AK-47

Looks

AK-47 received high marks with all 14 reviews rating it between “slightly above average” and “incredible.” Many of the reviews mentioned that the buds were dense with coloring ranging between light and dark green. Additionally there was a general consensus that the samples of bud were well crystallized with trichomes and covered in orange or red hairs.

Jill who uses medical cannabis to treat her ADHD described it as “… a slightly darker shade of green with large orange hairs. Boy is it dense! I received one nug that weighed 1.2 and was only about an inch long and the bottom was the size of a quarter. Jess-has-MS gave us this description, “Loads of those little clear crystals, light (sage) green mostly with some larger, darker green leaves and plenty of brown trichomes…”

Smell

Smells can be hard for many people to pinpoint and describe. AK-47 brought to mind a range of odors, but was often described as fruity, sweet, floral and pine. Four of our reviewers mentioned that the scent reminded them of citrus fruit.

Green Thumb who treats his PTSD with cannabis described AK-47 as “Extremely pleasant sweet fruity smell. If this were a piece of fruit I would take a bite. There is a pine after scent too.

Olga who suffers from cartilage and ligament damage gave another great description of AK-47’s bouquet. “It first smells like freshly picked wildflowers. A cut grass smell, mixed with sweet fragrant flowers like gardenia and lavender, and the very slight aroma of citrus and lemons. It wasn’t strong or offensive to the nose, it was very light but I could sit there smelling it for days. Its floral smell was very appealing.”

Taste

While the taste of AK-47 was not as highly rated as its smell, many described the taste as sweet, fruity and piney. Cancer Survivor shared that “The taste of the strain was great, a very pleasant sweet taste.” Olga described it as “…more citrus than flowers. It tasted almost like limes…” Surfer K described his sample as tasting like “Wood essences without the pine. It has more of a Eucalyptus flavor and a slightly bitter aftertaste…”

Potency

Most of the reviews indicated that AK-47 packed a bit of a punch. 9 out of 14 reviews rated the high from AK-47 at least above average and estimated that the high lasted between 2 and 5 hours.

For some the effects seemed to be calming and relaxing. Dez mentioned that “The high was incredible. I felt really light and relaxed, and I don’t remember the last time that I felt that way.” Water Goddess described feeling “…instant stress relief, and gradual pain relief, and felt very relaxed and comfortable.”

Others experienced the high in a different way. Mindhead said that it “Provided both an intense body high and a motivated feeling.” while Olga shared that “…my body felt limber, I went from laying around enjoying the initial mental buzz to running and playing in the sand with my dog.”

Effectiveness

A total of 12 out of the 14 who reviewed this strain found it helpful for their symptoms and said they would recommend it to another patient with similar conditions. The medicinal effects of AK-47 seems to be fairly long lasting. 7 of the 14 reported the effects lasted between 3 and 6 hours.

GreenThumb (PTSD) described the effects in this way. “Totally washed the stress of the day away. This strain made me feel very calm. It worked to keep me from stressing out but also was very intoxicating. I would not use this strain during the day. It kept me calm but made me silly and stupid. Was great in the evening when I didn’t have to do anything but relax.”

Cancer Survivor who is treating the effects of leukemia and chemotherapy said, “This strain helped my body aches, it made my body somewhat numb and pain free.”

Shortcakes who has lupus and fibromyalgia shared that, “This strain relieved muscle pain and stiffness. A very effective sleep aid also.”

Jill (ADHD) told us, “When I take my Ritalin it often curbs my appetite for up to 12 hours at a time. I like this strain because it gave me ‘the munchies’ and brought my appetite back so I could at regular intervals.”

Water Goddess mentioned “This strain worked exceptionally well to relieve both my menstrual cramping pain and my stress level.”

Jess-has-MS, who has multiple sclerosis, as her name suggests, had this to say about the effects of AK-47 on her symptoms. “This was a good one for my neuro-pain and related insomnia. After a couple inhalations, I began to get relief in my legs from the usual burning/tingling sensations. Though I didn’t get sleepy, I did fall asleep at a decent hour and, aside from getting up to pee, got a good night’s sleep (no muscle jerking, etc. to keep me up).”

Jackwagon who suffers from end stage liver failure said, “I was having bad stomach pains and cramps and nausea..took it right away.”

Mindhead who has severe back pain also reported back with great results. “Back pain was significantly reduced almost immediately after vaporizing. I also had felt a migraine coming and this did away with my headache.”

Two of the reviewers said that they would not recommend the strain for someone with their symptoms. Mitchy noticed no difference in her symptoms and Coyote said, “The strain did not seem to affect my pain symptoms. It did help with my anxiety and depression. It did mildly help put me to sleep at night and in the early am when I usually use it.

Side Effects

Four of the reviewers reported some mild side effects. Green Thumb said, “I coughed just about every time I hit this. The smoke was very dense and sour, it made my tongue numb. This strain made me feel kind of tired and discombobulated.” Jackwagon agreed saying “nasty cough from its strength. definitely one of those you don’t wanna use in public”. The good seems to have outweighed the bad as they both recommended the stain.

Mitchy told us, “It really had a harsh effect on my throat, made me cough right away, not in a good way. My throat was sore for the rest of the day. I didn’t finish the trial sample. May save it for some baked goods.” Coyote disliked the taste and cure saying, “The strain had a bitter after smoke. The strain was more difficult to burn- harder to set fire to.”

[evt_chart id=1738 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: Indoor 53-63 days. Outdoor October 15th to 31st
Height at Finish: Medium
Yield: Indoor 350 to 500 grams per 1000 watts or meter squared. Outdoor 2 pounds or more per plant.
Predisposition for pest and fungus: None
Notes: Easy to grow but extremely STRONG odor while growing. Suitable both for commercial or personal use.

Strain As Tested:

Indoor

In the last few years we have seen a lot of AK-47 going around the dispensaries being sold as Cherry AK-47 or in some cases even Chocolate Cherry AK-47. It should be noted that this is not a cross of AK-47 with another strain. It is in fact a rumored AK-47 phenotype that may not even exist. We wanted to know more so we contacted Simon at Serious Seeds. He very graciously replied with this email.

Hi Rambo,

Within a variety all the seeds we sell have the same mother and father. This remains so, even if the seeds are bought many years later. Still, every seed grows into an individual plant which is a little different from the other. So, to see differences does not automatically mean you are looking at different phenotypes. The question is are they so different that they really are different phenotypes; is the leaf shape, growth pattern, flower time etc. really that far apart, or does the variation you see fall within the margins of the same phenotype or variety? Different height for instance does not mean different phenotypes.

Not all varieties produce equally similar offspring, AK47 and Kali Mist do have more variation, and you can distinguish different phenotypes. But plants grown from seeds of Bubble Gum, Chronic or White Russian are all quite similar and although you can see differences, they fall between the margins of the same phenotype. The phenotypes in Kali Mist and AK-47 have slightly different growth patterns and flower times. There is a more sativa-ish, a more indica-ish and an in between type. The quality of all phenotypes however is very good, although there are slight differences in shape, taste and effect.

Before you start to flower them, make clones of all of them. Which one is the best depends on *your* personal taste. For a mother plant you simply choose the plant you like best. So just grow all of them till the end and decide after harvest and tasting which one you prefer. Use the clone(s) you like best for mother plant(s). I hope that you like what you got, even though, or may be because there was some variation in the results.

About the Cherry Pheno in Ak-47:

I’m not sure what to answer. This is a ‘myth’ which started on the net between people who grew Serious’ AK-47. As you might know it is very difficult to discuss tastes or to name, describe, a smell or taste. Consequently I don’t know exactly what they mean when people talk about this. Friends who have tasted what other people called ‘cherry’ taste also said that you have to use imagination a bit. So, I don’t really know if what ‘they’ named cherry would be recognized as a cherry-taste by others, or not.

I have seen on numerous occasions that when people were smoking something, that several people named the taste different from the others: spicy, sweet, fruity, sandalwood, vanilla-ish etc. all were used independent from each other. And who was right?

We get reports from people who claim to find cherry-pheno’s in every seed pack, while others say 1 out of a 100 plants is a cherry. This alone shows that nobody knows what the other is talking about. We have tasted many AK-plants, and don’t know which taste to call cherry. Nobody has showed us a clone so far of a cherry, so the basic line is that there is no standard on what the characteristics of the cherry pheno really is. But for us it is interesting to see that many people do find something which they are very happy with, and call ‘cherry’.

So we think it is best to let the people carry on with this, as they might be right. This is a myth of which it is not known by us if true or not. Several experienced knowledgeable customers think it is true, and others agree to this, so who are we to say they are wrong???

Gore, if you have access to a clone of this mysterious cherry-pheno, we would be more than happy to receive it in the mail and see for ourselves, if it’s really ‘cherry’.

Sincerely,
Simon