Within moments of escaping the city limits, the view opens up and stretches out like a lazy dog under the sun. I’m already in Placitas. I hear it’s a great place to hike, and I can see why. From the CG parking lot, expansive plains fill your vision with scrub and sand. Drive a few hundred yards down the road and you’ll get to see the purple backside of the mountain. From that intimate angle she seems far gentler—softer and curvier and dimpled by shadow.I never knew this place existed, to be honest. I’m here to visit the other CG. I’ve become a familiar face at the Albuquerque location, but I’ve never come to this one. It’s much smaller and seems way quieter. I assume the views help some.I know both the employees (since I guess the two locations have an employee exchange program or something), which makes the whole process painless. I’m told the newest strain on the menu is Sexxpot (THC: 25.79%, CBD: 0.32%—$11/gram), a name I’ve come across multiple times. Sexxpot gets its snicker-inducing name from its alleged effects on the female libido. The story has the taste of an urban legend: A young woman by the name of Karyn Wagner smokes a little cannabis before having sex with her partner and finds that this particular strain enhances the whole experience. A year later, in 2015, she’s running her own grow operation pumping out a version of the strain (which, it turns out, was the famous Mr. Nice) with a new name and a campaign marketing it as a female aphrodisiac.I have some issues with this story. The idea that out of all the hundreds of cannabinoids and terpenes to be found (in widely ranging variation across strains), Wagner somehow isolated the strain’s libidinal features within a year of breeding seems suspect to my suspicious mind.Pinpointing the exact “enhancing” compounds in Mr. Nice that affected Wagner so deeply and then shaping the strain through breeding to produce more of those compounds would take far longer than a year. And the resulting strain would only be useful to a patient in the exact same circumstances as Wagner was. Was it one of the cannabinoids related to blood pressure? A terpene that relieves muscle tension? There are more than a few variables at play, here.Also: Female sexual dysfunction can be caused by a number of very different physical or psychological conditions (including side effects from medications). Finding a “cure” to all of these conditions in one place seems completely impossible.That being said, Mr. Nice already had a reputation as an aphrodisiacal strain, along with a number of other notables out there. But here’s the real problem: “Aphrodisiacs” have never actually been proven to have a physiological effect on libido. It seems that a food or herb’s supposed aphrodisiacal properties have everything to do with the culture that regards it as such and that culture’s views of sex. With this thought in mind, it becomes a little easier to explain why phallic-shaped bananas, chile peppers and asparagus might be said to increase the sexual potency of men, or why the round pink strawberry and the sensual fig might be said to increase female arousal. I’m getting warm just thinking about it, which is the crux of this thing: Aphrodisiacs work by being suggestive. It’s all in your head.If you’re having low libido problems (no matter what your gender is), and you’ve found a physiological cause (like abnormal blood pressure or hormonal changes), you’ll be far more successful at treating it with the care offered by your general practitioner. It is highly likely that there are cannabinoids and terpenes that will induce the physiological effects needed to treat any particular condition, but there really hasn’t been enough research done in this field yet. It might take a few years before all of these chemicals are isolated and identified.Which isn’t to say that Sexxpot doesn’t work. You can find numerous reviews on the internet that will tell you otherwise. But I suspect it has more to do with cannabis and its well-known ability to relax patients. If you’ve eliminated physical ailment as the cause for your low libido, then it’s probably time to start looking for the most common enemy of the libido: stress.Stress causes us to become distracted and irritable. It causes us to lose sleep. And anyone who’s been up against a deadline at 2am on a Monday morning will tell you: It kills those sexy feelings in their tracks.So I pick some up and take it home. I might not be able to speak to its effectiveness as a sexual stimulant, but it smells minty and sweet, and I’m a sucker for fresh flowers. Sexxpot is an indica-dominant strain, with a berry-like and bright flavor. Its cerebral effects are fairly mild, but the physical ones are noticeably pleasant. My appetite spikes immediately after finishing a bowl, and I notice a pleasurable level of muscle relaxation has crept up on me without my noticing. A deep sense of well-being and contentment settles over me as I make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.I wouldn’t be surprised if Sexxpot actually does do the job it claims to do. It would be hard to psych oneself out on this particularly chill strain, and the pleasurable quality of having a relaxed body in addition to a relaxed mind could probably do wonders for someone having intimacy issues.So, is it worth a try? Hell, most things are.
CG30 Frontage Rd D, Placitas (505) 404-8363Hours: Sun-Sat 10am-7pmFirst-time Freebies: Yes
