While another pick from their extensive line brought memories of staying home from school and eating bagsful of delicious cough drops
With more than 20 varieties that cover everything from intended outcomes like “bliss,” “uplifting,” and “social” plus more or less any flavor a sweet tooth might crave—from wild berry to pineapple habanero to peach, orange, and pear—you have probably tried Camino gummies by Kiva at this point. Chances are you’re even a fan.
It’s not just that they’re solid on the basics, deliver on impact, and pack a sweet-sour punch out of aesthetically pleasing canisters. There’s another benefit in that Camino edibles are available in lots and lots and lots of dispensaries—in Mass as well as other legal states—which we have heard from readers is a major factor for those of you who are creatures of habit.
We’re not into munching the same treats over and over, so while there’s always a can or two of Kiva gummies within reach, for this round, we went for two varieties that are at least new to us—the Excite Wild Cherry, which is available in Mass right now, as well as their Blackberry Dream Sleep Camino Sours drops, which are only in Michigan, California, and Illinois at the moment (though some of their others for sale in the Bay State have similar ingredients).
First off, we must salute the artwork. Some people hate it when we recognize the packaging aesthetic, art, and execution (rather than simply getting into the flavor and effect), but Kiva really leans into its presentation and it shows. At the very least, you’ll have an eye cue that can help you find one of their products among sometimes hundreds of competitors on crowded menus.
As for the product itself, let’s start with the Excite … Imagine a more nuanced Cherry flavor than a classic Luden’s cough drop, but one that tastes about the same. Think childhood memories, being home from school under the weather but basically getting to suck on hard candies all day. And now imagine being all grown up, doing the same, and getting high.
The terpene profile that delivered those results in our noses and throats features Alpha-Pinene, Limonene, Beta-Caryophyllene, and Linalool; and while that may not mean much to you now, the fact that Kiva lists those details means that you can use personal data regarding your preferences to inform future purchases, whether from Kiva or another company. In our case, we appreciated that five of their Excite gummies (25mg THC total) wound us up for work instead of putting us down for the night, which brings us to the next pick …
The blackberry ones are from their new Camino Sours line and are firmer than the aforementioned cherry berries, basically the texture of a fresh Sour Patch Kid or one of those half-moon shaped gummy fruit wedges and with about the same caliber sourness—not enough to turn your smile to a frown, but certainly an adequate amount of sugar to get your taste buds to stand at attention and maybe even trigger a gleek. The berry flavor itself is dark and even powerful for a candy, but short of being as sharp as an actual fresh currant.
These are also tooled for sleepytime, it says so on the package. And while products that are made to trigger dreams don’t always follow through, the three of us who tried these all experienced improved rest, in one case even crashing nearly two hours past regular wakeup time on account of not setting an alarm after chewing two of these (20mg THC and 6mg CBN total) and hitting the pillow nine hours earlier. We’re not exactly scientists conducting trials, but we did successfully repeat that test with those same overnight results.
Like all Kiva fruit snacks that we have tried, the Dream Sleep gummies also pass the squeeze test, which means we couldn’t pinch through one with ease and make our fingers touch; when you can do that, in our experience chances are they will get stuck in your teeth and attach to one another. That’s not the case here though, which may be another reason to pick out something from Kiva in your favorite flavor and take it for a spin.
kivaconfections.com/brand/camino
Citizen Strain/Grain is an amalgamation of a bunch of us who, in addition to the hard and oftentimes depressing journalism we report for the Dig, also enjoy sampling and writing about the various beers, spirits, and cannabis products that vendors from near and far send our way. If you want us to check out your product, please contact us at info@digboston.com.
