bar of lavender dial soap for cussing. The SOAPs then slide into a slightly spicy black pepper/Caryophyllene and citrus endnote.
I’m glad Nick gave me extra to consume because I'm looking forward to a relaxing, pain free weekend where The SOAP launches me to the moon.
Here are the results of the Treehouse Labs test for Nick’s home grow.
