Single Source Headstash Sour Diesel Cold Cure Rosin Batter Review

If you can appreciate classic strains that have been around the block but still have the power to delight and surprise, Single Source’s Sour Diesel “Headstash” cold cure live rosin batter delivers a faithful homage to its namesake’s enduring genetics. It’s some of the most visually appealing live rosin we’ve seen in recent months and comes packed with all of the characteristics a great Sour Diesel should have from beginning to end. It’s a little softer than flower in hash form, but what it lacks in punch it makes up for in an extra layer of floral flavor and its trademark energetic high.

It’s always a treat when I can get my hands on what I suspect will be a truly proper phenotype of Sour Diesel. Single Source delivered it this time in their “Headstash” cold cure live rosin batter format, which is the highest grade the lab gives its solventless. Like all of their boxes, it came in a sleek black and silver foiled outer cardboard and a standard black glass jar inside. The instant you open it up you’re greeted with that vintage Sour Diesel bouquet and a beautifully wet, bright pineapple yellow hue. Even though it’s a cold cure rosin, it arrived to us almost verging on a very finely THC crystal-laden rosin jam that could somehow keep itself together under its own surface tension. That changed quickly once I massaged it a little using my dab tool, where it quickly became a terpene-rich pool of softly chunky yet tacky apple butter-like rosin. 

The texture and color really stood out once the bubble popped, so to speak. I can’t recall many live rosins I’ve had recently that compare in this department so the pictures here will have to speak for themselves. It’s just a gorgeous hash and a model of what great live rosin should aspire to look like whenever the chemotype allows for it.

As if the clarity and texture wasn’t enticing enough, Single Source’s cut of Sour Diesel carries that classic aroma of skunky, funky fuel and earthy notes which has a wonderfully fresh, floral essence on the back of the nose that its dried flower counterparts typically lack. In essence, it smells like the real deal. This is a legendary, albeit widely available strain that has been around since at least the early 90s and while its history is in dispute, it seems most likely that it came from the underground New York scene, not California from a breeder named Asshole Joe (aka AJ). You’ll be hard pressed to find a veteran cannabis consumer that hasn’t run into its ubiquitous profile somewhere or another, but it’s the opinion of the author that it still holds the designation of true fire when a great cut of it is handled with care. 

When we heard that Single Source was dropping a variety of strains in hash and flower around the time of writing, I knew I wanted to get my hands on this particular product. That’s why I went ahead and enjoyed a healthy number of samples in both my rig and my Puffco Peak Pro, but of course for maximum flavor if you truly savor the profile like I often do, a dab on quartz around 490-510°F is the ticket. In this case both devices performed dutifully, and it was just a matter of when I wanted convenience versus when I had a moment to perform the glass ritual as I worked through the gram.

A lot of connoisseurs I’ve spoken to over the years will say that they particularly enjoy the flavor of Sour Diesel despite having had it an inordinate amount of times. I find that I firmly fall into that bucket here as well as this cold cure live rosin version of it follows the trend and possesses the distinctly spicy, gassy, and vaguely lemon-citrus tang to it that the strain is famous for. Single Source’s creation doesn’t crank up that loudly on the palate, but it is very authentically tasty all the same. In flower form it usually smacks harder in your mouth, but this cold cure live rosin is much softer and a tad more sophisticated. If Sour Diesel in flower form is your boisterous, motorsports-obsessed cousin from the midwest, this live rosin is their relative that went and got a degree in the humanities somewhere. It dabs as cleanly as a hard hitting sativa possibly can and if you want to head up the roller coaster quicker, don’t be afraid to go just a little higher on the temp than usual.