originally posted 2002
October 2002: Maastricht/Amsterdam
Hello again, everyone! it's been a while since I've done a Tour (May,
to be exact), so it was "high" time for another! ;) as always, my
travels have taken me to some new spots for some new treats and to
some familiar haunts for some old favourites. I know some of you (or
at least one in particular!) have been waiting a while for this; sorry
it took a while, but I had to collect my thoughts, and not all of the
test results had been compiled ;)
this report is rather long, so here's a mighty brief synopsis:
info on Maastricht (including 6 coffeeshops), 10 coffeeshops in
Amsterdam (including Katsu, The Noon, De Kuil and more), 20
weeds/hashes (including Super Haze, Bizarre, Star Warz, Durban Poison,
Haze Ice and more), extra strain info, and more!
a.u.b.
-paniked
T 22 October, Amsterdam -> Maastricht
I flew into Schiphol at my customary time and planned to take the
train down to Maastricht. first, I needed to activate my Dutch
bankcard (or so I thought), and besides, the train connection from
Amsterdam CS was direct to Maastricht, so I headed into the city. I
found the ABN/AMRO at Dam Square closed temporarily, and the one at
Rembrandtplein shut permanently. I was falling behind schedule but
didn't want to rush down to Maastricht only to have the banks be
closed when I got there; I thought about going the Bushdocter for a
smoke, but realized I'd do better to get my business sorted first. I
finally found an open branch office and, much to my chagrin,
discovered that the card had been activated when I returned a signed
letter months ago (doh!). I realized that I wasn't going to make the
next train, so I headed back over to Rembrandtplein and hit up the
Bushdocter for some tasty Super Silver Haze
8,25E/gr. Super Silver Haze is comprised of a Haze (male)
crossed with Skunk #1 and Northern Lights #5, for some it is the "Dom
Perignon of cannabis" -- pretty hard to argue with that!.
I made my way back to CS with a few minutes to spare, and was on my
way to Maastricht (single ticket: 23,80E journey time: 2:37). the
train passed through Utrecht, Den Bosch, Eindhoven among a few other
stops. I had reserved a studio apartment with kitchenette (which was
little more than a two-burner electric stovetop and a crowded minibar
fridge) at the Best Western Grand Hotel L'Empereur directly opposite
the station. the studios were actually a short distance from the
hotel so it was very quiet and private, and only 60 Euros/night with a
special discount. I fixed myself some food (which was a wee challenge
given that I was now frying a piece of fish intended to be steamed in
a microwave) and kicked up my feet for a few minutes.
then I had a good look at my notes and decided to have a wander around
the city. a few quick notes about it: Maastricht is relatively small
city (just 120,000 residents) and I estimate it only took me about 15
or 20 min to walk from the hotel/station, across the river and the
entire Centrum. Maastricht is reportedly the oldest city in the
Netherlands (founded circa 50 AD), its origins dating from Roman times
when it was known as Mosae Trajectum ("crossing on the river
Meuse/Maas"), and the city center is essentially one giant historical
landmark. in other words, very picturesque! it is also the symbol of
modern Europe (the accords which are the foundation of the European
Union were made in Maastricht) due to its proximity to Belgium and
Germany -- there is a mix of culture (French cafe society, for
example) and language (Dutch, French, German, English for starters)
that makes for a rather unique experience. Maastricht is also in one
of the few areas of the Netherlands to feature anything resembling
elevation :) its surroundings are comprised from some gently rolling
hills and a few larger ones (one just south of the city is known as
Sint Pietersburg or Mount St. Peter -- I would hesitate to say that it
bore any resemblance to a mountain, however!).
I had read a handful of coffeeshop reviews on the 'net and had some
addresses and a map in hand (which is why it amazes me that some
readers never find the shops they're looking for) and set off for the
well-rated Teashop Heaven 69, Brusselsestraat 146 --
this was easily the nicest coffeeshop I went to in Maastricht! it
served a full menu (breakfast, lunch, dinner, tapas), appeared to have
a full bar, and had a great menu with a very friendly dealer. I had
selected some Jack Herer 8E/gr and it was very lovely (I later
overheard him tell another customer in Dutch that he should forgo his
first choice for the "lekkere" Jack -- boy, was he right on!). a
little bit of strain background here (credit: Jason King, "The
Cannabible"): Jack Herer is composed from 50% Haze, 37.5%
Northern Lights #5, 12.5% Skunk #1; and while these are common strains
that are found frequently in the Dutch cannabis gene pool, it is the
combination of the traits of the selected parent plants that really
make Jack Herer a marvel of modern cannabis breeding. the high is
fairly alert and strong, the flavour slightly fruity -- traits of its
sativa heritage. (note: these are exactly the same strains that
compose Super Silver Haze).
I had read previously that some 70% of visitors to Maastricht
coffeeshops come from outside the Netherlands (naturally, it's just
miles to Belgium or Germany), and of those, 70% come for nothing else.
this was very much in evidence as I observed wave after wave of
customers coming to buy their smoke and dash off, ordering in German
or a German-Dutch patois, French, broken English. but the dealer
handled it all with grace and style (not always the case in Maastricht
as I was to discover), taking each order and then disappearing off for
a few minutes before dispensing packaged goods to the waiting
customers without forgetting a single one. he was having a break when
I left and he even asked me on the way out what I thought -- we had a
brief conversation in Dutch, and a laugh and a smile and "tot ziens"
later I was on my way out.
I headed back across the river to check out Maxcy's, Rechtstraat
60. it was a pretty big, open shop with lots of board games,
a pinball machine. it looked like a pretty mellow locals hang-out. I
had a look at the menu and asked the dealer a few questions; I
recognized some variety names, but wasn't sure exactly what was what.
unfortunately, he wasn't really that helpful and just sort of said
"yeah, it's strong" or "no, it's kind of light". so I just went ahead
and got some of the Peacemaker 7E/gr -- later I found out that
this is just another name for Great White Shark (Greenhouse
Seed Company), which is a cross of two rather common strains: Super
Skunk and White Widow. I watched a little bit of the Champions League
game between Ajax and Rosenborg while I let the narcotic feeling of
the Peacemaker gradually remind that it was time to rest.
W 23 October, Maastricht
I had an appointment at the university in the early afternoon so I did
some more walking in the city center while I waited. it was raining
and rather nasty, so I figured I'd check out something indoors. I
walked through the large plaza of the Vrijthof and over to Sint
Janskerk -- I thought I'd have a look at the lay of the land from the
tower (which appeared to be the tallest in Maastricht). 1,15E and
some 200-plus stairs later I was at the top of the tower, and
fortunately the rain had eased and allowed a pretty nice view of the
city. I made my appointment and when I came out it was sunny, albeit
still brisk. I had a walk around the university area and down to the
River Jeker and around the Dierenpark (animal park) where I saw all
sorts of deer, birds (from pheasants and geese to peacocks and
tropical-looking types), and interesting exhibit with replica statues
of now-extinct creatures. I also had a nice walk around the
Stadsomwallen (one-time city defensive walls) that were built in
expanding rings around the center of Maastricht in the 16th Century.
conveniently enough, it was just about 4:20 :) so I headed in the
direction of another coffeeshop on my list...before I got there
though, I ran into another one that I had read about (but wasn't so
highly rated) and figured I'd pop in. this was the Wall Street
Coffeeshop, and about two steps in the door it was evident
that this was a rather tourist-oriented shop, and it was really,
really dark. I waited in the queue for the dealer and asked to see
the menu -- he said, "it's at the bar", so back to the bar I went
where I got a copy of the menu. I must say, the menu was very
impressive, probably 25-30 varieties of weed, but they'd put a rather
misleading note next to each variety indicating the THC level -- the
lowest was 40% and the highest was 100% (ha! right!). my guess was
that this actually was a reflection of the *sativa* percentage in each
variety, but who knows? anyway, I saw some great things on the menu
and simply could not resist the opportunity to purchase some
sought-after Durban Poison 10,50E/gr. Durban Poison is
traditionally a pure sativa from South Africa, heavily bred since the
1970s, and it really was the business! smooth smoke, a lovely flavour
and a great high without a lot of side-effects. interestingly enough,
I don't seem to see this strain in Amsterdam, though I think it may
show up in varieties such as Power Plant, and perhaps it
masquerades under different monikers. anyway, the Wall Street
atmosphere was starting to kill the wonderful Durban buzz so I headed
out.
I missed the street for my intended destination and wandered a little
bit further before plotting a route back -- on the way I walked by the
river and thought that I'd have a look for the boat coffeeshops that
I'd been told about (though they weren't on my list of things to do).
I spotted the Coffeeshop Boat Mississippi docked on the
river, so I headed on over. physically, it was really impressive -- a
bar and probably about 20 tables, each with it's own chopping board
and mini-cleaver (for those without grinders, I guess) in the upper
portion, and a dozen or so horseshoe-shaped 10-seater booths
downstairs. it probably accommodates somewhere in the neighbourhood
of 250-300 people. and *that* tipped me off to it's tourist status.
I could imagine it packed with young Belgians and Germans on a Friday
or Saturday night, having a spliff and spacing out to the throbbing
techno music, or maybe dancing since they seem to have an
industrial-strength steel floor! anyway, not really my type of place,
especially since the dealer was quite an uninterested jerk. I grabbed
some Haze F16 9E/gr for good measure though -- it was pretty
good, a lot of the "up" feeling you tend to get from the sativa-heavy
Haze. the original Haze is a cross of many sativa strains
(Colombian, Mexican, Thai, South Indian).
I headed over to my intended destination: Kosbor Coffeeshop,
Kleine Gracht 3. it was very pleasant and sunny inside, nice
light wood decor -- I would have stayed, but I was more than satisfied
by the Durban Poison and Haze F16 at that point. I picked up another
Haze variety, A5 Haze 11E/gr. it had a very smooth smoke, a
slightly spicy sweet flavour, and really clear high -- great stuff,
and the place looked like a nice hangout. at this point though, I'd
already spent more time in coffeeshops than I wanted to, so I headed
back to the hotel (after grabbing some eats at the Albert Heijn) to
watch Wednesday night Champions League action and muster the energy to
smoke a few more :)
Th 24 October, Maastricht -> Amsterdam
it was vacation, so I wanted to sleep in, but I also knew that I had
2.5hr journey back to Amsterdam. still, I wanted to squeeze just a
little bit more out of Maastricht before I left. so I headed south of
town, about a 15-20min walk from the center to Sint Pietersburg with
the intention of taking a tour of the famous caves. unfortunately, I
arrived too late for the start of the tour, and couldn't find the
entrance besides. so I had a nice walk around the paths on the
"mountain" and around Fort Sint Pieter as well -- it really was lovely
open space in the rolling country (and just minutes from town), people
out with their dogs and so forth. I wished I'd brought a spliff, but
I'd left my stash in the locker at Maastricht station. and, as it
turned out, I didn't make it back in time for the hourly train...sooo,
one last coffeeshop. why not!? there was just one left on my to-do
list, and not being one to leave a job unfinished, I stopped into
Coffeeshop Slow-Motion, Bourgognestraat 10a, right near
the station. another really nice, laid-back place (the kind that I
prefer) and the dealer was really cool. when I asked about a menu
item with an abbreviated name and said, "is that hash plant?" he
said, "yes; I'll show you." -- now *that* is what I like. and moments
later I had some very nice HP Haze 9E/gr in hand and then in my
head -- a lovely smoke, a strong flavour of the pure indica Hash
Plant (true to its name, cultivated in Afghanistan for hash
production) and the spicy sweetness of the Haze. alas, it was time to
catch the train and bid Maastricht a fond "adieu en tot ziens".
I found myself back in Amsterdam in the early evening, just before
dark and made my way down the NH Amsterdam Centre Hotel near
Leidesplein -- a nice place, and I got a good deal, but perhaps a
little *too* classy ;) I took a few minutes to relax and have a bite
to eat before getting my second wind and heading out to do more, ahem,
research. I knew for sure that I wanted to go the
Dampkring, and then I thought that it would be really
crowded AND there was another place that had the same offerings that I
*hadn't* been to. so I hopped the tram to Spui and the Tweede
Kamer on Heisteeg(yes, hard to believe I'd never been in) -- I
spotted my intended acquisitions, Sage 7E/gr and Warlock
Haze 7E/gr and picked up a sample of each. now the Sage, mmm,
mmm, it almost has this lemony-lime flavour, and a great clear high.
if it's the same Sage that's mentioned in "The Cannabible", this takes
its name from Sativa Afghanica Genetic Equilibrium, and
according to Jason King, is a cross between Haze and an old-school
California strain called Big Sur Holy Weed (growing up I knew
Big Sur mainly as a waterbed company whose ads I used to see on the
telly!). and the Warlock Haze is new and, it would seem, somewhat
exclusive -- it's a cross between Bluebird's indica-heavy
Warlock strain and a Haze, and it shows off mostly sativa
characteristics. it has skunky, almost sandalwood flavour. highly
recommended, both of them!
I smoked a joint of the Warlock Haze and rolled a Sage for later
(knowing how much I enjoyed it previously) and walked the 5m over to
Dutch Flowers to check out another strain that I'd seen mentioned in
the Cannabible -- the Dutch Flower's exclusive house strain,
Bizarre 6,50E/gr. according to the book, this is strain is a
five-way cross which contains Citral; it has a clear high with
a slightly lemony flavour, very nice and very recommended!
I wanted to check out some more places that I hadn't been and vaguely
recalled that a strain called Raspberry was mentioned at
Wolkewietje (I can't recall the street, but it's one of
the diagonal ones that runs between the Nieuwendijk and Nieuwezijds
Voorburgwal). when I checked the menu though, Raspberry was no longer
on it. instead I opted for some Original Shiva 6,25E/gr, a
cross between familiar strains Skunk #1 and Northern Lights #5 (the
former a sativa, the latter an indica). it has a nice flavour and
nice high without being overly powerful; I would call it quite
functional.
my last stop of the evening was my first to the much-talked about
De Kuil on Oude Brugsteeg. I loved the feel of this
place! almost that real 'bruin cafe' feeling, which is stark contrast
the gaudy neon of the other store fronts on the narrow Oude Brugsteeg.
I picked up the (allegedly) pure sativa, Phazer 8E/gr -- I
don't know much about the source of this strain, but it displays
typical sativa characteristics: less densely-packed buds, strong clear
high felt mainly in the head, not the body. it was very nice to relax
with a smoke of the Phazer and 'biertje'. I also took some time to
check out some of my purchases under the microscope they have in the
back near the pool table -- wow! I had never done this before, and
had only seen microphotography in books. to see the source of
marijuana pleasure, the dripping, bulbous resin glands, was really
something.
F 25 October
I had to wake up relatively early (no sleeping in on this vacation,
unfortunately) so I could switch rooms at the hotel -- they'd put me
in a non-smoking room; no good for the purposes of, ahem, research! :)
I was awaiting the arrival of a friend and knew some heavy research
would be on the cards so I wanted to take it relatively light. I
headed over to the wonderful Katsu, 1e van de Helststraat
70 -- these guys are the Haze masters it seems; I haven't seen
a much better selection in Amsterdam. and the great local feel of the
shop makes it a real favourite. I went straight for the recommended
Super Haze 7,50E/gr, a cross between Super Skunk (itself
a product of multiple inbreedings of Skunk #1) and Haze. this
is easily some of the best marijuana I've smoked -- a clean,
clear, powerful high with nearly no side effects. I met
a friendly Aussie and we used Katsu's vaporizer to smoke some very
earthy, pleasant but mild Jamaican outdoor -- on my one trip to
Jamaica I was able to get a hold of some very nice weed; a strain
called Pineapple Skunk and another called Alaska.
before I left Katsu I also picked up some of their Crystal
Clear water-extraction hash, a 2001 Cannabis Cup winner.
my friend arrived later that evening and we headed over to The
Noon on Ziesniskade (right near the Rijksmuseum) -- I picked
up some Blueberry 6,50E/gr and a gram of Haze Ice 45E/gr
-- and we headed over to smoker-friendly night cafe to smoke and joke.
as I mentioned in another post, the Blueberry's lineage is actually
quite well-known: Highland Thai (aka Juicy Fruit Thai) x
Purple Thai (Mexican Oaxaca Gold x Chocolate Thai) x Afghani
Indica.
Sa 26 October
after a late night, we slept in a little while before heading over to
an appointment at the Koan Float center on Herengracht (I saw this
mentioned here recently, or maybe it was channels.nl, perhaps by the
same person; if you search google, you can book on the Koan website).
we had scheduled an hour massage and an hour of floatation relaxation
for 75 Euros each -- it was pretty cool! it was the first time I'd
tried one of these sensory deprivation flotation tanks, and though I
was expecting a more psychedelic experience, it was at the very least
a pleasant way to relax (part of the idea being to take all pressure
off your limbs and internal organs). then it was massage time and it
was a very pleasant, not overly deep massage. at the end I felt like
I was in a total trance, sleepily relaxed yet refreshed.
after the float/massage we headed over to the Bushdocter again.
they're in the midst of some remodeling and the place is actually
getting nicer to hang out in -- they've done some nice grafitti-style
artwork on the upper floors. I picked up some more sativa strains:
Maui 7E/gr and Afghan Haze 8,25E/gr, both very nice.
I'm not sure if the Maui is actually from Hawaii, but I'm presuming
that it's a strain of Hawaiian origin -- it has a strong high, and a
pleasant, spicy-sweet flavour. the Afghan Haze must be a
sativa-indica hybrid, but the high seems to lean more toward the
sativa heritage as it's felt mostly in the head. we hung out for a
while before meeting up with another friend who was in the midst of a
multi-month journey through Europe (his first time). we were looking
for a cool place to relax and hang out -- he'd just been to one
coffeeshop, the Baba in the RLD, and I was hoping to show him
something a little bit more relaxed, a bit more "gezellig." so,
naturally, it was back to De Kuil where we had a few beers and checked
out some of our purchases under the microscope again. we began to get
hungry so we headed down near Spui in search of a steak -- I can't
remember the name of the place we went (there are several), but it was
very good and the service was pretty good, too. I think it set us a
back around 30 Euros each (including tip and wine).
after our meal we headed over to the Bluebird and it was surprisingly
empty, though there wasn't an available seat on the big couch (damn!).
I picked up some of the Star Warz 6E/gr that I had sought on
previous trips -- I guess it's not always available. I wasn't even
sure what it was, if the name was just silly or what, but I had to
check it out. turns out that it's a cross between the
Bluebird-exclusive Warlock and Sensi Star, and that's
how it gets its name (get it!? Sensi Star +
Warlock). it definitely is an indica, and a strong one
at that, with a slightly fruity taste. a pleasant night-time smoke
for sure. we headed over to the night cafe, but made it a rather
early night since we'd had a very late one the night previous and had
to check out a noon. we smoked some Sensi Star ice-o-lator at the
hotel and that was the true nightcap, very narcotic and sleepy!
Su 27 October
thank goodness for the end of daylight saving time! that extra hour
of sleep was a huge bonus! we groggily stirred and gathered our
belongings before heading off to meet our friend at
Barney's (always a favourite on get-away day). I'd been
looking for the Morning Glory, but I didn't see it on the menu
(nor did I see Silver Pearl Haze or Mekong Haze).
however, there was a new entry(and exclusive apparently), Mexican
Haze 9E/gr, a very earthy, kinda spicy, with a very strong and
spacy high -- it's rather a "creeperweed"; I thought it was pretty
average at first, but then wow! a couple of minutes and I realized I
was in another world almost, but not to the point of not functioning!
I also picked up some of the old reliable, Sweet Tooth 9E/gr,
and this batch of the indica-leaning Barney's exclusive was
particularly nice!
after a nice breakfast we headed over to Siberie where
we'd scheduled a meeting with another friend who lives in Den Haag.
by this stage it was really nasty outside -- driving rain, howling
wind -- and the Siberie couldn't have been a nicer place to seek
refuge. I ordered up a nice "warme choco" and skinned up a nice
Mexican Haze joint and we smoked some Phazer as well. our friend told
us, luckily, that all trains had been cancelled and told us that they
could give us a lift to the airport instead. we didn't think it was
possible that planes would even be taking off or landing -- I checked
on Siberie's internet terminal and oddly enough, my plane was on
schedule. we had to hustle to get to Schiphol, and the wind was
blowing the car about like a toy on one of the bridges on the ring
road -- scary stuff, man! finally made it, and looked like we'd be
cutting it close, but I knew when I got to the check-in and saw a
queue a mile long that I wasn't going anywhere for a while. I thought
to myself, "now why don't they just go ahead and install a coffeeshop
at Schiphol for these exact moments!?" ;)
_________________
"De kinderen fietsen naar school, zij roken dikke sigaren en slaan de leraren. Ja, dat is Amsterdam!"
"So high you couldn't reach me with a fuckin' antenna"
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