Durban Poison: Quick Overview
If you are craving one of the best-known, most energizing sativa cannabis strains in existence, you can stop looking now. Durban Poison is a 100% Sativa cannabis strain that’s popular around the globe.
One of the few pure sativa strains out there today, Durban Poison has the distinction of being one of the few landrace cannabis strains. It is one of just a few prehistoric cannabis strains, retaining its genetic heritage over time.
Yet despite being such old news, Durban Poison remains extremely popular—and for good reason. Its uniquely uplifting earthy, piney, citrusy smell and flavor will draw you in and make you a fan.
Some love its pure, simple, clear-headed high, while others appreciate its ancient roots and historical origins. Find out everything you could ever want to know about this hard-hitting sativa beauty in our complete, updated Durban Poison strain review.
| Type | 100% sativa |
| THC Level | Up to 22%, 20% average |
| Effects | Motivated, energetic, relaxed, euphoric, productive |
| Smell and Flavor Profile | Earthy, pine, pungent, spicy, sweet, citrus, herbal |
| Grow Difficulty | Easy |
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Durban Poison Benefits/Effects
Durban Poison produces 100% sativa effects, including an uplifting burst of motivating energy. Durban Poison works as a medical marijuana strain, with high THC levels of at least 16% and up to 22% and CBD levels of around 0.2%. Durban Poison treats both stress and anxiety, and can also help treat fatigue and chronic pain.
Durban Poison stands the test of time thanks to a sweet smell and truly super charging effects that help you stay productive in an excellent way. It’s known for boosting mood and relieving pain as well as producing an exhilarating burst of energy, even for weary medical marijuana patients.
Durban Poison is entirely 100% pure sativa genetics, which produces the strong effects you would expect. Expect to find yourself smiling for no reason after partaking in this African sativa, and checking tasks off your endless to do list as that sweet and piney flavor wafts in the background.
For most fans, the Durban Poison high is mostly cerebral, making it perfect for a night on the town, or right before a big workout or hike. In fact, many users love Durban Poison as their secret weapon in terms of creating a happy mood, all day long. It is a great wake and bake strain.
Durban Poison Medical Benefits
Many devoted Durban Poison consumers claim that the strain offers relief from anxiety, sadness, stress, fatigue, and headaches. The most commonly noted side effects are mainly mild, including dry mouth, dry eyes, and anxiousness.
For most patients, Durban Poison is best for mood disorders, and to some extent to help treat people with serious chronic pain or other problems that affect the mood. For example, this is an excellent strain for uplifting the mood, treating depression, anxiety, and related issues. But it’s also useful for people battling with cancer or other serious diseases who are coping with depressed mood and fatigue as a result. For all of these reasons, Durban Poison is a consistent best-seller in many dispensaries.
Even so, for patients with severe medical conditions, especially seizures, Durban Poison may not be the ideal choice, particularly since it has lower levels of CBD.
Durban Poison Taste and Smell
Durban is recognized for containing a unique mixture of sweet and spicy scents — fennel/anise, orange, lemon, and a polished sweetness are the most common descriptors. Durban Poison Strain smell is a moist scent punctuated by indications of pure licorice. The Sativa is raw and skunky when torn open or scorched and gives off thick, lung-expanding steam.
You will notice licorice aroma while puffing out, and the taste of sweet pine. It is a complex bouquet of natural aromas.
Very sweet and intoxicatingly detailed, the taste of Durban Poison will introduce you to a series of flavors varying from sweet lemon confections to spicy anise. The flavor lingers on the palate, which is desirable.
Durban Poison Cannabinoid/Terpene Profile
Typical THC levels of Durban Poison range from 16 to 22%, with 20% being about average. As a landrace strain, Durban Poison doesn’t run as high with THC content as some of the modern strains. Most samples have low CBD levels, around 0.2%, and small amounts of minor cannabinoids such as CBN, CBC, or CBG might be present in certain samples.
Durban Poison cannabis is also known for usable amounts of THCV, which is known to offer an energy boost. Along with DP’s unique terpene profile, it’s easy to see why this strain is such a powerhouse for anyone needing mood effects.
Durban Poison is rich in terpinolene, with smaller amounts of humulene, myrcene, caryophyllene, and ocimene.
Known for its uplifting effects, terpinolene is ideal for chasing a brighter mood. Strains such as Durban Poison that are rich in terpinolene are likely to taste, smell, and feel like a sweet, fruity blastoff. Benefits of terpinolene include anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant, and analgesic properties.
Humulene shares many of the pain relieving benefits other terpenes offer and may help soothe an overactive appetite.
Myrcene also has antibiotic, anti-inflammatory pain-relieving, and sedative effects. It is also known for soothing, herbal mood benefits and antimutagenic or anti-cancer qualities.
An antioxidant that boosts the immune system, caryophyllene binds with the CB2 receptors in the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS). Caryophyllene soothes stress and anxiety, and treats pain and inflammation.
Ocimene has antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, and decongestant benefits.
Durban Poison History and Genetics
Humans have cultivated Cannabis sativa plants on the African continent since at least the 14th century. Cannabis spread worldwide after the Dutch colonized the region. Back in South Africa, indigenous groups including the Bantu, Khoikhoi, and San had already accepted cannabis and established its cultivation as part of regional culture. Locally, cannabis generally was called dagga.
By the mid to late 1970s, growers around the world had noticed cannabis from Africa, and from South Africa in particular. American breeder Ed Rosenthal brought a collection of South African cannabis seeds back to the United States, and began selectively cross-breeding several plants from them.
Rosenthal passed on the best of those plants to fellow breeder Mel Frank. Frank optimized the genetics of the original strain to improve flowering time and resin content, resulting in two lines from the original seed stock.
Sam the Skunkman in Amsterdam received the B line, and further reduced the strain’s flowering time. Which is the true or original Durban Poison—and the one you get in the dispensary? That part remains unclear.
If You Love Durban Poison Marijuana, Try These Strains
If you love the awesome daytime effects of a Green Crack or Dutch Treat, Durban Poison is seriously a great strain with every bit of the mood boost and energy you get from those, plus its own, awesome taste and vibe. If the joyful burst you get from Strawberry Fields, Lemon Skunk, or Trainwreck is more your thing, Durban Poison is still going to give you what you want.
If you love to charge up with Ghost Train Haze or Chernobyl but want something slight smoother and more balanced in the mood department—a little less raw, nervous energy and a bit more focused productivity—Durban Poison is a perfect strain.
If you love the medical effects of Girl Scout Cookies GSC but want to add something to improve your mood, Durban Poison is an excellent companion strain. And if you’re a fan of the Kush strain family but are wanting something less peppery and spicy and more piney and lemony, try Durban Poison, you won’t be disappointed.
Growing the Durban Poison Strain
Durban was known and loved in Holland because it was one of the few sativas that could finish outdoors—the short-flowering versions are suitable for Northern climates. In fact, it grows very tall outdoors, and most varieties are effortless indoors.
So for beginners, take the easy way out! Grow this indoors and save yourself tons of effort. If you want to grow Durban Poison outdoors, you will have to make sure that there is enough space for it to grow because their height can be immense.
Growing Durban Poison plants indoors, the biggest issue is simply being aware of necessary techniques to use. Healthy indoor farming is a good fit for getting the highest yields from Durban Poison because it allows you to control pests, light limit, and other important factors easily on your own. Harvesting Durban Poison is not that hard, but put the time in for the best yield.
For first time growers, Durban Poison is a great choice. It is resistant to molds and common pests, and this fairly hardy strain produces some dense, sticky nugs covered in trichomes.
Durban Poison flowering time indoors ranges from nine to sixteen weeks, depending on the growth system (hydroponics or soil, etc.) and other conditions, with a 13-ounce yield. Outdoor flowering time is mid-September to mid-October, with a 16-ounce yield.
Buy Durban Poison Seeds
Named for South Africa’s second-largest urban center, the port city of Durban, Durban Poison offers an opportunity to enjoy one of the world’s potent landrace strains and a piece of living history. It has a sweet, unique smell and a high resin content that will make it your mood boosting favorite. Often likened to espresso, Durban Poison gives its consumers a migrating and active high that’s as enjoyable at a party as it is at alone, attaining creative or mundane tasks.