Billo Sour Sage Flower Strain Review

Billo put out a strong showing with their Sour Sage sativa flower – it’s strong, stoney, and uplifting all at the same time. While the 19% potency rating might not impress those looking for a knockout strain, we found it to be quite a bit stronger than anticipated, and in a great way. A little bit goes a long way, which makes it easy to share or session throughout the day. If you’re into classic, hashy sativa profiles that offer a nice blend of mildly energetic with a healthy side of stoney bologna, the Sour Sage is probably right up your alley. 

When we got our eighth of Billo’s Sour Sage flower to check out, the first thing I noticed was the relative uniformity of medium, spear-shaped buds that have a tannish green hue with an unmistakable purple tint at the tips of the calyxes. It really turns out to be a visually appealing strain at the semi macro level especially. Sometimes when you buy flower you get a larger variety of bud sizes and shapes, but the consistency in the jar at the dispensary and in our eighth is notable. 

Each of the nugs were thickly crystallized in trichomes and had fairly long, fire orange pistils poking out in all directions. Billo’s Sour Sage has a fairly blocky, geometric bud structure and the sample we received is firmly medium on the density scale. While none of the buds were enormous, the trimming was tight and no sugar leaves seemed to have been left behind whatsoever. I measured its relative humidity at 42% using our standard Caliber IV cigar hygrometer, which is pretty much par for the course here. In my experience, strains in the 40-50% RH range are about at optimal moisture level as they can be broken up without pinching or pulling but aren’t dusty or crispy at all.

The aroma of the Sour Sage is a party of piney, vintage Afghan hashiness with a sweet, mildly citrusy fruit finish. I had to look into this a little bit, as Billo’s Sour Sage is not Sage N’ Sour renamed, but a cross between Sage Cookies and Sour Grapefruit Kush. “Sage”, or actually S.A.G.E, which has nothing to do with the bush or the herb and instead stands for Sativa Afghani Genetic Equilibrium, is an award winner from T.H. Seeds and has been crossbred far and wide. The breeder for the Sour Sage was not immediately easy to find, so if you know who is behind it, drop us a line so that we can update the review with proper cred. 

The fruitiness comes from the Sour Grapefruit Kush, and balances the strain out very nicely. When you really stick your nose in the jar and inhale deeply, there is a palpable smoothness to it that makes you want to keep sniffing. The terpene blend here could very much stand to be explored at the lab (a test on the matter is not supplied) but it definitely offers a popular profile, especially perhaps for those who can appreciate old school gassy strains and air dried bubble hash.

I enjoyed the Sour Sage in a glass bowl, which is how I prefer most flower if I’m smoking up solo. While you definitely get a slightly different experience with a joint, I find you get the straight, no nonsense take on what a particular strain offers with glass. That being said, a joint will have to get rolled up in the future and shared appropriately.

The flavors of the Sour Sage are evenly matched with how it smells, almost to an unbelievable degree. Although a lot of smoked or vaped products have some notable differences between aroma and taste, this turned out to be spot on. Your tongue gets what your nose does in the form of a strongly earthy, uniquely cannabis gas profile upfront that yields to a silky fruit finish. It’s not harsh at all in the way some of the very Afghan-forward strains can be, and instead has a very full, soft mouthfeel. The grapefruit parentage is what rounds everything out for the Sour Sage. It’s nice and smooth on the take but a little bit more cough inducing than some of the other Billo flower we got to try, however. The small bowl I smoked burned down to a white ash, which alongside the tasting experience was a strong indication of a well grown, flushed, and finished cannabis.

If you like haze-heavy hybrid sativas that don’t let you forget that you are indeed ripped, the Sour Sage delivers in spades. It provides a fine mixture of reducing how open your eyes are to roughly 70% while preserving enough cognitive alacrity to actually get things done, like cook up a complicated dinner or finish a project. In my case the body high wasn’t very pronounced, as the high sits firmly from the shoulders up and stays there for the duration. The Sour Sage is quite strong in terms of potency and lasts a good long while, even though the test results would indicate to most people more of a medium cannabinoid concentration. 

When the high eventually erodes, a nap very well could be on the menu as this one provided a noticeably sleepy comedown regardless of what time of day it is or how much caffeine I happened to consume not terribly long before trying it. You should probably have some snacks handy too, as the munch factor is a firm 3 out of 5 once you start coming down off of the peak. As with many cannabis products, you kind of get two highs in one package. It starts in one place, and finishes in another. Overall, Billo’s Sour Sage is one of those fine flower pickups you have to consider getting again every time it’s on the shelf, so make sure to try some if you get an opportunity.