Vic Mensa is the latest celebrity to launch a weed brand and he’s doing Chicago proud.
The west coast is spoiled when it comes to weed. Not only do we have some of the best brands on the market — California is still the capital of weed in the United States, that’s not up for debate — but even our celebrity brands are high quality. Seth Rogen’s Houseplant, Bella Thorne’s Forbidden Flowers, and Shavo Odadjian’s 22Red (also available in NV/AZ) are all legit top-shelf lines that can compete with the very best strains on the market. And while I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon, as more states and cities legalize recreational weed usage, brands nationwide are going to keep coming for California’s crown.
This brings us to the latest celebrity weed brand — Vic Mensa’s 93 Boyz. Right off the bat, here’s what I like about 93 Boyz: instead of relying on the star power of Mensa, the brand focuses on the fact that it’s the first black-owned cannabis brand in Chicago. The weed is Chicago-owned, Chicago grown, hand-trimmed, and makes reinvesting in the community core to the overall 93 Boyz mission.
The community-first branding isn’t lip service, either. 93 Boyz is made in partnership between Illinois growers Aerīz and Mensa’s nonprofit SAVEMONEYSAVELIFE, an Indigenous and Black-led organization that advocates for sustainable community change. 93 Boyz has committed to using portions of its profits to sponsor initiatives aimed at prison reform and equity in the cannabis space.
The products available from the brand include flowers, pre-rolls, and vape cartridges. To get a sense of what 93 Boyz has to offer, we sampled each form factor. Here are our thoughts, starting with my favorite of the trio.
Flower — Jealousy Thin Mints // Jet Fuel
THC: 28.35% // 32.59
Terpenes: b-Caryophyllene, Limonene, Humulene, Linalool // b-Caryophyllene, Mycene, Limonene, Humulene
Strain: Hybrid // Sativa
Tasting Notes and Effects:
Before we get into the flavors and the high, we need to talk about this packaging. I don’t like it. I’ll always take a glass jar over a thick zip lock bag, I find that it tends to keep the bud fresher, and stickier, and helps to retain the natural flavors.
Both my Jealousy Thin Mints and Jet Fuel strains lacked stickiness. Would a glass jar have stopped that from happening? We can’t say for sure, but I’m going to guess “yes,” considering I have weed that is from 2022 in my bedroom and it’s still sticky as f*ck.
Luckily, Jealousy Thin Mints and Jet Fuel still provided a lot of flavor and a strong high — at the end of the day that’s all that matters.
The Jealousy Thin Mints is a hybrid strain made from a crossbreed of, as you might’ve guessed, Jealousy and Thin Mint, two beloved strains, and the result is great. It’s sweet and tantalizing on the nose, smoking through my vaporizer I tasted hints of chocolate, lavender, mint, and pine.
After just a few hits, I felt a strong full body buzz as my eyelids got heavy, and feelings of euphoria rushed in. This is a great, feel-good strain, and while it’s incredibly relaxing, I never felt too tired to get up, manage tasks, and generally just change my environment to experience the high in new ways.
This is a stay-at-home high though — I couldn’t imagine myself out in the open while on this stuff, it’s too relaxing.
This brings me to the Jet Fuel, which offers the opposite experience. The strain is bred from Aspen OG and High Country Diesel and has that pungent skunky smell typical of Diesel strains. That experience transfers over to the taste as well, it’s earthy, citrusy, and a bit peppery but with a sweetness that balances out the harsher aspects.
The high had me hyperactive and euphoric, I wasn’t content with sitting around and taking in the experience so I threw some headphones on and went for a mid-afternoon walk. This was the best experience, I found myself fixated on the colors around me, particularly transfixed by blue sky and white clouds.
I probably looked insane walking around looking at the sky, but I was too in my own world to care. Unfortunately, this was followed by a very sluggish crash that had me pretty tuned out for the rest of the day. That could be easily remedied by smoking more though. Or maybe a solid nap.
The Bottom Line:
Both strains offer a pretty great experience. For flavor and relaxation, go with the Jealousy Thin Mints, if you’re looking to be high on the go, Jet Fuel is your herb. Just be careful with the latter’s crash.
Pre-Roll — Lotto
THC: 18.95%
Terpenes: Myrcene, Limonene, b-Caryophyllene, Humulene
Strain: Hybrid
Tasting Notes and Effects:
Starting off with the packaging, I wish the pre-rolls gave me more. All that was available on the label was the strain’s THC content, nothing about what type of strain I was smoking or the terpenes. Obviously, I was able to find this information, but it would be great if it was on the packaging.
93 Boyz pre-rolls come in .5 and 1.0-gram sizes, both form factors are pretty small. As a relatively heavy smoker, the pre-roll was good for a nice strong head change but it isn’t the type of thing I’d want to share with another smoker.
Lotto is a crossbreed of GG4 and Do-Si-Dos and sports a super skunky diesel smell. Luckily the taste is more citrusy than it is earthy and harsh, with a strong zesty finish that gave me a sneezing sensation. The high was a feel-good stress buster, strong enough to feel the buzz but light enough to keep me on my feet.
I can see myself smoking this tiny joint during a break between tasks.
The Bottom Line:
A nice strong steady high that results in a refreshing head change. A great option for those who want to get high but don’t want to be pushed into the psychedelic stratosphere.
Vape Cart — Super Donutz
THC: 81.18 (Total per cart)
Terpenes: b-Caryophyllene, Humulene, Limonene, Myrcene
Strain: Hybrid
Tasting Notes and Effects:
The 93 Boyz vape carts are pretty standard stuff, a mix of plastic and metal housing a thick distillate that fits into standard battery vape pens.
Super Donutz is a cross between Banana Creme Cake and Jealousy and that lineage results in sweetened top notes with a bright citrusy character, and a little bit of funk on the backend.
The high knocked me the f*ck out. After a single hit, a rush of euphoric feelings hit my senses, which had me supremely couch-locked. It’s the sort of high that makes you feel good to lie down and do nothing. So if that’s not your speed, be wary — there is no conquering that feeling for a few hours.
My suggestion would be that if you plan on doing anything while under the influence of Super Donutz, you get it prepared in advance. That includes getting your snacks, picking any movie or tv show you plan to watch ahead of time, or queuing up the right playlist.
The Bottom Line:
A highly euphoric experience that’ll make you content with laying around and doing nothing. Just don’t try to do anything else (unless you have a sturdier constitution than me). This is the sort of high that comes across like a mini vacation. Save it for your most stressful days when you need a respite from all the noise.
The Big Takeaway:
93 Boyz isn’t just a celebrity-endorsed brand that tries to sell weed on a big name. It’s a passion project from Vic Mensa that reflects how much he cares for both the city he calls home and good quality herb.
93 Boyz is a brand exclusive to Illinois, shop the herb at a dispensary near you here.
