Harlequin

Looks

Harlequin really is a beautiful stain. I was surprised how thoroughly the trichomes covered the bud and surrounding leaves Almost all of our reviewers seemed to agree. Only two of the fourteen who tried Harlequin said it looked average, everyone else scored it much higher.

I think Green Thumb described it best. “At first glance the buds look like they will be a little leafy but when I picked one up and gave it a squeeze, it was dense and sticky…! These buds actually look amazing, but they could have been manicured better. Heavily frosted mixture of light and dark green leaves close cropped, surrounding a dense inner budd structure that is just covered with orange hairs and crystals.”

Smell

Most of our reviewers noticed either a strong pine or citrus smell. Several like Olga picked up both. This is what her nose picked up. “Lemon and a clean pine smell combine to be quite enjoyable. A very fresh and cleansing scent, but not too much like a household cleanser.”

Besides the strong pine and lemon smell, here are some other scents that were picked up by our reviewers noses; flowery citrus, forest aroma, sweet and floral, fruity, spicy, sour, fruity possibly berry crossed with a skunk, honeysuckle with citrus overtones, sweet tangerine.

Taste

More often than not, Harlequin was described as having a sweet flavor. Only a few told us the pine and lemon carried over scent to taste. Dez described Harlequin as “..like a piece of buttery, burnt French toast, tasty and sweet with a bit of a kick at the end.” Mitchy reported, “Very nice unusual, not harsh at all. A mix of sweet and earth, like a wine.” Jackwagon picked up a different taste, “spicy then I got a pepper smack in the back of my throat.”

Those who did not categorize the taste as sweet used these descriptive terms; tropical fruit like Mango, sweet similar to candy, natural earthy taste with sage undertones, fruity, lime, lemon, burnt sap, honeysuckle, butter lettuce.

Potency

Considering the low THC content, Harlequins potency was rated surprisingly high. There was no solid agreement between our reviewers as to whether it was predominantly a head or body high, but most seemed to enjoy the effects.

Green Thumb seems to have captures what many others reported. “I felt a light, floaty body high for about three hours. The mental effect was very euphoric. I felt very calm and peaceful. Silly smiles all day long.” Yimbo told us a this about his experience. “Strong body high almost instantly. Definite head change but not overwhelming, very mild. I was fully functional just a little floaty.”

Effectiveness

Harlequin seemed to work well as a medicinal train for most who tried it. 12 of our 14 reviewers said they would suggest it to someone with their same symptoms. The medicinal benefit were reported as lasting from as little as one hour, to as much as 6 or 8 hours. Here are the medicinal effects in our reviewers own words.

Green Thumb (PTSD) – “It worked really well. I felt calm, comfortable and very relaxed without becoming brain dead. I love strains that leave me functional but also affect my mood and physical sense. This strain does all that.”

Cancer Survivor (Leukemia) – “This strain helped my headaches.”

Shortcakes (Lupus and Fibromyalgia) – “The strain worked well to relieve the pain and stiffness from lupus and fibromyalgia, I slept very well too.”

Jill (ADHD) – “I felt awake and aware so it slightly compatible with my ADD symptoms.”

Water Goddess (Severe Menstrual Pain) – “I loved this one! It relieved my acute menstrual cramps very quickly and effectively.”

Jackwagon (Liver Disease) – “Took my back pain away quite well .. it made me very relaxed it was nice and soothing. It worked very well on my lower back pain. No nausea while under the strain.”

Yimbo (Pain) – “Complete body high, I was feeling no pain. It felt like I was walking on air. I would definitely would recommend this strain to anyone with arthritis, joint pain, or such.”

Mindhead (Severe Back Pain) – “Migraine was gone after the first hit. All other symptoms also managed efficiently.”

Surfer K (Sleep disorder, Chronic Pain, Depression) – “This strain is very comforting to me and it was a pleasure reducing my pain.”

Mitchy (Chronic Arthritic Pain, Carpal Tunnel and Fibroid Tumors) – “It was a mostly head oriented strain, but I did notice some relief from the swelling and chronic aching, but I think it was more of head medicine.”

Dez (Arthritis, Back and Hip Pain, Contact Dermatitis) – “This was a Great Day, I didn’t experience any pain all day and was very comfortable even sleeping that night. … benefits lasted at least 7-8 hours, with no underlying effects…”

Olga (Cartilage and Ligament Damage) “I felt an extremely strong mental buzz which wore off into a more physical high. My body felt very relaxed and heavy. I felt no pain in my joints but also didn’t really feel like moving around much.”

As usual there were a few who did not experience improvement from their sample.

Sugar Britches (Back Fusion, Remission from Breast Cancer, Depression) – “It didn’t help. The relief I received from this strain was close to none. A slight head buzz for an hour or so and that was it.”

Jess-has-MS (Multiple Sclerosis) – “For my central neuropathic pain, there was mild improvement with this strain after several minutes (nothing when I first inhaled it, whereas stronger “body high” strains will give me relief with the first couple of inhalations). The delayed relief did not last long, however, and was not helpful with the muscle/joint spasms and insomnia during the night.”

Side Effects

Jess-has-MS reported “slight dizziness, well after inhalation.” and Jackwagon told us “I don’t think I would try to do anything outdoors in public..driving would not be wise.” Of course we don’t recommend that anyone drive after using cannabis.

[evt_chart id=1681 class=”evt_cdiv alignnone” ]

Interested in learning a bit more about what these lab results mean? This article on Understanding Cannabinoids is a good place to get started.

Typical Growing Traits:

Indoor/Outdoor: Both
Maturation: 10 weeks Indoor. Outdoor varies
Height at Finish: 6 feet + Outdoor
Yield: Indoor 550-700 grams per 1000 watts or meter squared. Outdoor yield unknown
Predisposition for pest and fungus: High resistance to pest and fungus while growing. Harlequin can have problems with mold while drying as the buds are very dense and take longer then normal to dry.
Notes: Harlequin is bred from all high elevation landraces and tends to grow like an indica. Interestingly, it produces 5-6% CBD while still in veg. CBD peaks at 7 weeks flowering, (up to 14-15%) while in a 2:1 ratio with THC (up to 7%). At 10 weeks CBD remains the same as week 7 but THC catches up to CBD with about a 1:1 ratio.

Strain As Tested:

Indoor