Trulieve recently dropped the first two strains of flower to come from their partnership with Connected Cannabis: El Jefe (review here) and Nightshade.

For those who don’t know, Connected Cannabis is a California-based cannabis company (same creators as Alien Labs) that has been around for many years now, and has been one to research and develop many “exotic” strains. More of those will be coming to Florida in the coming weeks and months, according to their social media reps and Trulieve. We’re also told that Alien Labs and Connected trained the growers who eventually moved to Florida to grow their flower here; this way their brand is consistent across the country.

I’ve managed to get an eighth of El Jefe and Nightshade a few weeks ago once it was released for online ordering. Due to the holidays I’ve been a bit behind on getting reviews up, but we’re here now!

Disclaimer: Since I’ve already reviewed the Connected El Jefe flower, this review has a lot of comparisons between the two Connected strains we currently have. For that reason, you may want to read the El Jefe review first if you haven’t already read it. It is linked above, and I will link it again here for your convenience if you want to read it now.

Quick Facts:

Nightshade

Lineage: Unknown

Price at time of review: $65/eighth 

Lab Report

Appearance/Cure

Compared to El Jefe, Nightshade is overall a better looking and feeling batch of flower. It doesn’t have the issue of being dry, and it is actually pretty sticky – while still not quite as sticky as the Alien Labs Kryptochronic, it is still noticeable. Overall, the flower appears to be more frosty as well, and the trichomes are both milky and amber-colored with visible heads.

Appearance/Cure Rating: 8.50/10.00

Smell/Taste

Nightshade has got a really interesting smell and taste profile. These days, it’s increasingly rare that I find a strain that doesn’t smell much like any others that I’ve tried before, but Nightshade is one of those rare strains.

Straight out of the jar, the smell is fairly loud – perhaps a little less intense than the El Jefe, but very noticeable. I detect a mix of a tart, sweet and sour, almost berry-like smell, contrasting with an equal mix of something like musty armpits and a hint of cheese.

When ground up or broken apart, a strong funky gasoline/fuel smells comes out strong, with more subtle notes of cookies, chocolate, and coffee all coming through as well. It’s hard to explain this particular gas/fuel smell too, but it is different than almost every other gassy strain I’ve found to date. There’s just a lot going on with the smell of this strain.

The taste when smoked combines elements of all the above smells, with an added earthy, spicy, and very slightly berry finish.

Of the dozens and dozens of strains I have tried over the past nearly-5 years, Nightshade stands out as having one of the most complex smell and taste profiles that I’ve found yet – and all of it is really pleasant (or unpleasant in the best way, depending on how you look at it.) If there is any strain I could even touch a comparison of the smell and taste with, it would probably be Skywalker OG, but even that strain is much different than this one; Nightshade is much more complex.

Nightshade is a really good smelling and tasting flower, and its score gets a slight boost here due to the fact of how much it stands out from all the strains I have tried and reviewed to date.

Smell/Taste Rating: 8.50/10.00

Effects/Medical Use

Like both the Alien Labs Kryptochronic and Connected El Jefe, this Nightshade has good, well-rounded “classic” cannabis effects.

Of the two Connected strains that have been released so far (El Jefe and Nightshade), I found El Jefe to be the more balanced hybrid, or even a bit sativa-leaning. Nightshade leans more to the indica and heavy side, especially in higher doses.

After the first hit of Nightshade, the effects come on pretty quickly behind the eyes and with a warm, full-body relaxation that is a bit heavier than the El Jefe was. I feel much heavier, foggier, lazier, and even a bit sleepy from Nightshade. Perhaps that is the reason for the strain’s name?

In any case, I find this to be best used from late afternoon to bedtime. In higher doses, it has helped me fall asleep faster. I wouldn’t have questioned it if they labeled Nightshade as an indica or indica-dominant hybrid.

Of the two Connected strains, I probably enjoy the effects of Nightshade a little more.

Possibly good for treating:

• Good for relaxation
• Relief of moderate skeletal/muscular aches and pains
• Relief of minor to moderate nausea and gastrointestinal discomfort
• Insomnia (in higher doses)
• Headaches
• Anxiety

I’m definitely no medical doctor, so please take the preceding conditions only as my own personal observations from using this strain and having experience with a multitude of different cannabis strains. Everybody is different, and every body reacts differently to various medications. 

Effects Rating: 7.70/10.00

Overall Rating: 8.23/10.00

Overall, I would best describe Nightshade as a “very good” hybrid strain from Trulieve and Connected.

Of the two Connected strains we have so far, I liked Nightshade a bit more than the El Jefe. It seemed to be better in all areas, and I felt more comfortable paying the $65 for it. (If you tried both strains, drop a comment below and let us know which one you liked better of the two!)

Happy New Year to all of you from FLMCC! I’ve already got about 7-8 more flower reviews queued up to write; I’ve just been busy with the holiday season and haven’t had time to get to the site this month until now – so know that this is the first of many new reviews slated for the coming weeks. As promised during my initial September 2022 return from hiatus, FLMCC.net has been updated with 2-4 new reviews per month, and that will continue (or be exceeded) throughout this year too.

I look forward to another great year with all of you in 2023!

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