We have seen an exciting movement of CBD brands catering to the recreational cannabis market. They are modelling themselves on USA California cannabis brands and not hiding behind their products being made with cannabis.
The likely reason for this is the wave of European countries that are legalising cannabis and cannabis-based products. Extremely exciting for people like us, and even better for consumers who will benefit from a fully regulated cannabis market.
This brings us to a new brand called The Long Leaf which reached out to us to review its products and brand, to see what we thought.
Let us get into it and see what we think!
Before even thinking about buying from The Long Leaf, you should out our list of the Best CBD Vapes & Best CBD Oil Products from the UK (<— this is our list of the best we have tried)
In Summary
The depth of , attention to detail and quality of The Long Leaf make it one of our favourite new brands of 2023. We have not yet seen anything quite as interesting in the UK and there are few brands attempting something so audacious.
We have included The Long Leaf on our best CBD oil page, and the Best CBD vape page and we regard it extremely highly. The stand-out product is the vape as it has fantastic effects and huge flavours. We also think that the branding, packaging and presentation are second to none. It blows the previous industry leaders out of the water.
Who is The Long Leaf?
The Long Leaf is a UK-based vape, dab and CBD company who are also launching its range of beneficial mushroom complexes. The brand is a very interesting concept and we have seen nothing like them in the UK yet. The brand is centred around Space and on a deeper level, is inspired a great deal by the "Stoned Ape Theory" and some nice little nods to Bob Lazzar's leaks/theory about the US using secret alien technology (Element 115). There are layers to the branding - so much more than the reference to 'space heads' which is often used to refer to stoners and psychonaughts.
The company have also set our business model to reflect the way the black market works in the UK. They do provide a selection of strain flavours but will change their selection based on the supply of the raw ingredients available. They are selecting the very finest quality products that are available at the time, rather than cutting corners.
The newsletter service is also similar to "The Goods" where they drop new limited edition products, last minute picks and "one of a kind" art pieces and merch. At the centre of the brand is creativity and art, which is a cornerstone of the cannabis community.
Vape Cartridges
The first thing that strikes you is the immaculate attention to detail and the level of thoughtfulness gone into the products. It isn't just a basic terpene vape, but a whole experience and there are little touches that make complete sense to a stoner. The kind of details that if you know, you know.
Packaging
The packaging has also been produced to an extremely high quality, and not your average mylar pouch. It is a colourful, soft-touch mylar pouch with a seal and a really nice design. On the front of the package is the Logo and product specific 'smokanaught' and on the rear, some more information about the product and description. Inside is the vape itself and a couple of flyers with QR codes pointing to batch details and lab reports, and other useful resources on the website.
Within the packages, the vape comes in a little plastic tube (similar to the ones that join come in) and a clear sticker with the strain on it. From personal experience, this is handy for keeping it clean and for knowing what the terpenes are. The tube can always be reused so it is a really nice touch.
Cartridge
The cartridge itself is 100% ceramic and a round mouthpiece. The airflow is good so you won't be disappointed if you're keen on a big draw and lots of smoke, but also if you like huge flavours. As an added note, the cartridge was not simply selected for the technology, but because it looks a little bit like a rocket. Super cool little detail.
Flavour & Effects
The important part is the contents of the vape. The cartridge is a little 0.5g cartridge filled with a full-spectrum distillate extract and added terpenes, which is the most common type of extract/ terpene type on sale.
We were given a sample of the OG Kush vape and the flavours were fantastic. The terpenes used are live resins which we found to be much smoother than botanical terpenes and had coated your mouth. The flavour lasted even after the vape had finished. A little bit like when you draw on an unlit joint to get the flavours.
The effects were also very smooth and quick. Some vapes require a lot of draws before you can feel the effects, but we could feel the Cannabinoids right away, but also a nice relaxed buzz of energy that is almost certainly the effects of the OG Kush terpenes. In short, we think that this was one of the best vape experiences which rivals the likes of Woodies and High Kind.
CBD Gummies
Again, the packaging of the gummies is mind-blowingly good. The packaging is the soft-touch mylar bag with a bright colourful design, and a smokanaught eating a cookie. The mylar is robust and has a tight seal at the top to keep the contents fresh. All of the gummy options come in bags of 500mgs and cost £25. A decent price we think.
We tried the "Neon Rings", "Mixed Fruit Vegan Gummies" and a sample of "Vegan Sour Bears", all of which we really liked. The flavour was great and they do not have the common bitterness that comes with CBD gummies. They are so delicious that you could easily be forgiven for forgetting that you're eating CBD, and eating the whole packet at once. There are a few options available too and we have been told that the selection will change regularly depending on what is available, so there will be a good opportunity to enjoy lots of different options.
The only downside is that the gummies contain a lot of sugar. Sugar is not the end of the world, but it means that there are alternatives out there which contain less sugar and would be much healthier. The Long Leaf gummies do have detailed nutrition information on the back of the packet for those who are interested.
Cold Pressed CBD Oils
We really, really rate the oils that The Long Leaf CBD have produced. Again, the design of the oils are on point and we are very impressed by the thoughtfulness of the oil. Like the Otherside London CBD Oil the oil has been infused with some extra ingredients which give the oil a great flavour and effect.
The oils do not use CO2-extracted oils, but the more traditional Cold Pressed hemp oil. Some suggest that this is better because it contains all of the other natural ingredients that you should be consuming in a hemp oil.
Where the oils do shine is due to the terpenes in the oil. They have used real cannabis-derived terpenes to flavour the oils and to provide day and night effects. The day ol has a citrusy note to it and profoundly uplifting effects. The indicia was fruiter and good for the evening.
