Afghan Kush

The Afghan Kush marijuana strain is an incredibly well known, potent indica strain that comes from the Hindu Kush mountain range. Afghan Kush is an excellent example of a landrace strain. This means that it originally grew all on its own in the wild without any human interference. Local people in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan would simply harvest it as they found it.

This means that, instead of endless decades of cultivation and crossbreeding, the Afghan Kush strain developed based on evolution. This results in a really interesting blend of unique characteristics and is one of the reasons why so many people prefer it. It not only produces a specific type of high – usually a super clean one – but also an exciting blend of cannabinoids.

You get plenty of both THC and CBD, resulting in a balanced experience with plenty of medical benefits. The high itself is exceptionally well known and appreciated. It has perhaps one of the most typical indica highs among all strains of weed available.

Effects

From the moment you first inhale it, the high will seep into your body exceptionally quickly. It feels like a significant rush of sensations, pouring through your very bones and instantly calming and soothing you.

Instead of the mental rush that most hybrid or sativa strains offer up, Afghan Kush is felt almost entirely within the body. You will feel like you need to find a comfortable, convenient surface to collapse onto immediately.

It isn’t so much as to feel overpowering, but after a while, it can feel rather too tiring to blink, and you might go a bit delirious.

As happens a lot with potent indicas, towards the end of the high, you will notice an intense lethargy. Your eyes will be weighty, your bones slightly tired, and you will feel like you desperately need to lie down.

The best thing to do is not to fight it and head to bed. Simply get to bed, wrap yourself up warm, and enjoy the high. As long as you don’t mind falling asleep a bit earlier than intended, this is an excellent strain for any occasion.

However, what about its actual flavor profile? Does its unique landrace growing history produce a pleasant taste?

Aroma

As is the case with pretty much every single strain from the Hindu Kush mountain range, the primary aroma of the Afghan Kush strain is one of hash.

Dense, powdery, and just a little bit spicy, this strain smells like walking into a familiar and friendly hash pipe shop in the Middle East or West India.

There is sweetness there, but the overwhelming characteristic of the aroma is one of dankness and pleasant hash.

What about its actual taste? Does the flavor differ from its aroma?

Flavor

The overwhelming quality of the taste of the Afghan Kush smoke is one of sweet hash. It is pretty similar to its aroma, though, with a few key differences that help set it apart.

Instead of the intense spiciness that you’d expect after walking nearby any Afghan Kush bud, the leading quality is one of dank hash. As soon as it hits your tongue, you feel almost overpowered by the taste of hashish.

In a way, Afghan Kush tastes like a real marijuana experience – that quintessential flavor quality that makes smoking marijuana what it is.

What about how it looks, though? Does the Afghan Kush strain have an interesting appearance?

Appearance

When trying to describe the qualities of something, calling something “typical” can feel like a bit of an insult. However, when it comes to the Afghan Kush strain, that is simply the best word for it. Afghan Kush is an incredibly typical, ordinary-looking strain.

It has a decently attractive coloration, but one that makes you think of almost every other marijuana strain in existence.

It also possesses a unique blend of potent pistils and pleasantly strong resin, giving the whole thing a bit of a shiny appearance. However, that isn’t really enough to make it something special based on appearance alone.

No, when it comes to the Afghan Kush strain, you need to taste it and experience it before you judge it by its cover. By far, the best way to do that would be to grow some yourself. So what kind of specialized knowledge do you need to know to grow your own Afghan Kush?

Afghan Kush Strain Grow Info

Afghan Kush is a strain that benefits from growing from a clone, instead of the usual seed process. However, this doesn’t mean it is impossible to cultivate it from a seed.

As a typical mountain landrace strain, Afghan Kush is excellent at growing even in adverse conditions. However, getting a clone is a great way to ensure you can skip having to care for it during sprouting.

With a vigorous growing speed, you can expect to not have any kind of difficulty growing Afghan Kush for yourself. However, there are always things you can do to help improve and increase your final yield.

For starters, make sure to give it a high quantity of quality nitrogen fertilizer, as it does tend to burn through typical nitrogen reserves. Furthermore, you can also practice some standard trimming and specific growing methods to increase yield.

The best thing to do is to snip off the very tip of the growth of your Afghan Kush. This encourages more lateral, bud-producing growth, giving you a much heavier yield when it comes to harvest time.

You can also remove the leaves that sprout under the majority of the plant growth. This is important because otherwise, these leaves would be sitting there, sapping up the vital energy the plant needs.

Removing these leaves means that the Afghan Kush plant can give more of its energy towards growing laterally and producing great bud.

Once harvested, get your Afghan Kush bud into the dryer as soon as you can, as this helps to ensure that the plants develop the necessary color they need to remain beautiful.

What about its cannabinoid content? Once your Afghan Kush bud is all dried and ready, what kind of final results can you expect when it comes to cannabinoid content?

THC Content – Highest Test

Like most strains that can be described as a landrace, Afghan Kush has a typically high THC concentration. This makes sense, considering it possesses a pretty potent sensation. After all, you can’t really get powerful effects without a powerfully high level of THC.

Most samples of Afghan Kush cannabis have about 20% to 21% of THC, which is among the highest levels of THC found in most marijuana.

What about CBD content?

CBD Content – Highest Test

The CBD content of the Afghan Kush strain is actually quite surprising. Most of the time, when you get a powerful strain with lots of THC, there isn’t really any CBD to speak of. This happens because most strains are slowly and carefully bred through generations to contain the right level of THC. To get this, most of the time, the CBD content is almost completely bred out.

However, Afghan Kush comes from a landrace strain, which means that it originally developed without human intervention. The CBD was not bred out, giving it plenty of cannabidiol and other cannabinoids.

With about 5% to 6% CBD content in any particular sample of Afghan Kush, you have plenty of the necessary CBD to give you pleasant medical benefits.

So what are the medical benefits of the AK strain?

Medical Benefits of the Afghan Kush Strain

Afghan Kush acts as a pretty typical example of an indica strain. This means that it has what could be described as characteristic effects on the body, and thus the usual medical benefits.

For starters, the most obvious and well used medical benefit of the Afghan Kush strain is in treating insomnia. There are few strains that produce such a potent sleep effect as the AK strain.

Though it doesn’t instantly cause you to pass out, it is perfect for taking a couple of hours before bedtime, as it will gradually lull you into a gentle sleep.

Beyond getting to sleep, Afghan Kush is excellent for helping to relieve stress and other negative consequences of mental disorders. Though most people tend to prefer sativas for treating psychological issues, the value of this potent indica cannot be overstated.

It is difficult to feel stressed or depressed when enjoying these effects, so take Afghan Kush when feeling intense anxiety or other unwanted emotions.

Some people also enjoy using Afghan Kush to treat painful conditions, as it can be great to relieve the feeling of pain no matter what you are dealing with.

Just keep in mind that, whatever reason or condition you are using Afghan Kush to treat, it is going to induce that sleepiness regardless. The intoxicating drowsiness that this strain creates is inescapable. No matter what dosage you choose to use, you are going to feel incredibly tired.

But what about adverse effects? Is there any kind of severe side effects of taking the Afghan Kush strain?

Possible Side Effects of the Afghan Kush Strain

The significant thing about the side effects of the AK strain is that, while it does have a high dose of THC, it also possesses the right balance of other cannabinoids.

Though not always the case, many marijuana side effects come about due to a lack of balancing cannabinoids. The 6% CBD and not insignificant amounts of CBN and other cannabinoids mean that you won’t notice anywhere near the level of adverse effects.

However, there are still always going to a few things to note. To begin with, you can expect both dry eyes and dry mouth to a decent extent, so make sure you keep a glass of water on hand to quickly deal with this.

Furthermore, the higher level of THC when compared to other strains, can tend to invoke dizziness. This only really happens in those without a great deal of marijuana experience, though. It can also happen if you try and smoke too much at once, so make sure you pace yourself so you can really enjoy it.

A small percentage of people report headaches as a result of smoking Afghan Kush marijuana strain, but once again, this only really happens after smoking too much of it.

As long as you pace yourself, you are likely going to be okay. Just maybe avoid this strain if you tend to get feelings of paranoia; the higher levels of THC don’t react well with that, inducing further paranoia.