Review: Mandarin Cookies Moon Rocks by NGW
While this isn’t my first experience with moonrocks in Illinois, they’re still rare enough on the dispensary menus that they always grab my attention when they appear. As it almost always does, curiosity got the best of me, and I couldn’t resist the Mandarin Cookies Moon Rocks for Nature’s Grace and Wellness when they popped on to the menu at Thrive Anna.
Mandarin Cookies is a slightly sativa leaning hybrid cross of Forum Cut Cookies and Mandarin Sunset, originally created by Ethos Genetics. This batch of moon rocks tested at 17.69% THCA, 8.15% THC, and 26.33% total cannabinoids. This was the first indication that NGW and I may have had different definitions of what makes “moon rocks” as I expected a total cannabinoid number closer to 50%.

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The label indicated that the oil used was alcohol extracted as opposed to butane or CO2 extracted, which also seemed odd to me. NGW does not provide terpene testing information on their packaging.
This eighth came as seven popcorn-sized flowers with a coating of amber kief that was thin enough to reveal the underlying plant material in places. The dark, almost black oil was visible in other areas but only in small patches. The flower broke up easily with my fingers and was surprisingly dry. The oil only appeared in the aforementioned surface patches and had not permeated into the bud like the moonrocks I’ve experienced before.

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The aroma in the jar was light with notes of clementine, a tangy diesel note, and a flash of honeysuckle before disappearing. The flavor was also lighter showing the clementine tone before shifting to a flora hash flavor.
The smoke did hit harsher than most flower, which I’ve found to be typical for moonrocks. Unless I purposefully picked out the parts of the flower with heavy oil patches, I didn’t get the typical long burning cherry I expect from moonrocks.
The effects had a nice body heaviness that relaxed my joints and muscles and set off a tingly headband at my crown. The open, talkative, and creative headspace was nice and Mandarin Cookies did set off a nice body/mind contrast that got me focused on some writing. Sadly, I found this rush of focus and energy short lived, and overall, I found these moon rocks didn’t take me much further than regular flower.

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I’ve enjoyed moon rocks in Colorado and Illinois. My analysis here is that NGW used some less than stellar starting material and didn’t properly oil dip these buds. Moon rocks are meant to be an over the top experience, something better than the sum of its parts, NGW failed to deliver that here.
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Effects & Medical Attributes are based on anecdotal evidence. Individual experiences can be varied.