product review | stoney hot chocolate???
The newest good I was made privy to is infused hot chocolate, currently available at Essence Vegas. I'm not a huge fan of edibles, but I do use cannabis to help me sleep, so the idea of a cuppa before bed really appeals to me.
This product, developed by House of Jane, comes in a 3 pack with three 25mg servings. The packets are resealable, though, and for many a half serving (~12.5 mg) could be plenty beneficial, so although these are a bit pricey ($22 total, or about $7.33 a serving) they could definitely be used more than three times.
{ the ingredients--be aware this is NOT a vegan/lactose free product and it does contain milk! }
The biggest disappointment right off the bat was a lack of instruction. Yes, I know how to make cocoa, but other than that it tastes good with water or milk, it gives no indication of how much liquid you should add. I trial and errored and determined that about 14 oz was ideal, but at 7 bucks a drink, who wants to guess and risk screwing up their drink? Oh, well.
I decided to make mine with 8 oz almond milk (I'm lactose sensitive and avoid it when I can) and 6 oz water, both hot. I heated the liquid to basically boiling and then dumped in the powder and mixed well. It mixed really well and dissolved all the way without a ton of stirring or effort, so if you're a patient that needs an easy way to medicate, this rocks. I let it cool for a bit before drinking.
I'm not usually one for edibles, so I'm pretty sensitive to the "weedy" taste, but I have to be honest--this hot chocolate just tasted like normal hot chocolate! It was the perfect amount of rich chocolatey flavour and even at the end I couldn't taste more than a hint of cannabis.
The high was pretty fast acting for me, which was a pleasant surprise. At first I just felt chill and relaxed but after about an hour and a half my eyes started to get super heavy and I fell asleep not long after. I have a really hard time staying asleep, but my sleep tracker said I had my most restful night yet! I woke up easily enough the next day and I didn't feel especially groggy.
The only downside I experienced was a wicked sore throat the next morning--I have no idea exactly where this came from so it's possible it wasn't the hot chocolate at all, but I know I slept well, so maybe I was snoring? However, I tried again the next night and didn't have the sore throat, so it could be totally unrelated. I have no clue.
This is kind of an expensive product (although honestly I consider most edibles way expensive) so it's not something I would regularly stock up on, but I think this would be lovely on the holidays, on Christmas Eve or even a stormy autumn evening. I think for a patient experiencing intermittent insomnia this could be a cool product to have on hand.
