Cheeba Chews cannabidiol/THC quad pack (Provided by Cheeba Chews)

Edibles review: Cheeba Chews CBD lends some TLC

It’s that time again; time to try and find that perfect edible. Cheeba Chews is a brand well known throughout the cannabis community. With high expectations, and a focus on ridding myself of this uncomfortable back pain, I once more took a leap of faith and ventured into uncharted territory.

My hopes for this experience were fairly reasonable. My checklist: the edible must be edible; it needs to kick in within a sensible amount of time; and it should actually target my lower back pain (which can make sitting down on the couch after a long day a restless battle to find a relaxing position).

After my last edibles review I was feeling discouraged. The truffles I had tried hadn’t done much for me and I needed to muster the gumption to try, try again. On top of that, The Denver Post/Cannabist recent study that determined some edibles’ THC counts were far lower than advertised had given me further pause.

Wait, what? I’m buying a marijuana-infused product (MIP) that says it has 100 mg of active THC — and it doesn’t? Not even close? Apparently it’s incredibly hard to regulate just how much active THC gets filtered into big-batch products. Sometimes the good stuff will settle at the bottom of a batch while it’s resting, rendering the rest of the product … ineffective.

So in my last review, when I mentioned how edibles dosing was basically a crap shoot for me and the reason I don’t typically choose to medicate with them … well, that’s why. Because unless you are making them yourself (or have them tested before you consume them) do you REALLY know how much THC you’re getting? Probably not. Even the companies that tested with higher active THC than was listed on their labels aren’t getting away scot-free here. The ideal edible is going to have an active THC count as close to the listed count as possible.

It’s pretty clear — this part of the industry needs some work and the public demands some regulation. As far as Cheeba Chews, their test results were not the worst of the bunch (see all the individual results here). In the chew tested, of the 70mg of THC on the label, 53mg was recorded by the lab. OK, so not exactly what was on the label. I was still pretty hopeful about the effects of the different sample I was to try.

After picking up my quad dose CBD Cheeba Chews (cannabidiol is higher than normal in these chews and the THC count lower in order to aid with pain rather than a feeling of being “high”) I was starting to feel more optimistic. The budtender at Lotus Medical advised that I should only start with one dose, a sentiment mirrored on the Cheeba Chews website, because when he took half he was, I believe he said “tripping balls.” That’s not quite what I wanted for myself — so one dose it was.


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And it was lackluster. Do people assume women are lightweights? I don’t know, but the one dose, 17.5mg (total cannabinoids) didn’t do it for me. I took it after dinner one night and patiently waited. We watched our nightly news programs. I checked the time, an hour had passed and nothing yet. As the night progressed I expected my situation would do the same, but to no avail. I could feel the pain in my back as I desperately tried to lounge on the sofa. When my husband tried it separately, he had the same sentiment, it just wasn’t powerful enough for our tolerance, I suppose.

So a few nights later, working on some psychology and nutrition homework, I delved into the Cheeba Chews again. I had half left, so this time I would be taking a double dose, 35mg total (10mg of CBD and 25mg of THC).

When I’d taken my single dose, I’d pretty much swallowed it whole. It’s about half the size of a Tootsie Roll, but softer. This time I did as the name implied — I chewed. It was only slightly grainy, almost not even worth noting. There was a warming to the tongue as I chewed and that sensation remained present for a few minutes after. There was a cannabis taste to be sure, but the Tootsie Roll-esque texture really helps trick your mind. Being a smaller product, as opposed to a huge brownie, also helps because you have less to consume so it takes you less time to consume it, ya dig?

Now, the waiting game. I breezed through the psychology homework I had left and put my attention on my nutrition work. I needed to pick a vegetable and a fruit and detail its phytochemicals. My stomach, like my tongue, had a fleeting warmth to it in the first hour. At the hour mark, I decided to do a few stretches and see if my back pain was affected. Sitting on the couch felt fine, but I needed to move around to give this a fair assessment. Stretching to the sides, forward and back, I still had some tightness in my back. The Cheeba Chews site informs you that it could take anywhere from 1-3 hours to set in, so I went back to my phytochemicals.


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An hour later and I was feeling pretty good. There was definitely no mental high going on here, at all really. I had finished my nutrition homework halfway through the second hour and had begun my next week’s assignments. I stood up for some more stretching and went through a sun salutation (yoga, folks) with no noticeable pain. I ran myself through a few sobriety tests for fun; walking in a straight line, touching my finger to my nose. I felt clear headed and virtually pain free.

Also worth mentioning — I slept like a rock. Not an unmovable boulder, but a solid rock for sure. I’m an extremely light sleeper; the cat meows (I’m awake), the walls creak (I’m awake), a horn honks (wide awake) and I hear it all. I could have easily procured a prescription to Ambien but I chose to not wander around like a zombie, possibly committing crimes all while I “sleep.” This night I slept soundly until my alarm went off.  I woke up well rested and ready for the day.

If you are looking to avoid the head high/euphoria that typically accompanies using marijuana and want an alternative pain relief that leaves you unaltered otherwise, the CBD quad dose Cheeba Chew might be just the medicine for you. It also could be tried as an alternative to prescription sleep aids. But always start with a single dose. Because until there is more regulation in the edibles market, we must turn to the wise words of Forrest Gump (yes, I’m going there) and consider that “You never know what you’re gonna get.”


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